At last, Old Man Winter is going down for the count. With each day, we receive more and more reports (from Howe Sports Data as well as the National Audubon Society) of blue jays, cardinals and orioles stirring in Northern climbs as they help to usher in our annual Rite of Spring... Baseball!

This year, Oakland County baseball fans have an added reason to anticipate the return of our National Pastime as the Midwest Sliders (the Oakland County Cruisers in waiting) prepare for their season-long “cruise” through the Frontier League.

A 96-game road show will begin with some home cooking as the Sliders open Spring Training camp at Clarkston High School’s varsity baseball diamond on May 7th. With the exception of a two-day excursion to Windy City and Kalamazoo on Friday and Saturday, May 16 and 17, for a pair of 7:00 pm exhibition games, the Sliders will be quartered in Oakland County until their season opener at Traverse City on May 21st.

Baseball Heroes of Oakland County will have an allotment of 100 tickets available for the exhibition games in Crestwood, IL, and Kalamazoo. Stop by our retail outlet in the Summit Place Mall on Tuesday, Thursday or Friday, from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, and on Saturday from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm.

Additionally, the Sliders will be holding open tryouts on April 26 (9:30 am to 5:00 pm) and April 27 (11:00 am to 4:30 pm) at Pontiac’s Jaycee Park. Go to our press release in the PRESS section of our Web site for more details.

Finally, the team is looking for host families for Spring Training and the All-Star break (July 14-17). Forms for volunteer families may be found by clicking on the link at the top right corner of our Home Page.