THE PROFESSIONAL

When I was a kid, the Pittsburgh Press ran a comic strip called "Mickey Finn"

The strip was started in 1936 - grew to being published in 300 newspapers - and featured Mickey Finn - a good natured cop in Port Chester, New York.

It was introduced during the time of Dick Tracy etc, but this strip didn't really involve solving crimes. It was more folksy and featured Mickey's Uncle Phil Finn - a true Irish character - who lived with Mick and his Mom.

As the comic strip story progresses, Mick goes through WWII and then becomes a detective while his Uncle Phil becomes an alderman and sheriff.

While it was one of many comic strips and comic books  devoured by me as a kid, I was fascinated by the character of Phil Finn, who hung out at Clancy's bar and for some totally illogical reason became a golf pro.

I say "illogical" because Phil was a lousy golfer as was illustrated quite often in the comic strip that started to featured Phil more than Mickey.

The logic behind cartoonist Lank Leonard's decision to make Phil a very successful golf pro was funny to a young guy like me. The theory was that although Phil could not star as a golfer - he really understood the game - and could inspire others to master the frustrating challenges of the sport.

My memory of the comic strip - followed by a little research to make sure my mind had not failed me once more - was prompted by the latest hiring news from the brilliant GM of The Pittsburgh Pirates - Neal Huntington.

Huntington had the unfortunate experience - in this most recent year as GM of a team completing 20 consecutive losing seasons - to have a team that ranked 14th among 16 national League teams in both batting average and on base percentage.

His 2012 hitting coach was Gregg Ritchie who knew when to get out of town and
assumed the position of George Washington University's head baseball coach.

So, the GM - after searching far and wide - decided to hire former Pirate shortstop Jay Bell  - one of my favorites players in the late 80's for about 7 more years in the 90's.

 You never quite knew which Bell was going to show up - but he played hard - hit .269 and had 78 home runs during his 8 year stay with our team.

Lord knows we could use a few more current Pirates who had that kind of batting average since so many of our hitters are closer to the Mendoza line.

 Huntington's logic in selecting Bell as his new hitting coach was as follows:

- Bell  previously served as a hitting coach in the Diamondbacks organization for two years - as the hitting coach of Class AA Mobile.

- " He brings energy and enthusiasm."

- "He's a great person."

- "He's got experience on the major league bench."

The last comment grabbed my attention as that is the exact location where most of his prospective students should have been sitting this past season instead of out on the playing field.

Bell has the Pirates record  for successful sacrifice bunts. This should be a big plus when the Pirates starting pitchers attempt to acquire this basic training tool during Spring training down here in Bradenton - hopefully, without almost losing an eye.

One reason for hiring Bell - not enumerated by Huntington was: "Besides, he came cheap." But, then again, that's just an assumption on my part.

Can Bell become a successful hitting coach for the Pirates? You bet your bippy! It is not unheard of.

Look what happened to Phil Finn. Of course, that was in a comic strip.

But in some sadly ironic fashion isn't that what we Pirate fans have been watching for the past 20 years - or three years after Cleveland traded Bell to the Pirates?

Hey, who knows? You gotta have faith. Brooklyn finally got a major sports franchise - 55 years after they lost their beloved Dodgers.

As improbable as it may appear to Pirate fans everywhere - maybe even Neal Huntington could become a successful GM some day.