Nice Guys Don’t Always Finish Last
On April 20, Cole Tucker became the 79th former Power player to make his MLB debut, and ended up mashing the eventual game-winning home run in the bottom of the fifth inning of the Pirates’ rain-shortened 3–1 win over the San Francisco Giants. Tucker has always been described as a fan favorite at every level he’s been at, and we wanted to find out why. Well, it’s become pretty evident.
The phrase “Nice guys don’t always finish last” was taught to most of us in elementary school, usually through some sort of children’s book, or possibly in a conversation with a guidance counselor or teacher after a particularly rough day. While that phrase can apply to life in general, one might be surprised to know that it can relate to baseball as well, and more specifically, to a man named Cole Tucker.
Now, most of us that these words apply to hear them over and over again throughout our lives, so much so that we eventually tune them out, considering it an utterance with no substance. However, Tucker never believed he would finish last (which in this case, would be not making the Major Leagues), because, as he put it, he knew what he was going to do since second grade.
“As soon as I found out what baseball was and that the Major Leagues existed, that was my goal,” Tucker said. “I felt that that was my calling, and I wanted it so badly. Obviously, the odds are never in your favor, but I was a believer. I really did think that I had what it took at a young age to play in the big leagues.”
Tucker, of course, knew how big he was dreaming, but that never wavered his confidence.
“Those were pretty lofty goals for a kid who still has his baby teeth, but that’s really how I felt,” Tucker added. “I used to tell my friends in the library or at lunch in elementary school that this is what I wanted to do. I probably looked like an idiot back then, but now I look really smart.”
Dreams Become Reality
A few weeks ago, on a mid-April evening, the Phoenix, Arizona, native received a phone call that backed up his seven-year-old statements that he does indeed belong in the big leagues.
On April 19, Starling Marte and Erik Gonzalez collided in the eighth inning of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ game against the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park. The slam caused both players to be placed on the injured list. However, while all of Pittsburgh took a collective gasp, some 350 miles away in Indianapolis, one player had a different reaction.
While Tucker didn’t see the play live, his phone started blowing up when it happened, as the Pirates’ shortstop was certainly destined to miss time, leaving a potential spot open for Tucker with the big league club. There was one thought that went through the Tucker’s mind as he witnessed the unfortunate event for the first time.
“In the back of my head, all I kept thinking was, this could be it,” Tucker said.
Now, of course, he could never be sure until he got the phone call so many desperately crave but few actually get. His manager, Brian Esposito, who fittingly managed Tucker in Charleston as well, was the one to provide him that assurance, dialing him up while he was sitting with his mom in a hotel room. Tucker immediately knew what was happening, and he couldn’t contain himself.
“I just started pounding on the bed, straight up smacking it, flailing around,” Tucker recalled. “It was really cool to have him be the one to tell me and to share that with my mom, whom I’m very close with. To let her see that moment and experience that with me was a great moment.”
“I felt that that was my calling, and I wanted it so badly. Obviously, the odds are never in your favor, but I was a believer. I really did think that I had what it took at a young age to play in the big leagues.”
The euphoria didn’t end for the Pirates’ 2014 first-round pick as he made his way to the Steel City, as he was immediately congratulated by hundreds of fans, his Pirates teammates, and even Pirates color commentator Steve Blass, who’s been with the organization for decades. The entire city of Pittsburgh began to rally behind Tucker, just like he had supported every other city he had been in during his Minor League career. After the game, Tucker said he had received more than 500 texts. That’s probably a low estimate after his first day in the bigs was all said and done. But here’s the thing, he sat down and responded to every single one.
Now, why so much support for Tucker from everyone around him? Why was his making the big leagues such a big deal to so many different groups of people? Sure, he’s a first round pick out of high school in Arizona, but there’s plenty of those guys in the Majors, and none of them received the ovation Tucker did as he made his MLB debut.
To find the answer, we need to flash back to his time in Charleston, West Virginia, which began in 2015. Fresh off a solid first season in the Gulf Coast League in 2014, Tucker was ready to experience full season baseball for the first time, but little did he know the fans of Charleston, and one fan in particular, was just as excited for him to be there as he was.
That fan was none other than the famed “Toastman”, Rod Blackstone, a Charleston baseball legend who is known for making toast from his seat in section 107, Row A every game and slinging it to fans after opposing batters strike out. Blackstone had heard about Tucker from Pirates coordinator Kevin Young, whom Rod had befriended over the years of his Pirates’ fandom. Young had informed him to look out for Tucker in 2015, as he was destined to come to West Virginia, and gave him an understatement of a description for him.
