Written by Andy | 09 February 2011

Jaubele1/FlickrPittsburgh Pirate players, coaches and front office staff have been driving around central Florida in a used school bus for the past couple weeks in search of a vacant lot to serve as this year's Spring Training facility.

"Nothing like driving all over the Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area to get the team primed for the season," said manager Clint Hurdle from behind the wheel of the team's 1983 GMC school bus with the words 'Pirates Baseball Club' sloppily spray painted on the side. "I can't wait to get to work once we find an open plot of land we can use without it being labeled as 'trespassing.'"

The Pirates are in need of a new field after last season's fiasco on the playground of the Thomas Jefferson Primary School.

"A bunch of first and second-graders kept interrupting our infield practice for recess," said team president Frank Coonelly. "Plus, school administration asked us to leave due to some liability issue. They said a couple errant baseballs hit some six-year-old playing on the swings, but I've seen our guys hit and throw. It couldn't have hurt that badly."

After 15 days on the road, the Pirates have decided to choose between a spacious asphalt parking lot that is kind of uneven or the backyard behind the big green house on Elm St.

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