Unloading Day kicks off Orioles spring training

Pitchers and catchers won’t report for another two weeks, but Orioles staffers were already in mid-season form Friday morning.

Members of the Orioles executive staff and grounds crews, as well as The Oriole Bird, helped unload a moving van packed with the team’s equipment for the upcoming spring training season. The annual Unloading Day, where the team gear is unpacked from a Von Paris Moving & Storage van, traditionally kicks of the team’s spring campaign.

“It’s a very exciting time and the truck signifies that,” said Vice President of Orioles-Sarasota David Rovine.

The van carried more than 24,000 baseballs, 900 bats, 750 caps and 600 uniform tops, traveling 1,000 miles from the team’s headquarters in Baltimore to its baseball operations center at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. The team also brought weightlifting, video scouting and exercise equipment to help the team prepare for the start of the regular season, which begins March 29.

The first team activities of the spring begin on Feb. 13 when pitchers and catchers report in Sarasota. The O's first spring training game is Feb. 23 at Ed Smith Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays.