The Show Notes #7: Rambling About Andrew McCutchen's Reunion With The Pittsburgh Pirates
Andrew McCutchen personifies the legacy that began when Curt Roberts, Carlos Bernier, and Roberto Clemente made their first plate appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates during the mid-1950s.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania probably has the strongest argument to claim the title of being the epicenter of Black baseball culture in the United States, specifically from the early 1910s to the late 1970s. There are other cities with valid rights to that title during bits and pieces of those 60 years such as Cleveland, St. Louis, New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. The First African American Great Migration (1910s - 1940s) was the primary factor in setting up the necessary conditions for Black baseball culture to exist and thrive in these areas. It was the movement of millions of African Americans from the South to cities across the Northeast and Midwest to escape de jure, de facto, and economic racism that was embedded across the South as a replacement for chattel slavery.
The Pittsburgh Pirates organization has seamlessly carried the torch of Black baseball history that was once held by the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays, two of the Negro Leagues’ premier franchises located in the Pittsburgh area. While the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals organizations have gotten heaps of credit for their roles in the integration of MLB’s National League, the ball club that calls The Steel City home has been overshadowed despite its history and success being comparable to the franchises mentioned above.
The Black population of Pittsburgh is directly responsible for the integration of the Pirates organization, actively boycotting the team during the early 1950s as they grew weary of the lack of Black baseball players wearing black and gold. The Negro Leagues were slowly fading into obscurity because of MLB’s integration in 1947 and the Pirates were routinely finishing at the bottom of the National League standings largely because of a refusal to add Black talent. FanGraphs’ Jay Jaffe delved into the superiority of teams that decided to integrate before others in his piece titled: Jackie Robinson & The Integration Advantage.
Afro-Puerto Rican outfielder Carlos Bernier would make his MLB debut with the Pirates in 1953 after being drafted in 1951. A 5’8’’ shortstop who played for the Kansas City Monarchs as a teenager, Curt Roberts became the first African-American player to wear a Pirates uniform in 1954 after two years with Pittsburgh MiLB affiliates. Poached directly from the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system via The 1954 Rule 5 Draft, the outspoken Afro-Puerto Rican Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente would log his first MLB plate appearances during the 1955 season.
Black players from throughout the African diaspora and different eras of professional baseball thrived in Pittsburgh. There were the generational talents: Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Buck Leonard, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, and Barry Bonds, who all played in Pittsburgh for a substantial portion or all of their careers. Other Black players with notable careers in Pittsburgh include Russell Martin, Bill Matlock, Rennie Stennet, Al Oliver, Bobby Bonilla, Dave Cash, Dock Ellis, Matty Alou, Donn Clendenon, Starling Marte, and Manny Sanguillén.
In between the 2022 and 2023 MLB seasons outfielder Andrew McCutchen surprised the various realms of baseball by returning to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization on a one-year deal for five million dollars. He is integral to the modern lore of the Pirates organization and Pittsburgh sports. The 2012 NL MVP was selected to five straight All-Star games and finished in the top five for MVP voting four consecutive times during his first stint as a Pirate, firmly entrenching himself as a beloved professional athlete in Southwest Pennsylvania.
During the 2023 season, McCutchen affirmed multiple times that he intended to finish his career solely playing for Pittsburgh. In the waning days of 2023’s final month, he fulfilled that promise by signing another one-year, five-million-dollar deal to remain with the club that drafted him.
Pittsburgh selected McCutchen with the 11th overall pick in the 2005 MLB Draft out of Fort Meade High School in Central Florida. He was a prominent multisport athlete in Cenetral Florida, excelling in track & field, football, and baseball to the point where he was getting recruited by Division I college programs for all three sports. He turned down a full scholarship to the University of Miami’s football program as a wide receiver to begin his professional baseball career directly out of high school. He later forewent a commitment to the University of Florida’s baseball program to begin his professional baseball career.
During his time climbing towards the majors, the future 4x Silver Slugger winner established himself as one of the top prospects in MiLB. He was a consensus top 100 prospect, with reputed publications such as Baseball America thinking highly of his future as a centerfielder. He made his MLB debut in the 2009 season and would spend around ten seasons in the Steel City, carving out a place as one of the franchise’s greatest position players.
McCutchen combines elite contact ability with pristine on-base skills, logging a batting average above .300 three times and eclipsing a .400 on-base percentage four times. He is 13th all-time in walks drawn by a center fielder with a tangible chance to crack the top ten and has posted a walk rate of over 10% in all but two seasons of his 15-year career. He possesses the element of speed in his game, swiping at least 20 bags in five seasons and owning 216 stolen bases for his career so far. He’s also stolen at least 10 bases in another five individual seasons. His 1332 defensive appearances in centerfield is 48th all time although he a full-time corner outfielder/designated hitter at this point of his career.
14th all-time in games played in a Pirates uniform, 13th in on-base percentage, 10th in total bases, eighth in doubles, fourth in home runs, and 16th in stolen bases, McCutchen personifies the legacy that began when Curt Roberts, Carlos Bernier, and Roberto Clemente made their first plate appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates during the mid-1950s. Young Black players in the Pirates organization such as Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Endy Rodríguez, Termarr Johnson, Tahnaj Thomas, J.C. Flowers, Lonnie White Jr., and Roansy Contreras get an up-close view of the illustrious legacy that they can be a part of when they see a player of Andrew McCutchen’s stature put in the work day in and day out.