LECOM Park turns 100 years old. Here’s what to know about its history and spring training
The smell of grilled hot dogs, popcorn and peanuts coupled with the buzzing sounds from the action inside the diamond and the fans seated around have glistened the Bradenton ballpark each spring for decades.
In fact, LECOM Park turns 100 years old in 2023. The park has gone under various name changes and since 1969, it’s been the spring training home for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
This Saturday is the home opener for the Pirates. They face the Toronto Blue Jays to kick off another Grapefruit League season in the Sunshine State.
Here are a few things to know about LECOM Park and the Pirates:
Park beginnings
In 1923, construction finished at 1611 Ninth Street West in Bradenton. The resulting ballpark has stood for the last 100 years as home to various MLB clubs making the Friendly City their spring home.
The forerunner, though, for professional baseball predates that year. The Bradentown Growers — the city later dropped the ‘w’ in its name — began in 1919 as part of the fledgling Florida State League. They played at Ninth Street Park, before the park currently known as LECOM Park opened in 1923 with the St. Louis Cardinals becoming the first spring tenants.
Bob Beall, the founder of the Bradenton-based department store chain, was the one that convinced Cardinals owner Sam Breadon to move his club to Bradenton for spring training in 1923, according to previous Herald reports.
Since then, various teams made the park home before the Pirates settled in 1969. The Buccos have been the spring tenants each season since.
Name change controversy
LECOM Park went through various name changes, the longest being McKechnie Field, since its construction in 1923. McKechnie was the namesake to former Pirates manager Bill McKechnie. He led Pittsburgh to the 1925 World Series title.
And after McKechnie’s Hall of Fame playing and managing career, he retired to Bradenton in 1962. The park changed its name to honor him that year.
So when LECOM stepped in to secure a 15-year naming rights deal in February 2017, it wasn’t without controversy.
McKechnie’s daughter, Carol Montgomery, wasn’t approached by the Pirates about the decision to end 54 years of the park being named after her father.
The then 85-year-old found out while her husband flipped through a Florida Times-Union paper in their Jacksonville home and saw the Pirates were playing at LECOM, which led to questions of whether there were two parks.
“I was very surprised and really pretty miffed, ticked off that I wasn’t contacted,” Montgomery told the Herald in 2017. “I had no input on it whatsoever and no one from my family did.”
In 2017, Montgomery told the Herald she didn’t understand how the Pirates couldn’t track her down when she threw out a first pitch just three years earlier and McKechnie was one of 13 siblings so there isn’t a shortage of surviving family members around.
It led to the Pirates offering a public apology.
It reads as follows:
“Our intent was to locate any family members living in the area to discuss with them the partnership opportunity that we were pursuing that would include the naming rights to the ballpark. We wanted Bill McKechnie’s surviving family members to know that it was important to us that we continue to honor Bill’s legacy by naming the home clubhouse after him, as well as affixing a permanent plaque that would inform our fans for years to come of Bill’s Hall of Fame career.
“Regrettably, our efforts to find Bill’s surviving relatives fell short, and there is not an acceptable reason for that. The head of our Bradenton operations had recently changed and the general manager of the Bradenton Marauders was out on maternity leave, but we still should have been able to tap into the institutional knowledge of Mrs. Montgomery’s past visit to the ballpark.
“We regret the fact that we did not inform Mrs. Montgomery of the name change in advance of the announcement. Particularly given her trip to the ballpark several years ago, we understand completely why she was not pleased to hear about the change from someone other than the Pirates, and for that we apologize.”
Modernizing efforts
The controversy notwithstanding, LECOM Park has reinvented itself over the years with various renovations to bring the park located at the corner of Ninth Street West and 17th Avenue West into the modern world.
The first major renovations happened in the early 1990s with new grounds, wide access ramps, concession stands, kiosks, improved sight lines, increased seating, the creation of a public plaza and a Spanish mission style facade was constructed, according to MLB.com.
Then the park paved the way for it having a minor league affiliate in the FSL by adding lights in 2008.
And another huge renovation was unveiled in 2013 at a $10 million price tag, when the boardwalk looping around the outfield modernized LECOM Park even further.
In 2015, the Pirates renovated the clubhouse at the park.
Each change has paved the way to bringing the park and fan experience into a 21st century look, while maintaining the classic old feel of the 100-year park.
Tickets and parking info
The spring training schedule for Pirates home games is online at https://www.mlb.com/pirates/tickets/spring-training.
Tickets range in price, depending on where you sit and the game.
Tickets for Saturday’s opener are still available and range between $26 and $45. Tickets are also available for purchase as a three-game flex pack or for the season. Prices and more information are found here.
Parking is limited directly north of the stadium on Ninth Street West, with outfield parking lot spaces costing $15 per vehicle and the Pirates’ home plate lot costing $25 per vehicle. Other businesses in the area also offer parking at various prices.
