[Lefty Noob]

Looks like even Pittsburgh Pirates fans have their limits.

Pirates fans group pushing in-game walkout Saturday - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
By ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
June 29, 2007

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates, stuck in a 15th consecutive losing season, don't sell out PNC Park that often. On one of the few nights they will, some fans don't plan to stick around long.

With only the third capacity crowd of the season expected for a Bob Walk bobblehead doll giveaway Saturday night, some longtime rooters led by businessman Andy Chomos of Wexford, Pa., want those attending the game against Washington to walk out in protest of ownership's perceived lack of direction.

Fans are being urged to wear green -- to represent ownership's lack of financial commitment to fielding a winning team -- and leave their seats after the third inning.

The Chomos-led group called Fans for Change wants protesting fans to either exit the ballpark or stay away at least one inning, with the empty seats they create representing the supposed empty promises the Pirates have made to them.

The Pirates once were one of the majors' most successful franchises, winning three World Series from 1960-79 while regularly contending during that time. But they haven't had an above-.500 season since winning the last of three consecutive NL East titles under former manager Jim Leyland in 1992, also Barry Bonds' final year with the team.

If the Pirates finish below .500 this season, they will go into next season with a chance of equaling the Phillies' major-league record of 16 consecutive losing seasons set 60 years ago.

This is the 12th consecutive losing season since newspaper heir Kevin McClatchy's group bought the franchise in 1996, possibly preventing it from relocating. McClatchy's majority stake has since been acquired by newspaper owner G. Ogden Nutting's family of Wheeling, W.Va., with son Bob Nutting serving as principal owner.

During those losing seasons under McClatchy and the Nuttings, Chomos said Pirates fans have been deceived with the notion that 6-year-old PNC Park -- one of the finest in the majors and the site of last year's All-Star Game -- would solve the club's economic problems and allow the club to compete with richer clubs such as the Cubs and Cardinals.

Well, I guess I can understand where these guys are coming from. Sadly, I'm one of those fans who have grown to accept mediocrity, in that a winning season would be good news for me. But when you look at the past few years, the promises before the season and the fire sales before it's over... yeah, I can definitely see where season ticket holders are getting fed up with McClatchy. But will this change anything? i doubt it.

[simple simon]

i hope they go through with it ....... messages seldom get sent and i would be very proud of them

[azrael492]

I hope it works. Maybe other teams would get the point also.

[Lefty Noob]

It would be nice if the Pirates management gets the message.

That said, the pessimist in me thinks there's no way this will force McClatchy to start making changes or spending more money.

[EmpireWF]

It'd be nice if the Pirates fans can organize themselves but I doubt they get enough people to exit the game in the 3rd inning.

If they do leave though, I'm talking about in numbers in the thousands, it would definitely send a message.

[legend]

It's the only way to force an owner to do something, really hurt him in the wallet. If Knicks fans did the same thing to Dolan, for instance, you would see a reaction.

[Lefty Noob]

Good article about the planned walkout over at Yahoo! Sports today.

Five and Fly: Walkout blackout - MLB Experts Blog - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
By Jeff Passan
Friday, Jun 29, 2007 2:30 pm EDT

Excuse me if I don't understand the point of walkouts. OK, so fans, incensed at a team – or, in the case of the planned walkout at the Pittsburgh Pirates game Saturday, at the ownership and management – send their message by, um, buying a ticket and streaming more revenue to the oppressors simply so they can leave in the third inning and send a message?

Hey, I'm all for righteous causes, and aggrieved Pirates fans do have one. Their streak of 14 seasons below .500 will almost certainly stretch to 15, as the Pirates continue to operate on a $38 million payroll better suited for the NHL than baseball.

Pittsburgh's highest-paid player is catcher Jason Kendall, who they are paying $5.5 million to wear an Oakland Athletics uniform. The Pirates' second-highest-paid player is shortstop Jack Wilson, whose on-base-plus-slugging of .677 ranks 151st among major-league regulars. Third is Shawn Chacon, farmed off to middle-relief duty.

No wonder, then, the Pirates want to hide evidence of the protest. While the effort to make it go Hoffa isn't as conspiratorial as some Pirates fans want to believe – amid a few deleted posts, the message board on Pirates.com teems with protest talk, and local television stations will be allowed to film the crowd during the game – no one from the organization wants to acknowledge the walkout.

And why should they? If they did, they'd only confirm what's quickly becoming more obvious: With Dayton Moore overhauling Kansas City, the Pirates have now taken the mantel as worst-run franchise in baseball.

Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield has bombed in free agency (last year Joe Randa and Jeromy Burnitz, this year Tony Armas Jr. and his 81 baserunners in 37 1/3 innings) and the draft, where pitchers seem to make a habit of blowing out their arms once in Pittsburgh's hands.

Robert Nutting, now the Pirates' majority owner, seems perfectly content raking in the revenue-sharing money baseball distributes to the lowest-revenue teams. The Pirates profited more than $25.3 million last year, according to Forbes, the third-highest number behind Florida ($43.3 million) and the Los Angeles Dodgers ($27.5 million). And while Major League Baseball always contests Forbes' numbers, they are more accurate than what baseball would like the public to believe.

Point being: Pirates fans have every reason to be mad, and what stings so much is their limited options. Stop buying tickets? Nutting will just stay on MLB's teat – and, with the decreased local revenue, have an excuse for doing so. Force a change in upper management? Littlefield should have been canned two years ago.

Like disgruntled Baltimore Orioles fans in September last year, those in Pittsburgh on Saturday will walk out of their beautiful park because what's happening inside of it feels like an inescapable trap, and they just don't know what else to do.

Littlefield really is at the heart of the issue here. The money he's spent hasn't been smart money, and the good free agents we do wind up with - like Sean Casey was for most of last season - get dealt before the season's over. I don't know what this walkout will accomplish, but fans really don't have much of a choice. At least this is getting the issue some much needed media attention.

[bears9]

hey Lefty you going to be there

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by bears9

hey Lefty you going to be there

Nope. Sorry, but I ain't spending all that money to go to a game and drive an hour just to walk out in the third inning.

[simple simon]

so this is tonight eh ?

[simple simon]

game time is 7:05 ........ walk-out by 8 ?

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by simple simon

so this is tonight eh ?

Yep. It'll be interesting to see how many people go through with it, especially if the Bucs are winning at that point.

[EmpireWF]

From this report , sounds like the Pirates fans forgot about their losing franchise and decided to catch a game of baseball.

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by EmpireWF

From this report , sounds like the Pirates fans forgot about their losing franchise and decided to catch a game of baseball.

Yep, I watched most of the game on FSN Pittsburgh, and the place was pretty full throughout the game.

Funny what a six-run 2nd inning will do to a proposed boycott.

[azrael492]

Maybe they will try it again later in the season. Would it work better if they just boycotted the concession stands??