After the Pittsburgh Pirates’ dismal 2019 campaign, it was no surprise that manager Clint Hurdle’s head was the first on the chopping block even before the season officially ended. Many Pirates fans grumbled that this was the equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Then came the announcement on October twenty-third that team president Frank Coonelly was leaving, with owner Bob Nutting seemingly overemphasizing that it was a mutual parting of the ways and not an outright canning. That new president Travis Williams stepped in almost immediately afterward lent some doubt to the protests.