The Pittsburgh Pirates World Series History

Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Harv Aronson. Check out more of his work at Totalsportsrecall.com

Led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, the Pirates never had a chance losing in four straight. In 1960 Pittsburgh got its revenge when they took on the heavily favored American League champion Yankees with Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Yogi Berra in the lineup. In the first six games, the two teams split with the Yankees blowing out the Pirates in their three victories and then the Bucs winning closer games in their three wins. In the seventh game tied 9-9 in the bottom of the ninth at old Forbes Field in the ‘Burgh, Bill Mazeroski with one swing of his bat made himself a legend forever with a walk-off game winning, World Series winning solo home run. 

11 years later the Pirates would defeat the Baltimore Orioles in seven games as Roberto Clemente used the series to show the world the great player he was. Baltimore had a chance to redeem themselves in 1979 but were up against Willie Stargell’s “We are Family” Pirates, a cast of colorful characters as well as some outstanding players Stargell included. Baltimore built a three games to one advantage only to lose three straight and the series giving the Pirates their fifth and final World Series title.

But it was the very first series in 1903 that set the precedent for what was to become one of the most watched events in any sport. There have been so many classic series it’s impossible to name just one that stands above the rest. Many baseball fans that are not history buffs won’t know much about the very first World Series played so consider this a baseball history lesson.

By 1901 the National League had already been in existence for years. A gentleman named Ban Johnson was running a league called the Western League. Because the National League had reduced its lineup of teams from 12 to eight, Johnson created the American League. Then he proceeded to attempt to raid National League rosters stealing players away to fill the rosters of his new league. Baseball greats Cy Young and Jimmy Collins made the jump joining the Boston Americans. 

In game two there was another inside the parker this time by Boston’s Patsy Dougherty who hit his to lead off the game incredibly the last time it would be done until 2015 when the Kansas City Royals’ Alcides Escobar pulled off the feat. On his second round tripper Dougherty hit the ball over the fence at a time when the long ball was not a common occurrence. 

Game three was also in Boston and when the series was all said and done the final attendance was 100,429 for an average per game of 12,554. That pales in comparison to the attendance figures of today not just for the World Series but also the regular season. Pittsburgh took the series back to their home city with a one game advantage when they won game three 4-2. 

Back in Pittsburgh game four saw the Pirates edge the Americans 5-4 despite Boston’s attempt to come back with three runs in the ninth inning. Had this series been a best of seven as it is today, Pittsburgh would have had a 3-1 advantage after game four. But this was scheduled to be a best of nine. In game five Boston handed it to the Pirates winning going away 11-2. The sixth and seventh innings were killers for Pittsburgh as the Americans scored six times in the sixth and four more times in the seventh. 

At this point, the Pirates seemed to be self-destructing. They would lose game six 6-3 even though they matched Boston’s 10 hits. The series at this time was not who was the first team to win four games but who could win five. That would be the Boston Americans who won game seven 7-3 and again the Pirates banged out 10 hits but couldn’t score runs. To add injury to insult, in the final game on the final out, Honus Wagner had a chance to keep the Pirates alive but struck out. 

Overall, in the series, Boston outscored the Pirates in the eight games 39-24 and but narrowly outhit them 69-64. The Americans made 14 errors to Pittsburgh’s 19. Today’s players make a small fortune for getting to the World Series, somewhere just over $400,000 in last year’s Fall Classic to the winners and about $100,000 less just for losing. In 1903 the Boston Americans were paid $1,182 per player which in that era was probably a lot of money. Honus Wagner and his teammates each were paid $1,316. That in itself is an oddity seeing the losers getting paid more than the winning team. That might be a sign of the power the National League had at that time.

When the World Series resumed in 1905, it was without the Pirates or the Americans. The National League pennant winners were the New York Giants and the American League represented by the Philadelphia Athletics. The series was not set to its modern day best of seven and the Giants prevailed four games to one. Player shares did not improve much with the Giants’ players getting only $1,142 and the A’s $832.



For those 1903 Pirates, both Fred Clarke and Honus Wagner are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. For Boston, Jimmy Collins and Cy Young are in Cooperstown’s hallowed halls. Collins, like Fred Clarke, was a playing manager and his team finished 1903 with a mark of 91-47. The Pirates led by Clarke were 91-49. The Pirates played at Exposition Park and as mentioned Boston at the Huntington Avenue Grounds. The umpires for the series were just two: Hank O’Day and Tom Connolly with O’Day representing the senior league and Connolly the American League.