82! FANS REJOICE AS BUCS END DROUGHT
Oct. 11, 1992.
Dan Hart remembers it like yesterday.
The Pirates defeated the Atlanta Braves, 7-1, in Game 5 of the 1992 National League Championship Series to keep their season alive.
“I was a senior at Seneca Valley and had grown up a Pirate fan,” said Hart, a longtime assistant media relations director for the ballclub. “Bob Walk almost shut them out that day.
“I felt so sure we were gonna come back and win that series.”
Almost.
Barry Bonds, Jay Bell and Lloyd McClendon homered as the Bucs won Game 6 going away, 13-1. Doug Drabek took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7.
Enter Jose Lind's error at second base.
Enter Stan Belinda on the mound.
Enter Francisco Cabrera's single to left, Sid Bream chugging around third, Barry Bonds' throw being on the first base side of the plate, Mike LaValliere's unsuccessful lunging tag at Bream.
Enter 20 years of losing, a North American professional sports record.
“Those images of dejection on TV ... Stan Belinda, Jim Leyland, etcetera ... are something I'll never forget,” longtime Saxonburg (Eagle County) baseball manager Dan Cunningham said. “The World Series was ours.
“Just like that, it was gone.”And such hope had stayed gone until now. The Pirates have finally clinched their first winning season since 1992 and are setting themselves up for postseason play.They won 1-0 Monday night over the Texas Rangers. They are one game behind the division leading St. Louis Cardinals.“Baseball is a game of anticipation,” said Tom Menchyk, a Butler resident and longtime Pirate fan. “You anticipate spring training during the winter. You anticipate the season during spring training.“Now we're anticipating what September might bring. It's nice. It's wonderful. But I'm not breaking out the champagne yet. I will break it out if we get to the playoffs.”Grove City resident Joe Klimchak has worked for the Pirates since 1994. He does between-inning contests with fans that appear on the scoreboard, and he is the club's back up public address announcer.“I'm a fan with a microphone,” Klimchak said. “This year has been a blast. I've always loved my job, but the large size of the crowds and the amped up enthusiasm has made this place electric.“The intensity in the stands just builds with each game.”The Pirates officially ended their 20-year losing streak by posting their 81st win of 2013 Tuesday night in Milwaukee.“That was symbolic, getting the 81st win at Miller Park,” Cunningham said. “That place has been a death knell for us.”But Monday's win gave them a winning season.For years John Pithers of Butler had gone to the Pirates' opening day game annually with his father, Frank, until his father's death this past offseason. Pithers hasn't been to a game since opening day of this year.
But he's been following the Bucs closely.“I wish my father was here to see this,” he said.Pithers and his wife are food vendors and run a concession stand at fairs and festivals in the region.“I've seen more people dressed in Pirate gear this year than in years before combined,” he said. “It's fantastic.“The past 20 years has been a lot of disgust. It was tough hearing that the Pirates were the third-most profitable team in baseball for the longest time and weren't getting any better. But the plan in place this time definitely worked.”Slippery Rock University baseball coach Jeff Messer, a good friend of Pirate coach Dave Jauss, said critics of Pirates owner Bob Nutting and General Manager Neal Huntington “have to eat crow now.”“Nutting always said he'd spend the money if the team was in position to win, and he's done that,” Messer said. “It's not easy for a small market team. It takes time. They built it up the right way.“I remember all of the people who were anti-new stadium when they built PNC Park. Now there's 38,000 people down there a night and the atmosphere is incredible. The Pirates have become the talk of baseball and it's a great story.”Butler resident Mike Seybert has been taking his children to seven to nine Pirate games a season for a number of years, regardless of their record.“My favorite players through those bad years were Jack Wilson and Jason Kendall because they went all out, all the time,” Seybert said. “My wife used to say, 'Are you watching them again? They stink.“I didn't care. I'm a fan and I love those guys.”Rich Hemphill Jr. of Chicora said he stuck by the Pirates through all of the losing seasons.“They always picked up players who were over the hill and the team never got anywhere,” Hemphill said. “I never saw the effort on the part of management to turn the corner.“Now the Pirates have gone from the worst sports story to the best sports story in one year. It's exciting.“We always went down to PNC Park and bought good seats the day of the game. My brother Denny always said the time would come when we couldn't do that anymore. That time is now,” Hemphill said.Walter Fitzpatrick, a longtime Pirate fan and a Butler County Community College professor, grew tired of the negativity surrounding the team.“There were a lot of blowout losses and it got kind of boring over the years,” he said. “Now we're not giving away players anymore ... We've gotten guys like Marlon Byrd and Justin Morneau and we've finally got a winning season.“Anything else is icing on the cake. It's fun being a Pirate fan again.”Gimmicks are no longer needed to attract fans to PNC Park, Fitzpatrick said.“People used to only go for the fireworks or postgame concerts. Now they're going to watch baseball and be part of a pennant race,” he said. “Finally, it's all about the Pirates.”
'Are you watching them again? They stink.“I didn't care. I'm a fan and I love those guys.”Rich Hemphill Jr. of Chicora said he stuck by the Pirates through all of the losing seasons.“They always picked up players who were over the hill and the team never got anywhere,” Hemphill said. “I never saw the effort on the part of management to turn the corner.“Now the Pirates have gone from the worst sports story to the best sports story in one year. It's exciting.“We always went down to PNC Park and bought good seats the day of the game. My brother Denny always said the time would come when we couldn't do that anymore. That time is now,” Hemphill said.Walter Fitzpatrick, a longtime Pirate fan and a Butler County Community College professor, grew tired of the negativity surrounding the team.“There were a lot of blowout losses and it got kind of boring over the years,” he said. “Now we're not giving away players anymore ... We've gotten guys like Marlon Byrd and Justin Morneau and we've finally got a winning season.“Anything else is icing on the cake. It's fun being a Pirate fan again.”Gimmicks are no longer needed to attract fans to PNC Park, Fitzpatrick said.“People used to only go for the fireworks or postgame concerts. Now they're going to watch baseball and be part of a pennant race,” he said. “Finally, it's all about the Pirates.”
Here are other events that occurred in September 1992, the last time the Pirates had a winning season.The Steelers celebrated their 60th anniversary as Bill Cowher took the field as head coach following Chuck Noll's retirement. Cowher named Neil O'Donnell quarterback with Bubby Brister stepping in when O'Donnell was injured.Movies that hit the big screen included; “Live Wire” starring Pierce Brosnan and Ron Silver, “Sneakers” starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix and Ben Kingsley and “The Last of the Mohicans” starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe.As the presidential election loomed in November, President George H.W. Bush was running against presidential hopefuls Democrat Bill Clinton and Independent Ross Perot.A delivery scene from the made-for-television movie, “Blind Spot,” was shot in the St. Francis Surgical Center North in Cranberry.In economics, the average cost of a new home was just more than $120,000; the average income was $30,000; rent was about $519 a month; and a gallon of gas was about $1.13.
