THE TEAM

THE SEASON

T H E PA R K

THE HISTORY

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PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 3

I
like to get to baseball games early.
Like, really early. I get there early to
watch the opposing team take batting
practice, to see the grounds crew paint the
lines on the infield, to bask in the aroma
as grills fire up around the stadium, to feel
the sun soak into my skin. There is just
something refreshing about sitting near a
patch of grass, far better manicured than
my own, in the middle of a maze of dazzling
skyscrapers.
Baseball is an exercise in rituals. For me,
it’s my early arrival. For others, it’s listen-
ing to the play-by-play on the radio. Keeping
score in a program. Collecting cards. Drink-
ing a cold one and risking heat exhaustion
in the outfield bleachers. The game is our
National Pastime — not because of what
nine men do on a patch of dirt but what we
do to become a part of it.
$ 62!&'.0&3 +!*,)ÿ #(%--- !5*2)ÿ
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4 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016
SUPPORTED BY
Few cities have the kind of connection to
its baseball team as Pittsburgh does with EDITORS
its Pirates. The relationship started with a MICHAEL SANSERINO
T YLER BATISTE
team called the Alleghenys and blossomed ART DIRECTOR
as Pittsburgh came to know men we recog- BEN HOWARD
KEY CONTRIBUTORS
nize by last name alone: Wagner, Clemente, ELIZABETH BLOOM, BILL BRINK,
Maz and McCutchen. Even when it became a J. MONROE BUTLER II, RON COOK,
PETER DIANA, DAN GIGLER,
love-hate relationship during 20 consecutive ALEX INIGUEZ, DIANE JURAVICH,
DANESE KENON, DANIEL MARSULA,
losing seasons, the love was never lost. JIM MENDENHALL, STEPHEN J. NESBIT T,
BRIAN O’NEILL, DARRELL SAPP,
This magazine is an exploration of those BRENT SPANTON, SAM WERNER,
ED YOZWICK, STEVE ZIANTS
Pirates. We dive into the team’s rich past,
visit the ballpark that has become a jewel in
a thriving city, preview the challenging sea- COVER
PHOTO:
son ahead and profile the 2016 team, led by PETER
DIANA
captivating and complex manager Clint Hur-
dle. Whether you are a baseball fan or just a
fan of good stories, we hope you’ll like it.
A PUBLICATION OF THE
Let’s play ball.
— Michael Sanserino
358 NORTH SHORE DRIVE, SUITE 300
Assistant Managing Editor/Sports PIT TSBURGH, PA 15212
 www.post-gazette.com/pirates2016
Go online for Pirates 2016 extras including
video with manager Clint Hurdle.

THE TEAM THE SEASON THE PARK THE HISTORY

10 Andrew McCutchen:
Question and answer. 6 Schedule: Game
times and promotions. 68 All-time greatest
Pirates: Top 10.

12 Stats Geek: Cutch’s

numbers don’t lie. 32 Series to watch:
Can’t-miss contests. 79 Did you know?
Behind the scenes.

16 Jung Ho Kang:
Embracing the Burgh. 36 NL Central: Team-by-
team preview.

48 PNC Park: North Side

gem turns 15.
18 Gerrit Cole: Question
and answer. 42 Joe Block: Meet the
new play-by-play man.

55
5 Ron Cook: The best
PNC Park moments.
20 Clint
Hurdle:
Manager learned
the hard way. 558 Top parks: Ranking
MLB’s best ballparks.

26 Prospects: Top 10
in the pipeline. 662 PNC Park guide:
For the uninitiated.

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PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 5

2016 PIRATES SCHEDULE
2016 PITTSBURGH PIRATES SCHEDULE
SUBJECT TO CHANGE HOME GAMES *INTERLEAGUE PLAY # IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
Schedule subject to change. Times to be announced

APRIL Home Games *Interleague play

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
1 2

3 Pirates Home Opener

2016
4 5 6 7 8 9
STL Magnetic STL STL CIN CIN
1:05 Schedule 7:05 7:05 7:10 1:10

10 11 12 13 University
Night - Pitt 14 15 Free Shirt
Friday 16 Zambelli
Fireworks
CIN DET* DET* DET* DET* MIL MIL
1:10 1:10 1:10 7:05 12:35 7:05 7:05

17 Kids Josh
Harrison 18 19 20 21 22 23
MIL Gnome/ SD SD SD ARI ARI
1:35 Kids Day 10:10 10:10 9:10 9:40 8:10

24 25 26 27 28 29 Free Shirt
Friday 30 Zambelli
Fireworks
ARI COL COL COL COL CIN CIN
4:10 8:40 8:40 8:40 3:10 7:05 7:05

MAY
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
1 Kids Andrew
McCutchen Silver
Slugger Plastic
2 3 Pup
Night 4 Education Day
5 6 7
CIN Bat/Kids Day/ Youth CHC CHC CHC STL STL
1:35 Baseball Softball Day 7:05 7:05 12:35 8:15 2:15

8 9 10 11 12 13 14
STL CIN CIN CIN CHC CHC
2:15 7:10 7:10 7:10 2:20 2:20

15 16 17 Pup
Night
18 19 Zambelli
Fireworks
20 Free Shirt
Friday
21 Raise the
Jolly Roger
CHC ATL ATL ATL ATL COL COL Bobblehead
2:20 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:05 4:05

22 Kids Portable
Speaker/ 23 24 Pup
Night 25 26 Education Day
27 28
COL Kids Day ARI ARI ARI TEX* TEX*
1:35 7:05 7:05 12:35 8:05 7:15

29 30 31
TEX* MIA# MIA#
3:05 7:10 7:10

JUNE
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
1 2 3 Free Shirt
Friday
4 Pirates
Fedora
MIA MIA LAA* LAA*
7:10 7:10 7:05 4:05

5 Kids Pillbox
Cap/Kids
6 7 Pup
Night
8 University
Night -
9 10 Free Shirt
Friday
11 Zambelli
Fireworks
LAA* Day/ Girl NYM NYM NYM Duquesne STL STL
1:35 Scouts Day 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:15

12 Kids Tech
T-Shirt/
13 14 15 16 17 18
STL Kids Day NYM NYM NYM CHC CHC
5:05 7:10 7:10 7:10 2:20 8:15

19 20 21 Pup
Night
22 University
Night -
23 Gerrit Cole
Bobblehead
24 Free Shirt
Friday
25 Pirates
Jersey Tote
CHC SF SF SF Robert Morris SF LAD LAD Bag
TBD 7:05 7:05 7:05 12:35 7:05 7:15

26 Kids Andrew
McCutchen New
Replica Alternate
27 28 29 30
LAD Jersey/Kids Day/ Youth LAD SEA* SEA*
1:35 Baseball Softball Day 12:35 10:10 10:10

6 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 1 2
KIDS JOSH HARRISON WALL DECALS/KIDS DAY KIDS DRAWSTRING BAG/KIDS DAY

JULY 1
Kids Josh Harrison Wall Decals/Kids Day 2
Kids Drawstring Bag/Kids Day
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
1 2
OAK* OAK*
10:05 10:05

3 4 5 6 7 8 Free Shirt
Friday 9 Bike
Night
OAK* STL STL STL STL CHC CHC
4:05 2:15 8:15 8:15 1:45 7:05 7:15

10 Kids Francisco
Cervelli Wall 11 12 13 14 15 16
CHC
1:35
Decals/Kids Day
ALL-STAR BREAK WAS
7:05
WAS
7:05

17 18 19 Pup Night/
Runner’s 20 Faith Night
21 Zambelli
Fireworks 22 Free Shirt
Friday 23 Commemorative
Andrew
WAS MIL Night MIL MIL PHI PHI McCutchen
1:35 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:05 4:05 Trading Card

24 Kids Day1
31 25 26 27 28 29 30
PHI SEA* SEA* MIL MIL
1:35 MIL 2:10 7:05 7:05 8:10 7:10

AUGUST
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
1 2 3 4 5 Free Shirt
Friday/Stand 6
ATL ATL ATL CIN Up To Cancer CIN
7:10 7:10 7:10 7:05 7:05

7 Kids Starling Marte

Wall Decals/ 8 9 Pup
Night 10 University
Night - WVU 11 Jung Ho Kang
Bobblehead 12 13
CIN Boy ScoutsKids Day/
Day
SD SD SD LAD LAD
1:35 7:05 7:05 12:35 10:10 4:05

14 15 16 17 18 19 Free Shirt
Friday 20 Zambelli
Fireworks
LAD SF SF SF MIA MIA
4:10 10:15 10:15 3:45 7:05 7:05

21 Kids W.B. Mason

Collectible Truck/ 22 23 24 25 26 27
MIA Kids Day HOU* HOU* HOU* MIL MIL MIL
1:35 7:05 7:05 12:35 8:10 8:10 7:10

28 29 30 31
MIL CHC CHC CHC
2:10 8:05 8:05 8:05

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
1 2 Free Shirt
Friday 3 Travel
Tumbler
MIL MIL
7:05 7:05

4 Kids Flat Bill

Snapback Cap/ 5 6 Pup
Night 7 8 Zambelli
Fireworks 9 Free Shirt
Friday 10 Francisco
Liriano
MIL Kids Day STL STL STL CIN CIN CIN Bobblehead
1:35 4:05 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:05

11 Kids OYO
Buildable 12 13 14 15 16 17
CIN Dugout PHI PHI PHI PHI CIN CIN
1:35 Set/Kids Day 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:10 4:10

18 19 20 21 22 23 Free Shirt
Friday 24 FanJam
Post-Game
CIN MIL MIL MIL WAS WAS Concert
1:10 8:10 8:10 8:10 7:05 7:05

25 2 26 27 28 29 30 OCT. 1
2
Kids Day Pup University
Night Night -
WAS CHC CHC CHC Point Park CHC STL STL
1:35 STL 3:15 7:05 7:05 7:05 7:05 8:15 4:15

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 7

Q&A
ANDREW
McCUTCHEN
M
Q
cCUTCHEN
QUESTION
UESTION AND ANSWER

You’re entering your eighth

major league season. What
do you wish you knew when
you debuted in 2009?
Man, there’s so much. My
mind’s going crazy right
now. Probably just to stay
BY BI
BILL BRINK

What surprised you most

when you reached the
major leagues?
How quickly they adjusted
to me as a hitter. I faced the
Cardinals one series and had
some pretty good success.
How did you learn how to
adjust in response?
Just kind of studying the
game a little more. We’ve got
so much video and so much
PHOTO: PETER DIANA

that’s out there, it’s just using

consistent with a routine. I
think that’s the biggest thing.
Pretty much everything that
you do is just being really
consistent with it. Don’t do
something for a little bit and
kind of pause, not do it. Just
stay consistent with it, and
that will carry you throughout
the season.
Who instilled that in you?
Me. Myself. Just learning over
the past years, you learn every
year something new. I think
that was the biggest thing I
learned over time, just being
consistent with it, being stub-
born in your routine and not
taking any days off with that.
The more you do that, the bet-
ter success you can have.
The next series, they’d be
pitching me a totally different
way. It’s kind of an eye-opener.
Man, it’s different. The game’s
so much faster as far as how
they adjust to you. In the mi-
nors, they throw you whatever
pitch and you hit it. It wasn’t
like they pitched you any differ-
ent. They threw you fastballs
and they threw you off-speed
pitches. But up here, it’s like a
game plan with everyone. You
really have to think. It’s almost
like you’re playing checkers in
the minors and you’re playing
chess when you get to the
majors.
it, really. Knowing, all right,
well, this is what they did to
me last time, this is what I
can probably expect is going
to happen this time. It’s just
learning, really. Opening up
a book and reading it as op-
posed to just going off of raw
ability and playing. Just using
the brain a little bit.
“I WAS 10 YEARS OLD …
IT WENT OVER THE SIGN
[IN LEFT FIELD] AND CRACKED
THE WINDSHIELD OF A CAR.
What has it been like to
have reached the status of a
sports icon in Pittsburgh?
It’s been cool. When I was
a rookie, I was sitting with
one of my boys in the middle
of the mall eating in the
food court. I was like, ‘Hey,
if things go right, I probably
won’t be able to do this much
longer.’ We kind of shared a
couple laughs over it. I can do
it now still, but not with[out]
people noticing that I’m there.
It’s been really cool just to
see the change over the
years. It has its perks, defi-
nitely. I enjoy it.
ON HIS FIRST HOME RUN

THAT WAS REALLY COOL, AND

I DIDN’T HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT.”
10 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

What sport would you be
playing if not baseball?
Probably football, more than
likely. I did pretty good in that.
I had the ability to do it, so I’d
probably be doing that.
Did you ever have
scholarship offers in football?
I got offered by Miami, after I
got drafted. So it was like, no
chance. That was a no-brainer
that I was going for baseball.
Do you see an opportunity
for growth in baseball as
more NFL players are
retiring early and concern
about head trauma rises?
I would hope so. You hate to
see that over there in foot-
ball, but it is declining quite
a bit because of the injuries.
Parents are yanking their kids
out of that sport because of
that. Being a kid, you want
to do something. Hopefully it
does help the game grow a
little bit.
THE TEAM
If you weren’t an athlete,
what would you do for
a living?
Probably be doing something
that has to do with music. I
like music. Not saying I’d be
a rapper or something. Just
something that has to do with
it. I don’t know the reality. I’d
probably do that. I like sci-
ence, but I don’t know if I like
the work of it.
How do you consume
and find new music?
Pandora, hearsay. The Inter-
net’s pretty extreme. You can
find pretty much anything.
Do you still have
time to draw?
Not really. I only do it by
request now, so if someone
says, hey, we’re doing this,
do you mind — sure, I’ll do it.
But I don’t really take the time
out and do it now.
What was the greatest
moment of your
Little League career?
Probably my first homer that
I ever hit. I was 10 years old
on a minor league field in
Fort Meade, [Fla.]. I hit one,
and there was a sign in left
field. It went over the sign and
cracked the windshield of a
car. That was really cool, and
I didn’t have to pay for that.
That was pretty memorable
for me. That’s something you
always dream of as a kid is
hitting a homer.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 11
 STATS GEEK BY BRIAN O’NEILL
1150
1,111 1,106

1040

930

L
et’s begin with a trivia question. 875
How many guys in baseball history
have done what Andrew McCutchen has
820
done, which is steal at least 150 bases and hit 150
home runs in his first seven seasons?
Only eight, and baseball fans can probably
guess, or at least won’t be surprised by, the other
710 seven: Willie Mays, Darryl Strawberry, a father- 700
son duo with the surname Bonds, Eric Davis, Al-
fonso Soriano and Matt Kemp. (All stats obtained
via baseball-reference.com.)
McCutchen, with 151 home runs and 154 steals, dre Dawson failed to clear the 150-mark in one
600
doesn’t have the power of Mays or Strawberry. category or the other in their first seven seasons
Each averaged more than 30 home runs in his in the major leagues shows the difficulty of this
first seven seasons to tally 216 and 215 home accomplishment. McCutchen and Barry Bonds
runs, respectively. Nor has McCutchen ap- are the only Pirates in the 150/150 career club,
490 proached the thievery of the Bonds clan; Bobby by the way.
and Barry each averaged more than 35 steals a So today, let’s compare McCutchen to both his
season the moment their feet touched a major- contemporaries and his predecessors. Every stat
league diamond, both clearing 250 steals at this will represent moments on the diamond that are
point in their careers. much more fun to watch in real time, but if you
380
But the fact that such power-speed luminaries look at these numbers long enough, you might
as Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero and An- begin to hear the cheers.

263
270
233
216 215

186
160 176
166
152

50
Willie Mays Bobby Bonds Darryl Strawberry Eric Davis
1951-1958 1968-1974 1983-1989 1984-1990

12 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE TEAM

THE 150/150 CLUB HOME RUNS

Andrew McCutchen is one of eight players all-time who has hit 1,151
STOLEN BASES
at least 150 home runs and has stolen at least 150 bases in 1150
his first seven seasons. In that exclusive group, McCutchen
HITS
leads the list with 1,151 hits. (Source: baseball-reference.com)

1040

984
962

912 930

ON THE RISE

a obscure fact of the 20th century that

It’s an
820
ever 30 years, a Pittsburgh Pirate led a
once every
decade in hits. Honus Wagner led the majors
from 1900 to 1909 with 1,847; Paul Waner led
the 1930s with 1,959; and Roberto Clemente led
the 1960s with 1,877. 710
The club’s hitters couldn’t match that in the
past four decades, but in each season of this
M
one, McCutchen’s chances have increased.
Right now he stands fifth in hits since 2010,
600
and he’s
he at least four years younger than each
of the four
fo men ahead of him, with four sea-
sons to g
go.
Here a
are the top 10 from 2010 through 2015:
Robins
Robinson Cano, 1,140 hits; Miguel Cabrera, 490

1,111; Ad
Adrian Gonzalez, 1,068; Adrian Beltre,
1,067; An
Andrew McCutchen, 1,027; Adam Jones,
1,024; Ni
Nick Markakis, 1,024; Billy Butler, 1,007;
Starlin C
Castro, 991; and Elvis Andrus, 985.
380
McC
McCutchen is 29 years old. Jones is 30, But-
ler turns 30 in April, and Markakis is 32. Cano

251 270

169
153 154
176 160
162
151 151

50
Barry Bonds Alfonso Soriano Matt Kemp Andrew McCutchen
1986-1992 1999-2005 2006-2012 2009-2015

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 13

 WALK-UP SONGS
and Cabrera are 33 this season, Gon-
zalez will turn 34 and Beltre 37. Only
Castro and Andrus, 26 and 27 this
season, are younger in the top 10, and
both fell farther behind McCutchen BEHIND THE MUSIC BY SAM WERNER
in the 2015 season.
Some of this is simply good timing.
McCutchen’s first full season, 2010,
began the decade. It’s likewise lucky
for him that the first full seasons
for Mike Trout and Bryce Harper
weren’t until 2012. But that’s quib- FRANCISCO ANDREW SEAN RODRIGUEZ
bling. CERVELLI McCUTCHEN Undecided: “I guess
All the Pirates who have led a de-
Dean Martin, ‘That’s Undecided: “What- it depends what I
cade in hits are in the Hall of Fame. Amore’: “They don’t ever gives me musi- want people to hear,
Odds are still against McCutchen like it, but I like it. cal friction, whatever know about me.
leading this decade, given Cano’s I don’t know. I just gives you friction. What kind of mood I
113-hit lead and Cabrera’s 84 hits on like that song. I put To us, it’s basically want to be in going
it on just to have fun music that gives me up to hit. … Over
him. Both also play in the American
a little bit. I got good chills. So basically the years, you kind
League where they don’t even have to of play something
feedback and I’m go- when I’m listening to
take the field to bat. ing to stay with it.” music, if it gives me more rooted to who
But McCutchen’s been moving up chills, I’ll walk out to you are, personality-
this list since the decade began, from it. If I get that, I’m wise. Just play what
more likely to walk you’re feeling at the
46th to fifth place with no slipping
out to it.” moment. This is how
backward, and he’s under the Pi-
I’m feeling right now,
rates’ control at least through these and I want everyone
next three seasons. We may be look- else to feel the same
Pictured: Dean Martin, left,
ing at the fourth Pirate to outhit ev- Tom Morello of Rage Against way.”
The Machine and Justin Bieber
ery batter alive in a 10-year stretch,
and ain’t that somethin’?

