Mets and Yankees fans from Long Island make spring training memories

The baseball season may just be getting underway, but plenty of Long Islanders got a head start.

Mets and Yankees fans alike flocked down to Florida this year for spring training, visiting Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Steinbrenner Field in Tampa and other ballparks across the state. While each fan’s experience was unique, most could agree that their trips created everlasting positive memories.

“It's such a cool experience because it's just really cool to see how the players are preparing for the season ahead, and you could get very close to them and get autographs and you could talk to them, meet them, all that stuff,” said Yankees fan Nicoletta Alcamo, 19, of Massapequa Park. “So it's just really cool, and something that you probably can't really do during the regular season.

“I really recommend every baseball fan to go visit their team’s spring training camp at least once in their life.”

Mets fan A.J. Frey, 42, of Merrick, said: “It’s such a fun way to kind of get the season started. Opening Day is one thing, but this is fun. It's a chance to go and get up close and just see it, and kind of turn your mind over from the snow and cold and everything else we've had to baseball season.”

Alcamo, who enjoyed her third consecutive Yankees spring training from Feb. 11-25, got into baseball in 2017 because of Aaron Judge. She described the three-time AL MVP as her “hero” and met him on three separate occasions this spring. On one of them, she gifted Judge a custom onesie for his 1-year-old daughter Nora.

“He loved it, and he was so appreciative,” Alcamo said. “He's such a class act. He's just such a great guy, and he's had such a positive impact on my life through all the years, watching him since 2017.

“I just wanted to do something special for him and give him that for his daughter.”

Spring training is as good a time as any for baseball-crazed families to plan a fun vacation, and the Schantzes are among them. Eddie Schantz, 37, of Commack, went down for three Mets games from March 8-10 to celebrate his mother Ellen’s 70th birthday.

Schantz’s teenage years as a Mets fan were defined by the success of David Wright, and he got a chance to meet him for the first time before one of the games. Schantz said he had chills telling Wright how much his homer in Game 3 of the 2015 World Series meant to him, and Wright signed Ellen’s jersey of his from the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field.

“He's just a really genuine person,” Schantz said. “You can tell that every time he's on TV and doing interviews, and then meeting him in person like that – it was the same guy. Huge smile, very personable and friendly, and took the time to talk to everyone. It was a really cool experience.”

Bobby Carlock, 72, of Babylon, isn’t a huge baseball fan, but if he had to pick a team it would be the Mets. That isn’t the case for his 14-year-old grandson Braydon Walsh, a big Yankees fan and Bayport-Blue Point student. In February, for the second straight year, Carlock took Walsh to a couple Yankees spring training games as a Christmas gift.

“I think this is going to be his [annual] Christmas present,” Carlock said. “As he's getting older, he may not be able to do things. But yeah, we're going to keep trying to do it every year.”

Mets fan Paul DeAngelis, 30, of Huntington, never had gone to spring training before this season, but his dad and his friends have been going for about 10 years. DeAngelis finally tagged along this year, a trip from March 13-15.

The highlight of the trip for DeAngelis was when his wife and 18-month-old son, who were with family in Delray Beach, met him for one of the games at Clover Park. It was his son’s first Mets experience, and perhaps it could be the start of a tradition between three generations.

“My dad gets a little emotional, so it's definitely something that we'll try to do going forward,” he said. “It's just so easy … Going to those games is almost more fun and a better time than going to the actual games with him, because he just wants to run around.”

And for the true baseball diehards, nothing is better than the access at spring training.

Frey had vacation days to burn and took a short two-day trip to Florida. It was baseball, baseball and more baseball. He started at a World Baseball Classic game in Miami on March 9, then went to Port St. Lucie on March 10, going to the backfields in the morning and the Mets game in the afternoon before his flight that night.

He noted his appreciation for the up-close drills, whether it was Wright working with Bo Bichette or the minor-leaguers working on baserunning drills with modern technology showing pitchers on on-field TVs.

“If you appreciate the game,” Frey said, “it's just a fun thing to see.”