Crowds shrinking as Pirates keep struggling
An editorial opinion from the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown:
Pittsburgh earned the moniker City of Champions in 1979 after the Pirates won their fifth World Series, the Steelers captured their third Super Bowl, the Pitt Panthers claimed the Fiesta Bowl, Carnegie Mellon University went undefeated in football, the Penguins finished third in their division and the Duquesne University Dukes had a winning season on the gridiron.
Since then, the Steelers have won three more Super Bowls (1980, 2006, 2009); the Panthers have fielded some decent teams but have come up short in the trophy department; and Duquesne has won or shared 11 crowns in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, was co-champion of the NCAA Division I FBS Northeast Conference in 2011, 2013 and 2016 and was undisputed champion in 2015.
Carnegie Mellon has not matched its previous successes.
It took the Penguins until 1991 to win their first Stanley Cup, but then they would reel off four more – 1992, 2009, 2016 and 2017.
The Pirates, however, have not brought home a World Series pennant since 1979.
Without a remarkable finish, we can chalk up 2017 as a losing season. For the Bucs, it’s been 38 years since a World Series pennant has been hoisted in their ballpark.
But it hasn’t been all doom and gloom for Pirates’ faithful. There were glimmers of hope when the Bucs captured National League East Division titles in 1990, 1991 and 1992 but didn’t advance in the playoffs. In 2013, the Pirates won a wild card game against Cincinnati but lost the division series to the St. Louis Cardinals. They would play wild card games again in 2014 (San Francisco Giants) and 2015 (Chicago Cubs), but would lose both.
Pirates fans are getting a bit frustrated that the team doesn’t field a contender.
The Penguins and Steelers appear to have competent front-office personnel who are able to find players with talent and chemistry to fill holes when the need arises. The Pirates, it seems, don’t have that magic touch.
The Bucs were dealt several blows this year, but the misfortunes happened early enough in the season that the front office could have gone searching for pieces to the puzzle. Outfielder Starling Marte was benched for 80 games after testing positive for nandrolone, a performance-enhancing drug. And third baseman Jung Ho Kang missed the entire season after his third DUI arrest in his native South Korea and the country’s refusal to grant him a visa. Also, promising pitcher Jameson Taillon was absent for several weeks because he was being treated for testicular cancer.
Team Chairman Bob Nutting recently rewarded manager Clint Hurdle and general manager and executive vice president Neal Huntington with four-year contract extensions. Perhaps Nutting has a plan to right his listing franchise. If so, he might want to let Pirates fans know about it because they are beginning to flee the Jolly Roger.
Attendance has been dropping at PNC Park, from a high of 30,847 in 2015 to 24,307 in 2017. Nutting has to do something to keep the seats filled.
One move that would be sure to bring fans to the ballpark would be to sign Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton. The slugger has belted 54 home runs so far this year. Seeing Stanton in a black-and-gold uniform would generate lots of excitement in Pittsburgh, and help to bring fans through the turnstiles.
Nutting has been roundly criticized by Pirates fans for trying to build a team through the farm system instead of spending money to get seasoned talent or making beneficial trades. We encourage Nutting to rethink his philosophy, whatever it is, and field a championship-caliber team in Pittsburgh before the fan base hemorrhages too severely that the bleeding can’t be stopped.