POWER AND SPEED

Back to the 150/150 club, here’s a

list of every player who has stolen
at least 150 bases and hit at least 150
home runs since McCutchen’s rookie
year of 2009.
HR SB
Andrew McCutchen 151 154
As that makes it appear Mc-
Cutchen is uniquely gifted, let’s add
there are 11 active players who have
crossed those thresholds. All the oth-
ers have at least a couple of seasons
on McCutchen. The leaders are Alex
Rodriguez (687 home runs, 326 steals)
and Carlos Beltran (392, 311), two of
only eight players in baseball his-
tory’s 300/300 club (with Mays, the
Bondses, Dawson, Reggie Sanders
and Steve Finley).
McCutchen is halfway there, but
his stolen base count the past couple
of years (18 and 11) may mean that
particular club is beyond him.
ON THE BASEPATHS
Among all active players, Mc-
Cutchen has the fifth highest career
on-base percentage at .388, behind
only Joey Votto, .423; Miguel Cabre-
ra, .399; Albert Pujols, .397; and Joe
Mauer, .394.
McCutchen is fourth in career Ad-
justed On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS+).
That adjusts the OPS to the player’s
ballpark and opponents, with 100 be-
ing the league average. The top four
in baseball are Pujols, 159; Votto, 156;
Cabrera, 155; and McCutchen, 144.
PIRATES OF THE PAST
So where in Pirates history does
McCutchen stand at this point in his
career? Only three Pirates had more
hits than McCutchen’s 1,151 through
seven seasons. All are Hall of Famers
and all, rather incredibly, played to-
gether: Paul “Big Poison” Waner had

14 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE TEAM

purports to tally how many wins

above your average replacement
player a star is worth to his team,
taking in batting, defense and base
running. That’s too cosmic for some
tastes, but it almost invariably puts
the right names at the top.
These are the top center fielders
in baseball history, ranked by WAR
through their first seven seasons,:
Mickey Mantle, 52.2; Willie Mays,

JOSH HARRISON GERRIT COLE CHRIS STEWART 50.9; Joe DiMaggio, 48.7; Ty Cobb,
46.7; Ken Griffey Jr., 40.2; Al Sim-
Something by his Rage Against The Skillet, ‘Forsaken’:
mons, 39.2; Tris Speaker, 38.4; Mc-
brother, Shaun, and Machine, ‘Sleep “It’s something
cousin, rapper Oski Now in the Fire’: “I I’ve stuck with the Cutchen, 38.2; and Trout, 37.9.
Isaiah: “I always think [I’m sticking last 10 years. It’s a Trout has gotten to that number
stick with one of his with it]. I just like Christian hard rock in less than five seasons, finishing
songs, one of my Rage. I like 90s grun- band. Just some- first or second in the American
cousin’s and try and ge. I like good rock, thing that pumps me
League MVP voting in each of
mix in two others. that ska movement up. It’s got a good
For one, something in Southern Califor- message. I actu- his first four full seasons, in 1,627
that nobody else is nia. I am a Belieber, ally got to meet the fewer plate appearances than Mc-
using. Two, some- though, too. It’s a guitarist last year. Cutchen. The two will meet in
thing that just kind wide genre.” He just happened PNC Park on June 3, 4 and 5, when
of puts me in the to randomly be at a
Trout’s geographically greedy Los
a zone of, ‘OK, I’m game, overheard my
Angeles Angels of Anaheim arrive.
ready to go.’ You walk out song and
always want it to be was like, ‘I’ve got to Who knows if the two stars are
something where meet that guy.’ ” looking forward to that series? But
it gets you kind of fans should be.
locked in.” As great as the starts of their
careers have been, both Trout and
McCutchen have a long way to go.
The five center fielders immediately
behind them on the seven-season
WAR chart all slipped from their
extraordinary starts to wind up in
baseball’s Hall of Very Good, where
1,452 hits from 1926 to 1932; Lloyd CENTER OF ATTENTION there are fond memories but no
“Little Poison” Waner had 1,312 from plaques: Andruw Jones, 37.6; Kenny
In short, by almost any measure,
1927 to 1933; and Arky Vaughan had Lofton, 35.9; Wally Berger, 35.8, Ce-
McCutchen is a special player. Most
1,231 from 1932 to 1938. sar Cedeno, 35.1; and Vada Pinson,
of the players mentioned above have
(Those Pirates played in a high- 34.8.
plaques in Cooperstown or will. So
offense era, but in baseball history They say that’s why they keep
let’s end by comparing McCutchen’s
only Ichiro Suzuki, with 1,592, had playing the games. McCutchen has
start to those of the greatest center
more hits than Paul Waner in his set the bar high for Pirates fans’
fielders in baseball history, because
first seven seasons.) expectations. History aside, they’ll
it shows both where he stands and
If you want to talk total bases, want to see how he helps win the
how far he has to go.
Paul Waner, with 2,155, and Ralph Ki- game they’re watching right now.
The baseball-reference Play Index
ner, with 2,148, are the only Pirates to
allows comparisons of center field-
top McCutchen’s 1,918 through seven By Brian O’Neill: boneill@post-
ers by Wins Above Replacement, or
seasons. gazette.com or 412-263-1947.
WAR. That’s a slippery number that

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 15

 PLAYER PROFILE BY SAM WERNER

T
here actually are some similarities between Gwangju, South Korea, and Pittsburgh. ¶ They’re about the same
size, have similar climates — though Gwangju gets a bit more rain, if that’s possible — and both are defined geo-
graphically by intersecting rivers. ¶ Of course, the two cities are a world apart. And to Pittsburgh’s most famous
Gwangju native, Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang, there’s one important difference. ¶ “Well, Gwangju has more Korean food
than Pittsburgh,” Kang said, through an interpreter, with a laugh. ¶ In his second season with the Pirates, Kang is much
more comfortable with his surroundings than he was a year ago, when he was meeting new teammates, living in a new city
and speaking an unfamiliar language. ¶ Kang went to Bradenton, Fla., in December, rehabbing the MCL injury that prema-
turely ended his 2015 in September. He was looking forward to returning to his adopted city of Pittsburgh, a city he admitted
he didn’t know much about when the Pirates won his bidding rights from the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organiza-
tion in 2015. ¶ When he arrived in Pittsburgh, he liked what he saw. ¶ “I was impressed by the city,” said Kang, the first posi-
tion player to jump directly from the KBO to Major League Baseball. “More than I expected.”

Pictured: Despite an injured knee, Jung Ho Kang is introduced with teammates before the 2015 NL wild-card game.

16 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 PHOTO: PETER DIANA

 THE TEAM

As Kang broke out on the field in
his first year with the Pirates — fin-
ishing third in the National League’s
rookie of the year balloting — he also
took the time to explore his new home.
Those trips were often documented
on his Instagram account. One day
walking down Walnut Street in
Shadyside, another relaxing outside
Constellation Coffee in Lawrenceville.
His favorite discovery, so far, has
been the brisket taco at Smoke Barbe-
cue Taqueria in Lawrenceville.
As Kang got more comfortable with
his surroundings last season, he also
started to mesh with his teammates.
Outfielder Gregory Polanco, also
anybody’s toes,’ ” said utility man
Sean Rodriguez.
“[Now] he’s more open, more
outspoken, not so passive in certain
situations. If he feels like he wants to
make a comment, do something funny
or just be himself, he’ll just do it.”
With a locker next to Kang’s, Ro-
driguez hears about his exploration of
Pittsburgh’s Korean food scene.
Kang eventually settled on Green
Pepper, in Squirrel Hill, as his favor-
ite. Owner Jacob Young remembers
the first time Kang visited. One night
last year, Young got a call just a few
minutes before closing from two
people on their way, seeking some Ko-
with the most memorable moment of
an otherwise forgettable evening.
Before the first pitch, Kang was
introduced with his teammates and
brought out in a wheelchair to a thun-
derous standing ovation from his ad-
opted city.It was an inspiring moment
that helped spur a long offseason of
rehab.
“I was very thankful for the fans,
for the city to give me such energy
that day,” he said. “Makes me deter-
mined to do even better this year.”
Young, who emigrated from South
Korea more than 20 years ago, said it
has been special to see Pittsburgh em-
brace one of his countrymen.

Kang meets
Pittsburgh —
Pirates infielder
Jung Ho Kang
documents his
exploration of
his new home
with Instagram,
including, from
left, the zoo,
Strip District
and Shadyside.

playing his first full major league sea-
son in 2015, took an immediate liking
to Kang.
“I like to be happy, he’s a happy per-
son,” Polanco said. “He’s a nice guy.
We’re together, joking around, having
fun.”
As Kang got more comfortable with
English, Polanco, who is from the
Dominican Republic, also peppered in
some Spanish, so Kang’s joking abil-
ity is becoming trilingual.
Teammates will now attest to
Kang’s sense of humor, which can
help bridge a language barrier, but it
took some time for that to develop.
“In the beginning, you’d see some
opportunities where he could do
something and he’d be like, ‘I’m just
going to pass it up. Don’t want to do
anything, [tick] anybody off, step on
rean barbecue ribs.
When the customers arrived,
Young was stunned to see Kang and
his interpreter, H.K. Kim.
“The very first thing that came out
his mouth was, ‘This is delicious,’ ”
Young recalled.
Still, even the best bibimbap won’t
replicate the taste of home. Kang said
he planned to return to South Korea
this offseason, but surgery and rehab
for his injury changed those plans.
“Of course it’s tough,” he said. “I
want to go back to Korea, my country.
But I have my goals set here, and I’m
here to achieve that.”
Those goals involve pushing the Pi-
rates past the wild-card game this Oc-
tober. Even though Kang didn’t play
in last year’s season-ending loss to the
Cubs, he likely provided Pirates fans
Even though his English is general-
ly good, he said he doesn’t quite have
the words to explain his emotions
when he saw Kang get that standing
ovation, or the South Korean flags
that populated PNC Park.
“Some mixture of words such as
pride, hope and love, basically,” Young
said.
There are still some hurdles for
Kang. He is “not completely” comfort-
able with English, but better than last
year. He uses an interpreter to speak
with reporters, but seems to have no
problems joking with teammates on
the field.
When asked if, one year in, he feels
like a true Pittsburgher yet, the ques-
tion needs translation, but the answer
does not.
A smile, a nod and “Oh, yeah.”

PHOTOS (L-R): JUNG HO KANG VIA INSTAGRAM PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 17

Q&A
GERRIT COLE
Q
QUESTION
UESTION AND ANSWER

When they lined you up

against the Cardinals, Cubs,
Dodgers, Cubs, Cardinals,
wild-card game last year,
what was your reaction?
Got our work cut out for
us. We got to go get the
BY B
BILL
ILL B
BRINK
RINK

juices flowing in the middle of

the game, all you’re trying to
do is just try to get locked in
the best you can. I think the
nerves and the insecurity, it
keeps me on edge. It keeps
me working hard. But I defi-
nitely don’t like to project that
PPHOTO:
HOTO: PETER DIANA

job done. Obviously those

are big games, especially
who we were matching up
against. Thinking back on it,
it’s nice that the skipper has
confidence to give you those
games. But in the moment,
it was just kind of like, OK, if
this is what we gotta do, this
is what we gotta do. Let’s fig-
ure it out and get it done.
Have you ever doubted
yourself in your career?
Everybody’s got their insecuri-
ties, everybody’s got their
doubts. I get nervous before
games still. I know when
maybe we’re going to have a
tough day, or when we haven’t
had a great week of recover-
ing, so we’re going to have
to see what’s going on when
we get out there. Once you
get out there and you get the
to the other team or try to
project that to anybody who
would be able to gain some-
thing from it.
Have you always been able
to remember every pitch
you threw?
I remember a lot of the pitch-
es. I just remember being
super locked in. You can just
vividly see the pitches. I don’t
know if I remember every
pitch, but there are a lot of
instances in games where the
balance of the game kind of
swings on one or two pitches
or a handful of at-bats. When
you just elevate your focus to
that level, it just kind of sears
in your mind. You just have it.

18 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016


When we talk to you after
games, you seem to have a
pretty good recall.
I’m sitting there chewing on it,
too, especially if I get out of
there early [laughs]. There’s a
recollection, maybe, because
there’s a game plan. There’s
a thought process. It’s not
something that I just sit there
and digest afterwards, it’s
something that I’ve sat there
and digested before.
You like to watch the best
pitchers in the game.
If you’re on the mound or in
the dugout during your own
game, how do you see them?
I take the opportunities
when I can, especially when
they’re pitching against us
— obviously not when they’re
pitching against me. When
they’re pitching against us, I
take the opportunity to watch
them. Fortunately some
of those guys play in big
markets where you kind of
see them on “Sunday Night
Baseball” every night, or
they’re always on ESPN, the
highlights. It’s just kind of
like, you have your peers in
this game and there’s guys
that are just at a different
level. Maybe watching
them might not give you all
the answers, but it can’t
hurt. It can’t hurt.
If you weren’t a baseball
player, what do you think
you would do for a living?
It would have to be a competi-
tive industry. I don’t know. I
don’t know what I would be
doing. I have so much love for
the game, it’s hard for me to
envision not being involved
in the game. There’s a lot of
moving parts. I have other in-
terests, but I’ve been pitching
since I’ve been like 13 years
old. When I get a question
like that, it’s just not some-
thing that I’ve really thought
about for a long time. I’m
sure I’d be able to take a lot
of the stuff I’ve learned here
and how to be a professional
and go about your job and the
work ethic that it takes every
day. We work with our bod-
ies, you guys work with your
minds, but the same process
applies. I don’t really have a
specific feel, but I feel like it
would have to be something
competitive, at least.
Having pitched since you
were 13 and having put so
much effort and thought into
it, do you find it hard to
decompress?
Yeah. I think that’s what the
offseason’s for, I think that’s
what your teammates are for.
You try to do it the best you
can. In between games, in
between starts, it builds up
on you over the course of the
year. There’s no substitute
for experience and just fine-
tuning that process. You’ve
just got to try to keep working
at it, never be satisfied with
it, and it can always get bet-
ter. You learn how to flip that
switch better. I remember ini-
tially talking about that kind of
stuff in college. When you’re
at the field, be at the field.
When you’re at home, doing
your homework or you’re with
your girlfriend or you’re with
your wife, be with them when
you’re there. Don’t drag your
luggage out to the field and
don’t drag your field luggage
back home.
Now that you’ve done this
a couple years, have you
found anything that makes
relaxing easier?
Amy [Crawford, Cole’s fian-
cee] makes it easier. Being
able to settle into a team. You
develop relationships with
these guys. Finally I’ve played
with J-Hay [Josh Harrison] for
five years. I’ve played with
Tony [Watson] for three years,
four years, I’ve played with
Andrew [McCutchen] for three
or four years. I’ve played with
Jordy [Mercer] for five years
down in triple-A before he got
called up. We have a little bit
of a rapport. Sometimes all
it takes is just kind of like a
look across the table, and
like, hey, you want to go grab
a beer? I need a blow, I need
a beer, and they kind of look
at you and reciprocate the
same look, and you go grab a
beer and just kind of decom-
press. It’s stressful. It’s 162
[games], it may look monoto-
nous from the fans’ perspec-
tive. You’ve been involved
in this as much as anybody
from the outside can, and
you know how we focus every
day and how we go about our
business every day, and what
it takes to win 98 games. You
cannot take a day off, you
cannot get overwhelmed, and
you have to stay focused.
THE TEAM
What did it mean to you
when you were chosen to be
the Pirates’ union rep?
I was a little taken aback. I
had worked with Neil [Walker]
last year a lot. As much as
we knew he was going to
get traded, I think the tim-
ing was a little premature,
at least what him and I were
anticipating. So I hadn’t really
thought about taking on the
responsibility myself. I kind
of hoped I would have a little
more time with a seasoned
vet. And when I sat down
with Tony and Jared [Hughes]
before camp really started to
get rolling and they had sug-
gested that I do it, and Mark
[Melancon] as well, there was
some thought into, this is
an important year. We need
to make the right decision.
We need to be connected to-
gether as a team. We have an
important role to play in this
clubhouse to set an example.
It’s a tremendous honor.
What was the biggest
moment of your
Little League career?
I had slid into second base
a couple weeks before and I
really hurt my hamstring bad.
I went to the doctor and he
graded me out with some sort
of strain, I can’t really remem-
ber. But I remember I was
limited just to hitting and not
really running. I think we had
bases loaded in the bottom
of the sixth, we were down by
three, and I hit a grand slam.
And we won the game, and I
really could literally barely run
around the bases.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 19
 COVER STORY BY STEPHEN J. NESBITT

