Still recovering, Clearwater gears up for Phils & Spring Training

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

If you take the seven-mile drive from BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla., to Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach, there are few reminders that Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore through the Gulf of Mexico and landed here last fall.

It’s been a remarkable recovery.

“Really, for Phillies fans, they’re going to have virtually the same experience on Clearwater Beach, in particular, but in all of Clearwater that they’ve always had,” Clearwater mayor Bruce Rector said this week. “In our tourist-friendly part of the beach, it’s going to look almost exactly like it’s always looked. It’s phenomenal.”

Clearwater has been the Phillies’ Spring Training home since 1947, creating a strong bond with the team and Philadelphians. The city is looking forward to the Phils’ return this month. Pitchers and catchers will have their first official workout at Carpenter Complex on Feb. 12. The first full-squad workout is Feb. 17.

The Phillies host the Orioles in their Grapefruit League home opener at BayCare on Feb. 23.

(Go here for BayCare ticket information.)

“We’ve become a home away from home, or a second home, to not only the team, but to many fans,” Rector said. “We’ve always embraced that. I live on Clearwater Beach. Just seeing all the Phillies gear every year, supporting our folks … and that’s the damage that we need help with from Phillies fans in our recovery. It isn’t so much the structures. That’s all going to look the same. What we do need help with … is our hospitality workers and their families. They really took a hard hit. It really hurt our families bad that work in that industry. They will be incredibly happy to see those folks back, because Phillies fans are some of the best in the country as far as doing the right things with folks and taking care of them.

“They’re not just good guests for our community. They’re some of the best guests we have all year long.”

Rector said the city has spent $70 million in recovery efforts.

“That’s structural,” he said. “But the people part of it, we’ve relied upon organizations like AMPLIFY Hope to come in and repair lives.”

The Phillies donated $1 million to AMPLIFY Hope Clearwater last fall.

“It’s very, very important to us,” Phillies managing partner John Middleton said then. “Businesses should feel they have a commitment to their communities, whether it’s the Major League team in Philadelphia, the Florida club, but also the affiliates we have in Reading, Lehigh Valley and Lakewood. You need to be part of the community. You can’t just plop yourself down there and work there and not set roots there. People work there, they have homes there, they raise their kids there and they go to school there.

“You build commitments and relationships, and good relationships are two-way streets. If you’ve got a friend who’s hurt, who’s in trouble, you try to help them.”

The Phillies are OK. They suffered water damage at BayCare and Carpenter, but nothing catastrophic.

Those repairs continue, but they hope to be finished soon.

Some things in Clearwater will need more time. The Clearwater Beach Marina had already been scheduled for renovations before the hurricanes hit. The construction there is ongoing. Pier 60 remains partially closed. Residential areas north and south of Clearwater Beach have lingering damage.

“Because of the hurricanes in the fall, I don’t know if there’s ever been a more important Spring Training than this one for Clearwater,” Rector said.