Braves brace for big Spring Training push in North Port after winning 2021 World Series

NORTH PORT – When the Atlanta Braves clinched the 2021 World Series with a 7-0 Game 6 victory over the Houston Astros on Nov. 2, it was the fourth world title for the 145-year-old franchise, and its first since 1995.

When pitchers and catchers report to CoolToday Park on Feb. 14 to start the 2022 preparing for the next Major League season, it will also mark the first time Sarasota County has hosted a World Series champion for Spring Training.

Four times before – the 1924 and '25 New York Giants, 1947 Boston Red Sox, and 1960 Chicago White Sox – Sarasota County hosted a team the spring after its World Series appearance.

“That’s quite an honor, considering the heritage and history of Spring Training baseball in Sarasota County,” said Mike Dunn, vice president of Florida Operations for the Atlanta Braves. “We’re honored to be in that group and to be the first.”

Sarasota County’s relationship with Spring Training baseball started in 1924, when John Ringling used his connections to bring the Giants, then run by Hall of Fame manager John McGraw, to town 97 years ago – just three years after Sarasota County separated from Manatee County.

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The Braves' affiliation with Sarasota and Manatee counties dates back almost as far. The Milwaukee Braves trained in Manatee County and called what’s now LECOM Park in Bradenton its Spring Training home when it won the 1957 World Series title. While still the Boston Braves, the team moved its Spring Training home to Bradenton in 1950 and remained there until the spring of 1962.

LECOM, built in 1923. was known as McKechnie Field when author William Zinsser used it as the setting for his book “Spring Training.”

The Pittsburgh Pirates – winners of the 1971 and 1979 World Series crowns – were the two teams to call Sarasota or Manatee their Spring Training home.

Prior to the Pirates and Braves, Bradenton also served as the Spring Training home for St. Louis Cardinals teams that won the World Series in 1931 and 1934.

The speed at which the home team delivered a World Series title after moving its spring home to Sarasota County has not been lost on North Port city officials, who are working with the Braves to coordinate a welcome celebration once players return.

“For the city of North Port, first of all we’re all very excited and proud for the Atlanta Braves organization,” said North Port City Manager Jerome Fletcher.

“To see them win it all was a phenomenal event,” Fletcher said. “We are over the world proud of them.

“Our partnership with them is something that we treasure and value.

“I would like for us to show that we support them by engaging their players with our community. That’s where the win-win happens.”

In addition to a celebration at CoolToday Park, Dunn added, “I'm sure there will be some nice surprises throughout the Spring Training season that we’ll be able to provide to the public.”

Anticipating a full Spring

Technically in their third season at CoolToday Park, the Braves have yet to actually host a full Spring Training schedule in North Port.

“For parts of three years we’ve never fully executed the building, so we are anxious to do that," said Dunn, who called the World Series crown “icing on the cake.”

In 2019, the stadium hosted a Braves spring game, as the stadium construction was just wrapping up. Then the 2020 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing concerns limited capacity for Spring Training 2021.

“Last year we operated on limited capacity so we’re prepared to open it up to Braves Country,” Dunn said.

Single-season tickets for the 2022 Spring Training schedule go on sale Saturday, Nov. 20.

A total of 32 games are scheduled, including split squad games, with 16 games at CoolToday, starting with the Feb. 26 season opener, with the Braves hosting the Boston Red Sox. That full schedule is predicated on Major League owners and players reaching a new labor agreement over the winter and avoiding a stalemate that drags into the preseason.

The prospect of a full slate of games is generating considerable buzz around the region.

“Our ticket demand is incredibly high,” said Dunn, who noted that the Braves season ticket base and group sales businesses have been strong.

Still, he added, there should be “a couple thousand seats” available for single-game sales. The park has 6,200 fixed seats and an overall capacity of about 8,000, including spaces on a grass berm.

“There’s only so many seats and the one thing we won’t do is jam pack standing room tickets to make it uncomfortable,” Dunn said. “We’re anxious to let everyone see all the unique vantage points CoolToday provides.”

Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County said she has seen considerable demand from people eager to explore those vantage points too.

“I was at a trade show with meeting planner last week in Las Vegas and every single one – especial in the Southeastern United States – said we’re interested in Sarasota, home of the Braves,” Haley said. “I think it's going to be one of those things that’s not only going to be an amazing Spring Training but this has long legs in terms of connecting that amazing Braves national market to North Port and Sarasota County.”

Bill Gunnin, executive director of the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce, agreed.

“The biggest thing about it is, the Braves were the team of the South way back when I grew up – I’ve lived here all my life,” Gunnin said.

Kathy Lehner, president and CEO of the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce, said the lure of the Braves World Series victory will definitely be a draw.

“Well, who doesn’t want to be connected to a winner,” Lehner said, then added that more people will visit and perhaps more businesses will relocate to the area.

