The
Uniforms of the Pittsburgh Pirates!
Titled “It
Doesn’t Get Any Better” and licensed
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Pirates.
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#1.
1909 The Pittsburgh Pirates originally started out as the Alleghenies in
1882 as a member of the 27 team American Association. In 1887 the club jumped
to the National League. Between 1887 and 1890 they were referred to as both the
Alleghenies and the Innocents (they were largely the Alleghenies from 1887 to
1889, and the Innocents in 1890). In 1891 Lou Bierbauer, a star player of that
era, was lured away from the Philadelphia Phillies. The move gave Pittsburgh
instant credibility and a new team nickname was born - the Pirates.
1909 was the first season that the
Pirates played in their wonderful new stadium, Forbes Field, and they finished
first in the National league with a stunning record of 110-42. They initiated
their new home with a World Series against the Detroit Tigers (this was the
Pirates’ 2nd appearance in the World Series, having lost their first
to the Boston Pilgrims [now Red Sox] in 1903).
The World Series pitted the
Tigers’ Ty Cobb, who had just won his 3rd straight American League
batting title, against the Pirates’ Honus Wagner, who had just won his 4th
straight National League batting title. It was a great Series that saw
Pittsburgh win the first game, only to have the Tigers tie it, then go up 2
games to 1, only to have the Tigers tie it, then 3-2 for the Pirates, then the
Tigers tied it again at 3 apiece.
But in game 7, the Pirates left no
doubt as they roared to an 8-0 victory and their first World Series
Championship. Between the two future Hall of Famers, Wagner came out on top
with a batting average of .333 vs. Cobb’s .231 average. But the hero of the
Series wasn’t a slugger at all, it was Pirates’ pitcher Babe Adams, who gave up
only 6 hits in each of the three games he started, completing and winning them
all, (in the 7th and deciding game in Detroit, he threw a shutout).
One of the stars of the 1909
Pirates was the incomparable Honus Wagner, also known as The Flying Dutchman.
Wagner joined the Pirates in 1900, and in his first season he led the NL with a
.381 average, 45 doubles with 22 triples. He would go on to have 14 consecutive
seasons of hitting .300 or better. Over his 18 seasons with the Pirates, he
would lead the league in batting average 8 times, doubles 7 times, RBI 4 times
and stolen bases 5 times. He would retire with a lifetime .327 average, and
among the top 10 all time in at-bats, hits, doubles, triples and stolen bases.
The most expensive baseball card in the world is a Honus Wagner card – we wish
it was solely because of his skill as a ballplayer, but there’s a bit more to
the story. In the early years of the 20th century, baseball cards
(and other types of cards) used to be given away in packages of cigarettes.
That was all well and good, but Honus Wagner didn’t smoke and didn’t want to do
anything to encourage smoking, so when he learned that his image was being used
on a card being given away in cigarette packages, he demanded that his card be
removed. The company in question complied with his wished, but not before a
small number of cards had already gone into circulation. There are only a
handful of these cards known to exist today – perhaps 18? - and because of
their rarity, the mint condition Honus Wagner cards fetch enormous prices.
Wayne Gretzky and his then team owner Bruce McNall jointly purchased one of
these rare gems for almost a half a million dollars.
As for the 1909 jersey pictured
here, it has the initials “P.B.C.” on the sleeve. which stands for Pittsburgh
Baseball Club. This is a pullover style home jersey with a full collar, even
though the jersey has four buttons down the front, it still had to be pulled
over the head (this was common in jerseys throughout baseball at this time). We
believe the first major league team to wear a completely buttoned front jersey
(ie one that didn’t have to be pulled over the head) was the 1909 Phillies,
followed by the 1911 Cubs. The pullover style jersey finally disappeared after
the 1939 season (the A’s were the last team to wear it), but of course
pullovers resurfaced in a big way with the double knit era of the 70’s and
80’s.
Also, notice that the pants have a
center belt loop, which was designed so that the belt buckle would be worn on
the side, not in the front. Players of this era usually wore the belt buckle to
one side to prevent injury when sliding into a base.
#2A.
1911 Notice the unusual blue stripe down the front of this home uniform.
Note also the cadet collar, a small upright collar worn by many teams from
about 1910 to the mid-late 20’s. The only logo on the entire jersey is a small
red “P” on the pocket.
