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| Pittsburgh Pirates
are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
They play in the Central Division of the National League,
and are five-time World Series Champions, in addition to
the distinction of playing in the first modern World Series.
The Pirates are also often referred to as the "Bucs" or
sometimes the "Buccos" (derived from buccaneer, a synonym
for pirate). |
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| The franchise joined
the National League in its sixth season in 1887 and was
competitive from its early years, winning three National
League titles from 1901 to 1903, playing in the very first
World Series and winning a World Series in 1909 behind Honus
Wagner. The Pirates have had many ups and downs during their
long history, most famously winning the 1960 World Series
on a walk-off home run by Bill Mazeroski, the only time
that Game 7 of the World Series has ever ended with a home
run. They also won the 1971 World Series behind Roberto
Clemente and the 1979 World Series under the slogan "We
Are Family", led by "Pops" Willie Stargell. Overall the
Pirates have won five World Series and lost two. The five
that the Pirates won were all seven-game Series. After a
run of regular-season success in the early 1990s, the Pirates
have struggled more recently, with 18 consecutive losing
seasons to date, the longest in North American professional
sports. |
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PITTSBURGH PIRATES DISCOUNT TICKETS
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Pittsburgh Pirates Florida Spring
Training MCKECHNIE FIELD
| Capacity
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6,602 |
| Year
Opened |
1923;
last renovated in 1993 |
| Dimensions
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335L,
375LC, 40C, 375RC, 335R |
| Surface
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Grass |
| Local
Airport |
Sarasota
or Tampa. |
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Tickets on Sale |
To be announced. |
| Address
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1611
9th Street W. (17th Avenue West & 9th Street West),
Bradenton. |
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Directions |
From
St. Petersburg, go south on Hwy. 41, make a right
turn onto 17th Avenue West and continue to McKechnie
Field. |
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The Pirates have been training
in Bradenton and playing games at McKechnie Park for 38
years. Though there has been baseball played at McKechnie
Field since 1923, it's actually one of the newer stadiums
in Florida spring training, as the facility was completely
rebuilt in 1993. It's built in a Florida Spanish Mission
style, with white stucco on the main grandstand. The design
is like most spring-training facilities: there are box seats
on the field side of a wide concourse, and bleacher seats
on the other side of the concourse. The Pirates sell box,
reserved bleachers, and general-admission seats. The reserved
bleachers seats are shaded, which is an important consideration
for all games.
McKechnie Field is a very basic park
in other ways: it doesn't have a parking lot (all the available
parking is street parking in the surrounding neighborhood),
but as of this spring it has lights, so the Pirates can
host night games. If you arrive at the ballpark early enough,
you'll want to eat at Popi's, which is known for its Belgian
waffles. Team officials and announcers have been seen at
Popi's before home games.
No other teams play in McKechnie Field
the rest of the year. And the Pirates don't actually train
at McKechnie Field: the team trains at Pirate City, five
miles away from McKechnie Field.
Spring Training History
The Pirates have been training in
Bradenton and playing games at McKechnie Park since 1969;
before that the Pirates trained in Ft. Myers from 1955 to
1968. Other spring-training homes of the Pirates over the
years: Selma, Ala. (1900); Thomasville, Ga. (1900); Hot
Springs, Ark. (1901-14; 1920-1923); Dawson Springs, Ky.
(1915-17); Jacksonville, Fl. (1918); Birmingham, Ala. (1919);
Paso Robles, Cal. (1924-34); San Bernardino, Cal. (1935;
1937-1942; 1946; 1949-52); San Antonio (1936); Muncie, Ind.
(1943-45); Miami Beach, Fla. (1947); Hollywood, Cal (1948);
Havana, Cuba (1953); and Fort Pierce, Fla (1954). The Bradenton
Growers of the Florida State League played there in the
1923, 1924 and 1926 seasons.
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