RENAISSANCE and PITTSBURGH SPORTS
PITTSBURGH PIRATES RENAISSANCE
April, 2014
PITTSBURGH -- Clint Hurdle doesn't want to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates unless Neal Huntington
is his boss. Huntington doesn't want to help run the club unless Hurdle is in the dugout.
The combination that's returned the franchise to respectability will remain intact for years to come.
Hurdle and Huntington agreed to new deals on Saturday that will keep them in Pittsburgh through at
least 2017, giving the Pirates the kind of internal stability they haven't enjoyed in decades.
"There's no place I'd rather be," Hurdle said.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The contracts include a club option for 2018. Both Huntington
and Hurdle, chosen the 2013 National League Manager of the Year after leading the Pirates to 94 wins
and a playoff berth, were in the final year of their current deals.
Reaching a new agreement was a mere formality after a thrilling season in which Pittsburgh qualified
for the playoffs for the first time since 1992 and pushed the St. Louis Cardinals to five games in the NL
division series.
"I think we have a very solid team in place and they deserve the recognition," owner Bob Nutting said.
"I think great organizations are stable organizations. Again, never static and never on autopilot ...
(but) I'm proud of the culture and the tone that the current team has."
It's a tone that Huntington set from the day he took over in September, 2007. Faced with restocking a
decimated minor league system and constrained by playing in a small market that makes splurging on
high-profile free agents nearly impossible, Huntington has painstakingly rebuilt the Pirates from the
inside out while stressing that success at the major league level would be the last step.
Those steps coincided with Hurdle's arrival in December, 2010 and the emergence of talents like
homegrown star Andrew McCutchen, the reigning NL MVP. Pittsburgh has upped its win total in each
of Hurdle's three seasons, from 70 in 2011 to 79 in 2012 to 94 a year ago.
Hurdle stressed most of the hard work was done before he was hired to replace Jim Tracy two months
after the Pirates lost a whopping 105 games in 2010..
"When I was able to come in, just finding what we had, what had gone on, I felt confident the next
move that took place would be here, the Renaissance," he said.
One the Pirates have no plans on stopping.
The 27-year-old McCutchen is signed through 2018 and 25-year-old left fielderStarling Marte signed a
new contract last month that could keep him with the team through 2021. Throw in the rapid
development of former top pick Gerrit Cole -- who picked up his first win of the season on Friday
night -- and the impending arrival of right field prospect Gregor Polanco and the farm system that
used to be bereft is now among the most promising in all of baseball.
While Hurdle insisted he wasn't concerned about his contract status when the season began,
McCutchen called the announcement a relief.
"We've had managers in the past, they were here and they were gone," McCutchen said. "We have
someone here that's going to be here and don't have to worry about him leaving or going somewhere
else. That's the change in the team with the success that we've had the past couple years and just
doing better on improving."
Nutting credited the mutual respect Hurdle and Huntington have for each other as the key to their
success. Being able to check their egos at the door helps too. While Hurdle praised Huntington's
vision, Huntington believes the Pirates wouldn't have finished their transformation from
laughingstock to contender without Hurdle.
"He really was a perfect fit to bring the knowledge the passion the leadership, not just the X's and
O's," Huntington said. "He's helped us all grow and helped us all get better and hopefully we've
returned the favor."
"BREAKAWAY: The Inside Story of the Pittsburgh Penguins
Rebirth" Tells Pens' Inside Story
Sunday, 10.16.2011 / 1:00 PM ET / News
Andrew Conte, author of the fascinating new book, “BREAKAWAY: The
Inside Story of The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rebirth,” says the project was an
eye-opener for him.
Even though Conte covered the quest for a new arena as a reporter at the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and even though he followed hockey as a fan,
he unearthed so much more in his reporting for the book about the details,
decisions, debates, and strategy sessions involved in the team’s “rebirth” –
including how trades are made and coaches are fired -- that he sometimes
found himself shaking his head in amazement.
“I had a sense it was going to be a good story – I just didn’t really know how
good,” said Conte, whose book started appearing in bookstores and online
last week. “I remember one night standing outside a meeting about the new
arena at the state office building in the freezing cold and wondering what
was really going on in there.
“This team came out of bankruptcy and almost left town, but ended up
getting a new arena and becoming one of the premier franchises in sports. I
wanted to tell the story of how it happened, and what really went on behind
those closed doors.”
