The Pittsburgh Alleghenys became a charter member of the American  Association in 1882 after their soon-to-be owner, H. Denny McKnight, was introduced to Cincinnati's O.P. Caylor, founder of the AA, by the bartender in the Pittsburgh saloon where both were drinking one day in 1881.     

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After generally poor showings during their first first five seasons, with the National League sniffing around for more teams to place in the east, and friction building between the club and the league, the team jumped the AA and was admitted to the NL for 1887.   In 1890, manager Ned Hanlon led an exodus of players to the Pittsburgh franchise in the new Players' League, leaving the Alleghenys to draft local teenagers and old men to play out the season resulting in a 23-113 record.  When the PL folded after 1890, most of the defectors, including Hanlon himself, returned to the club.  In 1891, Lou Bierbauer of the AA's Philadelphia club was accidentally omitted from the team's reserve list which, when Bierbauer found out, prompted him to offer his services to other clubs as a "free agent".  Signed by Pittsburgh, the move was condemned by the AA as "piratical" - and within a short time, the club had a new name.  

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The Pirates played middling ball at best for the remainder of the 1800s, but in December of 1899, they acquired Honus Wagner and things began to change - quickly. The club finished 1st from 1901-1903 (falling to the Red Sox in the first-ever World Series in 1903), and again in 1909, when they  downed the Tigers to capture their first title.  After some down years,  stars like Kiki Cuyler, Pie Traynor and the Waner brothers would return the club to dominance in the 1920s - they won pennants in 1925 and 1927, downing the Senators in the '25 Series but losing to the Murderers' Row Yankees in '27.  In the 1930s and 1940s the club was mediocre, and in the 1950s they were generally terrible, but in 1960, sandwiched between 4th and 6th place finishes, they managed to capture the pennant and, against all odds, to down the Yankees in the World Series.  They won it in 7 games on Bill Mazeroski's legendary walk-of home run, despite being outscored in the series 55-27. 

 

In the 1970s, the Pirates won 6 of 10 possible division titles, finished 2nd three times and 3rd once. With stars including Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Steve Blass, Kent Tekulve  and Dave Parker, they essentially owned the decade and, dressed in black and gold, looked the part.   Poor showings were the story of the 1980s, before they won 3 consecutive division titles, and experienced 3 consecutive crushing NLCS defeats, from 1990-1992.  The years since, almost without relief, have been a miserable time to be a Pittsburgh fan.  Despite a wonderful new park and the occasional young star, inept ownership has relegated the club to all but an afterthought in the NL.   

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The main purpose of this page is to illustrate those players, managers and coaches who have been the most prominent in the franchise's history.  Links below will take you to galleries highlighting each, by position.  Generally, an individual is included if he spent at least 2 full seasons (consecutive or cumulative) as a starter, relief pitcher, closer or manager. For coaches, I've generally used 5 years of service as the bar.  None of this is scientific, though, so there are exceptions.  Where possible and practical, I used pictures of actual baseball cards because that it is the medium through which I, and I suppose many others, first discovered the game. Where necessary, I designed my own images.  Images of actual baseball cards were obtained at the Card Cyber Museum, and for my own designs I used photos found at host of different sites, but none moreso than the wonderful forum at Out of the Park Developments.  

 

I claim no rights to, or ownership of, any of the photographic images I've used on these pages.   You are welcome to use them yourself.  All I ask is that that if you use any of my personal creations, you give credit to this site.