Honus Wagner would finish the
season with a .334 average, thus claiming his 8th and final batting
title, a National League record. As noted earlier, Wagner finish his career in
1917 with a career batting average of .327. The 1911 Pirates finished with an
85-69 record, good for 3rd place in the 8 team NL.
#2B
1912 As we see on this 1912 home uniform, the jersey still has a cadet
collar, but the team has switched to a classic blue pinstripe. As best we can
tell, the first instance of pinstriped uniforms was in 1907. The Boston Braves
road uniform was made from a gray flannel with a fine green pinstripe. Later
that same year the Cubs had a new gray uniform with fine pin striping made for
the World Series (they wore it for the World Series opener in Chicago and were
later reprimanded by the league for not wearing a white uniform at home). The
Yankees, most often associated with pinstripe uniforms, first wore a pinstriped
uniform for one year at home in 1912 (the New York Times wrote about their 1912
home opener “The Yankees presented a natty appearance in their new uniforms of
white with black pin stripes”), then every year from 1915 to the present.
Note the wonderful and unique
method by which the Pirates displayed their city name on this uniform – it is
written vertically along the buttoned front of the jersey.
The 1912 Pirates finished the season in 2nd place with a 93-58
record. The leading pitcher was Claude Hendrix who went 24-9. Honus Wagner hit
.324 for his 13th straight season hitting .300 or better (he would end up
hitting .300+ 14 straight years) but didn’t win the batting title (he had won 8
of the previous 12 NL titles). Owen Wilson of the Pirates sets a Major League
record in 1912 with 36 triples, a record that still stands today.
#3.
1925 This is a classic white home uniform. There is thin red double
piping around the collar and down the buttons, and no logo on the front of the
jersey. Instead, there is a simple a blue “P” on the right sleeve – it’s
interesting to look at this entire poster at the variety of colors the Pirates
have worn over the years – we often think of the Pirates as being entirely
yellow and black, but this was clearly not always the case.
The rather large, and almost
cumbersome, patch on the right sleeve celebrates the National League’s 50th
anniversary, an anniversary known as the “Golden Jubilee”. All NL teams wore
this patch. The centered belt loop seen on previous uniforms is now gone, and
the Pirates now have belt tunnels on their pants. For those of you unfamiliar
with this expression, a belt tunnel is really simply a very wide belt loop,
perhaps even 4-8 inches in length.
The Pirates finish the season with a 95-58 record, winning the NL by 8 ˝ games
over the New York Giants, and in turn go on to face the post-season challenged
Washington Senators for the World Series (the Senators actually won it all in
1924, so I should go a bit easier on them). This was the Pirates’ third
appearance in the World Series – they lost in 1903, and won in 1909.
The Senators go up 3 games to 1 in
the best of 7 series, on the strength of Walter Johnson who, won games one and
four surrendering only one run in both games (he pitched a complete game 5
hitter in game 1, and a complete game 6 hitter in game 6). Without Johnson
pitching the Pirates take advantage, winning game five 6-3 in Washington and
game six 3-2 back at home to tie the series at 3 games apiece and send things
to a 7th and deciding game in Pittsburgh.
Walter Johnson started game 7 for
the Senators, and despite the fact he was hit hard, the Pirates entered the
bottom of the 8th on the losing end of a 7-6 score. But the Pirates
had their eyes on the ultimate prize, and they scored 3 runs in the 8th
and then held the Senators off the scoresheet in the top of the 9th
to claim their 2nd Major League Championship.
The post-season Pirates were led
at the plate by outfielders Max Carey, who hit .458 with 2 RBI, and Kiki Cuyler
who hit .269 with 6 RBI. On the mound they were led in the series by Ray
Kremer, who went 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA,
and Vic Aldridge’s 2-0 and 3.93 ERA
#4.
1938 The “Pittsburgh” on the front of this home jersey is now a written
“Pirates” script. The team wore this style for only the ’38 and ’39 seasons.
Note how the piping on this 1938 jersey only goes around the collar, which is
unusual because it usually carries down the front of the jersey as well.
