HOLMES BEACH – The city-owned Birdie Tebbetts Field has been re-sodded and is being restored and enhanced.
Once a regulation-size field, the new field is built to Little League dimensions, has new sod, new layers of clay on the base paths and the pitching mound, a new pitcher’s rubber, a new home plate and new bases.
The restoration of the field is another step in the city’s ongoing hurricane recovery efforts that continue more than a year after Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Anna Maria Island in 2024.
On Nov. 18, Development Services Director Chad Minor and Public Works Department Project Manager Matt Gorman briefly discussed the field restoration with the mayor and city commissioners. Minor said the clay had been ordered and was expected to arrive soon. Gorman said base paths would get about 2 inches of new clay and the elevated pitching mounds would get 6-8 inches of new clay.
Gorman said the backstop fence would be adjusted slightly to correct the field dimensions and some fence repairs would be needed as well. He said he hoped to have the restorations fully completed by Dec. 5.
“All the kids here who play baseball here are very grateful for this,” Commissioner Jessica Patel said.
She noted some of the teams that play at the county-owned G.T. Bray Park in west Bradenton are looking for additional fields to play and practice on.
“Keep in mind it’s not lit,” Mayor Judy Titsworth said.
“This is the type of field I would have loved to play on when I was kid,” Gorman said.
“If you build it, they will come,” Titsworth said in reference to the classic “Field of Dreams” baseball movie starring Kevin Costner.
The field is named after former Major League Baseball player, manager and scout George “Birdie” Tebbetts. From 1936-52, Tebbetts was catcher for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians. He then spent 11 years as a manager for the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves and Cleveland Indians.
In 1956, while managing the Reds, Tebbetts was named Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He spent 28 years as a Major League scout. He moved to Anna Maria Island in the early 1960s and passed away in Bradenton in 1999 at age 86.