“He told me he was a really nice guy,” Blackstone said.
So, the 2015 season comes around, and Blackstone made his annual pilgrimage to Pirates Spring Training with one goal in mind: Meet the famed Cole Tucker. Funny enough, Tucker was ready to meet him too.
“He already knew my name. Kevin had told him about me, and his high school coach (Micah Franklin), who used to be a Charleston Wheeler back in the 1990’s, had spoken about me as well. Without even knowing me, he was very friendly and warm to me,” Blackstone said. “You could tell there was something special about him.”
Tucker did start the year in West Virginia, where he and Blackstone’s relationship only blossomed. Rod ended up being Cole’s host parent that season (mind you, it took some newfangled fortune, but it happened). However, their relationship rapidly surpassed the host parent-player stage to friendship within a matter of weeks.
It wasn’t just Blackstone who quickly took to Tucker, but every fan in Charleston. The then-18-year-old was constantly the last player signing autographs, interacting with the fans and showcasing his unbridled joy on the baseball field every day. However, Tucker didn’t just make an impression on the fans, but his teammates as well, emerging as the clubhouse leader.
“I have basically done that everywhere I played. Charleston was so special for me. I really loved playing there and playing in that city,” Tucker said. “I was so excited and so young and ready to be there and do everything all at 500 miles per hour.”
When asked if he was already on his way to being the leader in the Pirates’ locker room, he laughed and said that while he’d only been there a few days, several guys were telling him he was going to be that leader one day. But for now, Tucker is content with learning from those who have been there before him.
The 2015 Season in West Virginia
The 2015 campaign was a year of misfortune for Tucker too, as he ended up tearing his labrum in August on an all-out hustle play that saw him take out the first basemen to beat out an infield base hit. While Tucker missed eight months due to the injury, the only way it wavered him was physically. Mentally, he was as top-notch as ever.
“That play happened, and it sucked, but I learned so much and I faced a ton of adversity going through that process and the surgery and rehab. I’m a better person and player for it,” Tucker said. “However, the game is meant to be played the right way, and I feel that I play the game hard and things go bad when you try and ease up and take your foot off the gas. I’ll still run into a first baseman for a hit today; I’d do it all over again.”
The setback certainly didn’t affect Tucker’s attitude, or his sense of humor, and he returned to Charleston fully healthy in May 2016. His fan-favorite status had not changed.
Former Power play-by-play broadcaster Adam Marco had struck up a relationship with Cole as well during his first year with the team. Marco felt fortunate to have met someone as kind and genuine as Tucker in 2015, as that year was a rather hard one for his family. The eight-year Power radio voice lost his mother-in-law to cancer that summer and was rather private about the ordeal and the toll it took on his family, as one would expect, but somehow Cole found out about it. Marco doesn’t recall telling him.
Yet, as Tucker returned to Charleston in 2016, he remembered the tragic tale from 2015, and surprised Marco when he asked him about it upon his return.
“I saw Cole in the clubhouse the night before Mother’s Day, the game he was being activated to play in,” Marco said. “Without skipping a beat and with zero prompt, he asked how my family was doing. He was a teenager ready to play his first meaningful game after a major injury, but was asking about my personal life.”
Cole’s mom was in town to watch him play that weekend, and Marco made a point to go see her on Mother’s Day, as he had an important message to pass along to her about her son.
“I wanted her to know how good a person her son was. I said, “Just so you know, your son is…”
She cut in, jokingly, “He is so annoying, right?”
“Absolutely not,” Marco responded. “Your son is the greatest kid ever.”
Greatest kid ever. Face of the Franchise. Nicest person you’ll ever meet. Cole Tucker has been described as many things, but on April 20, 2019, he added one more descriptor to the list, Major Leaguer.
The Debut
The Pirates were in the midst of a series with the San Francisco Giants on a rainy Saturday afternoon, but there was an extra special glow to that game, as it was announced early that morning that Tucker had been recalled to Pittsburgh and would lead off the game and play shortstop. Tucker, of course, had already informed his family, with his mom, Erin, dad, Jackie, and brother, Carson, in attendance. A throng of Tucker fans headed to the park, ready to embrace the newest Pirate. Blackstone, of course, was among those at the game.
