April 9, 2001: Sean Casey’s homer, 5 RBIs inaugurate PNC Park as Pittsburgh mourns Willie Stargell’s death

Few dates in Pittsburgh’s baseball history were anticipated as enthusiastically as April 9, 2001, when the Pirates opened PNC Park by hosting the Cincinnati Reds. But sad news preceded the celebration: Hall of Famer Willie Stargell, one of the franchise’s signature stars, died that morning at age 61. In the afternoon the biggest bat belonged to Cincinnati’s Sean Casey, who had grown up 10 miles away in a Pittsburgh suburb. Casey gave the Reds a first-inning lead with PNC Park’s first-ever home run, and his four hits and five RBIs paced Cincinnati’s 8-2 win.

The approval of public funding in July 1998 greenlit the Pirates’ relocation from Three Rivers Stadium, a shared home with the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers since 1970.1 Groundbreaking for the baseball-only park, just east of Three Rivers Stadium, was in April 1999.2 The Pirates wrapped up their Three Rivers Stadium residency in 2000, finishing fifth in the National League Central Division at 69-93, their eighth consecutive losing season.3

In contrast to its predecessor’s synthetic surface, football-compromise seating, and all-enveloping concrete bowl, PNC Park4 served up natural grass, ballfield-tailored views, and a spectacular panorama of the Allegheny River and city skyline. “I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere in the big leagues,” veteran Pirates pitcher Terry Mulholland declared.5 Two exhibitions with the New York Mets soft-opened PNC Park before Pittsburgh began its 2001 schedule by splitting six games in Cincinnati and Houston.6

During the road swing, on April 7, the Pirates unveiled a 12-foot bronze statue of Stargell outside PNC Park’s left-field gate. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the club’s all-time home run king and 1979 NL co-MVP, gaunt from kidney disease at Three Rivers Stadium’s final game six months earlier, was too ill to travel from his North Carolina home. An official dedication for the statue was planned for the summer, the newspaper noted, “when Stargell’s health is better and he can attend.”7

But Stargell was dead two days later, his fatal stroke triggered by chronic high blood pressure.8 Pittsburgh’s Monday morning newscasts of April 9 announced his passing.9 In Upper St. Clair Township, where Casey had spent the night in his boyhood home, his mother awakened the 26-year-old first baseman at 8:30 AM with news of Stargell’s death.10

When the paid crowd of 36,954 – several thousand complementary admissions made it a standing-room sellout11 – assembled at PNC Park on a record-tying 80-degree afternoon,12 Stargell was celebrated with a four-minute Jumbotron video, towering over the left-field bleachers.13 Members of both teams wore his number 8 on their black caps, and Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy put on a Stargell jersey for the ceremonial first pitch.14

The official first pitch came from the right arm of Pittsburgh’s Todd Ritchie, a 1990 Minnesota Twins first-round draft pick who had emerged as one of the Pirates’ most dependable starters in 1999 and 2000.15 The 29-year-old Ritchie had faced manager Bob Boone’s Reds in Pittsburgh’s season opener on April 3, taking the loss in a six-inning, three-run outing.16

The Reds were the guests for Three Rivers Stadium’s 1970 inauguration, a 3-2 Cincinnati win, and a Hall of Fame-bound Red, first baseman Tony Pérez, hit the new stadium’s first home run.17 Thirty-one years later, another future Cooperstown inductee, shortstop Barry Larkin, narrowly missed a leadoff homer, hooking it outside the 320-foot left-field foul pole before striking out.18

Michael Tucker—the author of the first homers at Milwaukee’s Miller Park three days earlier and Atlanta’s Turner Field in 1997—grounded to second baseman Pat Meares for the second out.19

But Ritchie’s one-ball pitch to Dimitri Young struck the Reds’ left fielder on the hip.20 Next up was Casey, who had left 25 tickets for family and friends at PNC Park. Before the game, Young had predicted that Casey would hit the new ballpark’s first home run.21

Casey took a ball, then pulled Ritchie’s next pitch over the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field.22 It landed in Section 142, and the Reds had a 2-0 lead.23

Cincinnati’s Chris Reitsma had allowed the Pirates two runs in a six-inning no-decision in his major-league debut on April 4.24 The 23-year-old right-hander began the bottom of the first by catching Adrian Brown and offseason free agent acquisition Derek Bell looking at third strikes.

