RICHMOND, Va. -- Pittsburgh hasn’t always been the best with homecomings. Just ask Jaromir Jagr. Time was you could be sure that almost any athlete who formerly sported black and gold would be booed mercilessly when returning to their previous place of business. Few of them (Marian Hossa among the exceptions) deserved it.
But recently the pendulum has swung dramatically in the opposite direction, with former players like Chris Kunitz and especially Marc-Andre Fleury receiving the royal treatment when returning to the 412 in another area code’s colors. Credit the Penguins, perhaps, for the heartfelt video montages that salute former players during a break in the action in their first game back in town. It’s hard for fans to boo when they’re wiping away tears.
Andrew McCutchen’s return to PNC Park promised to jerk those same heartstrings, and it didn’t disappoint. The fans let him how well they appreciate his role in delivering their favorite baseball team, lost at sea for so long, to dry land. So much of what surrounds the Pittsburgh Baseball Club is a factory of cynicism, but this, at least, was a pure moment of which the city could be proud.
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