Pittsburgh Associates was a consortium of the City of Pittsburgh and local businesses which owned the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1996. It was spearheaded during a dark year for the ball club with national media focused on the Pittsburgh drug trials, where many former Pirates as well as other major leaguers were brought up on Federal drug charges for offenses through the early 1980s. The Pirates had gone from a World Series victory in 1979 and contention as late as 1983, to a 100-loss season in 1985. At the same time, longtime owner John W. Galbreath was looking for a new buyer, and cities such as New Orleans and Portland were making attractive bids.
The Associates were spearheaded by popular Pittsburgh Mayor Richard S. Caliguiri and some prominent corporate leaders of such companies as Westinghouse, Alcoa, PPG, United States Steel, [1] PNC, Mellon Financial, Carnegie Mellon University and Ryan Homes. Other investors include Chicago real estate developer Harvey Walken, Pittsburgh contractor Frank Schneider and Pittsburgh businessman Frank Fuhrer as well as Block Communications co-owner and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher William Block. The deal was intended to ensure that the Pirates would stay in Pittsburgh until a new long-term buyer could be found to keep the club in the city. However, the consortium's stewardship of the Pirates would last for 10 years until Kevin McClatchy bought the team in 1996.
During their time as owners, Pittsburgh Associates saw the Pirates win three straight NL East titles (1990–92); however, the Pirates would fall in the NLCS all three times.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Association in 1881 under the name Pittsburgh Allegheny, the club joined the National League in 1887 and was a member of the National League East from 1969 through 1993. The Pirates have won five World Series championships, nine National League pennants, nine National League East division titles and made three appearances in the Wild Card Game.
The Pittsburgh Pirates were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL), based in Pittsburgh from 1925–26 to 1929–30. The nickname comes from the baseball team also based in the city. For the 1930–31 season, the team moved to Philadelphia, and played one season as the Philadelphia Quakers.
Arthur Joseph Rooney Sr., often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football franchise in the National Football League (NFL), from 1933 until his death. Rooney is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was an Olympic qualifying boxer, and was part or whole owner in several track sport venues and Pittsburgh area pro teams. He was the first president of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1933 to 1974, and the first chairman of the team from 1933 to 1988.
Exposition Park was the name given to three historic stadiums, located in what is today Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The fields were used mainly for professional baseball and American football from c. 1879 to c. 1915. The ballparks were initially located on the north side of the Allegheny River in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. The city was annexed into Pittsburgh in 1907, which became the city's North Side, located across from Pittsburgh's downtown area. Due to flooding from the nearby river, the three stadiums' exact locations varied somewhat. The final version of the ballpark was between the eventual sites of Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park.
The 1926–27 NHL season was the tenth season of the National Hockey League. The success of the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Pirates led the NHL to expand further within the United States. The league added three new teams: the Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Cougars and New York Rangers, to make a total of ten, split in two divisions. This resulted in teams based in Canada being in the minority for the first time. To stock the teams with players the new teams brought in players from the Western Hockey League, which folded in May 1926. This left the NHL in sole possession of hockey's top players, as well as sole control of hockey's top trophy, the Stanley Cup, which was won by the Ottawa Senators. This was the original Senators' eleventh and final Stanley Cup win. The Senators' first was in 1903.
Recreation Park was a sporting grounds and stadium located in what is today Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The stadium existed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During the park's heyday, the location was considered to be within Allegheny City, but in 1907, the entire municipality was annexed by its larger neighbor and eventually became Pittsburgh's North Side.
William Adam Meyer was an American baseball player and manager. He holds the dubious distinction of having played with, then managed, two of the worst teams in the history of Major League Baseball.
Kevin S. McClatchy is the chairman of McClatchy and former owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. He led a group of investors that purchased the team in 1996, and served as the team's CEO and lead owner until 2007, when Bob Nutting took over as lead owner, and McClatchy and Nutting hired Frank Coonelly to become CEO.
John Bernard "Hans" Lobert was an American third baseman, shortstop, coach, manager and scout in Major League Baseball. Lobert was immortalized in the 1966 Lawrence Ritter book The Glory of Their Times.
The Duquesne Gardens was the main sports arena located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the first half of the 20th century. Built in 1890, the building originally served as a trolley barn, before becoming a multi-purpose arena. The Gardens opened three years after a fire destroyed the city's prior sports arena, the Schenley Park Casino, in 1896. Over the years, the Gardens was the home arena of several of Pittsburgh's historic sports teams, such as ice hockey's Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Hornets. The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, which was the first ice hockey league to openly hire and trade players, played all of its games at the Gardens. The arena was also the first hockey rink to ever use glass above the dasher boards. Developed locally by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, Herculite glass was first tested in Pittsburgh. Most rinks were using wire mesh before the shatterproof glass was invented. Finally, the Pittsburgh Ironmen, a charter member of the Basketball Association of America, played at the Gardens from 1946 to 1947.
The Pittsburgh Hornets were a minor-league professional men's ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Sports in Pittsburgh have been played dating back to the American Civil War. Baseball, hockey, and the first professional American football game had been played in the city by 1892. Pittsburgh was first known as the "City of Champions" when the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Panthers football team, and Pittsburgh Steelers won multiple championships in the 1970s. Today, the city has three major professional sports franchises, the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins; while the University of Pittsburgh Panthers compete in a Division I Power Five conference, the highest level of collegiate athletics in the United States, in both football and basketball. Local universities Duquesne and Robert Morris also field Division I teams in men's and women's basketball and Division I FCS teams in football. Robert Morris also fields Division I men's and women's ice hockey teams.
The following is a history of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball.
William Edward Benswanger was an American businessman who served for almost 15 years as president and chief executive of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball franchise, from 1932 through 1946.
525 William Penn Place is a skyscraper located in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was completed in 1951 for the Mellon National Bank and the U.S. Steel Corporation. At 520 feet (160 m) tall, it was the second-tallest building in Pittsburgh until 1970, and the third-tallest until 1984. The building has 41 floors and approximately 950,000 square feet (88,000 m2) of office space. Presently it is the third-largest office building by square feet in downtown Pittsburgh. In 2016, BNY Mellon sold the building for $67.65 million.
The Pennsylvania Keystoners was the idea for an American football team thought up by then-Pittsburgh Pirates owner, Art Rooney, in 1939 to have a single National Football League franchise based in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The team would play half of its home games in each location.
The first National Football League (NFL) was the first attempt at forming a national professional American football league in 1902. This league has no ties with the modern National Football League. In fact the league was only composed of teams from Pennsylvania, which meant it was actually regional, despite having locations in the two largest cities in Pennsylvania. Two of the teams were based in Philadelphia, while the third was based in Pittsburgh. This NFL was a curious mixture of football players and baseball players who adapted to playing football. Future Baseball Hall of Famer Rube Waddell was with the Philadelphia Athletics, and pitcher Christy Mathewson a fullback for Pittsburgh. Two of the three teams were owned by the Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Athletics, with the third team suspected of being owned by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The league folded after the 1902 season.
The Phillies–Pirates rivalry is a Major League Baseball (MLB) rivalry between the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates. Both clubs are members of MLB's National League (NL); the Phillies are members of the NL East division, while the Pirates are members of the NL Central division. The rivalry was considered by some to be one of the best in the NL. The rivalry started when the Pittsburgh Pirates entered NL play in their fifth season of 1887, four years after the Phillies.
Raymond Lincoln Kennedy was an American professional baseball player, scout and front office executive. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Polka refers to a series of moves affecting the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers franchises in the National Football League (NFL) from 1940 to 1941.