tagged: Bob Nutting, buyout, Kevin McClatchy, Pittsburgh Pirates

McClatchy and the Pittsburgh Pirates…divorced. Finally.

Posted by Emmett Jones in Baseball

Lets just file this under “Things that took 6 years too long”.

Former Pittsburgh Pirates CEO Kevin McClatchy, who was the controlling owner of the best AAA team in Major League Baseball from 1996-2007, sold his remaining minority shares in the Pirates and gave up his position on the board of directors.  Queue the sugar coated press release, Pittsburgh Post Gazette!

“This was a personal decision that I felt was best to make at this time,” McClatchy said in a statement. ”I care deeply about this organization, the city of Pittsburgh and the people of this region. While I will no longer play a role with the club, I will always passionately support the team in any way that I can. I have a great amount of faith in Bob [Bob Nutting, the new controlling owner -- Ed.] and his new leadership team. They are committed to restoring the organization to its rightful place among the elite franchises in Major League Baseball.”

“While this move will mark the end of Kevin’s direct involvement with the Pirates after more than 13 years, he will always remain a part of the Pirates family,” Nutting said. ”He has made a lasting positive impact on the Pirates and our city.”

Okay…as someone who has had the…privilege of living in Pittsburgh for the last 23 years and being a Pirates fan by default, I have to say that McClatchy legacy began to become tarnished right around the 2001 season.  Clearly, that wasn’t the year the Pirates started to lose more games than they won, as we were well mired in that predicament by then, but the fans had a renewed hope when PNC park opened.  We were beginning to think that maybe…just maybe, the Pirates had a CEO that was going to spend some money to get us back into contention.  Of course, once McClatchy saw that the Buccos were bringing in revenue hand over fist based off of fireworks nights and the new stadium lights, getting/keeping better players went by the way side.   Some of those “classier” Pirates starting lineups included the likes of Jeff Reboulet, Jeromy Burnitz, Adrian Brown, Pat Meares, and Mike Benjamin.  But nothing…Nothing! beats the hiring of MLB Hall of Fame executive Dave Littlefield…Some highlights…

• trading of pitcher Chris Young, now a stud for the Padres organization
• trading of outfielder Rajai Davis for pitcher Matt Morris (and his $9 million contract when the Bucs were 14.5 games out of first…by the way, we inexplicably resigned him and then cut him early in the next year)
• The drafting of Bryan Bullington with the #1 pick, whom Littlefield called “A #3 MLB pitcher”.  We passed up future stars like Prince Fielder, B.J. Upton, and Cole Hamels
• The lack of diversity in the Pirates organization (Latin American or Black players) under Littlefield’s tenure

Regardless of McClatchy’s baseball savvy, or lack thereof, the catastrophe that was/is the Pirates continued on his watch.  Quite frankly, I’d argue that it times it actually got worse.  McClatchy’s answer was always the same…T-Shirt giveaways and fireworks nights to get the families in the ballpark to watch a substandard product.  How else do you explain the Pirates having the third highest operating income in the majors in 2007?  As long as the registers kept ringing, McClatchy, albeit for a couple of interviews where he was “furious” about losing, seemed to be content with a 70-92 season (and for those of you who may argue otherwise…please tell me what players we signed, or attempted to keep to right the ship?  Go ahead…I’ll wait.).

Jeff Moorad, he was not.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette:  McClatchy gives up ownership share