Forget the groundhog, Phillies Truck Day is a sure sign that spring is near
While all eyes are on New Orleans and Super Bowl LIX this week, baseball is around the corner. The groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting more winter, but a sign that spring (training) is near arrived Monday in Philadelphia with Phillies Truck Day.
The road to spring training began early Monday morning as the Phillies loaded up equipment trucks for an over 1,000-mile journey to Clearwater, Florida. Among the items headed south for spring training include 2,400 baseballs, 1,200 bats and 900 pairs of socks.
Three tractor-trailers arrived at Citizens Bank Park to bring the equipment down to the Carpenter Complex and BayCare Ballpark, the club's spring training facilities. The ballpark opened in 2004 and is also home to Philadelphia's Low-A affiliate, the Clearwater Threshers. Philadelphia has trained in Clearwater since 1947.
Phillies equipment manager Dan O'Rourke is responsible for Truck Day. O'Rouke has been with the Phillies for 15 seasons and says he's got loading the trucks and moving them 1,000-plus miles to Florida down to a science.
"You basically pick up the clubhouse here in Philadelphia and move it to Clearwater," O'Rourke said. "We probably have about 25,000 pallets of equipment. Again, this is T-shirts, hoodies, anything that the players or coaches would ask for, we have it down there. Our philosophy is it does no good up here. When in doubt, take it to Clearwater just in case."
Then, the trucks will take a three-day, 1,058-mile drive to Clearwater.
Pitchers and catchers report for spring training on Feb. 12.
