I've been following the Pirates since the early 80's, and I've at least kept tabs on every MLB All-Star game since then. And in that entire time, I've never seen a Pirates player impact the game in any really meaningful way.
Well, that's kind of a lie, I guess. Back in the 2008 All-Star game, former Pirates' outfielder Nate McLouth threw out Dioner Navarro at the plate in the bottom of the eleventh inning. And if my memory serves me correctly, McLouth almost hit a go-ahead home run earlier in extra innings. I guess the defensive play could be considered meaningful, but the National League eventually lost the game, so it's not like they were going to give Nate the game MVP.
In the 1989 contest, former Pirates' switch-hitting slugger Bobby Bonilla had a hit from each side of the plate. I believe he was the first player to ever do that in an All-Star game. I suppose that was significant, but again, the National League lost, and Bobby Bo's hits didn't really impact that game to any great degree. I've never seen any highlights of those hits at all, really. We're not talkin' Fred Lynn grand-slam-type impactful stuff.
Looking back on some of the All-Star games from the 70's, there were Pirates that actually did stuff. Former Pirate great Dave Parker was named MVP for the '79 game. Pretty amazing.
Goose Gossage, a one time Pirate reliever, actually closed out the '77 game. Unbelievable!
Last year, Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan had a chance to close out the game. The NL was up pretty comfortably, but after the Hammer gave up a base-hit, the Giants skipper, who was managing the NL for the All-Star game, took Hanrahan out and brought in his own closer to finish out the game. Whatever.
Tonight, Cutch went 1 for 2, but by the time he recorded his hit, the National League was already up, 8-0. Again, nothing meaningful.
Maybe next year.
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