Well, we can’t wait to get our Pittsburgh Pirates postseason ticket INFORMATION.  How big was that win yesterday for the Pirates?  Thank God for Garrett Jones, A.J. Burnett, Pedro Alvarez, and the Bucs for easing the sting that could have been associated with the words playoff tickets after such a miserable homestand.

James McDonald will give us more reason to believe we can start pulling off the Benjamins for the tickets with a good start in St. Louis oday.  The series against the Cardinals is going to be an important test for the Pirates.  A couple of wins, a few more Pedro Bombs, and playoff revenue starts flowing into Nuttings account next week.

If the Bucs drop a few, we really think fans are going to wait before they pull the trigger.

We think it makes sense to pull the trigger.  The secondary market alone is massive these days–you know that.  So want to know how pissed I am?  We saw a block of four tickets being available in a serious primetime location before the season started.  We passed on them.  So stupid.  It won’t happen again.

Anyway, we can’t recall why, but when we heard the other day that playoff ticket information would drop on Monday–Coonelly said it will land tomorrow–either way, the timing worked out for the Bucs.

We thought about the playoff ticket announcement most of the week.  It made our skin crawl thinking about when the Bucs were going to announce the news.  It’s not like it could have been avoided, right?

So while we were thinking our thoughts drifted to 1992.

Instead of having fans buy the entire series, the Pirates sold individual tickets for the playoffs.  Three Rivers was a bit too large, or so they say—what a joke.  Pittsburgh is a baseball town my ass.  Pittsburgh had 13,000 in attendance for Roberto’s 3,000th hit.

Maybe that can change.

PNC Park is going to be too small, and tickets are going to be hot—should the Bucs get to the promised land, but anyway, check out this AP article from October 10, 1992 that details the attendance

The Pittsburgh Pirates have appeared in a league-record nine National League Championship Series and been host to 17 playoff games before last night’s Game 3 of the NLCS with the Atlanta Braves.

But the Pirates had been unable to sell out Three Rivers Stadium for any NLCS game until last night, when 56,610 watched, the third-largest crowd in team history.

Rick Cerrone, the Pirates’ vice president for public relations, said tonight’s Game 4 is also sold out, and only 2,000 general admission seats are left for Game 5. Cerrone said that game would have been an advance sellout if the original starting time of 4 p.m. had been kept.

CBS requested last week that Major League Baseball flip the start times of the American and National League games on Sunday, when the Braves, who televise most of their games on a cable superstation that reaches most of the country, would be involved and attract a larger audience in prime time.

Cerrone said he believes the weekend sellouts will vindicate the Pirates’ fans, who took a national beating last year, when the seventh game of the NLCS was not sold out, and more than 10,000 of Three Rivers’ more than 56,000 seats were vacant.

“We could probably have sold another 25,000 tickets for [tonight's] game, even with Pitt and Notre Dame playing across town,” Cerrone said.

Cerrone said the blame for the failure to sell out Game 7 last year lies not with Pittsburgh fans, but with the Pirates themselves, who, unlike many clubs, including the Orioles, do not require fans to buy strips of playoff tickets, but sell them on an individual game basis.

“We’re not going to say to the guy who comes to 10 games a year and pays $5 a game, ‘You have to pay $25 a game and buy seven of them [covering the NLCS and the World Series],’ ” Cerrone said.

Cerrone said the Pirates’ attendance this season has been hurt by the five-month absence of the city’s daily newspapers, because of a strike by the Teamsters union.

He said the club was on pace to break last year’s record season attendance of 2.065 million, before the strike, but finished at 1.8 million.

 

Three Rivers Stadium hosted the 1994 MLB All Star Game; courtesy of pghbridges.com

As a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, I had the privilege of watching some fun Pirates teams during my formative years.  It was after the Pirates had already started their long winding road towards historic failure that I experienced my favorite Pittsburgh baseball moment – the 1994 Major League Baseball All Star Game at Three Rivers Stadium.

The 1994 season was a dark one for baseball, with the players strike looming and the season in jeopardy.  Even with that dark cloud hanging over the season, amazing things were occurring all over the major league world.  On July 12, the baseball world turned it’s attention to the Steel City and Three Rivers Stadium for the 65th playing of the Midsummer Classic, a culmination of a historic first-half of the season.  The old cookie-cutter stadium on the North Side of Pittsburgh would play host to a virtual who’s-who of stars from a generation that gave fans some of the greatest players in the history of the game.  The stars that defined the 1980′s were still hanging around, crafting the final act of their magical careers.  The mega-stars of the 1990′s were in the prime of their careers, and a few young stars were just getting started on the road to potential Hall of Fame careers.

