Park Number 13 (of 30), PNC Park
Pittsburgh 4, Florida 2
WP: S. Torres (5-3) LP: A. Benitez (2-1)
ChiSox 5, Oak 2
Interview Pirate Fans David Mullin (Dad) & David Paul (Son)
This is one of the longer interviews on our blog (maybe the longest), but well worth the read. David & David are funny, charming and very kind. We just sat next to them then the conversation started up very quickly.
RC:
How long have you been a Pirates fan?
DM:
Since 1972.
RC:
‘72 -- do you remember--
DM:
That’s when we moved here.
RC:
Where did you move here from?
DM:
Milwaukee.
RC:
Were you a Brewers fan before that?
DM:
I was kind of a Braves fan and a Brewers fan.
RC:
How long did it take you to transition to the Pirates?
DM:
Right away. Because we were good. We had great teams in the ‘70’s.
RC:
What was your first memory of coming to the ballpark?
DM:
We all skipped school and came down for opening day. We took a bus down and everybody skipped school and we came down to Three-Rivers Stadium. It was great. I don’t remember who we played but it was fun skipping school.
RC:
What grade was that for you?
DM:
Seventh grade.
RC:
Did your folks find out?
DM:
They knew we were coming.
RC:
So your folks were behind the skipping school?
DM:
Of course. It’s a sports town, you know?
RC:
What was the first game you went to with your father?
DM:
It was actually a Brewers game. You know my dad took us to a lot of sporting events.
RC:
Do you remember, as a little guy, that it was important to you? Did you know that time together was valuable?
DM:
Oh yeah. It was great. I had six brothers and sisters. But (Dad) took a lot of us to the games. Usually it was the boys. It was a lot of fun.
RC:
Was there any time you felt baseball was a way, maybe, you could communicate with your dad and maybe it was an inroad when you had a tough time talking otherwise?
DM:
I didn’t communicate very well with him, even at a ball game. But, you know, I think he was right about a lot of things. That’s how (my son and I) are now, we disagree on everything. He’s 14, we can’t agree on anything.
RC:
David would you say you disagree with your father?
DP:
Yeah.
RC:
Well now you just agreed on that.
DP:
Oh no, then I don’t.
RC: (To David Paul)
When was the first game you went to with your dad -- do you remember?
DP:
No.
RC:
Was it here? At PNC?
DM:
Three Rivers.
DP:
Three Rivers.
RC:
Do you remember liking it?
DP:
Yeah.
RC:
Who’s your favorite player on the Pirates?
DP:
Right now? Jason Bay.
RC:
Why?
DP:
Because he’s the best player on the team.
DM:
Well he’s hot right now, you know, Rookie of the Month.
RC:
So you went to Cooperstown with your dad, right? To the Hall of Fame? What did you think of that?
DP:
It was awesome. They had all the baseball players on the wall and stuff.
RC:
What did you say your favorite movie was?
DP:
The Natural.
RC:
Now, is that one of your favorites?
DM:
Yeah. Of course. Roy Hobbs.
RC:
You also mentioned Field of Dreams.
DM:
Field of Dreams is great.
RC:
Bull Durham?
DP:
I don’t know that one.
DM:
I don’t think he’s seen that. Great move. Little racy for him.
RC:
Yeah, I was gonna say...
DM:
Not quite ready for it.
RC:
There was--
DP:
“Angels in the Outfield”.
DM:
Great movie.
RC:
How about “The Rookie”? Have you seen that one?
DP:
Yeah, I have that one.
DM:
The Rookie’s really good. True story.
RC:
Yeah, I thought Dennis Quaid was great in that film. So what other parks have you guys been to together?
DP:
Fenway, Yankee--
DM:
Tell him what you said. We drove all day to get to Yankee Stadium through the rain. We get there, David and his two cousins. We get to the game, get to our seats -- what did you say?
DP:
These seats suck.
DM:
I almost drove him right back home. He says, “These seats suck”. And I almost threw him back in the car to go home. We saw an amazing game. Clemens pitched. He had like a --
DP:
Clemens choked.
DM:
No, Clemens pitched really well against the Angels. He had like a five run lead.
DP:
They blew it.
DM:
They pulled him. We left because we were driving up to Boston. And, uh, the Yankees ended up losing the game. Erstad made a diving catch in like the 11th inning, then came back and hit a home run in the next...you know how you make a great play and then...so we missed that. We left the game too early. We’ll try not to leave too early tonight.
DP:
Jason Bay caught, that’s why I like him.
RC:
Now how did you feel about leaving that game early?
DP:
I didn’t want to stay.
RC:
‘Cause the seats sucked?
DP:
Yeah. They -- we were all the way up in F.
DM:
We were actually in the last row you could be in. Our backs were against the concrete. I don’t think there’s a bad seat in Yankee Stadium, though.
RC:
Where’s the best food - the best ballpark food?
DP:
Probably...
DM:
What about Cleveland? Did you like Cleveland?
DP:
Yeah.
DM:
Cleveland’s a good stadium. The Jake.
