Larry Brown Sports

People tend to focus so much on the astronomical mounts of money professional athletes make in some instances that they forget where some of them came from. By making it to the biggest stage in sports, many players rescued themselves and their families from lives of hardship. Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen tweeted the photo you see above on Monday with a powerful message accompanying it.

“Come a long way since livin here,” McCutchen wrote. “Thank you God for all you’ve done (in) my life. #Amen”

Randy Moss tweeted a similar photo a couple of weeks ago when he returned to his hometown in West Virginia. McCutchen is one of the game’s brightest young stars, but the photo reminds us that his career is about more than just being on ESPN or hitting a walk-off home run.

H/T Big League Stew

The fans really nailed the NL starters for the All-Star Game. I only had one complaint with the fan vote, so they must be commended for getting it right. All my other complaints are really nit-picking because the NL All-Star team was well selected. Manager Bruce Bochy was too much of a homer and included a few too many Giants pitchers, so that’s the only other issue I really have. Here are the NL All-Star team snubs (written as the player who should have made it over the one who did):

Aramis Ramirez over Placido Polanco, Chipper Jones at 3B

Fans got all the starters right except for Placido Polanco at third base. There was no real standout at the position this year but Ramirez is having the best year of all NL third basemen. He should have been the starter over Polanco and the backup over Chipper Jones. It should have gone Aramis and then either Chipper or Chase Headley as the backup.

Andrew McCutchen over Jay Bruce in OF

McCutchen misses out on his second straight All-Star game in favor of a Pirates reliever. He deserved to go last year over Evan Meek and deserves to go this year. Bruce had a major power surge in May that captured everyone’s attention but h’s cooled off since then. McCutchen, with his 12 home runs and 15 stolen bases, has been the better overall player.

Read The Rest of the Story…

The Pittsburgh Pirates are rarely talked about. It’s been years since they’ve had anything to be excited about because they keep trading away all their decent or better players.  But now they have center fielder Andrew McCutchen, a young outfielder who last year said he was “just a step away from reaching his dreams.” Now at the Major League level for the second straight year, McCutchen is a symbol of hope for a deprived fan base.

The Pirates haven’t had a winning season since 1992 so the people of the Pirates organization can’t help but smile watching him play. Pirates outfielder Ryan Church commented on McCutchen’s wheels saying, “He’s so damn quick, it’s amazing. It looks like he’s just floating through the air.” It’s no surprise to read that when McCutchen was called up from Triple-A last year people said he was playing “like a 10-year veteran.” McCutchen has been turning heads in the big leagues ever since.

Despite my praise of McCutchen, I’m not crazy enough to think the Pirates winning season drought of 17 years will finally come to an end. Still, Pirates fans should be smiling when they get to see their speedy leadoff man and center fielder for he is their future. If their farm system can keep producing young talent like it has with McCutchen, we may soon see a different team competing for a top spot in the NL Central.

Sources:
Biding his time [Midwest Baseball Magazine]
A reason to believe in Pittsburgh [ESPN]