History of the Pittsburgh Pirates

[1] After the Civil War, baseball was sufficiently popular that the city fielded several amateur teams considered to be strong: the Enterprise, Xantha, and Olympic clubs.

[3] The team joined the minor league International Association in 1877 and posted a decent 13–6 record, featuring future Hall of Fame pitcher Pud Galvin.

[5] On October 15, 1881, Denny McKnight held a meeting at Pittsburgh's St. Clair Hotel to organize a new Allegheny club,[6] which began play in 1882 as a founding member of the American Association, which had started up to take on the established National League.

A reorganized Pittsburgh club, formed from a merger of the Alleghenys and the Burghers, recovered the services of several players who had jumped to the upstart league a year earlier.

Deacon Phillippe pitched five complete games, winning three of them, but Pittsburgh was plagued by injuries and a bad performance from Wagner, who batted only 6-for-27 (.222) in the Series and committed six errors.

The Pirates remained one of the premier teams in the National League through the first decade of the 1900s, never finishing lower than fourth (and then, only once), but could not get past the stronger Chicago Cubs or New York Giants.

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 in the early 1920s.

Benswanger made comments to the press that he sought to improve the Pirates by signing African-American players during the 1930s and 1940s, going as far as planning a tryout, but the other owners refused to break baseball's color barrier.

[22] In August 1946, the long era of ownership by the Barney Dreyfuss family came to an end when Benswanger sold the team to a syndicate led by Indianapolis businessman Frank McKinney; the group also included entertainer Bing Crosby, Pittsburgh attorney Thomas P. Johnson, and Columbus, Ohio-based real estate tycoon John W. Galbreath.

Many of those youngsters faltered, but those who fulfilled Rickey's faith in them—pitchers Vern Law, Bob Friend and Elroy Face, 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.

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 against Baltimore and had excellent seasons in 1968 and 1972.

'"[26] The sports world was stunned and saddened when 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.

Despite their on-field success, the Pirates struggled to draw fans in the late 1970s, as the steel crisis devastated Pittsburgh's economy and led to a regional population drain.

They featured young and exciting players such as the "outfield of dreams" consisting of Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds, and Andy Van Slyke; infielders Jay Bell, Steve Buechele, Sid Bream, and José Lind; catcher Mike LaValliere, and pitchers Doug Drabek, John Smiley, and Stan Belinda.

Despite losing Bonilla to free agency in the 1991–92 offseason, the Pirates won their third consecutive division title and once again faced off against the Braves in the 1992 National League Championship Series.

Pinch hitter Francisco Cabrera singled to left, scoring two runners—including Sid Bream, a former Pirate and one of the slowest players in baseball- to win the series for Atlanta.

At first, the plan seemed to be working: despite fielding a league-low $9 million payroll, the 1997 squad—known as the "Freak Show"—remained in contention for the newly created National League Central for most of the summer.

[37] 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.

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 Óliver 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 in 2004, while Giles put up a subpar season by his standards.

Prior to the 2008 trade deadline, the Pirates made several deals that sent several accomplished veterans to other franchises: left fielder Xavier Nady and pitcher Dámaso Marte were sent to the New York Yankees in return for José Tábata, Ross Ohlendorf, Dan McCutchen, and Jeff Karstens; Jason Bay was traded to the Boston Red Sox in a three-team deal that brought Andy LaRoche, Bryan Morris, Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen to Pittsburgh.

The roster teardown continued in 2009, as the team's only 2008 All-Star Nate McLouth was traded to the Atlanta Braves for prospects Jeff Locke, Charlie Morton and Gorkys Hernández.

[44] On June 30, the team dealt Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Washington Nationals, as well as sending utility player Eric Hinske to the New York Yankees.

The Pirates also sent three players to the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game with the selections of starting pitcher Kevin Correia, closer Joel Hanrahan and center fielder Andrew McCutchen.

Martin, while providing decent offensive numbers, was considered to be a major defensive upgrade over the previous year's platoon of Rod Barajas and Michael McKenry.

On December 26, 2012, the Pirates traded established closer Joel Hanrahan and infielder Brock Holt to the Boston Red Sox for reliever Mark Melancon and several prospects.

Though the Pirates made no trades before the July 31 deadline, they added to the lineup in August, acquiring Marlon Byrd and John Buck from the New York Mets[53] and Justin Morneau from the Minnesota Twins.

In 2014, the Pirates made the National League Wild Card game but lost at home to the eventual World Series champions, the San Francisco Giants by a score of 8–0.

The eventual 2015 NL Cy Young winner, Jake Arrieta, pitched dominantly for the Cubs, hurling a complete-game shutout, handing the Pirates a 4–0 loss.

In addition to their on-field struggles, the team suffered from problems off the field as well, including brawls,[69] fights between players in the clubhouse,[70] and the arrest of closer Felipe Vazquez.