I was surrounded by baseball fans from Tucson, Phoenix, Idaho, Washington, Colorado and elsewhere last week as the Colorado Rockies beat the Seattle Mariners at Hi Corbett Field.

And I kept thinking about two items I’d read the Sunday before:

• "Let’s Play Ball," shouted a large headline in the City of Goodyear’s 28-page advertising section in the March/April edition of BizAZ, a Phoenix magazine.

• "D-backs already discussing new complex near Phoenix," whispered a small sub-headline for part of Greg Hansen’s Sunday sports round-up in the Arizona Daily Star.

We know the Chicago White Sox will probably move their spring training base to a new stadium in Glendale as early as next year.

Now nearby Goodyear has confirmed it will open its new $78 million, 10,000-seat baseball stadium for the Cleveland Indians in February. Goodyear voters OKd $10 million in bonds for the project in 2004. Then city officials there wooed the Indians to move in next year from Florida, where they had gone after leaving Tucson in 1993.

Goodyear officials also persuaded the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority (a Maricopa County agency, despite its name) and private investors and government to underwrite the stadium, plus 1.9 million square feet of office space, restaurants, bars, retail outlets and housing. The complex will draw tourists and also host community events throughout the year.

The Goodyear council has given its city manager 75 days to sign the Cincinnati Reds to share the new stadium with the Indians. If that fails, Goodyear (and other nearby cities) are eyeing our Rockies.

Meanwhile, Hansen’s column reported Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall has confirmed that his team has discussed a possible spring training facility south of Phoenix with the Gila River Indian Community.

"This is strictly business now," Hansen concluded. "The clock is ticking."

It’s clear. Tucson has lost the White Sox to Maricopa County and could lose the Rockies and Diamondbacks, too.

But we don’t have to lose them. It’s time for business and government officials to finally realize Maricopa County rustlers are working hard to grab our spring training teams and end a 61-year Tucson tradition.

We haven’t yet mobilized a significant posse to stop the rustling. The Pima County Board of Supervisors should be praised for beginning to form a sports and tourism authority, but it will be a lengthy process. And no local cities, towns or tribes have signed up yet.

Key members of both the Rockies and the Diamondbacks have told local movers and shakers they’d like to stay in Tucson for many more years.

But we must first keep the Rockies. Then we should find a replacement for the White Sox and search for a fourth team to train here sometime in the future.

The Rockies need more training and office space at Hi Corbett Field to expand administrative, rehab and instructional efforts for their farm system to seven or eight months a year.

If we don’t step up, they’ll probably decide that no matter how much they like Tucson, they must go elsewhere for what they need.

That would leave the Diamondbacks, who won’t want to be alone here for spring training. They would either have to play more intrasquad games, ride to Phoenix for more games or host watered-down squads for their "home" games here.

So, as Hansen reported, they’re looking for a Plan B.

We don’t have to lose spring training, and we shouldn’t. It boosts our economy by $30 million, according to the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau. We’ve had it since 1947, establishing Tucson as a major city.

But the situation is serious, and folks north of the Gila River seem to be playing a lot harder and smarter than we are.

Let county officials and those in your city or town know you want to keep this March tradition.

A few don’t think you do.

Contact Steve Emerine or e-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Emerine, a Tucson resident since 1960, has run Steve Emerine Strategic Public Relations since 1994. He is a former local newspaper reporter, editor and columnist and served as Pima County Assessor from 1973 to 1980. He is a regular Monday guest on the John C. Scott radio talk show, which airs from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays on The Voice KVOI 690-AM. His column appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.