the Pirates

[JimR]

we need to schedule these fellows some more.

[austro]

we need to schedule these fellows some more.

They are very gracious guests.

[MusicMan]

They are the Clippers of MLB, minus the racism.

[JimR]

They are the Clippers of MLB, minus the racism.

sad, too, because this is a proud franchise with great tradition.

[MusicMan]

sad, too, because this is a proud franchise with great tradition.

A tradition that most of those under age 30 have no clue exists.

[JimR]

A tradition that most of those under age 30 have no clue exists.

among other things they are clueless about.

[MRaup]

among other things they are clueless about.

You kids get off my lawn!

[JimR]

You kids get off my lawn!

hey, you're over 30. you can stay.

[Bench]

among other things they are clueless about.

Are we talking about prostitutes again?

[JimR]

Are we talking about prostitutes again?

at SnS, we speak of little else.

[MRaup]

at SnS, we speak of little else.

I'm pretty sure we established that a few members here ARE prostitues. Not to name any names(NeilT)...

[AtascAstro]

I'm pretty sure we established that a few members here ARE prostitues. Not to name any names(NeilT)...

Using Alkie's methodology it is pertty hard to tell who isn't.

[Bench]

Using Alkie's methodology it is pertty hard to tell who isn't.

It's easy.  There's Alkie on one hand, and then the rest of the world is all hookers. 

[strosrays]

sad, too, because this is a proud franchise with great tradition.

I don't remember back as far as you do, for various reasons (one of them being I was born a couple of decades later), but there were the Jim Leyland early 1990s Pirates, who kept running into better teams in the NLCS (Piniella's Reds, Braves).  That was the team that had Drabek anchoring the staff, and Bonds-Bonilla-Van Slyke in the outfield and the middle of the batting order.

But the teams I always think of were the 1970s Pirates, both early in the decade (led by Clemente, World Champs in '71) and the late decade incarnation (the "We Are Famileee" Pirates, led by Willie Stargell. . . World Champs in '79).  It seemed like every year the Pirates would bring up another guy or three who might not be real big on your plate discipline and all, but could solid fucking hit.  I believe they were one of the first NL teams to really understand how good the players were who were coming out of the Caribbean, and they signed many, many.

Like we were talking about in the other thread -- that a D-Rays fan 10 years ago would have a hard time believing how well-run that franchise is now -- it is hard to comprehend how far the Pirates have fallen, if one remembers their really good years.  But aren't boom-and-bust sort of a franchise tradition?  Weren't the late 40s - early 50s teams really bad?  Before they brought in Branch Rickey?

[VirtualBob]

A tradition that most of those under age 30 have no clue exists.

That must explain my cluefullness, then.  Being a Pirates fan is worse than being a Cubs fan ... at least Cubs fans get some sympathy and publicity.

[NeilT]

I'm pretty sure we established that a few members here ARE prostitues. Not to name any names(NeilT)...

I'm a lawyer, which is a whore.  Let's keep the terminology straight.

[JimR]

I don't remember back as far as you do, for various reasons (one of them being I was born a couple of decades later), but there were the Jim Leyland early 1990s Pirates, who kept running into better teams in the NLCS (Piniella's Reds, Braves).  That was the team that had Drabek anchoring the staff, and Bonds-Bonilla-Van Slyke in the outfield and the middle of the batting order.

But the teams I always think of were the 1970s Pirates, both early in the decade (led by Clemente, World Champs in '71) and the late decade incarnation (the "We Are Famileee" Pirates, led by Willie Stargell. . . World Champs in '79).  It seemed like every year the Pirates would bring up another guy or three who might not be real big on your plate discipline and all, but could solid fucking hit.  I believe they were one of the first NL teams to really understand how good the players were who were coming out of the Caribbean, and they signed many, many.

Like we were talking about in the other thread -- that a D-Rays fan 10 years ago would have a hard time believing how well-run that franchise is now -- it is hard to comprehend how far the Pirates have fallen, if one remembers their really good years.  But aren't boom-and-bust sort of a franchise tradition?  Weren't the late 40s - early 50s teams really bad?  Before they brought in Branch Rickey?

for me, the Pirates will forever be 1960. that was my most fun baseball season ever. i had switched to them in 1959 after the Dodgers jilted Brooklyn and me, and i followed the Pirates religiously every day in 1960. what a team and what a year!

[Andyzipp]

for me, the Pirates will forever be 1960. that was my most fun baseball season ever. i had switched to them in 1959 after the Dodgers jilted Brooklyn and me, and i followed the Pirates religiously every day in 1960. what a team and what a year!

You and my father, although he follwed them a little bit before that.  The team he played on prior to high school was the Pirates, and so it just seemed to fit.

He dropped all that nonsense in 1962, however.

[JimR]

You and my father, although he follwed them a little bit before that.  The team he played on prior to high school was the Pirates, and so it just seemed to fit.

He dropped all that nonsense in 1962, however.

i did too.

[VirtualBob]

for me, the Pirates will forever be 1960. that was my most fun baseball season ever. i had switched to them in 1959 after the Dodgers jilted Brooklyn and me, and i followed the Pirates religiously every day in 1960. what a team and what a year!

