JEFF PODOBNIK GEARS UP FOR
BRADENTON’S 50TH SEASON OF SPRING TRAINING
T he Pittsburgh Pirates are headed back to Bradenton
for spring training, and no one is more pumped than
Jeff Podobnik. “2018 is the 50th anniversary of the
Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton,” enthuses Podobnik, Senior
Director of Florida and Dominican Republic Operations for the
Pirates. “We’re really excited about rolling that out this year and
celebrating the history of the Pirates here in the community.”
To celebrate half a century in Bradenton, the Pirates are throwing
a pep rally on Thursday, February 22. “It will be on Main Street in
Downtown Bradenton, and we’ll shut the street down,” Podobnik
says. “It’s going to be a fun evening. We’ll have some live
entertainment, our Manager and General Manager will speak to
the crowd, we’ll have activities for the kids out on the street and
food trucks. It’s our way of kicking off spring training and getting
the town excited about the Pirates coming back to Bradenton.”
50 Years of Pirate Treasure
After moving to Bradenton from Fort Myers in 1968, the Pirates
have held spring training at LECOM Park (formerly McKechnie
Field) since 1969. In fact, the Pirates hold the title for third longest
spring training tenure in all of Major League Baseball. The only
MLB teams that have longer relationships with their cities are
the Detroit Tigers with Lakeland and the Philadelphia Phillies
with Clearwater.
“We were the rst major league club to create a dormitory
environment like we have existing today,” Podobnik explains,
referring to Pirate City on 27th Street East in Bradenton. “We
wanted to house our ball players in a dormitory environment and
have them stay on campus. So, from a developmental standpoint,
they get the proper amount of sleep and enjoy three nutritious
meals a day.”
Podobnik says Pirate City looks and feels more like a hotel
than a dormitory. In fact, when the dorm was built in 1969, the
construction company was in the process of building a Holiday
Inn in Fort Myers. The two buildings were identical.
In 2008, the Pirate City complex underwent major renovations.
Today, the complex includes six complete elds and two half
elds, 8 remodeled dorm rooms on three oors, a Sports
Nutrition Center (the dining hall, complete with an on-staff
registered nutritionist), and a state-of-the-art Performance Center.
“The Performance Center is a second-to-none weight room
where our ball players are able to get their workouts in with our
weight and conditioning coaches,” explains Podobnik.
Not His First Rodeo
In his current role, Podobnik doesn’t just oversee all of the
operations at the Pirate City complex. He also supports the staff
at LECOM Park, which hosts 14 to 18 Pirates spring training
games each year. “We have a staff that works over there to run
that facility, from ticket operations to security to the grounds crew,”
he explains. “I have a great team that I work with over there, and
we support each other.”
Podobnik is also responsible for the Dominican Republic
Academy, a campus-style complex that serves as the Latin
American headquarters for Pirates baseball operations. “We
have an administrator down there along with full operations staff
that runs the Academy, and I oversee that as well,” he explains.
“Down there, the facilities are like a mini version of Pirate City. We
have a smaller dormitory with approximately 4 rooms, baseball
elds, clubhouse facilities and weight room facilities.”
Podobnik also supports the Bradenton Marauders. “Rachelle
Madrigal is the General Manager for the Marauders, so I support
her,” he explains. “We work closely together on that operation.”
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