Play ball: Turn the NY baseball teams' springtime home into your next vacation

There are many clear, if subtle, differences in demeanor, vibe, and approach to the game by New York’s two baseball teams, all of them mirrored by the cities in which they train each spring. Tampa is big and self-important, historic and serious, not unlike the Yankees who’ve spent their Februarys and Marches in the area for the past 75 years, whereas Port St. Lucie, the Mets’ springtime home, often finds itself ignored or dismissed as no-frills and rough around the edges, though loaded with character. Crucially, having recently risen to become Florida’s sixth-largest city, it also finds itself being taken seriously in ways it hadn’t just a few years ago, a team and a town that baseball-mad visitors underestimate at their peril.

Tampa: Yanks unite

Baseball first

Steinbrenner Field in Tampa serves as the spring home to the... — Steinbrenner Field in Tampa serves as the spring home to the New York Yankees. Credit: Randee Daddona

"Try to get a hotel that’s relatively close to the ballpark, because driving down here can be quite an adventure," Newsday’s Yankees baseball writer Erik Boland warned us not long after our plane touched down at Tampa International, an airport served by no fewer than five airlines from Islip’s MacArthur, LaGuardia and Kennedy airports (we paid $250 on JetBlue from JFK), and one that’s just a mile or so from Steinbrenner Field, the Yanks’ springtime home. Accordingly, there are many hotels in the area both high-end and otherwise, namely the 8-month-old and still-pristine HomeTowne Studios, where we snagged one of the 124 rooms — all with kitchenettes — for just $91 a night.

Cheer on the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field. Credit: Randee Daddona

At 11,000 seats — making it roughly one-fourth the size of Yankee Stadium — Steinbrenner presents itself as unavoidably intimate and efficient, not to mention a boon to fans of the Tampa Bay Rays, who will play their entire 2025 season at the park, owing to the destruction of their own stadium’s roof by Hurricane Milton last year. Warm temperatures are nearly guaranteed even if the weather often changes suddenly, perfect for an atmosphere both laid-back and high-pressure.

Aaron Judge signs autographs during spring training at George M.... — Aaron Judge signs autographs during spring training at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Credit: Thomas A. Ferrara

"It’s intense, especially for guys who are competing for jobs," said Boland, "but, generally, it’s a little bit more low-key, and players are generally willing to sign autographs simply because of the size of the ballparks down here." As for where you might obtain those autographs, Boland was equally helpful, informing us that Yanks are often willing to give them along the fences and dugouts of the main field, but also on Field No. 2, where they do their daily workouts. The key thing to remember, he added, is that however much they’re paid, baseball is also a serious job for these men, and they don’t like interruptions during practice. "Players will generally not sign before they get their work done," he added.

Hitting the streets

Catch a Flamenco show at Columbia restaurant. Credit: Randee Daddona

Baseball is also a serious job for Boland, but one he’s loved for the past 16 seasons, not least because of his springtime work home. "Not to sound like a chamber of commerce person for Tampa, but there’s a lot to do down here besides going to spring training." As cities go, it’s a very friendly place and Tampanians (also known as Tampans and Tampeños) have a taste for both the elegant and unvarnished, an attitude reflected in their restaurants. There’s Bern’s Steakhouse, a pricey haunt known for its three-hour dinners and, occasionally, the presence of Yankee players and personnel. Yankees stars past, meanwhile, always made it a point to visit Columbia, the oldest restaurant in all of Florida. Dating to 1905, it once had a network of underground tunnels allowing it to skirt Prohibition laws for years, and legend has it that the police were only tipped off after Babe Ruth, who frequented the place back when the Yanks trained at St. Petersburg, was seen to exit the restaurant visibly inebriated.

