finding meaning from pirates 12, yankees 5

I've clearly been making a big deal out of the Pinstripes' long-awaited return to Pittsburgh, and last night's game provided the reason why. Consider the take of Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke?, which clearly gleaned more from this game than an otherwise routine victory in late June:

Tonight, as the Pirates cruised with a 12-3 lead in the ninth inning and Franquellis Osoria on the mound, mopping up the last three outs, the fans stood on their feet and chanted, "LET'S GO BUCS! LET'S GO BUCS!" And maybe this game was on the North Side of Pittsburgh with an awful reliever on the mound as a bad Pirate team closed out a win over a struggling Yankee team in mid-June, but for one night everyone in the stands might as well have been in Oakland at Forbes Field in October of 1960, watching Roy Face close out a surprising Game 1 win over the vaunted Yankees, and singing, "The Bucs are going all the way!" That's what baseball can do to you sometimes, and that's why sometimes stupid interleague games in June that have no real bearing on the standings can mean the world to a bunch of fans.

I was at the All-Star Game at PNC Park in 2006, and what struck me most was how good it felt to observe people in Pittsburgh taking an interest in baseball again. Indeed, the buzz that filled the ballpark that night was palpable -- a reminder that there's still no sports feeling like a playoff baseball feeling, which is something Pirates fans certainly haven't felt for a loooong time. True, a lot of folks were at PNC last night to see the Yankees, but it was still a sellout crowd on a Tuesday night when there were no giveaways or gimmicks to attract people who simply had nothing better to do. And as Dejan's story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes, this wasn't a crowd mainly made up of Yankees fans. It also wasn't a crowd that had some half-assed interest in what transpired on the field: They stayed til the end, and they were chanting for the Buccos right up until the last out. Baseball in Pittsburgh has been on life support for a long time, and while the current Pirates still have a long way to go, we are seeing signs of life, even if it's little more than just enough life to hold our interest until the Steelers get to St. Vincent. And last night, we can hope, was a great start.

(more) revisiting the 1960 world series

GREAT story and photos in today's New York Times about the Pirates' improbable World Series win over the Yanks, what with the teams meeting tonight in Pittsburgh for the first time since William Stanley Mazeroski ended the whole shebang with that home run at 3:36 p.m. on Oct. 13, 1960. Even for those who don't like sports, or who have little interest in them, this is the sort of story that clearly explains why sports are so cool. There's too much about that remarkable series in the article, so there's no point re-hashing it, but the money quote is right at the end, when the writer, Sean D. Hamill, interviews a young man who recently occasioned to visit the still-standing piece of the home run wall Maz's shot cleared on that glorious afternoon at old Forbes Field 48 years ago:

Recently, J. W. Eddy, 25, a Pirates fan from Uniontown, Pa., visited the remnants of that wall while taking a break from studying for the bar exam at the nearby University of Pittsburgh Law School. Why come to this old piece of brick wall to remember an event that occurred 23 years before he was even born? "It’s kind of sacred here, really," Eddy said. "To any true Pirate fan, it’s like folklore. You just come to touch some of that history."

Amen.

Maz is slated to throw out the first pitch tonight, which should be great. And, just to add to the cool, The Times has even re-printed George Silk's famous Life magazine photograph of cheering fans taking in the moment from atop the Cathedral of Learning, the University of Pittsburgh's towering campus landmark. Pretty neat.

yankees-pirates, 48 years later

When the New York Yankees last played in Pittsburgh, Bill Mazeroski did what he did and "made Mickey Mantle cry," as the young Colagero Anello tells Sonny LoSpecchio in A Bronx Tale, a movie moment that still makes everyone from Western Pennsylvania quietly pump their fists every time they see it, if not also causing them to point toward the screen and shout "HA HA!" to the annoyance of anyone else also present. All these years later, with the Bronx Bombers coming back for a sold-out interleague series at PNC Park starting Tuesday night, all the usual opportunities to wax nostalgic are out there. For starters, Gene Collier has a column in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that points to the obvious economic disparities between the teams, though he fails to mention that if the Pirates were better run, they'd have been much more competitive in recent years. Books-wise, I'd recommend Jim Reisler's Best Game Ever, which totally stole my own idea for a book topic but really is a terrific read. And heck, for old-time's sake, let's take this opportunity to gaze at that famous photo of Maz as he approaches home plate in what will always be Pittsburgh's greatest sports moment:

BEAT 'EM BUCS!

fox sports ranks the worst franchises in professional sports...

...and, to no one's surprise, look who's No. 1. Sigh.

the pirates and the andy van slyke question

Jonah Keri takes a look at baseball's numerous "failure dynasties" today on ESPN.com, and it goes without saying that my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates make the list. Like most national writers, however, Keri is knowledgable about some things and ignorant on others. He's solid on the train-wrecked tenures of former general managers Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield, for example. But why does he begin by noting that the Bucs should have held on to Barry Bonds instead of Andy Van Slyke back in 1993? Doesn't he realize that Balco Barry had signed a one-year extension to remain with the team in '92, after which he made it clear he wanted out of town? The team didn't have a choice in the matter, which is what made (and still makes) the night of Oct. 14, 1992 such a gut punch (click the link and scroll down to No. 8 on the list for the gory details). Keri also derides Kevin McClatchy's stewardship as owner, and largely with good reason. But McClatchy deserves some credit for purchasing the franchise in the mid-'90s and working assiduously to keep it in Pittsburgh -- a point worth mentioning, in my mind, even if the time that bought him obviously ran out several years ago.

