Pittsburgh Pirates

PITTSBURGH PIRATES

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a professional baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that competes in Major League Baseball (MLB). They compete in the Central Division of the National League (NL), and play their home games at PNC Park. Founded in 1882 as Allegheny, the franchise has won five World Series championships. The Pirates are also often referred to as the "Bucs" or the "Buccos" (derived from buccaneer, a synonym for pirate).

The franchise joined the NL in its sixth season in 1887 and was competitive from its early years, winning three NL titles from 1901 to 1903, playing in the very first World Series in 1903 and winning their first World Series in 1909 behind Honus Wagner. The Pirates have had many ups and downs during their long history, most famously winning the 1960 World Series on a game-winning home run by Bill Mazeroski, the only time that Game 7 of the World Series has ever ended with a home run. They also won the 1971 World Series with Roberto Clemente and the 1979 World Series under the slogan "We Are Family", led by "Pops" Willie Stargell. Overall the Pirates have won five World Series and lost two.

After a run of regular-season success in the early 1990s (winning three straight East Division titles), the Pirates struggled in subsequent decades, with 20 consecutive losing seasons—the longest such streak in North American professional sports history—before posting a winning record in 2013 of 94–68 to qualify for the NL Division Series round.

PNC PARK

PNC Park is a baseball park located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. It opened during the 2001 MLB season, after the controlled implosion of the Pirates' previous home, Three Rivers Stadium. The ballpark is sponsored by PNC Financial Services, which purchased the naming rights in 1998. PNC Park features a natural grass playing surface and seats 38,362 people for baseball.

Funded in conjunction with Heinz Field and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the $216 million park stands along the Allegheny River, on the North Shore of Pittsburgh with a view of Downtown Pittsburgh. Plans to build a new stadium for the Pirates originated in 1991, but did not come to fruition for five years. Built in the style of "classic" stadiums, such as Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, PNC Park also introduced unique features, such as the use of limestone in the building's facade.^[7] The park also features a riverside concourse, steel truss work, an extensive out-of-town scoreboard, and many local eateries. Constructed faster than most modern stadiums, PNC Park was built in a 24-month span.