"That's not the reason," he said that day in Plant City.
The Reds moved to new facilities in nearby Plant City for spring training 1988.
Plant City was originally a large cotton center but switched to strawberries which brought it national recognition.
I went to Plant City a few weeks ago and we spoke for a few minutes, but that was it.
The governor huddled with the family for half an hour in Plant City, 40 miles from here, where he was at a ceremony, they said.
He had served Plant City as a city commissioner from 1998 to 2004.
"Jack told me to apologize for kicking you at Plant City," she whispered.
Sewell died in Plant City, Florida, at the age of 82.
Plant City, located near Tampa, was named after him.
It takes 100 million plants to fill the fields around Plant City, which produce close to 20 percent of the nation's strawberries.