One of the most anticipated events on the MLB calendar is the unveiling of the cover to Sony’s video game, “The Show”. Usually, this cover consists of an athlete that has had a spectacular season statistically. In the past the cover has featured All-Stars Dustin Pedroia, Joe Mauer, and Adrian Gonzalez. This year, the crew designing the game left the decision of the cover athlete to the fans. After it was all said and done, the fans elected hometown Pirate’s Centerfielder Andrew McCutchen as the cover athlete.
For two decades now, the Pirates have struggled to win games and make the playoffs. In fact, the Pirates have now had 20 straight losing seasons. Fans have been lost, money has been lost, and the overall popularity of baseball in the city of Pittsburgh has declined.
However, in the past three-and-a-half seasons, the team has made strides and continues to inch towards that .500 mark, led by McCutchen. McCutchen has made two straight All-Star Games and finished third in the MVP voting in the 2012 campaign. Popular because of his fast, explosive playing style, Andrew is trying to bring a winning tradition back to a city that has been starving for a championship caliber baseball team for years now.
After being informed that he had won a spot on the cover, McCutchen tweeted, “I am humbled and thrilled that you, the fans, have voted me as the cover athlete for MLB 13: The Show.” McCutchen went on to explain how this means more than putting himself on the cover of a popular sports game. He tweeted, “I wanted this for Pittsburgh, a city that has supported us through some rough times. You deserved this.”
While McCutchen and the fans believe that being on the cover of MLB 13: The Show is a great achievement, it is only the start of great things to come for the Pirates in the future. To end his tweet thanking the fans for their votes, McCutchen tweeted, “I can only promise all of you that I am going to continue to work my hardest to prove that you made the right choice and help bring the World Series trophy back to Pittsburgh.”