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March 2, 2026
Bradenton, Florida
In this day of high speed everything, when life is going past us like we're standing still, it's an absolute pleasure to have a day that takes us back to when time actually took its time. And there's nothing much better for that than a day at a baseball park, especially during spring training. Unless it's a day spent around Senior PGA Players. It's like being a kid again, hanging around watching your favorite grownups throw shoes in the backyard at a family reunion. It's the way a day should be.
So imagine our surprise walking back from the concession stand at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Florida where the Pittsburgh Pirates were hosting the Tampa Bay Rays during Spring Training, our hands filled with 7th inning stretch snacks as we passed a table with an enormous trophy on it - a trophy that we had seen just 6 weeks before at the PGA Show in Orlando, Florida.
"They know what this is" said a tall bearded guy, probably the coach of the kids who were probably Manatee County High School Golf Team players who were all watching over it as we turned our heads back to look twice, thinking "Now what in the heck is the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy doing here??!" Then it occurred to us that the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship will be played at The Concession in Bradenton at the end of April, next month. And not just next month but in April of 2027 and 2028. When we saw the trophy in January it was the centerpiece of a discussion regarding a new permanent home for the Senior PGA and The Concession is high atop the list.
The Senior PGA itself has its roots that go back almost as far as LECOM Park which was built in 1923 and is the oldest ballpark still used for spring training. Past Senior PGA champions include Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer. Past baseball players who have trained in Bradenton include Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Bill Mazeroski, Tom Seaver, Willie Stargel, Roberto Clemente and third baseman Bill McKechnie for whom the park was originally named, a player, manager and coach who led the Pittsburgh Pirates to the 1925 World Series Championship. He was born in 1886 to Scottish parents who had immigrated to Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania - a Pittsburgh borough next to the one I grew up in - and moved to Bradenton when he retired.
So what a full circle it felt like to find out that this ball field was named for a player who lived within walking distance of where I grew up and played his first days in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, the ballpark where I first discovered baseball as a child.
Spring is upon us and summer is close at hand. As we get older, it's easier to understand the joy of letting time take its time. If you get a chance to spend a day at a ball game or a Senior PGA event, you really should. And better yet, take a kid.