The ’38 Pirates finish with a record of 86-64, two games behind the Chicago
Cubs. The Pirates had some terrific records in the 30’s - they finished above
.500 seven out of 10 times (the exceptions were 1931, 1934 and 1939), but this
relative success wouldn’t translate into post season appearances.
#5A.
1940 The zipper we see on this road uniform was a trend that took the
world of baseball by storm in the 40’s. During the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s many
teams used zippered jerseys instead of the more traditional button front
jerseys, while a handful of teams wore them well into the 70’s and even the
80’s. The Reds were one of three pre-1977 major league teams that never wore
zippers, the others being the Yankees and A’s. The 1937 Cubs were the first
team to wear a zippered jersey, and as far we can tell the 1988 Phillies were
the last to wear one.
The handsome Pirate crest pictured
here was only worn on the front of the jersey for the ’40 and ’41 seasons, on
both home and road uniforms. This was unusual because the trend in baseball is
for teams to wear their town/city name on their road uniforms and the city name
on the front of their home uniform.
On the field, the Pirates finish
the season with a 78-76 record, good for 4th place in the 8 team NL.
#5B.
1944 The Pirates have stuck with the zipper on this 1944 home uniform,
as they will until 1947 and then again in 1952 and 1953 for their road uniforms
only. Notice the piping around the belt tunnels, quite an unusual but effective
touch.
During the Second World War, the question is raised, should able-bodied
athletes of baseball be fighting for their country rather than playing
baseball? Baseball Commissioner Landis asked President Franklin D. Roosevelt
what to do - here is part of Roosevelt’s reply:
“I honestly feel it would be best
for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed
and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before… Here is
another way of looking at it - if 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these
players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20,000,000 of their
fellow citizens - and that in my judgment is thoroughly worthwhile.”
Wartime sleeve patches were worn
by all levels of professional baseball teams between 1942 and 1945. A “Health”
patch was worn during the 1942 season, part of a war-time health and fitness
awareness campaign, and from 1943-1945 a “Stars and Stripes” patch, as seen
here, was worn.
The ’44 Pirates compile an
impressive 90-63 record this season, but still finish 2nd to the
105-49 Stan Musial-ed St. Louis Cardinals.
#6.
1955 As seen on this home uniform, the Pirates’ colors have shifted from
red, white and blue to yellow and black. This change first occurred in 1948
when the Pirates joined the NFL’s Steelers in adopting black and yellow-gold as
their official color. The Steelers had been using yellow-gold and black since
the ‘30’s and this was the primary influence in their color change. As of the
80’s all Pittsburgh teams had adopted these colors. The NHL’s Penguins started
in ’67 using 2 shades of blue, then switched to yellow-gold and black in the
‘70’s.
The Pirates finished the 1955 season in 8th and last place in the
National League with a 60-94 record, 38˝ games behind the eventual World Series
Champion Brooklyn Dodgers.
1955 would be a memorable year for
true Pirates fans as it was this season that future Hall of Famer Roberto
Clemente started his career as a 20-year-old rookie, playing in 124 games, and
batting .255 with 5 home runs and 47 RBI.
#7.
1960 This 1960 road uniform is unusual in several ways. Typically when a
team goes on the road it wears its city name on the jersey. As you can see
here, the Pirates thought their reputation would precede them and thus wore
“Pirates” on the road instead of the traditional “Pittsburgh”.
But it’s even more unusual, in our opinion, because it is a vest jersey instead
of the more traditional button-down-the-front jersey. The Pirates first wore
vests in 1957 and continued to do so until 1971.
The ’60 Pirates enjoy a 95-59 season and finish in first, seven games ahead of
the Milwaukee Braves. The Bucs were led by Roberto Clemente, who hit .314 with
16 home runs and 94 RBI, and shortstop Dick Groat, who hit a league leading
.325. On the mound, Vern Law led the team with a 20-9 record.
In the 1960 World Series the New
York Yankees out-hit the Pirates, outscored the Pirates, out-homered the
Pirates and out-pitched the Pirates. But the Pirates still won!
The Pirates won game one in
Pittsburgh 6-4, then lost game two at home 16-3 and game three 10-0 in New
York. But the Bucs came back to win game four 3-2 in NY and game five 5-2 (also
in NY). Continuing with the see-saw nature of the series, NY clobbered the
Pirates 12-0 in game 6 in Pittsburgh.
This set the stage for the seventh
and deciding game, which was played in Pittsburgh. The Pirates had a 4-0 lead
by the end of the 2nd, and looked to be well on their way to their 3rd
World Series title. But the Yankees responded with 7 unanswered runs to take a
7-4 lead in the 8th. Things looked bleak for the Pirates.
But the Pirates put on their rally
caps and scored a remarkable 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th,
grabbing a 9-7 lead. But sure enough, in the top of the 9th the
Yankees reply with 2 runs of their own, and the score was tied going into the
bottom of the 9th, setting the stage for some bottom-of-the-9th
heroics.
On deck was 2nd baseman
Bill Mazeroski with no one on base. What happened next is arguably the most
famous home run in World Series history, Bill Mazeroski belted one to left off
of Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry to give Pittsburgh a 10-9 win and its third World
Series Championship (previous World Series victories were in 1909 and 1925).
A wonderful prologue to this home
run is the fact that Mazeroski and Terry have become good friends and have made
guest appearances together at card shows across the country.
#8.
1971 This home jersey is of a double-knit style that most major league
teams succumbed to during the 70’s and early 80’s. It was a pullover style,
made of stretchy, synthetic material. The pants were called “Sans-a-Belts”
because the elasticized waistline eliminated the need for a belt. The 1970
Pirates were the first double-knit sans-a-belt team, and the Cards and Astros
joined them in 1971. By 1975 two-thirds of major league teams had succumbed.
This is also the first time on the
poster that we see numbers on the front of the jersey, (the Pirates began
wearing uniform numbers on the front of their jerseys in 1962). Uniform numbers
first made their appearance on the front of a uniform in 1952 - the Brooklyn
Dodgers were the first team to wear uniform numbers on the front of their
jersey. The Braves followed suit in 1953, and the Reds joined in beginning in
1956. The 1916 Cleveland Indians actually wore a uniform number on their
sleeve, but it wasn’t until the ’52 Dodgers that the number made it to the
front.
The Pirates finish the ’71 regular season in first in the NL East with a 97-65
record, thereby earning the right to play the NL West Champion San Francisco
Giants for the NL Pennant. In game one of the best of five series, San Fran
prevail at home 5-4. But the Pirates storm back to take game 2 in San
Francisco, then games 3 & 4 in Pittsburgh, thus advancing to the World
Series to face the Baltimore Orioles.
The first two games were in
Baltimore, and the Pirates lost both (5-3 and 11-3). The series headed back to
Pittsburgh. Paced by a brilliant 3-hit complete game pitching performance by
Steve Blass in game 3, the Pirates make it 2 games to 1. In game 4 rookie
pitcher Bruce Kison was called upon to relieve starter Luke Walker after just
2/3rds of an inning, and he replied by tossing 6 1/3 innings of one hit ball,
leading the Bucs to a 4-3 win in game 4. The series was squared at 2 apiece.
Game 5 was still in Pittsburgh,
and starter Nellie Briles tossed a masterful 2 hit shut-out to stake the
Pirates to a 3 games to 2 lead. It was now back to Baltimore for game 6 and
perhaps game 7. Thus far in the series the home team had won, so Pirates fans
had every reason to be worried.
Sure enough, the O’s tied the
series by winning game 6 in dramatic fashion in ten innings (the final score
was 3-2 after the Pirates were up 2-0 going into the bottom of the sixth!),
thus sending the series to a seventh and deciding game.
Game 7 turned out to be everything
baseball purists want - a pitchers dual. The Pirates’ Steve Blass threw a four
hitter, and Clemente hit a homer, pacing the Pirates to a 2-1 win and their 4th
Championship (previous World Series victories were in 1909, 1925 and 1960). Roberto
Clemente is named the Series MVP on the strength of his .414 batting average
and two home runs, while Steve Blass chipped in with 2 complete 1 run games.
The 1972 season would see Roberto
Clemente notch his 3000th hit in nearly the last game of the season,
a magical cap to a marvelous career. As every true Pirates fan knows, Clemente
would die tragically while in a plane crash on December
31, 1972 as he was flying relief
supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.
#9A.