RC:
What makes the Jake special?
DM:
It’s intimate, like this, you know? Cleveland’s a small town like Pittsburgh. You know, they had a lot of success with that stadium and...it gave us hope for this thing. I don’t know if we’re going to achieve it. It’s pretty hard to compete without pitching and it’s hard to get pitching with a payroll like we have. But we’ve won 13 of 17 games and it feels good here, right?
DP:
I like this ballpark because it’s the home field. We don’t have to travel. I like the Pepsi can (a giant neon Pepsi Can adorns right field) and the infield is nice. I hate that the umps suck.
DM:
What does that have to do with--
DP:
(Looking at the outfield big screen)
I like the wall screen.
DM:
Yeah, that’s good, actually.
RC:
Now, David, do you suppose you could drive one out of here if you teed it up on home plate?
DP:
Yeah. With my driver. I could put it in the river, probably.
DM:
Yeah, he could put it in the river, probably.
RC:
(to DM)
Did you play baseball when you were a kid?
DP:
No.
DM:
Yeah.
DP:
No you didn’t. You played hockey.
DM:
I played baseball, also. I played second base.
RC:
Were you any good?
DP:
No.
DM:
I thought I was, but I really wasn’t. David’s a pretty good player.
DP:
I batted .300.
DM:
His cousin’s a good player.
DP:
My cousin batted .471 and made the all-star team.
RC:
What position do you play, David?
DP:
Hot corner.
DM:
He plays third, he plays some outfield, too.
RC:
Now would you ever say there’s a life-lesson involved with baseball?
DM:
Yeah, it’s a--
DP stands as the crowd roars, following a hot shot down the third base line.
DP: Get down!
It falls foul. The crowd groans,. DP sits.
DM: I think sports are great for kids. You should never give up. Always play hard. I always tell David to play hard. When the game’s over go over and shake the guy’s hand. But don’t even play if you’re not going to compete. I don’t think we teach the kids to compete anymore.
DP: No.
DM: We live in a little town and they say, don’t worry what the score is. I say that’s crazy. You should teach the kids to try to win. When the game’s over, it doesn’t matter, but you should teach the kids to try to win.
RC: So you think there’s a swing to maybe being too careful?
DP:As long as you...
DM: I think we want to...everybody’s too worried about being politically correct, or whatever. But that’s why things are more mediocre.
DP: Just like my dad said, try to give it all you got. Well, he didn’t say that, but...
DM: That’s what I meant, though. See, we’re communicating.
RC: Why come to the games together? What’s important about this for fathers and sons?
DM: It’s a commonality. We both love baseball. I have come home every weekend for about the past four years. And I go to his baseball games and we play golf together. We haven’t come (to the Major League games) much this year because he started playing golf. I can’t get him off the course, actually.
DP: I even played today in the rain. (David stands with the moan of the crowd and yells at the ump): YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN’ ME!
His father laughs. DP sits, stands again briefly then sits again, looking for a fan to share his frustration with.
DP: That was way in-freaking-side.
RC: I don’t think you have to worry about his competitive nature.
DM: I think baseball’s the one thing...it’s sort of anchored with its roots. The uniforms are the same, the stadiums are the same --
DP: No it’s not.
DM: --the bats are still wooden. You look at all the other sports and they’ve all seemed to change a lot. I don’t know if it’s steroids or money, but this sport is still about, you’ve got to hit a ball that’s going 100 miles per hour. The thing I like about baseball is the more you know about it the more you appreciate it. There’s all this downtime that leaves a lot to the creative imagination. That’s why I think really creative people, all these artists and writers always liked baseball. And you know, you’re sitting here watching the Pirates, we’re this little team, but you know, everyone is hoping that we’re going to go to the World Series somehow by some miracle --
DP: (to the game): Hey! You stink!
DM: --and we’re gonna compete with George Steinbrenner and the Yankees. Maybe that makes us all kids or something. It’s what I’m hoping is going to happen, we’ve won 13 of our last 17, we’re on a roll here.
DP: I think we’re gonna win the last 20 of our games. We’re not gonna lose at all.
DM: Well, we have about 70 left.
DP: No, maybe like 98 or 99.
RC: So hope...that’s a good thing.
DM: Yeah. What do you think?
RC: I think hope’s a real important thing.
I went on to explain more about the reasons for our trip to Big David. As I did, I could tell he was genuinely interested. He was nodding appropriately and perhaps even getting a bit choked up.
DM: (Your Story is) beautiful. I think it restores your faith in people in America. Maybe that’s where baseball is at. It’s still pretty innocent. Whatever is happening on the field for nine innings, it’s still pretty good. All the periphery that surrounds it, the money and the trades, I don’t know about that, but, right now, we’re just watching the game and nothing else matters.
Just at that moment, the fans, in unison, begin to wave the towels they’ve been given for the evening. Jumping sports to the Steelers, it is very reminiscent of the “Terrible Towels”. They have a terrible team and, yet, somehow they believe. It's awesome to be a part of.
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