Back in black; McCutchen mixes nostalgia and hope in return

PITTSBURGH — The echoes of that electric October night nearly a decade ago when PNC Park shook and the Pittsburgh Pirates exorcised a generation of futility remain fresh to Andrew McCutchen.

Johnny Cueto dropped the ball. Russell Martin homered and McCutchen and the Pirates celebrated a 2013 wild-card victory that rekindled a city’s love affair with a franchise that spent decades in Major League Baseball’s wilderness.

The veteran outfielder still holds the moment close. Just not too close. He’s wary of getting too steeped in nostalgia, one of the reasons he’s repeatedly stressed his second stint with the club that drafted him in 2005 and helped mold him into a five-time All-Star is not a farewell tour.

So consider the way McCutchen approached Friday’s home opener against the Chicago White Sox — his first appearance at PNC Park as a member of the Pirates since Sept. 27, 2017 — as more of a history lesson.

There was McCutchen’s mother Petrina singing the national anthem, just as she did before home playoff games nearly a decade ago.

There were Martin and A.J. Burnett — linchpins of the organization’s brilliant if brief rebirth in the early 2010s — connecting on the first pitch.

There were thousands of fans clad in black at McCutchen’s urging looking to recapture a feeling that’s largely been gone since the cold January day in 2018 when McCutchen was traded to San Francisco. There were chants of “MVP!” when he stepped into the batter’s box and a loud roar when his first at-bat ended with a sharp single up the middle.

The vibe provided a needed reminder of what once was. And a taste of what McCutchen believes can be once again.

“I just want to have some kind of hope,” McCutchen said. “Even if it is something that happened 10 years ago. That’s a moment in history that will forever be painted in my memory bank. Why not bring it back to life, even if it is back for a day?”

The goal of the organization and McCutchen — who signed a one-year deal worth $5 million in mid-January — is to find a way to put together a compelling product like the one the Pirates produced regularly from 2013-15 when they reached the playoffs three times with the then-dreadlocked McCutchen as the unquestioned charismatic leader.

The dreadlocks are long gone. And a decade removed from his 2013 NL MVP Award, McCutchen is more elder statesman than budding young star.

It’s a role he’s embracing, in part because he knows he doesn’t have much choice. It comes with the territory when the stands are dotted with your familiar No. 22 jersey and your name is synonymous with the last period of success for a franchise that’s coming off four straight last-place finishes in the NL Central.

Yes, McCutchen knows his primary job is to produce at the plate and occasionally on the field. Yet he’s well aware that what he says and does off it could be just as important for a team that believes it is in the nascent stages of building a contender.