Payne Park, Home of the Boston Red Sox, Sarasota FL. Postcard

"Baseball Fans come from far and wide to see the pennant winning Boston Red Sox in Spring Training at Payne Park.  Tourists enjoy the warm sunny days at Sarasota's large, modern trailer park shown in background."

This postcard is unused, but the Red Sox played at Payne Park between 1933 and 1958.

Daytona Beach Florida Ballpark

I found this great postcard in an old friends collection. I don't know a lot about it, so any help would be appreciated! On the back, it reads-

Daytona Beach is essentially a resort and tourists' town and in order to provide an adequate recreational center for the many visitors, the city has built up an island in the Halifax River, known as the City Island Playground. Here one will find baseball, being the home of one of the major baseball league clubs, shuffleboard, lawn bowling and many other games so popular with tourists.

Hensley Field- Lakeland Florida

I know, I picked a bad time to visit a park and get photos. Still, I got a couple of shots of the other Lakeland area park that has hosted the Tigers for spring training.

Joker Marchant Stadium- Lakeland, FL

Joker Marchant Stadium was a highlight of our baseball road trip.

Physically it was not the most impressive park but, over all, it just had a nice feel. Good staff, good fans, and good atmosphere.

The Detroit Tigers coaches and players seemed happy to see the fans, and even interacted well. Check out the photo of Tom Brookens hamming it up for a fan's photo! Awesome!

Unlike some of the other parks we visited, the Tigers were pushing the home town minor league Flying Tigers. The usual home team's merchandise was available in the gift shop, and they had Flying Tiger souvenir cups at the concession stand (you could choose that, or a Detroit Tiger's spring training cup). Oh, and season schedules for the minor league team were available.

To me, ticket prices here were a bit more reasonable. We had a couple of seats in a very nice area near the Tiger's dugout. Stadium staff came around to check tickets before the game. And again, unlike at some other parks, I thought the staff was at least pleasant as they asked people to return to their actual seats. We had a good time chatting with fans in our area!

Check out the picture of the guy who brought his stuffed tiger to the game! it looks like the tiger has his neck turned to check out the action at the plate!

The Tigers were playing the Nationals, and there was a ceremony before the game acknowledging that great 2006 team, as Pudge was on hand now with Washington. It was very nice.

We generally enjoyed the city of Lakeland too. We found a couple of really nice restaurants we liked downtown. Traffic wasn't too bad either. Sometimes you visit a park and think that it is nice, but you have been there and seen it- and there is no particular reason to go back.

We did not feel that way at Joker Marchant.

I would like to go back to see the minor league team, or to catch the Tigers training again.

Tropicana Field

ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex- Florida

http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/

Osceola County Stadium, FL

We took a moment to catch the Astros playing the Tigers this sprint training, at the Astros facility in Kissimmee.

We had a very nice experience at this park, as it only hold 5300 and it feels very comfortable, while a bit minimal.

The promo for this game was a dog and coke with every ticket which was a treat! Oddly, though the park belonged to the Astros, there seemed to be more fan support for the Tigers. That is spring training. The park had a more casual feel than some, so we felt comfortable venturing out and watching the game at different angles.

Space Coast Stadium Florida

Steinbrenner Field- Tampa, FL.

Steinbrenner Field in Tampa is impressive! In fact, the park, and the vibe had a much more major league feel than a minor league park feel.

Then again, this is the New York Yankees spring training home!

Like I said, you would not guess that the park is the regular season home to the single A Tampa Yankees. If you did not know, you would automatically assume that a triple-A team plays here. I guess thats just how the Yankees do things.

We had a lot of fun here and enjoyed the Yankees vibe.

We parked at the football Buccaneer's NFL stadium parking lot, and took a pedestrian bridge over to this park. The gift shop and food vendors were hoppin' but there were plenty of them, so it was easy to get a beverage, or a shirt.

We had a lot of friendly people around us too which was cool.

I have included a couple of pictures from the ped bridge (showing the football stadium and the road), and one of the bridge.