Amongst the large assortment of hats I own, I decided to
throw on something that I hadn’t had a chance to wear. The biggest reason why I
brought this particular hat to Miami
with me was simply because of the shirt that I had packed along with it. The
Pittsburgh Pirates font “Portland” tee is the
creation of one of my friends, Jason Cobb (JasonMCobb), whom I worked with for many years
for Just Sports (@JustSportspdx) in Vancouver, WA
and Portland, OR. Of all the shirts he’s created over the
years, this was one of my favorites.
While I could have gone with an array of Pirates hats to
pair with it, I couldn’t think of one better than the 2000 Sunday cap with the
red outline on the “P” and a red bill. For as awesome as the hat is, I’ve
always found it a bit strange that the Pirates only used it so rarely and for
one season. Therefore, keeping with the theme, I had to choose numbers which
were prevalent on Sundays during their 5th place, in the National
League Central, finish of 69-93 under then manager, and current 3rd
base coach for the Detroit Tigers Gene Lamont.
The first option I had debated was #69. Very few people
would understand this reference in Pirates history, but I found it especially
funny because the person who sported this number for this season was then
rookie pitcher Bronson Arroyo. With that, I looked up his stats. I honestly
don’t even recall seeing any starts on Sundays so I sadly had to pass up on the
opportunity. The next two were easy choices and the only two guys who did consistently
well on Sundays, and were household names for the Pirates during their tenures...
#18- Kendall’s best years at the plate came with the Pirates as he never matched the
power numbers he posted in Pittsburgh.
In 2000 he hit a career best 14 home runs on top of his .320 AVG, which is the
third best had posted, playing over 125 games a season.
#24- Giles had always been a pretty
consistent .290 hitter; however, the best year of his career came in 2000 when
he batted .315/35/123. The previous year he had swatted 39 home runs and posted
the same average, but had 61 less plate appearances. Impressive nonetheless.
On top of their offense, both players will stellar defenders. Therefore, there really wasn’t a pair better to honor.
On top of their offense, both players will stellar defenders. Therefore, there really wasn’t a pair better to honor.
Kind of reminds me about the post on your other blog about the guy who wanted the Pirates hat because he was from Portland. Sad.
ReplyDelete