“I heard a little bit before noon, and by 12:15 I was in the car. Day of game. I had no warning,” Blackstone said laughing.
Blackstone headed up I-79 North and made his way to PNC Park, picking up friends and supplies along the way, including a brand-new painted sign reading the words “Young King Cole” that his friend Mary Alice Hodgson, who had made signs for him in West Virginia, quickly doctored up for him to take to the game.
The chant of “Young King Cole!” was birthed in Charleston by Blackstone after he got to know Tucker, dubbing him with that title because he had created a legion of followers around Charleston, and he continued to do so as he moved up to Bradenton, Altoona and Indianapolis.
“Everywhere he went, he made friends and created lasting relationships with everyone he met. People wanted to follow in his footsteps and support him on his journey,” Blackstone said. “He was a respected leader by many and beloved by all, much like a young king that creates that kind of following all across the kingdom and beyond.”
So, sign in hand and friends all around, Blackstone settled in to his seats behind the dugout to watch his friend live out his lifelong dream. Meanwhile, Tucker was treating this just like any other game, going through pregame batting practice and infield drills, as well as riffling through the scouting report on the Giants’ starting pitcher, Derek Holland. Tucker could’ve been playing against the Louisville Bats that night and would’ve prepared the same way, though the pregame nerves he felt prior to the National Anthem told him otherwise.
With all the pregame rituals aside, Tucker’s jitters subsided and he just went out and played baseball. His first at-bat, leading off the game, he lined out to the left fielder, but Tucker gained a lot of confidence from that plate appearance. He had checked one goal off his list: Have a quality at-bat.
His second at-bat, he came to the plate with a runner in scoring position, and struck out to end the inning. Oh well, Tucker thought, I’ll have another opportunity.
Little did he know he would only have one more that afternoon, as Mother Nature reared its ugly head and rain started to fall in the fifth inning. Tucker was due up in the bottom of the frame, and while it was raining, Blackstone had an inkling something big was going to happen.
“My friend Nathan asked me if I wanted to get out of the rain, but I said no, let’s hang on and see,” Blackstone said. “It was the bottom of the fifth and a tie game, so we held on and waited.”
Tucker stepped into the box and worked the count to 2–2. He fouled off a few pitches, and was feeling like he was a little late against Holland. Suddenly, a big burst of lightning flashed into Tucker’s field of view, and he called for time. Stepping back into the batter’s box, Tucker zeroed in on Holland and awaited the next pitch.
Holland left one up, out and over the plate, and Tucker didn’t miss. He blistered a sinker a projected 431 feet to dead center, with the ball traveling 104.4 MPH per Statcast. He became the first Pirates player to homer in his Major League debut since Starling Marte did it in 2012, who fittingly had been involved in the collision that preempted his call-up.
“I knew as soon as I hit it. I watched the video of it, and I guess I did a little Sammy Sosa hop for whatever reason,” Tucker said. “That wasn’t me though, I was possessed in that moment. I watched Giants center fielder Kevin Pillar running, and it looked like he might catch it, but I just kept thinking, ‘There’s no way dude, c’mon.’ And then I just kind of floated around the bases.”
The Pirates broadcast crew went wild, as did everyone in the ballpark. The radio call on KDKA 93.7 FM “The Fan”, as iconic as that moment was for Tucker, went like this:
“The pitch….and a fly ball to center field, sending Pillar back, toward the track, nearing THE WALL!!!! COLE TUCKER HAS HIT A HOME RUN! A BOMB TO CENTER FIELD! IT’S THE COLE TRAIN! HIS PARENTS ARE HERE! HIS FAMILY IS HERE! HE CROSSES HOME PLATE. DEAD CENTRAL! YOU TALK ABOUT CENTRAL CASTING! HE JUST GAVE THE PIRATES A 3–1 LEAD! HIS FIRST HIT IN THE BIG LEAGUES IS A HOME RUN!”
While the Pirates’ broadcasters were losing their minds high above the field, the crowd was in an uproar, led by Josh Bell, who was flapping his arms up and down over and over again, making sure everyone in Pittsburgh maximized the significance of this moment.
Tucker does have the baseball from his eventual game-winning hit, as the game ended up getting called at the end of the fifth due to rain, with his two-run homer marking the difference. Although, he admits sheepishly that he gave the ball to his parents to take back to Arizona, as he knows he would lose it. But even without the ball in his possession, Tucker was still in awe of how special the moment was.