1977 A somewhat new “fashion trend” seems to have been introduced to
baseball in this era – the trend towards teams having 3 and 4 and even 5
uniforms in the same season. The Indians, for instance, had three, while the
White Sox had four. But the Pirates led the parade with 5 different uniforms
this season.
We have depicted one of the home
jersey ensembles – a pinstriped white top with yellow-gold pants. The five
uniforms were:
1) pinstriped white top with
yellow-gold pants
2) pinstriped white top with black
pants
3) yellow top with yellow-gold
pants
4) yellow-gold top with black
pants
5) black top with black pants
This would be the first time since
1914 the Pirates would wear pinstripes and they were only worn for the ’77-’79
seasons, yet they became well known because of the success of the Pirates
(especially the ’79 Pirates).
The Pirates finish the 1977 in second place in the NL East with a 96-66 record,
only five games back of the Philadelphia Phillies. The team led the NL with 260
stolen bases - Frank Taveras lead the league with 70 steals! Dave Parker led
the league with a .338 average, and John Candalaria leads the Pirates’ pitching
staff with a 20-5 record and a league leading 2.34 ERA.
#9B.
1979 We are family!!!
As in 1977 and 1978 the Pirates
still have their five uniforms – please see the 1977 jersey text above for the
five different combinations. This one we have depicted here is a road version
featuring a yellow-gold top with black pants. This road uniform is the
double-knit style.
After narrowly missing post season
play in 1978 when they finished 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies, the 1979
Pirates made amends as they finished the regular season two games up on the
Expos in the NL East with a 98-64 record. This earned the Pirates the right to
face the NL West champion Cincinnati Reds in a best of five National League
Championship series.
The Reds were no match for the
Pirates as they rolled by the Reds in three straight games – 5-2, 3-2 and 7-1.
Willie Stargell went 5 for 11 with 2 home runs and Phil Garner went 5 for 12
with 1 homer, while the Pirates’ pitching staff combined for a 1.50 ERA,
holding the Reds to a collective .215 batting average.
Next up were the Baltimore Orioles
who went a league leading 102-57 in the regular season. Games 1 & 2 were in
Baltimore, with the O’s winning the first 5-4 and the Pirates winning game two
3-2 on the strength of a two-out, top-of-the-ninth single by Manny Sanguillen.
The series shifted back to
Pittsburgh for 3 games, and the Orioles pounded the Pirates pitchers for 13
hits in a 8-4 O’s win in game 3, then added 12 more hits in a 9-6 Baltimore win
in game 4. Thus the Pirates had their backs against the wall needing to win 3
in a row.
And things looked bleak going into
the bottom of the 6th as the Pirates trailed 1-0. But their bats
exploded for 2 runs in the 6th, 2 in the 7th and 3 more
in the 8th and they cruised to a 7-1 win. The Series now shifted
back to Baltimore. On the strength of 6 innings of strong pitching by John
Candelaria and three innings of shut-out relief by Kent Tekulve, the Pirates
won 4-0 and evened the Series at 3 apiece.
Game 7. Baltimore. Trailing 1-0
going into the 6th inning of game seven, Willie Stargell smacked a
2-run homer off of Oriole Scott McGregor to take the lead for the Pirates.
Meanwhile four Pirate pitchers teamed up to four hit the O’s and the Pirates
added two more runs in the top of the ninth for a 4-1 victory and the Pirates’
fifth World Series championship (1909, 1925, 1960, 1971 and 1979) vs just two
losses (1903 and 1927).
Willie Stargell earned the Series
MVP, with a batting average of .400, 3 homers, and 7 RBI. On the mound, Kent
Tekulve had three saves and four Pirates pitchers each won a game – Bert
Blyleven, John Candelaria, Don Robinson and Grant (Buck) Jackson.
And “We Are Family”? This was the
great Sister Sledge song that the Pirates and Pirates’ fans adopted as their
team song. It embodied the great team spirit and camaraderie that characterized
the ’79 Bucs, and 20+ years later baseball fans just have to hear the 5 notes “We
are fam-il-ly” and the ’79 Pirates immediately spring to mind.
We also have to tip our cap to Dave Parker, who in 1979 recorded his 5th
consecutive .300+ season. The 6’ 5” 230 pound Parker ended his 19 year Major
League career (11 with the Pirates) with a .290 average and a .471 slugging
percentage, and he will best be remembered for his tremendous offensive seasons
with the 1975-1980 Bucs.