Three Rivers Stadium was a dump by 1994.  The place was falling apart, and several straight brutal Pittsburgh winters had taken its toll even further on the concrete monster.  Even though we all knew Three Rivers would have to be replaced for baseball to remain in Pittsburgh, there was something about the place that was special.  I had spent my childhood running through the undersized corridors, eating the runny nachos, and carving every final score into the plastic seat back in front of me.  Three Rivers Stadium was my Disneyland, and in the summer there was no place I wanted to be more.  I had been to many Pirates games that drew less than 3,000 fans to Three Rivers, and other than for playoff games in the early 90′s I had very little experience with a full stadium for baseball.  For the All Star Game, Major League Baseball did their best to turn the stadium into a little slice of baseball heaven.  Seeing 60,000 fans packed into their seats was a sight to behold, and that was before the players began to filter out to the field for introductions.  Once we settled into our seats in left field, the festivities began.  American League Player introductions started, and I was in awe.

Ivan Rodriguez.

Frank Thomas.

Roberto Alomar.

Wade Boggs.

Cal Ripken Jr.

Kirby Puckett.

Ken Griffey Jr.

Will Clark.

Albert Belle.

Kenny Lofton.

Paul Molitor.

By the time the AL introductions were over, I had goosebumps at being in the same stadium as so many of these stars that I had never been able to see live in the era before Interleague play ruined the significance of separate leagues.

The National League All Stars began to hit the field, now these were players I was familiar with!  To see them all together was a sight to behold.  Mike Piazza – the young stud catcher of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Matt Williams – the man chasing down Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1994, Ozzie Smith – the Wizard, Barry Bonds, David Justice, Greg Maddux – just before he became the best pitcher EVER, Bret Saberhagen – who could forget his gutty performances in the AL postseason in the 80′s, Jeff Bagwell- the young muscle-bound slugger, Fred McGriff – the Crime Dog, Craig Biggio, Barry Larkin, Moises Alou, Tony Gwynn……..an endless array of baseball’s heroes were standing on the most beautiful stretch of bright green astroturf in the world.

The day before, I had attended the Home Run Derby – another of my favorite baseball memories.  The sight of a young Ken Griffey Jr. hitting balls into the high upper deck in right field was a sight to behold.  Most of the balls he hit didn’t “land”, they just simply hit something and stopped.  Hat backwards, grinning from ear to ear – it was “The Kid” at the best he ever was.  Frank Thomas – “The Big Hurt” – was just as amazing, hitting a few balls that were estimated to have traveled over 500 feet.  Seeing these guys hitting homeruns in a batting practice scenario was one thing, but watching Ken Griffey Jr. jog out to his spot in center field and smile at the young fans clamoring for his attention was even more special.  No player ever gave off the aura of being “untouchable” the way Junior did.  Seeing Tony Gwynn march out to the same spot was a sight to behold as well, a pudgy man who looked like he could have as easily been pumping your gas as chasing down .400.  What I remember most about the game was the manner in which Gwynn played, so smooth and effortless and always with a big smile.  In his prime and playing his heart out, Tony Gwynn was a sight to behold.

The game was one of the classic All Star Games in baseball history.  The American League got off to a quick start with Wade Boggs scoring on a line-drive single by Frank Thomas that barely escaped the glove of Gwynn in center field.  In the bottom of the first, Barry Bonds got his “Welcome Back” moment from the Pittsburgh fans – getting booed off the field after his sacrifice fly scored the Cardinals Gregg Jefferies to tie the game.  The game slowed a bit in the second inning, with both starters registering scoreless innings.  It would be the National League who broke the game open first, scoring three runs off of David Cone – who was in the midst of his Cy Young season with the Kansas City Royals – highlighted by a Tony Gwynn double that scored Jeff Bagwell and Jefferies, followed by a two-out single by young slugger Mike Piazza that scored Gwynn.

The Montreal Expos – who were on their way to the best season in club history – began to make their presence felt in the middle innings as Ken Hill pitched two scoreless frames before being replaced by former Pirates hurler Doug Drabek in the sixth.  Drabek got shelled by the powerful AL lineup, all started by a single and stolen base by Blue Jays second baseman Roberto Alomar.  Griffey Jr. drove him in with his second hit of the game, followed by a two-out rally that included a Frank Thomas single, a Matt Williams throwing error on a ground ball by Joe Carter, and an RBI single by future Hall of Fame outfielder Kirby Puckett.  With the scored tied 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning, those pesky Expos struck again.  This time it was OF Marquis Grissom hitting a home run off of the Mariners Randy Johnson – a former Expo.  Montreal players would spend the night showing the baseball world just why they were the best team in the league, and there was plenty more to come.

