NEW YORK — Nick Gonzales remembers visiting the American Museum of Natural History in New York City when he was 9 years old.
OK, sort of.
There was actually a baseball game he attended during the same trip that stood out more. But suffice to say, what Gonzales did along with Pirates teammate Spencer Horwitz on Tuesday won’t soon be forgotten.
Gonzales and Horwitz toured one of the country’s best museums, and we joined them for the experience, getting an up-close look at North American mammals, dinosaurs, an mind-blowing “Invisible Worlds” exhibit and Gonzales’ personal favorite, Megalodon sharks.
“I love history and museums,” Gonzales said. “So when [the Pirates] asked if I wanted to do this, I jumped all over it.”
The tour started with North American mammals, where Horwitz couldn’t avoid cracking a joke.
“Grant Caribou, huh? Great coffee,” he said.
But it was hardly horsing around.
The two were genuinely curious the entire time, asking everything from when the museum opened (1869) to how exhibits are designed to what type of upkeep they require.
After learning more about a bunch of African mammals, one of our next stops was to the Hall of Ocean Life, where our tour guide (Andrew Epstein) joked that somewhere in the room was the largest mammal that ever lived.
In the middle of course, suspending from the ceiling was a blue whale, which can reach up to 200 tons.
“Massive,” Horwitz exclaimed.
“How much do they eat?” Gonzales wondered out loud, clearly amazed.
Epstein then quizzed Gonzales on the blue whale’s belly button — it has one — then pointed it out with his flashlight.
Once we looked at a few more exhibits, the conversation among the players turned from whales to sharks.
“Do you guys have any Megalodons?” Gonzales asked.
The answer, of course, was yes.
“They have Megalodons?” Horwitz asked, impressed. “Let’s go.”
As our tour continued, another stop was at the entrance to the Richard Gilder Center for Science, a $465 million addition that opened in 2023.
It’s stunning. It includes a fully immersive butterfly exhibit, as well as another experiential exhibit titled “Invisible Worlds,” explaining how all life on Earth is connected. There’s also a library, classrooms and so much more.
Gonzales and Horwitz joked that the atrium’s architecture looked like something from Star Wars’ Tatooine, which was one of two movie references made throughout the tour.
The other, of course, was the 2006 Ben Stiller movie “Night at the Museum” that was filmed in this same place. Gonzales and Horwitz grew up on it. Gonzales actually rewatched it prior to the trip with his wife, Rylee, who joined us for the afternoon.
“I’m just a naturally curious person,” Horwitz said, explaining why he wanted to go. “[Night at the Museum] was a big part of my childhood, too.
“It’s crazy the things that you remember from that movie. Then you see them live, what it can trigger in the brain is wild.”
Outside of the entrance to the Gilder Center, there’s a specific viewpoint where Epstein told us we could see New Jersey. Maybe he was joking — we wouldn’t have known the difference — but it sure seemed possible.
There was also a blank wall Epstein explained would be used for a new exhibit. Horwitz hilariously suggested that it should be focused on real-life pirates.
“That’s …. not really the kind of thing we do here,” Epstein said, drawing laughter.
We finished with a trip to the Moai Statue in the Eastern Island area, a lap around the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals and finally a trip to see some dinosaurs.
We saw “Apex,” a gigantic stegosaurus fossil that a longtime museum donor paid $45 million for during a 2024 auction, the most ever for dinosaur remains.
Epstein also took us through a side door where Gonzales crawled into the head of a Tyrannosaurus Rex — with permission, of course — and we even bumped into Pirates pitcher Hunter Barco, who was touring the museum on his own and had a 4 p.m. Planetarium show to see.
We joked that the black-and-gold poison dart frogs had to be Pirates fans before marveling at how velociraptors really aren’t as big as they’re made out to be in the Jurassic Park movies.
The full Tyrannosaurus Rex at the end had everyone amazed.
"I’ve always thought the T-Rex was the coolest dinosaur ever," Horwitz said. “It’s kind of the king of dinosaurs.”
It was a fitting end to an incredible afternoon, one where we all left feeling like we had learned and experienced a ton.
"When you’re in a great city, we have to take advantage of it and come to unique spots that we can’t get to all the time," Horwitz said. "The whole experience was awesome. We loved it."
For a full photo gallery from the event, click here.
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH.