Andrew McCutchen remembers the day as fondly as Pirates fans do. It was October 1, 2013, the first postseason baseball game in Pittsburgh in 21 years.
The 2013 National League MVP recalls a sea of black in the stands, chants of opposing pitcher Johnny Cueto’s name, and, of course, Russell Martin’s ensuing blast en route to a victory.
“It was like something out of a movie, man,” McCutchen recently said on the 6-1-1 podcast (hosted by Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins). “It was something you just don’t see every day.”
McCutchen discussed the 2013 Wild Card Game against the Reds and many more topics from his 18-year MLB career with Howard and Rollins, all three of whom had won NL MVP honors in their careers.
Having just turned 40 on October 10, McCutchen dove into the mentality the Pirates and their fans took on of the one-game Wild Card format. He credited catcher and now SportsNet Pittsburgh analyst Michael McKenry for building the idea of telling fans to all wear the color black.
“We sat down as a team, honestly, and said, ‘How can we involve the fans? What is a way that we can involve them and for them to feel like they’re also part of it?’” McCutchen said.
McCutchen recalls actually seeing the sea of black for himself for the first time across the Roberto Clemente Bridge outside of PNC Park. He walked into the clubhouse pregame and felt the team had already won the game after seeing the fanbase buy in.
“That was the loudest I’ve ever heard a stadium or have ever been a part of at any venue,” McCutchen said. “I’ve been to college games, obviously. I’ve been to football games and those get really loud because of the amount of fans that are there. But to have 40-plus thousand people in that venue, everyone screaming to the top of their lungs throughout the entire game. I don’t think I’ve ever, I haven’t, I’ve never heard anything close to it being that loud ever again.”