ANNA MARIA – Major League Baseball owners and players have finally settled their collective bargaining agreement, and spring training begins this week, better late than never.
![Finally, baseball](https://www.amisun.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Baseball-3-0316-220x300.jpeg)
In honor of the start to the season, swing by the baseball-themed neighborhood between Spruce and Cypress avenues in Anna Maria, where statues portray the boys of summer at one of the few remaining baseball houses – “Home Plate.”
Milwaukee Braves ballplayers lived in the neighborhood during spring training in Bradenton, where the club trained from 1953-62. Pitcher Warren Spahn, a Baseball Hall of Famer, started the tradition of naming houses with “The Mound,” and others followed: “Home Plate,” “Infield,” “Outfield,” “Shortstop,” “Catcher’s Mitt” and “The Diamond.”
While many of the houses are gone, at 208 Cypress Ave., “Home Plate” still sports a door with the names of Spahn and Braves third base player and Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews, who bought the home from him.
![Finally, baseball](https://www.amisun.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Baseball-2-0316-1024x485.jpeg)