Andrew McCutchen reflects on time with Pirates during return to PNC Park
If you didn't know better, Andrew McCutchen's return to Pittsburgh was not unlike any other day during his nine years with the Pirates.
Before he went to PNC Park for the first time as an opponent, he took his 5 1⁄2-month-old son, Steel Stefan McCutchen, to a doctor's appointment.
“He had to get a couple shots. That's never fun watching that,” he said. “He was a big guy. He didn't cry. It was good to see.”
He also visited his favorite pizza place, The Oven, in Wexford. “Couldn't miss out on that,” he said.
Then, it was time to face the media in a 19-minute question-and-answer session, four hours before the first pitch, when he appeared relaxed, pleased with his place in Pirates history and grateful and proud of his role in helping to resurrect the franchise earlier this decade.
When he was asked if he had any regrets about his time in Pittsburgh, McCutchen pondered the question and answered thoughtfully. But it was clear, if any regrets existed, they aren't especially important now that he's with the San Francisco Giants.
“Everything happened the way it was supposed to happen,” he said. “Regrets, I don't really have any. I just try to cherish every bit and look at everything. May not have been what I expected. Just look at it as a challenge and overcome it.”
He said it was “good to be back” in PNC Park where he became the face of the franchise for most of his nine years with the team.
“Still hasn't really set in yet being on the visitor's side.” he said. “A little weird.”
He has settled in nicely with the Giants, batting second and playing right field, a position he reluctantly accepted when the Pirates moved him there briefly last year.
“It's cool. It's boring a little bit,” he said. “But it's fun, though. Don't get too many running the ball down in gaps and making a crazy play.”
McCutchen will be 32 when he reaches free agency next year, but he believes there's much more to his career. Yet, he doesn't mind discussing the past, as long as he isn't forced to dwell on it.
“I don't look at anything as a closed book, just another chapter,” he said of his Pirates career.
He doesn't mind being remembered as the face of the franchise.
“It's cool. I just look at myself as being a part of it,” he said. “A lot of people say I was the guy. I can't do it on my own. At the same time, it is humbling to hear that from other people.
“When I first got here, we lost, a lot, and then we changed that around and started winning some ballgames. To be a part of that is awesome. I think we changed that here.”
McCutchen said he and his wife, Maria, still have their home in the Pittsburgh area and plan to keep it no matter where his baseball career takes him.
“This is where our house is, and this is where we're going to stay in the offseason,” he said, noting Maria is from DuBois and has several friends and family members in the area.
“When we got married, we stepped foot in our house and started our lives together. Baseball can never change it.”
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, who arrived in Pittsburgh two years after McCutchen's debut, said he's “privileged to be a small part of his career.”
“You watch the growth of the man. You watch the growth of the player,” he said. “You watch the maturation process take place, as well.
“I watched him go from dating to marrying to being a dad, him and his wife. I've known his mom and dad since I've been here, as well, so the man off the field is a very special and significant guy.”
Game-planning for McCutchen was not strange for Hurdle, who embraces change well for a 60-year-old baseball lifer.
“The one thing that is constant in life and in sport is change,” he said. “When it happens, you acknowledge it. You're grateful for the time you've spent together. You're thankful for the time you've spent together.
“He's embarked on a new journey. So have we.”
When the interviews ended and McCutchen had hugged his last old friend and the tribute videos were put on the shelf, he and his Giants teammates had a game to play.
“The game is what you make it,” he said. “Baseball is baseball. You go out and play it.”
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