Want to know how Penguins management deliberated and ultimately decided to make a major trade for Marian
Hossa? Conte has it. How the team brass debated and then finally decided the coaching future of Michel
Therrien? Conte has it.
Want to virtually sit in on the final, crucial negotiations for a new arena between Governor Ed Rendell, local
political leaders, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and team officials? Conte takes you there.
And as for the drawn-out process on deciding who would receive the Pittsburgh casino license and directly
impact the future of the team and the city, the author has that nailed.
No less an authority than national hockey writer Craig Custance, now with espn.com, says, “Breakaway has
the perfect blend of dogged reporting and colorful story-telling. The detail Andrew Conte provides while lifting
the curtain on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh is remarkable. This is
not just a hockey book, this is a story of politics and of business that shares the blueprint on how to
successfully run an organization. Even the most die-hard Penguins fan will learn something new about the
power brokers who saved their franchise.”
But it is not just a story from the Penguins’ perspective, and it is certainly not a whitewash of the mistakes the
franchise made along the way. Although Conte spoke to many key club officials both on and off the record, his
book was an independent project that tells all aspects of the Penguins’ remarkable narrative, warts and all.
“The story ends up great for the Penguins – a Cinderella story where they get a new arena and the win the
Stanley Cup – but there were a lot of twists and turns along the way,” Conte says. “The team was almost sold
several times. The team almost moved out of town. In the end those twists and turns make for quite an
amazing tale.”
Conte’s book underscores the important role of co-owner Mario Lemieux, the well-known face of the franchise,
and even takes the reader inside some conversations between Lemieux and GM Ray Shero on key hockey
matters. “Clearly, none of this happens without Mario,” the author said. But it also for the first time reveals and
examines the essential role of co-owner Ron Burkle, the billionaire businessman who always operates away
from the spotlight. Burkle’s impact on the Penguins’ success is one of the delightful fresh takes of the book.
And it wasn’t just on arena negotiations, where he excelled.
At a meeting of ownership and senior management in early 2008 to discuss a potential trade for Hossa, Conte
reports that it was Burkle who set the tone. When a member of the Penguins’ old guard mentioned the
existence of a five-year plan that might be disrupted by dealing prospects and draft picks for an established
star like Hossa, Burkle said, “The Soviet Union had five-year plans. It didn’t work out well for them. The
question is, do we have a shot if we make this move.”
There certainly were risks involved in the trade, including financial risks from significantly increasing the
payroll, but Burkle sensed it was time to strike. His business savvy was legendary, and now he was helping to
shape a strategic decision on the hockey side – especially after his staff convinced him the Penguins could
make a run at a championship that year if they stepped up and made the deal. “I think we ought to go get him
now,” Burkle is quoted as saying. “Don’t we owe it to our fans to try and win every single year?’
The book is jammed with other such revelations and anecdotes, including:



Team CEO David Morehouse’s incomprehensible rise from an underachieving student in Pittsburgh’s
Beechview section to a brief career as boilermaker to national politics and the White House, to Harvard
and, eventually, to an executive role with his hometown team. “He’s a guy who never forgot where he
came from,” Conte said. “He was once a kid sitting outside on the sidewalk, hoping he could get a
ticket. He grew up a Pittsburgh sports fan, and he remembers the experience. That shapes how the
Penguins treat their fans today.”
The raucous arena negotiating session at the state office building in Pittsburgh that featured Rendell
screaming at attorney Chuck Greenberg and pounding the table in anger – and the Pens’ negotiating
team, led by Burkle, getting up and walking out.
Penguins center Evgeni Malkin’s first detailed interview on the day he secretly slipped away from his
Russian team in Helsinki, Finland to come to the United States and join the Penguins. Conte also
talked to the coach of Malkin’s Russian team, who, remembering the day, said “We’re getting on the
bus with all our equipment and my translator tells me they can’t find Malkin. My first thoughts were,
‘Holy geez, I wonder if this is it.’ ”



The revelation that the Penguins looked at selecting Don Barden as their casino partner but ultimately
declined because they concluded Barden didn’t have the money. As it turned out, Barden got the
license in an upset – but didn’t have the money to complete the deal.