Jason Kendall outran Larkin’s long throw from the hole for a two-out infield single,25 but two strong defensive plays then kept the Pirates off the scoreboard. Brian Giles smashed a line drive into the right-field corner, where Alex Ochoa gathered the big hop off the wall and quickly hit the cutoff man. Instead of a run-scoring double, Kendall stopped at third, and Giles was held to a single.26

Aramis Ramírez, who had scorched the Astros for three homers a day earlier, grounded sharply toward the left-field line, but Reds third baseman Aaron Boone, son of Bob Boone, made a diving, backhand grab and threw across the diamond to retire Ramírez for the third out.27

Following the first-inning salvos, Ritchie and Reitsma traded scoreless innings from the second through the fifth. The only instance of multiple baserunners was Cincinnati’s fifth, when Juan Castro’s leadoff single and Reitsma’s one-out hit-by-pitch set up the 36-year-old Larkin with a chance to expand the Reds’ lead. But he grounded to rookie shortstop Jack Wilson, who teamed with Meares for their second of three double plays in the game.

In the Reds’ sixth, Tucker—starting in center field with Ken Griffey Jr. recovering from a hamstring injury28—drove Ritchie’s first pitch of the inning over Brown’s head in center. The ball bounced on the warning track, and Tucker had a double.29 On his own initiative, third-place hitter Young sacrificed Tucker to third.30

The Pirates brought the infield in, and Casey, who had singled in the third, grounded his third hit of the day past a diving Meares. Tucker scored for a 3-0 Cincinnati lead.31

Reitsma took a three-hit shutout into the bottom of the seventh. Within two pitches, however, singles by Ramírez and Kevin Young brought the potential tying run to the plate. Pittsburgh then capitalized on luck and shaky defense to break onto the scoreboard. Meares’ two-strike hopper up the middle seemed earmarked for a double play, but the ball caromed off Reitsma’s shin for an infield single.32 The bases were loaded.

First-year Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon, a Red when he reached the big leagues in 1987, sent up lefty John Vander Wal to hit for Wilson33; Bob Boone countered with left-hander Dennys Reyes. Vander Wal hit a routine bouncer between second and third. Moving to his left with an eye toward a double play, Aaron Boone dropped the ball, and Ramírez scored on the error.34

At this point, Cincinnati’s defense reasserted itself. Another pinch-hitter, Enrique Wilson, tested Aaron Boone with another bouncer, but this time Boone gathered the ball and started an around-the-horn double play, as Kevin Young came home with Pittsburgh’s second run.35

The potential tying run was on third, and Brown hit a line drive to shallow right center. But Tucker slid head-first across the grass to make the catch and preserve Cincinnati’s 3-2 lead.36

McClendon brought in lefty Scott Sauerbeck for the eighth, and his chances of keeping it a one-run game seemed good with Larkin on second and two outs. Seemingly preoccupied with Larkin stealing third, however, Sauerbeck threw Casey a first-pitch curve and hit the Reds’ first baseman in the back.37

Right-handed hitters Ochoa and Aaron Boone were next, and McClendon turned to righty Marc Wilkins, whose most recent appearance in Pittsburgh had been a three-batter, three-walk outing while the Pirates squandered a lead in Three Rivers Stadium’s finale.38 Wilkins walked Ochoa, and Ramírez failed to come up with Boone’s full-count smash to third, giving Cincinnati an insurance run on the RBI single.39

Giles lined into a double play to end the Pirates’ eighth, and the Reds removed all doubt with a four-run ninth against Wilkins. The first run scored on a wild pitch, and Casey followed with his fourth hit of the day, a line-drive two-run double beyond the reach of Bell’s dive in right.40 Ochoa’s single then scored Casey, making it an 8-2 game.