“Or what’s very popular now is to work remotely,” she added. “Why not work remote from paradise?”

Ever since the Braves finalized their plan to move to North Port in 2017, Visit Sarasota has been putting extra emphasis on the Atlanta region but stressed that she envisions more visitors from the entire Southeast.

“I don’t think people understand what a national team the Braves are – or at least throughout the South.”

Haley said the closest thing Sarasota County has seen recently was when the Baltimore Orioles, who moved their Spring Training site to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota in 2010, were managed by Buck Showalter – specifically the period between 2012 and 2016, when he had the team in the playoffs three times, including an American League East crown in 2014.

“Yes, it’s Atlanta, yes it’s Georgia, but it is the entire South,” Haley said. “I think it’s going to be probably one of the biggest Spring Trainings we’ve ever seen and it’s going to be something that has an impact all year round.

“The thing about CoolToday park that is so awesome – I have friends come into town; we go down here for lunch,” Haley said. “The atmosphere of being in that ballpark – the big screen is always on; the food is so darn good and it’s something that’s there year-round for fans to enjoy.

“Even if you’re here in June, July, you can be part of that Braves success,” she added. “That’s the unique nature of CoolToday Park and all the amazing different events they’ve got there.”

Dunn points out that in June, July and August it’s possible to stop in at the Tomahawk Tiki Bar, grab a beverage and a hot dog, sit down watch the Florida Complex League team play baseball during lunch.

“And it’s quality baseball too,” he added.

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The FCL team plays on the main field two to three days a week, with the schedule for that, as well as all of the year-round events, posted on the CoolToday Park Facebook page.

The Braves themselves still need to hire about 300 people in anticipation of Spring Training, with a job fair slated for Dec. 10. Jobs ranging from ushers and security to bat boys are among those available.

Buzz from the beginning

Just the announcement that the Braves were relocating their Spring Training home to the section of North Port now known as Wellen Park created a buzz in the business world, especially among those who seek out new places to locate corporate headquarters.

Ron Starner, executive vice president of Conway, Inc., parent company of Site Selector Magazine, called the move a game-changer and has become a frequent speaker at the city-sponsored annual real estate summit, and participated in the initial 2019 Sarasota County visit of site selectors and media influencers, which included attending the stadium-opening game against the neighboring Tampa Bay Rays.

Gunnin said the World Series win is yet another opportunity for North Port to spotlight itself.

“The ripple effect allows North Port to shine and showcase what we have to offer,” Gunnin said. “That’s why we’re so excited about it.”

Coincidentally, the chamber's annual business and community expo, scheduled for March 12 at the George Mullen Activity Center, carries the theme: “We are the Champions.”

Gunnin said the theme also pays homage to the 2021 Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Tampa Bay Rays, who reached the World Series for the second time in franchise history in 2020, but admitted it wasn’t set in stone until after the Braves’ win.

Dunn said the Braves are well aware of the role the franchise plays in the local economy.

Wellen Park was already one of the fastest-growing master-planned communities in the country prior to the opening of CoolToday Park.

The new stadium has only amplified that.

“We are ecstatic for the entire Atlanta Braves organization and given that 2022 will be their first stabilized Spring Training season in this amazing ball park,” Wellen Park marketing vice president Christine Masney said via email. “Their win gives our current and future residents another compelling experience to interact with the World Series Champions."

Dunn called the team's partnership with the developer phenomenal.

“They are experiencing rapid growth at a tremendous pace," Dunn said.

“We’re able to showcase the area,” he added. “With all Spring Training, there’s certainly television visibility and marketing directly to the markets of the teams,’ Dunn said. “But I think when the World Series champ resides in the county, it brings a little bit more.”

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Fletcher noted that the ongoing development in Wellen Park, which includes an effort by Mattamy Homes and its partners to create “Downtown Wellen,” a town center around an 80-acre man-made lake, is proof that the city is showcasing a role where it can be “somewhere that is known to support and grow and develop and make people happy. That’s what we’re doing.”

He also envisions signs and banners trumpeting the Braves success.

“The economic development that is happening in North Port, however we got on the map, must be attributed to CoolToday Park and we can’t deny that,” Fletcher said. “This is about the Braves and what they have done and those players.

“We just want them to know that they are welcomed, they are loved and we support them in any way we can.”

Dunn said it’s an exciting time, complete with an “unbelievable” national media spotlight. But he stressed that the team’s goal is to not to rest on its laurels.

“It all starts here,” Dunn said. “The beauty of the Atlanta Braves is it's a young team; it’s built to win and we didn't intend to win the World Series and (just) be one.

“We intend to be contenders for the World Series every year.”

As he stood on the field, with a nod to his surroundings, Dunn said: “It’s a baseball factory.

“We have kids back there right now, doing strength and conditioning camps, it’s a year-round process.”

Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: World Series Champions Atlanta Braves prep for Florida Spring Training