Anaheim East, Where Angels Play

TEMPE, Ariz. —  The diamond bears Gene Autry’s name, John Lackey is pitching, and fans in the sun-soaked stands are practically dripping Angel red.

Ignore the cactuses outside the stadium. This is an Anaheim Angels game, and these are Orange County fans.

Spring training draws throngs of baseball fanatics east to the Angel Stadium of Anaheim’s warmer, drier counterpart 365 miles away.

Some come for a game. Others stay for the entire preseason.

“Wherever the Angels go,” says Yorba Linda retiree Art Chocek, “I go.”

Chocek motored his travel trailer here two weeks before spring training started and parked it for the duration in the lot at the local Elks lodge. For each of the 16 games in Arizona, Chocek will be at the ballpark, his wheelchair planted on the main concourse along the first-base line.

“I enjoy spring training more than the regular season,” said Chocek, 66, while waiting for the March 5 opener to start. “It’s like a homecoming.”

With just 9,785 seats, Tempe Diablo Stadium is a small-scale version of the Anaheim ballpark. The two fields both have freeways running behind them, but Diablo boasts the added aesthetic attraction of two imposing buttes on the first base side.

Although Orange County is strongly represented at the games, fans from there are not the majority in the stands. Aging snowbirds from the Midwest, Arizona State students and baseball devotees from elsewhere who came to see any of 12 teams training in Arizona are also in the stands, baking in the dry heat.

But even the ads plastered around the outfield remind fans where this team is from. A Home Depot plug commands potential customers to “Make sure the apron is Orange.”

For Southland fans whose closest look at a player has been on the Angel Stadium Jumbotron, the chance to get an autograph at spring training makes them giddy. Two hours before each game, the first-base line is an undulating mass of fans, each hoping for a sighting and a signing.

This season, autographs from new owner Arte Moreno -- a notoriously fan-friendly fellow who likes to chat with folks during games -- seem just as valuable.

“I’ve met him four times,” Chocek said, grinning widely, then confiding, “I think he knows my first name by now.”

Newport Beach contractor John Schulte is just as thrilled about Moreno’s player acquisitions. “Bienvenidos!” he bellowed as Puerto Rican Vladimir Guerrero stepped up for his first official at-bat as an Angel.

Schulte, 42, chartered a plane with friends to get to that Friday game. The group has dugout suites for the regular season, but they look forward to spring training just as much.

“The off-season is too long,” Schulte said. “We talk about this day for three months.”

As the game went on and the Angels kept hitting -- the final score was Angels 8, visiting San Diego Padres 7 -- Schulte grew increasingly excited.

“We are freaking out,” Schulte said as team newcomer Jose Guillen bounded to first base for his second hit. “That first pitch launched us to the World Series, as far as a true fan is concerned.”

Since spring training games are laid-back versions of the regular season matchups, seating is more fluid. Many fans leave the stands after a couple of innings to get better tanning spots on the spongy lawn behind the outfield.

With room to spread out, families and big groups gather on the grass. Children swordfight with their inflated thunder sticks as their parents try to rein them in for a third slathering of sunscreen. Guys squabble good-naturedly about who’s on duty for the next beer run.

A group of Inland Empire high school teachers sprawled by a flagpole on the lawn alternately shouted at the left fielder in front of them and at one another in a lighthearted argument about who owed what with the impromptu 25-cent bets they laid on each at-bat. About 10 of them, including brothers and other male friends, have come out to Arizona for spring training the past nine years.

“It’s laid-back, very low-key,” said Kyle Shuler, 34, of Corona Valley. “Spring training is a good introduction to the regular season.”

Unlike that group, Huntington Beach couple Rick and Kathy Harris stayed in their seats near the Padres’ dugout for the entire game. As part of a weekend trip to visit family in Arizona, they made time for their first spring training experience.

“We’re big fans,” said Rick Harris, 53, unzipping his Angel jacket to reveal a team T-shirt, then pointing to the Rally Monkey bucket hat on his head. “Can you tell?”

From their $12 perches, they could see the sweat on Tim Salmon’s face and gawk at Manager Mike Scioscia, his expression as easy to read as the guy across the aisle.

“It’s so much more intimate,” said Kathy Harris, 51. “It was absolutely worth it to come out here. They’re our team.”