Danny Graves closed out the ninth to sew up the first win at PNC Park. Afterward, newspaper coverage hailed Casey, mourned Stargell, and marveled at Pittsburgh’s newest attraction.

“This is a beautiful ballpark,” Larkin said. “It gives you a great sense of the city, and I think it’s going to be even more beautiful at night with all the downtown lights on out there.”41

“This has to be the nicest park in the big leagues,” Casey added. “Of course, I’m from Pittsburgh, so I think it’s the nicest.”42

Casey doubled twice two nights later and homered again in the series finale, as the Reds took two of three games.43 A .302 lifetime hitter in 12 big-league seasons, Casey went on to bat .314 with 6 homers and 40 RBIs in 57 career games at PNC Park, including 28 games there as a Pirate in 2006.

Author’s Note

The author and Sean Casey grew up in neighboring townships in suburban Pittsburgh, and they played against each other in summer baseball camps for many years in the 1980s and 1990s.

Acknowledgments

This article was copy-edited by Keith Thursby and fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau.

Photo credit: Sean Casey, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT200104090.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2001/B04090PIT2001.htm

Notes

1 Tom Barnes and Robert Dvorchak, “Plan B: Play Ball,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 10, 1998: A-1.

2 Tom Barnes, “Moving Heaven And Earth,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 8, 1999: A-1.

3 Robert Dvorchak and Tom Barnes, “’Bye, Three Rivers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 2, 2000: A-1. After the Steelers and University of Pittsburgh football team completed their 2000 schedules, Three Rivers Stadium was imploded in February 2001.

4 A locally headquartered bank had purchased naming rights for $30 million over 20 years. Tom Barnes, “It’s PNC Park,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 7, 1998: A-9.

5 Paul Meyer, “New Park Thrills Pirates,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 31, 2001: B-1.

6 Robert Dvorchak, “Open House: Pirates Fall to Mets, 4-3, in Test Run in Their New Ballpark,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 1, 2001: D-1; Robert Dvorchak, “Pirates Close Preseason with Loss,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 2, 2001: C-1; Robert Dvorchak, “Pirates Power Past Astros, 9-3: Ramirez’s 3 Homers Help Beimel Win Debut,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 9, 2001: D-1.

7 Dan Gigler, “Stargell’s Image Forever Cast in Bronze Outside PNC Park,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 8, 2001: A-14; Gene Collier, “Numbers Couldn’t Measure the Man,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 10, 2001: A-1.

8 Anita Srikameswaran, “Long History of High Blood Pressure Cited as the Cause of Stargell’s Death,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 10, 2001: A-9.

9 Rob Owen, “Silliness Scuttles Appeal of WCWB’s ‘Nitelife,’” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 12, 2001: F-6.

10 Paul Meyer, “Casey At Bat: Upper St. Clair Native Makes Himself Right at Home,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 10, 2001: C-4; Alan Robinson (Associated Press), “Reds’ Casey Comes up Mighty,” Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, April 10, 2001: 17.

11 Robinson, “Reds’ Casey Comes up Mighty.” PNC Park’s capacity in 2001 was 38,496.

12 The temperature tied Pittsburgh’s all-time high for April 9, set in 1969. “The Weather Report,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 10, 2001: A-2.

13 Collier, “Numbers Couldn’t Measure the Man.”

14 Robert Dvorchak, “Playing in Pain: Pirates Learn of Stargell’s Death, Open PNC Park with 8-2 Loss to Reds,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 10, 2001: C-1; Chris Haft, “Casey Makes Himself at Home: Opens PNC Park with HR, 5 RBI,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 10, 2001: C1.

