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Sophie's pitch was off the mark
Wednesday, April 07, 1999 By Robert Dvorchak
Mayor Sophie Masloff made the ceremonial first pitch for a new baseball-only ballpark to be named Clemente Field.
It was 1991. And some say her pitch bounced 15 feet in front of the plate. Actually, it sailed over everybody's heads, even as they hooted and jeered her off the mound.
The city didn't have the money to build a new baseball-only park. And Masloff's suggestion that the state pick up the tab was brushed off by then-Gov. Robert P. Casey, who had just raised state taxes by $3.3 billion.
There was also had no political will for a ballpark fight and no crisis to drive it.
Within 11 days of proposing it on Sept. 5, having heard the squawks from an electorate that questioned her sanity, Masloff pulled back the proposal and never pitched again.
She was right down the middle about one thing, though. The Pirates could only survive if they got a new ballpark.
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