The Legacy Agency has announced that Baseball City – the largest and only interactive Spring Training event in the country- will have The City of Scottsdale and the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau as official presenting sponsors for the second annual event, which will be held in Scottsdale on March 7 and 8.

Over 20,000 fans are expected to join in on the free event, which will have a host of interactive programs, clinics, brand activation platforms and appearances by current and former MLB players as part of the two day celebration that will kick off Cactus League play. The inaugural event was held in Phoenix in 2014.

“Our vision with Baseball City was to give those fans even more added value to their spring training  experience; to allow  people young and old a little more engagement when they are not watching games,” said Mike Principe, CEO of The Legacy Agency. “Bringing the event now to Scottsdale, within minutes of several of the facilities, will enhance the overall baseball experience beyond the traditional game day. We will have something for everyone, and believe that this will quickly become a ‘must attend’ for everyone making the trek to Arizona both this spring and for years to come.”

In addition to the presenting sponsor, the Legacy Agency has added Baseball America as the event’s anchor sponsor and Univision as the events Media Partner. Brands that have come on board for the event include:  Steiner Sports, LIDS, KIND Snacks, Schutt Sports, Uber, Saguaro Scottsdale Hotel, Ferguson Jenkins Foundation, Scottsdale Food Truck Caravan, Rock N Roll High School, YELP, the Arizona Baseball Network and Triple Crown Sports.

Kids of all ages will also have the ability to take part in a special Arizona SciTech Baseball Festival, which brings unique partnerships with ASU, UA and Midwestern Scientists to engage the public in hands on opportunities with the science behind sport, while the The Arizona Spring Training Experience and Cactus League Hall of Fame tells the story of the players, the teams, and the communities that have made Arizona the home for spring training baseball for seventy years.

The lineup of participants in the event are expected to include: Hall of Famers Ferguson Jenkins and Orlando Cepeda, 2014 AL All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley (Cleveland Indians), Chicago White Sox star Melky Cabrera, San Francisco Giants catcher Andrew Susac, the Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Aaron Hill, Oakland Athletics All Star pitcher Scott Kazmir and outfielder Billy Butler, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Wily Peralta, and Chicago Cubs outfielder Arismendy Alcántara among many others.

Just before pitchers and catchers report for spring training, the TOPPS Company revealed their 2015 Series 1 Set of Baseball Cards. The set includes the last card for Yankees legend Derek Jeter, as well as a series of “First Pitch” cards captured during the 2014 season, including rapper Macklemore throwing with the Seattle Mariners, actor Jeff Bridges with the Los Angeles Dodgers, rocker Eddie Vedder with the Chicago Cubs, Boston Marathon champ Meb Keflezighi with the Boston Red Sox, and several other surprises. Digital and hard copies are available for media by request.

“This year’s Series 1 set, coming out just ahead of when pitchers and catchers report, will have something for everyone, from the casual fan to the passionate collector with many surprises as well,” said Topps vice president of product development Clay Luraschi.  “It is a reflection of what we have seen in recent years, fans wanting a good mix of the present and the past with a little pop culture sprinkled in.”

“Baseball History” cards in the set bring the past alive with iconic moments combined with special baseball feats such as Sandra Day O’Connor being sworn in as the first female Supreme Court Justice on the same day that Steve Carlton broke the NL strikeout record (Sept. 21, 1981). “Highlight of the Year” autograph and relic subset includes cards of Ernie Banks, who passed away recently and with the San Francisco Giants winning the World Series, many members of the team were featured in an autograph or a relic card highlighting their win including Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and Joe Panik.

The Series 1 base set consists of 350 cards. The base set will feature Veterans, Rookies, Future Stars, League Leaders and highlights from the 2014 season and World Series. Along with Series 2 (which comes out in June), there will be 700 base cards, which is the largest base card set for Topps in a decade.

Today is SABR Day, a chance to celebrate the beginning of a new baseball season. While the thermometer may not agree, baseball season is just a few weeks away, and baseball fans of all types are ready for SABR’s array of baseball events around the globe.

And while the analytics connotation of the term “Sabermetrics” has in some ways come to define the organization, President Vince Gennaro wants fans to know that SABR is as diverse as baseball fandom itself.

“I don’t know that there is a consensus with SABR members about, for example, Hall of Fame voting or which players are most valuable,” he told Gotham Baseball recently. “People think about the quantitative guys, the ‘Sabermetric’ guys, but I’d say that 60% or more of our members have little affinity for the analytical side of the game. Many are historians, and you can’t divorce the history from statistics.”

At the same time, Gennaro sees how the increase of data has been utilized by teams, a major point in the upcoming SABR Analytics Conference, March 12-14 in Phoenix.

“When making 100 million dollar investment decisions, or in the Marlins’ case, 300 million dollar decisions, you can’t deprive yourself of any information. The stakes are so high, and the proliferation of data is so great, even from what existed five years ago.”

As for the Analytics conference, Gennaro notes a few highlights.

“I’m looking forward to a very interesting General Managers panel, Larry Baer as one of the keynote speakers, 25 or more team sending analytics personnel, and our student program in which 20 schools are sending four to six students, with 10-15 executives judging. The students get a tremendous experience and the teams get a talent pool for future hires.”

Alex Torres of the San Diego Padres made history June 21 when he became the first player to wear the new, MLB-approved isoBLOX® Protective Cap in a regular season baseball game. Torres unexpectedly donned the protective hat when called to the mound by manager Bud Black in the top of the eighth inning that Saturday night at Petco Park. The actual cap worn by Torres that night has been donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York for preservation in posterity.

The standout Venezuelan middle reliever and the Padres donated the cap, which made its exhibit debut this week as part of the “This Year in Baseball” case of the “Today’s Game” exhibit, featuring highlights from the 2014 season.  The Museum takes in about 30 artifacts annually from the major league season to celebrate the accomplishments, milestones and historic events of the current campaign.

“The protective elements incorporated into the cap worn by Alex Torres during the 2014 season shows how the game’s equipment continues to evolve,” said Brad Horn, vice president for communications and education at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “As we document the game as it happens through artifacts, his cap represents an important moment in baseball’s changing technology to protect the player. While it is a highlight of this season in baseball, the cap’s significance will continue to show how baseball equipment has evolved throughout the years.”