Editor's Notes: Take me out to the ball game before it’s gone

The Arizona Diamondbacks came to spring training last week with their sights on the World Series after losing to the Colorado Rockies in the National League Championship Series.

With the off-season acquisition of former Oakland A’s star Dan Haren, the Diamondbacks will have the best pitching staff in baseball. Haren joins a starting rotation that includes former Cy Young Award winners Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson. If Arizona fails to reach the World Series, or at least the playoffs again, it will come as a shock to me.

Living in Southern Arizona as a baseball enthusiast, spring training has been a rite of passage and special treat for me. I look forward to the trades, clean slate and relish the chance to watch the talent mesh in spring training.

I find it hard to fathom a spring in Southern Arizona without Major League Baseball. The games at Tucson Electric Park and Hi Corbett Field do not count in the standings, but the sound of bats and the smell of grass bring an month-long feeling of exhilaration that’s unsurpassed in this part of the state.

All three teams training in Southern Arizona might be gone in two years. The Chicago White Sox say they’re moving to Glendale in 2009. The Rockies, who lost to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series last year, will leave without a multi-million-dollar upgrade to Hi Corbett Field and without two more teams in Tucson.

The Diamondbacks decided to train in Tucson when the franchise came into existence more than a decade ago. Back then, the Diamondbacks realized they needed statewide support to buoy the franchise. Unfortunately, Southern Arizona no longer seems a major part of the team’s survival plan.

Outside of spring training, the Diamondbacks do little to attract and retain Southern Arizona baseball fans. There are few special promotions and no winter caravan around the state, introducing new players such as Haren to fans in places like Sahuarita, Green Valley, Tubac and Nogales. And the Diamondbacks have the audacity to complain about low attendance at Chase Field during the regular season.

To add insult to injury, the Diamondbacks will want to leave, too, without the White Sox and Rockies. Maricopa County created a sports authority in 2000 after a bond issue passed to tax hotels and rental cars. The money was earmarked for a stadium for the Cardinals, youth sports fields and spring training facilities.

Nine teams, the Anaheim Angels, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, train in Maricopa County. Two stadiums, in Maryvale and Surprise, have been built by the sports authority. Others have been upgraded. The Los Angeles Dodgers will train at a new complex in Glendale next season, sharing it with the White Sox.

The Diamondbacks embraced Southern Arizona as their home away from home at one time. Former All-Star Outfielder Luis Gonzalez seemed to be as involved with Southern Arizona non-profit groups as Phoenix charities. Now, the players can’t wait to zoom back up the freeway between games and workouts.

If Pima County wants to stay in the game, it should ask taxpayers to raise the hotel and rental-car tax and establish a sports authority of its own. Spring training brings tremendous economic benefits to the region, not to mention the subtle quality-of-life amenities associated with baseball. The cost is worth the investment the community will make.

As Haren and Webb became acquainted Friday and Saturday at the D-Backs' spring facility, Webb told reporters, “We should be the favorites” in the National League. He called the trade for Haren, “One of the biggest acquisitions since I’ve been here.”

That kind of excitement makes it hard to wait for Opening Day. Only this season, there will be a pit in my stomach, wondering how much longer the sensation will last.

Contact Editor James Bennett at 547-9770 or jbennett@gvnews.com. Respond to this column by e-mailing letters@gvnews.com. Comment online at www.gvnews.com.