Pirate City Transforming to “Baseball Fantasy Island” For Campers

Starting Saturday, dozens of Pittsburgh Pirates fans will begin living out their dreams of being a Major League Baseball player. Camp week starts on December 6. Still months away from the spring training home opener with the Tampa Bay Rays on February 22, but baseball fever will surely be hot at 27th Street East this coming week.

Although the age requirements for participation in the fantasy camp are 30 years old and up, most wearing authentic Pirates’ uniforms are years older than the minimum. They come to play, meet new friends, and head home for Christmas time with a bag full of cherished memories.

To the few observing from the sidelines as campers fill all four fields at Pirate City for workouts and games, envy runs through them from the first crack of the bat. It’s impossible to watch grown men and women, grandparents, fathers, mothers, all being temporarily ordained big leaguers, and not want to start chasing fly balls or jump into the batter’s box.

For as much as campers, who pay for the privilege to be pampered and promoted as their Pirates’ heroes, have a blast living out their childhood dreams, so do the coaches have an enjoyable time.

Doug Drabek, who pitched six of his 13 MLB seasons for Pittsburgh and won the National League Cy Young Award in 1990, knows what a fun time participants have during camp week. Although he won’t be able to attend this year’s fantasy camp, speaking to The Bradenton Times from his home in Texas, Drabek knows how important it is for the Pirates’ alumni to make the campers’ experience memorable.

“Geez, I think I’ve been part of 15 camps. I know it’s at least double figures. Returning to Bradenton for the camp is always a good time. I get to see my former teammates, plus some players that came before me, and who were with the Pirates after me,” Drabek says.

For campers and former Pirates alike, sharing stories of their love of baseball keeps the momentum of having fun moving right along. For campers to be treated as Pirates for the week, and get the complete MLB treatment; spikes cleaned and polished, having a stocked clubhouse stall, and getting to be managed by former Pittsburgh greats – what better feeling before Christmas?

Drabek, who just finished his 17th season as a minor league pitching coach, says camp week seems to pass quickly.

“The first day out on the field, the coaches get to evaluate the campers, and we select our teams. Then, once we get going and are playing games, before you know it, we are on our way home.”

No pressure on the skill levels each camper presents. It’s all about having a good time. For some, it’s been years since throwing a ball or swinging at a slider. Just getting to be a kid again, and with others looking for the same escape from everyday life, is worth the price of camp admission.

Camp Director Kent Tekulve, the former Pittsburgh side-arm slinging relief ace, will be making the rounds on his golf cart around the fields. There isn’t a better ambassador for the franchise and these extraordinary Pirates fans in Bradenton. Every detail to make sure campers can go back in time, to the simpler times of their youth when listening to games on the radio or watching them on TV, and Pirates’ baseball was king, is addressed.

Adults getting to wear an authentic Pirates uniform – priceless. For one week, getting to hang out with their heroes and play on the same grass as the current guys, bringing joy to baseball fans at PNC Park, again – priceless. The hardest part of camp week in Bradenton is being an observer and not a participant.