Steel city savior

By Michael Bennett

Andrew McCutchen is reminding Pittsburgh what it feels like to love baseball.

I’ll never forget Andrew McCutchen’s first triple as a Pittsburgh Pirate. There was nothing graceful about it. His helmet flew off as he dug around the bases, launching forward with each stride, as if each time trying to break through a wall. He slid safely into third, and as I watched, mouth agape, I wondered how long the Pirates could possibly keep this phenom under wraps.

That June of 2009, Pittsburgh was anything but close to playoff contention, and I was convinced our all-star centerfielder had arrived too early. The Yankees or some other deep-pocketed franchise would snatch him up before the Pirates even had a chance to sniff a wild-card berth. There was just no way a small market, two-decades-long loser could keep this kind of talent a secret. Andrew McCutchen was a superstar in the waiting, and Pittsburgh was where eventual superstars were reared. The New York harvest would surely come soon.

Three years later, and McCutchen is no secret anymore. Yet he’s still with the Pirates, and this season has propelled the team into first place. You probably know the stats by now: 1.063 OPS, 22 home runs, 66 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, and a league-leading .370 average. The 25-year-old leads the Pirates in every major hitting category. He stalks the outfield, covering so much ground that at times it seems impossible for opposing batters to get a ball to drop. He’s had an MVP-caliber season so far, and even so, I assure you the stats tell just a small part of the story. 

 
It’s been a long time since Pittsburgh had a star baseball player who was proud to wear the Pirate P. Jason Kendall quickly turned bitter. Brian Giles seemed to play for himself. Jason Bay always had his metaphorical bags packed. I rooted for these guys anyway — we all did — because they were all that Pittsburgh had at the time. So it wasn’t until 2009, when McCutchen hit his first triple, that I learned what a truly great Pittsburgh baseball player looks like. It was a different feeling. The picturesque backdrop of PNC Park glimmered. The skyscrapers seemed to grow even taller. I couldn’t help but think that the arches of the Clemente Bridge were grinning with pride. Andrew McCutchen was here to save a fan base accustomed to of the monotony of losing.

Even more so now than in those early days, McCutchen’s fervent passion for Pittsburgh is apparent. Watch him when the Pirates lose: It’s as if he’s singlehandedly let down the entire metropolitan area. He’s accepted the pressure of the city, and channeled that into each moment on the field. The MVP chants that rain down during each plate appearance are, to him, merely affirmation that his present at-bat is just as vital as the next. For him, for the Pirates, and for Pittsburgh. 

 
It’s been 20 years since the Pirates made the playoffs, far before I can remember. So I have to leave it to my imagination. And when I try to imagine what a playoff game might feel like in Pittsburgh, I think of an excerpt from Frank Ohara’s “Steps": 

the Pittsburgh Pirates shout because they won
and in a sense we're all winning
we're alive 

Thanks to Andrew McCutchen, baseball in Pittsburgh has been reenergized. He’s reminded us what it feels like to watch a great baseball player make a diving catch, line a triple off the Clemente wall, and smack a homer into a bleacher full of rejoicing, eye-patched Pittsburghers. Thank you Andrew, for reminding us that we’re all winning in the Steel City. That we’re alive.

Michael Bennett is a Began in '96's Pittsburgh correspondent.