By CRAIG HARRIS
The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX - Nearly 1,300 miles away from sun-splashed Arizona, Douglas MacKenzie is making his spring training pitch to a few hundred diehard Royals fans in a downtown Kansas City hotel.

The point man for the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau couldn't have asked for better weather. In Kansas City, that is.

It was a frigid 19 degrees and snowing there as MacKenzie explained the virtues of coming West to watch the Royals in their new spring training digs in Surprise, Ariz.

"We want them to know we are open, and we want their business," said MacKenzie, who will barnstorm four other cities with Cactus League teams before spring training games start on Friday. "The Phoenix area should be their No. 1 destination."

With the Royals and Texas Rangers playing for the first time in the 11,000-seat Surprise Stadium, the Cactus League has a record 12 teams playing in nine facilities in the Phoenix and Tucson areas.

The others are the Anaheim Angels; Arizona Diamondbacks; Chicago White Sox; Chicago Cubs; Colorado Rockies; Kansas City Royals; Milwaukee Brewers; Oakland Athletics; San Diego Padres; San Francisco Giants; and the Seattle Mariners.

Nearly half of those teams come from cities where the weather is far from sun-splashed at this time of year, and Cactus League officials hope to capitalize on winter fatigue.

The two additional teams are expected to help the league surpass last year's record attendance of 1.1 million by an estimated 18 percent, according to Cactus League President Jerry Geiger.

"We are all excited about the prospect of two new teams because they will bring more fans to the Cactus League," Geiger said.

In Mesa, Ariz., where the long-suffering Cubs have trained since 1979, Douglas and Bonnie Poulter of Ferryville, Wis., had no problem finding HoHoKam Park.

The snowbirds, who were buying advance tickets, said they will be attending four to five games in Mesa this season.

"For a Cubs fan in the spring, you can still win a pennant and the World Series," said Douglas Poulter, whose Cubs last won the pennant in 1945. "And I come to see green grass in the infield, instead of sitting in Wisconsin and watching it on TV."

The Cactus League wasn't officially formed until 1954, when the Cleveland Indians, New York Giants (later to relocate in San Francisco), Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago Cubs played in the desert.

Spring training history in Phoenix, however, dates to 1929, when the Detroit Tigers worked out there for one year. Mickey Mantle and the New York Yankees also made Phoenix their home in 1951, also for one year, according to Major League Baseball.

Since the Tigers came to town, 17 other teams have trained in Arizona.

Geiger also said that although it's nice to have the Royals and Rangers in the fold, it's unlikely Arizona will attempt to steal any more teams from Florida's Grapefruit League. Instead, he said the focus is to ensure that all 12 teams remain in Arizona and that they have top-notch training facilities.

"Extensions should be at the forefront," he said. "We need money to keep the teams here. We have found a good niche with 12."