Pittsburgh Pirates: Should PNC Park Be Full Because the Pirates Were .500?

I was on Twitter the other day and saw some sports writers mention how poor the attendance at PNC Park was for Game 1 and 2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

John Perrotto (@JPerrotto) said, “A hugely disappointing crowd at PNC Park for Pirates-Dodgers. Pirates are playing respectably, so that is out as an excuse.”

“Not calling Pirates’ fans out, just saying I thought there will be a bit bigger crowd than the normal 8,000 on a Monday night.”

You would guess, or believe, that more people from around the Pittsburgh area would be at PNC Park because the Pirates were .500, but that wasn’t the case.

Just because the Pirates were .500 does not mean that fans should go all out as soon as possible.

I am sure when the Penguins stunk from 2001-2004, fans weren’t excited to watch a hockey game every night in Pittsburgh. In fact, the 2003 season was one of the least attended years at Mellon Arena.

Penguins' fans weren’t treated to a team that was wretched for 18 straight seasons. Yet, PNC Park saw a very generous turnout ever since it was named the Pirates’ new home.

As soon as the Pirates are .500 for just one day writers decide to take their shots at fans for not showing up. Don’t the fans get a pass for watching absolute bologna for 18 seasons?

It was against a team that was below .500 as well. How about it being a Monday night when kids have school to go to? How about work for those who have it the next morning? If the Pirates are 10-15 games over .500 come August then we can start to say, “There isn’t an excuse for why people aren’t showing up now, they are over .500.”

Until then, just stop talking about attendance. There isn’t a point to downgrade people for not wasting their hard earned money, in the economy as bad as ours, to watch a baseball team that YOU (writers) said would be equally as bad as last year because of pitching.

Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) said, “The only people that can complain about attendance are the 11,000 people at PNC Park.” Ok, so does that mean that those people can’t complain about attendance the next night if they can’t go, or is it a whole new group that is only allowed to complain?

“To be clear, I couldn’t care less if people come. My sole point: Don’t rip crowd size if you don’t contribute,” said Kovacevic.

I completely agree with his statement. I am struggling to find a person on his Twitter who was “ripping” the crowd size, but I am sure there was someone who did.

I just don’t understand why writers like Kovacevic and Perrotto mention the crowd number over and over again. They need to understand that it isn’t just Pittsburgh, though.

Attendance as a whole is down this season.

Let’s take the Cleveland Indians for example. They are leading the AL Central with a 23-13 record. They had 13,551 fans Tuesday night to watch one of the best teams in not only the American League but in all of Major League Baseball.

How about when they were 15-8, how many fans did they draw? The answer is 9,076. Cleveland hasn’t been through what Pittsburgh has been through.

They have at least been relevant in recent years, yet they aren’t showing up either.

But as soon as the Pirates sniff .500, fans are supposed to hop on down to PNC Park because of a record that probably won’t last?

That’s not how it works.