Pirates/MLB category, Page 229
What will Pirates All-Star first baseman Josh Bell do for an encore to his dream season?
An excited Rick Eckstein pulled Josh Bell into the batting cages at Pirate City early in 2019 spring training, sharing a vision he had for the Pirates slugger: Thirty home runs and 100 RBIs. Eckstein, in his first season as Pirates hitting coach, believed Bell was on the verge of...
Pirates bench coach Don Kelly preps for unknowns of spring training, MLB season
When Derek Shelton joked he talks with Don Kelly “about 80 times a day,” the Pittsburgh Pirates manager added it was “kind of half jokingly.” As the Pirates bench coach, Kelly is not only Shelton’s right-hand man and a trusted confidant but in charge of running a second spring training...
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: Having no season would be ‘devastating’ for baseball
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in an appearance on CNN on Thursday night that not playing a baseball season would be “devastating” for teams, and that losses could approach $4 billion. Manfred made the comments during an interview on CNN Global Town Hall with Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta,...
Ken Macha on Pitt Hall of Fame, almost managing Pirates, Dave Parker legends
For nearly 70 years, baseball has been tied to Ken Macha. At age 69, the former Major Leaguer is still coaching with Westmoreland County Community College. His path on the diamond saw him roam as far as Venezuela, Montreal and Japan. But it so often threaded its way back through...
Mark Madden: Sympathetic figures lacking on both sides of MLB labor dispute
The MLB labor dispute that erupted from a health crisis is reminiscent of “Breaking Bad”: No sympathetic figures are to be found anywhere. The owners are employing distasteful opportunism by trying to shame the players into revenue-sharing, however temporary. That is a de facto salary cap, and the players would...
Pirates team up with Dunkin’ Donuts to donate breakfast to AHN health care workers
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Dunkin’ Donuts are celebrating National Hospital Week by providing breakfast to seven Allegheny Health Network hospitals this week. Together, they are donating 25 dozen donuts to hospital workers to support front-line workers amid the covid-19 crisis, starting Tuesday at Allegheny General and West Penn hospitals, Wednesday...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Money aside, MLB proposal could be favorable for Pirates
Now that the MLB proposal to play this summer has been presented to the MLB Players Association, it’s worth taking a look at how it affects the Pittsburgh Pirates. Granted, it’s far from a done deal. Where there will be a fight over financials and health protocols, many of the...
Tim Benz: MLB owners are sneaky, but anti-cap paranoia makes players look worse
I’m not one who likes to compare big-time sports to everyday life. Matters of salaries and collective bargaining agreements and billions of dollars of revenue crop up quite a bit in professional athletics. When that happens, tune in to a sports talk radio show and invariably “Joe Working Class Hero”...
For John Wehner, final game for Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium was ‘most amazing thing’
From the first time he set foot inside Three Rivers Stadium to the last, the memories are as clear for John Wehner of taking the 51C bus from Carrick to baseball games as a young fan as they were of playing third base for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The final game...
Tim Benz: Trying to answer ESPN’s impossible question about Barry Bonds and Pirates
Recently, ESPN.com put forth one overarching debate for every franchise in Major League Baseball. Not one they are currently facing. Rather on an “all-time” question for each club. Items such as: • Which member of the Red Sox belongs on the Boston sports Mount Rushmore: Ted Williams or David Ortiz?...
Before Jay Buhner became a ‘Seinfeld’ storyline, the Pirates traded him to the Yankees
If you think Frank Costanza was livid with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for trading Jay Buhner, he would have had a lot of problems with the Pittsburgh Pirates, too. Not to, you know, air any grievances. The death of actor Jerry Stiller on Monday brought back memories of...
First Call: Steelers biggest question for 2020, thankful Jagr, future of Joe Musgrove
Monday’s “First Call” looks at an odd choice for the Steelers biggest question heading into 2020. The future of Pirates starter Joe Musgrove is an interesting talking point. Jaromir Jagr gives thanks. And we tell you how one city may play host to three teams this fall. Renew JuJu? NFL.com...
