Dr. Phillips baseball celebrates completion of locker room | Observer Preps

Mike Bradley’s connection to the Dr. Phillips High baseball program — of which he has been the head coach since 2009 — goes back even further than his freshman season as a player for the Panthers in 1995.

Before he arrived on campus, Bradley attended Panthers games.

Now, more than two decades later, the alum-turned-coach has continued to build the program — literally, in some cases. Dr. Phillips held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Feb. 10 for its new locker room attached to the third-base dugout. 

The project is the latest in a string of improvements — all intended to make John Barbati Field the premiere high-school baseball destination in Central Florida.

“The three things I wanted to accomplish, being an alumni coming back, were adding a hitting facility, a locker room and hopefully — potentially — lights,” Bradley said. “The big three.”

After last’s weekend’s ribbon-cutting, the Panthers have checked off two of those boxes. The program’s hitting facility predates the locker room and can be found just past the third-base dugout, along the left-field line.

Bradley identified the locker room as a need, referencing his own days of changing into his baseball uniform before games either in the bathroom or in his car. And as he told the crowd assembled Saturday, that much hadn’t changed in two decades. Panthers players still a lacked proper dressing area.

The completed project has individual lockers, bathrooms and shower stalls — a facility that could be mistaken for any collegiate or professional peer.

“It’s a place to call our own and a place to bond as a team,” Bradley said. “It just feels right and kind of completes everything.”

Fundraising for the project began in 2015. Fundraising had to be completely private, and to even begin construction, the program had to show it already had $165,000 in cash and assets. So far, the money raised and spent has exceeded $200,000.

Players raised funds individually, and a DPHS Baseball Facilities Foundation with an elected board also played a significant role. Donations came from many families and business, including those of some of the program’s more famous alumni. The names Johnny Damon and A.J. Pierzynski may ring a bell to many baseball fans, and those names also appeared in the program as significant donors.

They weren’t alone, either.

“We have (more than) 50 individual families that really contributed big-time,” Bradley said. “Our alumni stepped up right away — and I’m talking about alumni from the early 1990s. It’s really been a community effort.”

Damon was one of a group of alumni who attended the ribbon-cutting. Former coaches such as Mike Barefoot and John Barbati, the field’s namesake, were there, as well.

The group wanted to drive home the idea that investing in Dr. Phillips baseball is more than brick and mortar — it’s an investment in tradition.

“This is a special place,” Bradley said. “It has a rich tradition.”

The Dr. Phillips baseball team opens the 2018 regular season with a home game Feb. 21 against Georgia’s Kennesaw Mountain High.