As for Van Slyke, he's just so damn cool, as this interview with Yahoo.com clearly demonstrates. He tells it like it is about Bonds, especially with regard to that fateful, awful play on Oct. 14, 1992. The bit about his turnstile-jumping episode on the New York City subway -- especially what he told the female cop upon being apprehended -- is just fantastic, and Phillies fans will love what he had to say about all the chew spit Lenny Dykstra used to leave behind on the centerfield turf at Veterans Stadium. It's also cool that one of my favorite blogs, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke?, even gets a little love in the interview. And as one might expect, WHYGAVS takes it all happily in stride.

some sports musings

* They spotted the Broadway Blue Shirts a 3-0 lead. Didn't matter. They came back, took the lead and were suddenly tied again. Then Sooper Sid connected on a one-timer from Ryan Whitney that was actually tipped in by Evgeni Malkin. In front of an insane "white-out" crowd dahn-tahn at The Igloo, 'Guins win.

* Over on the North Side, it was Phillies 6, Pirates 5. Zach Duke really stinks, and the Buccos can't get rid of those awful Friday red jerseys fast enough.

* What in the world has gotten into the 76ers? Where do they get off running a veteran team like Detroit out of the gym like that? Ah, who cares. It's a cool story just 'cause it's even happening.

* The NFL Draft is today! Yawn. What's the best thing about being at The Penn Relays -- aside from, you know, actually being at the Penn Relays? It's a totally draft-free zone. Nice.

we interrupt the penn relays for a little baseball...

You know, just 'cause. After all, the Phillies are on Pittsburgh's North Side for a weekend series against the pitiful Pirates. Shamefully, thanks to baseball's unbalanced schedule and the ridiculous fact that they're not in the same division, this is the only time the Phils and Bucs -- baseball's greatest rivalry in the late '70s and early '80s; like, seriously -- will play in Pittsburgh this season. It's Adam Eaton vs. Zach Duke tonight, Kyle Kendrick vs. Matt Morris (let us pray) tomorrow night, and Brett Myers vs. Ian Snell in Sunday's matinee finale. The real matchup to watch, of course, will be whether either team's first baseman will actually get a stinkin' hit: Ryan Howard, he of the brand-new, $10 million annual contract, is hitting a cool .111 for your Phightin' Phils, while the Buccos' Adam LaRoche sports a sorry-ass .149 average that looks downright dominant by comparison. Sigh.

ugh. double ugh.

Being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan is hard -- really, really hard. And while the season is just 18 games old, it's already reached the point of being excruciating, unbearable and any other hyperbolic sentiment that pretty much says "really sucks." A week ago, the Bucs were 7-6 and treading water, but they've since lost five straight, and it's been bad. Really bad. So bad that WHYGAVS already has had to post a state-of-the-team lament that points the (middle) finger squarely at former general manager Dave Littlefield and how badly he totally effed this franchise for years to come. My goodness, when does football season start?

what's wrong with the newspaper business

In a word -- or three -- it's stuff like this, which, to me, anyway, epitomizes the sort of journalistic laziness and all-around dead wood that permeates the business. Bob Smizik has been writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette since Pittsburgh was a French and Indian War battleground, and he often takes a contrarian stance with regard to much of the city's conventional sporting wisdom. Fine and fine. But three observations regarding that complete piece of crud he authored today:

1. Smizik is not in Atlanta for the Pirates' season-opening series against the Braves, something that would provide him the opportunity to observe the team up close and, you know, actually interview somebody to help broaden the perspective of what he writes. In other words, to do his freakin' job.

2. I counted four spelling and/or grammatical errors. This is as much the fault of the P-G's copy desk as it is of Smizik, but still: It's not like he was rushed by having to shag quotes from the clubhouse after the game or anything.

3. How in the world can he write that the Pirates ought to keep, rather than trade, Xavier Nady based on just two games out of what is a 162-games season? Sitting on his couch watching the game on TV, he obviously had no column idea as his deadline approached, so he winged it.

Bottom line: Readers today are more discerning, and those of us in this business owe it to them not to insult their intelligence. Problem is, newspapers might be the only industry in the country in which one's overall job performance is not tied to one's ability to keep a job, even when younger, hungrier, better talent is out there to replace him. Not that I'm jaded or anything.

billy crystal to play for the yankees

Kevin Kernan of the New York Post throws some cold water on the idea of Billy Crystal playing for the New York Yankees for one day on Thursday. Only adding to the comedy, of course, is the fact that Crystal will play for the Yanks in a spring training game against my Pittsburgh Pirates, which means he'll probably get a couple of hits. The phenomenal Pirates blog Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? suggests the Pirates should counter by having actor Michael Keaton, a Pittsburgh native and fan, similarly suit up for the Bucs. "Of course," WHYGAVS writes, "[Keaton] could probably start at third for us, so maybe we should spare ourselves the embarrassment." Boy do I hate being a Pirates fan.