'Burgh's best to wear it, No. 22: Andrew McCutchen taught Pirates how to win

The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.

No. 22: Andrew McCutchen

Andrew McCutchen will be remembered for many achievements in his nine seasons in Pittsburgh: swinging a reliable bat, stealing bases, running down line drives in the outfield and showing the Pirates, finally, how to win.

He slashed .291/.371/.470 in his Pirates career, and led the National League in on-base percentage (.410) and OBP, plus slugging, (.952) in 2014 — the year after he was NL MVP.

Only five Pirates, all-time, have a better offensive WAR (wins above replacement) than McCutchen’s 47.9, and Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Paul Waner, Arky Vaughan and Willie Stargell are in the Hall of Fame.

Just as important, he brought an attitude that carried the Pirates from the major league shadows to three consecutive postseason berths after 20 years of losing baseball.

Drafted No. 11 overall in the first round in 2005, McCutchen wasn’t a great home-run hitter, but he collected at least 21 in each of his last seven seasons in Pittsburgh, finishing with a total of 203.

But one summer night at PNC Park, he etched his name among those of Bill Mazeroski, Mark Smith and John Milner as the four Pirates who hit the most dramatic walk-off home runs in team history.

On July 11, 2015 — actually the next day because the 5-hour, 4-minute marathon didn’t end until 20 minutes after midnight — McCutchen belted a two-run homer into the center-field bushes in the bottom of the 14th inning to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5.

Veteran play-by-play man Greg Brown shouted, “You can raise the Jolly Roger and call it maybe the best all-time in Pittsburgh.”

Steve Blass told his listeners, “Save your ticket. You just saw as good as it can get in the big leagues.”

That was as good as it got for the Pirates, who went on to win 98 games and make their most recent postseason appearance. They have not been back since that 2015 season.

The Pirates traded McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants prior to the 2018 season for Bryan Reynolds and Kyle Crick. The Giants dealt McCutchen to the New York Yankees at the deadline that year, and he’s now with the Philadelphia Phillies. Two months shy of his 34th birthday, he had three hits in his first 26 at-bats this season.

McCutchen is the Tribune-Review staff’s choice as the best to wear No. 22 in Pittsburgh, but there are several others who deserve mention:

• On top of that list is Hall of Fame quarterback Bobby Layne, who played the final four-plus seasons of his 16-year career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a first-round draft choice of the Chicago Bears in 1948, but he played most of his career in Detroit where he led the Lions to four championship games, winning in 1952, ’53 and ’57 and losing to the Cleveland Browns in ’54. With the Steelers, he threw for 4,970 of his 26,768 career yards, with 66 touchdowns and 81 interceptions. He retired after the 1962 season at the age of 36.

• Valley High School graduate Baron “B.B.” Flenory played on the most recent Duquesne basketball team to reach the NCAA Tournament. He scored 1,382 points from 1976-77 to 1979-80.

• Highlands’ Micah Mason was the first player in Duquesne history to lead the nation in a statistical category. He shot 56% from beyond the 3-point arc in 2013-14, the best in college basketball over the previous 22 years. He completed his career, including one season at Drake, as the sixth-best 3-point shooter in NCAA history (.463, 311 for 671). In three seasons at Duquesne, he set an Atlantic 10 record for 3-point shooting percentage (.458).

• Pitt’s Jason Matthews is the sixth-leading scorer in school history with 1,840 points from 1987-88 to 1990-91.

• The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mike Bullard scored 185 goals with 175 assists from 1980-81 to 1986-87. Over the next seven years, he played for four other teams and increased his career totals to 329/345.

• Arizona Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet played only three seasons with the Penguins. But he helped win the 1992 Stanley Cup, totaling 14 goals and 16 assists in 19 games, after a February trade with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.