Pittsburgh Pirates

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For current information on this topic, see 2008 Pittsburgh Pirates season

Pittsburgh Pirates Established 1882
Team Logo Cap Insignia
Major league affiliations
National League (1887–present) Central Division (1994–present)
Current uniform
Retired Numbers	1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 33, 40, 42
Name
Pittsburgh Pirates (1891–present)
Pittsburgh Alleghenys (1887-1889) Allegheny (1882–1886) (Also referred to as "Infants" in 1890 and Pittsburg for a time)
Other nicknames
The Bucs, The Buccos, The Peg-Legs
Ballpark
PNC Park (2001–present) Three Rivers Stadium (1970–2000) Forbes Field (1909–1970) Exposition Park (II) (1891–1909) Recreation Park (1884–1890) Exposition Park (I) (1882–1883)
Major league titles
World Series titles (5)	1979 • 1971 • 1960 • 1925 1909
NL Pennants (9)	1979 • 1971 • 1960 • 1927 1925 • 1909 • 1903 • 1902 1901
Central Division titles (0)	None
East Division titles (9)	1992 • 1991 • 1990 • 1979 1975 • 1974 • 1972 • 1971 1970
Wild card berths (0)	None
Owner(s): Robert Nutting, others
Manager: John Russell
General Manager: Neal Huntington

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions. The Pirates are also often referred to as the Bucs or sometimes the Buccos (derived from buccaneer).

[edit] Franchise history

Main article: History of the Pittsburgh Pirates

[edit] Pre-1900

Professional baseball has been played in the Pittsburgh area since 1876. The teams of the era were "independents", barnstorming throughout the region and not affiliated with any organized league, though they did have salaries and were run as a business organization^[1]. In 1882 the strongest team in the area joined the American Association as a founding member. Their various home fields in the 19th century were in a then-separate city called Allegheny City, across the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh. The team was listed as "Allegheny" in the standings, and was sometimes called the "Alleghenys" (not the "Alleghenies") in the same generic way that teams from Boston, New York, and Chicago were sometimes called the "Bostons", the "New Yorks", and the "Chicagos", in the sportswriting style of that era. After five mediocre seasons in the A.A., Pittsburgh became the first A.A. team to switch to the older National League in 1887. At this time, the team renamed itself the Pittsburgh Alleghenys,^[2] although Allegheny remained a separate city until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. At that time, owner-manager Horace Phillips sold the team to Dennis McKnight; Phillips stayed on as manager.^[3]

In those early days, the club benefited three times from mergers with defunct clubs. The A.A. club picked up a number of players from a defunct Columbus, Ohio, team in 1885.

The Alleghenys were severely crippled during the1890, when nearly all of their stars jumped to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players' League. With a decimated roster, the team experienced what is still the worst season in franchise history, going 23-113 ^[4]. The battle nearly ruined McKnight, and he was forced to return his franchise to the league. However, almost immediately after this, McKnight joined the backers of the Burghers as a minority owner, which then repurchased the Pittsburgh National League franchise and rechartered it under a different corporate name. They were thus able to legally recover the services of most of the players who had jumped to the upstart league a year earlier.^[3]

The new owners also signed up several players from American Association teams. One of them was highly regarded second baseman Lou Bierbauer, who had previously played with the A.A.'s Philadelphia Athletics. The Athletics failed to include him on their reserve list, and the Alleghenys picked him up. This led to loud protests by the Athletics, and in an official complaint, an AA official claimed the Alleghenys' actions were "piratical."^[5] This incident (which is discussed at some length in The Beer and Whisky League, by David Nemec, 1994) quickly accelerated into a schism between the leagues that contributed to the demise of the A.A. Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing, they made sport of being denounced for being "piratical" by renaming themselves "the Pirates" for the 1891 season.^[2] The nickname was first acknowledged on the team's uniforms in 1912.

