Greetings from Jupiter, FL. It’s
that time of year again Cardinals/Redbirds fan. Dust off your bats and gloves
because Grapefruit League Baseball is upon us. The quest to bring another world
championship to St. Louis began when pitchers and catchers reported on Feb. 14^th
and is now in full swing with the addition of the position players on Feb 19^th.

My journey to Jupiter began early
in the morning on Sunday the 13^th only 3,000 miles away at the San
Francisco airport. I was fired up because both of my bags made it under the
50-pound limit (one was 50 and the other 49) and I avoided the extra charges.
Spring Training was getting started on the right foot before I even boarded the
plane. Now one thing that has been a guarantee for me ever since I have been a
Cardinal is that long trip from San Francisco to Jupiter. I know an Arizona
site would be a lot easier for me but our setup and facilities at Roger Dean
Stadium are first class and worth the cross country trek. Even though it is my
fourth spring training (second big league camp), that trip out to Florida is
always as exciting as it is long. I look forward to trading in the off-season
sessions in the weight room at my old high school (St. Francis, Mountain View
shout out!!) for the batting cages and backfields of the Roger Dean Complex.

My roommate this spring training is
none other than the biggest University of Miami fan, Mr. 305 himself: Jon Jay
(you can follow Jon on Twitter: @jonjayu).

Just in case you don’t remember what he looks like>>

During spring training everyone has
the option of staying at the team hotel or finding accommodations on their own.
Jon and I decided to rent a condo near the PGA National golf course in Palm
Beach Gardens. Great Decision.

Our condo for the next six weeks >>

The hotel can get old sometimes, especially for
6 weeks but here in the condo we have a nice living room, a kitchen (where I do
some of my best work), and our own rooms. Not to mention the pool that is a 30
second walk from our front door, not too shabby.

The view of our pool>>

I was tired after a long day of
travel and getting settled into the condo so I called it a night pretty early…even
though I was going through my yearly adjustment from west coast time to east
coast time which is never fun, by the way. The plan was for Jon to arrive
Monday morning, unpack his stuff, and then we were going to head to the field
to report a few days early and get going. I awoke to my phone ringing a little
before 4am- it was Jon. He was so ready to get to Jupiter that he couldn’t
sleep and just decided to make the hour drive up from Miami in the middle of
the night. With him being so excited, that got me excited. We sat there at 4:30
in the morning just catching up and getting fired up about the next six weeks
of spring and the season that follows. It was pretty funny.

Jon and I relaxing at the new place>>

We went to the field the next day,
settled into the clubhouse, said hello to old and new teammates, and got a
short workout in (though it was unofficial because we didn’t have to be there
until Saturday). The off-season has come and gone and now it is time to get to
work.

Stay tuned as I post more updates about
what goes on at St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training!