The seventh inning would seem to be the undoing for the National League.  Despite a fantastic diving play by SS Ozzie Smith to steal a sure RBI single from the Minnesota Twins Chuck Knoblauch, the Phillies Danny Jackson could not get through the inning.  Jackson – another former Pittsburgh Pirate – gave up an RBI double to Red Sox third baseman Scott Cooper – the lone BoSox player in the game.  That was followed by a 2-run single by Indians OF Kenny Lofton.  The American league then got back-to-back scoreless frames by Pat Hentgen (Blue Jays) and Wilson Alvarez (White Sox) to take a 7-5 lead into the ninth.  The end seemed to be near for the Senior circuit when AL Manager Cito Gaston turned to his bullpen once more and brought veteran closer Lee Smith in to bury any NL hopes of a comeback.

Smith – the once dominant closer who had rejected retirement to forge a remarkable comeback season with the Baltimore Orioles – promptly walked Marquis Grissom to start the inning.  A sure double play ball hit by Craig Biggio to third baseman Cooper was bobbled slightly, allowing Biggio to reach base.  That set the stage for pinch-hitter Fred McGriff, who NL manager Jim Fregosi had saved for just such an occasion, to come up with the game on the line.  The “Crime Dog” smashed a dramatic 2-run homer into the center field seats to tie the game.  Three Rivers Stadium exploded with cheers, and the National League had new life.

As the game headed to extra frames, the crowd was in a frenzy.  They had witnessed perhaps the best All Star Game of all time, and it wasn’t over yet.  Once again, it would be the Montreal Expos – and a former Pittsburgh Pirate – who would put the final touches on the 1994 All Star Game.  After Phillies closer Doug Jones managed to get through the top of the 10th despite giving up singles to the A’s Ruben Sierra and the Rangers Ivan Rodriguez, the National League had a chance to end the affair in the bottom of the inning.

Tony Gwynn – who had played the entire game and recorded five plate appearances – led off with a typical chopper up the middle for a single.  That brought up OF Moises Alou, the final batter of the evening.  Alou had come up through the Pirates system in the late 1980′s and was thought to be a future star for the Bucs.  When the Pirates found themselves in a bitter division race with the New York Mets in 1990, they made a trade for veteran starter Zane Smith – sending Alou in a package to the Expos.  In the following years, Alou would become a key player in Montreal, culminating with his first All Star game appearance in the home stadium of his former employer.

White Sox pitcher Jason Bere went 1-0 on Alou before trying to sneak a fastball past the Expos slugger.  Alou promptly blasted the pitch into the left centerfield gap.  Gwynn hustled around the bases and headed for home.  The relay throw by Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. was perfect, but Gwynn manage to slide in under the tag of Ivan Rodriguez to score the winning run.

While there have been many All Star Games that were filled with drama, none compare to the 1994 game.  Unfortunately for baseball, the looming strike would steal the thunder from the game and steal a historic season from fans everywhere.  The 1994 season will always be remembered for what didn’t happen – the World Series, for instance – but for one night, all was right with the game.

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You can follow Jeff Snedden on Twitter @jeffsnedden

You can follow RumBunter on Twitter @rumbunter

And of course, you can get your Pirates fix all year round right here at www.rumbunter.com.

I grew up in a small town in southwestern Pennsylvania, roughly 30 minutes from the great city of Pittsburgh.  It was an area that lived and breathed on two things:  steel and sports.  Some of the earliest memories of my childhood revolve around sitting on the porch with my grandfather listening to afternoon Pirates games on his small box radio, while he told stories of his favorite all-time ballplayer, Joe Dimaggio.  His love affair with the “Yankee Clipper” was based on one simple criteria – he was the best, and he was Italian.  Between my grandfather and my father, who was a certified card-carrying Pirates fanatic, I came to appreciate the game of baseball at a very early age.  I vaguely recall the first live game that my dad took me to at Three Rivers Stadium, I was still too young to appreciate the game but I loved being there.  Of course, 30 years later I also understand the significance of what it meant to him.