After the 1899, the Pirates made what is arguably the best player transaction in franchise history when they picked up nearly all of the star players from the Louisville Colonels. Louisville owner Barney Dreyfuss had been told that the Colonels were slated for elimination when the N.L. contracted from 12 to 8 teams. He secretly purchased a half-interest in the Pirates, then after the season sent nearly all of the Colonels' stars up the Ohio River to Pittsburgh. Since the transaction occurred before the Colonels officially folded, it was structured as a trade; the Pirates sent four relatively unknown players to Louisville.^[3] Despite their nickname, the Pirates at least waited until after the season to pull off this blockbuster trade. This is unlike what happened in 1899 to the Cleveland Spiders and, to a lesser extent, the Baltimore Orioles, who were also part of two-team ownerships. Dreyfuss later bought full control of the team and kept it until his death in 1932.

[edit] 1901–1945

Bolstered by former Colonels shortstop Honus Wagner (who was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area) and player/manager Fred Clarke, the 1901–1903 Pirates completely dominated the National League, in part because they lost few star players to the rival American League. However, owing to injuries to their starting pitchers, they lost the first modern World Series ever played, in 1903 to Boston. Deacon Phillippe pitched five complete games, winning three of them, but it was not enough. With largely the same star players, the Pirates would continue to be a strong team over the next few years, and got their first World Series title in 1909, defeating the Detroit Tigers in seven games, the same year they opened Forbes Field.

The Pirates originally played in Recreation, Union and Exposition Parks, all in what was then Allegheny City. Allegheny City was annexed by Pittsburgh in December, 1907. Accordingly, the Pirates did not play their first major league game in Pittsburgh until 1908—over 25 years after their founding.^[6]

The decline of Honus Wagner, considered by many to be the greatest shortstop ever, led to a number of losing seasons, culminating in a disastrous 51-103 record in 1917; however, veteran outfielder Max Carey and young players Pie Traynor and Kiki Cuyler, along with a remarkably deep pitching staff, brought the Pirates back into the spotlight. The Pirates recovered from a 3-1 deficit to win the 1925 World Series over the Washington Senators, and reached the 1927 World Series before losing in a sweep to the New York Yankees, who at that time had built the most dominant team in baseball. The 1927 season was the first for the sharp-hitting combination of brothers Lloyd Waner and Paul Waner, who along with shortstop Arky Vaughan ensured that the Pirates had plenty of Hall of Fame-caliber position players through 1941. However, the Pirates' crushing defeats of 1927 and 1938 (they lost the pennant to the Chicago Cubs in the final days of the 1938 season) were tremendous setbacks.

[edit] 1946-1969

The post-World War II years were not kind to the Pirates, despite the presence of a genuine star in Ralph Kiner, who led the National League in home runs for seven consecutive seasons (1946 through 1952). But the team around Kiner placed in the first division only one time — in 1948 — and in 1952 compiled one of the worst records in major league history, winning 42 and losing 112 games (.273) and finishing 54½ games out of first place. In 1946, the long era of ownership by the Barney Dreyfuss family came to an end when a syndicate that included entertainer Bing Crosby bought the team. By 1950, Columbus, Ohio-based real estate tycoon John W. Galbreath emerged as majority owner, and his family would run the team for another 35 years and supervise its rise to the top of the NL.

Galbreath's first major move, the hiring of Branch Rickey as general manager after the 1950 campaign, was initially a great disappointment to Pittsburgh fans. Rickey had invented the farm system with the Cardinals and broken the baseball color line with the Dodgers — and built dynasties at each club. But in Pittsburgh, he purged the Bucs' roster of its higher-salaried veterans (including Kiner in 1953) and flooded the team with young players. Many of those young players faltered; however, those who fulfilled Rickey's faith in them — pitchers Vern Law and Bob Friend, shortstop Dick Groat, second baseman Bill Mazeroski and especially outfielder Roberto Clemente, drafted from Brooklyn after his only minor league season (1954) — would form the nucleus of the Pirates' 1960 championship club. Moreover, Rickey put into place one of baseball's most successful farm and scouting systems that kept the team competitive into the late 1970s. But all this was not evident when Rickey retired due to ill health in 1955, with the Pirates still struggling to escape the NL basement.

