On the night of Oct. 14, 1992, the man who turned the National League championship series Pittsburgh’s way was so nervous that, come the ninth inning of Game 7, he retreated under the stands at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. There Bob Walk, a former Atlanta Brave, heard so much sustained screaming that he ducked back into the dugout. “By then,” Walk said Monday, “we were in a world of hurt.”
An NLCS the Braves had all but blown — Walk’s Game 5 victory over Steve Avery gave the Pirates unexpected life; they routed the Braves in Game 6 and led 2-0 after 8 1/2 innings of Game 7 — would produce the greatest moment in this city’s sports history. Francisco Cabrera swung. Sid Bream chugged. “Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!”
For the gallant losing club, it would become — and remain to this day — a line of demarcation. “It’s definitely a marker,” said Walk, the Pirates’ radio analyst these past 20 years. “From the moment (plate umpire) Randy Marsh gave the safe sign at home plate, we’ve struggled to win ballgames.”
Not since 1992 have the Pirates managed a winning season. That’s an indignity unmatched by any franchise — not the Cubs, not the Clippers, not the Saints-as-Aints — in the annals of North American sports. A child born in the Steel City on Oct. 15, 1992, would have grown into a college senior without having seen the Bucs finish even 82-80.
The 2013 Pirates could and should be the team that breaks a drought that has lasted a generation. They arrived at Turner Field on Monday at 35-22, a half-game better than the first-place Braves, tied for second with Cincinnati in the National League Central.
“We go about our business like we’re a winning team,” first baseman/right fielder Garrett Jones said. “We’ve heard about the past, but we’re focused on the present.”
Said manager Clint Hurdle: “I honor the angst in the city, but I can’t feel what they feel. I’ve only been here three years.”
Said Walk, who has lived in Pittsburgh since 1984: “It was tough in the clubhouse (after Game 7 in 1992), seeing the plastic (for what figured to be a champagne celebration) still up. We knew (Barry) Bonds and (Doug) Drabek were gone; we’d lost (Bobby) Bonilla and (John) Smiley the year before. We knew that was our last shot. We didn’t know it would last 20 years.”
At first, the Pirates became a case study of what happens when a small-market team loses its homegrown big names. Over two decades, they became something worse — a mismanaged franchise that ran through owners and execs and players without ever appearing to have a plan.
Only twice over the first 18 losing seasons did the Pirates win more than 75 games. In 2011, Hurdle’s first year on the job, they were 53-47 after 100 games, tied for the lead in the National League Central. They lost 43 of their final 62 games. Last season they were 63-47 on Aug. 8. They lost 35 of their final 51 games to finish 79-83.
“We had a lot of young players the last two years,” Jones said. “Both times we lost the second half. We definitely have the pitching, and our offense has improved. We have the talent to go all the way.”
Jones didn’t mean just to 82-80. He meant into October. “The last couple of seasons have changed the outlook,” Walk said. “It’s no longer acceptable just to think about a winning record. Now it’s all about the postseason.”
Hurdle brought Mike LaValliere, whose tag came half a second late on Oct. 14, 1992, to camp this spring to tutor Pirates catchers. Bream, who still lives in the Pittsburgh area, was there, too. “We had quite the give and take,” Hurdle said. “We had a ceremony with the bobblehead.”
He referred to the statue the Braves produced last season to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the moment. LaValliere is featured. (So is umpire Marsh.) It’s a scene the Pirates have spent two decades trying to forget.
“It’s time,” Hurdle said. “The biggest weakness of people isn’t that we set goals too high — it’s that we set them low enough so we can get them. We want (a winning season) to be a mile marker along the way. We want to make a lot of people happy along the journey.”
For 20 years, a franchise has lingered in a world of hurt. It would be nice if this becomes the year the pain goes away. We Atlantans owe the Pirates at least that much. If not for them, we’d never have cause to recall exactly where we were when Sid slid. (Me, I was in the auxiliary press box above right field …)
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