The Philadelphia A’s were the first Major League Baseball team to spring train in Fort Myers, beginning in 1925. They played at Terry Park in east Fort Myers when the population of Lee County was about 12-14-thousand people. It’s approaching 800,000 now. The A’s played at Terry park until 1936, and over the decades were followed by teams from Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Kansas City — which was the last team to play at Terry Park. The Royals ended their time here in 1987. The Minnesota Twins arrived in 1991, and the Boston Red Sox moved their spring training operations here two years later in 1993.
Over the decades many baseball stars and heroes played in Fort Myers, including Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, George Brett — the list goes on and on and on, and continues to this day.
We dig into the City of Palm’s rich baseball history with two men who just love digging into rich baseball history. They’ll be two of the presenters at the upcoming fundraiser for the Southwest Florida Historical Society called “What it was, was baseball. An evening of Fort Myers history as told through the prism of diamonds…baseball diamonds.” It’s Monday, Feb. 26 at Broadway Palm Dinner Theater in Fort Myers. Click here for details.
Guests:
Glenn Miller is a retired sports journalist and journalism preceptor at Florida Gulf Coast University
Ken Breen is a baseball history buff who’s been digging into Fort Myers’ rich baseball history since moving here in 2019
Click here to listen to our episode about Roberto Clemente's time in Fort Myers from 2021.
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