The postwar Pirates would have only one winning season until 1958, Danny Murtaugh's first full season as their manager. Murtaugh is widely credited for inventing the concept of the closer by frequently playing pitcher Elroy Face late in close games. The 1960 team featured eight All-Stars, but was widely predicted to lose the World Series to a powerful New York Yankees team. In one of the most memorable World Series in history, the Pirates were defeated by more than ten runs in three games, won three close games, then recovered from a 7-4 deficit late in Game 7 to eventually win on a walk-off home run by Mazeroski, a second baseman better known for defensive wizardry. (The 1960 Pirates were the only team between 1945 and 2001 to have not succumbed to the so-called "Ex-Cubs Factor" in the postseason. They were also unique for winning a World Series on a home run, a feat duplicated by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993, though it should be noted that Joe Carter's home run came in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series--Mazeroski is the only Game 7 walk-off in World Series history.)

The 1960s would continue with extremely solid defensive play by Mazeroski and the first Puerto Rican superstar, Roberto Clemente. Clemente was regarded as one of the game's best all-time hitters, and possessed a tremendous arm in right field. Although not the first black-Hispanic baseball player (an honor belonging to Minnie Miñoso), Clemente's charisma and leadership in humanitarian causes made him an icon across the continent. During his playing career, Clemente was vastly overlooked. Looking back, however, many consider Clemente to have been the greatest right fielder in baseball history.

Even with Clemente, however, the Pirates struggled to post winning marks from 1961-64, and Murtaugh was replaced by Harry Walker in 1965. With Walker, a renowned batting coach, at the helm — and the hitting of Clemente, Matty Alou, Manny Mota and others — the Pirates fielded contending, 90-plus win teams in both 1965 and 1966. However, Pittsburgh had no answer for the pitching of the Dodgers and the Giants, and finished third each season. In 1967, they fell back to .500, and did not contend through the rest of the 1960s.

[edit] 1970–1979 and "The Family"

Slugger Willie Stargell became a fixture in the Pittsburgh lineup in the late 1960s, and the Pirates returned to prominence in 1970. Murtaugh returned as manager and the Pirates' home field, Forbes Field, was demolished in favor of the multi-purpose Three Rivers Stadium. In 1970, the Pirates won their first of five division titles over the next seven years, and won their fourth World Series in 1971 behind a .414 Series batting average by Clemente. They also thought they had a genuine superstar pitcher (historically rare for the Pirates) in Steve Blass, who pitched two masterful games in the World Series and had excellent seasons in 1968 and 1972.

In 1971, the Pirates also became the first Major League Baseball team to field an all-black starting lineup.^[7] That lineup, on September 1, was Rennie Stennett, Gene Clines, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen, Dave Cash, Al Oliver, Jackie Hernandez, and Dock Ellis.^[8]

Clemente died in a plane crash on December 31, 1972 while accompanying a shipment of relief supplies to the victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua. He had reached the milestone of 3,000 career hits, a standup double, just a few months earlier, on September 30, 1972, in what would prove to be his last regular-season hit. The Baseball Hall of Fame waived its usual waiting requirement and inducted Clemente immediately. Pittsburgh would eventually erect a statue and name a bridge and park near the stadium after him. In 1973, Blass suffered a mysterious breakdown in his pitching abilities and posted an outrageous 9.85 ERA. To this day, pitchers who suddenly lose the ability to throw strikes are said to have "Steve Blass disease." Some speculated that the emotional shock of his friend Clemente's death contributed to his breakdown. He retired soon afterwards; he has since been one of the Pirates' radio and TV announcers for almost two decades.

Stargell, speedy Omar Moreno and power-hitting but ostentatious and unpopular Dave Parker became the keystones of the mid-seventies Pirates as Chuck Tanner took over as manager in 1977 (following Danny Murtaugh's untimely death on December 2, 1976).

