Cactus League Overview

The Cactus League is a unique experience involving 11 different baseball stadiums all within Arizona. There are eight stadiums within a 35 mile radius in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area, and two more located in Tucson (about a 2 hour drive south of Phoenix).

Join baseball fans around the country for Cactus League Spring Training in Arizona. This year there are 14 teams playing in the Cactus League accounting for over 1.5 million expected baseball fans. Part of the increase in Cactus League attendance is due to the new teams to the Cactus League and the addition of World Baseball Classic games to the baseball spring training schedules. The Cincinnati Reds will join the Cactus League next year, leaving Florida's Grapefruit League and moving into the new Goodyear Ballpark in 2010. That will give each League, both the Grapefruit and the Cactus League 15 teams each. The guide below is an overview of Cactus League activities to assist baseball fans in watching their favorite teams at Arizona spring training stadiums.

The Cactus League is one of the largest organized sporting events located west of the Mississippi. In 2009 , more than 14 million people will travel to Phoenix and Tucson to attend baseball spring training in Arizona. Tweleve Major League baseball teams make the Arizona their baseball home for the month of March. Cactus League baseball fans are fortunate that all of their teams are located within a small geographic area. The baseball stadiums of Florida's Grapefruit League are located all across the State of Florida, from Fort Myer's and Tampa and Orlando.

The Cactus League has its roots in Arizona from the early 1900's when minor league teams frequently stopped in Arizona to play exhibition games before their regular season. Starting in 1946, the Cleveland Indians started to play in Tucson and New York Giants started their spring training in Phoenix.

The Indians set up their spring camp at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson while the Giants opened their operation at the "old" Municipal Stadium in Phoenix. The pair remained the only Major League clubs to hold spring training in Arizona until 1951 when the New York Yankees swapped spring training sites with their cross-town rivals, the New York Giants, for one season.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs started to train in Mesa in the spring of 1952 at Rendezvous Park Stadium. With the addition of the Baltimore Orioles in Yuma in 1954, Arizona's spring circuit was officially dubbed "The Cactus League." In 1956, the Orioles, moved from Yuma TO Phoenix for their spring training.

The Boston Red Sox moved to Scottsdale in 1959 and the Houston Colt .45s started playing in Apache Junction in 1962. The Oakland A's moved to Mesa in 1969, the same year that the San Diego Padres came to 'Yuma. In 1970 the Milwaukee Brewersstarted training in Arizona.

Very little changed for the eight cactus league teams for over 20 years. Starting in late 1988, the Grapefruit League in Florida, the rival location for baseball spring training, realized the economic importance of baseball. This put more pressure on the Cactus League to promote Arizona as a great place for spring training since Florida had introduced various mechanisms to raise revenues to assist communities in building new facilities to attract Major League clubs. Since this time, Arizona has continued to win more Major League Teams, now totalling 13. Several more Spring Training stadiums are currently under construction and several Grapefruit league teams are making committments to move to Arizona in the next few years.

Here is a list of the teams in the Arizona Cactus League and the respective baseball stadiums they play at: