PITTSBURGH — Bob Nutting might be the worst owner in all of sports. We beat him up regularly for not spending enough on Pirates payroll. But none of us can accuse Nutting of being anything less than a brilliant businessman. He didn't become a billionaire by making bad decisions.
This is one of his better ones:
"Bob Nutting called me," A.J. Burnett was saying the other day. "I missed the call from him and he called back. He said he wanted to reach out and invite me back home for 10 years of the wild card and what I did for the team and the fans and the city. I was like, 'Heck, yeah.' I wasn't going to pass that up."
So it is that Burnett will be at PNC Park on Friday afternoon to throw out the first pitch for the Pirates' home opener against the Chicago White Sox.
Good move by Nutting.
Burnett won't just throw out that first pitch — he'll be doing it to his former catcher, Russell Martin, who also accepted an invitation to return to celebrate the Pirates' 2013 playoff team, their first winning team in 21 years.
Better move by Nutting.
There is nothing like sports nostalgia to make us feel good.
These aren't good times for the Pittsburgh sports teams. The Pirates are coming off their worst three-year stretch since the 1950s. The Steelers haven't won a playoff game since the 2016 season. The Penguins are in a fight for their playoff lives.
But nostalgia never fails us because it reminds of us the wonderful times we shared.
That's why we still celebrate Bill Mazeroski's home run against the New York Yankees to win the 1960 World Series. We'll be doing it again this October, 63 years later. Thank goodness Maz is still alive to share in the moment.
That's why a big crowd turned up at Acrisure Stadium on a frigid night this past Christmas Eve to celebrate Franco Harris' Immaculate Reception against the Oakland Raiders in the 1972 playoffs, the Steelers' first-ever playoff game. It's still hard to grasp that Franco passed just four days before that ceremony.
And that's why Pirates opening day on Friday will be terrific.
I'm guessing it will be a lot better, if not more memorable, than opening day 2006 when Pittsburgh native Michael Keaton — always "Batman" to me — was invited to throw out the first pitch and ripped Kevin McClatchy's ownership group: "I fear they will take advantage of the good will of the people who continue to show up. For my money, that's disrespectful. At some point, you have to write the check."
Some things never change, right?
But back to Burnett and Martin ...
Burnett came to the Pirates in a trade with the New York Yankees before the 2012 season. It might have been Neal Huntington's best trade. If you can name the two players Huntington sent to the Yankees, you deserve a lifetime season ticket for being such a great fan.
Diego Moreno and Exicardo Cayones.
Burnett turned out to be a bulldog on the mound, his intensity setting a tone for a team that, finally, was starting to figure out how to win.
"I didn't know what I was getting into going there," he said. "They didn't know what they were getting when I walked into the clubhouse. From Day 1, it was great. Watching those guys from my first spring training in '12 to the playoffs, it was really cool to watch those young kids grow up and become legit major-leaguers. We had a great squad, man. It was a fun team."
Signing Martin to a two-year, $17 million deal as a free agent after the 2012 season was another terrific move by Huntington. Like Burnett, Martin became a strong team leader. He also was smack in the middle of the best moment on what, for me, was the greatest Pittsburgh sports night of my lifetime.
The "Cueto" game.
"It was crazy," Burnett said of the 40,487 fans at PNC Park for the 2013 Pirates-Cincinnati Reds wild-card game. "It was loud, loud, loud. Dark in there. Everyone in black. Everything blacked out. It was perfect. It's a player's dream come true."
That was the surreal night the throbbing crowd let Reds starter Johnny Cueto have it. Chants of "Kwaaaay-Tow! Kwaaaay-Tow!" could be heard all over the city after Marlon Byrd led off the second inning with a home run to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. The result was amazing. Cueto dropped the ball — literally — on the mound. He picked it up and threw his next pitch to Martin, who deposited it into the bleachers in left-center field.
"I don't even remember running around the bases," Martin said years later. "I think I just floated."
Burnett credits the crowd for rattling Cueto — "I believe they got to him" — and, of course, Martin for making Cueto pay for his lack of focus.
"You know what stands out about Russell Martin right there? He stayed completely locked in during that whole scenario," Burnett said. "With the crowd getting loud, Cueto doing his thing, the ball rolling on the field, everybody going crazy — this dude is standing up at home plate locked in. He can't wait to swing at the next pitch.
"Russell brought that out of everybody. The way he played. His intensity. His at-bats. He never gave up a pitch. He never gave up an at-bat. He was always in it for nine innings. You locked down at him behind home plate. His eyes. It was like this guy has got you. He would do anything to win this game, to stop this ball. He was just impressive to work with — day in and day out."
The Pirates won that playoff game 6-2 before losing in five games to the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Divisional Series.
Burnett moved on after the 2013 season for a free-agent deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. "I should have never left that damn [Pirates] team," he said. He returned for the 2015 season and again helped the Pirates make the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Martin left as a free agent after the 2014 season and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Now, on Friday, Burnett and Martin will be reunited at the ballpark where they made magic.
The celebration will be even better because two other teammates — the two most notable faces of that 2013 team — will be with Burnett and Martin. Andrew McCutchen should be in the Pirates' home opener starting lineup for the first time since he was traded to the San Francisco Giants after the 2017 season. Neil Walker should be in the broadcast booth, working the game for AT&T SportsNet.
Talk about nostalgia.
It doesn't get much better than that.