The surprising admission by Sanford Rivers of the Gaming Control Board about his decision not to
award the license to the Penguins’ casino partner, Isle of Capri, which had promised to pay for a new
arena: “Isle of Capri, their only hook was ‘Save the Penguins, save the Penguins, save the Penguins,’”
Rivers said. “The animosity I had is that the city of Pittsburgh is more than just the Penguins.” Even
after Barden’s financial deal had fallen apart, Rivers told Conte, “It never crossed my mind that he was
not funded.”
The fact that the decisive meeting resulting in a new arena for Pittsburgh and the Penguins took place
not in Pittsburgh or even Harrisburg but in the ballroom of a Crowne Plaza hotel in New Jersey. And
that when Rendell asked Commissioner Bettman to take a seat at the center of the table as a neutral
observer, Bettman declined, saying, “I’m going to sit with my friends Ron and Mario.”
And much more. There are so many behind-the-scenes revelations in the book that many folks who work for
the Penguins or local government will learn astonishing new details of the team’s odyssey.
“No one person knew the whole story,” Conte said. “That was part of the challenge, and part of the motivation.
I had to talk to a lot of people from a lot of different walks of life to put it all together. I hope people enjoy
reading it as much as I enjoyed reporting and writing it.”
Super Bowl XL: The Pittsburgh Steelers “Renaissance”
February, 2006
DETROIT – The Steelers have their “one for the thumb.” The “Team of the 70s” that rivaled the Cowboys to be
called “America’s Team” won their 5th Super Bowl title Sunday in the hometown of perhaps the team’s most
iconic player. Jerome Bettis came back for one more season, for one more shot at winning the elusive title to
which he’d come so close twice before.
No one realized as the Steelers walked off the field in the Rose Bowl on that January evening in 1980 that the
dynasty was over. Fans expected “One for the thumb, in ’81!” but it was not to be. The 1980s saw the decline of
the proud franchise after their last stand in the 1984 season, falling to Pittsburgh’s own Dan Marino as he
quarterbacked the Dolphins to the Super Bowl where Steeler fans thought their team always belonged. But as
Jack Lambert succumbed to his turf toe, Bradshaw’s elbow gave, and many of the rest realized that Father
Time is still undefeated, the team’s foundation crumbled and was never rebuilt. The star players could not be
replaced, and not even Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll, the only man to hoist the Lombardi Trophy four times
could reclaim the old glory. The dynasty was over.
Enter hometown kid Bill Cowher, whose 1994 team brought the Steelers to the brink of Super Bowl glory, only
to fall to the heavy underdog San Diego Chargers, then fall the next year in Super Bowl XXX, as the underdog
Steelers almost pulled off one of the great upsets in Super Bowl history over the heavily favored Dallas
Cowboys.
The Steelers were back in the AFC Championship games in ’97, ’01, and ’04, but lost at home each time either
to an underdog or a team the Steelers had already defeated in the regular season. For most teams, this is
success. But most teams aren’t the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers started their season with high expectations, only to stumble to a 7-5 record after
12 games that put them out of the playoffs. But a four game winning streak that began on a snowy Heinz Field
turf against the Bears (and gave Bettis his iconic TD run over Bears star linebacker Brian Urlacher) put the
Steelers in the playoffs…barely. They were the sixth seeded team in the AFC, which means all road games for
as long as they keep winning.
A victory over the Bengals was followed by one of the greatest upsets in NFL playoff history over Peyton
Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. The victory over the Broncos seemed just a formality and the Steelers
were off to Detroit for Super Bowl XL.
Steeler fans invaded Ford Field in Detroit and gave the team the closest thing to a home game they’d have that
playoff year, and it worked. Willie Parker’s 75 yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half gave
the Steelers an 11 point lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and on that Sunday night in the Motor City, the Steelers
joined the Cowboys and 49ers as the only NFL teams with 5 Super Bowl championships.
The fun didn’t end there.
Three seasons later, the Steelers proved that Super Bowl XL was the rebirth of the proud franchise. They
became the first team to win 6 titles after their victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa. Two seasons later,
they were on the brink of the “Stairway to Seven” before falling to the Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay
Packers. After winning four Super Bowls in 6 years in the 70s, the Steelers played in three more (winning two)
in another six year period, and while not a dynasty yet, the similarities are striking. When the city of Pittsburgh
is down, whether it be the collapse of the steel industry in the 70s or the “Great Recession” of the modern era,
the Steelers find a way to lift the spirts of a fallen city.
Sports Illustrated commemorated the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers with a special issue of the fabled magazine. The
most poignant message was a two word message to the team: Welcome back.