The activities that took place this year in Bradenton – which included running along the beach carrying telephone poles and flipping truck tires in the outfield, according to the Tribune-Review report – were Stark's brainchild and blessed by Huntington, who hired him with minimal baseball experience. While that is far from a prerequisite – current Houston GM Jeff Luhnow joined the St. Louis Cardinals from the corporate world – Stark's inability to effectively develop talent despite the Pirates' industry-leading spending in the draft is a black mark.
Stark ended the email with a war cry: "HOKA HEY - It's a good day to die!!!" On the Pirates' player-development website,
piratespd.com, it describes "Hoka Hey" as "The War Cry Of Clutch Performers" and says "Hoka Hey dog tags available to any interested staff."