Nothing says spring in Arizona quite like the smell of hotdogs and the steady, rhythmic sound of a solid sphere smacking into the leather pocket of a baseball glove or the crack of a bat as your favorite team warms up on the field.

Like hiking South Mountain and climbing Piestewa Peak, spending the afternoon at one of the multiple Cactus League fields around the Valley is a rite of spring passage in Arizona.

The tradition started in the heart of South Phoenix when the Detroit Tigers were the first Major League Baseball team to set up camp and train here in 1929. The team played a few exhibition games with local teams and MLB teams at Phoenix Riverside Park, near Central Avenue and the Salt River.

Some community members yearn to awaken that history with a spring training facility on their “wish list” for the South Mountain/Laveen area. However, given the expense of building a stadium, it’s not likely to happen, even with the new South Mountain Freeway poised to bring in development when it opens in late 2019.

“It’s a nice fantasy, but not realistic,” says Phil Hertel, a longtime Laveen resident and a member of the Laveen Citizens for Responsible Development. “When you look at the price of hundreds of thousands of dollars per acre… well, I just don’t see it happening. It’s too expensive. I just don’t think it’s economically feasible.”

The City of Phoenix has only a single Cactus League facility–Maryvale Stadium–where the Milwaukee Brewers train and play each spring. City officials have shown little interest in stretching the city’s tight budget to accommodate something that pricey. Instead, suburban cities such as Goodyear, Surprise and Tempe have offered up state-of-the-art complexes to attract MBL teams.

At least for now, residents in Laveen and South Phoenix will have to get their spring baseball fix by driving to such nearby facilities, or from various youth sports leagues, including the Laveen Softball and Baseball Sports Association, formerly known as Laveen Youth Ball Association, that has served up recreational baseball, softball and T-ball to area children for 27 years in fall, summer and spring leagues.

The Laveen Baseball League was started five years ago and currently offers a spring season for area children. Both groups are registering now for spring. Visit www.lybaonline.com or www.laveenbaseball.com to learn more.

In Arizona, the baseball tradition started decades ago when in 1909 the White Sox were making their way home from training in California and stopped on March 30 in Yuma to play a game at the opening of the Laguna Dam in the Arizona Territory – statehood didn’t come until 1912. The dam on the Colorado River was no longer necessary by the late 1940s, but by then baseball had gotten a firm grip on the state.
According to the Society for American Baseball Research, after the Detroit Tigers spent the one season training in South Phoenix, there was a gap before the roots of the Cactus League took hold. In 1946 Tucson resident Bill Veeck purchased the Cleveland Indians and brought them to train at a guest ranch he owned.
The next year, the Giants came to Arizona to train at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, near the corner of Mohave and Central avenues. Four years later, the Chicago Cubs began training in Mesa.

Over the years, the league has grown and expanded to its current 15 teams in 10 stadiums. Andrew Bagnato, a spokesman for the Arizona Cactus League Association, said new stadiums in cities such as Surprise, Peoria and Goodyear offer homes to more than one team, which has helped the league to grow.
To bring a team back into South Phoenix or Laveen, the City of Phoenix would have to be willing to spend money, something that Hertel does not believe likely given the price of land.

Randy Policar, a spokesman for the City of Mesa, noted that when the Chicago Cubs were thinking of leaving the city because of the aging Hohokam Stadium, voters approved a $7.7 million package to build Riverview Park, adjacent the new state-of-the-art Cubs training facility, for residents to use year-round. The $99 million Sloan Park baseball stadium anchors a 146-acre sports complex that includes the stadium, practice fields and a player development center.

“The Cubs had a pretty significant offer from Naples, Florida,” Policar said. “Mesa had to make a good offer to keep them. The Cubs have trained in Arizona for more than 60 years. That’s a big of chunk of Cactus League and Arizona history that could have gone away.”

To persuade voters to support the new facility, Policar said the city added in all the park amenities that are used year-round by locals. “Reaction to the park has been incredible. It’s always busy, even when it’s 115 degrees.”

