Many Major League Baseball commentators believe the Pittsburgh Pirates – managed by former SIU Saluki Derek Shelton – are in for a long season.

In this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson says he feels for the 50-year-old Carbondale native, who suffered through a rough pandemic-shortened 2020 season in his first year at the helm of the Bucs.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, co-author, with his son Stephen, of The Turnpike Rivalry: The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns.