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A.J. Burnett pitched three seasons in Pittsburgh, going 35-28 with a 3.34 ERA over 87 starts.
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A.J. Burnett on Hall of Fame, STFD and why Pittsburgh was 'different'

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

A.J. Burnett on Hall of Fame, STFD and why Pittsburgh was 'different'

A.J. Burnett was actually back home in Arkansas when one of his parents showed him a newspaper clipping that floated the possibility of his name appearing on the 2021 BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot.

The fiery former pitcher smiled and actually noticed his name appeared twice on the list — “Double the chances,” Burnett joked — but otherwise set aside the Hall of Fame stuff, until his phone started pinging with a tweet from ESPN’s Buster Olney a few days ago.

“It was pretty cool, man,” Burnett told the Post-Gazette on Tuesday afternoon. “It’s something cool that I wouldn’t have thought when I started my career, even in the minor leagues or when I signed in high school, that I would even be considered on the ballot, whether I make it or not.”

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Then in typical Burnett fashion, he also cracked a joke about his candidacy.

A.J. Burnett in October 2015.
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“I’m looking through my numbers, and I’m kind of wondering why they threw me on that list,” Burnett said. “Maybe they did it to mess with me because I messed with them over the years. But who knows? I’ll take it anyway.”

Burnett does have an interesting case, though one that might need a few years to gain any sort of traction. He technically played for a pair of World Series-winning clubs — the 2003 Marlins and 2009 Yankees, though he made only four starts that first year because of Tommy John surgery.

In 17 seasons with the Marlins, Blue Jays, Yankees, Phillies and Pirates, Burnett went 164-157 with a 3.99 ERA and 2,513 strikeouts. He was an All-Star (2015), led the American League in strikeouts (2008 with 231) and has a no-hitter on his resume (May 12, 2001 vs. Padres).

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But the most interesting stuff with Burnett — especially as it pertains to Pittsburgh — isn’t easily quantified by numbers. After the Yankees traded him to the Pirates in February 2012 for minor leaguers Exicardo Cayones and Diego Moreno while paying $20 million of his remaining $33 million, Burnett gave Pittsburgh a chance. It turned to be a beautiful marriage.

“I wasn’t going to look at it like going from the greatest winning franchise to the Pirates. No chance,” Burnett said. “I was looking at it as an open door and this could be the last chapter. I just wanted to see how we could win, who we could help and not worry about anything else.

“I wish I would have had that mindset a lot earlier in my career. But I guess that’s where the ups and downs and bumps in the road take you. They all lead you to one place. [Pittsburgh] is where they led me.”

‘Different in Pittsburgh’

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The anniversary still gets Burnett. Every. Single. Time.

It was Aug. 16, 2012. Game against the Dodgers at PNC Park. The Pirates, who began the day tied with the Cardinals for the National League’s second wild card spot, were scuffling and badly trying to avoid a four-game sweep.

After Hanley Ramirez stroked a two-run homer in the fourth, he circled the bases and gestured — making circles around his eyes with his hands — toward Burnett, who was hardly pleased.

“To this day, I thought the dude was showing me up,” Burnett said. “He wasn’t showing me up. It was something he did every time he hit a home run, no matter who the hell was on the mound. I never knew that. I don’t watch that crap. I don’t know what Hanley Ramirez does to celebrate. I just thought he was doing it to me.”

Two innings later, Burnett got his revenge, striking out Ramirez swinging to end the frame. Burnett stared and then shouted four words that became synonymous with his legacy here: Sit The [Heck] Down, or STFD for short.

“That was so crazy,” Burnett said. “I remember thinking, ‘Y’all didn’t have anybody who ever pitched angry before? I’m the one person who got mad on the mound?’ I’m sure there have been a million people who have done that before. Maybe not like that, but it was crazy.

“[Pittsburgh] just took me right in. I went with it when it happened.”

To this day, Burnett said he receives messages on the anniversary of STFD. His wife, Karen, helped launch a line of apparel with the Pittsburgh Clothing Company, and A.J. said a bunch of post-retirement friends have bought things to celebrate the occasion.

The story has also gotten a little better with some distance, Burnett joked.

“I tell people that I got to 3-2 on purpose just so I could punch him out 3-2,” Burnett said. “I didn’t, but it makes it better. It fired me up to get him. Nothing ever came of it. It was just a good, fired up moment.”

One of many that occurred during Burnett’s final chapter. One he enjoyed a ton because of how he was viewed in Pittsburgh and how the city and the organization took him in.

“I think that’s why I was such a good fit in Pittsburgh because I was respected so much and I never thought I would be in that way. It was special,” Burnett said. “The way that I was taken in there will never be like anywhere else. I was trying to explain this to my buddy the other day. Not that I wasn’t appreciated other places, but it was just different in Pittsburgh.”

‘In there somewhere, right?’

Life these days for Burnett is simple.

“I’m just sitting back cutting wood, man,” he said.

There have been four-wheel excursions at home and on location, plus work around the house. Burnett said he’s planning for another off-roading adventure after Thanksgiving.

He jogs every once in awhile but only to “burn off whatever I had the night before and try and stay in a little bit of shape.”

While Burnett twice made a league-leading 34 starts in a season (2008, 2014), he said he’s barely thrown a ball over the past couple of years, only occasionally tossing one against a wall in his barn.

“If I threw right now, it would hurt so bad,” Burnett said. “I’ll go down and toss here and there into the wall, but I haven’t, like, thrown-thrown in like two years.

“I just wonder if I can hit 60 feet, 6 inches. I’m sure I could. It’s in there somewhere, right?”

Some of Burnett’s best years obviously came with the Pirates, as he went 35-28 with a 3.34 ERA in 87 starts with them. He had a 3.18 ERA in 2015, his first and only All-Star season.

As a way of proving how freakishly durable he became, Burnett made 30 or more starts in seven of nine seasons after he turned 30.

Now 43, Burnett also joked about some of his periodic bouts with wildness. He led the majors in wild pitches twice and hit batters once.

“I’ve had that compliment thrown to me throughout my career from various people that I’ve played with, that they’ve never seen an arm work like this,” Burnett said. “Heaven forbid I would have put together better numbers than I did. You try to control that. You try to control that crap.”

Burnett did. Well enough to make the Hall of Fame ballot, too. He also sort of thinks he could’ve kept going, though he’s content to have walked away when he did.

“I lasted 17 years,” Burnett said. “I probably could have kept going, but I was at a spot where I could move around and still do some stuff. I had a little bit of lingering pain in the elbow. I didn’t really feel like dealing with it any more. It was a good time to roll out when I did.”

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Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published: November 18, 2020, 3:25 p.m.

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A.J. Burnett pitched three seasons in Pittsburgh, going 35-28 with a 3.34 ERA over 87 starts.  (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)
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