\u201cFor lo, the winter is past; the rains are over and gone; the time of the singing of birds has come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.\u201d Taken, of course, from the Bible\u2019s Song of Solomon, but many people in Michigan attribute those words to Hall of Fame radio announcer Ernie Harwell, who, each February, opened his first Tiger spring training broadcast from Lakeland, Florida with the phrase.<\/p>\n
Ernie\u2019s voice painted a happy mental picture of baseball players running around in the Florida sunshine on emerald green grass in their bright, white Tiger uniforms while we remained under winter\u2019s gray curtain of cold.<\/p>\n
Meteorologist John McMurray reminds his television and radio listeners that, despite conventional geography, the Mitten State actually has three peninsulas. \u201cThe Upper Peninsula, the Lower Peninsula\u2026and Michigan\u2019s \u2018Southern Peninsula:\u2019 Florida, says McMurray. \u201cIt seems like at some stage the entire state flies or drives right down Interstate 75!\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino\u2019s Pizza owned the Detroit Tigers from 1983-1992.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the best thing about owning the Tigers \u2013 Spring Training,\u201d says Monaghan, who admitted it would be fun to go back to Lakeland and look around.<\/p>\n
Detroit\u2019s complex in Lakeland is just 40 minutes from Orlando, and its\u2019 renovated Joker-Marchant Stadium, doesn\u2019t disappoint. \u201cTiger Town\u201d feels much like what a U.S. Embassy in a foreign land feels: a little island of home.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpring Training is a great experience. You can get close to the players. Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander and some of the other even own homes here. It\u2019s cool to drive around and run into the guys here,\u201d says Kris Keprios, with Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing. \u201cLakeland\u2019s a great town. It\u2019s got a growing downtown area but retains a small town feel. There are s lot of lakes if you like to fish and more than 50 golf courses nearby for when you\u2019re not watching games or workout. \u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike the fun-seeking snowbirds and vacationers, former Major League All-Star Lary Sorenson, who pitched for seven big league teams, went to Spring Break on business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always tried to get to Spring Training even earlier than the reporting date so I could get used to the weather. It gets windy in Lakeland in the spring time and there is heat and humidity. You want to have the sunshine so you can get your work in every day,\u201d said Sorenson, who also served as radio color commentator for the Tigers. \u201cI enjoyed Florida\u2019s \u2018Grapefruit League\u2019 much more. The \u2018Cactus League\u2019 in Arizona was so dry you couldn\u2019t work up a good sweat. I felt Lakeland was a better place to train. I felt like you were working hard because of the sweat factor.\u201d<\/p>\n
No sweat when it comes to tickets and lodging, though, as options vary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not hard to get a ticket, but you have to get them early. Most of them come close to selling out,\u201d Keprios advises. Tickets range between $8 and $22. You can visit www.Detroit.Tigers.MLB.com<\/a> for ticket information, but www.VisitCentralFlorida.org<\/a> also offers ticket and lodging packages. \u201cMany people don\u2019t know but we offer fully-furnished, three and four-bedroom vacation homes, complete with swimming pools, for between $160 and $200 per-night, which is a nice price when split between families or couples.\u201d<\/p>\n For National League flavor, and even more non-baseball attractions, the nearby Walt Disney World Resort, between Lakeland and Orlando Airport, is home to the Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a great location to see several Spring Training teams, actually. And coupling it with visits to Disney is a great option for families,\u201d says Joel Kaiman, spokesperson for the Walt Disney World Swam and Dolphin Resort Hotel. The unmistakable luxury towers, with their massive namesake sculptures, rise directly in the middle of Disney\u2019s Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Sports Complex and water parks, while being adjacent to EPCOT Center and Disney\u2019s Hollywood Studios. \u201cThe hotel has 17 restaurants and lounges including Shula\u2019s Steakhouse, the Mandarin Spa, five swimming pools, health club, and recreational activities for kids, plus convention and meeting facilities for those mixing business, pleasure and baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n Ground and water transportation from the Swan and Dolphin carry guests to the ballpark\u2026or any of the Disney parks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be celebrating a re-launching of the Disney Sports Complex later this month with the branding of ESPN on it,\u201d says Dave Herbst, Walt Disney World\u2019s manager of press and publicity. Herbst spent part of his career in Michigan and is an unabashed baseball fan. \u201cThere are actually 60 different professional and amateur sports which take place here in the course of a year on 220 acres of fields and facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n