This feels like an overreaction.
Pittsburgh native, former Pirates player, and AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh color commentator John Wehner is so fed up with Reds success story Derek Dietrich and his admiration for his own homers that he invoked Dietrich’s dead grandpa to prove a point about why appreciating your own success is bad in baseball.
Wehner appeared on The Fan Morning Show on Pittsburgh’s 93.7 Tuesday to reveal the results of his seance with Dietrich’s grandfather. It’s at the 3:40 mark if you want to listen for yourself. Cincinnati.com transcribed his remarks:
“I can’t stand [Dietrich],” Wehner said on the radio show. “I just don’t see why – I don’t understand why you have to do that. It’s different if you’re a Hall of Fame player, you’re a 60-homer guy, you’re an established guy. Nobody ever heard of him before this year.
“I heard of him because of his grandfather (Steve Demeter) who used to be a minor league coach for the Pirates. He was the nicest, sweetest guy in the world. He’s rolling in his grave every time this guy hits a home run. He’s embarrassed of his grandson.”
That night, Dietrich mashed three taters against Pittsburgh’s pitching in an 11-6 win. For the season, he’s 11-for-26 with seven dingers against the Pirates, and back in April, pitcher Chris Archer threw a baseball at his ass and sparked a bench-clearing brawl because he admired a homer. All types of Yinzers are furious with Dietrich, but it seems Wehner’s criticism had only made him stronger.
Maybe Wehner’s just a little envious. The former utilityman’s claim to fame is that he hit the final homer (and also made the final out) at Three Rivers Stadium in 2000. This was the home run trot of a man who, prior to that point, had hit a total of three dongs across 10 seasons:
Boring! Don’t take it out on Dietrich because you chose not to live a little, John.
H/t to Craig