As we continue to celebrate the Pittsburgh Pirates record-setting 17th consecutive losing season, FanHouse's Will Brinson, a Braves fan, and Adam Gretz, a Pirates fan, offer their perspectives on Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series -- a game that dramatically changed the fortunes of both franchises for the better part of two decades.
Brinson: So what goes through your mind when I say these words: Sid Bream?
Gretz: I think I was something like eight years old that season, and my parents let me stay up past my bedtime to watch the end of the game. I think they did it because they made me go to bed and miss the Penguins clinching the Stanley Cup a few months earlier (because it was a school night). So this was going to be them making it up to me because they were so damn sure that there was absolutely no way the Pirates could lose that game. After all, they were up 2-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth. And even though that was 17 years ago I still remember every single detail of that ninth inning. I don't remember how the Pirates scored their two runs, but I remember everything about how the Braves scored theirs. I remember Ron Gant's fly ball to the warning track with the bases loaded that was almost the most famous walk-off grand slam ever, I remember Jose Lind's error (the real culprit for the loss), and I remember Andy Van Slyke trying to get Barry Bonds' attention so he could move up during Cabrera's at-bat (and Bonds ignoring him).
I also remember being sprawled out on the living room floor in tears. It's been a blur concerning the Pirates ever since.
Brinson: Weird -- I have basically the same memory, except the total opposite. Well, except for the "being young and staying up past my bedtime" part -- my mom had gone to bed and so my dad and I watched the last few innings out on our sunporch/teevee room trying not to freak out and wake her up.
I also remember thinking the Braves were donecakes the second Doug Drabek walked back out in the 9th inning. And I don't necessarily remember AVS yelling at Bonds. But that's mainly because my dad and I were too busy trying to figure out who the hell he was.
And I remember the Gant near-miss (it scored Pendleton) but I'll never, ever, ever forget the feeling when Cabrera slapped the ball to left: Justice scored easily and Bream -- literally the last person in baseball you wanted trying to score from second against a five-tool Gold Glover. I remember him hitting the bag right as Bonds grabbed the ball and some freaking way making it to home. And then the rest was a scream-and-smiled-filled blur that basically still sits as one of my top five childhood moments.
Yes, that's alternately cool and sad. And probably annoying if you're a Pirates fan, no?
Gretz: It was pretty much the end of professional baseball in Pittsburgh, and people knew it at the time.
Well, maybe they didn't know it would be 17 years -- going on 20 -- without a winning season, but people knew that team wouldn't be together in 1993 with Bonds and Drabek and all of those guys hitting free agency. One of the local sports talk shows actually brought on a psychologist to talk to people calling in.
Here's how bad it is in Pittsburgh right now regarding the Pirates: the other night -- one night after they clinched losing season No. 17 in a row -- they had Arnold Palmer bobblehead night and sang happy birthday to him after the first inning. They're resorting to giving out bobbleheads of former professional golfers. It's amazing how those two franchises went in complete opposite directions after that game.
Brinson: I mean, it's ridiculous, right? Following that game it took all of three years for the Braves to win our only World Series ... in a 14-year division run.
Again, not trying to rub it in, but for someone who grew up with the Dale Murphy Braves (he was as awesome as they were terrible) it was absolutely nuts to spend nearly a decade and a half cheering for a team that made every correct move, generated one of the greatest farm systems in the country and rarely, if ever, had competition (strike-shortened season aside). It got so bad that people wouldn't show up for playoff games, because it was so commonplace. I should also note that I don't feel that awful for Pittsburgh because of the Steelers and Penguins, but good Lord, the Pirates are just awful.
Gretz: Yeah, your last point is the key. The Steelers and Penguins more than make up for what the Pirates have done (or haven't done) the past 17 years. I mean, those two teams have combined to win three championships -- and play for five -- since the Pirates had a winning season, so we've got that going for us. I'd argue that the Pirates are currently the fourth most popular team in Pittsburgh behind the Steelers, Penguins and Pitt Basketball. They're certainly the fourth-most relevant on the national landscape.
Just to put the Pirates run of futility into perspective in Major League Baseball: the Florida Marlins came into existence, built themselves into a World Series winner, dismantled the team, rebuilt themselves into a World Series winner, dismantled the team, and rebuilt themselves into a contender (or close to it) in the time since the Pirates last had a winning season. Hell, there are four teams that did not exist in 1992 that have played in the World Series (Florida, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Arizona).
Brinson: Exactly -- and meanwhile, the Hawks and Falcons have been relatively worthless (unless you somehow think the whole Vick disaster is nullified by a Super Bowl loss and one good year from Matt Ryan). But the difference in popularity -- I think the Braves are easily Atlanta's most popular team -- speaks volumes: even though the Red Sox couldn't win, people still had nightmares about the team.
In Pittsburgh, apparently people have been stunned into some sort of casual indifference ... much like Atlanta's reaction to the Hawks, which is a justifiable attitude for some, I guess, when you have had a team as good as the Braves. It's still amazing, though, to see how that one moment essentially sent two franchises and two fanbases spiraling in different directions.
Gretz: Casual indifference is a good way to put it. There are still some die-hards, sure, but for the most part a lot of people are just apathetic regarding the team. There's not even much outrage to losing seasons anymore. I think people stopped caring about that somewhere around Year 14 (at least from my perspective). There are some nights where the Pirates show up on page 7 of the sports page and get their score mentioned as an add-on to the local sportscasts. This is especially true in late-July when the Steelers report to training camp, and April and May when the Penguins are in the playoffs.
I used to go 10-15 Pirates games a year. I'm now to the point where I consider five a lot. My interest in the team is just gone. This year I went to three: the home opener, a random game against the Chicago Cubs that, I swear, had more Cubs fans than Pirates fans and another game that escapes me at the moment. On Monday, when they clinched the losing streak record, one of the news stations sent a guy out onto the streets outside the stadium asking people why they still went to games and one woman said, and I wish I were joking about this, "Well, we saw them hit a home run, we saw some fireworks, so we had fun." That's where we're at with the Pirates.
Brinson: Gracious -- that's my reaction when I go to a Greensboro Grasshoppers game, and they're the Single-A Marlins affiliate. And there will always be die-hards, even for the most pathetic of franchises (*cough*LIONS!*cough*), but PAGE 7? That's just a slap in the face.
Speaking of which (newspapers, not slaps in the face, although it might qualify as both), it seems like a decent time -- and a good shoutout for my dad here -- to point out that I own a sweatshirt with the photo of Bream sliding into home from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. My dad hooked it up after the game. It meant that much to us, getting to see the Braves pull off one of the biggest miracles in postseason baseball history. Probably meant a lot to Atlanta, too, as it turned out.
