FanHouse Pirateprotest

Did the Pirate protest actually work? Lots of people were skeptical after the protest itself, but Pirates' CEO Kevin McClatchy announced today that he is stepping down from his office at the end of the 2007 baseball. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"A decision of this personal and professional magnitude is not the type you make overnight," McClatchy said. "It was something Bob and I had discussed even before the change of control took place in January and something I decided upon a few months ago. It was a difficult decision but, in the end, I felt the time was right to step down as the day-to-day leader, so the organization can move forward with a fresh perspective."

If you follow the Pirates closely, you already knew that McClatchy was out as official owner in the eyes of MLB over the winter in favor of Bob Nutting. The question that lots of people have been asking since then is how much control McClatchy has really had over the team in recent years. The Nutting family have been the majority owners since shortly after the turn of the century, McClatchy has mostly just been a public front for them. Will McClatchy stepping down change the way the team is run? I'd be surprised, but honestly I suppose time and whoever the replacement is will tell.

That picture is from 1997, back when McClatchy was the savior of Pirate baseball for keeping the team in Pittsburgh. My how times have changed.

For all of the press the Pittsburgh media gave the third-inning walkout at tonight's Pirate game, the actual Pirate protest itself was pretty sad. I know, I was there. Of the 22,000 in attendance at PNC tonight, maybe a few thousand actually left their seats at the end of the third inning. Of those few thousand, I was one of maybe 100 or so that didn't go back to my seat after the third inning was over. Hardly anyone left the park.

I was one of the people who was actually defending a walkout after buying tickets. After all, who should an owner listen to more than the paying customers? Despite that, I fail to see what walking out for one measly inning shows anyone. When I walked into the park tonight, there were people in green shirts (the designated color of the protesters) eating stadium bought sandwiches. It was all very lackadaisical, to say the least.

I dunno, maybe the simple fact that the walkout happened and Orestes Destrade and Buster Olney are talking about it on Baseball Tonight as I type this up makes this a success, whether 5,000 or 25,000 walked out, but I don't think so. The Pirates actually appeared to visibly increase security in the park tonight (from what I could tell at least, I go to a lot of games and there seemed to be more on-field cops and more of a presence in the stadium), but everything was pretty tame. I suppose the after-effects will determine what kind of legacy this thing has, but as a Pirate fan I'm not encouraged.

Two updates this morning on the Pittsburgh Pirate protest that's scheduled to take place tonight at PNC Park after the third inning of the Pirates/Nationals game. The first is that the Pirates have finally acknowledged something is happening. You won't find owner Bob Nutting's response anywhere on the team website, but it's in the local papers and on the local TV stations. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"I appreciate the passion of all of our fans and their frustrations with the team's performance," Nutting said in the statement. "Frankly, we all share in this frustration. Everyone throughout the organization understands the expectation and need to perform.

"I have not lost faith in the team or our core group of young players. There is still a lot of baseball to be played. Our focus as an organization remains on winning games.

"Finally, it is important to point out the immense appreciation I have for the continued loyalty and support from all of our fans."

Of course, this is they type of thing that Nutting and his predecessor, Kevin McClatchy, say all the time without ever doing anything to back it up. Meanwhile the Pittsburgh Tribune Review notes that the organizers of the protest have booked Dock Ellis to speak at the pre-game rally. That's right, Dock Ellis. The no-hitter on acid guy. And if you didn't have a reason to go before, well, now you've got a reason to go.

Previously at the Fanhouse
Pirates' Fans Are Protesting and the Pirates Are Pretending Like It's Not Happening
Pittsburgh Pirate Fans Are Protesting

I talked a bit about the protest of the Pittsburgh Pirates planned for this weekend in the past. The basic plan for the walkout remains the same, after the third inning of Saturday's Pirates/Nationals game at PNC Park, fans are being urged to walk out of their seats and leave the park. The local media has picked the protest up and run with it since then and it's getting a ton of coverage here in the 'Burgh. Since a near sell-out crowd is expected on Saturday for "Bob Walk Bobblehead Night" (that's Bob Walk in all of his mustachioed, mulleted glory on the right) it seems that this walkout might make an impression on someone. But not if the Pirates have anything to do with it. From today's Post-Gazette, Bob Smizik gives us this:

They have asked their television announcing crew not to discuss the walkout with the media. They have removed all comments about the walkout from their message board at pirates.com. They have the support of their television rights holder, FSN Pittsburgh, which does not plan to show the protest as part of its game coverage.

The Pirates are actively attempting to crush dissent. The thing is, because the walkout is scheduled to be between innings, Fox Sports Pittsburgh and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (the Nats' channel) cameras will be off, meaning that the Pirates plan might actually work. Local network KDKA does have a camera situated outside the park that can capture most of the images and pass them along to ESPN and other national outlets, but it's not particularly close to the park and won't be able to provide very high quality pictures. I suppose all Pirate fans can hope is that this plan somehow backfires on the Pirate owners and word gets out to bigger outlets that not only are fans protesting, but the Pirates are doing everything possible to make sure no one finds out about it.

Previously at the Fanhouse
Pirate Fans Are Protesting

If you're a big enough Fanhouse fan or MLB Draft junkie, you probably checked out the liveblog of the draft that PostmanR did with some help from the rest of us last week. And if you did that, you may remember my rather angry reaction to seeing the Pirates (for the blissfully unaware, I am in fact a Pirate fan) take Daniel Moskos with the #4 pick. If you thought my passive aggressive cynicism was bad, you should check out the anger that the pick, coupled with an ugly sweep at the hands of the Yankees in New York this weekend, has sparked in Pirate fans.

To preface those who don't pay attention to the draft, the Pirates had the fourth pick with potential franchise catcher and Scott Boras client Matt Wieters on the board. Instead of taking him, they selected Daniel Moskos, a left-handed relief pitcher from Clemson. Since 1999 the Pirates have taken six pitchers in the first round of the draft, seven including Moskos. Five of them have had severe arm injuries that have more or less derailed their careers, including last year's #4 pick, Brad Lincoln.

So how angry are Pirate fans? See for yourself. Every Tuesday through Friday the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Dejan Kovacevic does a Q&A in which he takes questions from fans about the Pirates. Here's the Q&A from the day after the draft, in which fans take the ownership to task for not ponying up for Wieters. On Mondays, Kovacevic does an online chat with Pirate fans. The anger continued in yesterday's edition of the chat. Bet you didn't know Pirate fans could be that passionate. People are so flat out pissed that a protest of the ownership is actually being organized and gaining a lot of steam online. Fourteen (soon to be fifteen) years of losing is one thing; being slapped in the face and called an idiot (which is essentially what team ownership did after the draft by denying that Wieter's signability was even a concern) is another. This pick seems to be a breaking point for a lot of people.