PHOTO: PETER DIANA

Hurdle wonders if maybe one day he
should write a letter to his younger
self. He read one the other day written
by Dwight Gooden, a guy who once
knocked Hurdle unconscious with a
heater to the helmet, and it got him
thinking.
There’s a lot Hurdle should prob-
ably say to his brazen 17-year-old self
about what happened between 1975,
when the Kansas City Royals drafted
him ninth overall, and now. About
making the majors and making mis-
takes. About booze and baseball and
becoming a man.
So, he’ll begin: Dear Clint.
See, Hurdle at 58 is a curious
character study: father to Ashley
(30), Maddie (13) and Christian (11);
major-league manager; spokesman for
Prader-Willi Syndrome Association;
17 years sober. It’s the portrait of a
good man, and a flawed one. Former
teammates say he’s a perfect example
of learning the hard way.
He often tells players, “Anything
you’ve done wrong, I’ve done worse,
and I’ve done twice.”
Hurdle seems to have a saying for
every situation, so maybe that’s how
he’ll start the letter. Here’s one: “I
believe you’re prepared for your future
through your past — if you paid atten-
tion to it.” And another: “If you have
a foot in yesterday and a foot in tomor-
row, you take a crap on today.”
Which reminds him of a story.
Have you heard this one? If you
thought the mess Hurdle had to clean
up when he joined the Pirates in 2010
was bad, wait until you hear about his
first job.
This was back in high school, and
Hurdle wanted a summer job that
paid better than the 75 cents he got
for mowing lawns. His dad, Clint Sr.,
22 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016
knew a contractor who needed a cou-
ple extra hands. So, Hurdle showed
up and discovered the gig was to re-
trieve portable toilets from construc-
tion sites around his hometown and
clean them out. Sometimes the hose
jammed, and sometimes it leaked. At
the end of the day, Hurdle stormed
home and asked his dad, “Why didn’t
you tell me what kind of work it was?
Why’d you get me this job? ”
“Well, Clint,” he replied. “It’s the
only thing you’re qualified to do.”
! ! !
ON E MON DAY MOR N I NG
in February, three old friends squeeze
into a corner booth at a cafe in Mer-
ritt Island, Fla., and start swapping
stories about Clint Hurdle, whom
they’ve known for decades. They meet
every month, this breakfast club, but
they don’t always talk about Hurdle.
Chuck Goldfarb coached Hurdle
at the high school down the road,
and Ernie Rosseau coached at the lo-
cal junior college for 29 years. They
both coached the third member of
the breakfast club, Peter Kerasotis, a
A family photo of a young Bobbi,
Clint and Robin Hurdle hangs in the
home of Louise and Clint Hurdle Sr.,
pictured at right, in Merritt Island, Fla.
Hurdle’s high school field, left, was
named after him when he won 2013
NL Manager of the Year.
longtime local columnist and sports
writer who played high school ball
with Hurdle.
If you were to head out the door
and left on Courtenay Parkway,
they explain, there’s Kennedy Space
Center, where everyone’s dad used to
work. In those days, the island was
like a college town centered on Cape
Canaveral, back before high-rise ho-
tels lined Cocoa Beach and before the
rickety hut with eight surfboards for
rent became Ron Jon Surf Shop, the
largest of its kind.
Clint Hurdle Sr. brought his family
here from Big Rapids, Mich., in 1960,
when “Little Clint” was 3. The Apollo
program was just taking off and there
was work aplenty in the aerospace
boom. Clint Sr. was a drafter, by trade,
but lucked into a job at Grumman’s
computer data systems lab at the
space center. He spent 37 years there.
For the Hurdle children, Bobbi and
Clint and Robin, launches eventu-
ally became routine. They’d watch
from the front yard or the school
playground and cheer as a rocket rose
above the rooftops.
PHOTOS: PETER DIANA

As a 20-year-old rookie with the Kansas
City Royals, Clint Hurdle was chosen for
the cover of a March 1978 issue of Sports
Illustrated titled “This Year’s Phenom.”
“HE WAS
THE PLANET,
AND THEY
WERE ALL
SATELLITES.”
Turn right on Courtenay Parkway
and you’ll pass the Hurdles’ old home,
the one with a baseball field behind it
and another across the street. When
almost everyone was headed to the
beach, they’d see the flash of Hurdle’s
left-handed swing, and there were his
mother, Louise, his two sisters and
the family dog, Pooh Bear the black
poodle, running pell-mell across the
outfield, shagging flies for the boy.
“He was the planet,” Kerasotis
says, “and they were all satellites.”
Hurdle was a sophomore when
scouts came to see his Merritt Island
High School teammate Waldo Williams
in a game. Hurdle doubled and hom-
ered. As they left the ballpark, Clint Sr.
PHOTOS (L-R): PETER DIANA, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
and Louise heard a scout remark, “We
were here to see the wrong kid.”
Here’s where Hurdle will advise
his younger self: Take note of this mo-
ment, because you’re in for a wild ride.
Bill Fischer had two eyes on Hur-
dle from that day forward. The Royals
scout lived nearby and spent the next
three years watching games, tossing
batting practice and filing reports.
Hurdle was brash and cocky, but a
hard worker. He had everything but
speed; teammates called him “Hurdle
the Turtle.” As the 1975 draft ap-
proached, Fischer threw Hurdle bat-
ting practice in front of Royals front-
office executives in Fort Myers, Fla.
Hurdle put on a show.
“All right, I’ve seen enough,” a Roy-
als national scout said.
“Don’t you want to see him run and
throw?” Fischer asked.
The scout replied, “If he can hit
like that, I don’t care if he can run or
throw.”
After the draft, 17-year-old Hurdle
wanted to play right away. So rather
than wait for Royals brass, Fischer
wrote up a contract and met the Hur-
THE TEAM
dles at a local diner. He sat on one side
of a booth, and they on the other. Each
party took a napkin, wrote down a
number, then slid it across the table.
They did this a few times before set-
tling on a number around $50,000.
“All these years later,” Fischer
says, “I didn’t know I was signing a
manager.”
! ! !
T H E R E I S A R O O M
in the home of Clint Hurdle’s parents
that his mother calls “the doghouse.”
Its walls are covered top to bottom,
end to end, by an intricate labyrinth
of photos and memorabilia. Clint Sr.
swears he has that napkin in here
somewhere.
The tour begins in a corner, across
the room from where Hurdle’s 2013
National League Manager of the Year
award sits by the window. There’s a
black-and-white snapshot of Edward
Hurdle, the grandfather, a left-handed
pitcher who was offered a baseball
contract at 16 — the day before his
father died. He worked instead at an
automotive factory for 50 years.
Below the photo, Edward’s leather
mitt lies in state in a zippered plastic
bag. Clint Sr. is trying to preserve it,
but it’s starting to tear at the seams.
Clint Sr. was offered a contract, too,
but was drafted into military service
and never played pro ball.
On the near wall is a large paint-
ing of a March 1978 Sports Illustrated
cover, the one that has shadowed
Hurdle. The family knew Hurdle was
going to be in the magazine, but not
on the cover, his shaggy hair and
big smile beside the headline “This
Year’s Phenom.”
“My career has been like a book,
and this is the climax,” 20-year-old
Hurdle said in the story. A few lines
later, George Brett explained his plan
to take Hurdle under his wing, since
the organization would want one
PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 23
golden boy to look after the next.
In the end, Hurdle was more flame-
out than phenom. Once the youngest
Royals player in team history, he
played only two full seasons in the
majors and bounced between four
teams.
Why didn’t he pan out? Every an-
swer sounds a little different, but each
begins in the same place: “The transi-
tion was just too fast,” Clint Sr. says.
“You’re 20 years old, but you’re in a
man’s world now.” The boy wonder
got too much, too soon. He ran with
the Royals, the kings of Kansas City
nightlife.
“He was in fast-motion all the
time,” says Jamie Quirk, a Royals
teammate. “He lived fast. He lived Kansas City Royals outfielders Joe Zdeb, left, and Clint Hurdle celebrate after defeating
the California Angels to win the AL West title Sept. 23, 1977 in Anaheim, Calif.
hard. Like most of us at 20, he thought
he was invincible.”
Quirk now manages Class A Wilm-
ington in the Royals organization. He was in his head. “I was trying to con- flights leave the earth that they forgot
tells players they have it a thousand nect the dots one through 100 before I what an engineering marvel it was.
times harder today, in the social- even hit the ball.” Now, television crews swarmed to
media age. The baseball culture was And while alcohol addiction cer- document the death of seven Ameri-
different then. tainly contributed to his decline, Hur- can crew members and the failure of
“I don’t want to say we got away dle says, it became an excuse, too, “a the space program.
with a lot, because that’s not a good defense mechanism for not living up The space shuttle program shut
thing to be proud of,” Quirk says, “but to the expectations of other people.” down for nearly three years, and the
we did.” local economy spiraled as families
! ! !
Signing with the Royals meant giv- began to feel friction over government
ing up a football and baseball scholar- O N J A N . 2 8 , 1 9 8 6 , funding and support. Clint Sr. remem-
ship at the University of Miami, and Clint Hurdle, in the twilight of his bers Rogers Commission investiga-
maybe that’s one thing Hurdle would playing days, stood in his front yard tors always asking for more data,
write in this letter to his younger self: in Palm City, Fla., and waited again more explanations. “Everything was
Go to Miami. Rosseau remembers for a rocket to rise. At the space cen- at a standstill,” he says.
Hurdle, a quarterback, saying he ter, his father stepped outside his With Merritt Island in a 32-month
should have played freshman football office and looked east toward Cape identity crisis, Hurdle, his own ca-
and gotten the tar kicked out of him, Canaveral, where the space shuttle reer nearing a standstill, wanted to
to help him grow up quicker. Challenger counted down to its 10th be close to home. The New York Mets
“I think he’s gotten a better educa- mission. were building a stadium for a new
tion with his hard knocks,” Clint Sr. Challenger broke apart after 73 Class A team in nearby Port St. Lucie,
says. seconds in flight, leaving behind it where Hurdle had spent a few spring
Hurdle isn’t shy about his alcohol a corkscrew plume of smoke and an trainings with the Mets. Hurdle
abuse then, nor his sobriety now. But island town trying to pick up the thought this could be his segue.
there’s more to the story, he says, pieces of a fractured industry that But minor league director Steve
than a guy drinking away his career. had once seemed invincible. For de- Schreiber wasn’t interested in hiring
He has always been a thinker, a tin- cades, Hurdle and those on Florida’s a 30-year-old with character questions
ker, and at times it was too much. He space coast watched so many manned and no coaching experience to man-

24 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS


While managing the Colorado Rockies in 2007, Clint Hurdle holds his daughter, Maddie,
while his wife, Karla, hangs on to their son, Christian, before a game in Denver.
age at Class A. Hurdle’s previous job
had been as a bartender in Kansas
City during the 1981 players strike.
“Poor job selection,” he says, in ret-
rospect. Hurdle turned down two
lower-level minor league jobs out of
state — he says threatening to return
to Mets camp as a player was his le-
verage — before Schreiber caved and
named him St. Lucie’s skipper.
It still makes Hurdle laugh, so he’ll
write that down: That’s how badly
they want you to stop playing.
When Rosseau heard the news,
he hollered, “The fox is running the
chicken coop?”
“I couldn’t believe it,” Quirk says.
“Clint managing? Are you kidding?”
To Quirk, the real surprise was Hur-
dle’s willingness to return to the ob-
scurity of the low minors. “It showed
me that Clint really did love the game
of baseball. As a player, he used the
game rather than loved it.”
While Hurdle started to get right
with baseball and climbed in the Mets
system, he still hadn’t figured out life
off the field. “I was a hamster on a
PHOTO: DAVID ZALUBOWSKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE TEAM
wheel,” he says. He didn’t drink every
day, but when he drank, he got drunk.
That’s when Karla Yearick walked
into his life — or rather, a William-
sport, Pa., sports bar — in 1993.
Hurdle’s second marriage had crum-
bled, and in his offseason away from
managing Class AA Williamsport,
the one-time top prospect lived at his
parents’ home in Viera, Fla.
“I mean, this was a bad movie,”
Hurdle says.
Karla, an accountant from a big
family in Muncy, Pa., didn’t know
baseball or celebrity, but she could
tell this man thought he was a catch.
“He was thinking I had won the lot-
tery,” she says.
The first time Hurdle asked Karla to
marry him, in 1997, he said, “I’m going
to take you on the ride of your life.”
She said no. There’s a really good
“I COULDN’T
guy in there, she told Hurdle, but he
doesn’t get out enough.
BELIEVE IT. “It had taken me over a year to even
CLINT
get up the courage to even ask,” Hur-
dle says now. “I’d been divorced twice.
MANAGING? I’d had things taken from me that I’d
worked hard for. It’s a hard deal. It
ARE YOU should be hard, because that’s not the
KIDDING?
way it’s drawn up to be. For better, for
worse, for happily ever after.”
IT SHOWED ME Karla knew the question would
come, sooner or later, and she knew
THAT CLINT her answer.
REALLY DID
“I just knew, in my heart, it
wouldn’t have been a good road trav-
LOVE THE GAME eled together if we both continued to
want different results and kept doing
OF BASEBALL. the same thing,” Karla says. “So, he
AS A PLAYER,
took some notes. I took some notes.
And eventually we got to the same
HE USED page.”
Hurdle was at a crossroads. He
THE GAME needed to quit drinking, but knew he
RATHER THAN
couldn’t do it alone. He committed to
church and counseling. He went to Al-
LOVED IT.” coholics Anonymous. He sought help.
C O N T I N U E D O N PAGE 6 5
PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 25
Top pitching
prospects
Tyler Glasnow,
left, and
Jameson
Taillon

1
26
TYLER GLASNOW
RHP
PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016
AGE: 22 H/W: 6-8/225

DRAFTED: 2011 (5TH ROUND)

B/T: L/R
Glasnow’s long arms and legs make his high-90s fast-
ball appear even faster to hitters. He complements it
with a solid curveball, but the key for him to become a
front-line starter in the majors is the development of
his changeup, especially in fastball counts. He’ll begin
the year in Class AAA Indianapolis and should reach
the majors at some point this season.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PETER DIANA

 THE TEAM

PIRATE PIPELINE
TOP 10 PROSPECTS ACCORDING TO BASEBALL AMERICA BY BILL BRINK PHOTOS: PETER DIANA

2 OF
AGE: 20
AUSTIN
MEADOWS
H/W: 6-3/200

DRAFTED: 2013 (1ST ROUND)

B/T: L/L

The Pirates’ trio of outfielders, under team control through 2018,

3 1B
AGE: 23
JOSH
BELL
H/W: 6-2/235

DRAFTED: 2011 (2ND ROUND)

B/T: S/R

currently blocks Meadows, but the possible departure of Andrew
McCutchen would open a spot. Meadows reached Class AA Altoo-
na last year after hitting .307 in the Florida State League. Mead-
ows will begin the year with Altoona, but an injury to his right eye
The Pirates moved Bell from the outfield to first base after the
2014 season, and while his defense there still needs work, evalu-
ators say he is athletic enough to make the plays. After receiving a
promotion to Class AAA Indianapolis last season, Bell hit .347 with
a .441 on-base percentage and had 15 strikeouts to 21 walks. He

4
March 8, initially diagnosed as a fractured orbital bone, will delay could be ready for the majors this year, although the Pirates have
his start to the season. options between David Freese, Michael Morse and John Jaso.

Taillon has not thrown a pitch in a real game since the

Arizona Fall League in 2013 because of elbow and her-
nia surgeries. During that time, Taillon refined his me-
chanics and committed to a healthy diet. He pitched
JAMESON TAILLON
RHP
well in the fall instructional league last year, and while AGE: 24 H/W: 6-5/240 B/T: R/R
he could debut this season, his lack of innings in the
past two years could affect his workload. DRAFTED: 2010 (1ST ROUND)

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 27

 5 OF
AGE: 21
HAROLD
RAMIREZ
H/W: 5-10/210

SIGNED: 2011 (COLOMBIA)

B/T: R/R

Ramirez has hit at every level above rookie ball, but had the best
of his four professional seasons last year with Class A Bradenton:
a .337 average, .399 OBP and 22 steals. Because of injuries,
though, last season’s 80 games and 344 plate appearances were
career highs. His next chance to put together a full season will
likely begin in Class AA.

