When I arrived home from work on my lunch hour yesterday, I was ecstatic to see this waiting for me on my doorstep:

My 2009 Season Tickets had arrived.  It wasn’t quite like the 2005 movie Fever Pitch in which Red Sox season ticket holder Jimmy Fallon rushes out into the street to greet the delivery man in his pijamas to get his tickets, but it was a day I’d been looking forward to. 

This is my third year being a full 81 game season ticket holder.  This year, the cost of my tickets dropped by about 30%.  My entire plan cost me $798 for 2 tickets for an entire season, an amazing deal.

I was looking forward to seeing the design that the Pirates put together for the upcoming campaign.  In recent memory, the Pirates had always featured five different stars on their season ticket stubs.  Last year, Matt Capps, Tom Gorzellanny, Ian Snell, Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche appeared on the season tickets which were designed after 2008 Topps Baseball Cards.  Below is a picture of the last 4 years of season tickets: 

On the left is the 2005 season ticket depicting Jack Wilson.  Wilson was coming off of a fantastic 2004 season, his career year.  The ’06 design stars Sean Casey in the picture above.   The ’05 and ’06 tickets were very similar in design.  The 2007 tickets featured elements of PNC Park in the background of the ticket along with front and center photos of the Pirates stars.  On the right side of the above picture you can see Gorzelanny and the 2008 version.

So, what do the 2009 tickets look like?

I opened the FedEx package and pulled out my two brand new season ticket booklets.
Awesome. 

The opening day ticket is on the front of the booklet to the right.

I flipped open the book to see what the ’09 design was.  I was expecting to see Nate McLouth, Paul Maholm and Ryan Doumit make their debut on the season ticket stubs.  Possibly Matt Capps and Brandon Moss would join them?  (Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, and Adam LaRoche were out of the question as they will likely be traded in ’09).

However, the Pirates made an unexpected change on their 2009 tickets:


They abandoned using player photos and went with Pirates related photos.  I like the fact that they have the 2009 Topps Baseball Card border again.  I’m not crazy about the photos though.    I think they’ll become somewhat boring and generic, especially the Pirate hat and jersey ticket.

The Pirates did a similar design in the early 2000′s, where they featured PNC Park scenery like the Clemente bridge, Wagner statue etc.

Also in my season ticket package was a letter from Frank Coonelly.

The letter basically stated:
Thank you for your support of the Pirates.  We are thrilled that you will be back with us again in 2009 and truly appreciate the faith that you have shown in us.  We have made significant progress over the last year and are a much stronger organization than we have been in recent years.  There are many reasons that Pirates fans should be excited not only for the upcoming season, but for the future as well, below are just a few of them:
1)  We have hired two of the best coaches in the game at their positions in Joe Kerrigan and Perry Hill as our first base/infield coach.
2)  Witnessing the continued growth of players such as McLouth, Maholm and Doumit, and being on hand to see who will be this year’s breakout performers.  We have challenged our players to be the best players they can be and we are confident that our other young players will experience significant growth in 2009.
3)  The improvement of the pitching staff.  As a result of the trades we made last season, we now have far more depth in our starting rotation.  We are confident that the increased competition for rotation spots coupled with the addition of Joe Kerrigan will make us a stronger club in 2009.
4)  In just one year we have added significant talent to our system.  Indeed, five or the players listed in our top 10 prospects were not in our organization a year ago.  We are excited to follow the continued development of highly talented prospects such as Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Bryan Morris, Brad Lincoln, Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker and others.

Sincerely, Frank Coonelly

It seems like Frank is pinning a lot of his optimism for success in 2009 on Joe Kerrigan’s shoulders.  Basically Kerrigan has to take the same group that was the worst staff in 2008 and turn them all around.  We’ll see about that.  It could be possible, but is it probable?