The Pittsburgh Pirates have issued an apology after causing some discontent over renaming a Bradenton baseball field. 

  • Family upset over McKechnie Field name change
  • Pittsburgh Pirates rename stadium to LECOM Park
  • Pirates issue apology to last living daughter of McKechnie

The once "McKechnie Field" in Bradenton has been renamed to "LECOM Park."

McKechnie Field was named in 1962 in honor of the former Pirates manager Bill McKechnie. 

In a recent deal with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, the organization renamed the stadium to LECOM Park. 

However, the remaining family of Bill McKechnie was not informed of the name change. 

“We tried to be respectful and tried to be sensitive,” owner Bob Nutting said when the announcement was made. “In today’s world, we need to have flexibility to do a naming-rights deal to fund the performance that we want to bring in.”

McKechnie's last living daughter, Carol Montgomery, said the naming of the stadium and his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame really blew him away. 

So when the 85-year-old found out about the name change through the spring training schedules in the Florida Times-Union, she was taken aback. 

“I was very surprised and really pretty miffed, ticked off that I wasn’t contacted,” Montgomery said. “I had no input on it whatsoever and no one from my family did.”

The Pirates admitted that their efforts to find surviving family members fell short and issued a formal apology. 

“Our intent was to locate any family members living in the area to discuss with them the partnership opportunity that we were pursuing that would include the naming rights to the ballpark. We wanted Bill McKechnie’s surviving family members to know that it was important to us that we continue to honor Bill’s legacy by naming the home clubhouse after him, as well as affixing a permanent plaque that would inform our fans for years to come of Bill’s Hall of Fame career. Regrettably, our efforts to find Bill’s surviving relatives fell short, and there is not an acceptable reason for that. We regret the fact that we did not inform Mrs. Montgomery of the name change in advance of the announcement."

Even though McKechnie never saw the stadium in its modern state — he died in 1965 — the three years he knew the field with his name on it were important.

The Pirates plan to name the home clubhouse after McKechnie to honor his legacy. They have insisted that his relatives be in attendance when they dedicate the clubhouse in McKechnie's honor. 

Information from our partners at the Bradenton Herald was used in this report.