By the time I was in elementary school, baseball had replaced Star Wars and Transformers as the number one priority in my life.  Like most kids who grew up in the 1980′s, I collected baseball cards.  In the era before cable television and the internet gave the entire country access to every team at a moments notice, those cards were the conductor that connected me to the game that I loved.  Every new pack offered a chance to meet some new heroes – not to mention chew another stick of that awesome Topps bubblegum.  Through the camera lens of the photographers that created the images on those cards, I was able to visualize such far-away places as Oakland, Milwaukee, and Yankee Stadium.  The backyard of our modest house on Buchanan Avenue became Three Rivers Stadium every summer night, as I recreated the photos on those cards and became Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs, Kirk Gibson, or my all time favorite “non Pirate” Kirby Puckett.  Baseball was my outlet, a place of solace for a kid who was as awkward as the day was long.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were my team, and unfortunately for me and the other young “yinzers” who were just beginning our lives as Pittsburgh sports fans, they were horrible.  Those teams of the mid 1980′s weren’t “lovable losers” like the other perennial National League doormats over in the Windy City, the Pirates were simply losers.  I can remember many times sitting in Three Rivers Stadium in those early years and being able to actually count the fans in each section.  A franchise that had as recently as 1979 owned the baseball world had been decimated by bad management and a series of drug scandals, issues that I didn’t fully understand or care about.  Regardless of the losses that piled up each summer, or the steady roster turnover of mediocre journeymen players who slid through Pittsburgh as quickly as possible on their way to either retirement or another team, the Pirates were MY team.  When the game would come on the radio – or TV, a real treat – I would hunker down and watch those Buccos battle their National League foes.  Especially disliked by this young fan were the New York Mets, a collection of players who seemed to be superhuman.  They had superstars all over the field, and a pitching staff that simply owned the Pirates for what seemed like a solid decade.  The Pirates would play hard against the Mets every game, only to lose in the end each time.  It was a rivalry that hadn’t yet reached its nexus, but would eventually help mold the Pirates back into a formidable bunch a few years later.

The Pirates sported a roster that combined veteran players – a term that I use to be nice – with young, unproven rookies and bottom of the barrel types such as Benny Distefano and “Rambo” Mike Diaz.  While the Pirates did have a few decent players mixed in, such as Second Baseman Johnny Ray – a guy who could have started for just about any team in his prime – the talented were few and far between.  Some young players seemed to have promise too, such as First Baseman Sid Bream and Pitcher John Smiley.  Pirates fans had only just recently heard of Barry Bonds, a skinny rookie who had been tearing it up in Triple A before getting the call to Pittsburgh.  The one shining star on those Pirates teams was my favorite player – a fine example of hard work, fortitude, and doing it all with a smile on his face – Catcher Tony Pena.  Pena wasn’t a true superstar in the mold of a Mattingly or Puckett, but to Pirates fans he was OUR superstar.  He was the most requested Pirates player for all charity events, autograph signings, and by far the player who got the best ovation when he strolled across the hard Three Rivers Stadium carpet to the plate for his at-bats.  To a young baseball fan looking for a hero in the Steel City, Tony Pena was everything.

Tony Pena, Pirates Catcher 1986

Spending time watching or listening to baseball usually meant doing it with my dad.  My father worked very long days in the city, a career that came with a brutal commute as a sentence.  Despite all of that, he always made time to watch games with me, practice throwing the ball around, or take me to the game when finances would dictate.  This is probably a story that most fans can relate to, since a love of baseball is usually something as genetic as red hair or freckles.  Dads have been teaching appreciation of the game to their sons and daughters since Babe Ruth was turning baseball into “Americas Pastime”.  It is a pure sport that requires the players to have more than just athletic ability.  Integrity, teamwork, and a strong mental understanding of the nuances of the game are essential parts of any baseball experience.  With all of those traits firmly implanted in me by my father at an early age, I set off to conquer the local baseball scene as a player.  In my backyard, I was Tony Pena….or Rickey Henderson…..or Roger Clemens.  I was unstoppable against the neighborhood kids, my little sister, and anyone else who dared step into “Snedden Stadium” to challenge me to a game of whiffle ball.  I figured that I would have no problem translating my love and passion for the game into a starring role on the field.  Little did I know that fielding a batted ball is HARD, and hitting is damn near impossible.  I would continue to play baseball my entire life, but my dreams of someday becoming the starting centerfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates died that summer in the overgrown little league fields of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.  It gave me a much deeper appreciation for the game, and for my favorite player.  Tony Pena made caching and throwing out runners seem almost……easy.  He made the All Star team in 1986, joining all of the other stars who made up by baseball card collection on the field.  Little did I know that I would soon be searching for a new hero, as the business end of baseball was about to rob me of a piece of my childhood…….

NEXT TIME ON “Growing Up Buccos” – Tony Pena is traded.  The new era of Buccos baseball begins.