What's in a name?

So after a few year hiatus, I have decided to resurrect my baseball blog. It’s a silly little blog about mostly baseball, with some random stories about growing up. But rather than focus on WAR, OPS, and DIPS, I’m focusing more on just regular fans going to the games. Nothing wrong with sabermetrics. In fact, I am a proud member of SABR: Society for American Baseball Research. But there are already tons of blogs and websites dedicated to that. But what is it like to walk into a park for the very first time? Who were these stadiums named after? What’s the grub like? What’s the relationship between Tony Packo’s and the Toledo Mud Hens? Maybe a piece on umpiring at rec league games, a thankless job! 

I plan on taking in a number of minor league games this year. Every so often I’ll post a story about how fun minor league games can be. They aren’t lying: real baseball, real close!

With that said, let’s get on with it!

As Jerry Seinfeld once said, “Who are these people?” 

Ever walk into a stadium and wonder who it was named for and what did THEY do that you didn’t do to get a stadium named after them? Some can be pretty obvious, as explained by Eric Idle in in the famous documentary “The Rutles: All You Need is Cash,” when the Rutles played a sold out Che Stadium in New York: “Che Stadium: named after the Cuban Guerilla leader Che Stadium.” If you want to go down a rabbit hole, watch here for a glorious shot of Che Stadium, starting at 4:30

But I digress. In the coming days, weeks, months, we will explore the likes of McKechnie Field, Al Lopez Stadium, Al Lang Field, Jack Russell Stadium, McCarver Stadium, to name a few. Some you know by name, some you wish you had never seen on TV!

McKechnie Field, Bradenton, FL

McKechnie (pronounced Mc-Kecknie) Field is the spring home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the season home of the Bradenton Marauders. It’s the oldest of the parks that I mentioned above still standing, built in 1923. True, it’s been renovated a number of times, most recently in 2013, and capacity is listed at just over 8500. However, the night the above photograph was taken (March 18, 2015), a new stadium record of 9018 was announced!

Bill McKechnie was a Pittsburgh native, former Bradenton resident, and a Hall of Fame manager. He was the first NL manager to win pennants with three different teams - the

Pittsburgh Pirates (1925), St. Louis Cardinals (1928) and Cincinnati Reds (1939-40). McKechnie was born on Saturday, August 7, 1886, in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. McKechnie was 21 years old when he broke into the big leagues on September 8, 1907, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He spent a total of 21 seasons in the bigs as a player/coach/manager. He bounced around for 11 years with the Pirates, Boston Braves, Yankees, Giants, Reds, and wrapped up his playing days with the Pirates. His lifetime batting average was .251, but had a very respectful career fielding percentage of .954 playing primarily third base and second base. Note that the HOF bio has him at .952, but I tend to go with the respected Baseball Almanac stats which have him at .954. He began his managerial career in 1922, and was a big league manager through 1945, then remained on as a coach until 1946. His 1,892 career victories ranked fourth in major league history when he ended his managing career in 1946, and trailed only John McGraw's NL total of 2,669 in league history. He was nicknamed "Deacon" because he sang in his church choir and generally lived a quiet life. He was elected to the HOF in 1962, and passed away in 1965 at age 79 in Bradenton, FL.

McKechnie field was originally named City Park. The field was later renamed Ninth Street Park and then Braves Field. It was named McKechnie Field in 1962.