Mesa officials envision the multimillion dollar Sloan and Riverview complex as a destination itself for both locals and tourists. The park offers a lake with fishing, splash pads with multiple fixtures for different ages, a 50-foot tall Genesis climbing tower, a 60-foot long caterpillar mesh rope climbing structure, two playground clusters for ages 2-5, 6-12 and older, shade play and picnic areas, miles of accessible sidewalks and more.

Policar predicts that as new training facilities are built, the trend for dual purposes will continue. He points out the Peoria Sports Complex, which hosts two MBL teams, as well as the Peoria Javelinas, the Arizona League Padres and the Arizona League Mariners. The complex is also host a variety of events year-round. “It’s a regional draw, and just not for March,” he said.

The economic impact of the spring training on local tourism Valleywide is estimated at $544 million for 2015 (the most recent year the Cactus League has data available). Those dollars are specifically tied to out-of-town guests and expenditures. Another Cactus League study, which focuses on local expenditures, put the economic value at nearly $266 million.

This article first appeared in the March 2, 2017 print edition of the South Mountain District News.

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This article first appeared in the November issue of the South Mountain District News.

In 1986, the population of Laveen was just shy of 10,000 residents. There were two elementary schools and one high school.

Cotton fields were more common than street lights and the Central Arizona Project had just been completed, bringing water from the Colorado River to flow into a burgeoning Phoenix metro area on the brink of enormous growth.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Wyoming, Jeannette “Jan” Hoskovec had been teaching in Wyoming for three years in the economically depressed state. She heard about the growing opportunities in the desert and decided to move to Arizona, nabbing her first job as a substitute teacher in the Laveen Elementary School District in 1986.

“When I started out here, it was more rural,” Hoskovec recalls. “There was nothing down on Baseline Road. It was a two-lane road. There was the little shop at 51^st and Baseline, the Laveen Store, and that was the only grocery store.”

Hoskovec’s part-time gig quickly evolved into a full-time teaching position and now, three decades later, she is preparing to retire in May after teaching two and sometimes three generations of Laveen families, mostly at Laveen Elementary School.

“I have had the parents of my students come to my class. I am now teaching their children. You build these relationships with these families,” she said. “I tell the kids, ‘I know your parents. They know what type of person I am and my expectations.’ Some of them I know their whole families.”

While family names may be the same, other aspects of education in Laveen have changed significantly during Hoskovec’s years of teaching mainly social studies to local students.

When her career in the Laveen district began, there were only two schools: Laveen Elementary, then housed in a 50-year-old structure on the southeast corner of 51^st Avenue and Baseline Road, and M.C. Cash. Both schools have since been renovated with M.C. Cash opening at its new location in 2013.

Hoskovec moved with the rest of the Laveen Elementary team to their new site in 2011. She praised the district for its efforts to keep up with the phenomenal growth of Laveen, which now has nearly 70,000 residents, and of the district, which opened its 8^th school this fall to help serve nearly 7,000 children from preschool to 8^th grades.

“We have seen a lot of growth out here. From two schools to now eight,” Hoskovec said. “You have more diversity in your student population this way. But you lose the smallness – though there are still families who live out here who have grandparents here.”

Of all the changes, though, she said technology has had the biggest impact on teaching and interacting with students and parents. She remembers doing report cards using carbon paper. “Now we have programs and you print out things.”

“The pendulum just swings every so often. My whole teaching style has changed … I use technology all the time,” she said. “Students and parents can go online on and see grades any time.”

“Laveen has been good about getting this technology to us and training us,” she said “It’s very interactive. I can do a PowerPoint and the kids can do the answers. I have a web page so parents have access to that,” Hoskovec said. “You can teach an old dog new tricks. Technology is there to make our lives easier.”

Dr. Bill Johnson, superintendent for the district, said Hoskovec’s contributions over the years are much appreciated.

“Teaching has a ripple effect, not only on the life of the student, but everyone that the student eventually associates with during their entire life. With 30 years of dedicated service to the students of Laveen, Ms. Hoskovec’s impact has spanned multiple generations and the positive effects and the numbers of lives that have and will be touched are incalculable.”

An avid traveler all her life, Hoskovec is making plans for seeing more of the world when she retires in May. Her sister lives in Norway, so Europe is on the agenda as well as seeing more of the United States and its national parks.