6 C
AGE: 21
REESE
MCGUIRE
H/W: 6-0/181

DRAFTED: 2013 (1ST ROUND)

B/T: L/R

Tasked with calling pitches as early as Little League, McGuire has

7 SS
AGE: 19
COLE
TUCKER
H/W: 6-3/185

DRAFTED: 2014 (1ST ROUND)

B/T: S/R

Tucker was in the process of putting together a solid second year in

an advanced feel behind the plate. He has a strong arm and plays
good defense. Offensively, he needs work: After posting a .388
OBP in rookie ball in 2013, he had .307 and .301 OBPs in ’14 and
’15, and he has a .328 slugging percentage through three minor
league seasons.
pro ball last season before tearing the labrum in his right shoulder.
He hit .293 with 25 steals for low-A West Virginia before the injury,
which will force him to miss most or all of 2016. Tucker is a strong
defender with a good arm (though the shoulder surgery might affect
his arm strength). If the arm strength holds up, Tucker should be
able to stick at shortstop despite being tall for the position.

28 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 PHOTOS: PETER DIANA

 THE TEAM

8 SS
AGE: 22
KEVIN
NEWMAN
H/W: 6-1/180

DRAFTED: 2015 (1ST ROUND)

B/T: R/R

Newman is a strong defender who can hit for a high average (he
9 3B
AGE: 19
KE’BRYAN
HAYES
H/W: 6-1/210 B/T: R/R

DRAFTED: 2015 (1ST ROUND, COMPENSATORY PICK)

hit .370 in his final year at Arizona), but evaluators have questions
about whether his arm strength will allow him to stay at shortstop.
He hit .306 with a .376 on-base percentage after the Pirates pro-
moted him from short-season ball to low-A in 2015.
Hayes got on base well in his first professional season (.408 OBP
in two short-season leagues) and could develop more power as he
gets older and learns to tap into it. Hayes is the son of Charlie
Hayes, who played 14 big-league seasons (including part of 1996
with the Pirates) and caught the final out of the 1996 World Series
with the Yankees.

10 C
AGE: 25
ELIAS
DIAZ
H/W: 6-0/210

SIGNED: 2009 (VENEZUELA)

B/T: R/R

Diaz made his major league debut in 2015, receiving two plate ap-
pearances as a September call-up. While splitting time with Tony
Sanchez at Class AAA Indianapolis last year, Diaz hit .271 with a
.330 OBP. He has always been a strong defender with a good arm,
and could be a significant contributor in 2017 if the Pirates don’t
re-sign Francisco Cervelli.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 29

 2016’S MUST-SEE GAMES

SERIES BY BILL BRINK

TO WATCH Jung Ho Kang homers

against the Cardinals in
May 2015 at PNC Park.
PHOTO: PETER DIANA

SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS

VS /
@
vs ST. LOUIS at ARIZONA vs CHICAGO vs NEW YORK at MILWAUKEE vs CUBS
CARDINALS D-BACKS CUBS METS BREWERS at CARDINALS
APRIL 3-6 APRIL 22-24 MAY 2-4 JUNE 6-8 JULY 29-31 SEPT. 26-OCT. 2
PNC PARK CHASE FIELD PNC PARK PNC PARK MILLER PARK PNC/BUSCH
 THE SEASON

vs CARDINALS
SUNDAY, TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3-6 PNC PARK

AT STAKE KEY MATCHUPS LAST SEASON

The Pirates open the season against the
only team to win more games than they
did last year and a team they will have to
beat if they hope to avoid a fourth con-
secutive wild-card game. The Cardinals
will have Adam Wainwright, Matt Holliday
and Matt Adams healthy again, while the
Pirates might be without Jung Ho Kang as
he finishes rehabilitating a knee injury.
The Pirates’ new rotation against a pa-
tient and potent Cardinals lineup. This
will be the first test of the Pirates’ rota-
tion, which now includes Jon Niese and
Ryan Vogelsong. This series also will pit
the National League’s two best bullpens
from 2015 against each other: The Pi-
rates led the NL with a 2.67 ERA, while
Cardinals relievers had a 2.82 ERA.
The series was nearly even. The Pirates
went 9-10 against St. Louis and scored
79 runs in those games to the Cardinals’
76. The Cardinals swept the Pirates in
early May at Busch Stadium with three
walk-off victories, but the Pirates took
three out of four at PNC Park before the
All-Star break, with the final two victories
coming on extra-inning walk-off hits.

at vs
D-BACKS CUBS
FRIDAY-SUNDAY, APRIL 22-24 CHASE FIELD MONDAY-WEDNESDAY, MAY 2-4 PNC PARK

AT STAKE
This series is sandwiched in the middle of a 10-game road trip
out west. The Diamondbacks, who scored the second-most
runs per game in the NL last season, upgraded their pitching
staff by trading for Shelby Miller and signing Zack Greinke.
They still have issues — Yasmany Tomas might have to play
defense, and neither Nick Ahmed nor Jean Segura provides
much offense at shortstop — but that duo atop the rotation,
plus two-way contributions from Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pol-
lock, make them tough to deal with in any given series.
KEY MATCHUPS
The Pirates are familiar with Miller from his Cardinals days,
and did well against him: He has a 4.29 career ERA in 50 1 ⁄3
innings against the Pirates in his career. The Pirates have
hit Greinke well, too. (he has a 5.04 ERA against them), but
most of the damage came before 2013, and he has faced
them only four times in the past three seasons.
AT STAKE
This is the first meeting between the teams since Jake Ar-
rieta’s shutout eliminated the Pirates from the playoffs. The
Cubs took a strong foundation — of Arrieta, Jon Lester, An-
thony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell and
Jorge Soler — and fortified it, adding Jason Heyward, John
Lackey and Ben Zobrist. After winning no more than 75 games
for five seasons, they won 97 last year, and they likely aren’t
going anywhere.
KEY MATCHUPS
Getting through the 2-3-4 hitters in the order, which is often
composed of the left-right-left minefield of Schwarber-Bryant-
Rizzo, challenges every opposing pitcher. But the Pirates
have the speed to take advantage of a shared weakness of
Lester and Arrieta. Neither one holds runners very well, and
Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and Andrew McCutchen can
cause problems on the bases.

LAST SEASON LAST SEASON

The Pirates went 5-1 against the Diamondbacks and held
them to 15 runs in those six games. In their series sweep at
Chase Field last year, the Pirates held them to two combined
runs in three games. They also took a 15th-inning, walk-off
victory on Aug. 18 thanks to Pedro Florimon’s triple.
The Pirates went 8-11 against the Cubs. Losing three out
of four games against Chicago in mid-September hurt the
Pirates’ chances of catching the Cardinals and possibly avoid-
ing the wild-card game. In that wild-card game against the
Cubs at PNC Park, Arrieta struck out 11 in a five-hit shutout,
and Schwarber and Dexter Fowler homered.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 33


vs
METS
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6-8
AT STAKE
Neil Walker will play against the Pi-
rates, the organization that drafted
him out of Pine-Richland High School
in the first round in 2004, for the
first time. The Pirates traded Walker,
who was entering his final year of
team control, to the Mets for Jon
Niese. The Pirates and Walker could
not agree on a long-term contract
extension, and the Pirates wanted
something in return rather than pay-
ing Walker about $10 million and
recouping only a draft pick if he left in
free agency.
34 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016
PNC PARK
KEY MATCHUPS
The Mets might have the best pitching staff
in baseball. Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard,
Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz showed the
league what they could do last year. Zack
Wheeler, who missed all of 2015 because of
Tommy John ligament replacement surgery,
should join them, and the indefatigable Bar-
tolo Colon is back for another season; he’ll
be 43 by the time this series starts.
LAST SEASON
The Pirates swept two series against the
Mets, and the second streak, from Aug. 14-
16, broke the Mets’ run of 11 victories in 13
games that coincided with the acquisition of
Yoenis Cespedes at the trade deadline. Ces-
pedes re-signed in New York this winter.
at
BREWERS
FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 29-31
MILLER PARK
AT STAKE
The Brewers won 30 fewer games
than the Pirates last season and
still took 10 of 19 games against
the Pirates head-to-head. The Pi-
rates can blame their performance
at Miller Park, perennially a mystify-
ing haunted house in which the
Pirates went 2-7 last season and
were swept twice. They visit Mil-
waukee for the first time during this
series, which finishes one day be-
fore the non-waiver trade deadline.
KEY MATCHUPS
The Brewers will roll out a new
lineup this season. Ryan Braun,
Jonathan Lucroy and Scooter
Gennett remain, but that’s about
it. They traded Adam Lind, Jean
Segura, Khris Davis, Mike Fiers,
Francisco Rodriguez and Carlos
Gomez. Shortstop Orlando Arcia,
the organization’s top prospect,
might be in the majors by this
point, and they return Wily Per-
alta, Jimmy Nelson, Matt Garza
and Taylor Jungmann to their
rotation.
LAST SEASON
The Pirates lost three in a row at
Miller Park right after the All-Star
break, scoring one, five and one
runs in those games. They lost
another three-game series in early
September, with Gerrit Cole and
Francisco Liriano pitching in losing
efforts.
PHOTO: JEFF ROBERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
 THE SEASON

vs CUBS, at CARDINALS
MONDAY-SUNDAY, SEPT. 26-OCT. 2 PNC PARK, BUSCH STADIUM

AT STAKE KEY MATCHUPS LAST SEASON

The Pirates must go through their toughest
division rivals and two of the best teams in
the NL for seven games in the final week
of the season, when the three of them
likely will be competing for a division title,
a wild-card spot and/or home-field advan-
tage in the wild-card game. They have four
games against the Cubs before traveling to
St. Louis for the final three games of the
regular season.
These games will be played with expanded The Pirates played the Cubs and Cardinals
rosters, meaning single-batter relievers, in consecutive series from Sept. 25-30
pinch hitters and base-stealing special- and split the six games. They held off the
ists will play a role. This pits the manag- Cubs and earned home-field advantage in
ers — Clint Hurdle, Joe Maddon and Mike the wild-card game, but could not catch
Matheny — against each other, as well as the Cardinals, who clinched the division
each organization’s advance scouts. They title at PNC Park.
are the ones who, with everyone having
almost a full season of data on everyone
else, must find the smallest exploitable
tendency, and learn how the opposing
managers use their expanded rosters.

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PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 35

 DIVISION SCOUTING REPORT

NL CENTRAL BY BILL BRINK

PREVIEW The umpire separates

Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta
and Francisco Cervelli after
Arrieta was hit by a pitch
from reliever Tony Watson
during the 2015 NL wild-
card playoff at PNC Park.
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

CHICAGO ST. LOUIS PITTSBURGH CINCINNATI MILWAUKEE

CUBS CARDINALS PIRATES REDS BREWERS
2015: 97-65 2015: 100-62 2O15: 98-64 2015: 64-98 2015: 68-94
THIRD PLACE FIRST PLACE SECOND PLACE FIFTH PLACE FOURTH PLACE
 1
THE SEASON

KEY ADDITIONS:

CHICAGO
Jason Heyward, John Lackey,
Ben Zobrist, Adam Warren.

KEY LOSSES:

CUBS
CUBS
Starlin Castro, Chris Coghlan.

THE PLAYER:
Jake Arrieta. After winning the Cy Young
with one of the best second halves in
baseball history, Arrieta will have to deal
with the possible effects of a massive in- BALLPARK: WRIGLEY FIELD MANAGER: JOE MADDON
ADDON (SECOND SEASON, 97-65)
nings increase.

THE PROSPECT:
Albert Almora. The 21-year-old out-
fielder is the closest to the major leagues
among the Cubs’ top prospects. Almora
profiles as a true everyday center fielder
defensively.

THE NUMBER:

1,431
The number of strikes recorded by Cubs
pitchers, which led the NL.

THE SKINNY:
The Cubs are stacked. They added Lack-
ey to a rotation including Arrieta and Jon
Lester, and added Heyward and Zobrist to
a lineup featuring Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bry-
ant, Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler. Fac-
tor in Maddon’s managerial acumen and
the Cubs look like they will contend for a
few years. Though their powerful lineup
led the NL in walks last season, their
1,518 strikeouts led MLB by more than
100. With 38 games against the Pirates
and Cardinals, who own two of baseball’s Jake
best staffs, that proclivity to swing and Arrieta
miss could be dangerous.

2015 RUNS ALLOWED/SCORED BY INNING 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE RANKINGS TEAM

100
R 689
80 HR 171
60 AVG .244
40 ERA 3.36
20
Runs scored Runs allowed BAA .233
0
E 111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

PHOTOS: MAT T FREED PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 37

2
KEY ADDITIONS

ST. LOUIS
Mike Leake, Jedd Gyorko,
Seung-Hwan Oh.

KEY LOSSES

CCARDINA
CARDINALS
ARDINA
Jason Heyward, John Lackey, Jon Jay,
Peter Bourjos.

THE PLAYER
Randal Grichuk. He will be the everyday
center fielder, replacing Bourjos and Jay,
MANAGER:
M ANAGER: MIKE
MIKE MATHENY
MATHENY (FIFTH SEASON, 375-273) BALLPARK: BUSCH STADIUM and hit .276 with 17 home runs in only
350 plate appearances last year. He
won’t be 25 until August.

THE PROSPECT
RHP Seung-Hwan Oh. The 33-year-old
Korean reliever isn’t young like most pros-
pects, but he will make his major league
debut after spending 11 seasons in Korea
and Japan. He saved at least 37 games
in seven seasons, earning the nicknames
“Stone Buddha” and “Final Boss.”

THE NUMBER

2.94
The pitching staff’s cumulative ERA in
2015, the best in baseball.

THE SKINNY
Losing Heyward and Lackey to the divi-
sion rival Cubs hurts, as did the loss
of Lance Lynn for the season because
of Tommy John surgery. But Adam
Wainwright’s return and Leake’s signing
should help the rotation, while full sea-
sons from Matt Holliday and Matt Adams
will improve the offense. Grichuk and
Randal right fielder Stephen Piscotty should see
Grichuk more playing time than last season, when
both impressed at the plate.

TEAM 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE RANKINGS 2015 RUNS ALLOWED/SCORED BY INNING

100
R 647
HR 137 80

AVG .253 60
ERA 2.94 40
BAA .246 20
Runs scored Runs allowed
E 96 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+

38 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 PHOTO: ANDY LYONS/GET T Y IMAGES

 3
THE SEASON

KEY ADDITIONS

PITTSBURGH
Jon Niese, Ryan Vogelsong, Neftali Feliz,
Juan Nicasio, David Freese.

KEY LOSSES

PIRATES
A.J. Burnett, J.A. Happ, Aramis Ramirez,
Antonio Bastardo, Pedro Alvarez, Neil
Walker, Charlie Morton.

THE PLAYER
Starling Marte. He has the tools of an
MVP-caliber player, and the increase in BALLPARK: PNC PARK MANAGER: CLINT HURDLE
E (SIXTH
(SIX TH SEA
SE
SEASON,
ASO
SONN,, 431-379)
homers and decrease in strikeouts in
each of the past three seasons indicate
he’s getting closer to putting it all to-
gether.

THE PROSPECT
Josh Bell. The Pirates have options at
first base between David Freese, Mi-
chael Morse and John Jaso, but Bell, a
switch-hitter who recently moved to the
position, could be there soon if his de-
fense improves quickly enough.

THE NUMBER

78-5
The Pirates’ record in 2015 when leading
after six innings.

THE SKINNY
The Pirates will have another strong
bullpen and solid lineup — especially
when Jung Ho Kang is healthy — but
they lost some quality innings from
their rotation. Gerrit Cole and Francisco
Liriano look great at the top, but Vogel-
song and Jeff Locke raise questions at
the back. Prospects Jameson Taillon
Starling
and Tyler Glasnow are close, but not Marte
quite ready for opening day.

2015 RUNS ALLOWED/SCORED BY INNING 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE RANKINGS TEAM

100
R 697
80 HR 140
60 AVG .260
40 ERA 3.21
20
Runs scored Runs allowed BAA .248
0
E 122
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

PHOTO: MAT T FREED PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 39

4
KEY ADDITIONS

CINCINNATI
Jose Peraza.

KEY LOSSES

RREDS
EDS
Todd Frazier, Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake,
Aroldis Chapman, Brayan Pena.

THE PLAYER
Jay Bruce. A two-time All-Star and
30-homer outfielder as recently as
2013, Bruce has been ineffective of-
MANAGER:
M ANAGER: BRYAN PRICE (THIRD YEAR, 140-184) BALLPARK: GREAT AMERICAN BALL PARK fensively the past two seasons. A resur-
gence to his previous production would
buoy the Reds, or at least allow them to
get something in return for Bruce at the
trade deadline.

THE PROSPECT
Robert Stephenson. The right-handed
Stephenson, the Reds’ top prospect,
likely will reach the majors in 2016 once
he sorts through his control issues.

THE NUMBER

110
Number of games started by rookie
pitchers for the Reds in 2015.

THE SKINNY
The Reds are in rebuilding mode after
trading Cueto, Leake, Frazier and Chap-
man, and they tried to trade Brandon
Phillips but he rejected the proposed
offers. They can still move Bruce if he
hits, but they probably won’t be able
to move Joey Votto between his mas-
sive contract and no-trade clause. The
eventual return of Homer Bailey, who
made two starts in 2015 before elbow
Jay
Bruce surgery, will help, as will Zack Cozart’s
recovery from knee surgery.

TEAM 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE RANKINGS 2015 RUNS ALLOWED/SCORED BY INNING

100
R 640
HR 167 80

AVG .248 60
ERA 4.33 40
BAA .258 20
Runs scored Runs allowed
E 90 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+

40 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 PHOTO: JAMIE SABAU/GET T Y IMAGES

 5
THE SEASON

KEY ADDITIONS

MILWAUKEE
Aaron Hill, Chris Carter, Jonathan Villar.

