Pittsburgh Pirates planning for spring training in Bradenton, depending on the pandemic
With the start of Major League Baseball’s spring training season just a little more than three months away, Travis Williams, president of the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club, said Thursday he is hopeful that the show can go on.
“We are certainly planning to have spring training, but we have to rely on health experts and what government officials allow us to do,” Williams said during a Manatee Chamber of Commerce Headliners lunch meeting, conducted via Zoom.
“We are hearing great news about vaccines and health protocols, but we have to take a wait-and-see approach,” Williams said of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are hopeful and optimistic but I can’t say with certainty.”
Williams talked at length about how the pandemic brought a halt to spring training in 2020, the challenges of getting players and staff home safely from Bradenton, and how the coronavirus truncated the Major League Baseball season to 60 games.
Williams, who was in his first season as president of the Pirates, said the challenges during the season were unprecedented, personally as well as professionally. Williams had back surgery during the year, and reportedly tested positive for COVID in August.
The sports and entertainment sector was especially hard hit by the pandemic, but “we have persevered,” he said.
“I am not sure that Bob Nutting (Pirates chairman of the board) would have hired me if he had known when he interviewed me that I wouldn’t be able to sell one ticket, one hot dog, one beer or one jersey in my first season,” Williams quipped.
“2020 has certainly been a challenging year for everyone in our country, the communities in which we live and play, and for our families,” he said.
In an effort to stay in touch with their fans during the abbreviated season, the Pirates developed “ballpark in a box,” and mailed bobble heads, shirts, and other items that season ticket holders might have received if they had been able to attend games. The Pirates also sent foul balls hit into the seats to the person who had the season ticket for that location.
Major League Baseball increased the size of team rosters from 40 to 60 players, so that in case of an outbreak of the virus, the teams would be able to muster enough healthy players to field a team.
Jacki Dezelezki, president of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, passed along a question from the virtual audience about the consolidation of minor league baseball and how the Bradenton Marauders might be affected.
The Marauders will remain an integral part of player development for the Pirates organization, Williams said. The Bradenton community will benefit from more focus and resources on the team. Top prospects will be assigned to Greensboro and then brought up to Bradenton.
The minor leagues took a tough hit in 2020 when their season was canceled because of the pandemic, he said.