On a sad note, Willie “Pops”
Stargell passed away in April 2001 after battling kidney disease. He was 61 and will forever be remembered as a
team leader and gentlemanly father figure.
#10.
1992 As we see on this road jersey, the Pirates finally got rid of the
double-knit sans-a-belt uniforms of the 70’s and 80’s, and have called back
their “Pirate” logo from the 1940 and 1941 seasons. Last worn in 1953, a
“Pittsburgh” script adorned the Pirates’ 1992 road uniforms--a style the team
re-introduced in 1990. Note also the patch on the left shoulder.
The 1992 season, saw the Bucs finish the regular season atop the NL East with a
96-66 record, thus pitting them against the Atlanta Braves in the best-of-seven
National League Championship.
The Braves jumped out to 2-0 and
3-1 leads, but the Pirates battled back to square the series at 3 and force a
dramatic game 7 in Atlanta. And dramatic is an understatement.
In what would turn out to be a
decisive moment in the history of the Pirates’ franchise, the Braves overcame a
2-0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth, scoring the tying and winning runs with
two out in the bottom of the 9th after Stan Belinda came in to
relieve starter Doug Drabek, who had loaded the bases with none out.
The Pirates’ manager Jim Leyland
was credited with much of the team’s success, and was awarded the NL manager of
the year award. The team’s best player, Barry Bonds, earned his second NL MVP
award in three years (the first coming in 1990 with later MVP awards coming
with the San Francisco Giants in 1993 and 2001).
#11A.
1998 This black jersey is a pullover style jersey known as a “third jersey”.
A 3rd jersey is a concept that became commonplace in baseball by the
mid 90’s. Most 3rd jerseys are worn occasionally at home as well as
on the road, giving a team a third option as to what uniform to wear. And of
course, the addition of a third jersey adds to the options fans can buy,
thereby increasing apparel revenues and ultimately benefiting the team. More
recently, teams have begun adding 4th and even 5th
jerseys to their roster of uniform possibilities, although we have to point out
that the Pirates were ahead of their time as far back as the late 70’s when
they used 5 different uniform combinations.
This jersey has several
interesting characteristics: There is a thin red border around the yellow-gold
lettering and numbers; the letters themselves are flat across the top and
curved underneath (quite unique); there are two buttons in the area of the neck
of the jersey, again, quite unique; and the pirate patch on the left shoulder
has been reincarnated with an angry face, an eye patch and a bandanna. This
uniform also demonstrates a fashion trend that started in the mid-late ’90’s,
with the teams names and/or logos embroidered on the neck/collar of the
undershirt.
The Pirates finished the 1998 season at the bottom of the NL Central Division
with a 69-93 record, 29˝ games behind the first place Houston Astros. In a
season that saw the Cardinals Mark McGwire break the single season home run
record, collecting 70 dingers, the Bucs were led by Kevin Young,
who hit .270 with 27 home runs and 108 RBI.
#11B.
1999 Wow or Yikes – you tell us!
We couldn’t do a Pirates’ poster
without showing what is arguably the most unique jersey in the history of Major
League Baseball. This jersey, known as the “futuristic” uniform, was worn only
a few times in 1999. Due to the predominant use of the color red, people might
have thought that Pittsburgh was changing its colors, but this was not the case
– this was simply an outrageous, eye-popping jersey designed to shock everyone
who saw it.
Also unique was the fact that the
players’ names and numbers ran vertically on the back of the jersey, as opposed
to the traditional horizontal layout.
In April 1999, groundbreaking
takes place for the Pirates’ new home, later to be known as “PNC Park”. PNC
Park would open the 2001 season, replacing the testament to the 70’s, Three
Rivers Stadium.
On the field, the 78-83 ‘99
Pirates are led by 28 year old star-in-the-making Brian Giles, who batted .315
with 39 home runs, and Kevin Young’s .298 with 26 dingers. And Todd Ritchie’s
15-9 record and 3.49 ERA led the Pirates pitchers.
To sum up the Pirates’ history,
both winning and their uniforms have always been fashionable.
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The Pittsburgh Pirates: “It Doesn’t
Get Any Better”
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