Adopting the popular song "We Are Family" by the Philadelphia disco group Sister Sledge as their theme song, The 1979 Pirates cruised to the pennant. "We Are Family" was elevated from theme song to anthem status (and is still nearly synonymous with the '79 Bucs), with fans chanting "Fam-a-lee!" from the stands. The Pirates faced the Baltimore Orioles again in the World Series, which (like 1971) they won in seven games, on October 17, 1979. During the 1979 championship season, a Pirate player was designated as Most Valuable Player in every available category: All-Star Game MVP (Dave Parker), NL Championship Series MVP (Willie Stargell), World Series MVP (Willie Stargell), and National League MVP (Willie Stargell, shared with Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals).

[edit] 1980s and early 1990s: The Leyland era

Following was a period of decline until the Pirates were regarded as the worst team in baseball during the mid-1980s. Jim Leyland took over as manager, and the Pirates gradually climbed out of the cellar behind young and exciting players such as "outfield of dreams" Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds, and Andy Van Slyke; infielders Jay Bell, Sid Bream, and Jose Lind; and pitchers Doug Drabek and Stan Belinda.

As a rookie in 1982, Johnny Ray played in every game and was named the Rookie of the Year by the Sporting News.

In 1988, the young team finished 85-75 and seemed ready to compete for a pennant. The Pirates would indeed win the division three straight times in 1990–92, but the 1989 season was a major setback, with injuries depleting the squad and leading to a 5th-place finish. Among the low points of the season was a game on June 8, 1989, where the Pirates became the first team in major-league history to score 10 runs in the first inning and nevertheless lose the game.^[9] Pirates broadcaster (and former pitcher) Jim Rooker famously vowed that if the team blew the lead, he would walk home from Philadelphia—a vow he fulfilled after the season while raising money for charity.^[10]

The Pirates would win the first three division titles of the 1990s, but failed to advance to the World Series each time, the second two losing closely contested seven-game series to the Atlanta Braves.

Main articles: 1990 National League Championship Series, 1991 National League Championship Series, and 1992 National League Championship Series

[edit] 1990s–2007: The McClatchy/Littlefield era

After the 1992 season, manager Jim Leyland set out to rebuild the team, giving up several high-payroll players in favor of a younger crew. The Pirates have been unable to come up with a winning season since, accumulating a 15-year losing streak. The longest losing streak was set by the Philadelphia Phillies accounting for 16 seasons which lasted from 1933- 1948, the longest in any of the country's four major professional sports leagues. ^[11] The closest to a winning team was the 1997 "Freak Show" team, which finished second in the NL Central. It was eliminated during the season's final week, despite having a losing record and a payroll of only $9 million.

The failure of the Pirates to compete in these years has been blamed on "small market syndrome": teams located in smaller cities such as Pittsburgh, Tampa, and Kansas City are at a competitive disadvantage against larger markets such as New York City and Boston without a salary cap or similar agreement, as exist in the country's other three major professional team sports, the NHL, NFL, and NBA. Questionable personnel decisions have also played a part, as the Pirates spent millions on players such as Derek Bell, Jeromy Burnitz, and Tony Armas, Jr. for little or no return. However, other small-market teams such as the Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics and Florida Marlins have been successful under similar economic constraints.

Aerial view of Three Rivers Stadium, Its final year in 2000.

In 2001, the Pirates opened a new stadium, PNC Park. Due to its simple concept and strategic usage of the Pittsburgh skyline, it is frequently regarded as currently the best park in baseball .^[12].

General manager Dave Littlefield was installed July 13, 2001, midway through the 2001 season and began overhauling the team to comply with owner Kevin McClatchy's dictum to drastically reduce the payroll. Enigmatic but talented third baseman Aramis Ramírez was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2003 for a fairly minimal return under pressure to dump his $6 million salary for 2004, and he proceeded to become a star for the Cubs. Brian Giles was one of the National League's best hitters for several years, but he and his $9 million salary were also traded in 2003 to the San Diego Padres for youngsters Oliver Pérez, Jason Bay, and Cory Stewart. Pirate fans found this trade much more palatable in the short run, as Pérez led the majors in strikeouts per inning and Bay won the Rookie of the Year Award award in 2004, while Giles put up a subpar season by his standards. After the 2004 season, Jason Kendall went to the Oakland Athletics in a cross-exchange of high-salary players. Though this rash of trades has not been popular in Pittsburgh, it is generally accepted that it can mostly be attributed to the aforementioned "small market syndrome."

Illustrating the Pirates' rebuilding efforts, at the close of the 2005 season, the team fielded the youngest roster in baseball, with an average age of 26.6. (The next youngest team was the Kansas City Royals, with an average age of 27.1.) During the course of the season, 14 players were called up from its Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, 12 of whom made their first major league appearance. On September 6, manager Lloyd McClendon was fired after 5 losing seasons as manager. On October 11, Jim Tracy was hired as the new manager.

The 2006 season got off to a slow start with the Pirates losing their first six games. Manager Jim Tracy earned his first win as the new Pirate's skipper on April 9 against the Cincinnati Reds. The Pirates hosted the All Star Game at PNC Park. The Pirates went into the game with a disastrous and disappointing 30-60 record. During the second half of the season, the Pirates made a successful turn around and finished the second half with a 37-35 record. This is the first time the Pirates have finished the second half of the season with a winning record since 1992. Third baseman Freddy Sanchez won the National League batting title for the 2006 season with an average of .344.

2007 was a year of transition for the Pirates. After 52 seasons with Newsradio 1020 KDKA AM, the Pirates switched their flagstation affiliate to WPGB FM Newstalk 104.7.

In addition, Robert Nutting replaced McClatchy as majority owner, becoming the sixth majority owner in Pirates history. On July 6, 2007, Kevin McClatchy announced he is stepping down as the Pirates CEO at the end of the 2007 season.^[13]

On September 7, 2007, Nutting fired general manager Dave Littlefield.^[14]

[edit] 2007-present: New organizational management

The Pittsburgh Pirates began to shape their organizational management as the fall of 2007 came. On September 13, Frank Coonelly, chief labor counsel for Major League Baseball, was introduced as the team's new president.^[15] On September 25, 2007, the Pirates announced the hiring of Neal Huntington, formerly a scout in the Cleveland Indians organization, as the team's new general manager.^[16] On October 5, 2007, Jim Tracy was fired by the Pirates, leaving them with another search for a manager. Torey Lovullo had originally been named as a leading candidate for the position^[17], but his name was gradually replaced by others in the minor league ranks, one being Ottawa Lynx manager John Russell, who eventually was named the new manager November 5, 2007. He had originally been the third base coach under previous manager Lloyd McClendon from 2003-2005 until he was fired by the previous General Manager Dave Littlefield.^[18]

[edit] Current roster

[edit] Players

[edit] Baseball Hall of Famers

[edit] Retired numbers

• 1 Billy Meyer, Manager, 1948–1952 (Retired 1954)
• 4 Ralph Kiner, OF, 1946–1953 (Retired 1987)
• 8 Willie Stargell, OF-1B, 1962–1982; Coach, 1985 (Retired 1982)
• 9 Bill Mazeroski, 2B, 1956–1972; Coach, 1973 (Retired 1987)
• 11 Paul Waner, OF, 1926–1940 (Retired 2007)
• 20 Pie Traynor, 3B, 1920–1934; Manager, 1934–1939 (Retired 1972)
• 21 Roberto Clemente, OF, 1955–1972 (Retired 1973)
• 33 Honus Wagner, SS, 1900–1917; Manager, 1917; Coach, 1933–1951 (This was his number only as a coach) (Retired 1956)
• 40 Danny Murtaugh, IF, 1948–1951; Coach, 1956–1957; Manager, 1957–1964, 1967, 1970–1973, 1973–1976 (Retired 1977)
• 42 Jackie Robinson, retired throughout Major League Baseball (Retired 1997)

[edit] Other notables

[edit] Franchise records

[edit] Won-loss records

• 100 Wins in a Season
  • 1902 (103-36), Fred Clarke
  • 1909 (110-42), Fred Clarke
• 100 Losses in a Season
  • 1890 (23-113), Guy Hecker
  • 1917 (51-103), Jim Callahan and Honus Wagner
  • 1952 (42-112), Billy Meyer
  • 1953 (50-104), Fred Haney
  • 1954 (53–101), Fred Haney
  • 1985 (57-104), Chuck Tanner
  • 2001 (62-100), Lloyd McClendon

