BRADENTON, Fla. — Dennis Reist, an on-again, off-again Pirates season ticketholder, received an email from Frank Coonelly this winter. The subject line read “Exclusive Invite to Pirates Roundtable Discussion.” Reist, who had not renewed his season tickets for 2018, was invited to join a lunch with Coonelly, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington and team sales representatives at PNC Park.
Reist replied to what he assumed was a generic group email and not, in fact, a personalized message from the Pirates president.
“Surprisingly, Mr. Coonelly responded back, and it was a pretty good email,” Reist said. He and Coonelly continued to exchange emails and ideas, and Reist decided to attend the Feb.