The Pirates were among the best teams in baseball at the start of the 20th century, playing in the inaugural World Series in 1903 and winning their first title in 1909 behind Honus Wagner.

[8] On October 15, 1881, Denny McKnight held a meeting at Pittsburgh's St. Clair Hotel to organize a new Allegheny club,[9] which began play in 1882 as a founding member of the American Association.

The Pirates were among the best teams in baseball in the early 1900s, winning three consecutive National League pennants from 1901 to 1903 and participating in the first modern World Series ever played, which they lost to Boston.

The Pirates remained a competitive team through the 1930s but failed to win the pennant, coming closest in 1938 when they were passed by the Chicago Cubs in the final week of the season.

They were outscored over the course of the series by the Yankees, yet the Pirates won on a walk-off home run by Bill Mazeroski in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 7.

Playing in the new Three Rivers Stadium, the Pirates defeated the favored Baltimore Orioles behind Clemente's hitting and the pitching of Steve Blass.

[16] Despite Clemente's death after the 1972 season, the Pirates were one of the dominant teams of the decade, winning the newly created National League East in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, and 1979.

Powered by sluggers such as Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, and Al Oliver, the team was nicknamed "The Lumber Company."

The Pirates sank back into mediocrity in the 1980s and returned to post-season play in the early 1990s behind young players like Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Doug Drabek.

The Pirates finally returned to the postseason in 2013 behind National League MVP Andrew McCutchen, defeating the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card Game.

Since 2001, the Pirates have played their home games at PNC Park, located on the banks of the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh's North Side neighborhood.

[20] Funded mainly through taxpayer money, the ballpark cost $216 million to construct and is named for Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services.

Widely considered to be among the best baseball stadiums in the country, several outlets have praised PNC Park for its location, limestone and steel façade, and views of both the action on the field and the Pittsburgh skyline.

[28] The park hosted the first modern World Series ever played in 1903 but by the end of the decade the wooden structure was too small for the Pirates' growing fanbase.

[29] The site is currently occupied by a parking lot and several restaurants, although a historical marker near the intersection of West Gen. Robinson Street and Tony Dorsett Drive notes it was the location of the first World Series.

[31] When a large grandstand was constructed down the right field line in the early 1920s, reducing the distance to 300 feet from home plate, Dreyfuss had a 28-foot screen erected.

[32][33][34] Despite this, Forbes Field is remembered for several famous home runs: the final three homers of Babe Ruth's career on May 25, 1935[35] and Bill Mazeroski's championship-winning blast in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series.

In 2012, members of the Society for American Baseball Research marked and painted the home plate and first base of the former stadium on the 40th Anniversary of Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit.

Like other teams in Major League Baseball, the Pirates predominantly favored a patriotic red, white and blue color scheme through the first half of the 20th Century.

Jake Beckley *Bert BlylevenJim BunningMax Carey *Jack ChesbroFred Clarke *Roberto Clemente *Joe CroninKiki Cuyler Barney Dreyfuss *Frankie FrischPud GalvinGoose GossageHank GreenbergBurleigh GrimesNed HanlonBilly HermanWaite Hoyt Joe KelleyGeorge KellyRalph Kiner *Chuck KleinJim Leyland *Freddie LindstromAl LópezConnie MackHeinie ManushRabbit Maranville Bill Mazeroski *Bill McKechnieHank O'DayDave Parker *Branch RickeyTed SimmonsBilly SouthworthWillie Stargell *Casey Stengel Pie Traynor *Dazzy VanceArky Vaughan *Rube WaddellHonus Wagner *Lloyd Waner *Paul Waner *Deacon WhiteVic Willis Milo Hamilton Al Helfer Bob Prince In 2022, the Pirates formally established a team Hall of Fame to honor the "most influential ballplayers in Pittsburgh baseball history", as picked by an internal committee that had the help of team historian Jim Trdinich.

[65][66] 19 individuals were part of the first class, which included every Pittsburgh Pirate inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame along with several other former players, broadcasters, and coaches.

Like the Washington Nationals with the Ring of Honor, the Pirates inducted players that had played for the Negro league baseball team Homestead Grays, which had played in Forbes Field and Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh alongside their time in Washington; two of the first class also spent time with the Pittsburgh Crawfords, with a ceremony dedicated to "signing" the four to Pirates contracts.

[103] Throughout the 1940s Pirates owner William Benswanger was a leading advocate of integration of the Major Leagues, once planning a tryout for African American players to sign up for the club.

[105] On September 1, 1971, manager Murtaugh assembled a starting lineup that was completely composed of minority players for the first time in MLB history.

Harold Arlin, a foreman at Westinghouse, announced the game over KDKA from a box seat next to the first base dugout at Forbes Field.

KDKA's 50,000-watt clear channel enabled Pirates fans across the eastern half of North America at night to hear the games.

Current The Pirates have no set broadcast team for radio or TV; instead, all announcers and analysts take turns working in both mediums over the course of a season.

Former Pirate and Pittsburgh native John Wehner joined the crew in 2005 as an analyst,[125] while Joe Block became the team's second play-by-play announcer in 2016 after previously working for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Past Westinghouse Electric foreman Harold Arlin called the first-ever radio broadcast of a baseball game, an 8-5 Phillies victory over the Pirates on August 5, 1921.

[127] Prince's broadcasting style made him immensely popular with fans, and his almost 30-year run with the club coincided with the Pirates' rise to a championship-caliber team.