Pitchers and Catchers (and others) Report for Spring Training

The surest harbinger of spring is when pitchers and catchers report for spring training -- just two weeks from now for major leaguers. For Ponce de Leon players spring started today as we reported tonight in Fort Myers for our week of baseball in the sun. I arrived in Fort Myers to 72 degree temperatures with forecasts of more of the same for the week.

Tonight was the organizing dinner (although somewhat disorganized) where we received the schedule for the week, rules and team rosters. There will be six teams of 11 players each. Managers will be assigned tomorrow when the games start. There are four players on my team who I played with last year and six players I hadn't yet met. The league tries to balance the teams competitively -- particularly trying to make sure each team has enough pitchers and catchers. Our team seems well set for catchers but will be short on pitching. With 11 players for 9 six-inning games we will all get to play all the baseball we want (or can) for the week.

I appreciate the words of encouragement and concern over the last two days from a number of folks. Several of you (including Jackie the yoga maven) reminded me to "make sure you stretch" and there were multiple warnings for me not to strain anything -- all echoing Elizabeth's words to me before each of my games, "have fun and don't get hurt." That's my lofty goal for the week.