Tell an old Pirates story...

[Coach]

Thought this could be a fun topic...

Tell a story about a game, memory, meeting, etc etc. I will type up some stuff later but wanted to see if this thread gains any traction.

[Manfred]

1964 or 65, first major league game attended. Bruce Del Canton starting pitcher, vs the Cardinals, at Forbes Field. The Bucs were bad. My uncle took a friend and I, because he was a Cardinal Fan, and had always had Stan the man Musial as his idol. My friend and I were in awe of everything around us, and really didn't care much about what went on during the game. We went under the first base grandstand walkway to get some hot dogs and soda in the second or third inning, and a guy in street clothes walks past us from the locker room. A maintenance man saw him, and said something like "Rough night, Mr. Del Canton." The Bucco's got pounded that night, but it was still a great experience. After the game, you were allowed to walk by the ivy covering the outfield fence. We exited the field, and was walking along the sidewalk on the 3rd base side, when out of a door pops Donn Clendenon, with a huge box of bubble gum under his arm. We were star struck, but managed to say hi, Mr. Clendenon! I don't think I slept a wink that night.

[Crimson's Ghost]

My very first game at PNC Park was rained out, so as a refund we got tickets for the game on July 28, 2001.

The game is arguably the best game and without question the best finish ever in PNC Park, why you may ask?


The Bucs were down 8-2 heading to the bottom of the 9th, and the first two guys got out rather easily. So our family decides to stay for the whole thing, its our first time at the park, we wanted to enjoy it of course....and we made it this far....Good decision on our part.

Kevin Young Double
Pat Mears 2 Run HR 8-4
Adam Hyzdu Single
Tike Redman walk
Jack Wilson single 8-5
Jason Kendall HBP, bases loaded.
Brian Giles grand slam 9-8 final.

You really have to be a Pirate fan to appreciate some of those name drops LOL.


But the GS ball landed one section over from us, and the place was going bonkers. Absolute best ending to a game I have ever seen, and it all happened during my first trip to PNC Park.

[Eaglealum]

My dad took me to a game a year, always when the Dodgers were in town 1975-1983 with the exception of 1980. We hit a doubleheader vs the Padres that year, all those Dodger games were Pirate wins, every one. Got swept by the lowly Padres in '80 and neither game was close. The highlight was I got Jim Rooker and Kent Tekulves' autographs between games.(POPS quit signing when I was two kids away from front of the line;(...

[Coach]

CG, that game was awesome! We gotta find the highlights on YouTube and post it.

[El-Moldo]

....For a couple of years back in the 60's, my buddy and I sold the Pittsburgh Press every 4th of July because there was NO Tribune printed that day because of the holiday. If you sold 25 papers, you got a ticket to a Pirate game AND a bus ride to Forbes Field. Soooo....we ended up at the game a few weeks later, and a busload of us sat in the lower right field stands staring at Roberto Clemente all game. The Pirates hosted the Giants that day, complete with Willie Mays and Willie McCovey. The Pirates either won the game 7-6 in the 9th or 10th inning. Don't quite remember. BUT as the game ended and we all stood up cheering, someone above me in one of the upper decks, who was spitting his chew in a cup all game, let it drop below and I got drenched. But so what, the buccos won. That's all that mattered.

[WPIAL~Titan]

I remember that big comeback over the Padres.

My aunt used to get us field box tickets for 1 game a season vs. the LA Dodgers. A few times there were doubleheaders vs. LA. We always stopped at Dick's Diner on Murrysville on the way home for a piece of pie.

I was at the game in 1980 at TRS where Dave Parker got batteries thrown at him. It was the first game of a doubleheader against the LA Dodgers. I watched Parker run in to the dugout with a handful of 9 volt batteries, and heard him say words that hadn't yet been invented in Cambria County. The PA announcer made an announcement not to throw objects onto the field. Parker wasn't playing that well that season, and had just become the Bucs first million dollar a year player. He smoked cigarettes in the dugout with Enrique Romo and Grant Jackson while the game was going on, and was the first MLB player I recall wearing an earring. The PGH fans wanted him to bat 1.000 and were brutal toward him, and he made it easy to hate him because he was so cocky and brash.

Parker did not play in the 2nd game. In game two, LA closer Steve Howe blew a save by giving up 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th and punted his glove into the crowd behind the Dodger dugout.

I didn't realize at the time that there had to be a least 3 kilos of coke in the player locker rooms under the stands. I also didn't realize that the Pirate Parrot was the supplier.

Went to a game in 1979 and spent at least 20 minutes speaking with Dusty Baker and Steve Yeager. Got my picture taken with them, both really nice and gave my brother and me each a baseball. In 1980, we spent a lot of time with Dave Stewart (won Cy Young later in his career) and Alejandro Pena, and Stewart gave us each a baseball and batting gloves.

cobra toking.jpg (7.21 KiB) Viewed 1891 times

Aah, memories!

[old school]

The company my father worked for took the employees and their family members to a Pirate game once a year…..charter bus…all the chips and soda a kid could eat and drink… etc. It was 1977, I do not even remember who the Pirates were playing but before the game it was “photo day”. I had my photo taken with Dave Parker, Willie Stargell and Phil Garner to name a few…..to top off the day my dad was chosen to throw out the first pitch of the game.

[Coach]

One of my favorite memories came from the fact that I didn't have KBL. I called and bugged for it as a 10-12 year old and they probably thought I was nuts. I was stuck listening on the radio daily and it ended up being awesome now that I look back on it. I sent nearly every evening playing out by the porch while I listened on the radio. The only games I could watch were when they played the Braves on TBS or the Cubs on WGN. Anyway, listening on the radio they would always take 5 callers. You would guess the score and the closest to it won 4 free tickets to a game. I bet I won that 5-6 times from 100.9.

My little league coach also planned a trip every year for our entire little league and those tailgates/trips were awesome. My hope is that during this awesome run there are lots of kids getting sucked in right now.

[Coach]

Titan, the game CG posted about was against the Stros. I just read a few articles about that game.