[edit] First-in-MLB accomplishments

• First franchise to win a World Series on a home run (1960 World Series) in the decisive 7th game. The only other team to meet this feat is the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993 though they accomplished it in the 6th game of the series.
• First ever Major League Baseball game broadcast on the radio, a game between the Pirates and the host Philadelphia Phillies aired August 5, 1921, on KDKA-AM Pittsburgh. The Pirates won the game 8-5.
• The first World Series night game was played in Three Rivers Stadium on October 13, 1971 — eleven years to the day since Mazeroski's walk-off homer brought the Pirates their last World Series title in 1960. In this case, however, it was Game 4 between the Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles, rather than a decisive Game 7. Apparently, good things happen for the Pirates on this date, as they knotted the '71 Series at two games apiece on their way to their fourth title.
• The first all-black lineup in MLB history took the field on September 1, 1971.^[19] The lineup was Rennie Stennett, Gene Clines, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen, Dave Cash, Al Oliver, Jackie Hernandez, and Dock Ellis.^[20]
• The first combined extra inning no-hitter in MLB history took place at Three Rivers Stadium on July 12, 1997. Francisco Cordova (9 innings) and Ricardo Rincon (1 inning) combined to no-hit the Houston Astros, 3-0 in 10 innings. Pinch-hitter Mark Smith's three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning sealed the victory and the no-hitter for the Pirates. It remains the only such no-hitter to date.^[21]
• The Pirates have not had a winning season since 1992. They currently have 15 consecutive losing seasons. If they finish with a losing record in both 2008 and 2009, they will break the record held by the Philadelphia Phillies of 16 consecutive losing seasons.

[edit] Quick facts

• Founded: 1882, as a charter member of the American Association. Transferred to the National League in 1887.
• Uniform colors: Black, gold, and red accent.
• Logo design: Pirate caricature superimposed on crossed baseball bats
• Team motto: Pride. Passion. Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Official mascot: Pirate Parrot (1979–Present), Buccaneer (1995 only), Captain Jolly Roger (2006–Present)^[22]
• Team Nickname(s): Bucs, Buccos, Corsairs (rarely used), Battlin' Bucs, Fam-a-lee/Family (1979)
• Playoff appearances (14): 1903, 1909, 1925, 1927, 1960, 1970*, 1971, 1972*, 1974*, 1975*, 1979, 1990*, 1991*, 1992*. BOLD indicates World Series champions, italics indicates N.L. champions, asterisk indicates division champions.
• Current Owner: Robert Nutting
• Current President & CEO: Frank Coonelly
• Current Manager: John Russell
• Current General Manager: Neal Huntington
• Local Television: FSN Pittsburgh
• Local Radio: WPGB-FM
• Spring Training Facility: McKechnie Field, Bradenton, FL

[edit] Minor league affiliations

• AAA: Indianapolis Indians, International League
• AA: Altoona Curve, Eastern League
• Advanced A: Lynchburg Hillcats, Carolina League
• A: Hickory Crawdads, South Atlantic League
• Short A: State College Spikes, New York-Penn League
• Rookie: Bradenton Pirates, Gulf Coast League
• Rookie: San Joaquin Pirates, Venezuelan Summer League
• Rookie: San Pedro Pirates, Dominican Summer League

[edit] Radio and television

The Pirates have chosen to end the longest relationship between a team and a radio station in American professional sports. KDKA first broadcast the Pirates on August 5, 1921; with Westinghouse foreman Harold Arlin behind the mic. Broadcasts ended in 1924, but returned in 1936. Except for a few years on WWSW in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Pirates were on KDKA for 61 years. KDKA's 50,000-watt clear channel enabled Pirates fans across the eastern half of North America at night to hear the games.

