The Wandering Disciple

Sarasota, Florida: The Ann & Alfred Goldstein Marine Mammal Center at Mote Marine is a dual purpose facility. Part aquarium, part animal hospital the center is a leader in mammal care throughout the state of Florida. The public potion of the center is geared toward educating the visitors about the lives of sea turtles, manatees and dolphins. As you enter the center, you pass through the home of a collection of sea turtles; Shelley, Montego, Harriet, Edgar and Hang Tough call the center home. These residents of Mote have been nursed back to health but due to their injuries can not be released back to the wild. Next up is two of Mote’s more famous residents, Hugh and Buffett. The adult manatees were brought to Mote Marine in 1996 from the Miami Seaquarium. Today the pair of manatees are used for research and are the only research manatees in the world. A short trip up the stairs and through the gift shop, you will be able to view the third and final exhibit, the dolphins. He...

Bradenton, Florida: The Bradenton Marauders rode the momentum of a five run third inning to help defeat the Tampa Yankees 8-1 on Friday night at McKechnie Field in Bradenton. Adenson Chourio made his first start as a Marauder by going 2 for 4 with a run scored. Tony Sanchez and Quincy Latimore also recorded multiple hits with Sanchez getting three hits and Latimore 2 hits with 3 RBI’s/ The Marauders broke the scoreless tie in the third inning with their huge five run performance. Austin McClune and Chourio led off the inning with back to back singles. Then Brock Holt singled to left field to score McClune for the first run of the game. Both runners advanced into scoring position thanks to a sac bunt by Robbie Grossman. Latimore then drove home two runs with a double to left field. Latimore would later score on a ground ball by Jeremy Farrell. Eric Fryer plated the final run with a single to left that scored Sanchez and gave the Marauders a 5-0 lead. The Yankees scored their o...

singles in the first inning of Monday's game."id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475518786150855778" /> Bradenton, Florida: The Bradenton Marauders were not able to keep the Fort Myers Miracle offense down as they fell 12-3 on Monday night at McKechnie Field. The Marauders took an early lead in the first inning. Brock Holt drew a lead off walk then later scored on a sac fly by Tony Sanchez to take a 1-0 lead. Fort Myers battled back to tie the game in the second inning. Daniel Rohfling singled to left then moved to third on a single by Jair Fernandez. With runners on the corners, Nick Romero singled to short, scoring Rohfling and tying the game 1-1. The Miracle took their first lead of the game in the third inning. Brian Dozier drew a walk to get things started. Deibinson Romero moved the runner to third on a single to right. Evan Bigley knocked home the run with a sac fly to give the Miracle a 2-1 lead. But it wouldn't take long for the Marauders to tie the ga...

Bradenton, Florida: The newest addition to the Florida State League in 2010, the Bradenton Marauders are the Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2009, the player development contract of the Sarasota Reds expired upon the movement of Cincinnati’s operations to Arizona. The Sarasota franchise went on the market and was purchased by the Pirates organization. The Pirates relocated their operations in the Carolina League to the Florida State League and moved the club to Bradenton. The Marauders moved into McKechnie Field to begin their inaugural campaign in 2010. They will be in the Florida State League’s Southern Division and will play a 140 game schedule from April through September. For photos from the Marauders, visit my Bradenton Marauders picture page. Here you can find game photo, player photos and photos of McKechnie Field.

Bradenton, Florida: Known as Florida’s Fenway Park, McKechnie Field in Bradenton has been a major venue of spring baseball since 1923. Baseball greats like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente along with the stars of today and the future stars have played in the confines of this historic stadium. The stadium was built in 1923 as the spring training home of the St. Louis Cardinals. Throughout the years, it has been the spring training home to the Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Braves, Oakland Athletics and since 1969 the Pittsburgh Pirates. The stadium located in the heart of downtown is built with the Florida Spanish Mission architecture that is popular in the region. There is seating for 6,602 fans with the bulk of the reserved seating area covered by roof, a great feature for the hot Florida sunshine. In 1993 the stadium received a major facelift. The metal chair were replaced by modern stadium seating and the old wooden bleacher were also ...

Port Charlotte, Florida: For the second time in as many nights, the Charlotte Stone Crabs outlasted the Brevard County Manatees in a 21 run slugfest. The Stone Crabs scored a season high 12 runs to defeat the Manatees 12-9 on Friday night at Charlotte Sports Complex. Tim Beckham continued to prove that his hitting slump is behind him by going 4 of 5 driving in three runs and bringing his batting average up to just below .200 on the season. Brevard County jumped out to a big lead in the first inning by striking for five runs in the inning. The Manatees offense was aided by wild pitching by Stone Crabs starter Chris Andujar who struck a batter and walked two in the inning. Mat Gamel picked up two RBI's with a double to center, Josh Prince singled home a run, Anderson De La Rosa drew a bases load walk to score Sergio Miranda and Josh Prince scored on a passed ball for the Manatees five runs. The Stone Crabs pulled back into the game in the bottom of the first. Leslie Anderson hit his...

Tampa, Florida: On the edge of Channelside in downtown Tampa lies the 60,000 square foot Tampa Bay History Center. The three story museum in the heart of downtown takes its visitors on a journey through the history of the Tampa Bay region from the early native Americans through the culture of today’s society with stops at every era in between. The dream of the history center began with the Historical Museum Task Force enacted by the Hillsborough County Commission in 1986. The task force indicated the need for a museum and the planning to make it happen was underway. In 1998, the commission granted the use of the Community Investment Tax to help fund the building of the new museum building in downtown. Together with donations and partnerships from the public and private organizations, the construction began on the new facility. The new museum was the county’s first green government building. The building featured recycles materials, natural lighting and energy efficient fixtures....