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Thursday, July 24, 2003

By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Bill Row never understood the mentality of local sports fans who stopped following the Pirates as soon as Steelers training camp started.

Not anymore.

Not since yesterday morning, when he read the newspapers online, that the Pirates had followed up their pre-game trade -- left-handed relievers Scott Sauerbeck and Mike Gonzalez to the Red Sox for two right-handed pitchers -- by announcing after the game that they had traded outfielder Kenny Lofton and third baseman Aramis Ramirez to the Chicago Cubs.

Now he feels betrayed. Now he understands the attitude all too well.

"I realize those people were just ahead of me," said Row, 40, of Cheswick. "I give my time and money and my interest to something that is a joke. It's a fraud. They can't compete. Even pretending they can compete is a joke."

Like most fans yesterday, whether they were calling radio talk shows, writing for Internet message boards or talking to the media, Row characterized himself with one word: Disgusted.

The more Row talked, the madder he got.

How could the Pirates give up Ramirez -- who, sure, has some defensive problems but who can hit for power, can drive in runs and is only 25 years old -- for Jose Hernandez, who is 34 years old, hitting .227 and striking out nearly a third of the time? How can the Pirates ever expect to build a contender when they can't afford to keep a young player they had nurtured and developed in their farm system?

"All the people who [complained] about the new stadium, I'd get so angry -- don't people see we need a new stadium, don't they see we have to build it? And they were right. It's a joke," Row said. "We have a stadium and there's no team. The people whose tax money funded that stadium were defrauded."

"The whole Major League Baseball is a fraud. It's just the Yankees and the Mets and the Braves, and all of the other teams are like the Washington Generals that used to follow around the Harlem Globetrotters. We're just fodder to be beaten."

The Pirates have made unpopular trades and announced rebuilding plans before. But the combination of this particular trade and this particular intention to rebuild has whipped the die-hard fans into a rage.

"I guess a lot of that depends on whether people bought into the idea that the team could be a contender," said Dan Skantar of North Fayette, who has attended nearly 1,500 games since 1970, when he was 11. "In their hearts, fans want them to win. It's like the Steelers. People always expect that they're going to win the Super Bowl, and they've been surprised for 23 years now.

"But with the Pirates, it was abundantly clear. Take a look at the talent on the Cardinals, the Astros -- we just didn't measure up. We have the guys no one else wants. Plus Brian Giles. Plus a Ramirez."

Skantar adjusted his expectations in the early 1990s, after the Pirates, citing financial concerns, dismantled the team that had won three division titles. Now he goes to PNC Park because he loves baseball.

Not even the attitude adjustment, however, has prevented him from getting upset this time.

"This seems worse because it's an admission that everything they tried to do by building the ballpark just hasn't worked because the finances of the game are so messed up," he said. "And there's really no hope."

What may be a huge concern for the Pirates is how the fans react in the long term.

Tim Murray, 44, of Pleasant Hills, who has tickets for 12 games this season, said from now on he will go to PNC Park only on bobblehead nights, and solely to pick up the promotion.

"I have so little free time to begin with," he said, "I don't think I care to squander it watching another quote, rebuilding, unquote effort for another five years and then probably not see that pan out either."

Lori Shontz can be reached at lshontz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1722.