Skenes-sanity takes over PNC as Bucs fans celebrate 'a man among boys'

PITTSBURGH – Cody Maxwell, a student at Thiel College, has a multi-generational collection of bobbleheads, almost all of them Pirates. Some of them were from his great-grandmother, Gloria, the others through collecting. Sometimes that means having to buy one online, but on Saturday, he was in line at PNC Park bright and early.

He wasn’t going to leave missing out on a Paul Skenes bobblehead up to chance, so he was among the very first to show up to the right-field gate to ensure he got his giveaway. Especially since it was going to be the second time he got to watch the Pirates’ phenom in person.

“I love a Skenes bump day,” Maxwell said.

Henry Mannella was at the front of the line for the home-plate entrance, showing up at 11 a.m. – roughly five hours before first pitch between the Pirates and Guardians – for his first Skenes start. He’d never shown up five hours before a game before, not even for a tailgate, but it was worth it for the father-son experience, and to see Skenes.

“I’ve watched the highlights,” Mannella said. “He looks like a man among boys.”

Those two were not alone. Thousands lined up for a Skenes bobblehead Saturday. Roughly three and a half hours before first pitch, the line from the center-field gate extended halfway across the Roberto Clemente Bridge. Eventually that line extended beyond the bridge from the North Shore to downtown Pittsburgh.

Originally, the promotion called for just the first 20,000 fans to get bobbleheads, hence the long lines. The Pirates later announced that all 37,713 fans would be promised the giveaway as long as they scanned into the game.

Skenes delivered on his end, tossing seven innings of two-run ball. The offense did not, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and losing to the Guardians, 3-0.

The frustrating final score notwithstanding, the buildup to the game was about as lively as PNC Park has been for an April game that wasn’t Opening Day in a decade, if not longer. It’s the Skenes effect. He’s no longer the top pitching prospect of a generation; he’s now one of the top pitchers in the game. No luster has worn off in that time. Pittsburghers are completely enamored with him.

When asked about it pregame, manager Derek Shelton said, “There is a different energy when he gets on the mound.” Shelton has seen young phenoms take the game by storm – David Price and Evan Longoria dating back to his Rays tenure immediately came to mind – but nothing quite like Skenes, who is one of the first true baseball stars to emerge in this age of perpetual readily-accessible social media.

“These guys are under so much more scrutiny or they gain so much prominence so quickly because of the fact that everybody's on their phones,” Shelton said. “Everybody's on a platform talking about it. I think the most impressive part of it is how well he handles it. He handles himself just like he's another person, he's another rookie, he's another second-year guy. He goes about his business.”

It’s not just bobbleheads either. For years, if you saw a Pirates jersey, odds were it was either a No. 21 or 22 for Roberto Clemente and Andrew McCutchen. Now, there are seemingly as many No. 30s on the concourses, in the vendors surrounding the ballpark or in the wild.

Or take a look at the bobblehead itself, modeled after the one-of-one debut patch rookie card that was the card collecting world’s white whale this winter. The Pirates offered 30 years of season tickets to whoever pulled it. It instead sold at auction for seven figures.

Among the thousands searching for it was lefty reliever Ryan Borucki, an avid card collector. He had no luck, but he did get in on the ground floor on his rookie cards, calling his buddy after watching Skenes throw one of his first bullpens in Spring Training of 2023.

“I’ve never seen anyone throw a baseball like he does,” Borucki relayed. “Buy his rookie card.”

Borucki ended up picking Bowman silver autograph Skenes cards for about $150 apiece. They now go for about $600-700 a pop. The only regret in the transaction? “We wish we could have bought more.”

The irony of it all was Skenes didn’t see the lines pregame Saturday. He tries to avoid the mania his pitching performances can create, but he cracked a smile when he heard about what happened around the ballpark before this start.

“It’s cool,” Skenes said. “I wish we would have gotten them a win.”