Pirates farm director Larry Broadway calls 5-round MLB draft ‘a challenge’ for club
Pittsburgh Pirates senior director of minor league operations Larry Broadway called reports the 2020 MLB Draft will be reduced to five rounds “a challenge” Saturday morning in an interview on 93.7 FM. MLB and the MLB Players Association agreed in March to allow the league to reduce the draft from...
Pirates bench coach Don Kelly distributes food to Pittsburgh’s homeless at Light of Life
Pittsburgh Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and his wife Carrie volunteered with Pirates Charities and Silver Star Meats to distribute meals to the city’s homeless Friday. More than 500 boxed meals were scheduled to be distributed by the Kellys and staff members from Pirates Charities at Light of Life Rescue...
Sound of silence: Baseball thinking ahead to silent stadiums
Tom Murphy has become somewhat of an online sensation during baseball’s shutdown for the array of workouts the Seattle Mariners’ catcher posts on Instagram from his home in upstate New York. While staying in shape is a priority, Murphy also is thinking ahead. As in, how the game’s strategy might...
For Pirates, no minor league season could become major problem for top prospects
There are so many unknowns surrounding major issues in baseball — from setting a spring training start date to what an adjusted season would look like — that the Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t had many conversations about the minor ones. When it comes to the minor leagues, MLB teams could have...
Pirates player rep Jameson Taillon weighs in on MLB’s possible start datesVideo
Jameson Taillon was caught off guard when he learned of reports that MLB is preparing a return-to-play proposal to present to the MLB Players Association, but the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander and player representative found it refreshing to hear possible dates for the start of spring training and the season. Taillon...
VideoChart: MLB’s most career home runs since 1900Video
Our latest VideoChart shows the MLB’s top 10 career home run leaders from 1900 to 2020. Do you know which Pirates enter the ranks? Want to see more animated stats? Check out all of our VideoCharts here....
As MLB prepares return-to-play proposal with start dates, Pirates staying in ready state
As baseball prepares for the possibility of a return, with reports of target dates in early June to start spring training and early July to start playing games, the Pittsburgh Pirates are attempting to be in a sweet spot. That’s what Pirates general manager Ben Cherington called the “ready state”...
Pitt coaches donate $500,000 for covid-19 vaccine research; Pirates, Penguins, Steelers add pledge of $300,000
Three Pitt coaches, athletic director Heather Lyke and their families are leading an effort to pledge $800,000 in support of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Vaccine Research, which is attempting to create a vaccine for the virus that causes covid-19. Coaches Pat Narduzzi (football), Jeff Capel (men’s basketball) and...
If MLB uses the DH in a shortened season, these five Pirates could be candidates
The Pittsburgh Pirates don’t know if or when they will play this summer, let alone what types of rule changes baseball will implement for a season shortened by the coronavirus crisis. MLB already plans to implement two major changes: Starting and relief pitchers must face a three-batter minimum; and rosters...
AP study: Pirates’ 2020 payroll lowest in the majors
NEW YORK — A study of MLB contracts resulted in a dubious distinction for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates are last in payroll at $54 million, the lowest in the majors in six seasons, according to research done by the Associated Press. The Yankees, who topped MLB’s payroll list for...
Pirates’ Derek Shelton: Watching KBO games get ‘juices flowing’
When it comes to watching baseball, Derek Shelton doesn’t care who is playing, let alone whether the players in the game speak the same language. The Pittsburgh Pirates manager jokes he has been known to watch the Caribbean World Series on ESPN, not that he can comprehend the majority of...
Pirates manager Derek Shelton: ‘Getting back to baseball is going to help us on a larger scale’
Derek Shelton considers himself an optimist by nature, so the Pittsburgh Pirates manager is pushing a positive narrative that baseball will be back this summer. No matter what it takes. As MLB examines safe ways to play the 2020 season amid the coronavirus crisis, Shelton believes finding a way to...
John Steigerwald: Time to consider small-town venues for major league sports
Hit ’em where they ain’t. That was Wee Willie Keeler’s hitting philosophy. He played right field for the Yankees in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was one of the best hitters in baseball history and inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. Maybe Major League Baseball...
