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Monday, October 02, 2000 By Paul Meyer, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Kevin Young yesterday wanted to send a message to Pirates fans, those who followed the team at Three Rivers Stadium and those who will follow the team to PNC Park next season.
"I know it's been frustrating for the true Pirate fans, and it's been frustrating for the 'jump on the bandwagon' fans, too," he said. "But a little education there. It's very frustrating when you come to your home ballpark and you get booed by your own fans. That says a lot about the type of fan support you get.
"I've always heard about 'Pittsburgh Pride,' and I always bought into that, but what I saw this year wasn't about 'Pittsburgh Pride.' I think what it had to do with was being frustrated. Well, do you think the players aren't frustrated? The players are extremely frustrated. We go out there every day wanting to succeed.
"When you hear your own players being booed, there are two things that happen. One, it's very disturbing to the home team, and, two, the visiting team is hearing that also. That makes it even tougher when it comes to signing free agents and doing the things we need to do to get better as an organization and put a good team out on this field.
"It's already known we don't have the [financial] means to get the type of people we want. So most of the time when it comes to free agency we have to overpay guys to get them to want to come here in the first place. That's not helping any, either.
"I totally understand if you don't think a guy's giving you 100 percent effort. All right. You want to get on him, But at least think about what you're doing sometimes. This is a group thing, OK? We do our job out on the field. You do your job as a fan. It's not that difficult."
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