Tekulve Ready to Steer Pirates Fantasy Camp

Kent Tekulve is the perfect ambassador for the ultimate Pittsburgh Pirates fan experience taking place this week in Bradenton.

It’s baseball time, once again, at the “Southern Home of the Pirates” – sort of.

Baseball dreams will come alive all this week at Pirate City and LECOM Field. Pirates fans will be flying into SRQ ready to play ball. Many are retired, others old enough to remember watching on TV and listening to the radio, when the “We Are Family” club led by “Pops” Stargell won the 1979 World Series.

Men and women are expected to participate in what many call a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Everything about the camp is first-class; MLB level all the way. Clubhouse personnel are waiting with big league uniforms. Former Pirate players are ready to coach, medical staff, video and photography staff are powered up, and the groundskeepers are doing their magic on the fields.

Through the guidance of camp coordinator Joe Billetdeaux and camp director Tekulve, for the dozens of fans participating in this annual Pirates experience in Bradenton, surely the scheduled events will be memory-makers, for sure.

Once campers lace up their cleats, put on their caps, and dress in the same clubhouse that their Pittsburgh heroes have done for decades dating back to 1969, that’s when Tekulve works his baseball magic.

During a recent phone conversation with the former Pirates all-star reliever about his involvement with the camp, it’s clear that he’s all in on doing his best to send every single camper home with a major league experience, right down to every detail that he and his teammates experienced.

Tekulve gets what it means to be a fan. He gets how important Bradenton is to the Pirates. Having last gone to spring training with the Pirates in 1985, aside from his visits each winter with the camp, amazingly, the Cincinnati, Ohio native is able to easily rattle off names of streets, roads, and bridges leading to Pirate City.
Tekulve, winner of 94 games and collecting 184 saves during his playing days, has a keen understanding of the fine line between being on an MLB roster and rooting for a team from the bleachers. His sensitivity towards the fans who are spending thousands of dollars to live out their fantasy as a Pirate for one week is what makes this winning concept a reality of smiles.

“It’s (fantasy camp) an intriguing concept. I wasn’t drafted. I had to work my way through the minor leagues,” recalls Tekulve, who pitched at Division-III Marietta (OH) College. “I could have been the guy playing in the camp if I didn’t make it with the Pirates.”

Tekulve’s voice smiles when talking about the fun he had living life as a pro ballplayer. It’s his goal with the campers to pass on that experience this week.

Packed with his 15 seasons spent with the Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, and finishing up his MLB career with his hometown Reds in 1989, on the ball fields at Pirate City, Tekulve will be armed with a staff consisting of 14 former players that wore the Pirates jersey.

Among the instructional staff campers will have at their ready is former CY Young winner Doug Drabek, MLB All-Star Mike Easler, Al Oliver of the 1971 Pirates World Series championship club, and Gold Glove-winning catcher (and Manatee County resident) Mike LaValliere.

Tekulve,76, came aboard full-time with the fantasy camp after Nelson Briles, another celebrated MLB hurler who logged three seasons of his 14-year career with Pittsburgh, passed away in 2005.

“Joe (Billetdeaux) asked me to be involved,” says Tekulve, who supervises the teams playing.

When rulings are needed to what takes place on the field, Tekulve has the final say.

Along with assembling ex-major leaguers to work with campers, who, as Tekulve believes “get why we are there”, the joy of bonding with the campers is extremely gratifying for him. Gaining three saves in the 1979 World Series is an accomplishment Tekulve is proud of but doesn’t boast of. His here and now is all about creating the best possible experience for campers.

The success over the years of the Pirates fantasy camp is truly a collective team effort.

“It’s exciting to watch the camaraderie grow during the week and see the campers become best friends. The campers become relaxed, conversations begin, and friendships develop that will last forever,” Tekulve promises.

One constant with the Pirates fantasy camp is a roster of repeat campers. The games played on the field are fun, as they get to do what early childhood plans had hoped for.

For Tekulve, heading to Bradenton each January for the camp is the unofficial start of the baseball season.

“The excitement of the campers putting on their official Pirates gear never gets old,” Tekulve explains. “It doesn’t matter to them what team they get assigned to. They are playing games all day.”

For the days that the campers call Bradenton home, they leave all their thoughts of work at the office, from the factory, or other obligations – at home. Their minds are solely focused on what it must have felt to be a Pirate, and the here and now of fielding and hitting.

Tekulve is amazed at how much the campers remember, in detail, aspects of his career. According to Tekulve, campers eat up all the stories they are told during conversations with the coaching staff. A connection is formed between the pro and the camper.

The fantasy camp, which is sold out, promises a special week for those traveling great distances. Billetdeaux and Tekulve have all their bases covered in fulfilling dreams so many thought wouldn’t be possible.

Although “There’s no crying in baseball” after the last event scheduled during camp week concludes, there’s a better than average chance that there will be more than a few campers, while packing up, needing a Kleenex, just in case.