He was no Sidney Crosby, but the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Nyjer Morgan has a hockey background.
Morgan was a 27-year old rookie outfielder when he broke in with the Pirates last September. That’s because he spent four seasons playing junior hockey in Canada.
“I watched the 1988 (Winter) Olympics in Calgary,” said Morgan, who discussed his rink days during Monday’s Pirates Winter Caravan at Dick’s Sporting Goods. “I saw the rivalry between the United States and Canada. When I saw the passion out there, that’s when I decided to play.”
Morgan left home at age 16 to play in the Western Hockey League for four seasons. That included a seven-game stint with the Regina (Saskatchewan) Pats during in 1999-2000.
Morgan found few concepts in hockey that helped when he transitioned back to baseball in 2002.
Save one aspect.
“The mental part,” he said. “The grind of playing and practicing me stronger as a player and a person.”
Morgan was drafted and signed by Pittsburgh in 2002. His minor league career included a 56-game stint with the Eastern League’s Altoona Curve in 2006.
A thumb injury delayed his promotion to the Pirates until Sept. 1. He singled off Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Matt Wise in his first major league at-bat.
Morgan hit .299 with one home run and seven RBIs in 28 games for the Bucs.
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None of the current Pirates were cited in the Mitchell Report, which detailed use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs by major leaguers over the last two decades.
That didn’t stop left-hander Zach Duke from distancing himself from the controversy.
“I don’t think it will affect us at all,” said Duke, who went 3-8 with a 5.53 earned run average during an injury-plagued 2007 season. “We already have a drug testing policy in place. I know that on our team there was nobody mentioned and I’ve never seen anybody that’s been involved in activities like that.”
“I wasn’t around (the Pirates) when they say it was prevalent, so I can’t speak to how prevalent (steroids) were,” Duke said. “I’ve never been involved in anything like that and I never will be.”
Duke broke into the majors in 2005, two years after major league baseball began testing for steroids.
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Scott and Stephen Sada stood at the autograph table as Jack Wilson signed for them. It wasn’t the first time the Saegertown brothers were so close to the Pirates shortstop.
Traditionally, Steve and Crystal Sada pulled their 11 and 13-year old sons from school for a week so the family can attend the Pirates’ spring training at Bradenton, Fla. Last year, one of their neighbors was more than a familiar face.
It was Wilson.
“We were four houses down from Jack,” Crystal Sada said. “It was really nice and he’s such a great role model.”
Meeting Wilson again won’t be the biggest honor for the Sada boys this winter. That will take place Feb. 1, when their father is inducted into the Akron University sports hall of fame.
Steve Sada, who graduated in 1989, was a four-year outfielder for the Zips. He set 10 school records was twice voted the team’s most valuable player.
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Harry Patterson offered two easy reasons why he’s a die-hard Pirates fan.
First, Patterson lived most of his life in the Armstrong County town of Apollo. The 68-year old formerly served on its police force before he retired and moved to Erie in 1992.
Second, cheering for the Pirates once was a family matter. Bob Patterson, Harry’s cousin, pitched with Pittsburgh for seven seasons.
Patterson was a member of the team’s three National League East Division championships in the early 1990s.
“Actually, my fondest memory was hunting with Bob Moose,” Patterson said of the Pirates pitcher, who died in 1976 from a car accident on his 29th birthday. “We knew his mother, who used to own a diner in the Murrysville area.”
Harry Patterson, though, was likely the only Oakland Raiders fan in western Pennsylvania during the 1970s. While Pittsburgh fans waved Terrible Towels as the Steelers won their first four Super Bowl titles, Patterson pulled for his cousin, Raiders punter Ray Guy, to pin Pittsburgh with a coffin corner kick.

— Mike Copper