The personal side of Pirates manager Derek Shelton
Derek Shelton has been talking about baseball damn near constantly since he was introduced as Pirates manager on Dec. 4. A week after that PNC Park news conference, Shelton held court in San Diego for Major League Baseball’s winter meetings and spoke a couple of times more late last month around PiratesFest — all of it centered around what he does for a living.
And understandably so.
So, when Shelton made an appearance last week at Pirates Fantasy Camp, I decided to take a different approach and spent 15 minutes chatting with him about everything else — what he likes to watch, listen to, eat and drink. We also tackled a couple of quirky questions.
• The conversation occurred inside the weight room at Pirate City, with one of us skipping stretching and pregame batting practice — and avoiding a fine from Steve Blass, to boot. But it was worth it. Shelton is very much a regular guy, a George Clooney fan who listens to Nirvana and Pearl Jam, watches reruns of ’90s sitcoms and drinks simple beer.
“I’m a Stella [Artois] guy,” Shelton said, picking up midway through this conversation. “I like Miller Lite, too. I’ll pretty much drink anything except IPAs. Not a
huge IPA guy. I don’t like the taste. I don’t like the hop to it. I’m also trying to dabble in the Pittsburgh beers.”
• Shelton, as I’d find out, isn’t terribly adventurous when it comes to what he eats or drinks. He likes what he likes, and much of that is Italian, a nod to his wife (Alison) and her family history.
“Love pasta,” Shelton said. “Pizza, too.”
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington is big into food. Cherington and his wife, Tyler Tumminia, love trying new restaurants and dishes. Shelton offered a different description of himself.
“I don’t go outside my norm,” Shelton said. “I’m very specific and not a foodie at all. [Cherington’s] way more of a foodie than I am.”
• That doesn’t mean Shelton lacks for unique dinner aspirations. Given the chance to have a fictitious meal with three people alive or dead, his table would consist of Michael Jordan, Frank Sinatra and Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam’s lead singer.
“I don’t know if that group would mix, but it would be cool,” Shelton said. “Jordan because I grew up in Chicago. He’s iconic. Sinatra because I think he would be fun to have dinner with and talk about everything that encompassed that time.”
And Vedder is fairly obvious, given Shelton’s musical tastes. Pearl Jam and Nirvana are the lead dogs, though he never saw the latter in concert. Also making the cut are Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.
Shelton’s favorite Pearl Jam song is “Better Man” because of the way the crowd reacts to Vedder’s vocals, and he once saw Pearl Jam with Upper St. Clair native Sean Casey.
“There’s a little Pittsburgh side note,” Shelton said. “It was in Tampa. We saw ‘Case’ before and after, but my wife and I didn’t sit with him. We were basically on the side of the stage for the encore when we all met up.
“[Casey] actually texted me a picture of it the other day, saying, ‘We need to do this again!’ ”
• Movie-wise, Shelton loves “Ocean’s Eleven.” Also “Fletch Lives,” which Shelton prefers over “Fletch.” “Inglourious Basterds” is another of Shelton’s favorite flicks, and I should have ended the interview early when he told me he dislikes
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Clearly the wrong opinion to have here.
“I’m not a huge fan of that one,” Shelton said about the Coen brothers classic, making me question whether we should even continue.
• On the TV side of things, Derek and Alison have one show they religiously watch together: “SEAL Team.” Alison’s father got Derek watching “Last Man Standing,” and the new Pirates bench boss watches a lot of reruns, mainly “Friends” and “Seinfeld.”
• Shelton isn’t a huge book guy, but he does read some. Wayne Dyer is a favorite author. The last book Shelton read was “Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise,” by K. Anders Ericsson.
• If Shelton has one thing he can’t leave home without, it’s his Apple AirPods. On this morning, when Shelton had pretty much no occasion to actually use them, he pulled a pair out of his left pocket simply to prove a point.
• Shelton has never been able to get away from water, even dating back to his teens and working at a water park in Gurney, Ill. — his first job. Shelton’s parents were teachers, and they had young Derek man the concession stand to serve hot dogs and snow cones.
In the offseason, Shelton, Alison and their family live on Treasure Island, a Florida beach community adjacent to St. Petersburg. When figuring out a new place to live, Shelton said there are two things he prefers: being near water and in the city.
Alison has narrowed their Pittsburgh home search down to two or three places, and the Sheltons hope to potentially check both boxes when they move here full time by the spring.
“I think it’s important to be a part of the community and be in the heart of it,” Shelton said. “I think you feel the energy. The second thing is in the winter we live on the beach. Anytime we can get — and it’s a smaller beach community — inside a city atmosphere, it’s pretty important to us.”
• If Shelton wasn’t managing a professional baseball team, he’d probably be teaching. He was a criminal justice major at Southern Illinois with a minor in political science and thought for a time about going to law school. But his time in baseball has made teaching more appealing.
• Growing up, Shelton’s favorite baseball player was Cal Ripken Jr., for his personality and consistency and also because Shelton’s father, Ron, pitched in the Orioles organization.
“I’ve met him twice,” Shelton said of Ripken. “Once when I was in college, then another when he came to Rays camp. Last year I actually met his brother, Billy, when he did a segment on me for MLB Network. That was kind of cool.”
• Two questions that produced nothing: whether Shelton has ever been mistaken for anyone famous (“Not that I know of,” he joked) and if anything drives him nuts (“I don’t know if I’m that chill, but I don’t really have anything”).
• If you’re curious, Shelton wears No. 17 for a special reason, too. His favorite number is 8. His son Jackson’s favorite number is 9. Apparently Jackson pushed his dad to wear 17 when he started out as hitting coach in Tampa, and it just sort of stuck.
• The manager called himself “neat … but not OCD” and also said Alison has been on him some to work out more. “Yeah, that’s probably something I need to do a better job of,” Shelton said.
And when he does, what does that look like? “No running,” Shelton said. “Pretty much anything that does not involve running.”
“I think it’s important to be a part of the community and be in the heart of it.”
— Pirates manager Derek Shelton