Start Of New Era

55 years ago today the first Phillies minor leaguer walked into the Carpenter Field clubhouse. Here’s the history of that training complex, a vision of Paul Owens.

When the Phillies big league club began spring training in Clearwater in 1947, their minor league camps were scattered all over the south. 21-year-old pitcher Dallas Green got to experience that first-hand in 1956, his first year of spring training. In the space of seven weeks he went from Clearwater to Plant City, FL (triple-A camp) to Bennettsville, SC (Class A camp).

Paul Owens, a scout based in Bakersfield, CA, was assigned to the Phillies Class A spring training camp in Leesburg, FL, in 1964–65 as coordinator of instruction. The rest of their minor leaguers (Class AA and AAA) were in Dade City, FL. Not an ideal arrangement.

Owens was promoted to Farm Director in Philadelphia early in the 1965 season. He decided the organization needed a training facility in Clearwater for all the minor league players. His vision included a large clubhouse in the middle, surrounded by four fields. Once he convinced owner Bob Carpenter, the Phillies and City of Clearwater negotiated an agreement to have a new facility built, sandwiched between Old Coachman Road and Route 19.

The new facility was financed by a no-interest $250,000 loan from the Phillies to the City of Clearwater which repaid the amount over years. While the Phillies were the primary tenant, the City also used the fields for various baseball programs.

During the dedication ceremonies on March 5, 1967, Clearwater Mayor Joe Turner announced the new facility would be known as Carpenter Field, in honor of the family that owned the Phillies since 1943. The new facility officially opened nine days later. At some point the facilities’ name was changed from Carpenter Field to Carpenter Complex.

With a training facility now in place, Owens started a Fall Instructional League program. Training facilities at Jack Russell Stadium were limited so the big club, for many years, held daily spring training workouts at the Complex until the Grapefruit League games began. With the availability of four fields, multiple pitching mounds and batting cages more work could get done in less time.

In 1984, the Phillies placed a team in the Gulf Coast League, a short-season league for young prospects not advanced enough for higher classifications. Games are played at the Complex.

The City of Clearwater, during the 1997–98 offseason, renovated the clubhouse. The original clubhouse structure was gutted and reconstructed to include a second floor. Improvements included a larger athletic training room, more offices, a large meeting room and new lockers. Roof-top observation areas for the team’s staff were now part of the second level. The project was completed in time for spring training in 2010.

Other Changes

The clubhouse was named the Paul Owens Training Facility at Carpenter Complex in 2004 in honor of Owens’ legacy of service to the Phillies organization. His bronze bust, located on the west side of the clubhouse, was unveiled on February 22, 2012.

The Pope did it all… minor league player, minor league manager, scout, farm director, scouting director, general manager and manager in the majors. It can be said that he single-handedly turned the Phillies franchise around and may well be the best “baseball” man in club history.

The crowning gem at the Complex came in January 2013 with the completion of a $4 million, 20,700-square foot structure, the first indoor climate-controlled training center at a major league spring training site. Used year-round for training, workouts and rehabilitation, the facility houses a weight room (7,200 square feet) and six indoor batting cages and pitching mounds (13,500 square feet).

In spring training of 2018, the organization surprised David Montgomery, club president 1997–2014, by naming the indoor training facility the David P. Montgomery Baseball Performance Center. The ceremony took place in front of the large red building with all the organization’s players, baseball operations personnel, spring training front office staff and Clearwater staff.