The 1997 Bucco's

It's that time of year again. Spring training is upon us and baseball fans everywhere are filled with optimism as all team begin anew with a blank slate. As a Pirates fan I find myself again saying that this will finally be our year. Oh don't let me fool you, I have no aspirations of the bucs being pennant contenders or even making the playoff. When I say this will be their year, I mean that this will be the season where they win more games than they lose. This has not happened since that fateful '92 season where Barry Bonds failed to throw out Sid Bream at Home plate and cost the buccos a chance at the world series. Those were the high times for Pittsburgh baseball. They had star power with names like Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds, and Andy Van Slyke. They also had characters like Don Slaught (The ultimate Pittsburgh name to say!) and Mike Lavalierre. But ever since that summer night back in '92, the bucs have never been the same. They lost their stars and they lost a lot of games, over a lot of years. Their roster was so bad in '94 that their all star representative was no namer Carlos Garcia. While the trend of decreasing talent continued, the Buccos magically almost put together a winning season in the summer of 1997. Because they were a mishmash of old journeymen and young prospects the team was referred to as the "freak show." What the team lacked in talent, they made up for in character. Who could forget, "sweet" Lou Collier, Kevin Polcovich, the "alligator wrestler" Bruce Aven, Kevin Young, Turner Ward,  Mark Smith, and Ricardo Rincon?

That year was the year that the bucs came closest to having a winning season. They battled but they ended the year 5 games under .500. Since '97 the Pirates have not even been close to flirting with .500. The state of Pittsburgh baseball has been so bad that the Post-Gazette did a week long tribute to the '97 Pirates, the team that 'almost' had a winning record. Sad. But, I do admit that that was a great year of baseball. Rooting for a "freak show" of a team that had no stars and a ton of character gives me so many memories and things to talk about with my fellow Pirate fans. I have come to terms with the fact that the Pirates will probably never again have the star power like they did in '92, but maybe just maybe they might get a team that has the right ingredients to make a run at....... a winning season.

Last year the Bucs gave us hope again. After beating the Red-Sox the Pirates were over .500 and PNC Park was rocking. I have never seen so much excitement over Pittsburgh Baseball, than when Michael McHenry hit a walk-off 3 run homer to put the Pirates in first place of their division. But soon the excitement faded away. I went on vacation and while I was gone they lost 10 in a row. They ended like 18 games under. But again that team, along with the '97 team, gave fans a taste of hope and the thrill of optimism that has been buried for years. This year, the Bucs have a little more talent. Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker are two All-Star caliber players (unlike Carlos Garcia) and they have a decent starting pitching staff. Hey, it's still spring and the season has not started yet so I can joyfully and confidently say that this could very well be their year. Season prediction: 82-80.