KEY LOSSES

BREWERS
Aramis Ramirez, Mike Fiers, Carlos
Gomez, Jonathan Broxton, Gerardo Parra,
Francisco Rodriguez, Adam Lind, Jean
Segura, Khris Davis.

THE PLAYER
Jonathan Lucroy. The catcher finished
fourth in MVP voting in 2014, then fol- BALLPARK: MILLER PARK MANAGER: CRAIG COUNSELL (SEC
(SECOND
(SECOND
OND YEAR, 61-76)
lowed with a disappointing 2015 season
that included a broken big toe and a
concussion.

THE PROSPECT
Orlando Arcia. As a shortstop with
superb defensive skills who improved
on offense in 2014 and 2015, Arcia is
extremely valuable. He could reach the
majors in 2016, especially after the de-
parture of Segura.

THE NUMBER

.307
The Brewers’ on-base percentage, which
ranked 13th in the NL last season.

THE SKINNY
Only Lucroy, Ryan Braun and Scooter Gen-
nett remain from the opening-day lineup
after new GM David Stearns began to re-
build. The rotation still has talented young
starters in Wily Peralta, Jimmy Nelson and
Taylor Jungmann, and Villar can play, but
the Brewers are likely in for some tough
sledding in the near future. Braun will
move back to left field after two seasons
Jonathan
in right, making way for the strong-armed Lucroy
Domingo Santana in right field.

2015 RUNS ALLOWED/SCORED BY INNING 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE RANKINGS TEAM

100
R 655
80 HR 145
60 AVG .251
40 ERA 4.28
20
Runs scored Runs allowed BAA .261
0
E 116
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

PHOTO: JOHN KONSTANTARAS/GET T Y IMAGES PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 41


J
oe Block loves baseball.
No, he really loves baseball.
Why else would Block, gain-
fully employed as the New Orleans Hor-
nets radio studio host in 2010, choose
to move from the Big Easy to Billings,
Mont., in the offseason to call games
for the Class A Billings Mustangs?
“That short season fits nicely in
the NBA offseason,” said Block, as if
spending the summer in Montana were
a no-brainer.
“That was great.”
For Block, hired this offseason to
replace Tim Neverett as a play-by-play
man on the Pirates’ radio and TV crew,
it was always baseball. Those games in
42 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016
MEET JOE BLOCK
Billings took him back to his childhood
bedroom in Roseville, Mich., when he
was 8 years old and “calling games”
into a tape recorder.
“I grew up a big, big baseball fan,”
Block, 37, said. “I read about Gehrig
and Robinson and Clemente. I watched
games. That was what I wanted to do.”
That’s why, just a few months after
graduating from Michigan State in
1999, Block jumped on a plane to the
MLB Winter Meetings in Anaheim,
Calif., in search of a minor league play-
by-play job.
He had been writing part-time for
the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot,
covering high school sports but not
Pictured: Joe Block, the Pirates’ new play-by-play man.
BY SAM WERNER
completely satisfied.
“I was getting to be a little down on
myself,” Block said.
That’s when he got some advice from
former “SportsCenter” anchor Jack
Edwards, to whom Block had written
a letter when he was 13 years old. The
two stayed in touch, and Edwards gave
Block the idea to try to find a job at the
Winter Meetings.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, play-by-play!’ ”
Block said.
He ended up landing a job with the
Class A Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs,
where he spent one season, before mov-
ing to St. Paul, Minn., to call games for
the independent-league St. Paul Saints.
PHOTO: PETER DIANA

“I was not good, at all, at first,”
Block said. “Some guys are really good
at a really young age; I was not that
way.”
Eventually, though, he started to get
the hang of it. Block moved to Jackson-
ville, Fla., where he called games for
the Class AA Jacksonville Suns, but
also did some regional college football
and basketball games, too.
He also started a sports radio talk
show, just to expand his skill set.
“My thought was always, if I’m go-
ing to get to the big leagues, I want to
be able to say I’ve done everything,” he
said. “No one can go, ‘Well he hasn’t
done this.’ ”
That studio work came in handy
when he landed the Hornets job in 2007,
after his first stint in Montana, calling
games for the Great Falls White Sox.
He liked it so much, he went back to
Billings a few years later.
When the Hornets were sold to the
NBA in late 2010, Block saw the writ-
ing on the wall and began looking for a
new job.
“I proposed to my now-wife on a Sun-
day,” he recalled. “On Thursday, we’re
at dinner, still celebrating, and I get
a call from the Dodgers, unsolicited.
‘Hey, will you do our radio postgame
show?’ Absolutely.”
Block spent one year with the Dodg-
ers — working with Charlie Steiner,
another former “SportsCenter” anchor
he had written as a child — before mov-
ing to Milwaukee, where he worked
alongside Bob Uecker in the Brewers’
radio booth for the past four seasons.
But when the Pirates called look-
ing to replace Neverett, Block couldn’t
turn down the opportunity.
He spent the spring getting to know
his new team and his new partners, fel-
low play-by-play man Greg Brown and
THE SEASON
color analysts Steve Blass, Bob Walk
and John Wehner.
“The chemistry’s going to be fine,”
Blass said. “The rhythm of not stepping
on him and talking over him, that’s
going to happen a few times, but that’s
what spring training is for.”
While it might take some getting
comfortable in the booth, it won’t take
Block any time to get used to Pitts-
burgh. He visited the city often as a
child and his wife, Bethany, grew up in
South Park.
The couple also recently had their
first child, a daughter. Block, a man
who has criss-crossed the country in
the name of baseball, is planning on
Pittsburgh being the final stop.
“We bought a house and we’re done,”
he said. “That’s it. If this team chooses
not to employ me in the future, we’re
still staying in Pittsburgh. This is our
home for good.”
PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 43
 THE THE THE THE
TEAM SEASON PARK HISTORY

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: DANIEL MARSULA

 PNC Park home
opener 2015

PHOTO: REBECCA DROKE

 PNC PARK AT 15 BY ELIZABETH BLOOM

A 1997 drawing of PNC Park by architecture firm

HOK (now called Populous).

48 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE PARK

“BUILT FLUSH ON THE BANKS

OF THE ALLEGHENY RIVER
P
NC Park debuted 15 years ago this spring, and while that
may not seem like a major-league accomplishment, con-
sider this: When Three Rivers Stadium turned 15, it was WITH VAST VISTAS OF
halfway to being imploded. THE GLISTENING STEEL CITY
The Pirates’ current home couldn’t seem further from such a
dusty fate. PNC Park still is thought to be one of the best ballparks SKYLINE BEYOND RIGHT
in America, even though nine stadiums have opened since the FIELD AND GLEAMING
North Shore park’s first regular season game April 9, 2001.
While all three of Pittsburgh’s professional stadiums opened YELLOW ROBERTO
within a decade, PNC Park seems to soar above the rest, a symbol of CLEMENTE BRIDGE
the city’s rise and a source of pride for its baseball fans.
Architecture firm HOK (now called Populous), which designed SILHOUETTED IN CENTER
PNC Park, drew upon Pittsburgh’s natural resources and manmade FIELD, THE PIRATES’ HOME
features, particularly in orienting the ballpark toward its signature
view of the city’s skyline and bridges. COULD NOT HAVE BEEN
“We learned to live in the city and understand the market,” said MORE PERFECTLY CONCEIVED
Earl Santee, the project’s lead architect for the Kansas City, Mo.-
based firm. “We went to Primanti Bros., we went to the North Shore, AND EXECUTED. A TOWN
we went everywhere, and we just lived that life.” ON A BUDGET CREATED
The designers also took hints from the city, particularly beloved
Forbes Field, the predecessor to Three Rivers Stadium. They also A BASEBALL MASTERPIECE.”
envisioned the North Shore and the classic ballpark as lively exten- —Thomas Boswell, Washington Post sports colum-
sions of Downtown via the Roberto Clemente Bridge, a fate that has nist, praised PNC Park on July 13, 2006, two days
borne out. after Pittsburgh was host to the MLB All-Star Game

PHOTO: JULIA RENDLEMAN PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 49

 “WHEN YOU HAVE
113 YEARS The design team’s focus on In 2003, ESPN.com ranked PNC

OF TRADITION gathering spaces in and around Park as the best stadium in Major

ON YOUR SIDE, the stadium has transformed the

park and its surrounding streets
League Baseball.
“When building a stadium, most

YOU CAN’T QUIT. into an anchor of activity on the teams just look at the most recent

SO MANY PEOPLE North Shore. With two decks rather

than three, PNC Park was able to
new one and say that they want one
just like it, only bigger and more ex-

HAVE GONE maintain a feeling of intimacy, pensive,” ESPN’s Jim Caple wrote

BEFORE — even though it is larger, in terms of

square footage, than Three Rivers
of the surprise winner. “Not Pitts-
burgh. The Pirates and the public

DANNY MURTAUGH, Stadium. Clad in cream-colored built a stadium that is not only lo-

ROBERTO CLEMENTE, limestone and blue steel, it was the

first double-decker ballpark built
cated in Pittsburgh but one that is
part of Pittsburgh.

HONUS WAGNER since 1953. “Ray Kinsella was wrong. Base-

AND OTHERS. “It doesn’t overwhelm you in a

way a lot of buildings can,” Santee
ball heaven isn’t in Iowa. It’s in
Pittsburgh, along the banks of the

WE HAD NO CHOICE. said. “It feels familiar, but I really Allegheny River.”

WE HAD TO think it feels like Pittsburgh, 100

percent Pittsburgh.”
But as the North Shore ballpark
celebrates its quinceañera, it is

SUCCEED.” “When we envisioned the sta-

—Kevin McClatchy,
then-owner of the Pirates,
discussed his efforts to keep
the Pirates in Pittsburgh,
which were rewarded on April
7, 1999, when construction
started on the North Shore
site of PNC Park
dium, we also thought it should be
smaller,” said Bill Newlin, chair-
man of Newlin Investment Co., one
of the key planners for the project.
“That gave the fans, particularly a
baseball fan, the opportunity to get
meshed with the actual field experi-
ence.”
worth remembering how improb-
able the project seemed.
“It’s like any deal that, by hind-
sight, seems successful and excit-
ing. You forget the number of times
the deal almost failed to get done,”
Newlin said.
In 1993, the owners of the Pirates
told newly elected Mayor Tom

50 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE PARK

“IF THE PIRATES

EVER GET
A TEAM
AS GOOD AS
THEIR
BALLPARK,
THEY WILL BE
SOMETHING
SPECIAL
TO SEE.”
—New York Times writer
Joe LaPointe commended
PNC Park on Aug. 18, 2008,
in the midst of the Pirates’
16th consecutive losing
The skeleton of PNC Park rises against the Pittsburgh skyline Feb. 15, 2000. A sign on season
General Robinson Street notes there are 421 days until the ballpark opens.

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PHOTOS (L-R): JULIA RENDLEMAN, JOHN BEALE PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 51

 What started as an effort to keep the Pirates in Pittsburgh in the late 1990s turned into a major
redevelopment project for the region, especially the North Shore. Pictured above are similar frames
taken 17 years apart, the first in 1999 and the second in 2016. The addition of PNC Park to the area
stretching west of the Roberto Clemente Bridge brought not only Heinz Field but many businesses
that span the divide between the two stadiums.
PHOTOS (T-B): JOHN BEALE, DARRELL SAPP

52 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE PARK

“DO YOU LIKE TO RIDE THE JACKRABBIT AT KENNYWOOD? HOW’D YOU LIKE TO
RIDE IT FOR FIVE YEARS? BUT THE ROLLER COASTER RIDE WAS WORTH IT.”
— Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy on the political battles that took place to keep the Pirates in Pittsburgh
and secure financing for PNC Park at a groundbreaking event for the ballpark on April 7, 1999.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 53

 Murphy of their intent to
sell the team. A clause in the
contract allowed the city,
which feared the team would
end up elsewhere, to try to
secure new, local ownership.
But MLB would not per-
mit the sale to a group led by
Kevin McClatchy unless the
Pirates had a new stadium —
one that would not be shared
with another sport, as had
been true of the football-
baseball mashup at Three
Rivers Stadium.
The Steelers and the hotel
industry argued that they,
too, needed a new football
stadium and convention
center. So what started as an
effort to keep the Pirates in
Pittsburgh turned into a ma-
jor redevelopment project for
the region.
Fresh in Pittsburghers’
memory was the downward
economic spiral of the 1970s
and 1980s, when Western
Pennsylvania was losing
residents by the tens of thou-
sands, businesses were get-
ting out as fast as they could
and Pittsburgh had dived
face-first into double-digit
unemployment.
And now, this new mayor
was trying to build a new
ballpark in a broke city that
couldn’t pave the roads?
“To say the least, it was
not popular at the time,”
Murphy said.
The leaders, however,
saw the ballpark as a way
to turn around Pittsburgh’s
fortunes, and worried about
the symbolic and economic
impact of the Pirates’ poten-
tial departure.
“It was a fundamental
decision about whether Pitts-
burgh was going to continue
to decline or we are going
to reach forward as a city,”
54 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016
Murphy said.
“I understood the opposi-
tion. I understood their feel-
ings,” Newlin said. “Obvious-
ly, we felt clearly, as Mayor
Murphy did, who was the
major leader on this, that if
you take more to the future,
doing what we did was going
to be a significant part of the
solution, not an additional
problem.”
At first, the dealmakers
proposed a sales tax hike to
build the stadiums, a notion
voters summarily rejected
in a referendum. Then local
leadership, including Al-
legheny County commission-
ers Mike Dawida and Bob
Cranmer, implemented Plan
B, a complicated financing
scheme that cobbled together
several private and public
funding sources for the con-
struction, such as Regional
Asset District money, state
funds, money from the teams
— and minimal contribu-
tions from the city.
“All the pieces had to fit
together, and not everybody
liked all the pieces,” Newlin
said.
After two years of con-
struction and a $262 million
pricetag, PNC Park staged its
first regular season game in
April 2001.
Fifteen years after Mur-
phy, Newlin and others
fulfilled their promise, few
Pittsburghers would argue
that PNC Park wasn’t worth
the effort.
“It wasn’t just about
sport,” said Santee, the archi-
tect. “It was about what the
city of Pittsburgh wanted to
become, and it became that.”
Elizabeth Bloom: ebloom@
post-gazette.com or 412-263-
1750 or Twitter: @BloomPG.
 BY RON COOK XXX

B
rand-new PNC Park officially opened for
baseball business April 9, 2001, the same
day Pirates iconic slugger Willie Stargell
died at 61 in Wilmington, N.C. In the most recent
game at the much-older ballpark Oct. 7, the Pirates
were shut out by Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs
in the National League wild-card game, bringing a
brutal end to their 98-win season. In the 15 baseball
seasons in between, the North Shore jewel gave us
thrills and chills, laughs and gaffes, too few wins
and too many losses and one embarrassing moment
(think Batman) that always will be remembered.
If the next 15 seasons are as eventful, we’re in for a
heck of a ride.
The highlight is easy. It’s the “Cueto” game, that
magical Oct. 1, 2013, night when the Pirates beat the
Cincinnati Reds, 6-2, in the wild-card game, their
first postseason game in 21 years. The throbbing
crowd of 40,487 chanted “Qway-toe! Qway-toe!,”
prompting Reds starter Johnny Cueto to drop the
ball. Literally. There was bedlam when Russell Mar-
tin hit Cueto’s next pitch for a home run into the left-
field seats. “I don’t even remember running around
the bases,” Martin said. “I think I just floated.”
Runner-up goes to the comeback, extra-innings
wins on consecutive nights in July 2015 against the
Cardinals. Andrew McCutchen trumped a surreal
home run by starter A.J. Burnett earlier in the
game by hitting a two-run shot in the 14th to win the
first night. The Pirates scored three runs in the 10th
the next night with Gregory Polanco driving in the
winner with a single off Cardinals hammer Trevor
Rosenthal. Those were the most unlikely of the Pi-
rates’ 98 wins, although their win against the Los
Angeles Dodgers four weeks later probably should

Pictured: Top, fans gather around the Willie Stargell statue after the slugger’s death on
opening day 2001. Bottom, former manager Lloyd McClendon leaves the field after yanking
first base out of the ground after being ejected from a 2001 game against the Brewers.

