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  BayCare Ballpark Location within Florida Show map of Florida BayCare Ballpark BayCare Ballpark (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Former names | Bright House Networks Field (2004–2013) Bright House Field (2013–2017) Spectrum Field (2017–2020) |
|---|---|
| Location | 601 Old Coachman Road Clearwater, Florida 33765 |
| Coordinates | 27°58′18″N82°43′54″W / 27.97167°N 82.73167°W /27.97167; -82.73167 |
| Public transit |  PSTA bus: 76 |
| Owner | City of Clearwater[1] |
| Operator | Philadelphia Phillies[2] |
| Capacity | 8,500 |
| Field size | Left – 329 ft. Left Center – 389 ft. Center – 408 ft. Right – 330 ft. |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | October 16, 2002 |
| Opened | February 27, 2004 |
| Construction cost | $28 million[1] ($46.6 million in 2024 dollars[3]) |
| Architect | Populous Ewing Cole Cherry Brott |
| Project manager | Stranix Associates[4] |
| Services engineer | Bredson & Associates, Inc.[2] |
| General contractor | Hunt Construction Group[2] |
| Tenants | |
| Clearwater Threshers (Florida State League) (2004–present) Philadelphia Phillies (MLB) (spring training) (2004–present) Big East tournament (2006, 2008–2013) AAC tournament (2014–present) | |
BayCare Ballpark is abaseball stadium located inClearwater, Florida, United States. The stadium was built in 2004 and has a maximum seating capacity of 8,500 people (7,000 fixed seats with additional grass berm seating for 1,500).
The ballpark is thespring training home of thePhiladelphia Phillies, and also the home of their Class A affiliate, theClearwater Threshers of theFlorida State League. A sculpture titledThe Ace—by artist Kevin Brady—stands at the ballpark's west entrance plaza.[5]
The stadium was originally namedBright House Networks Field after the regional / national cable company,Bright House Networks, whose localhead end center is located just to the south of the stadium.
It was announced on January 20, 2004, thatBright House Networks had secured thenaming rights for the new ballpark. Under the terms of the agreement, Bright House Networks would pay the Phillies $1.7 million over 10 years with an option for two 5-year renewals. The City of Clearwater received one-third of the payment.[6] The name was shortened toBright House Field in 2013.[7]
In 2017, the complex was renamedSpectrum Field after Bright House was purchased byCharter Communications. While named for Charter's residential service, the name invoked memories of theSpectrum arena that operated from 1967 to 2009 at theSouth Philadelphia Sports Complex, which the Phillies have called home since 1971.[8]
The name was changed toBayCare Ballpark in February 2021, whenBayCare Health System reached a six-year naming-rights agreement with a five-year renewal option. BayCare Health System also became the exclusive healthcare system partner for the Phillies in the Florida market.[9]
BayCare Ballpark is the Phillies' third Clearwater spring training home. The team moved to Clearwater in1947. They trained and played home games atClearwater Athletic Field from1947 to1954. The City of Clearwater opened a new ballpark for spring training in1955 and named itJack Russell Stadium. (The ballpark was renamed Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in 1990.) With the stadium aging, the Phillies and the city erected their new spring home adjacent to the Phillies' year-round training facility, theCarpenter Complex, 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Jack Russell Memorial Stadium.
Ground-breaking of the new stadium took place on October 16, 2002.[10] The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the ballpark took place on February 27, 2004, prior to the annual spring-training Phan Fest.[5]
On June 24, 2012, thanks to the rain bands offTropical Storm Debby, the field was flooded, becomingswimming pool-like.[11]
The Phillies played their first spring-training game at the park on March 4,2004. 8,205 fans watched the Phils beat theNew York Yankees 5–1.Vicente Padilla started for the Phillies,Marlon Byrd had the park's first hit, andJimmy Rollins hit the first home run.[12]
BayCare Ballpark hosted the 44th Florida State League All-Star Game on June 18, 2005. A crowd of 5,547 saw the West defeat the East 6–4. TheSarasota Reds'Chris Dickerson hit a two-run home run, scored two runs, and earned the game's Star of Stars Award. Future major league players who appeared in the game included Dickeron,Reggie Abercrombie,Carlos Villanueva, andSean Marshall.[13]
Threshers pitcher Julio De La Cruz pitched the first no-hitter at the ballpark on August 18, 2006. De La Cruz beat theSarasota Reds 5–0 in front of 5,906 fans on "Pitch for Pink Night" in Clearwater. The Threshers wore special pink uniforms to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness. It was the first no-hitter for Clearwater since 1992.[14]
TheBig East Conference held itschampionship tournament at BayCare Ballpark in 2006 and from 2008 to 2013.Notre Dame defeatedLouisville 7–0 on May 27, 2006, to win the 2006 championship.[15] Louisville defeatedCincinnati 6–3 to win the 2008 championship on May 24, 2008.[16] In 2009, Louisville again won the tournament.[17] In 2010,St. John's won the title, defeatingUConn 3–0 in the championship game. In2011, 5th-seededSeton Hall became the lowest seeded team ever to win the Big East Tournament, defeating St. John's 4–2.[18][19] In2012, St. John's defeatedSouth Florida 7–3 in the title game to win the tournament.[20] Beginning in 2014, theAmerican Athletic Conference has held its conferencebaseball tournament at BayCare Ballpark.
The single-game attendance record for the Threshers was set on July 3, 2019, when 10,055 saw Clearwater lose to theFort Myers Miracle, 1-0.[21][22] Between 2007 and 2015, the top 6 of the Threshers top 10 single-game attendance numbers occurred on July 3.[23]
The all time spring training attendance record for BayCare Ballpark was set on March 17, 2019, when 11,340 saw the Yankees defeat the Phillies 7-3.
The spring-training attendance mark for BayCare Ballpark is 143,500, set in 2009.[24]
