The Man, The Myth, The Nutting.

Would you buy a used ballplayer from this man?

Bob Nutting. The mention of his very name causes the blood of most Pirates fans to reach a boil not seen outside of Mount Saint Helens. It's easy to see why, he has a face that looks like a cat's asshole and he's the main guy in charge of the franchise with the longest losing streak in sports. His last name coincides with what a lot of fans think his family does all over the legacy of a once proud team. What's worse is that he's like a bizarro world Dan Snyder with all of the dickishness and none of the crazy spending. Funny thing, is that if the Pirates ever become respectable he's going to be the man responsible for it.

A little perspective on the history of Pirates ownership is in order here. The team was owned for forty years by John Galbreath, a wealthy commercial developer. From 1945 to 1985 he was in charge, becoming the first owner to sign a million dollar contract (to Dave Parker in 1979) but two things spelled the end for his ownership. The first was that John was in his late 80s, and the second being the Federal drug trials that largely centered on the Pirates. There was a real fear that the team would move, and a group of Pittsburgh businessmen bought the team and ran the show for ten years. Oddly it proved to be not that bad of an arrangement, since the team's business was run by the GM in charge instead of the gaggle of civic leaders who by and large didn't know shit about baseball and just didn't want the team to leave. However the time came where the group of leaders wanted to sell to someone who actually wanted to own a baseball team, and that's where the Troubles began.

Kevin McClatchy was presented as the primary owner of the team in 1996, but it became clear soon that the one really calling the shots was one Ogden Nutting. A newspaper magnate from West Virginia, Ogden is an old rich guy who also owns Seven Springs ski resort and is more or less an IRL Monty Burns. It's been speculated that he just wanted to own a professional team for the bragging rights and the Pirates were the cheapest ones on the market. The team did its best to convince the public that McClatchy was the HNIC, but even he became frustrated at the constant losing, which made it clear he was nothing more than the Darth Vader for Emperor Ogden. What's worse, is by all accounts he was an absentee landlord. Stories abound of McClatchy and various GMs more or less pleading with Ogden to do something, anything, to build a winning team but were given the brush off. The Nutting family became synonymous with the worst kind of bad owner: the one who doesn't even give a shit that their team's a laughingstock.

Enter son Bob Nutting. His reasons for taking over weren't entirely selfless, he's embarrassed his family name has become such a source of frustration and failure, and he wants to change that as much as he does to make a winning team. He's responded to calls to sell the team with saying he plans to have his kids inherit it, so if anything he wants to make sure his kids don't see their birthright as the World's Unfunniest Gag Gift. Bob bought enough shares to become primary owner in 2007 and quickly told McClatchy and his witless GM Dave Littlefield to get the fuck out in short order. He actually understands how teams like his need to compete, from within. The Pirates have actually spent more money in the draft than any other team the last few years. The minor league system that once made a nuclear wasteland look lush by comparison now has several prospects on the top 100 list. He's giving every impression that he's actually trying to improve the team, but everyone still hates him.

Why is a guy who's taking on the task of turning around the most wayward team in sports still not liked by the fans? Some of it is his fault and some is out of his control. The Pirates have not only had their own bad luck, they have to share their city with two of the most popular teams in US sports. Those teams are also owned by two of the most popular people in Pittsburgh, so whoever owns the Pirates is going to look like an asshole by comparison. What hurts Nutting is that he has all the social skills of the 40 year old virgin he appears to be. He very rarely makes public appearances or speaks out, sending team President Frank Coonelly or GM Neal Huntington instead. On one hand that's for the better since those two are far better public speakers than he is, on the other it makes him look like the same uninterested douchnozzle his dad was.

That's a lot of what it boils down to, Bob Nutting for all he's doing is really bad at PR. A team like this should be promoting the shit out of the efforts they make trying to produce homegrown talent, but instead he went out and got himself somewhat misquoted to make it appear he said the opposite of Coonelly when Frank answered the ever present payroll question by (correctly) stating the team couldn't afford to go out and double their payroll until they convince the fans they have a product worth supporting. Bob went out and completely ham-handed the same question and now all the SPORTZ BLAWGZ~! here are foaming with rage over "Bob blames the fans for low payroll". He really didn't, but it's so easy to hate the guy it's almost not even worth correcting everyone.

A lot of Pirates fans don't like that I don't share their rage for the Nuttings, and think if you don't storm PNC Park with fire and pitchforks you're somehow an apologist or on their payroll (ironic since their main argument is that they don't pay anyone!). I prefer to consider myself more a realist. The guy's said many times he's not going to sell the team ever. The dreams of a multi-million/billionaire waltzing in and suddenly putting the Pirates on par with the Yankees and Phils just isn't going to happen. It's just better for your own mental well being to just accept the ownership you have and hope one day they can field a respectable team. They tried the approach to spend a lot in advance and hope the revenue follows, that didn't work and it resulted in huge losses that caused trades like Aramis Ramirez for a bag of baseballs to take place.

What Pirates fans need to accept is the only way this is ever going to turn around is the way they're trying to do it now. If that fails, then it's time to storm the castle.