All things spring

The Grapefruit and Cactus leagues by the numbers

1,700 -- Players in major league camps this spring. 750 -- Players who will be on Opening Day rosters. 113 -- Spring training credentials issued by the New York Yankees (who signed slugger Hideki Matsui in the off-season) to Japanese media. 114 -- Credentials issued by the Yankees to non-Japanese media. 20 -- Total spring training credentials issued by the Montreal Expos. 14,632 -- Average attendance at Scottsdale Stadium for San Francisco Giants exhibition games last spring 3 -- Teams that had an average attendance of less than 14,632 during the 2002 season. (Expos, Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays) 13 -- Players in the San Diego Padres' camp who were not yet born when 45-year-old teammate Jesse Orosco attended his first major league spring training, with the New York Mets, in 1979 $48.3 million -- Cost of the new spring training site, Surprise Recreation Campus, in Surprise, Ariz., used by the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers. 0 -- Percentage of the cost paid by the Royals and the Rangers. 10,500 -- Capacity of Surprise Stadium. 10,187 -- Population of Surprise in 1995. 20 -- Wins for the Baltimore Orioles in 29 exhibition games last spring. 25 -- Wins for the Orioles in 77 regular-season games after the All-Star break last year.

Issue date: February 24, 2003