Even if you're a Strat-o-Matic playing, Ichiro's bubblegum collecting, ballpark effect adjusting SABRmetrician, you're gonna get tired of watching Spring Training baseball in Arizona. Well, what to do then? Check out or guide to what to see in Phoenix and Tucson (and yes Poindexter Durocher, we included a couple ballparks)...
Phoenix Municipal Stadium
5999 East Van Buren Street
(602) 495-7239
• There are ballparks all over the Phoenix area, but if you can only go to one, make it the A's facility, Phoenix Municipal. The former home of Phoenix's minor league team, Muni's got the location (near Scottsdale and Tempe) plus the view (Papago Park just beyond the left field fence). Other favorites include Scottsdale Stadium (Giants) in downtown Scottsdale, HoHoKam Park (Cubs) in Mesa, and the brand new Goodyear Ballpark (Indians and Reds) on the west side of the valley.
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Hi Corbett Field, Tucson
3400 East Camino Campestre
(520) 327-9467
• The oldest of the Arizona ballparks, Hi Corbett's the current home of the Colorado Rockies—until next year when the Rox and the Arizona Diamondbacks, the two last teams to train in Tucson move to a shared facility in Scottsdale. Hi Corbett is still worth a visit though—it was the setting for the spring training scenes in Major League, and it's now the home to the Independent League Tucson Toros.
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Camelback Mountain, Phoenix
Approach on North Invergordon Road
• It's shaped like a camel's back! It's also got miles of hiking trails, and the best views of the Phoenix area. And if you hike more than five minutes in the Arizona heat, you've got a custom-made excuse to do some drinking later.
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Theodore Roosevelt Lake, outside Phoenix
Highway 60 (Superstition Freeway) to Highway 88 (North Apache Trail)
• Located 80 miles east of PHX in the Tonto National Forest, Roosevelt Lake is a perfect day trip destination for swimming, hiking, boating, and other kinds of back-to-nature fuckery. For a closer outdoor option, try Saguaro Lake (also in the Tonto Forest; take Highway 202 (Red Mountain Freeway) to Highway 87 (Beeline Highway) to Bush Highway), where you can have a beer at the Lakeshore Restaurant on the marina.
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Flandrau Observatory, Tucson
1601 East University Boulevard
(520) 621-STAR
gotuasciencecenter.org/astronomy/observatory
• How many college campuses can you walk across (say, after smoking a joint or some such) and just waltz into an observatory and look at the stars through a 16-inch telescope? Probably lots, but the University of Arizona is definitely one of them. Flandrau's open Wednesday-Saturday, 7-10 pm, and it's just as cool if you haven't smoked. So we're told.
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