When Andrew McCutchen crushed three home runs into the Coors Field bleachers last Tuesday, he ended each trot around the bases by tipping his cap as he stepped on home plate.
Maybe you’ve noticed this ritual, and maybe not. McCutchen doesn’t really mind either way.
“It’s for my wife,” McCutchen explained afterward. “Every time I do it, it’s for her.”
The genesis of the cap-tip celebration was a scene in the film “42: The Jackie Robinson Story.” McCutchen and then-girlfriend Maria Hanslovan attended a private screening Dec. 12, 2012, at the Cinemark in Robinson, invited by Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures and a partner in the Steelers ownership group.
Robinson, 66 years earlier, homered in his pro debut with the Montreal Royals, a Los Angeles Dodgers minor league team. In the film’s depiction, Robinson rounded third after his home run, spotted his wife, Rachel, in the grandstands, smiled and saluted her with a tip of his cap.
At that, McCutchen recalls leaning toward Maria to whisper, “OK, I’m doing that.”
“It just shows the type of man that Jackie Robinson was,” McCutchen said last week. “And who his wife is, as well. It shows the love and the bond they had together. They needed each other, especially in those tough moments.
“We always need our spouses, that's for sure. Our wives are such strong women. They have to go through so much more than even what we have to. It’s really hard and difficult for people to understand that. That, basically, is my acknowledgement to [Maria], letting her know I’m thinking about her, that she’s on my mind constantly.”
McCutchen, who grew up captivated by Robinson’s story, met Robinson’s widow, Rachel, and the couple’s daughter, Sharon, in a suite before Game 3 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field, where McCutchen was to receive the Roberto Clemente Award.
“She’s amazing,” McCutchen said of Rachel, who is 93. “She still looks like she’s 70 years old.”
Since seeing “42”, McCutchen has won a National League MVP award and hit 75 regular-season home runs. He’s tipped his cap on the East Coast and the West Coast, on walk-offs and leadoffs, and on a second-deck solo shot in the 2015 All-Star Game at Great American Ball Park.
“I’ve done it for years, but no one knows why I do it,” he said. “I haven’t publicized why I do it. I do it because [Maria] knows it’s for her. It doesn’t matter if anyone else knows or doesn’t know. She doesn’t care about that. She knows, but that’s between me and her.”
McCutchen was a rookie when he met Maria. A DuBois native, she was a senior at Slippery Rock University spending a summer toting a T-shirt gun for the “Cannonball Crew” at PNC Park. They bumped into each other away from the ballpark, so he finally got the nerve to ask her out.
“She denied me a few times,” McCutchen said, smiling, “but I’m happy that she eventually said yes.”
McCutchen is eager to list his wife’s accolades, such as her bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and forensics chemistry and the marketing work she’s done since graduation, but that’s part of what hurts him, too. For now, baseball drives the bus in their relationship.
“She had all these dreams and aspirations,” McCutchen said. “I swooped in and basically put that on pause. You have your whole life where you grow up wanting to do something, wanting to be something, and then you get a detour sign and have to go a different route.
“It’s good, but it's tough. I think about if it was me in that position, if I played baseball my whole life, then met her and baseball was put on halt. To know I'm probably not going to play baseball, and I'd have to go a different route because of the person I'm with? That's a tough pill to swallow.
“It wasn’t like she was on the side of the street with nothing going for her. She’s driven. She’s great. She’s strong. She has things she wants to do in life. She’s still going to do those things — I believe that. I honestly can’t wait to be able to watch her accomplish her goals when she gets that opportunity."
The McCutchens’ journey has taken them many places. After four years of dating, they appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” It had been 363 days since the “42” screening, and McCutchen had a proposal planned. Before bending his knee, he cued a video clip.
“When I hit a home run, it’s a home run,” McCutchen said on-screen. “But there’s a bigger picture behind it for me. Going to first, going to second, going to third and going home — with each base I touch, it means a year. …
“When I step on third base, I look toward home knowing you’re going to be there waiting for me. That’s why I always tip my cap every time I touch home plate.”
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and on Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: May 6, 2016, 4:00 a.m.