PHOTO: KEITH SRAKOCIC/ASSOCIATED PRESS, PETER DIANA PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 55


be on that list. The Pirates scored nine
runs in the seventh inning to climb
out of a 5-3 hole and complete their
first three-game home sweep of the
Dodgers since 1999.
There were so many other fabulous
moments provided by the Pirates,
more than you might expect from a
franchise that endured 20 consecutive
losing seasons, including the first 12
at PNC Park.
Sweeping the powerful Cleveland
Indians in 2001. I still can see Todd
Ritchie outpitching C.C. Sabathia in a
1-0 win in the third game, and Brian
Giles scoring the run from first base
in the ninth inning on a double to
shallow left by Aramis Ramirez. So
what if it left the Pirates with a 23-43
record on their way to a 100-loss sea-
son? It was fun. “It was like playing a
soccer game in Italy,” Giles said of the
crowd dancing in the aisles.
Scoring seven runs in the ninth in-
ning to beat the Houston Astros later
in 2001. Giles won it with a grand slam
off closer Billy Wagner, who hadn’t
blown a save in nearly three months.
Seeing Giles climb the left-field wall
56 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016
The
“Cueto
game”
in 2003 to steal a home-run from the
Indians’ Brandon Phillips. Not even
the great McCutchen has made a bet-
ter catch.
Watching Rob Mackowiak have the
best day of his life in 2004. He won the
first game of a doubleheader with the
Cubs with a ninth-inning grand slam
and hit a tying home run in the ninth
inning of the second game. And, oh
yes, by the way, his first child, Gar-
rett, was born earlier that day.
Hammering the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays, 18-2, in 2005. It was significant
because it left the Pirates with a 30-30
record. My bosses were so impressed
that they instructed me to do a front-
page story. If I remember correctly, we
did another front-page story later that
summer when manager Lloyd McClen-
don was fired shortly before the team
finished with a 67-95 record.
Beating the Astros in 18 innings in
2006 when Jason Bay scored the win-
ning run on Jose Bautista’s sacrifice
fly by running over catcher Eric Mun-
son. That still stands as the longest
game at PNC Park.
Clinching a winning record at the
All-Star break in 2011 for the first time
in 19 years when Michael McKenry hit
his first career home run in the eighth
inning to beat the Cubs. … Virtually
clinching a playoff spot in 2014 when
Martin hit a three-run home run in
the eighth inning to beat the Milwau-
kee Brewers. … Beating the Indians
in consecutive 15-inning games in
2003. … Scoring six runs in the ninth
inning to beat the Colorado Rockies in
2003. … Watching Oliver Perez strike
out 14 Astros in 2004, the most strike-
outs by a Pirates pitcher since 1985. …
Seeing Garrett Jones hit a home run
into the Allegheny River in 2013. …
Getting the first win in baseball his-
tory on video review when Starling
Marte was ruled safe at home against
the San Francisco Giants in 2014.
There were emotional moments
that made you want to cry.
The tribute to Stargell on that bit-
tersweet opening day in 2001. Just a
day earlier, the Pirates had dedicated
a statue to Stargell at PNC Park. “He
told me to make sure that sucker was
big,” Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy
once said. The Pirates obliged. The
Stargell statue is bigger than life,
easily the most imposing of the four
statues at the park. Former Pirates
manager Chuck Tanner was as broken
up as anyone by Stargell’s death but
said, “People will always talk about
Willie on opening day from here on
out. That’s a good thing.”
The sight of former closer Kent
Tekulve throwing out the first pitch
before the 2014 wild-card game against
the Giants, less than a month after his
heart transplant.
The fans’ chanting “Re-sign Russ”
after the Pirates lost that 2014 wild-
card game when it was apparent the
popular Martin would be leaving as a
free agent. “That was definitely one of
the coolest moments I think I’ve had
in baseball,” Martin said. He had an-
other that November when he signed
a five-year, $82 million contract with
PHOTO: JULIA RENDLEMAN
 THE PARK

the Toronto Blue Jays.
The applause from the stands pour-
ing down on Burnett as he walked off
the mound Oct. 3, 2015, in what turned
out to be his final big-league start. “I
got choked up,” Burnett said. He, as
much as anyone, deserves credit for
turning the Pirates from losers into
winners.
The sight of Jung Ho Kang going
down with a major knee injury Sept.
17, 2015, after a hard slide by the Cubs’
Chris Coghlan. Fans wanted to cry for
a much different reason when Kang —
a folk hero by this point — was rolled
onto the field in a wheelchair and
introduced before the 2015 wild-card
game. It was the best part of an other-
wise lousy night.
That loss to Arrieta and the Cubs
was the lowest on-field moment at PNC
Park, worse even than the 8-0 loss to
Madison Bumgarner and the Giants in
the 2014 wild-card game. The Pirates
thought they could win it all in 2015. It
might be a long time before they get a
better chance.
The lowest off-field moments came
in 2001, the first season at PNC Park.
The Pirates lost 100 games, then had
the nerve to raise ticket prices for
2002. They attracted even more nega-
tive publicity when they revised their
food-and-drink policy, banning fans
from bringing in hoagies and bottled
water. Unreal.
I’ll finish with those precious mo-
ments that made us want to smile,
even laugh out loud. I’m having a hard
time picking my favorite. Was it Mc-
Clendon yanking first base out of the
ground and walking off the field with
it after being ejected in 2001 in a game
against the Brewers? I still crack up
when I see it on highlight shows that
list baseball’s all-time great rants. Or
was it actor Michael Keaton ripping
Pirates management for not spending
enough on players? “At some point,
you have to write the check,” he said.
A lot of people have said that about the
Pirates owners and still are saying it,
of course. But Keaton did it on opening
day, 2006, after he had been invited to
throw out the first pitch. On second
thought, that could happen only to the
Pirates, at least at that point of their
history.
That clinches it for me.
Batman takes the top prize.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com
and Twitter @RonCookPG. Ron Cook
can be heard on the “Cook and Poni”
show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
93.7 The Fan.

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 TOP TEN BY BILL BRINK

1 3

5 6 7 8

9 10 2

T
he order in which you rank major league ballparks says as much about the ranker as it does the stadiums. What is im-
portant to you? Is it food? Price? Sight lines? History? Ease of entry and exit? How many gallons’ worth of fish tanks
sit behind home plate? I’m fortunate enough to interact with ballparks from the players’ and writers’ perspective in
addition to how fans experience them. I’ve been to 26 of the 30 in active service — still missing Safeco Field in Seattle; Globe
Life Park in Arlington, Texas; Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City; and O.co Coliseum in Oakland. There is no right answer
here, no correct version of these rankings. But here are mine, based on a little bit of pretty much everything.

BALLPARK ILLUSTRATIONS: ED YOZWICK

58 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE PARK

1 2
AT&T PARK
Start
S
P
SAN FRANCISCO
SAN F RANCISCO
FRANCISC

third-base
O CAPACITY: 41,503

tart on the main level behind home plate and head down the
OPENED: 4/11/2000

third-base line. Stop for garlic fries. Head to the outfield, past
the kids going down the slides in the giant Coke bottle, past the
giant baseball glove, to Crazy Crab Wharf, and get yourself a
delicious crab sandwich. Keep going toward right field, where a
25-foot brick outfield wall provides an interesting in-play quirk,
and you’ll find a beautiful view of McCovey Cove. A good poke by
a lefty can clear the high wall and reach the water. Then find your
seat, which is guaranteed to be good, and listen to PA announcer
Renel Brooks-Moon pump you up.
PPNC
NC PARK
PPAA
PITTSBURGH
P

P
ITTSBURGH

Plopped
P
CAPACITY:
CAPACIT 38,362 OPENED: 4/9/2001

lopped gracefully amid a now-vibrant North Shore scene, PNC

Park
ark offers fantastic views of the Pittsburgh skyline from afford
afford-
able seats. Like AT&T, the water is in play; a legitimate smash
has a chance at reaching the Allegheny River. Beautiful regard-
less of attendance, the 2013 wild-card game proved that Pirates
fans can bring the park to life and turn it loose on visiting teams.
Ever watch a Pirates game on TV and wonder why the first few in-
nings look so hazy? That’s the smoke from Manny’s BBQ behind
the batter’s eye in center field. Go there.

410

399
399 421 389 375

364
325 320
339
309

PHOTOS (L-R): BRIAN BAHR/GET T Y IMAGES, MAT T FREED PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 59
 3
ORIOLE PARK AT 410

CAMDEN YARDS
400
364 373

333 318

BALTIMORE CAPACITY:
Y: 45,971 OPENED:
O
OPPE
ENNE
ED:
D: 4/6/1992

This park helped pioneer a new generation of stadiums, nestled into

the city with an updated yet retro feel. By incorporating the B&O
Warehouse into the ballpark’s footprint and leaving Eutaw Street open
to fans, the park connects with its surroundings. Start with a Natty
Boh at Pickles Pub, then grab some barbecue at Boog Powell’s or an
order of Chesapeake waffle fries, which are covered in crab dip.

5 6 7
WRIGLEY DODGER PETCO
FIELD STADIUM PARK
CHICAGO CAPACITY:
CIITTY:
Y: 41,160 LOS ANGELES CAPACITY:
C APACIT
CITY:
Y: 56,000 SAN DIEGO CAPACITY:
PACIITTY:
Y: 41,164

OPENED:
D: 4/23/1914 OPENED:
D: 4/10/1962 OPENED:
D: 4/8/2004

Here for its history and location, not
amenities. The visiting clubhouse is
roughly the size of a school bus, and
players take a long, winding, damp tun-
nel, which sometimes doubles as a
workout room, to the dugout. Fans face
issues with sight lines and bathroom
lines, but the place has been in busi-
ness for a century. Babe Ruth called his
shot here. The bleachers and rooftops
add a unique element, as does Wrig-
leyville, the neighborhood of bars and
restaurants surrounding the ballpark.
The setting sun illuminating the San
Gabriel Mountains beyond the outfield
pavilions, Dodger Dog in hand, Vin Scully
in the headphones — there aren’t many
better places to watch a game. The
highest parking lots provide great views
of downtown Los Angeles. Swing by
the Short Stop, the old cop-bar-turned-
hipster-bar, on Sunset Boulevard after
the game.
Petco Park is perfectly positioned adja-
cent to San Diego’s wonderful Gaslamp
Quarter, but the stadium itself is worth
the trip. Built into the Western Metal
Supply Co. building because the build-
ing was designated a historic landmark,
the stadium has great sight lines and
views. Also, any ballpark with Stone IPA
and Ballast Point Sculpin beers on tap is
worth the trip.

395 401 396 400

400 385 385
357 382
368 368

353 330 336 322

355 330

60 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE PARK

4
420

310
379
390
380

302
FENWAY PARK
BOSTON
STTON
ON CAPACITY: 37,673 OPENED: 4/20/1912

Still going strong after more than 100 years, Fenway and the Red Sox have seen
it all. Four World Series titles in seven years from 1912 to ’18; Carlton Fisk’s
homer in 1975; Bucky Dent’s homer in ’78. The franchise’s bad luck turned
in 2004 with the Dave Roberts/David Ortiz comeback in Game 4 of the ALCS,
which led to the first of three titles in 10 years. The 37-foot-high Green Monster
in left field, with its hand-operated scoreboard, adds to the intrigue and charm.

8 9 10
COORS BUSCH MINUTE
FIELD STADIUM MAID PARK
DENVER CAPACITY: 50,398 ST. LOUIS CAPACITY: 43,975 HOUSTON CAPACITY: 40,963

OPENED: 4/26/1995 OPENED: 4/10/2006 OPENED: 4/7/2000

Coors scores points for its location,
amid several bars and restaurants near
downtown Denver. Notoriously challeng-
ing to pitch in because of what the thin,
dry air at altitude does to the flight and
grip of the baseball, the park requires
an extra bit of strategy. The Rockies
recently added a rooftop space out in
right field, and it’s probably the only park
in the country where fans can buy Rocky
Mountain Oysters.
Cardinals fans pack this place and give
it a lively atmosphere seemingly every
game. The park provides a great view
of downtown St. Louis and the Gate-
way Arch, and the new Ballpark Village
across the street gives fans rooftop
seating. Swing by the corner of Clark
Avenue and 8th Street before the game
and walk amongst the statues: Stan
Musial, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Ozzie
Smith and more.
There’s a lot going on here: The Craw-
ford Boxes in left field that provide a
short porch for home runs, Tal’s Hill in
center field, the replica 19th-century
train running along the outer wall. It’s
unlike any other park. The train is more
than just for fun: The ballpark is physi-
cally attached to Houston’s Union Sta-
tion, a nod to the role the railroad indus-
try played in establishing the city.

436

400
373
375 375 362
415
390 336 335 326
315
375

347 350

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 61

WHERE TO EAT
Concession stands with the
regular ballpark fare of hot dogs,
peanuts and Cracker Jack are
spread throughout the park, but
if you want to expand your culi-
nary horizons a bit, it might take
some exploring.

A good place to start is to

find the billow of smoke rising
from Manny’s BBQ just beyond
center field. Named for former Pi-
rates catcher Manny Sanguillen,
it serves barbecue beef and pork
sandwiches and platters.

If you want a little more

“Pittsburgh” in your ballpark din-
ing experience, Primanti Bros.
offers its famous sandwiches
(complete with fries on top)
behind Section 110 on the first-
base side.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
The Rivertowne Hall of
Fame Club above the left field Where to sit? The good news is just about
bleachers is open to all fans, every seat in PNC Park offers the trademark
and serves typical bar food and view of the Pittsburgh skyline, with a few
drinks throughout the game. It exceptions. You won’t get that vista in the
also stays open after the game left-field bleachers or the right-field seats If you really want to maximize
ends, and often offers drink atop the Clemente wall, though those two the beauty of PNC Park’s backdrop,
deals to fans who want to stay a spots are your best bet if you’re trying to somewhere along the third-base line
bit later than the last out. catch a home run. is probably your best bet.

62 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE PARK

WELCOME TO
ILLUSTRATION: DANIEL MARSULA
PNC PARK BALLPARK GUIDE BY SAM WERNER

Since opening in 2001, PNC Park has

been celebrated as one of the best sta-
diums across Major League Baseball.
Whether you’re a first-time visitor or
longtime Pirates fan, the view over the
Allegheny River to Pittsburgh’s skyline
and the Clemente Bridge rarely gets old.
The park also is conveniently located
just a short walk from Downtown, mak-
ing it accessible on foot (over the Clem-
ente Bridge, which is closed to vehicular
traffic on game days) or via public
transportation on the T’s North Shore
Connector. Once you get there, here are
a few tips to help make the most of a
Pirates game at PNC Park.

TICKETS SEATS AVAILABLE

Even with the Pirates’

success in recent years,
tickets to most games
are still very easily ac-
cessible. The team sold
out 21 of its 81 home

2015 HOME GAMES

games last year, most
of which came on Friday
and Saturday nights. For
midweek games, tickets
are usually available at
the ticket window right
up until the first pitch.
Weekend games, espe-
cially against division
rivals, might take a bit
SOLD OUT
more advance planning.

For those with standing room seats, the rotunda in
left field offers a great view of the park with plenty of
railing space. Be warned, though, that it fills up well be-
fore first pitch for the more popular games.
Box office prices vary by date and opponent, but they range from
$18 for standing room only and upper deck seats all the way up to near-
ly $300 for premium Lexus Club seats behind home plate. Of course, if
you find yourself out of luck for a sellout, or just trying to score a deal,
there are always plenty of scalpers and resellers hawking tickets on the
Clemente Bridge or in the parking lots around the stadium.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 63

 THE PARK

DINING GUIDE
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK ON GAME DAY BY DAN GIGLER
ER

Whether it’s the lack of a running clock, the regular
inning breaks or the fact that most of the season
is played on lazy summer days and nights when
heat begets hunger, baseball is more associated
with food than any other spectator sport. It’s right
there in the seventh inning paean to the game!
Peanuts and Cracker Jack are fine and all, but the
North Shore is awash with franchises offering beer
and bread before, during and after the nine-inning
circus. New since last opening day is a Burgatory
and a Bar Louie near your trusty Post-Gazette
headquarters and the excellent and local Slice on
Broadway pizzeria joining the fold on the Federal
Street side of the ballpark. But, for alternative pre-
or post-game options for a nosh and a nip, we offer
these off the beaten path suggestions, based on
the following criteria:
1. They’re within one walking mile of PNC Park.
2. They’re local, independent establishments.
3. No fine dining, haute cuisine, tweezer food or
fusion. You’re going to a ballgame. Eat and drink
accordingly.

CENTRAL NORTH SIDE ALLEGHENY WEST MARKET SQUARE

Once known as Allegheny City, this part of the North Side This, the stomping grounds of the The Golden Triangle continues its
is home to the holy trinity of Pittsburgh’s grand old bars. PG’s baseball “Stats Geek” col- dining renaissance with no short-
umnist Brian O’Neill, offers anoth- age of highfalutin fare that’s mak-
Consider that prior to opening day 1890 (!!!) one could er great triad of places to check ing national headlines.
have conceivably gotten an Iron City at the then-year old out, all in immediate proximity.
Park House Tavern (403 E. Ohio St.) before walking a And, that’s great, but ball-
short distance to see the Pittsburgh Alleghenys defeat the The Modern Café (862 West- games = hot dogs. You’ll find few
Cleveland Spiders, 3-2, at nearby Recreation Field. And, ern Ave.) is a historic dive bar finer than those at Franktuary.
one could ostensibly do the exact same thing there today with a great beer and sandwich For burgers, head to Winghart’s.
before heading to PNC Park. Then again, given the Park selection. A gent named Art Mexican grub can be found at
House’s outstanding selection of craft beers, you might Rooney Sr., who once owned Las Velas. Prefer a-slice-a-pizza?
try something new and unusual. a team also called the Pirates Try Senor Sergio Muto’s legendary
(albeit briefly), was said to have La Gondola. And, if you’ve never
By the time the Farmers and Drovers Hotel was frequented the joint. had a fish sandwich at the Origi-
granted its 1893 license to sell “Vinious, Spiritous, Malt nal Oyster House, please sched-
or Brewed Liquors At Retail,” the team had already been Catty-corner is the BYOB ule your pilgrimage immediately.
the Pirates for a few years and back at Exposition Park Carmi Soul Food Restaurant
(though Pittsburgh briefly became Pittsburg in that span). (917 Western Ave.), where you Oh, and supposedly there’s also
The Pirates stuck with their name (Pittsburgh later resur- can find fried chicken, ribs and a place there that puts fries and
rected the H), but the aforementioned establishment southern specialties nonpareil on slaw on its sandwiches. Go figure.
would go on to become Max’s Allegheny Tavern (537 Su- the North Side.
ismon St.), where you can get a Germanic plate of spatzle,
knackwurst or schnitzel. Across the street is
Benjamin’s Western Avenue ue
The grand African mahogany backbar at the James St. Burger Bar (900 Western Ave.),
ve.),
Gastropub (422 Foreland St.) was carved in 1926 when where a house blend of sirloin,
oin,
the Pirates were the defending World Series champs. Head brisket and short rib is ground
ound
there now for reliably good pub grub and to hear music daily into some truly gourmetet
ranging from bluegrass and blues to jam bands and jazz. burgers.

