Baseball legend Warren Spahn’s Anna Maria home

With some descent elbow grease…I’m sure the bloody Healter Skelter practice scrawls will come off the walls.

Warren Spahn named his cottage “The Mound.” Ironically, its address is the same number as his ERA in 1953 — 2.10, the best he ever posted.

Warren Spahn clearly enjoyed living on the beach, and sometimes after spring workouts you could see him rowing a 16-foot life raft in the Gulf for an hour to get into shape.

“The Mound” is one of a cluster of cottages that were built by Warren Spahn, though not all remain standing, and another is likely to fall soon.

All of the cottages in the neighborhood were named after baseball and had signs on the front. The other cottages were called “Home Plate,” “Infield,” “Outfield,” “Catcher’s Mitt,” “Shortstop” and “The Diamond.”

“The Mound” and “Home Plate” were next to each other on Cypress Avenue, and remain so today. Spahn sold “Home Plate” to Mathews, the Hall-of-Fame third baseman, in 1959. Those cottages now have non-baseball-related owners.

...The cottage is for sale and will likely be demolished for a more spacious, three-bedroom dwelling that meets the minimum height requirement for flood insurance. Asking price is $1.9 million.