A ballpark full of history in a city with an underrated connection with the sport, LECOM Park spends most of its time hosting the Bradenton Marauders. 

The Marauders are the Low-A affiliate of the Pirates, and have stood as the starting point for many professional careers in the major leagues, both in Pittsburgh and elsewhere. Konnor Griffin, the ninth overall pick in 2024 and consensus top prospect in baseball right now, started his professional career last season in Low-A Bradenton with the Marauders. 

Most Pirates fans, however, get a good look at the ballpark before the Marauders take the field. 

LECOM Park proudly boasts its place as the “southern home of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” and the Pirates have travelled down to southwest Florida since 1969 to gear up for the upcoming season. The sunny skies and warm weather of southwestern Florida make for a perfect place for the Pirates to gear up for the season. 

But it’s the friendly confines of LECOM Park that make baseball in Bradenton all the more enjoyable. 

Opening in 1923, LECOM Park is one of the oldest ballparks around. With the help of some renovations on anniversary years, it has aged rather gracefully. If you’ve ever seen old photos of Exposition Park III, the ballpark where the Pirates played from 1891 to 1915, the front part of the park near home plate sort of mirrors that once grand arena.

The Spanish Mission style of the ballpark give it a vintage, charming old-fashioned feel, while some of the more modern additions like lights and an electronic board in center field help bring it into the modern age.

It’s a beautifully quaint ballpark centered in the heart of the city, and a venue I would highly recommend visiting if you ever get the chance. I’m certainly no expert in reviewing ballparks, but here’s my experience and thoughts on LECOM Park.

Atmosphere 

The 8,500-seat ballpark formerly known as McKechnie Field blends a mix of Pittsburgh natives escaping to sunshine and sandy shores, transplanted northerners living their new life, and homegrown Floridians who cherish when the game comes so close to home during a spring training game.

LECOM Park carries an atmosphere you won’t get at any major league venue. It’s smaller scale and minor league layout provides for a much more close, intimate experience with the game.

It’s got an old-fashioned feeling to it. On walls inside the ballpark, you can find handwritten lineups for that day’s game, and the roof has two vintage signs for balls, strikes, outs, and the inning.

If you’re looking for a little exercise, LECOM Park is easy to take a casual stroll around. Walkways take you around the ballpark and will connect you to a staircase that leads to the wooden bridge in the outfield.

Some of the corridors can get a little crowded, especially towards the outfield, but the stairs and walkways are remarkably open to access the seating areas from home plate and both of the base lines.

There’s always a little bit of action; a few people here and there walking around the park, leaving or returning to seats, tossing a ball around with their kids in the concourse. LECOM Park is its own little ecosystem on game days.

Seating

If you’re someone who likes looking at the scoreboard during games, whether to see player info, pitch speed, or an enlarged display of the count, I would recommend sitting on the third base side as opposed to the first. 

The farther you go down the first-base line, and especially once you get into the bleacher sections, the less of the screen you’ll see. If you’re sitting in a bleacher section, the batter’s eye in center field takes up a decent chunk of the display, including pitch speed and count. 

The third-base side, meanwhile, gives you a much better view of the screen. Save for a pole that might block one of the inning scores at the bottom, all information is visible. 

If you’re looking for shade from the daytime sun (or protection in the event it’s a drizzly day at the ballpark), make sure to get a seat in sections 1-12. Those areas are covered by a roof. You’ll also have an actual seat, the kind you’d find at any major league revenue, in those sections.

Past section 13 on the third-base side and 14 on the first-base side, only the first few rows of seats still have actual pull-down chairs. Up above the walkway, the seats transition into rows of bleachers, and you’ll no longer have anything over your head.

Those are still decent (and usually cheaper) seats, and if you’re looking for a more “communal” style of seating, these are the sections for you. The seats are still numbered along the bleachers, but in my experience, you can kind of sit anywhere as long as it’s open. Provided no one comes and kicks you out of their seat, it’s basically free game, and fans shift to various areas throughout the game.

Both sections are pretty good, though. There aren’t many bad places to watch at LECOM.

Parking

If you’re someone who enjoys getting to the ballpark early and you’re driving to LECOM, make sure to leave with a decent amount of time.

Both the outfield parking lot and the home plate parking lot are located to the side of two-lane roads, meaning even minimal traffic can pile up in a hurry and back you up.

Parking in the outfield lot is $15. Parking in the home plate lot is $25. There’s other non-affiliated lots further away from the stadium, where you can score a $10 parking spot.

If you do park in one of LECOM’s lots, I will warn you that foul balls have a tendency to fly directly out of the ballpark. From the third-base side, I watched a fly foul ball soar all the way out of the stadium and into a nearby parking lot, smacking into a car. To that person’s car, I hope there was no damage! 

You also have to be on the lookout if you’re driving past the ballpark during a game. Those pesky fouls can appear at any time. You can see the surrounding streets from both sides of the field, a reminder of just how woven into the area LECOM Park is.

Concessions

I hope you have better sources when it comes to where you get your food recommendations, but I can tell you that LECOM Park has so many the typical ballpark foods we all know and love.

I didn’t get the chance to try out all of the options that this park has to offer, but you really can’t go wrong with something like a soft pretzel and fries (which in my opinion were really good).

The in-game announcers and partners will also be sure to remind you that the ballpark offers Little Caesar’s pizza, pulled pork nachos, and other options, and they’ll encourage you to head towards the concession stands located in the concourse.

Here’s the most important thing, by far: LECOM Park is a Pepsi ballpark. But, if you’re in the market for a Diet Pepsi, you’ve struck out. Regular or Pepsi Zero are your choices, Diet Pepsi is the odd one out.