Former Atlanta Braves Players Bring Youth Baseball Headquarters and Tournaments to Central Florida's Polk County

Four former Major League Baseball standouts have reached an agreement with International Travel Baseball to create a partnership and join the two organizations.

Polk County, FL (PRWEB) January 25, 2004 --Four former Major League Baseball standouts have reached an agreement with International Travel Baseball to create a partnership and join the two organizations. International Travel Baseball will now operate as Terry Pendleton Baseball and will continue to run tournaments throughout the country. The headquarters of the company will also move to Polk County and operations will be run out of a local office. We are proud to team up with Terry Pendleton Baseball and become partners," said Bing Tyus, who will become the National Tournament Director for Pendleton Baseball. We are anticipating much more success and we will be bringing many more tournaments to Polk County," said Tyus. Tyus was previously Director of International Travel Baseball, an organization that held wood bat tournaments here in Polk County as well as around the nation, and will now join forces with the already established Terry Pendleton Baseball. The first Terry Pendleton Baseball tournament held in Polk County will be the Wood Bat World Championships, taking place June 20-26 in Winter Haven.

With the addition of Terry Pendleton Baseball, Polk County is now home to four governing body headquarters. The Independent Softball Association (ISA), USA Waterski, the Futures Golf Tour also call Polk County home. We are very proud of the relationships we have formed with the organizations that operate out of Polk County," said Mark Jackson, Director of Polk County Sports Marketing. It says a lot about our partnerships, sports infrastructure and the people of this county that so many organizations want to be a part of our community. It also illuminates the importance of our diverse approach to sports marketing which includes both tourist and economic development," Jackson said.
The organization, owned by former Atlanta Brave stars Terry Pendleton, Greg McMichael, Mark Lemke and Bobby Holley, began in 2002 by giving youth baseball players a place to go for first-class instruction and training. The newly formed partnership will now allow both organizations to benefit with extreme potential for growth. Before the partnership, Terry Pendleton Baseball operated as Hardball Warehouse, offering lessons and instruction at indoor training facilities, but as a result of the newly formed partnership, will grow operations to include tournaments and leagues across the country. We will start out with about 5,000 teams around the country and our goal is to have 10,000 by the year 2007," said Tyus. Talks of the partnership began during the American Baseball Coaches Association meeting January 2-4 in San Antonio that Tyus attended with Polk County Sports Marketing. Pendleton, who played in Major League Baseball for 15 years, is a managing partner in the organization, while former Brave pitcher, Greg McMichael runs the day-to-day operations.

An initiative of the Polk County Board of County Commissioners, Polk County Sports Marketing is responsible for recruiting sporting events to Polk County and marketing the county as a venue for competitive sporting events and recreational sports such as golf, bicycling and water skiing/boating. During the past year, more than 130 PCSM-assisted events generated in excess of $70 million in economic benefits for Polk County. In recognition of this and other accomplishments, the Florida Sports Foundation honored PCSM with its coveted Sports Commission of the Year" award in 2002. General information on sports in Polk County can be found by visiting the PCSM website at www.centralfloridasports.com.