Manatee County

A proposed third baseball field could be coming to the LECOM Park.

Monday, the Manatee County Tourist Development Council recommended the Manatee County Commission contribute $5 million over three years for the project.

A third field at the City of Bradenton-owned park, 1611 Ninth St. W. would open the complex for state, regional and national tournaments and facilitate downtown revitalization.

All three fields would be lighted and have dugouts.

“The Pittsburgh Pirates did not ask for a third field. The City of Bradenton working with us asked for a third field,” said Elliott Falcione, executive director of The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“The six weeks of Pittsburgh Pirates spring training has an economic impact of $40 million to Manatee County. How do you expand that asset?” Falcione told members of the TDC, meeting Monday morning at The Center of Anna Maria.

The answer lies directly to the north of Lecom Park.

The two-story S. Earl Crawley Public Works brick building at 1411 Ninth St. W., would be torn down to make room for City Park Field and additional parking, Falcione said.

One hundred years ago, what is now LECOM Park, the previously named McKechnie Field, was called City Park Field, he said of the proposed name for the planned facility.

A mid to late-2024 completion date is projected.

Rob Perry, Bradenton city administrator, who is described as the architect of the City’s Capital Development Plan, said the planned expansion of LECOM Park is an enhancement to the city’s economic core.

“It’s a baseball complex but it’s also streetscape and development of an area that hasn’t been touched in a long time and has a lot of potential,” Perry said.

Plus, good, productive activities for children could be hosted at the site, Perry said.

The activities now housed in the Crawley Public Works building would be relocated.

Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown said the LECOM Park project ties into expansion of the Manatee Convention Center and the eight-story, 252-room Marriott complex under construction in Palmetto.

It also fits well with tourism on Anna Maria Island and sports tourism in East Manatee, Brown said.

Restaurateur Ed Chiles, the longest-serving member of the TDC, made the motion to recommend approval of $5 million of funding, spread over three years, for the project.

“I love the way that this is bringing business to the urban core,” Chiles said.

TDC board chair James Satcher said he loves baseball, but has concerns about Major League Baseball. Most notably, Satcher referred to MLB’s moving the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response to a change in Georgia voting laws.

Despite Satcher’s reservations, the TDC unanimously voted to recommend approval of the $5 million for LECOM Park expansion.

“I don’t believe this is about national politics. This is about local community,” Chiles said in restating his motion.

A historic heritage

LECOM Park was built in 1923, with the St. Louis Cardinals as host team. In 1969, the Pittsburgh Pirates began spring training there.

The park has a seating capacity of over 6,600. Lights were installed there in 2008. Since 2017, the park has been LECOM — the initials of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, which bought the naming rights for 15 years.

From 1941 to 1948, play at McKechnie Field was suspended because of World War II, according to a historic marker at the site.

The park became a U.S. Army Signal Corps basic training site and was named Camp Bradenton, a substation of Tampa’s Drew Field.

In 1943, the name of Camp Bradenton was changed to Camp Weatherford in honor of Pfc. Willie Weatherford of Miami who was killed in fighting in the Philippines.

This story was originally published June 5, 2023, 3:19 PM.