The first time Andrew McCutchen can remember wanting to volunteer his time was when he was 9 for 10. His mom was pregnant with his sister, Loren, and he wanted to help. I’ll vacuum, he told his mom. I’ll wash the dishes for you.
This was before he was “Cutch,” before he was an All-Star or an MVP. He was a young kid in Fort Meade, Fla., no different than any other, save for fledgling athletic prowess. Two decades later, that same spirit inspired a weeklong volunteer initiative in Pittsburgh, his adopted hometown.
“‘He’s an athlete, he’s famous, people want him there or they want her there because they are who they are,’ ” McCutchen said recently, mimicking those who feel they don’t have much to offer. “‘Me, I’m just a Joe Schmo, I can’t do that stuff.’ So they just throw it away. They don’t do anything. That’s exactly what I’m trying to show, is it doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter how much money you have, it doesn’t matter your name. You can do something. You can help somebody.”
Beginning Nov. 16 and dubbed “Project Pittsburgh,” McCutchen will spend eight days working in the community. He’ll work with Habitat for Humanity and the 412 Food Rescue. He’ll spend time at The Free Store in Braddock and the Light of Life Mission in the North Side, and he’ll work with Macy’s to outfit high school seniors from the Hill District with dress clothes for job interviews. The week will conclude with a free baseball clinic for inner-city kids.
The series of events arose as a collaboration between McCutchen and his wife, Maria.
“The way that I look at it is, you’ve got to lead by example,” McCutchen said. “And this is the way that I’m trying to lead, is to show people it’s not just about writing the check; it’s about going out there and actually — if you’ve got to get dirty for something, you get dirty with Habitat for Humanity. If you want to go work with 412 Food Rescue and deliver some food, you can do that.”
McCutchen saw the benefits of selflessness as a kid. His parents, Lorenzo and Petrina, had McCutchen as teenagers. His athletic ability was evident early, but paying for tournaments and travel ball put a strain on their finances. The community — local businesses, the church, neighbors — pitched in.
“The community came together on one accord to help me,” he said. “That definitely has helped this become a thing for me and my wife. That’s big, because that’s what I want people to realize, is that’s what we should do and can do as a whole. And the community here in Pittsburgh, that’s how you make an impact, is by volunteering and doing what they did for me.”
As McCutchen spoke, sitting on a picnic table at Knob Hill Community Park near his Wexford home, the sun highlighted a pair of scars on his left knee, the remnants of surgery to repair a torn ACL. The 32-year-old McCutchen, a Pirate for the first nine years of his career, has not played since June 3, when he injured the knee during a rundown. This season is his first with the Philadelphia Phillies after spending the previous two seasons with the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees, and the combination of the injury and the three-year, $50 million contract with the Phillies allowed McCutchen the time to pursue such an endeavor.
The location was an easy call. Fort Meade means a lot to McCutchen. But Pittsburgh was his home as he concluded the Pirates’ 20-season losing streak, won an MVP in 2013 and led the team to three consecutive playoff appearances.
“I met my wife there, I started my career there, I’ve gotten married there, we’re going to raise our family there,” McCutchen said. “For us, together, that’s what we’re passionate about and that’s why we want to do it here.”
The family already includes his son, Steel, who is almost 2. It will grow in December; Maria is pregnant with another boy.
View this post on InstagramDinner with our philly phamily at Prime 112, which meant a date night with my baby(s) daddy🔥💙
“I hated the injury, but I loved it,” said McCutchen, who hasn’t had a summer free since high school. “I hated it for of course all the reasons that everyone knows, but I loved it for the fact that I’m spending time with my family, time that I would have never spent in my career.
“When I see the guys out there playing and I get upset with myself, I feel better at the same time because my son just looked at a stop sign and said ‘octagon.’ ”
McCutchen saw a video online of a high schooler who was bullied because he wore the same shoes to school each day. Classmates decided to help the boy out and gave him some new shoes and clothes, and as the video circulated the internet, help poured in from across the country.
“That’s essentially what this is about,” McCutchen said. “It’s about us all coming together and being able to help in one specific area. It can be one specific person.”
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
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First Published: September 27, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
