Appreciating The Pirates’ Hurdle To Success

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A little over six years ago, a man stepped up to a podium, and was introduced as the thirty-ninth manager of the National League era’s Pittsburgh Pirates. His name was Clint Hurdle. Hurdle, who about a year and a half earlier was fired in degrading fashion by the Rockies, smiled for the cameras, and buttoned his new team’s jersey. As every manager before himself had done since the departure of Jim Leyland after the 1996 season, Hurdle was immediately overseeing a dumpster fire. He had been given managerial control of a roster pieced together with AAA worthy players, and a handful of promising prospects years away from their prime as MLB starters. He was also a part of a franchise that hadn’t won more games than they had lost in a season in 18 years. Yet the man did what he does. He looked into the camera, spoke with optimism, big plans, and big goals. The city’s reaction varied, but it was mostly more of the standard “here we go again” on the part of the fans. Just another manager that will talk big, but never win on the field. But Clint Hurdle was not “just another manager”.

Clint Hurdle began his inaugural 2011 season with, compared to the 2016 Pirates, an incredibly untalented roster. He had a pitching rotation that had names such as Kevin Correia, Paul Maholm, and James McDonald involved. He had a lineup that featured names such as Jose Tabata, Alex Presley, and Lyle Overbay. However the relaxed Hurdle preached optimism and built a clubhouse, which had been notoriously filled with negativity for the past 18 seasons, with a positive vibe. That ball club finished with an unimpressive 72-90. However that team, which flirted with an improbable division lead until late July, brought a sliver of hope back to the city. The fans, which had seemingly disappeared over 18 long years, were now out of the woodwork. The following season, although tainted by a monumental collapse that saw a division lead crumble alongside the continuation of the longest losing streak in North American sports (now twenty years), was a solid improvement. The Pirates were 79-83. Although that’s the number that ultimately mattered, the “Battling Bucs” had a face again. They had an up-and-coming star center-fielder in Andrew McCutchen, a hometown hero in Neil Walker at second base, and a veteran in AJ Burnett to lead a young pitching staff.

The big picture to this sweet story is known. The end of the twenty years of losing. The playoff clinches. The 2013, 2014, and 2015 NL Wild Card games. Pitching coach Ray Searage’s mind-blowing work to revive the careers of pitchers such as AJ Burnett, Francisco Liriano, Edinson Volquez, Jason Grilli, and Mark Melancon. The big names such as Russell Martin, Cutch, Pedro, Walker, Marte, Cervelli, Polanco, and Cole.

All of these players and all of the events that have occurred with Pirates over the past few years have a story. Each season, which had seen more and more fans come out from behind the curtain to support their hometown team, has been more and more fun to watch. So when every Pirates fans sits down to watch the Pirates/Cardinals opening day matchup, they will have many baseball-related questions on their mind heading into the season. Will the pitching rotation hold up? Can the Pirates keep up with the Cubs? Will Gregory Polanco become more consistent? All of these are fair questions that the 2016 season will for sure answer. But in the next few days, fans should also take some time to reflect. They must realize that just six short years ago, none of these questions meant much to a team that held such a little hope. Until a man named Clint Hurdle changed that mindset.