It happens every year. For some Pittsburgh Pirates fans, Christmas is coming early this week in Bradenton, Florida.
With the ballclub’s roots tracing back to 1891 in southwestern Pennsylvania, their fan base transcends generations. Winning seasons, losing records, World Series championships, and devastating events such as losing Pirates legend Roberto Clemente in 1972 in an airplane crash while he tried to deliver relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua, have all brought fans together.
While following the players throughout their lives, listening on the radio, tuning into games on TV, and reading about the club’s latest happenings in print and online, fans form an unbreakable bond with the Pirates organization.
For dozens of “super Pirates fans,” this week at the club’s spring training complex in southwestern Florida, their devotion to Pittsburgh baseball rises to a higher level. Two months before the MLB version of the Pirates returns to Bradenton to prepare for the upcoming 162-game tilt of National League baseball, a select group of fans get to “go back to the future” to a time when they pretended to be their favorite Pirates in parks and in Little League.
“In all, we have 96 campers,” said Joe Billetdeaux, a 38-year Pirates employee who is overseeing his 20th Fantasy Camp. “There are several fathers and sons here. There are a few brothers in the camp, and the oldest camper is 83.”
Pirates die-hards putting on their spikes and bringing their favorite wooden bats can count on a baseball schedule that consists of two games daily at the complex’s four fields, plus a three-inning contest at LECOM Park, home to 17 spring training games. There are 17 former Pirates brought in for camp week as coaches.
John Candelaria, who pitched a no-hitter for Pittsburgh in 1976 and was with the club in 1979 when they won the World Series over the Baltimore Orioles, is among the Pirates alumni teaching, talking, and making new friends with longtime admirers. Former players and current Pirates broadcasters Matt Capps and Michael McKenry are also offering pointers on hitting and throwing. All positions from Pittsburgh baseball are well represented.
“We [former Pirates] realize they love the game just as much as the former players,” explained Steve Blass, winner of two 1971 World Series games, including Game 7, that brought a championship to Pittsburgh. “There aren’t too many times that us former players get to put on a uniform anymore. Coming to camp offers us a respite from winter up north. For a week, it’s like we all are stepping back in the past.”
Through Billetdeaux’s diligence in scheduling, downtime for campers is at a minimum. Campers arrive on Saturday from Pittsburgh and beyond, including California, Connecticut, Georgia, Ohio, and Iowa. Many are escaping snow and cold climates. While they’re at “The Southern Home of the Pirates,” a change of pace in leaving work or family obligations home, and just pretending to be a big league Pirate for one week, promises to be the gift that keeps on giving.
All campers are lodged in Pirate City’s dormitories in an environment that breeds togetherness among strangers. Before long, lifelong friendships are created. According to Billetdeaux, the Pirates’ director of alumni relations, the solid, positive experience campers get in Bradenton has many coming back regularly. For new campers, a fee of $4,595 gets them among the squad who get the same royal treatment from the clubhouse and coaching staff that is given to those on the MLB level.
This year’s camp has 12 rookies joining returning campers. The idea of being a Pirate for a few days remains so popular that Billetdeaux has a waiting list of those wanting a crack at having their baseball fantasy realized. There are 40 names on the wait list as of now. Campers who have made the cut to participate are split into four teams that will get to play two games daily until Friday, and included in the schedule is a night game.
David Briles of Columbus, Ohio is one repeat Fantasy Camp customer with a special connection to the Pirates. The late Nelson Briles, David’s father, pitched for 14 MLB seasons including 3 seasons for the Pirates in the early 1970s.
“For sure, this is a week I circle on my calendar each year. Everybody gets to hit, pitch, play, and try to do what they want out on the field,” Briles said. “My dad told me that camp week would be the best week of my life. He’s right. Camaraderie is built up quickly among the campers.”
Along with Billetdeaux and Blass, camp coordinator Kent Tekulve, who was also in the 1979 Pirates World Series championship club, is the “brain trust” making sure a memorable time for all is experienced. To maintain the momentum of baseball dreams in Bradenton after departing for home beginning on Saturday, a reunion of campers is scheduled for the summer at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. A round-robin tournament of games is planned at a Pittsburgh-area high school field. Campers in attendance also get to step into the same hitting cages today’s Pirates use, and campers in attendance are honored at a Pirates home game for all to recognize.
There are 40 campers from the Pittsburgh area who signed up for this week’s Pirates Fantasy Camp in Florida. With more than half the players coming from other regions, the Pirates fan base is spread wide, with thanks to cable/streaming TV and satellite radio. Rooting for Pittsburgh baseball continues to be handed down from generation to generation. Those memories of great plays made by great players linger on a continuous loop with families of Pirates fans. At each year’s Fantasy Camp in Bradenton, these memories strengthen in numbers by those who feel a need to relive them, in uniform, beside their childhood heroes.
