Bradenton Herald:
50 & Fabulous: Pittsburgh Pirates celebrate 50 seasons of spring training in Bradenton
By Samantha Putterman
sputterman@bradenton.com
February 12, 2018
BRADENTON - The Pittsburgh Pirates have called Bradenton their second southern home every spring for the last 50 years.
To celebrate, the team is kicking off this year’s spring training season in Bradenton with 50 events around the city throughout the exhibition season.
The “50 Community Celebrations and Acts of Kindness” campaign includes Pirates players, coaches and staff taking part in 50 community-driven events during their time in Bradenton throughout the spring.
“Fifty years? How quick did that go?” former pitcher and current Pirates broadcaster Steve Blass said at the event. “It has been a wonderful ride, and we are delighted to be here. It’s always good to come back and see the people who have cared about the Pittsburgh Pirates ... Bradenton is our second home.”
Donations of old baseballs and bats, training schedules, jerseys, baseball cards and newspaper clippings flooded the glass displays of the exhibit.
A lot of that memorabilia came from Marian Anderson.
Anderson is 86 and a fourth-generation Bradenton native. She was the first secretary to work for the Pirates in the city for their debut spring training season in 1969.
At the event, she flipped through old pictures as she laughed with everyone who walked by and exchanged stories about the team she knew many years ago.
“I didn’t know anything about baseball,” Anderson said. “But I loved it. You just made so many friends and everyone was just so nice.”
Anderson said she still talks to a few ex-players from time to time, but they’re all “granddaddys now.”
Anderson said she was excited to share her Pirates memorabilia for the exhibit, noting how much the team has helped her hometown.
“A lot of the men have stayed here and made this their home, and their children have stayed and gone into business, ” she said, “and people are drawn here from around the country to see the games.”
Blass agreed, and talked about how Bradenton has been a “home away from home” for the entire Pirates organization.
“We have the best, prettiest and nicest spring training here than anywhere in the country. Pirate City is world class,” Blass said.
“I would match this baseball operation in Bradenton against anybody.”
The traveling display of memorabilia will be at the Downtown Central Library in February, followed by Braden River Library (March), Island Library (May), South Manatee Library (June), Rocky Bluff Library (July) and Palmetto Library (August).
Samantha Putterman: 941-745-7027, @samputterman
http://www.bradenton.com/sports/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/article199776379.html