Terry Park’s glorious past in spring training

Fort Myers, Florida. Thousands of people pass by Terry Park on Palm Beach Boulevard every day, and this park looks very modest.

Just another baseball stadium close to downtown.

And also the place where the best baseball players on the planet have been preparing for the season for decades.

Indeed, too many to name. Baby Ruth in the 1920s, Lou Gehrig in the 1930s. Jackie Robinson. Mickey Mantle. Roberto Clemente. Bob Gibson. George Brett.

Add to that the legendary teams calling Terry Park home for spring training. Beginning in 1925, the Philadelphia A’s, then owned and operated by Connie Mack, began fourteen years playing there until 1938. Cleveland followed in 1941 and 1942 before the spring lull in training came to Fort Myers.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, including the 1960 World Series champions, also played fourteen seasons, from 1955 to 1968. The following year, the Kansas City Royals began their first year as an extended team, starting 19 spring training sessions at Terry Park until 1987.

Fort Myers has been home to the Minnesota Twins (1991) and Boston Red Sox (1993) for decades as each team plays in updated and modern facilities near Interstate 75, with large parking lots and all the amenities you could ever need. expect from spring training base in 2023.

However, in Terry Park, on the corner of Palm Beach and Veronica Shoemaker, there were thousands of players just a couple of miles from downtown Fort Myers. Thousands of memories even today.

“We had so many incredible talents,” said Mark Gubicha, a two-time All-Star who played for the Royals from 1984 to 1996 after spending five spring training sessions at Terry Park. “I loved Fort Myers. I really loved Fort Myers when I lived there and I tell my wife and kids about it. I always remember that Terry Park was a cozy stadium where you felt connected to the fans.”

Gubicha notes that forty years ago this process was not always the easiest.

“We had to go to Sarasota to our minor league camp. At most camps, especially here in Arizona, minor league facilities are linked to major league facilities. There were times when we had to drive back and forth from Sarasota to quit training and drive back.”

Willie Aikens played for the Royals from 1980 to 1984, including five spring training sessions at Fort Myers during the height of the team’s early glory days. “One of the good things about Fort Myers was that I looked ahead. He ate some soul food there,” Aiken said. “They had a place close to the stadium.”

Aikens also noted that this era was a different time in southwest Florida and in baseball. Facilities were much more basic compared to today’s palaces, and the population also changed as more people moved to the region.

“Most of the players said, ‘We have to be ready to go to the old people down there, because they used to have a lot of old people (in Fort Myers)’,” Aikens said with a laugh. “I am at this point right now. I am 68 years old”.

Terry Park proved to be a turning point in Greg Pryor’s career. The Florida native fought his way through the minor leagues for years before breaking through with Texas in 1976 and stellar success with the Chicago White Sox.

Until the spring of 1982, when his world changed behind the fence after playing the B-game against the royals.

“After the game was over, (Tony) La Russa, my manager at the time, told me that I had just been traded to the Kansas City Royals right there in Terry Park,” said Pryor, an alternate infielder who played for Kansas City from 1982 to 1987, including the 1985 World Series champions. “I drove my car the next day and found my way to Terry Park. I had a great time.”

“It wasn’t the prettiest park, but I spent seven years in the minor leagues, so it was heaven for me,” said Pryor, who also talked about how the stands were packed when the Royals won seven division titles. and won the World Cup twice. Series during their last dozen years in Fort Myers.

Pryor also spoke about long-distance travel. There will be four spring training clubs in Lee and Charlotte counties in 2023 (note: the Tampa Bay Rays will not be in Port Charlotte this year due to the hurricane). Decades ago, the Royals played in a relatively remote outpost, making trips to Sarasota County, Tampa, or the East Coast for most of their away games.

All the players described the intimate nature of Terry Park, the proximity of the fans to the field and the players. Their activities after the spring training games were as diverse as the squad itself. Gubicha said he enjoyed catching crabs and going to the beach in Sanibel. Aikens and his teammates ended up on the dog track in Bonita Springs. Pryor said that he and other teammates such as Hall of Famer third baseman George Brett would try to hit them right on Fiddlesticks.

Terry Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To this day, baseball fields are still maintained and maintained, often used for religions and lower level games. The next time you drive by, take a look at it and remember the decades when it was one of the gems of spring training.

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