“I love to travel. Education has allowed me to do that. I have seen a lot of the world. I have been to all but about nine states – that’s my bucket list,” she said. “And I want to go to more national parks. Because I’m over 62 I can get into state parks for free.”

But Hoskovec is taking lasting memories with her, and a great deal of satisfaction.

When my kids come back to me – several high school kids – I ask them how they’re doing. And they usually tell me ‘you were right about everything,’” she said. “They all come back and tell me that. It’s neat because then I feel like I have done my job. That’s why I became a teacher. They know I care about them. I never married; I consider all these kids to be my kids.”

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This article first appeared in the October SMDN

For Laveen residents, the juxtaposition of rural farmland with urban infrastructure generates a folksy ambiance and homey atmosphere characteristic of living in this Phoenix suburb.

Nowhere is that downhome feeling paired with more efficiency than at the tiny, but mighty, Laveen Post Office that sits just south of Dobbins Road on 51st Avenue.

That intersection is central to Laveen’s history with the first general store owned by the Laveen family sitting on the southeast corner.

Roger G. Laveen served as the first post master, operating the post office inside the store beginning Sept. 30, 1913 when the Laveen Post Office was officially recognized. Roger and his brother Walter, as well as other family members, are credited with the founding of the community named for them.

In May 1969, according to a short news article, land was purchased for $2,500 south of Dobbins Road to build a 12,390-square-foot structure. In April 1974, Laveen Post Master Ralph S. Spotts announced in another news article that a $40,000 contract had been awarded to Laveen Enterprises Inc. to build the new post office with an expected opening date of September 1974.

Agnes Spotts, his widow and a 35-year resident of Laveen, said the quality of the small post office has been impeccable during all the years she has lived here. “It’s always given great service. The service has always been perfect,” she said.

On any given morning, the Laveen Post Office, which has two retail windows inside a tiny waiting area that comfortably fits only about five people along with various packing supplies, is bustling from opening at 8:30 a.m. to midmorning. There’s a tiny lull before the lunchtime rush, and another big push between 2:30 and closing at 4:30 p.m.

Residents bustle in and out, checking the banks of 1,041 post office boxes, or waiting in line to mail packages, pick up items or purchase stamps. Small business owners greet each other with familiarity, many using the post office for their business mailing address.

On a recent Monday afternoon, each of the about 15 parking spots were full, with vehicles squeezing out spots in gravel areas and along the fence that separates the post office from the Laveen School District’s Transportation Department.

Karen Lopez, current post mistress, poked her head out the pick-up window briefly, saw a line of about 15 people waiting and said she’d have to answer questions via email because there simply wasn’t time for her to take a break.

Lopez, an energetic and outgoing woman, has been in charge of the post office and its auxiliary locations in Laveen since 2005. When asked what makes the Laveen location special, Lopez praised her coworkers.

“While I’ve worked with many outstanding postal employees over the course of my career, the team we have in Laveen makes me especially proud because of their commitment to service,” she said. “Some of the original clerks that many people know have now retired, but they were active members of the Laveen community (such as) Pat Cervantes, Sharon Anderson and Gloria Villa.”

Keeping up with the pace of growth and change in Laveen has been an ongoing challenge. “We have gone from six routes in a 1,600-square-foot building back in 2005 up to 15 routes spread out into our three facilities that make up our Laveen Post Office. We have almost doubled in size in the last 10 years to meet the needs of the Laveen community.”

Lopez said employment fluctuates, but on average the Laveen Post Office averages 25 employees, which includes five clerks, 15 regular carriers and from five to 10 substitute carriers. Extra staff is being added currently as the USPS enters its busiest season.

Peter Hass, with USPS corporate communications for Arizona, said the Laveen Post Office served about 13,800 deliveries in 2015; up less than 3 percent from the previous year. Although there will be significant growth in the coming years in Laveen and nearby, he said there are no plans to expand.

“There are no current plans to expand the Laveen Post Office or to seek a new location. However, it’s important to note that the U.S. Postal Service is constantly evaluating its facility needs to provide the best possible service to our customers,” Hass said.

Hass also said that the advent of online options for ordering stamps, purchasing and printing postage for packages and even arranging for package pick-up using USPS.com, has decreased the need for physical structures compared with years past.

SOURCE: USPS

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