Spring Training may return to the Elysian Fields of Port Charlotte

Spring training may be returning to Port Charlotte.

That's right, the ballpark that was left without a Major League team when Tom Hicks took the Rangers to the Arizona desert in 2003 may once again be hosting Spring Training.

Dennis Maffezzoli, our old friend from the Port, writes in the Sarasota Herald Tribune that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are working on an agreement to move Spring Training to Charlotte County Stadium.

The state still needs to approve $25-30 million worth of improvements but the Devil Rays could start training there in 2009.

The Devil Rays currently hold Spring Training right there in St. Petersburg, the only Major League team that does so in their regular season city. Port Charlotte makes much more sense because the Devil Rays desperately need to improve their visibility along the Southwest Coast of Florida and both Sarasota and Fort Myers are already taken.

The Rangers old facilities are still there although they need serious upgrading and that before Hurricane Charlie went roaring through the area on Aug. 13, 2004.

But they still use the facility for a number of baseball activities, including the Port Charlotte Invitational, a college tournament that has drawn more than 90 teams in each of the last three years. The Kia Tigers from the Korean Baseball Organization held Spring Training there last year and were planning to come back next year.

Apparently a Harley-Davidson shop has also opened right in front of the stadium although the old fruit stand beyond the center field fence is no more.

The good news is that the osprey are still there, although they have left their nest on the left-field light pole and moved to a new suburban home overlooking right field.

Maybe the view is better from that spot but no Spring Training in Port Charlotte would be complete without our favorite birds watching the action from high atop their perch, as well as the alligators sunning themselves on the banks of the ponds that were all around the 63-acre complex.

Not to mention sunsets at Englewood Beach or stopping by the End Zone Sports Bar and Grill, or shuffle board at the Sportsmen's Lounge, and still remember the time the local gent told Tom Schieffer that the shuffle board tables were closed until the dart tournament was over.

"I'm a little too old to be getting in a bar room brawl," Schieffer said as he suggested a game of pool but the gent came back later and thanked us for our understanding.

"No problem," said Schieffer, probably the only future United States ambassador to visit The Sportsman's and I don't think a future President ever made it down there. He was more of a Boca Grande/Gasparilla Inn guy.

All right, it wasn't the Riviera or Palm Beach but it was our home away from home on the Myakka River for 16 years and the osprey always made for the most devoted baseball fans around.

It's time for Spring Training to return to Port Charlotte.