Sports History
Headin' South
By Anne Madarasz

It's a tradition more than 100 years old, but every year it feels as fresh and new as spring itself. It's spring training - a time of renewal when the hopes of baseball fans and players alike are reborn. This year, Pirates pitchers and catchers reported for spring training in Bradenton, Florida on February 13th.

The Bucs have held a spring training session since at least 1900, this is their 40th year based at McKechnie Field in Bradenton. Other teams have an even longer tradition of spring training - as early as 1875 the Boston Red Stockings gathered their players in a gymnasium for preseason workouts that included running, vaulting, bowling, and swinging the Indian clubs. Other teams moved their training sessions outside; some such as the Chicago White Stockings choose the popular destination of Hot Springs, Arkansas. By the mid-1890s, southern destinations predominated and spring training became both popular with the fans and a potential source of revenue for owners. The benefits of training were recognized - it brought players, many who had to work an off-season job, back to the game, and generated excitement and ticket sales for the season ahead. It also gave management a chance to evaluate players and finalize the season's roster.

The Pirates journeyed to a number of training sites in the early years. They went to camp in Selma, Alabama, and Thomasville, Georgia, in 1900 then spent 13 seasons in Hot Springs. Training sessions were often punctuated by hunting and fishing trips that made the most of what these warmer destinations had to offer. Some teams also barnstormed the south, playing in multiple locations. The Pirates spent time in Kentucky, then settled in California for most of the 1920s through the early 1950s, except for the war years when teams, trying to save money and simplify travel, found a northern location for camp. For the Pirates, that was Muncie, Indiana. In 1953 the Bucs held camp in Havana, Cuba, but the establishment of spring training leagues in both Florida and Arizona enticed many teams to make those states their permanent location.

The Bucs spent spring in Fort Pierce, Florida, in 1954, then Fort Myers, before giving Bradenton a try in 1969. McKechnie Field, originally built in 1923 for the St. Louis Cardinals, had numerous tenants before the Pirates, but it has been the Bucs permanent spring destination for the past 40 years. Named for former Pirates manager and Hall of Famer Bill McKechnie, the field has been called the "Fenway Park" of spring training sites for its traditional design. A Wilkinsburg native, McKechnie managed the Bucs to a World Series championship in 1925 and the Reds to one in 1940. One of only two managers to win pennants with three teams, he settled in Bradenton after a long and successful career in baseball. His name connects the Pirates spring training facility to a legacy of championship teams.

Anne Madarasz is the Director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum which features the story of Pirates baseball.