BOB NUTTING
Famed comedian Richard Pryor featured a piece on one of his albums and I vaguely recollect the monologue beginning something like this: “Hello there friends and neighbors, has God blessed you today? Well, if he hasn’t just send us twenty dollars and we’ll send you a genuine blessing from God.”
For many years, it appeared as if the Pittsburgh Pirates management might have expected some Powerball-like windfall to unexpectedly rain money from clouds to erase their fiscal and small market shortcomings, as well as the winning team that would come with it. For more than three decades, the Pirates fans have reminded me of some religious and faithful zealots sitting with their hands on the radio or their eyes fixed on the television hoping and sometimes expecting a resurrected spirit and a long-expected blessing of competition and winning to come forth.
I am and shall remain a man of God, forever and a day. But my late father, Oprah Elliott Bruce, once said: “I love God, but we must often get more callouses on our hands, than our knees.”
In other words, we may pray about it, but we must work equally as hard at being about it.
When the Pittsburgh Pirates hired the late Syd Thrift as the general manager of the team on November 7, 1985, even Thrift had difficulty visualizing the future success of the ballclub saying, “It ain’t easy resurrecting the dead.”
It may not have been all about the budget, but it certainly was all about the talent. But things may be changing.
In 2024, according to www.spotrac.com, the only teams that spent less active cash than the Pirates are concerned were the Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago White Sox.
From 2018-2022 including a one-year “hiatus” due to COVID-19, the Pirates’ attendance fell below the attendance figures from the years of 1973-1978. Could it have been, “the Ides of Blackness?” Maybe or maybe not, because instead of playing in the middle of October chasing a championship, the Buccos have often found the team smack dab in the middle of a full-blown non-competitive and losing crisis.
Up to this point, I have been a nemesis and constant critic of the fiscal policies of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the disastrous results of those ill-fated policies. However, Mr. Bob Nutting is a successful businessman, and he certainly knows when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.
Why would Bob Nutting set up a restaurant selling filet mignon, twice-baked potatoes, and baby asparagus in a neighborhood that could only afford potted meat and crackers? The Pirates’ Western Pennsylvania fan base was and remains mired in the quicksand-based imaginary generational imagery based on what a traditional ballclub is expected to look like, smell like, act like, and be like even in the 21st century. A brown bomber from Brooklyn or Miami with gold teeth and swingin’ dreadlocks may not quite cut the mustard. At this point in the new millennium, Bob Nutting can only react on whether to buy or sell per the FMR (fair market value) based on the demographic. Let me explain why.
On September 1, 1971, the Pirates proudly became the first MLB franchise to field a starting lineup that consisted of all Black and Latino players. The nine players in the lineup were: Rennie Stennett (2B), Gene Clines (CF), Roberto Clemente (RF), Willie Stargell (LF), Manny Sanguillen (C), Dave Cash (3B), Al Oliver (1B), Jackie Hernandez (SS), and Dock Ellis (RHP). Oh by the way, the Pirates went on to win the 1971 World Series defeating the American League champions, the Baltimore Orioles.
In today’s social and political climate, if the Pirates fielded an all-Black and Latino lineup, there is a distinct possibility that the few fans taking in a game at PNC Park would be eating popcorn, peanuts, and cotton candy with obese and opportunistic pigeons, hanging out somewhere above in the rafters.
It is clearly understood that some folks would rather lose rooting for an athlete that they can relate to than win with a player that they would not, even in the best of circumstances, invite over to share a few brewskis and cheeseburgers. Over the years, people have fretted and whined about the Pirates selling and trading away players with ultrabright futures, just to fatten up an already obese bottom line. However, I recently experienced an epiphany that has clarified a few of these issues for me. The Pirates have been and remain backed into a corner. They are tasked with competing or selling tickets; there is no gray area. In 2024, the Bucs seem to be attempting to lay a great foundation on which to build a future for Major League Baseball in Pittsburgh. Our region had better chase and jump on the bandwagon. If not, oh well. The New Orleans, or Charlotte Pirates has a sort of futuristic ring to it. I’m sure a few of you may agree.
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