Why are the called the Pirates?
After the Players’ League collapsed in 1890, the National League’s Pittsburgh club signed two players, including Lou Bierbauer, whom the Philadelphia Athletics had forgotten to place on their reserve list.
A Philadelphia sportswriter claimed that Pittsburgh “pirated away Bierbauer” and the Pirates nickname was born.
Why am I excited to see their city?
No word of a lie, Pittsburgh is my favourite city in the United States to visit. The people (known as Yinzers), the food, the city itself is bursting with life, and everyone you meet is proud of their city’s heritage and industrial “beauty” (blue collar working class), sports teams (Pirates, Penguins but especially the Steelers) and awesome beer that is brewed in the area.
Fun story, when visiting Pittsburgh one summer, I thought I’d be polite and grab a case of Budweiser for the family I was visiting. I was quickly told to hide the case as my friend’s dad (a full blown loud and proud Yinzer), would freak out and probably pour it down the drain – or kick me out of the house!
Some photos of fun times in Pitt!
What is a tradition at their ballpark?
Much like the San Francisco Giants, the Pirates play in one of the most scenic and beautiful stadiums in the country.
Above: INCREDIBLE
Traditions include walking across one of the many bridges to the stadium, and people hanging out in their kayaks to catch a home run ball.
As previously mentioned, food is big in Pittsburgh, and it’s tough to beat the traditional Primanti Bros Sandwiches (pronounced “Sammach” in Pittsburgh), where it is done Pittsburgh style…. Pittsburgh style? Yeah, that means the fries are ON the sandwich (this is also done with salads).
Who is a famous fan?
Again, given how famous the city is as a “sports town”, there is no shortage of famous Pirates fans.
Mark Cuban, Michael Keaton and Aussie Russell Crowe are all know Pirates fans, but again, this one is easy and goes down the music path again.
The wizard and Pittsburgh native himself – WIZ KHALIFA.
CUE THE MUSIC!
A fun/weird fact about the Pirates?
Not specific to the Pirates but to Pittsburgh in general.
Pittsburgh is the only city in the USA that has teams in at least three of the four major sporting leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) who all wear the same colours – BLACK & YELLOW (refer to the Wiz song above).
I personally think this is really cool and reminds me a lot of home whereby our state/city teams typically wear associated colours that go across all the different sports!
BONUS FUN FACT
Pittsburgh took a unique approach with their mascot, and rather having a threatening Pirate who probably isn’t a friendly guy, they went with a Parrot simply named “Pirate Parrot”.
Check him out below:
Wait who’s that guy in the top right??? C’mon you really think they’d miss the opportunity to have a badass Yinzer Pirate mascot?
Thirty before 30 