64 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016


C O N T I N U E D F RO M PAGE 2 5
Hurdle asked Karla again, and they
married in 1999. They still were in for
a wild ride. Three years later, the Rock-
ies fired manager Buddy Bell early in
the season, and general manager Dan
O’Dowd handed the keys to Hurdle.
But four months later, Maddie,
the couple’s first child together, was
born and sent directly to the neonatal
intensive-care unit, where she stayed
for three weeks. Doctors diagnosed
her with Prader-Willi syndrome, a
chromosomal disorder that can lead to
a number of developmental and behav-
ioral issues, including short stature and
constant hunger. Caring for a child with
special needs can draw a couple togeth-
er or pull them apart, Hurdle explains.
“It galvanized us,” he says.
What if Karla hadn’t said no to the
first proposal? Could the relationship
have weathered the storm? “I’ve asked
myself that question multiple times,”
Hurdle says. “I don’t have the answer.”
He’s not sure he wants to know.
! ! !
I F K A R L A S H O W E D
Clint Hurdle the person he could be-
come, Keli McGregor taught him how
to be that man. Hurdle hasn’t met many
men larger or louder than he, and
McGregor was both. A former Denver
Broncos tight end, McGregor was Rock-
ies president from 2001 until his death
in 2010 at age 47 after a rare virus in-
fected his heart muscle.
McGregor was Hurdle’s closest con-
fidant in Colorado, and helped Hurdle
build a trusted inner circle he now
refers to as his “Mount Rushmore of
men.” McGregor preached brotherhood
and being a better man. As leaders, he
told the Rockies staff, the question is
never who’s right, but what’s right.
Hurdle looked forward to “Coffee
with Keli,” the days they would walk
Coors Field, talk and pray. After hear-
ing of McGregor’s death, Hurdle says,
he walked beneath the Green Monster at
Fenway Park and cried for a half hour.
Hurdle delivered the opening prayer at
the funeral and thanked McGregor for
helping turn his life around.
“In Clint’s life, Keli is probably the
one Clint would love to be able to call
most and talk to right now,” says Mar-
cel Lachemann, who was on Hurdle’s
Rockies staff. “He probably does talk to
him, in a different way.”
In 2009, two years after the Rockies
rode a 21-1 “Roctober” run to reach the
World Series for the only time in fran-
chise history, McGregor, O’Dowd and
the Rockies front office decided to fire
Hurdle. O’Dowd called it the most dif-
ficult day, and the biggest regret, of his
career. “If I had to do it all over again,
I probably should have left with him,”
says O’Dowd, who resigned in 2014.
Here’s another saying Hurdle likes
that might find its way into the letter:
Failure is an event, not a person.
“I’m an alcoholic,” he says. “I’ve
been married three times. I’ve been
in a World Series as a manager, coach
and player. I’ve lost all three. I’ve been
called up. I’ve been sent down. I’ve been
the can’t-miss, did-miss.
“There are things there that, sooner
or later, can connect with somebody,
somehow, someway.”
That’s part of the reason why Texas
Rangers general manager Jon Daniels
phoned Hurdle in 2009, looking for a
hitting coach. He thought Hurdle, given
his history, could connect with Josh
Hamilton, a former No. 1 pick whose
career had already twice been derailed
by drug and alcohol addictions.
In Hamilton, Hurdle saw his younger
self. They set aside time to speak ev-
ery day, but they spoke more about
the brain than the bat. Hurdle shared
his story and his scars — from his
rocket-powered rise to the drinking and
divorces. Hurdle told of having to lose
the game he loved, only to find it again
later, to find himself.
In 2010, Hurdle’s lone season in
Texas, Hamilton was American League
MVP. He hit .359 with 32 home runs —
matching Hurdle’s career homer total
— in the finest year of his career. That
offseason, Hurdle was hired by the Pi-
rates. Hamilton signed a megadeal with
the Los Angeles Angels in 2012 but has
had two relapses.
“With sobriety, there’s no finish
line there ever,” Hurdle says. “I finally
stopped looking for one.”
These days, there’s only one bottle of
alcohol Hurdle allows himself to keep.
Neil Walker gave a bottle of Johnnie
Walker Blue to every player and coach
in 2013 after the Pirates reached the
playoffs for the first time since 1992.
Walker approached Hurdle at the time
and said: “I obviously don’t expect you
to drink this. But if you feel uncomfort-
able having it, I’ll gladly take it back or
hold onto it for you.”
The Scotch sits above Hurdle’s desk
at PNC Park.
“It was given to the team to honor the
20-year void, and I’ve got it up there to
honor the blood, sweat and tears of so
many people, some I don’t even know,”
Hurdle says. “And it’s a reminder ev-
ery day that the cap can never, ever be
twisted.”
! ! !
F O R Y E A R S , C L I N T
Hurdle has sent a daily motivational
email to hundreds of contacts. Among
the recipients are friends from child-
hood, from his playing days, from this
latest chapter with the Rockies, the
Rangers, the Pirates.
He ends each note the same way,
with four words he has borrowed from
McGregor.
That’s probably how he’ll end this
letter:
Make a difference today.
Love, Clint.
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-
gazette.com and on Twitter @stephen-
jnesbitt.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 65
 TOP TEN BY STEVE ZIANTS

It is the 130th season of National League baseball in Pittsburgh. And, frankly, nothing has changed since the last time you checked any
compilation of the 10 greatest Pirates of all time. ¶ On such lists, the names usually don’t, and particularly so for a franchise as old and
storied as your Pittsburgh Pirates. If you’re lucky, “The Chosen” might change once a generation, and you can say you remember when
(thus the luck). ¶ Still, if you’re a fan, you will look it over. You won’t be able to help yourself. You will run your eyes over the names and
the numbers as you might your fingers over the pages of a letter from a parent now gone or a yellowed photo of forgotten youth. ¶ After a
long offseason, they will be as welcome as old friends. Because this is baseball. Because they are your Pirates. Because they are names
you were taught early and grew up with, have lived with, shared holidays and picnics with, celebrated and cried with, have known forever.
¶ These are your Pirates. And the Pirates of your parents and grandparents and great-grandparents. And so it will always be, because as
one learned fan wrote several years ago: “Baseball is a game dominated by vital ghosts; it’s a fraternity, like no other we have of the active
and the no longer so, the living and the dead.” ¶ To that there is only one thing to add: Welcome home.

Note on statistics: All player profile graphics list

numbers earned while with the Pirates.

68 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 1
THE HISTORY

HONUS
WAGNER
SHORTSTOP 1900-17 H/W: 5-11/20O B/T: R/R

None other than Babe Ruth called him the NO DOUBT

215
greatest right-handed hitter in baseball history.
Nearly a century after his final game, Baseball-
Reference.com still ranks him No. 10 all-time
in Wins Above Replacement — a sabremetric
fomula for measuring a player’s worth. But
most fans don’t need such 21st century tools
to understand his worth. From 1900-17, he Votes out of a
helped the Pirates win four of their nine NL possible 222 that
pennants and their first World Series cham- Wagner received in
election for the in-
pionship. All the while, he led the league in augural class of the
batting eight times, RBIs five times, stolen Pro Baseball Hall of
bases five times and played such a beautiful Fame in 1936. Only
shortstop that, despite a stocky frame and Ty Cobb received
more (222).
bowed legs, it was said you could roll anything
through them except a ground ball.

“HE WAS THE

DID YOU
KNOW?
An
condition
condit
near-mint
Honus NEAREST THING TO
A PERFECT PLAYER
Wagner 1909
Wag
T206 baseball
T20
card — the Holy
Grail of card col-
lectors and one
lector NO MATTER WHERE
HIS MANAGER
of fewer
few than 60
known to exist
— sold for $2.8
million at auc-
millio
tion in 2007.
tio CHOSE TO PLAY HIM.”
— John McGraw, New York Giants
manager, on Wagner

STATISTICS ALL-STAR HOF (1936) WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT PLAYER*

11.5
Seasons .............. 18 10.1
9.2 8.9
7.6
Games............2,433 M V PP 8.6
M 9.2 6.3
8.1
Note: The first 8 7.0
7.1 7.6
6.6 9.2
9.3
Runs...............1,521 MLB All-Star 8.3
9.2
Hits.................2,967 game took place 6.6
7.3 AA LL LL -- SS T
T AA RR 6.5
5.1 5.2
5.6
6.5
3.8
WAR

Home runs........... 82 in 1933 — 16 5

years after 5.2
5.1 3.6
5.2
RBIs ...............1,474 Wagner retired. SS TT AA R
R TT EE RR 3.0
5.2 2.6
4.5
Average ............ .328 2
OPS.................. .862 1900 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16

* - Seasons with at least 100 games played

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 69

2
ROBERTO
CLEMENTE
RIGHT FIELD 1955-72 H/W: 5-11/175 B/T: R/R

Nearly 20,000 men have played professional baseball over the past
century-plus. Few turned it into the living art form that Clemente did
for 18 summers from right field at Forbes Field and then Three Rivers
Stadium. He was power and style and grace and “[played] a kind of
baseball that none of us had seen before, throwing and running and hit hit-
ting at something close to the level of absolute perfection” wrote Hall of
FFame
ame baseball writer Roger Angell. He was a .317 career hitter and the
only
o nly man to collect 3,000 hits in a Pirates uniform. He was a four-time
NLL batting champion, 1966 NL MVP and 12-time Gold Glove winner
N
who
w ho “could field the ball in New York and throw out a guy in Pennsylva
Pennsylva-
nia,”
n ia,” as the legendary Vin Scully once said. He was at once a baseball
ggod
od of a generation and, at the same time, a simple, proud man who
ultimately
ultimately gave his life for others. He was The Great One.

“WITHOUT
HIM,
THE GAME
HELPING HAND

WILL LOSE
SOME OF 253
ITS Assists Clemente
had from right

MAGIC.”
field in his 18-year DID YOU KNOW?
career, most of
any right fielder in Clemente was posthumously awarded
MLB history. the Congressional Gold Medal (1973), the
— Phil Musick,
Pittsburgh Press Presidential Citizens Medal (1973) and the
columnist, on the death Presidential Medal of Freedom (2003).
of Clemente in a plane
crash Dec. 31, 1972.

WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT PLAYER HOF (1973) ALL-STAR STATISTICS

6.3
8.9 Seasons .............. 18
M V P M V P Games............2,433
8 8.6
7.2 5.2
7.5 4.5
7.2
6.4
9.2 8.2
5.1 8.1
5.2 Runs...............1,416
A L L - S T A R A L L - S T A7.1
5.1R Hits.................3,000
WAR

5 4.4
6.6 5.3
11.5 Home runs......... 240
9.2
2.8 5.2
5.5
7.0
2.3 S 7.6
T A R T E SR T A R T E R 4.5
4.8 RBIs ...............1,305
-0.3
3.8 1.4
6.6 3.9
9.2 3.9
2 Average ............ .317
1955 ’56 ’58 ’59 ’60 ’61 ’62 ’63 ’64 ’65 ’66 ’67 ’68 ’69 ’70 ’71 ’72 OPS.................. .834
’57

70 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE HISTORY

RALPH KINER

3
LEFT FIELD 1946-52 H/W: 6-2/195 B/T:: R/R

No slugger ever so captivated Pittsburgh as did this right-handed

t-handed
swinger from California. How else does one explain the fact that
from 1946-52 — Kiner’s seven full seasons in a Pirates uniform
— a franchise that had never drawn more than 869,720 0 fans in
any season four times topped 1.1 million; this despite finishing
nishing
a combined 193 games under .500? The only logical answer:nswer:
Kiner. He hit home runs over those seven seasons and d part of
1953 at a pace unseen before or since: one every 13 at-bats.
-bats.
He led the NL in each of his seven seasons (still an MLBLB re-
cord), twice topped 50 and in 1949 set a Pirates record d with 54.
“Pittsburgh had never seen an athlete like Kiner,” wrote Pitts-
burgh Post-Gazette columnist Bob Smizik. To wit: In the e three
full seasons after Kiner was traded to the Cubs in the middle of
the 1953 season, the Pirates failed to draw more than 573,000
hey top the
fans and only once in the 36 years that followed did they
1.517 million they drew for the Kiner-led Pirates of 1948..

DID YOU KNOW?

Kiner, noted ladies’ man in his playing days, dated
— among others — actresses Janet Leigh, Eliza-
beth Taylor, Ava Gardner and Jane Russell.

“HE HAD THE KIND OF

LONG BALL

NATURAL POWER THAT

COMES ALONG ONCE
IN A LIFETIME.”
14.1
At-bats per home run for
Kiner in his 10-year career
— a ratio that still stands
— Bob Friend, Pirates teammate, on Kiner years
fifth in MLB history 60 yea
after he retired.

STATISTICS ALL-STAR HOF (1975) WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT PLAYER

Seasons ................ 8
Games............1,095 8.3 7.6 M
8.1 M V PP 8.1
8
Runs.................. 754
Hits.................1,097 AA LL LL -- SS T
T AA RR
WAR

6.1
Home runs......... 301 5 5.6
5.1
RBIs .................. 801 SS TT AA RR TT EE RR 4.5
2.8 1.1*
Average ............ .280 2
OPS.................. .971 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952
1953
* - Traded to the Cubs after 41 games

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 71

 4
WILLIE
STARGELL
LEFT FIELD / FIRST BASE
SE 1962-82
196 H/W: 6-4/225 B/T: L/L

His ca
career was one of two acts, the first as raw slug-
ger out
ou of a Bernard Malamud novel, the second an
elder statesman
sta we remember as “Pops.” In both,
he was larger than life, each every bit as large as the
nearly half-dozen stadiums in which he at one time
owned the longest home runs on record. At 6 feet,
inch and 225 pounds, “he didn’t just hit pitch-
4 inches
MOON ers, he ttook away their dignity,” said Hall of Fame
SHOTS pitche Don Sutton. His 475 home runs, 1,560 RBIs
pitcher

7
95 extra-base hits are all franchise records. At
and 953
pe of his career from 1970-73, he averaged
the peak
39 hom
home runs and 110 RBIs a season while batting
.288. But it is his last hurrah in 1979 that most re-
member when at age 39 he led the Pirates to their
member,
fifth and most recent world championship. Led?
More like carried. He went 12 for 30 with 3 HRs, 7
Of the 18 home
runs hit over the runs scored and 7 RBIs, an MVP performance that
right-field roof included a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth in-
in the 61-year ning of Game 7 against the Baltimore Orioles that
history of Forbes wrote him from mere great and into franchise legend.
Field belonged
to Stargell.

“HAVIN WILLIE STARGELL

“HAVING
DID YOU KNOW? ON YOU
YOUR BALLCLUB IS LIKE
Stargell shared the 1979 Sports
Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
HAVING
AVIN A DIAMOND RING
award with Terry Bradshaw, who had
led the Steelers to their third Super
Bowl title earlier in the year and
ON YOUR FINGER.”
— Chuck Tanner,
helped lend credence to Pittsburgh’s Pirates manager from 1977-85
“City of Champions” moniker.

WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT PLAYER* HOF (1988) ALL-STAR STATISTICS

Seasons .............. 21
M V P M V P Games............2,360
8 8.6
7.9 Runs...............1,194
8.6
7.2
A L L - S T A R A9.2
5.2L L - S T A R 5.3
5.2 Hits.................2,232
WAR

5 4.8
6.6 3.9 Home runs......... 475
6.6
3.3 3.6
5.2 3.1
9.2 1.8 S T2.5A R ST TE A
2.3 9.2 R R T E R 2.5
4.5 RBIs ...............1,540
-0.3
3.8 7.0
1.3 5.2
0.9 Average ............ .282
2
1963 ’65 ’66 ’67 ’68 ’69 ’70 ’71 ’72 ’73 ’74 ’75 ’78 ’79 OPS.................. .889
’64 ’76
* - Seasons with at least 100 games played

72 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE HISTORY

“WHY, THEY’RE
Lloyd and
Paul Waner

NO BIGGER THAN
A COUPLE OF
LITTLE KIDS. IF
I WAS THAT SIZE,
I WOULD BE AFRAID
OF GETTING HURT.”
— Babe Ruth, after playing
against the Waner brothers
in the 1927 World Series

5
PITCHER POISON

.340
Career batting average remains
the highest in Pirates history.

DID YOU KNOW?

Paul and brother Lloyd
own the most hits by any
set of brothers in major
league history (5,611).
PAUL WANER
RIGHT FIELD 1926-40 H/W: 5-8/155 B/T: L/L

Famously known as “Big Poison” to younger brother Lloyd’s “Little Poison” through much of the 1920s and ’30s, he was the more “menac-“menac -
ing” of the two. He sprayed line drives to all corners of Forbes Field, hit above .350 more times (5) than he hit under .300 (2), won three
NL batting titles and, in one of the greatest single seasons in franchise history, won the NL MVP in 1927 by hitting .380 with 42 doubles,
18 triples, 9 home runs, 131 RBIs and 342 total bases. And he did it while standing all of 5 feet, 8 inches and 155 pounds. This man was
Big Poison? According to a story written as part of the Society for American Baseball Research biography project, a scout for the New York
Giants told Giants manager John McGraw of Waner: “That little punk don’t even know how to put on a uniform.” After the Giants and Pirates
squared off for the first time in 1926 — Waner’s rookie season — McGraw is said to have told the scout, “That little punk don’t even know
how to put on a uniform but he’s removed three of my pitchers with line drives this week. I’m glad you did not scout Christy Mathewson.”

