Sporting the mustache made famous by his starring role in the CBS comedy "Bob Hearts Abishola," Pittsburgh native Billy Gardell laid into Pirates owner Bob Nutting during a promotional appearance Tuesday.
"My Pirates man, my poor Pirates," Gardell said when asked about them in an interview with the network's DJ Sixsmith. "I'm not a big fan of the ownership in Pittsburgh. I don't think they have treated that team the way it should be treated. We have fire sales every year, you know? We let (Andrew McCutchen) go to Philly and you know (Gerrit) Cole, I'm watching him pitch for the Astros in the World Series. It just breaks my heart because they've had the pieces.
"(Nutting) sings a song and dance about 'Oh it's a small market team.' Well, Cleveland competes, man. Minnesota competes. There is a way to do this and you have an incredible fan base that wants to be at the games. I root for them, but I am screaming at the TV by May 15, and that's a little frustrating."
The Pirates traded both Cole (to Houston) and McCutchen (to San Francisco) before the 2018 season.
Gardell is rather overt about his fondness for his hometown publicly. He frequently tweets about the local teams on social media and is known to pop up at a game from time to time.
He's since moved full-time to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career, which has included roles in past CBS comedies including "Mike and Molly" and "Yes, Dear."
It's there that he's raised his son, William, on whom he imposes Pittsburgh loyalty selectively.
"I said the Steelers are non-negotiable," he told Sixsmith. "You root for them or you leave the house. But you can pick an L.A. team. You can pick either hockey or baseball and that could be your L.A. team so he is a Dodgers guy. As the Pirates start to torture me, I will tune into games with him and kind of watch and we'll go to games out there together."
Ouch. Message sent.
"Bob Hearts Abishola" airs at 8:30 p.m. Mondays on CBS. The comedy was picked up for a second season back in October.