Visitors can see murals while walking along Seventh Avenue. Head... — Visitors can see murals while walking along Seventh Avenue. Head to the Columbia restaurant for Devil City crab croquettes. Credit: Randee Daddona

With its 15 throwback dining rooms accommodating an astounding 1,700 patrons, Columbia must be seen to be believed, and though its Spanish-Cuban legacy dishes are many — from devil crab croquettes to baked snapper to house-made garlic salad dressing — the place feels completely au courant and the food completely on point.

Walk down Seventh Avenue where you'll find restaurants, shops and... — Walk down Seventh Avenue where you'll find restaurants, shops and more. Credit: Randee Daddona

There’s a similar past-meets-presentness to the neighborhood in which the restaurant resides, Ybor City. A city within the city, it became the center of the cigar-making world in the late 19th century after U.S. tariffs on imported stogies led Cuban manufacturers to decamp to Tampa. In addition to cigar purveyors, Seventh Avenue, Ybor City’s main artery, is now home to quality restaurants, many carved out of old cigar factories, along with bars, tattoo parlors and chickens. Yes, chickens. Not only is there an abundance of roosters crowing on nearly every cobblestone street, the birds are beloved members of the community (the Ybor Chickens Society boasts more than 10,000 members), so much so that a Tampa ordinance makes it unlawful to "hunt, kill, maim or trap ... or otherwise molest" them.

Roosters and chickens walk the streets at Centennial Park. Credit: Randee Daddona

Worth a special Ybor trip is La Segunda, a bakery that first opened in 1915. Everyone from construction workers to tourists line up for its café con leche, guava cheese turnovers and, especially, its famed Cuban sandwiches, thanks in no small part to the bread from which they’re made. La Segunda is one of a handful of places that makes pan cubano in the traditional way, baking loaves with a palmetto frond atop every one (something about keeping the dough moist). Needless to say, the bakery’s crunchy-chewy output is found in restaurants all over town, and its ovens turn out 18,000 loaves daily.

Blackened grouper sandwich and fried grouper cheeks at Big Ray's... — Blackened grouper sandwich and fried grouper cheeks at Big Ray's Fish Camp in Ballast Point. Credit: Randee Daddona

And great restaurants are all over town as well, many of them showcasing the abundant grouper, which for many years was considered a bait fish but now is something of a Tampa mascot. Nick Cruz, whose ancestors once rolled cigars in Ybor City, grew up fishing for grouper in the waters off south Tampa, all the while dreaming of what would someday be Big Ray’s Fish Camp, a hole in the wall named for Cruz’s grandfather, whose old house is still down the street. If it’s possible for a grouper sandwich to be life-changing, this is the one that’ll do it, made from just-caught fish that’s perfectly seasoned, tenderly cooked, slathered with sauce and served on a bun that gamely tries and fails to handle the proceedings. Also terrific: Big Ray’s grouper cheeks, which are served fried and with tartar sauce.

Bridging the divide

With that, we rented a car, said goodbye to Tampa and headed east on State Road 60 for a three-hour trip through a part of Florida that most tourists avoid but has its own peculiar charms — orange groves, vast cattle ranches on grasslands dotted here and there with palm trees, and the occasional roadside vendor hawking Plant City strawberries, local citrus and more. The landscape changes at a place called Yeehaw Junction, as does the road, as you travel south along the Florida Turnpike, at last arriving at Port St. Lucie.

Port St. Lucie: Mets town

Straight to the ballpark

Clover Park in Port St. Lucie where the Mets spring training... — Clover Park in Port St. Lucie where the Mets spring training camp occurs. Credit: Randee Daddona

"The thing about visiting Port St. Lucie is, you might run into a Mets person, a Mets executive, a Mets manager or coach pretty much everywhere," said Newsday’s Mets beat writer Tim Healey. "This is very much a Mets town."

New York Mets' Pete Alonso during a spring training workout... — New York Mets' Pete Alonso during a spring training workout in Port St. Lucie. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca

Port St. Lucie’s love of the Amazin's is on vivid display from the moment you pull up to 7,800-seat Clover Park, which is awash in the team’s blue and orange colors, from the giant Adirondack chair to the Instagram-friendly mock-up of a dugout, and the stadium entrance is lined with palm trees dedicated to Daryl Strawberry and other superstars past.

Clover Park located in Port St. Lucie, is where the New... — Clover Park located in Port St. Lucie, is where the New York Mets spring training camp occurs. Credit: Randee Daddona

Inside the complex, "you can come to the workouts, you can go to the practice fields, you can be this close to the players on the other side of the fence," Healey said. By comparison with cavernous 41,000-seat Citi Field in Flushing, "it’s a much different experience for hard-core Mets fans out there and people seem to love it." Not surprisingly, autographs are more easily obtained, especially in the backfield, Healey added, pointing to the left field stands near where players practice in the morning.

Jeff McNeil signs autographs for fans during spring training. Credit: Alejandra Villa Loarca

On the town

Scott Vogel with a happy hour margarita at Casa Amigos... — Scott Vogel with a happy hour margarita at Casa Amigos in Port St. Lucie. Credit: Randee Daddona

We found hotels in Port St. Lucie to be surprisingly expensive, although some are good value for larger crews, like the all-suite Best Western Port Lucie, where we paid $159 a night for a room with two beds and a separate living area with sofa bed. PSLers are a convivial lot — expect strangers to strike up conversations most anywhere, notably at places like at Casa Amigos, a rowdy spot with surprisingly good Tex-Mex. Among Mets foodies, Tutto Fresco is a favorite, not least because both managers and players have been known to frequent the Italian spot. Ditto the brick oven pizza palace Pastaio, where "everybody from [Mets president] David Stearns and [shortstop] Francisco Lindor to your local favorite beat writer go," Healey said with a laugh.

On the water

Enjoy lunch with a view at Little Jim's Bait and... — Enjoy lunch with a view at Little Jim's Bait and Tackle at Fort Pierce. Credit: Randee Daddona

A bit further afield is Little Jim Bait & Tackle, a beloved waterfront bar-restaurant not far from Shorty’s Slough across the causeway from the town Fort Pierce. Come for the crappie tournament, stay for the daily live music, addictive house-made onion dip, smash burgers and large selection of drinks both boozy and fruity, including six margarita varieties. It’s about 20 miles north of Port St. Lucie but well worth the trip, especially for its proximity to Fort Pierce Inlet State Park. Equally unmissable, it offers what can only be called world-class kayaking (we paid $40 for a two-hour tandem rental from Sunrise City Adventures).

Scott Vogel kayaks the mangrove tunnels at Fort Pierce Inlet... — Scott Vogel kayaks the mangrove tunnels at Fort Pierce Inlet State Park. Credit: Randee Daddona

This time of year, paddling under the Florida sun is warm but not oppressive, and paddling through the waters' umpteen mangrove tunnels is cool in every sense of the word, their thick canopies sometimes just a few feet in height.

Pelicans taking a dip by Little Jim's Bait and Tackle at... — Pelicans taking a dip by Little Jim's Bait and Tackle at Fort Pierce. Credit: Randee Daddona

Expect to see pelicans and great blue herons and tiny spider crabs crawling up and down the trees, whose dense above-water roots act as an important bulwark against storm surges and shoreline erosion.

Visit Florida this spring and you’ll probably find yourself loving both east and west, bustling and serene, motorboat and paddle boat, no-frills and fancy, Tim and Erik. And maybe there’s a lesson to be drawn here, something about how we’re all just a little bit Yankee and a little bit Met.

OK, that might be pushing it.

Regular tickets to Yankee games at Steinbrenner Field (1 Steinbrenner Dr., Tampa, 813-875-7753, mlb.com/yankees) start at $35, although $30 will net you both a standing-room ticket in the outfield and a drink. Regular tickets to Mets games at Clover Park (31 Piazza Dr., Port St. Lucie, 772-871-2115, mlb.com/mets) start at $27.

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Meet the Mets and Yankees in Florida for only $27 on a spring training vacation