PITTSBURGH — A sea of overjoyed fans draped in black and gold as far as the eye could see was on its feet, pushing PNC Park to capacity on a crisp October afternoon. This was the atmosphere I faked a doctor’s appointment to enjoy during my sophomore year of high school in 2013, when the Pirates made the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.
I had been to 100 Pirates games, but never before had I experienced Yinzer energy rocking the North Shore midday in October. Something special was happening, almost tacitly understood by my 40,000 fellow Pittsburghers disregarding school and work obligations that day. For all we knew, it might be another 20 years until playoff baseball returned to the Steel City.{/div}
That magical run that began that year, when the Pirates went on to make the playoffs three seasons in a row, feels like a distant memory in the 17-year reign of Bob Nutting, whose ownership has seen the Buccos eclipse .500 just four times, accompanied by 100-loss seasons as a regular expectation. The face of baseball’s renaissance in Pittsburgh, Andrew McCutchen, who won the National League MVP award in 2013, sparked a renewed sense of optimism in Pirates baseball when he re-signed with the team this offseason. But it didn’t take long for hope to fade. The Pirates sit in familiar territory — well under .500 and already out of the playoff race with a month of baseball remaining.
From the heroic altruism of Roberto Clemente to the legendary greatness of Honus Wagner and the iconic persona of Bill Mazeroski, Pittsburgh is a storied baseball town. This sports-obsessed city has a deep history of success that binds our community and transcends generations, but the Pirates have not measured up to the standard. It’s time to hold the owner accountable.
While the Pirates have competed in the playoffs only three times in the last 30 years, they’ve remained in fierce competition for the distinction of managing the lowest payroll in the league, season after season. Excuses are often made that Pittsburgh is a small market, but Nutting happens to be one of the richest owners in baseball, with a net worth of over $1 billion, while making headlines for $125 million ski-resort sales and family stewardship of a newspaper conglomerate that generates over $600 million in annual revenue. Nutting is clearly a skilled businessman, but he won’t invest in the Pirates.
Nutting’s disinterest in investing in his team is both confusing and demoralizing. Pittsburghers have seen countless stars and hometown heroes come and go for the lucrative markets in the Northeast or West Coast, turning the Buccos into a professional farm system for squads with the fattest payrolls.
In 2008, slugger Jason Bay, coming off two All Star Game appearances, was traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a quartet of uninspiring players. Bay hit 36 home runs for the Red Sox in 2009 as the team achieved a 95-win season. Minor league journeyman Freddie Sanchez blossomed into the best hitter in the National League with the Pirates, only to be traded to the Giants for a pitcher who never made it out of the minors. Sanchez helped lead the Giants to a World Series win the following season.
The Pirates finally reemerged as a contender off the arm of strikeout-machine Gerrit Cole, but Cole was promptly traded to the Astros for three players who are no longer in major league baseball. Cole led the Astros to the World Series in 2019. Perhaps the most stinging loss of all was hometown hero Neil Walker, a consistent force at the plate and anchor of the infield for five seasons before being traded to the Mets for a fringe starter. By making this move, the team avoided signing the Pittsburgh native and fan favorite to a long-term contract.
The list goes on. Nutting would rather trade his stars for prospects than open his wallet to keep them around, regardless of the effect on his team and its fanbase. While one might expect that all this losing has made owning the Pirates unprofitable, reporting on the team’s finances last year showed that payroll was strictly tied to ticket sales and concession revenue. I’m not expecting Nutting to expand payroll to the levels of the Steinbrenners or the Cohens, but the Pirates should at least be on par with similar market-size teams like the Brewers or Guardians. Not so: they remain millions and millions behind.
Nutting is not only opposed to investing in the Pirates; he’s also rejected opportunities to sell the team and let another owner take over, including dismissing attempts to buy the team made by both Mark Cuban and Mario Lemieux, local legends who have led the Dallas Mavericks and Pittsburgh Penguins to championships under their leadership.
Though bottom-line-Bob won’t sell the team, he’s more than willing to sell off our baseball talent rather than keep it in Pittsburgh to help us win. Why he insists on remaining the owner is unclear. His ownership has been a stain on the Pirates and the proud legacy of Pittsburgh sports. We have the most beautiful stadium and the most die-hard fan base in the country. We deserve better than what Bob Nutting has given us.
At the ripe age of 27, I’m starting to think that mine might be the last generation of Pittsburgh kids to enjoy the unforgettable experience of cutting school to go to a playoff baseball game.
(Zach Kennedy, a former Democratic operative, is a Pittsburgh native and has worked on high-level judicial, state, and federal campaigns in Pennsylvania.)
