Full Description
One of the oldest franchises in major-league baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates began playing in 1876 as the Alleghenies. Before the end of the century, their name was changed after "stealing" second baseman Louis Bierbauer away from the Philadelphia Athletics. Since then the team has won five World Series and has had thirty-six players and managers inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor, brothers Lloyd and Paul Waner, Ralph Kiner, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, and the hero of the 1960 World Series, Bill Mazeroski. The Pirates have also been saddled with misfortune and heartache, from Branch Rickey's rinky dinks of the 1950s to Barry Bonds's failure to throw Sid Bream out at the plate in the 1992 National League Championship Series. The Pirates Reader is a tribute to all those Pittsburgh teams, their fans nationwide, and to the franchise's rich history. For this anthology, Richard Peterson has pulled together the writings of some of baseball's greatest storytellers, including Donald Hall on the "country of baseball, " W. P. Kinsella's short story mourning the loss of Clemente, and Eliot Asinof's candid interview with "Pops" Storgell. Hall of Fame writer Frederick Lieb profiles Wagner -- arguably the greatest ballplayer ever to wear a Pirate uniform -- while another Hall of Famer, Bob Broeg, takes up that argument in his homage to Traynor. Ring Lardner trumpets Pittsburgh's first championship in 1909. Lester J. Biederman describes Harvey Haddix's loss in one of the greatest games ever pitched, and Roger Angell explores the mystery surrounding Steve Blass's sudden and permanent inability to find the strike zone. Thomas Boswell profiles longtime managerDanny Murtaugh; George Will provides unique insights into the character of Pirate reliever Jim Gott. With stories by local writers Myron Cope, Ran Cook, and Bob Smizik along side such early pioneers of sports journalism as Alfred H. Spink, founder of The Sporting News, and Henry Chadwick, the father of baseball statistics, The Pirates Reader brings to life the players, games, and magical moments of one of baseball's best-loved teams.
