TERRY PARK AND THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES According to Wikipedia, The Terry Park Ballfield (also known as the Park T. Pigott Memorial Stadium) is a historic site in FM. The park is named after the family that donated the land in the 1920s. For years the stadium has hosted Major League Baseball spring training as well as a dozen years of Florida State League baseball. The stadium has hosted the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland, Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals spring training needs throughout the years. Terry Park was also home to some early minor league baseball most notable being the Fort Myers Palms and Fort Myers Royals, both belonging to the Florida State League. Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Roberto Clemente, Jimmy Foxx, Bob Feller, Tris Speaker and George Brett are some of the notable players that played there. Terry Park was the spring training home for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 14-years, before moving to Bradentons McKechnie Field in 1969. Following the departure of the Pirates, the Kansas City Royals, an American League expansion team, used Terry Park. With modifications, the field featured artificial turf, similar to that of Royals Stadium. In 1988 the Royal left Fort Myers for Haines City, Florida. The City offered the team a new stadium and opened up a theme park called Boardwald and Baseball that was centered around a baseball theme. Probably the best years of my life, 1965-1971, were spent at Terry Park. Park Pigott got me a job as clubhouse boy for the Pittsburgh Pirates and after they left, i was a shoe-in for the job with the Royals. It was magic then. I would sit with Roberto Clemente and talk about baseball, my goals and ambitions, etc. He really cared. I helped him make sea shell lamp shades to send back to his friends and family in Puerto Rico. My first girlfriend, Michelle, was Elroy Faces daughter. She went to FM Jr High School for about six weeks during spring training. I remember the day the Pirates packed up and left for the last time. It was a rainy, dreary day, as it should have been, and Simon & Garfunkels Homeward Bound was on the radio and Willie Stargell broke a bat when he hit a steamer trunk as hard as he could. I remember the next day when my first girlfriend (figment of my vivid imagination) flew back to Pittsburgh. I stayed home from school, told my mom i had a sore throat (worked every time), and went out in our back yard and watched the jet fly over, then went back in and the Mamas and the Papas California Dreamin was on that particular radio. Its nearly impossible for me to disassociate a song from an emotional event. Landis Gallmans dad, Al, owned Gallman Pontiac and used to give a bunch of the players and coaches a new Pontiac to drive while they were in FM. Many times my boss would have me take a box with a dozen baseballs in it and have em signed by the teams, Pirates and Royals. After her father passed away, Landis was very kind and generous to me and gave me the opportunity to buy those baseballs, and I did. The older I get, it seems that most everything is a circle, just as the Indians say..
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 18:33:07 +0000
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