15 Free-agent signing Mulholland, a Pittsburgh-area native, was originally scheduled to start PNC Park’s first game, but a knee injury in the season’s first week caused him to join fellow Pirates starters Kris Benson, Jason Schmidt, and Francisco Córdova on the disabled list. Robert Dvorchak, “Ritchie to Start PNC Park Opener,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 7, 2001: B-6.

16 The Reds opened the season a day earlier, on April 2, with a 10-4 loss at home to the Atlanta Braves. They had a 2-5 record after the Milwaukee Brewers swept them in a three-game weekend series.

17 Pérez’s homer was a two-run blast in the fifth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Stargell hit the Pirates’ first home run at Three Rivers Stadium, a solo shot. Bill Christine, “Reds, Stargell Profit in Opener: Bucs Dunked in 3 Rivers Debut, 3-2,” Pittsburgh Press, July 17, 1970: 20.

18 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park: 4/9/01 Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds full game,” YouTube video (Reds Classic Games), 2:24:44, accessed March 17, 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDAXyBs8b60 (4:05 of recording).

19 As a member of the Braves, Tucker hit a third-inning solo home run against Kevin Foster of the Chicago Cubs on April 4, 1997, in the first game at Turner Field. Tucker then hit a two-run, third-inning homer off Jeff D’Amico of the Brewers in Miller Park’s first game.

20 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (6:44 of recording).

21 Haft, “Casey Makes Himself at Home: Opens PNC Park with HR, 5 RBI.” Casey had hit the last home run at Milwaukee’s County Stadium on September 28 2000, a three-run fifth-inning home run against Jeff D’Amico in the ballpark’s final game. He also recorded the first hit at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, a second-inning single off D’Amico three days before this game.

22 The Clemente Wall’s name and dimensions honored Hall of Fame Pirate right fielder Roberto Clemente, who wore number 21 during his 18-season career in Pittsburgh.

23 Meyer, “Casey At Bat.”

24 Hal McCoy, “Cincy Blows Lead, Falls to Pirates in 10 Innings: Loss Spoils Reitsma’s Major-League Debut,” Dayton Daily News, April 5, 2001: 4D.

25 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (13:00 of recording).

26 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (15:20 of recording).

27 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (16:50 of recording).

28 The 31-year-old Griffey, who tore his left hamstring in the last week of spring training, had appeared in five of the Reds’ first seven games, all as a pinch-hitter. He pinch-hit in the eighth inning of this game and flied out. Griffey came off the bench until late April, when his injury sent him to the disabled list until June 15. Hal McCoy, “Many Happy Returns? Griffey, Larkin and Boone Could Be in Reds’ Lineup Tonight,” Dayton Daily News, June 15, 2001: 1D.

29 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (1:09:33 of recording).

30 Young remarked afterwards that he sacrificed because he was hitless in his last 10 at-bats and wanted to set up Casey to drive in a run. Chris Haft, “Technicality Lands Atchley in Triple-A: Guerrero Sent to Louisville,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 10, 2001: C5. It was the third – and final – sacrifice of his 13-season big-league career.

31 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (1:15:05 of recording).

32 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (1:33:38 of recording).

33 Vander Wal’s 28 pinch-hits with the 1995 Colorado Rockies were the National and American League season records as of 2026.

34 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (1:36:20 of recording).

35 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (1:37:33 of recording).

36 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (1:38:54 of recording).

37 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (1:46:00 of recording).

38 On October 1, 2000, then-Pirates manager Gene Lamont brought in Wilkins to begin the sixth inning, with Pittsburgh leading the Chicago Cubs, 8-5. Of the three Cubs who Wilkins walked, two of them scored, and Chicago rallied for a 10-9 win.

39 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (1:53:20 of recording).

40 “Sean Casey goes 4-4 in first ever game at PNC Park” (2:15:02 of recording).

41 John Erardi, “Pittsburgh Shows Off New Ballpark,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 10, 2001: A1.

42 Meyer, “Casey at Bat.”

43 The Reds finished fifth in the NL Central at 66-96, 27 games behind the first-place Astros. The Pirates came in last at 62-100.