Don Kelly will try to Buc history Friday. It has been 58 years since a Pirates manager won his first home opener. The likes of Chuck Tanner, Jim Leyland and Clint Hurdle — not to mention Bill Virdon, Gene Lamont, Lloyd McClendon, John Russell, Jim Tracy and Derek Shelton — all failed.
Believe it or not, you have to go all the way back to a man named Larry Shepard, who would become the pitching coach of the fabled “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds, to find the last successful home-opener debut for a Pirates manager.
The Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 13-4, that day — April 17, 1968 at Forbes Field, with a crowd of 30,779 cheering on the likes of Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Maury Wills and Bill Mazeroski.
On Friday at PNC Park, the loudest cheers will most assuredly be reserved for shortstop Konnor Griffin, the No.1 prospect in baseball and maybe the hottest position-player prospect in franchise history. He was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on Thursday and will make his major-league debut.
In other words, the ingredients are there for a magical 25th anniversary home opener at PNC Park. It’s technically the 26th, but there were no fans in the covid season of 2020, and if a home opener happens in July without fans, is it really a home opener?
The Pirates lost that year, anyway, and have won just 10 of the first 24 real openers at PNC Park. But even some of the losses were fairly dramatic, starting with the very first.
Let’s rank the Top 10 most memorable Pirates openers at PNC Park, shall we?
We shall, going from 10 to 1 …
10 — Phillies 1, Pirates 0, April 5, 2012
Storylines: PNC Park record crowd of 39,585 shows up for start of most anticipated Pirates season in years. … Eight-time All-Star Roy Halladay tosses one of the last great games of his career, keeping the Pirates to two hits, no walks and no runs over eight innings and just 92 pitches. … $50 million free agent closer Jonathan Papelbon (that was a lot of money then) debuts for Phillies and saves Halladay’s 189th career win.
Moment: Halladay strikes out pinch-hitter Nate McLouth — a fan favorite making his return to Pittsburgh — with two outs and a runner on base in the eighth.
Aftermath: Halladay, plagued by injuries, would never again go as long as eight innings without allowing a run. His career would be finished by the end of the 2013 season, and he would tragically pass away in 2017.
9 — Pirates 7, Astros 0, April 13, 2009
Storylines: Fans pay tribute to three fallen Pittsburgh Police officers — Paul Sciullo II, Eric G. Kelly and Stephen J. Mayhle — before the game. … Zach Duke throws the Pirates’ first complete-game shutout in a home opener since John Candelaria in 1978. … Freddy Sanchez doubles three times.
Moment: Pirates manager John Russell puts the day into perspective, saying, “The city of Pittsburgh has heavy hearts right now, and our guys really wanted to have a special opening day here.”
Aftermath: The Pirates go on to lose 99 games, marking their 17th consecutive losing season.
8 — Rockies 7, Pirates 1, April 7, 2011
Storylines: Pirates honor the great Chuck Tanner before the game by wearing No. 7 patches on their jerseys. … Clint Hurdle, in his home debut as Pirates manager, faces his former team and former Pirates manager Jim Tracy. … Somebody named Esmil Rodgers quiets the Pirate bats for 7 1/3 innings.
Moment: Tanner’s son, Bruce, throws out the ceremonial first pitch to former Pirates catcher Manny Sanguillen, who was traded to Oakland along with $100,000 in the deal that brought Chuck Tanner to Pittsburgh. Broadcaster Greg Brown speaks to Chuck Tanner’s relentless optimism: “If he was captain of the Titanic,” Brown says, “he would have told the passengers they were stopping for ice.”
Aftermath: Pirates catapult to first place in late July, drawing fans back to the ballpark in droves, but collapse late and post their 19th consecutive losing season.
7 — Cubs 10, Pirates 8 (12 inn.), April 7, 2008
Storylines: Pittsburgh celebrates the city’s 250th anniversary. … Pirates reliever Evan Meek walks five batters (two intentionally) in the 12th inning. … The teams combine to use 15 pitchers. … Pirates roar back from a 7-0 deficit to force extra innings. … Future USA Olympic manager Mark DeRosa, playing for Cubs, draws a bases-loaded walk in the 12th inning even though he probably thinks it’s a spring-training game and the Cubs don’t need to win.
Moment: Bill Mazeroski throws out the ceremonial first pitch.
Aftermath: Pirates lose 95 games, marking their 16th consecutive losing season.
6 — Pirates 5, Twins 4, April 2, 2018
Storylines: With snow on the ground, the Pirates sell just 30,106 tickets and much fewer than that show up, marking only the second non-sellout for a home opener in PNC Park’s 18-year history. … A finally healthy Jameson Taillon strikes out nine for the Pirates. … Colin Moran, part of the offseason return from Houston for Gerrit Cole, smashes a first-inning grand slam and gets a curtain call.
Moment: With the bases loaded and two outs in the first against ex-Cardinal Lance Lynn, Moran works a full count and sends a ball over the Clemente wall. He becomes just the third Pirate to hit a grand slam in a home opener, joining Ralph Kiner (1949) and Clemente himself (1962).
