Perrotto: Pirates Turn Baseball Heaven Into Baseball Hell

PITTSBURGH – I spotted a fan outside PNC Park wearing a Cleveland Indians/Enrique Wilson jersey on Saturday afternoon.

My first thought was, why would someone wear an Enrique Wilson jersey? Wilson did little to distinguish himself during his nine-year career as an infielder in the major leagues from 1997-2005.

My second thought took me back to 2000 and one of the funniest interactions I’ve seen in 38 years of covering baseball. I will not name the Pittsburgh Pirates’ player because it was a private conversation, but it was not Jason Kendall, as previously and erroneously reported.

The Pirates acquired Wilson from the Indians in a trade that summer. On his first day with his new team, Wilson was approached by one of the Pirates’ veterans in the clubhouse at Three Rivers Stadium.

“Hi Enrique, I’m (redacted name),” the player said, extending his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Welcome to Hell.”

It wasn’t the best time to play for the Pirates. They were on their way to an eighth straight losing season during a streak that reached 20, the record for major North American professional team sports.

So, that brings me to Saturday’s game at PNC Park. The Pirates, who haven’t had a winning season since 2017, lost to the now-Cleveland Guardians 3-0 on what should have been a glorious day at the ballpark.

Fans were lined up outside the ballpark at 10 a.m. for a game scheduled for 4:05 p.m. They hoped to be among the first 20,000 fans through the gates to receive a Paul Skenes bobblehead doll.

Owner Bob Nutting was so impressed by the fans’ dedication that he had the Pirates announce that fans who did not receive a bobblehead on Saturday would receive an electronic voucher to claim one later.

So, the move was festive on an unseasonably warm spring afternoon with Skenes on the mound for the Pirates. The reigning National League Rookie of the Year did his part, limiting the Guardians to two runs over seven innings.

Yet Skenes took the loss as the Pirates failed to score against Ben Lively and four relievers. The Pirates went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, each wasted opportunity drawing louder boos from the sellout crowd.

By the late innings, the fans had seen enough and began chanting “Sell the Team.” Any goodwill Nutting had gained a few hours earlier was gone.

The Pirates are 8-14 and have played an awful brand of baseball. They have made enough mental and physical errors to last a season. To me, it appears that some players have mentally checked out on a season that still has 140 games left.

The fans have had their fill.

They want Nutting to sell the team. They want club president Travis Williams fired. They want general manager Ben Cherington fired. They want manager Derek Shelton fired. They want everybody but Skenes and Andrew McCutchen to be traded or released.

All seem like reasonable ideas with the way this season is headed.

The sad part is that Saturday could have been a slice of baseball heaven on the North Shore. Instead, it turned into another day of baseball hell.

The guy with the Enrique Wilson jersey must have had a premonition.