Pittsburgh Pirates Tickets

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are play in the Central Division of the National League. The club has the honor of being 5 time World Series Champions.

The Pittsburgh Alleghenies was the original name of Pittsburgh's National League franchise. Some argue this is from the county in which Pittsburgh is the seat of government. Others are of the view that it was named after the mountain range in the region. Some others maintain that Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became Pittsburgh's northside after a 1907 annexation, was the tale behind the moniker. It is also one of the three major rivers in the city. In the 1890s, the club was referred to as the Pittsburgh Innocents before the Pirates name stuck by the end of that decade.

Pre-1900
In 1876, Professional Baseball started in Pittsburgh. The teams of the era were not affiliated with any organized league, though they were run as a business organization.The baseball team in the city joined the American Association as a founding member in 1882. After five mediocre seasons in the A.A., Pittsburgh became the first A.A. team to switch to the older, more respectable National League in 1887.

1901-1969
The 1901-1903 Pirates completely dominated the National League.However, They lost the first World Series ever played, in 1903 to Boston due to injuries to their starting pitchers. Deacon Phillippe pitched five complete games, winning three of them.The Pirates would continue to be a strong team over the next few years with largely the same star players. By defeating the Detroit Tigers in seven games, they were successful in getting their first World Series title in 1909.

1970-1979 and "The Family"
Slugger Willie Stargell became a fixture in the Pittsburgh lineup in the late 1960s. The Pirates returned to prominence in 1970. There was return of Murtaugh as manager. The Pirates' home field, Forbes Field, was demolished in favor of the multi-purpose Three Rivers Stadium.

In 1970, The Pirates were successful in winning their first of five division titles over the next six years. They also won their fourth World Series in 1971 behind a .414 Series batting average by Clemente. Steve Blass was their genuine superstar pitcher who pitched two excellent games in the World Series and had excellent seasons in 1968 and 1972. The Pirates also became the first Major League Baseball team to field an all-black starting lineup in 1971,. The line up included Rennie Stennett, Gene Clines, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen, Dave Cash, Al Oliver, Jackie Hernandez, and Dock Ellis.

1980s and 1990s: The Leyland Era:
The Pirates began to decline in the later period. During the mid-1980s, the Pirates were regarded as the worst team in baseball. Under new manager Jim Leyland, 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.

2000-present: The PNC Park Years
In 2001, a new stadium, PNC Park, was opened for the Pirates. The stadium is currently regarded as the best park in baseball due to its simple, unpretentious concept and strategic usage of the remarkably beautiful Pittsburgh skyline. Despite this, the Pirates' performance has translated to subpar attendance figures. With the end of the 2006 season, the Pirates had failed to compile at least a .500 winning percentage in 14 straight seasons. In any of the country's four major professional sports leagues, this streak is the longest.

The former general manager Cam Bonifay is partly blamed for overall failure of the team in the last decade. He gave large contracts to players such as Derek Bell while failing to identify, develop, and retain numerous young potential star players.

Current general manager Dave Littlefield began overhauling the team to comply with owner Kevin McClatchy's dictum to drastically reduce the payroll. In 2003, talented third baseman Aramis Ramirez was traded to the Chicago Cubs 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 Perez, Jason Bay, and Cory Stewart. Bay won the Rookie of the Year Award award in 2004.

Pirate fans found this trade much more palatable in the short run, as Perez led the majors in strikeouts per inning and, 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."

Pittsburgh Pirates are a professional major league American baseball team based in the city of Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The team is a member of the American National Baseball League and has been playing in the Central Division since 1994. The Pirates are also referred to as the "Buccs," or "Buccos." PNC Park located in Pittsburgh is the Pirates permanent home ground, and the staging venue of all their home games. The total seating capacity of the stadium is over thirty-eight thousand, the second smallest seating capacity of any major league baseball ground in the U.S. Watch your favorite American baseball league team play in one of their home games by purchasing your Pittsburgh Pirates tickets right here!