Aftermath: It becomes a rather eventful year for the Pirates, and not in a good way: GM Neal Huntington makes the ill-fated Chris Archer trade at midseason. The team does, however, finish with a winning record at 82-79. It hasn’t had a winning season since.
5 — Cubs 3, Pirates 1, April 1, 2013
Storylines: After two straight late-season collapses, Pirates open the home slate, and the season, with the pressure of manager Clint Hurdle predicting 95 wins. … A.J. Burnett and Jeff Samardzija wage an impressive pitching duel, combining for 19 strikeouts. … Free-agent catcher Russell Martin debuts for Pirates. … Anthony Rizzo homers off Burnett, whose 10 strikeouts tie a club record for opening day.
Moment: The rosin bag explodes on the fiery Burnett’s leg while he is tapping it against his hip in the top of the fifth. “The pitch to Rizzo and the rosin bag,” Burnett says. “That was my day.”
Aftermath: The Pirates win 94 games, snap their pesky 20-year losing streak and beat the Cincinnati Reds in an unforgettable wild-card game.
4 — Pirates 11, Dodgers 5, April 5, 2010
Storylines: Joe Torre debuts as Dodgers manager. … Pirates begin celebrating 50th-anniversary season of Mazeroski’s home run. … Game-time temperature is 76 degrees. … Game doubles as season opener; Dodgers and Pirates haven’t opened against each other since 1955. … Pirates had never scored 11 runs in a home opener. … Aki Iwamura actually gets on base, drawing a leadoff walk in the first. … Garrett Jones goes wild.
Moment: Jones, entering his first full major league season at age 29, belts a ball 456 feet into the Allegheny River after Iwamura’s walk and follows it with another home run in his next at-bat, prompting nearly 40,000 fans to chant “MVP! MVP!”
Aftermath: In his postgame news conference, manager John Russell says, “Everybody’s having fun, poking fun at us and saying we’re not going anywhere.” It turns out they are right: The Pirates lose 105 games in Russell’s final season
3 — Yankees 9, Pirates 4, April 4, 2025
Storylines: Fan frustration boils over after another dud of an offseason, a 2-5 start and what everyone can see is another losing season ahead despite the presence of generational pitcher Paul Skenes. … Fans chant “Sell the Team!” at various points in the game. … Manager Derek Shelton and a few players are booed in pregame introductions. … Pirates drop to 1-5 in home openers under Shelton. … Aaron Judge’s home run in the sixth prompts many to exit the building.
Moment: Before the game, fan rage reaches new heights: A plane flies over the stadium lugging a banner that reads, “Sell The Team Bob.”
Aftermath: The game foreshadows one of the most calamitous seasons of any team in professional sports history. Shelton doesn’t make it past the second week of May.
2 — Pirates 1, Cubs 0 (10 inn.), March 31, 2014
Storylines: Andrew McCutchen receives his 2013 NL MVP Award from Barry Bonds, who is booed and cheered in his first visit to Pittsburgh since 2007. … Clint Hurdle receives his NL Manager of the Year Award from Hall of Famer Jim Leyland. .. Pedro Alvarez receives his Silver Slugger Award from Jack Wilson. … Cubs rookie manager Rick Renteria issues the first regular-season instant replay challenge in Major League Baseball history, a close play at first. … Samardzija again stifles the Pirates, in a terrific duel with Francisco Liriano. … Largest crowd in PNC Park history. … Neil Walker happens.
Moment: You know the moment. The Pittsburgh Kid turns on a Carlos Villanueva changeup, the eighth pitch he sees, and sends it over the Clemente Wall for the first walk-off of his career and first by a Pirate on Opening Day since Bob Bailey homered off Juan Marichal in a 1-0, 10-inning victory in 1965. Walker pumps his fists as he rounds first base.
“This one feels pretty special,” Walker says. “This is a special day for this team, this organization. We’ve come a long way.”
Aftermath: The Pirates make the playoffs again, but this time the San Francisco Giants and Madison Bumgarner end their season in the wild-card game.
1 — Reds 8, Pirates 2, April 9, 2001
Storylines: Pittsburgh’s Monday morning broadcasts lead with the death of Pirates icon Willie “Pops” Stargell at age 61 on the day PNC Park is to open — two days after a glorious, 12-foot Stargell statue was unveiled outside the ballpark. … Stargell is celebrated with a four-minute Jumbotron video. Members of both teams wear his No. 8 on their caps. … Reds first baseman Sean Casey, who grew up a Pirates fan in Upper St. Clair, hits the first home run in PNC Park history and goes 4 for 4 with five RBIs.
Moment: Chuck Tanner — Stargell’s manager on the “We Are Family” 1979 team — of course finds the silver lining amid his grief: “People will always talk about Willie on opening day from here on out,” Tanner says. “That’s a good thing.”
Aftermath: Here we are, 26 years later, and the goose bumps still stand. Tanner was right.
