Jack Roeder blog: Down memory lane at Angels spring training

The first day is in the books, and Wally Krouse, our former Kernels president who made the trip with me, and I had a great day. The flight down was smooth and I was once again reminded that when you work for the Kernels people know who you are.

A nice gentleman in the seat next to me asked how the Kernels were going to be this year. Turns out he was from Iowa City and has been going to see some of the professional baseball games in Cedar Rapids for many years. He was very complimentary about the new Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Although I haven't been to spring training in over 20 years, it didn't take long to remember why it's so special. I've always felt it's like watching major league baseball in a minor league stadium. Noting like hearing the crack of the bat for the first time each year. The atmosphere is hard to duplicate and it doesn't hurt to have a full house, sunny skies, green grass and 80 degree temperatures.

We got to the game late as our flight didn't arrive until 2:00, but it was just in time to see Ichiro hit a triple against former Kernel Robert Fish. There's no shame in giving up a triple to him. It was nice to see 10 former Kernels play in the game today, including last year's closer, Michael Kohn. Former Kernel and a new member of the Mariners, Casey Kotchman had three hits. Walking around the concourse you might have thought you were in Cedar Rapids with the number of host families in attendance.

After the major league game, we walked over to the Angels minor league camp, and a few people were still in the complex. One of those people was Tyrone Boykin. Tyrone was our manager in 2001, and currently manages the Rookie League in Arizona. It was great to see him, and he joking asked if I still had his shovel? That's because 2001 was our last year in the Old Veterans Stadium and we had a ground breaking ceremony outside the center field fence prior to a game that year to kick off the new stadium project that he was part of.

Roady was there to greet us and along with Abe Flores, our Farm Director, gave us the tour. I was amazed at the size of the locker rooms, but you have to remember how many players occupy that space. The AAA and AA teams take up one side of the complex and the two single A teams (which includes Cedar Rapids) are on the other side. I walked through both areas and was proud to see that nearly 90 percent of the names on the lockers had come through Cedar Rapids or will be this year. That tells me we see the great majority of players drafted by the Angels and that's a very good thing and  why we have so many players on the big league roster.

I think that's enough for the first day, and I look forward to seeing many of the former players and coaches in the morning. Believe it or not, they start showing up at 5 a.m.

NOTE: Kernels general manager Jack Roeder will be providing these daily updates from spring training all this week. Check back for updates each morning.