Agreed.  Though I as a fan a few years earlier.  Brooklyn never really did it for me.

[JimR]

Agreed.  Though I as a fan a few years earlier.  Brooklyn never really did it for me.

i loved the Brooklyn Dodgers, and as a result, i hated the Yankees.

[geezerdonk]

I lived in West Point NY from May 54 through May 57. I went from having no television (I don't think I even knew what television was) and one radio baeball game a week to at least one televised baseball game a day. I instantly fell in love with the Dodgers and watched or listened to most of their games for three years. I'm not sure who I hated worse, the Giants or the Yankees. My dad was a big baseball fan and we went to Yankee Stadium many times, especially when the Red Sox were in town. My dad was in awe of Ted Williams. We only went to Ebbetts Field and the Polo Grounds once each because they were in such bad parts of town.  

[strosrays]

You and my father, although he follwed them a little bit before that.  The team he played on prior to high school was the Pirates, and so it just seemed to fit.

He dropped all that nonsense in 1962, however.

My great uncle on my father's side was a big-time Pirates fan.  He had lived in Pittsburgh for awhile, and he was born in 1885, so I am thinking he followed the team from the very beginning (1903.)  When I was a kid we'd go to Pennsylvania every other summer to visit; and I remember sitting with him in his darkened living room, watching the Pirate game on his black-and-white Philco television.  He lived in a little town on the PA-NY border by then, in a stone house, and he had the Genesee River running through his back yard; although at that stage the river was not much more than a stream.  It was full of terrific, flat rocks, made for skimming across the river.

Anyway, it was summertime but still relatively cool at nights in those parts, so the windows would be open, and I could hear the river gurgling or babbling or whatever you call it in the background.  Has this scene got pastoral enough yet?  My great uncle knew everything about the Pirates, and would tell me things as the game went on.  For some reason I remember in particular watching a game against the Expos one time, around 1970 or so.  My great uncle went into detail about the Montreal CF, a guy named Adolfo Phillips, and how he had all the tools and everything, but Leo Durocher had fucked with his mind in Chicago, and Phillips never reached his potential.  Even though Phillips was fast and more of a top of the order type, Durocher batted him 8th most of the time, out of spite.  This is the other team's outfielder, but my great uncle knew all this stuff about him.  And, oh yeah, Durocher is an asshole, he told me.  (He was right about that.)  And he knew the Pirates players even better than Phillips.  That was the first great Pirate team I can remember - Clemente and Stargell, Bill Mazeroski and Manny Sanguillen, Matty Alou and Richie Hebner (who was a gravedigger in the off-season early in his career, my great uncle said.)

I never really became a Pirates fan, but I remember the 1970 era teams fondly, for reasons that are probably obvious.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

The first all-black starting lineup (including several Latinos) in Major League history. On September 1, 1971, the Pirates' starting lineup was: Rennie Stennett, 2B; Gene Clines, CF; Roberto Clemente, RF; Willie Stargell, LF; Manny Sanguillen, C; Dave Cash, 3B; Al Oliver, 1B; Jackie Hernandez, SS; and Dock Ellis, P.

[Gizzmonic]

When my grandfather passed on in 2006, I inherited one of his scorebooks from the early 70's (Pop liked to score along with the games, although we weren't able to find too many of the earlier books).   Although he was scoring Astros games, for whatever reason he decided to favor the Pirates.  A majority of the games that he decided to score have Stargell/Clemente/etc penciled in.  My dad is a lifelong Astros fan as well, but his favorite player of all time is Roberto Clemente.

[VirtualBob]

i loved the Brooklyn Dodgers, and as a result, i hated the Yankees.

I grew up a Tigers fan ... and as a result, I hated the Yankees.  (and still do!)

[hostros7]

This thread is greatness.  Thanks, guys.

[Noe]

My mother's family were Monterrey Sultanes fanaticos and when my Dad met my Mom, he followed them too.  My Dad was had dual citizenship and when he married my mother, he brought her to America.  My Dad loved Mickey Mantle (my brother is named after my Dad's middle name and nickname: Mickey) and by proxy the Yankees.  When my Dad decided he should move his family from San Antonio (where Mickey, two of my sisters and I were born, my oldest sister was born in Monterrey, NL), he couldn't decide between Santa Fe, New Mexico or Houston, Texas.  He decided on Santa Fe, but he moved us there when we were all toddlers and babies in the dead of winter.  That's all it took for my Dad to decide maybe Houston was a better choice.

When we got to Houston, my Dad casually followed the Houston Buffs, never really developing a love for that team.  By the time Mickey and I were playing LL and very interested in baseball, along came the Colt 45s.  That did it.  My dad loved the team, but we never really followed them until they moved into the Astrodome in 1964.  We never missed a game after that in terms of following them as "our team".  My fondest memories is the block parties in second ward, when food, bragging, music, dominoes, checkers and Lowell Passe ("now you're chunking in there kid!") were all part of the festivities.  Someone would always have a small transistor with the game on.  Lemonade, porches, Gene Elston... all part of my upbringing.  Going to the Astrodome and sitting in the right field pavillion was about making the "journey" to a great place for family fun and time with my Dad.