Garth Brooks at Spring Training
Sunday, March 14, 1999. Associated Press

PEORIA, Ariz. - How it went for Garth Brooks on Saturday at spring training for the San Diego Padres:

COUNTRY CAMPER: After a trip to Mesa on Friday night to play the Chicago Cubs, the Padres didn't get back into camp until well after 11 p.m. But that didn't keep Brooks from making fans happy. As other players quickly hurried home, Brooks stood at the players' parking lot entrance to sign autographs. He stayed past midnight, signing by the light of a security guard's flashlight.

LOW NOTE: Brooks played the field on Saturday for the first time in a game, entering San Diego's afternoon contest with the Brewers in the sixth inning in left field. Facing David Weathers, in his first at-bat, he lined the first pitch back to the box. Weathers knocked the ball down and threw Brooks out at first. In his second at-bat, with a runner on second and two out in the ninth, Brewers manager Phil Garner ordered pitcher Horacio Estrada to walk Andy Sheets intentionally to get to Brooks. Brooks lined the second pitch at the shortstop. In the field, Brooks had one chance, diving and missing a two-out liner with the scored tied at 1-1 in the ninth off the bat of Alex Ochoa. Ochoa got a double and Todd Dunn followed with a single to win the game.

ON THE RECORD: ``I try to sign as much as I can,'' Brooks said of his fan-friendly autograph signings. ``But there is a time when you have to walk away and leave somebody standing.''

But one thing you can say in baseball that you can't say in music is `I'll be back tomorrow.' In music, you're there one night, on a bus or a plane, and gone to the next city.''