Third baseman Bill Madlock – the “Mad Dog!” – stood there in a classic hitter’s stance and won four National League batting titles, and right fielder Dave Parker – “The Cobra” had a bat swirl at the end of his “ready-at-plate” routine, and he was a seven-time All-Star.
And then there was Willie Stargell and his “cycle” warmup at the plate. “Pops!” Outfielder at the beginning of his career, first baseman for the final 10 years, and he was the Captain of a baseball team that won the World Championship. The last World Championship, mind you, that mattered to beleaguered fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
And that was 45 years ago. Since then, Pittsburgh’s big-league baseball team has claimed three division titles, three Wild Card postseason appearances, and 33 losing seasons. That’s why we won’t know many of the names on this year’s team when spring training breaks and the 2024 regular season begins on March 28th in Miami, why local Little League teams aren’t anxious to adopt “Pirates” as a nickname, and why children playing in sandlots don’t bother emulating the batting stances of even Ke’Bryan Hayes or Bryan Reynolds.
That takes winning, and winning takes more than a little talent, and while not a single Pirates fans expected Pittsburgh owner Bob Nutting to get into the offseason “Ohtani Sweepstakes,” no real “name” players were picked up for this season’s starting rotation or to fill the holes in the infield and outfield.
Reliever Aroldis Chapman. That’s it. Sure, he’s won, but he’s fallen, too, and now he’s just another experiment of sorts, and so is outfielder Edward Olivares, a guy who finally managed to play more than 100 games for the Royals last season but then was traded. So, yeah, experiments. Can the washed-up swim again? Can the old play young? Can the forgotten return to headlines?
BUT … and yes, it’s a big BUT … if another 14-game improvement can be made to Pittsburgh’s win-loss for a second season in a row, the Pirates would be 90-72 at the end of September and postseason action – most likely – would follow … and so would the fans to the stands. Winning works and, as proven in several other Major League “small markets,” success can be achieved in Pittsburgh with a commitment from the top.
It is a puzzle, though, that, in Pittsburgh anyway, cannot be solved simply by throwing money at it, folks, and that’s because big-league baseball’s economy is skewed by ticket sales for 162 games in markets that vary from 20 million (NYC) to about 2 million in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. In those towns, experiments have to balance with investment, and the unproven must prove their worth by winning. Again.
That’s when those sandlot kids will emulate again.