“It’s what everyone dreams about. Every kid that plays Little League wants to get to the big leagues and be in the lineup and hit a homer or do something cool,” Tucker said. “I really legitimately got to do that and live out my dream and the dream of so many others. This week has been so special because I’ve had an unbelievable level of support from people who are here and aren’t here. I feel like I brought a lot of people with me when I got to the big leagues.”
Though Tucker was the one getting all the attention for his tremendous debut, he made sure to make it about the fans, as he has during every destination he had been in during the Minors. Even though it was raining and the players were waiting to hear if the game was going to be called, Tucker walked out of the dugout, stood in the rain and signed autographs, took pictures and posed with fans for as long as they wanted.
That’s just what Tucker has always done. No matter the attention that he draws, he puts the fans first, whether he’s in Charleston or Pittsburgh. To him, the fans matter more than anything.
“I just want to make people feel important. I want everyone’s experience, when they see Cole Tucker play a baseball game, to be a positive one,” Tucker said. “There’s that old quote that says ‘Every time you play, it could be someone’s first baseball game.’ It’s kind of cheesy and cliché, but it’s real. We’re out there and we are, at the end of the day, entertainers. Baseball would be nothing without its fans, so I want my fans, and fans of the Pirates, to have the best experience possible.”
Tucker has embodied those words through his Minor League tenure, and it is part of what has made his fan base so large and so loyal. There are plenty of stories of Tucker going above and beyond, but one stands out among the rest.
While Tucker was at Spring Training one year, he had befriended a young boy who lived in Indianapolis. That summer, the boy wanted nothing more than to drive to Altoona, Pa., where his new favorite player, Tucker, was currently assigned. His parents obliged, driving their whole family in the exact opposite direction that Tucker would take to start the 2019 season. Tucker found out about the boy’s request and decided to one-up the opportunity. He reached out to the birthday boy and offered a one-on-one chance to play catch on the field with Tucker before the game and throw out a first pitch. The boy’s birthday was made, and Tucker had a new lifelong fan.
Tucker is one of those players the creates loyalty because he is genuinely joy-filled, friendly, respectful and smart as a whip. He can and will talk with anyone about anything. He may be just 22 years old, but his maturity allows him to have intellectual and meaningful conversations with children and 90-year-olds alike, both of which he has done multiple times.
“We’re out there and we are, at the end of the day, entertainers. Baseball would be nothing without its fans, so I want my fans, and fans of the Pirates, to have the best experience possible.”
Blackstone is eager for fans to realize this about Tucker as he continues his Major League career (hopefully in Pittsburgh) for many years to come.
“He has the personality that will engender him to fans. I think people will realize he is the real deal on the field and off the field, and when people realize that, I think he very well could become the face of the franchise,” Blackstone said.
The Face of the Franchise. Blackstone isn’t the only one who feels that way, and while Tucker is honored to hear those words already being uttered by many a fan of his, he has left that as a long-term goal, and is focused in the immediacy on playing shortstop for the Pirates and helping them win ballgames. Although they are just 5–9 in Tucker’s 14 big league games as of May 5, one of the newest Pirates has received many words on encouragement from his current teammates.
Francisco Cervelli has been one of Tucker’s champions since his emergence in Pittsburgh, urging Tucker to not let anyone take away his confidence and to keep providing his charisma day in and day out. Jameson Taillon has told him that he has the ability to lead and bring energy to people. Chris Archer has told him that he is going to run this team one day. And the list goes on and on.
Though Tucker has enjoyed the spotlight, he is quick to pass the buck to his family, who has been his biggest support system throughout his entire life, including his brother, Carson, who, in Cole’s words, is better than Cole was at 17 years old and will be better than him when it’s all said and done.
Carson Tucker is committed to the University of Texas as he finishes up his junior year of high school, and Cole is eager to laud praise on his younger brother.
“He’s just really smooth, the way he plays the game, and he has really quality at-bats and can hit the ball really hard. Those are the things that matter, those are the things that carry you,” Tucker said. “He’s a really good shortstop, I think he’s going to be a really good player. I mean, obviously, I’m a major leaguer….”
Tucker paused. Took a breath. Continued.
“Damn, that sounded good.”
Even Cole Tucker, the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, is allowed to have one small selfish moment. Because it does indeed sound really good, to the people of Charleston, fans of Cole Tucker, the city of Pittsburgh and all of those in between, that Cole Tucker is, in fact, a Major Leaguer. And he will be for many years to come.