STATISTICS ALL-STAR HOF (1952) WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT PLAYER*

Seasons .............. 15
Games............2,154 M
M V PP
Runs...............1,493 8 6.9 6.8
9.2 8.6
6.9
Hits.................2,868 AA LL LL -- SS T
T AA RR
WAR

4.8 4.6
6.3
Home runs......... 109 Note: Waner was 5 3.8
5.3 5.8
5.1
selected for 5.0
7.6 5.5
7.6
RBIs ...............1,177 S T A R T E R 4.2
7.6 S T A R 4.4
5.1
T E R 4.1 2.3
MLB’s inaugural 1.2
Average ............ .340 All-Star game 2
OPS.................. .896 in 1933. 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1939
1938
* - Seasons with at least 100 games played

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 73

 “FOR MY
MONEY, HE WAS
THE GREATEST
THIRD BASEMAN
OF ALL TIME.”
— Brooks Robinson, Hall of
Fame third baseman, on Traynor.

SECOND TO ONE

320
Career average
ranks second only
to Wade Boggs

6
among all third
basemen in baseball history.

DID YOU KNOW?

Traynor was a sports
anchorman for radio station
KQV-AM from 1945-66.

PIE TRAYNOR
THIRD BASE 1920-37 H/W: 6-0/170 B/T: R/R

Ten times he batted .300, including .366 in 1930. He knocked in 1,273 runs over his career and hit
.346 to help the Pirates beat Walter Johnson and the Washington Senators in a seven-game World
colum-
Series in 1925. Defensively, he was even better, “like looking over Da Vinci’s shoulder” wrote colum
nist Red Smith. But Traynor may have been best appreciated when seen through the light of three
facts. He was the first third baseman elected to the Hall of Fame (and still one of only five to be voted
in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America). He was the third baseman on MLB’s all-time
team announced in 1969 to coincide with the game’s centennial. And, finally, more than six decades
after he retired and more than three decades after he died, enough was still thought of his skills that
he was one of six third basemen on MLB’s all-century team ballot in 1999.

WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT PLAYER* HOF (1

(1948)) ALL-STAR STATISTICS

Seasons .............. 17
M
M V PP Games............1,941
8
Runs...............1,183
AA LL LL -- SS T
T AA RR Hits.................2,416
Note: Traynor
WAR

4.5 4.2
5 3.6 3 3.9 3.4 2.8 was selected for Home runs........... 58
2.6 3 2.9 MLB’s inaugural RBIs ...............1,273
-0.4 2.6 S T A R T E R 0.7 All-Star game
2 in 1933.
Average ............ .320
1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 OPS.................. .797
* - Seasons with at least 100 games played

74 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 7
THE HISTORY

ARKY
VAUGHAN
SHORTSTOP 1932-41 H/W: 5-10/175 B/T: L/R

Had he played for any other franchise, it’s possible

e
Vaughan would be more highly regarded in baseballball
history. But because he played in Pittsburgh and at the
same position as the immortal Wagner, his is a some-
ome-
times forgotten name when talking all-timers. Suchch was
s and
his fate, he hit .324 in 10 seasons with the Pirates
hose
.318 in 14 seasons overall. In both instances, those
numbers are better than any shortstop to ever playay but
ithout
for one — Wagner. Yet for his era, Vaughan was without
934-
peer. He made nine consecutive All-Star teams (1934- “BASEBBALL’S
“BASE ALL’S
42), twice finished in the top-three in MVP voting and
won the NL batting title in 1935 (.385) while also lead- MOST
SUPERBLY
ing the league in on-base percentage (.491) and slug-
orian
ging (.607) that season — a season baseball historian

FORGOTTEN
Bill James ranks as the greatest by any shortstop p not
named (you guessed it) Wagner.

MAN.”
— Red Smith,
Hall of Fame sports columnist,
CAN’T MISS on Vaughan

385
Batting average in 1935 remains
the highest single-season
average in Pirates history.
Like Clem
Like C
Clemente,
you
fishin
fis
fishing
lem
young,
DID YOU KNOW?
Vaughan died
ng, drowning while on a
hingg ttrip on a lake in Califor-
nia at age 40 in 1952.

STATISTICS ALL-STAR HOF (1

(1985)) WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT PLAYER

Seasons .............. 10
9.2 M
M V PP 8.6
Games............1,411
8
Runs.................. 936 7.0 7.6 6.3
Hits.................1,709 AA LL LL -- SS T
T AA RR
WAR

6.6
Home runs........... 84 5
5.1 5.2
RBIs .................. 764 3.8 SS TT AA R
R TT EE RR 4.5
Average ............ .324 2
OPS.................. .887 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 75

 8
FRED CLARKE
MANAGER / LEFT FIELD 1900-15 H/W: 5-10/165 B/T:: L/R

Some would argue that if any manager was to be included

here, it should have been Danny Murtaugh. But for as good as
Murtaugh was (1,115 wins, 2 World Series titles), he couldn’t
claim that one argument-ending distinction that separates
Clarke: He is the only man in franchise history to rank in its top
10 in wins (1,422, 1st) and hits (1,638, 10th). What’s more,
he compiled the majority of both concurrently as a player/man-
player/man -
ager. Still not impressed? He presided over the greatest de-
de -
cade in team history (1901-10); a decade in which his teams
won four NL pennants, played in two World Series, won one
chart-
and went 945-545 (a .645 winning percentage) while chart-
ing the only two 100-win seasons in franchise history. And he
racked up every one of these accomplishments by 1915 — the
year he retired from the game at the ripe ol’ age of 42.

YOUNG LEADER

24
Clarke’s age when Barney Dreyfuss
made him manager of the Louisville
Colonels in 1897 — three years before
the Colonels merged with the Pirates.

“WITH THE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF

TY COBB AND JOHN MCGRAW,W, BASEBALL
W SEBALL
NEVER KNEW A STURDIER COMPETITOR.”
TITOR.”
— Fred Lieb, The Sporting News, on Clarke’s death in 1960.

DID YOU KNOW?

Clarke became a millionaire in 1917 when
oil was discovered on the Kansas ranch he
purchased with his money from baseball.

WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT PLAYER* HOF (1945) ALL-STAR STATISTICS

Seasons .............. 15
M
M V PP Games............1,479
8 Note: The first
MLB All-Star Runs...............1,015
5
2.6 5
3.6 AA LL LL -- SS T
T AA RR 5.2
2.6 game took place Hits.................1,638
WAR

5 4.33 in 1933 — 18 Home runs........... 33

3.7
3.9 3.6
3.4 3.7
0.7
2.4 5.2
2.8 4.8
4.2 years after
S T A R T E R 1.9
2.9 Clarke retired.
RBIs .................. 622
2 Average ............ .299
1900 1901 1902 1903 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 OPS.................. .834
* - Seasons with at least 100 games played

76 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016

 THE HISTORY

9
WILBUR
COOPER
PITCHER 1912-24 H/W: 5-11/175 B/T: R/L

On a franchise not known for great pitchers, Cooper, a

5-foot-11 left-hander with pinpoint control, stands out. In an
era that included Christy Mathewson, Grover Cleveland Alex-
Alex
ander and Walter Johnson, legendary sports writer Grantland
Rice once proclaimed him “the greatest pitcher in organized
baseball.” Four times he won 20 games, and by the time
he was traded to the Chicago Cubs late in 1924, he’d won
a club-record 202 games — a mark that 92 seasons later
still stands. He also ranks in the top five in complete games
(263, 1st), starts (368, 2nd) and innings pitched (3,201,
2nd). So valued was Cooper that New York Giants manager
John McGraw offered the Pirates $75,000 for Cooper in
1919. For perspective: That offseason, the Yankees paid
the Boston Red Sox $125,000 for a portly fellow named
Babe Ruth.

RUN STOPPER
“MR. WAGNER, IF YOU
2.89
Career ERA — the low-
est by any NL left-hander
who pitched at least
FIELD LIKE THAT BEHIND
ME,
E, I’LL STAY UP HERE
A LONG TIME.”
— Cooper to veteran Honus Wagner after Wagner made
3,000 innings. several stellar defensive plays behind him in his Pirates
debut — an 8-0 shutout of St. Louis on Sept. 6, 1912.

DID YOU KNOW?

Cooper is one of only two pitchers with 3,000 innings
and an ERA under 3.00 who is not in the Hall of Fame.

STATISTICS ALL-STAR HOF COMPLETE GAMES (263)

Seasons .............. 13 Games started Complete games, total listed in bold Wins
Games started... 369 Note: Cooper is
Note: The first not a member of 40
IP...................3,199 MLB All-Star
GAMES STARTED

the Baseball Hall 27 28 29 27 26

W-L............ 202-159 game took place of Fame. He was 23 26 25
in 1933 — 7 last on the ballot 19 11 16
Hits.................3,074 years after
20
3 3 (5-16) (24-15)
in 1955, (22-14) (23-14) (12-14)
Runs...............1,241 Cooper retired. (3-0) (5-3) (17-11) (19-14) (19-13) (17-19)
receiving 11 of (16-15) (12-11)
ERA .................. 2.74 251 votes. 0
Strikeouts .......1,191 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 77

 DID YOU KNOW? BY STEVE ZIANTS

T
he Clemente Wall: 13 feet high?
It could have been had a
rookie outfielder named Earl
Smith hit the first month of the 1955 sea-
son as he’d hit in spring training. That
year opened with Smith wearing No.
21 and fellow rookie Roberto Clemente
wearing 13.
How the numerology of Pirates histo-
ry might have been different had Smith
displayed any of the form that helped
him hit 32 homers and drive in 195 runs
the season before for Phoenix in the
Arizona-Texas League.
But Smith went 1 for 16 with no runs
batted in in his first five games. The
Pirates started 2-11. On May 3, general
manager Branch Rickey sent Smith to
the minor leagues from where he never
returned. Soon thereafter, Clemente
switched to 21, the number he bore all
the way to Cooperstown and a spot in
the eternal fabric of the franchise.
On such insignificant transactions
does history often turn.
After 129 seasons, 10,000 games, five
ballparks and more than a half-dozen
generations of Pirates fans, back stories
such as Smith/Clemente hide every-
where in plain sight. We walk past them
and in some cases over them every day.
We see them without seeing them. Sea-
sons pass and we forget we even knew
them. But they endure, just below the
surface and just beyond the itch of cu-
riosity.
Today, we scratch.

Josh Harrison at the Clemente Wall.

PHOTO: PETER DIANA PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 79

21
We know why PNC architects
made the right-feld wall 21 feet
high. But why was Clemente so
quick to take the number when
the chance presented itself that
spring of 1955? Twenty-one let-
ters: the number it takes to spell
Roberto Clemente Walker.

ONE, TWO, AND NO MORE

Clemente’s honors throughout the
world are many. But the fact that
he has a bridge named in his hon-
or — the best way into PNC Park
on game days — is as rare as
most any non-baseball honor ac-
corded a player. The former Sixth
Street Bridge is one of only two
in the United States to be named
after a baseball player, accord-
ing to Baseball-Reference.com.
The other is for a longtime Pacific
Coast League manager named
Lefty O’Doul and stretches across
McCovey Cove outside AT&T Park
in San Francisco.

DOOR TO THE PAST ALL-TIME HOME

Over the past several decades, Hemingway’s Cafe
has become a popular way station on the fringes of
Pitt’s main campus. For the informed fan, though,
a walk through its doors can also be a trip back to
that time when Forbes Field was the epicenter of the
Pirates’ universe and a 1940s fan favorite named
Frankie Gustine had a table or bar stool waiting just
for you three blocks from home plate. From 1951-82,
3911 Forbes Ave. in Oakland was home to Frankie
Gustine’s Restaurant, a gameday destination for
players, sportswriters and fans and arguably a memo-
rable Pirates landmark now largely buried under time.
When Forbes Field was wrecking-balled in 1970, home plate was preserved and
placed in the floor of Wesley W. Posvar Hall — one of the buildings on the Pitt
campus that sprang up over the Old Lady of Schenley Park. It was reputed to
be encased on the spot where home plate was from 1909-70. Two reports have
since challenged that claim. One alleged that if the plate had been placed in its
exact location, it would have been not in a main public area as it is, but in the
fifth stall of a first-floor women’s restroom. An amusing claim, but one that has
mostly been written off to urban myth. A more likely challenge came in 2010
from Dan Bonk and Leonard Martin, co-authors of “Build It Yourself Forbes
Field.” After studying the stadium’s plot plan and the 1973 blueprint of Posvar
Hall, they determined the original home plate location to be just outside the
school’s economics library — 81 feet from its Lucite-encased tribute.

80 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 PHOTOS: BILL WADE

 THE HISTORY

A LINEUP FOR ALL TIME

Thousands of Downtown commuters pass it every day. Yet how many know it’s there? How many have stopped to look at it on the wall of the
underpass where Ross Street passes under the Boulevard of the Allies. There, a mural has hung since April 2000, larger than life, yet almost
inaccessible in the middle of a busy intersection. It is The Legends of Pittsburgh, painted by Michael Malle and honoring the 14 greatest fig-
ures in the history of Pittsburgh baseball. From Wagner to Clemente, they are timelessly painted against a vivid Forbes Field and into a time
capsule of the imagination. Larger than life, yet, likely too often unnoticed on the way to and from the office.

OH SAY, CAN YOU SEE?

THE HONOR ROLL
The Honus Wagner statue has been a part of the Pirates gameday
experience since it was dedicated April 30, 1955, outside Forbes
Field. It moved with the Pirates to Three Rivers Stadium and then to
PNC Park, and through all the years and each move, it contained an
unseen bit of Pittsburgh history. Encased within its base is the name
of every individual, organization and foundation that contributed 50
cents, a dollar or 100 to its $50,000 price tag; each name inscribed
on one long, continuous scroll and sealed in a steel tube — a roll call
of Pirates fans of another time to this.
Well beyond PNC Park’s left-center field fence there is a win-
dowed security building on the outfield concourse. If this were
another ballpark, there might be a marker on it. But there is no
designation. There is only a number in the media guide, some
scattered memories and an enduring awe. It was against this
building near the three flagpoles that Chicago Cubs slugger
Sammy Sosa on April 12, 2002, hit the longest home run in
the 15-year history of PNC Park. Generally, when fans think of
long balls there, they think of right field and river splashdowns.
But on that Friday night, Sosa turned on a 3-0 fastball from
pitcher Dave Williams and hit it farther than any ball before or
since — over the North Side Notch, over both bullpens and to
the left of the batter’s eye before ricocheting off that security
post — 484 feet from the point where bat met ball. “I didn’t
think it was ever going to come down,” said Pirates manager
Lloyd McClendon. Among the five longest home runs hit in park
history, it remains the only one hit to left.

PHOTOS (T, L-R): STEVE MELLON, JOHN BEALE, REBECCA DROKE PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 81
 THE HISTORY

BILLY WHO?
It is an oft-asked question. Ten numbers
adorn the ribbon of PNC Park facade
that salutes the men who have had their
numbers retired by the Pirates. One never
seems to belong. More than 60 years
after he last wore his No. 1, the question is asked more
than ever: Who is Billy Meyer, and why does he belong? The
answers are equally perplexing. Meyer managed the Pirates
from 1948-52 and oversaw some of the worst baseball in Pi-
rates history, going 317-452, including the 112-loss edition
of 1952 that finished a remarkable 541 ⁄ 2 games out of first
place. Yet, his number resides for all time among Wagner,
Waner and The Great One. According to a Pirates spokes-
man, it is because “he was a fan favorite … and because
of his service … and his good human relations.” Apparently
Leo Durocher was wrong: Nice guys don’t always finish last.

OIL STAINS AND HISTORY

In a parking lot on the North
Shore between PNC Park and
Heinz Field — a dingy-gray
expanse of concrete framed
by General Robinson Street to
the north, Tony Dorsett Drive
to the east, Chuck Noll Way
to the west and a new office
and retail building to the south that includes the editorial of-
fices of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — is a splash of bright
yellow painted in the shape of a home plate. While it is easy
to ignore it as residue of a tailgate Whiffleball game, it is
actually residue of profound Pirates history. The parking lot
sits on much of the land where long-forgotten Exposition Exposition Park (1891-1909)
Park — the Pirates’ home from 1891-1909 — once stood,
and the spray-painted home plate on the spot where its
home plate was more than a century ago.
Three Rivers Stadium (1970-2001)

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

As an artistic backdrop to the Bill
Mazeroski statue outside PNC
Park’s right-field gate are three
banks of red brick in homage to
the wall over which Maz’s World
Series-ending home run sailed
in 1960. They are dutiful replica-
tions of that old wall. Well, two
of them, anyway. The one on the left and the one on the
right are aesthetic creations. But the one in the middle?
Hidden there in plain sight is the actual “406” section from
the left-center field wall over which history was made Oct.
13, 1960. When Forbes Field was brought down and Three
Rivers Stadium built, it became an accent in the stadium’s
Allegheny Club. When Three Rivers came down, the section
returned to the Pirates, who then had it included in the stat-
ue dedicated in 2010 commemorating the greatest moment
in Pittsburgh sports history.

82 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 PHOTOS (T, B): POST-GAZET TE, DARRELL SAPP; ILLUSTRATION: DANIEL MARSULA
BEST.
SUMMER.
EVER.
Friendship, Accomplishment, Belonging

www.ycamps.org

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 2016 83

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