That changed for the 2007 season, when the Pirates moved to FM talk radio station WPGB. The Pirates cited the desire to reach more people in the 25-54 age bracket coveted by advertisers. The acquisition of the rights means that Clear Channel Communications holds the rights to every major sports team in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have long had a radio network that has extended across four states. Stations for the 2007 season include Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland radio broadcasters. [1]

Games are televised on FSN Pittsburgh. There has been no over-the-air coverage of the Pirates since 2001, when some games were on WCWB. KDKA-TV aired Pirates games from its 1949 sign-on until the early 1990s. During the 1990s, games aired on WPXI and WPGH-TV.

Announcers Lanny Frattare, Greg Brown, Bob Walk, John Wehner, and Steve Blass shuttle between the radio and TV booths.

[edit] Logos & Uniforms

1968–1986 Logo

1997-Present Logo

The Pirates have had many uniforms and logo changes over the years, with the only consistency being the "P" on the team's cap. It was adopted in the mid-1940's. Aside from style changes in the cap itself, the "P" logo has remained since.

The Pirates have long been innovators in baseball uniforms. In 1948, the team broke away from the patriotic "Red, White, & Blue" color scheme when they adopted the current black & gold color scheme, to match that of the colors of the Flag of Pittsburgh and, to a lesser extent at the time, the colors of the then-relatively unknown Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL. While they weren't the first baseball team to do this, they were one of the first to do this permanently. Along with the San Francisco Giants, the Bucs are one of two pre-expansion National League teams that completely changed their colors, although red returned as an "accent color" in 1997 and remains today.

In the late 1950's, the team adopted sleeveless jerseys. While not an innovation by the team (that honor goes to the Cincinnati Reds), the Pirates did help to popularize the look. The team brought back the vested jerseys in 2001, a style it has retained since, although the away jerseys said "Pittsburgh" in script instead of "Pirates."

To coincide with the move into Three Rivers Stadium in 1970, the team introduced pullover spandex uniforms, the first such team in baseball, and a look that would quickly be adopted by most other teams by the end of the decade. The Bucs ditched the pullover style in favor of the traditional button-down style in 1991, one of the last teams to switch.

The Bucs were also innovators in third jerseys. Even though it would be the Oakland A's that would beat them to having such jerseys, the Pirates had four different uniform styles by the late 1970's, and would actually rotate (and sometimes mix, with painful results) the styles daily.

In 1976, the National League celebrated its 100th anniversary. To coincide with it, all NL teams wore old-style hats compete with horizontal pinstripes. After the season, the Pirates were the only team to adopt the hats permanently, and kept the hat through the 1986 season, which would be Barry Bonds rookie season with the team. The hats remain popular items in the throwback market.

[edit] Represented in other media

• The Pirates are the team managed by Aloysius X. "Guffy" McGovern in the 1951 film Angels in the Outfield starring Janet Leigh and Paul Douglas.

• In the 1968 film The Odd Couple the Pirates are playing the New York Mets at Shea Stadium in one scene.

• In the 1984 film The Natural the Pirates are the team opposing the fictional New York Knights in the film's climax.

• At the end of the 1992 film The Babe the Pirates are the team in the climax at Forbes Field (where Babe Ruth hit his final career home runs).

• In the 1993 film Rookie of the Year, there is a scene featuring former Pirates stars Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla striking out.

• The yet to be released 2008 film Chasing 3000 features two brothers travelling to Pittsburgh to see Roberto Clemente get his 3,000th base hit in 1972. This is the first film that focuses on the team since 1951's Angels in the Outfield.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

• Markusen, Bruce. The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates. [2]. Yardley: Westholme Publishing. 2005. ISBN 1-59416-030-9
• McCollister, John (1998). The Bucs!: The Story of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lenexa: Addax Publishing Group. ISBN 1-886110-40-9. 
• Nemec, David (2004). The Beer and Whisky League : The Illustrated History of the American Association—Baseball's Renegade Major League. Guilford: The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-59228-188-5. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Pittsburgh Pirates

• Pittsburgh Pirates Official Website
  • Current MLB standings
• Bucco Blog
• Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh Pirates
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Pittsburgh Pirates
• Mondesi's House - Pirates Blog
• Black And Gold Forums - Message Board
• Pittsburgh Lumber Co. - Pirates Blog
• Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke
• Sportsocracy