Equipment manager on the mend
Clubhouse fixture is now taking care of himself as well as he does Pirates
BRADENTON,
Fla. — As those participating in Pirates Fantasy Camp emptied their lockers Friday afternoon, the penultimate task of a busy week, many of them popped their heads in Pat Hagerty’s office to say thank you one last time and wish him well.
A year ago, many of these same campers worried about Hagerty, who probably should have never worked the camp in the first place. The Pirates minor league equipment manager had lost 100 pounds after enduring several health issues, including sepsis and the removal of his appendix and part of his colon.
Hagerty, many campers told me, did not look well.
“Last year in fantasy camp, I looked really bad,” Hagerty, 59, said. “I was frail. I looked like a cancer patient.”
The good news is that Hagerty has a clean bill of health now. The surgical procedure solved the problem, and he has kept his weight at a little under 200 pounds, well below his previous mark of around 250. He has changed his diet. He’s given up alcohol. And Hagerty feels like a completely different person.
“I feel better than I have in a couple years,” Hagerty said.
Hagerty isn’t out of the woods yet, at least as far as health issues are concerned. His wife, Janet, is battling breast cancer. After 18 chemotherapy treatments spread over six months, Janet, 63, has to take a preventative drug until August and endure less-intense treatments every third week.
It hopefully will bring to a close a rocky period of time for Hagerty and his family, though he was able to pluck one positive from the fact that he and Janet are emptynesters; they’re youngest is
30.
“The nice thing is — and I’m saying this in a terrible way, I think — that they aren’t at home,” Pat Hagerty said. “They have their houses, their own families. They didn’t have to see us all the time.”
The first sign of trouble for Hagerty started about two years ago, when he had high blood pressure and spent a period of time on dialysis. He got off dialysis in November 2018. The day after Christmas that year, Hagerty felt a pretty substantial pain in his side.
One day later, Hagerty was admitted to the hospital … and didn’t leave until Jan.
20.
“I was septic,” Hagerty explained. “I was walking around with a septic appendix. They ended up removing part of my colon. They removed my appendix. I think they said like 10 feet of my colon was dead. So, they cut it out.”
Hagerty said he’s always been overweight, the result of eating and drinking too much and failing to take proper care of his body. Now, Hagerty said he has given up drinking Budweiser altogether. Instead of ordering a 20-ounce Porterhouse, he’ll get a 6ounce Filet.
“I’m not eating as much as I used to,” Hagerty said. “It ends up being enough. So that helps a lot.”
There is one residual health issue, as Hagerty needs to lower his hemoglobin, but other than that, he’s healthy.
And quite thankful for it, obviously.
“I’ve been a lot more involved in this one,” Hagerty said, contrasting his involvements in fantasy camps. “I sat here at the last one and was just being a face. But this is my clubhouse. A lot of these guys know who I am.”
As they should, given Hagerty’s history with the club. Hagerty was hired by Cam Bonifay in December 1994 after he met a couple of former Pirates in a bar, they were impressed that he treated everyone the same, and they thought he would be a perfect fit for the job.
Hagerty hasn’t left. His job responsibilities include managing the Pirate City clubhouse 12 months of the year; Class A Bradenton’s clubhouse when the Marauders are playing; plus the clubhouses in Bristol, Va., and the Dominican Republic.
That’s in addition to purchasing all of the equipment for the Pirates minor league affiliates and for scouting, both international and domestic. Hagerty also will oversee eight Baseball Factory events at Pirate City and, obviously, contribute with major league spring training.
That’s when, two years ago, the Pirates presented Hagerty with a jersey that had his name and the number 365 on the back. Unfortunately, later that year, the wheels came off on Hagerty’s health.
He kept the jersey in a frame, visible in the upperleft corner of his office when you walk through the door.
“I’m going to blame them for that,” said Hagerty, who worked last year’s camp only a couple days after he was released from the hospital, against doctors’ wishes.
“That’s just me,” he added with a laugh.
The role of the equipment staff is vital at fantasy camp. They made sure players had fitted hats the first night — thereby avoiding any last-minute issues. Hagerty’s staff washes clothes, keeps the clubhouse clean, fixes equipment, including the toe of my right spike, and does about a thousand other things on a daily basis.
That group, for this camp, included: Kevin Conrad, Kiere Bulls, Josh Hamp, Scott Barnes, Kenny Berdejo, Drake Corbino, Dave Wilder, Mark McKnight and Andrew Giddens.
They’re an essential part of any baseball operation, especially with a bunch of older folks who … how do I say this nicely … don’t have the same kind of physique.
“I absolutely love it,” Hagerty said. “I look forward to coming to work every day, just being around all kinds of different people. You meet all kinds of people from all parts of the world. It’s real fun.
“Growing up near Steubenville, Ohio, I never thought I would wind up working for the Pirates.”
And now, after a health scare that had many worried about Hagerty, that dream job will be able to continue.