City of Champions

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Sports History •Sports in Pittsburgh have been played dating back to the American Civil War. Baseball, hockey, and the first professional American football game had been played in the city by 1895.• Pittsburgh was the first city known as the "City of Champions" when the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Steelers each won multiple championships in the 1970s.

• Today, the city has three major professional sports franchises, the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins, plus PITT.

Background information • The flag of Pittsburgh is colored with black and

gold, based on the colors of William Pitt's coat of arms; Pittsburgh is the only city in the United States in which all professional sporting teams share the same colors.

• The city's first National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, the Pittsburgh Pirates--yes, that’s right--were the first to wear black and gold as their colors. They folded during the Great Depression. – Pittsburgh's second NHL franchise, the Pittsburgh Penguins

(1967), wore blue and white, due to general manager Jack Riley's upbringing in Ontario.

• 1933 - Black and Gold colors were adopted by founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Art Rooney.

• 1948 - the Pittsburgh Pirates (baseball) switched their colors from red and blue to black and gold.

• 1979 - after the Steelers and Pirates had each won their respective league championships, the Penguins altered their color scheme to match, despite objections from the Boston Bruins.

Random PGH sports facts

Professional Sports

Just a few years ago…

Baseball History 1909 World Champions

1925 World Champions

1960 World Champions

1971 World champions

1979 World champions

Recreation Park late 1800’s –early 1900’s

• Recreation Park, originally known as Union Park.• It was the first official home to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the

city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. • It also hosted the football team of the University of

Pittsburgh, then known as the Western University of Pennsylvania.

• In November 1892, the Park hosted the first ever professional American football game, between two local teams. After sporting events had ceased, Recreation Park was renamed the Coliseum and used as "a wooden saucer for motor-paced bicycle riding". There are no known pictures of the park in existence

Baseball History • Prior to 1876, three amateur

Pittsburgh baseball teams—the Enterprise, the Xanthas, and the Olympics—competed, most often at Recreation Park.

• On April 15, 1876, Recreation Park was the site of a game between the Xanthas and the Pittsburgh Pirates who began play in 1882 under the name the Alleghenies (alternately spelled "Alleghenys").

• The Pirates were purchased by Barney Dreyfuss in 1900. He recruited Hall of Famers Fred Clarke and Honus Wagner, built Forbes Field, and was instrumental in starting the World Series.

• Under Dreyfuss the Pirates won the World Series in 1909 and 1925.

Honus Wagner • World Series champion (1909) • National League Batting champ:

1900, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911• Pittsburgh Pirates #33 retired • Hall of Fame inducted Wagner as one of the first

five members, receiving the second-highest vote total behind Ty Cobb and tied with Babe Ruth. (1936)

I am worth 2.5

million

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/13/Honuswagnerstatue.JPG

Exposition Park 1890-1915

• Exposition Park from 1890-1915 (used for Pirates until 1909) It was located on the north side of the Allegheny River across from Pittsburgh's downtown area.

Exposition Park, 1903

• The ballpark was between the eventual sites of Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park, somewhat closer to the Three Rivers site.

• In 1903, Exposition Park was the first National League ballpark to host a World Series game.

NEGRO LEAGUES: Homestead Grays

Pittsburgh Crawfords

• With players including Josh Gibson and Cumberland Posey the Grays won 12 league titles—the most by any Negro League team—including nine consecutive from 1937 to 1945.

Named after the Crawford Grill, a club in the Hill District of Pittsburgh owned by Gus Greenlee.

The Crawfords finished their eight year existence with a .633 winning percentage, with a line-up including Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and Satchel Paige.

Josh Gibson

James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1950. He is considered by many baseball observers to have been one of the fastest men ever to play the game.

Forbes Field 1909-1970

Field dimensions: left field 360ft deepest corner 462ft center field 442ftright field 376ft.

Forbes Field•Was located at Oakland•1st home of the Steelers and Pitt football

•Named after John Forbes, who fought in the French and Indian War and named the city in 1758 (remember that??)•Cost around 1-2 million dollars

•The scoreboard was hand-operated.•Capacity:1909 was 23,000 1925 was 41,000 1970 was 35,000.

Three Rivers Stadium1970-2000

Three Rivers Background info

•Home of the Pirates/Steelers •Cost $55 million •Multi-purpose stadium

•left Field 335ft•left center 375ft•center field 400ft•right center 375ft•right field 335ft•wall height 10ft.

•Surface = astro turf

PNC PARK

PNC Park2001-present

• The ballpark is named for locally based PNC Financial Services, which purchased the naming rights in 1998.

• PNC Park features a natural grass playing surface and seats 38,496 people for baseball, which as of 2008, is the second-smallest capacity of any Major League park.

• Stadium cost $216 Million

• Since completion 2001, PNC Park has been hailed as one of the best ballparks in the country. – Very affordable tickets– Has helped attract business to surrounding establishments

• PNC Park hosted the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the fifth MLB All-Star Game held in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Pirates

What events/people would you expect to see?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNXnq1izoSo (Bill Mazeroski Gillette commercial – 30 seconds)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU-BA_40WxA (Pittsburgh Pirates history – 3:42)