Former Manager Looks Back on Pirates Tenure

PITTSBURGH Former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle spent almost a decade in the home dugout at PNC Park, but his return placed him on the opposite side for the first time in a long while.

Hurdle returned to Pittsburgh in colors of grey and purple of the Colorado Rockies, as he took over earlier this season as their interim hitting coach , following an historically awful start to 2025.

The 68-year old is on a Rockies team that sits 37-92 overall for the worst record in the MLB, eight wins less than the next team, the Chicago White Sox, at 45-83.

Hurdle joined on April 17 as Rockies interim hitting coach, after previously serving as the special assistant to the general manager.

Changing roles to one where he traveled more often and being away from family wasn't easy after being in semi-retirement, but Hurdle saw a team that needed guidance and wanted to help any way he could.

My wife told me, you are built for hard.

Ive done hard personally.

Ive done hard professionally when I was a player and coaching in life.

I did some more hard a couple of months ago, why I missed the Pirates series when my mom passed.

Maddie just had a situation here where I thought I would have to stay in Denver and not make this trip.

So Ive done hard.

I know what that looks like.

I know what that feels like.

I also know what it means to other people when there arent people that want to help.

More people want to pour more gas on the fire than help put out the fire.

I always thought of myself as somebody, just give your best effort and see if you can help make a difference.

Hurdle found himself in a similar situation in 2011 when he started his first season as the Pirates manager.

The Pirates were coming off their 18th consecutive losing season and off of three miserable campaings under John Tracy, where they lost 95, 99 and 105 games from 2008-10, respectively.

Hurdle then had early success with both the 2011 and 2012 teams, including getting to a 47-43 record in 2011 at the All-Star break, the Pirates' first .500 record at that point since 1992.

He also did the same in 2012, going 48-37, but both seasons had late collapses ended under .500, serving as the 19th and 20th consecutive losing seasons.

He and the Pirates finally got things right from 2013-15, ending the longest consecuitve losing season streak in North American Sports history and making three straight playoff appearances.

The Pirates finished 94-68 in 2013, 88-74 in 2014 and 98-64, earning three National League Wild Card appearances.

Pittsburgh won the NL Wild Card Game in front of a soldout, blackout crowd in 2013 over the Cincinnati Reds and finished one game short of the NLCS, losing to the St.

Louis Cardinals in five games.

They lost both Wild Card games in 2014 and 2015 to the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs.

While the Pirates never made it back to the postseason in the final four seasons of Hurdle's regime, he made turned the franchise from perennial losers to successful in a shortspan, giving the city a baseball team worth rooting for again.

One of the things that I shared publicly when I was given the opportunity to be the manager were the hopes were to rebond the city with its baseball team and I believe we did that," Hurdle said.

"There are a lot of finger prints on the success that we had collectively.

We didnt get to where we wanted to go, the final destination, a World Series championship.

This park became a hostile environment for opposing teams.

That three year period in 13-15, I probably had as much fun in the game of baseball as Ive ever had anywhere.

"The fans made part of that happen because the fan base, as you well know, here is so deeply passionate.

There are a lot of good feelings coming back because we did a lot of hard together too.

Its like an old friend, one that I havent seen in a long time that Im happy to see.

Many players thrived under Hurdle's tenure, including current Pirates player Andrew McCutchen, who made five straight All-Star Games from 2011-15, won four conecutive NL Silver Slugger Awards from 2012-15, won an NL Gold Glove Award in 2012, the NL MVP in 2013 and the Roberto Clemente Award in 2015.

Others included Pedro Alvarez, who led the NL In home runs in 2013, earning an All-Star nod and winning a Silver Slugger Award, outfielder Starling Marte, who won two NL Gold Glove Awards and made an All-Star game, utility man Josh Harrison , plus pitchers in Mark Melancon, Gerrit Cole, A.J.

Burnett, Jason Grilli, Tony Watson, Joel Hanrahan and many more.

Hurdle didn't want to talk about what he thinks people should say about his time in Pittsburgh, but that he knows that he gave everything he had for the job and that he believes Pirates fans recognized that.

I dont think that does anybody any good with me trying to speak what my legacy could be into existence because everybodys got a different take," Hurdle said.

"Id like to be known, I gave it everything I had.

My mom used to tell me anytime I was on the phone with her, Give it everything you got.

I gave it everything I had in the nine years I was here.

The coaches that I worked with gave it everything they had, the players we had gave it everything we had, we gave it the best push we could give and we got close and thats, I think people in Pittsburgh really respect that.

"We rolled our sleeves up and we went to work.

Wasnt a lot of BS.

There were many times when Id tell them after a game, even with people there, Hey I made a mistake.

This didnt work, its on us.

We didnt make excuses." Hurdle still keeps in contact with many former Pirate players and coaches, even six years on from his final season in Pittsburgh in 2019, including current ones like McCutchen, outfielder Bryan Reynolds and right-handed starting pitcher Mitch Keller, plus Clint Barmes, Jordy Mercer, Travis Snider, Harrison, Grilli and others.

The time Hurdle spent with the Pirates serves as one of the best parts in his long baseball career, especially with the relationships during his time with the ballclub.

Through the highs of making the postseason and the lows of late season collapses and the team returning to mediocrity at the end of the 2010s, Hurdle oversaw a team that gave its city hope and pride in their baseball team, something that fans still thank him for to this day.

"...As Ive told people that are close to me, this is one of the highlights of anything I ever did in a uniform, was being here, through it all.

"Not just the three [playoff seasons], but you cant experience happy if you havent been sad.

You cant experience good if you havent been bad and weve got all those emotions we were probably able to run through the gambit.

I probably gave the fans an opportunity to run through all those emotions.

"Ill still get notes from my Sunday lineup, my Thursday this and you know what, thats kind of cool, because theyre still holding on to some things and the one thing that I still get a lot of, they just thank me for the effort of putting baseball where they felt it should be back in its proper place here in Pittsburgh and for being a helper to do that." Make sure to visit Pirates OnSI for the latest news, updates, interviews and insight on the Pittsburgh Pirates Bubba Chandler Dominates in Debut as Pirates Blank Rockies Pirates Announce Lineup vs MLB-Worst Rockies Pirates Reveal Bubba Chandler Uniform Number Pirates' Paul Skenes Visits Former Coach's New Team Pirates Teammates React to Bubba Chandler Promotion.

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