Apr 26, 2002 4 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a surprisingly strong start, but there’s something missing at PNC Park – namely, very many fans. The three-game series against the Dodgers that wrapped up Thursday drew only 43,556, lowering the average crowd for the Pirates’ first 12 home games in one-year-old PNC Park to 20,577, down from 28,958 a year ago.

Of course, there isn’t the novelty factor this season with a new ballpark, as there was a year ago, and the Pirates’ 12th home date last season came on May 4, or 10 days later than Thursday’s game.

Still, their fans still don’t seem ready to warm up yet to the Pirates despite an unexpectedly good 13-7 start, their best in a decade.

“But it’s something we can’t worry about on the field,” pitcher Dave Williams said. “If the fans show up, they show up. Once our fans start to take a little more seriously what we’re trying to do, they’ll show up.”

There are plenty of theories why there’s been such a big falloff amid a surprisingly good start.

Brian Giles was the first player to question whether the much-criticized ticket price increases implemented by owner Kevin McClatchy only days after the Pirates finished a 100-loss season last year were a wise way to do business.

The fans’ negative reaction to the $1- to $2-per-seat hikes was much greater than the Pirates expected, and may have contributed to the drop-off in season sales from 17,000 last year to about 10,000.

“I have no idea how you can lose 100 games and raise ticket prices,” Giles said. “They’re saying how we’re winning now and we can’t draw. Well, we lost 100 games and it costs more to get in.”

There are other factors, too. It hasn’t helped that the weather has been lousy, with numerous games played in rainy, 40- to 50-degree weather; in a recent span of five home games, four were delayed by rain for more than eight hours.

On the occasional days the weather hasn’t been dreary, walk-up sales – fans buying tickets on game day – have been good. The Pirates have twice set club records for walk-up sales, first for a Willie Stargell bobblehead doll giveaway April 10 and again Friday against the Phillies.

The bad weather has inconveniently coincided with a massive road construction project that has closed the outbound lanes of the heavily traveled Fort Pitt Tunnel, western Pennsylvania’s most heavily traveled roadway. The four-month closure is forcing suburbanites unfamiliar with the city’s back roads to take rarely traveled alternate routes following games, some late at night.

The Pirates, located in one of the majors’ two smallest markets, also are fighting tradition.

With much of the metropolitan area’s population scattered amid five counties, mostly in suburbs as far as an hour from the city, fans are traditionally unwilling to commit an entire evening to make the drive to and from the ballpark on school nights.

Count manager Lloyd McClendon is among those who can’t wait for warmer weather, for school to end – and for bigger crowds. For good reason, too; the Pirates are 7-1 on the road but 6-6 at home.

“I’m sure it (the low attendance) affects the team; you want the crowds cheering you like the crowds cheer the home team when we’re on the road,” he said. “I hope when it warms up, the crowds will be back.”

The fan unrest apparently led the Pirates to roll back the prices on nearly 4,000 outfield seats by a dollar each, from $11 to last year’s $10.

However, while the good start didn’t help attendance this week, it will help later in the season. After the Pirates won seven of their first eight road games, advance ticket sales spiked sharply and now average about 3,000 per day.

“If we keep winning, I’m sure the fans will show up,” Williams said. “That’s baseball.”