For country artist Sydney Hutchko, performing the National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Pirates 4th Playoff game is an opportunity that hits close to heart, and close to home. As an immeasurable Pirates fan herself, Sydney’s Pirates-loving-family-roots date back to 1921 during her Great Grandparents first date. The date that started it all included a trolley car ride to Forbes Field for a Pirates Game. Ten years later, Sydney’s Great Grandparents took their own son to a Bucco’s game on May 25, 1935. “My Grandpa caught one of the three homerun balls hit by Babe Ruth at Forbes Field that night,” Sydney describes. More memorably, this was one of the last games that Ruth ever played.
The family’s timeline of Pirates games continue for generations. In 1962, Sydney’s Grandfather took her mother to her very first game, which excitingly was a twi-night double header at Forbes Field. Sydney reminisces on the story of her mom’s first game, “Clemente, in true Clemente fashion, stretched a double into a triple with his signature slide, standing up!” “From 1963-1966, my grandparents used to let my momma and uncles skip school on opening days just so they could watch the Pirates play!” Sydney explains. “My mom then worked at Forbes Field in 1969 and 1970 selling hot dogs for $17 a day just so she could watch the baseball games. She was at the last game at Forbes Field, the first game at Three Rivers, the last game at Three Rivers, and the first game at PNC Park,” Sydney shares that she even got to attend the last game at Three Rivers and PNC Park’s opening with her mother.
As an infant in 1990, Sydney went to her first game and to shortly after was gifted her first Bucs t-shirt in 91’ when the Pirates won the division. Being so loyal to the team, the family would not miss the implosion of Three Rivers Stadium in 1999. Somewhere between the baseball games, Sydney found her love for music. The now emerging country star sang her very first Pirates performance in 2001 with the Children’s Festival Chorus of Pittsburgh during the opening day of the inaugural season at PNC Park. She never would have thought that just ten years later Sydney would be back, this time solo, to sing her first National Anthem for the Pirates.
In recent years, Sydney’s had two more opportunities to sing the National Anthem totaling three performances for her Pirates. But the family’s timeline will be marked with a new memorable event if the Pirates enter the 4th game on Monday, October 7th. Sydney is scheduled to sing the National Anthem at her first Playoff Game performance this coming Monday. For her, the opportunity brings her back to her family roots, when it all started in 1921 in a trolley car. Generations and a lifetime of family memories later, here we are in the playoffs.
