The Pittsburgh Pirates are members of the National League Central Division in Major League Baseball. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Pirates? roots could be traced as far back as 1876 when teams in the area played without any affiliations to any organized league. The club has moved on from such beginnings to become one of the storied teams in baseball and is owner of five World Series championships. They are currently being handled by John Russell and play their home games at the PNC Park.

Important moments and accomplishments

The period from 1901-1903 was the time when the Pirates dominated the National League. They, however, lost the first modern World Series to the Boston Red Sox in 1903. But the Pirates never stopped improving and dominating until finally reaching the summit in 1909 when they won their first-ever World Series title, beating the Detroit Tigers in seven games.

The club reached nirvana once again in 1925 when they dispatched the Washington Senators in the Fall Classic in come-from-behind fashion, bucking a 3-1 deficit. The Pirates tried to duplicate the feat in 1927 but was stopped by the New York Yankees.

It took a while before Pittsburgh once again reached the apex of success. In 1960, bannered by Roberto Clemente, Dick Groat, Bill Mazeroski and pitchers Vern Law, Bob Friend and Elroy Face, the Pirates exacted payback on the Yankees, pulling the rags from under New York in Game Seven. The 1960 team was also special as the team had eight representatives in the All-Star Game. The team had roller-coaster campaigns after their 1960 triumph.

The ?70s proved to be a banner period for the Pirates. They opened the decade by winning their first of five division titles over the next seven years (1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1975). In ?71, they claimed their fourth World Series title. Tragedy struck the squad in 1972 when star hitter Clemente died in a plane crash while delivering relief goods to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. The Pirates closed out the decade by winning their last of five titles in 1979, beating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games. The year also saw the Pirates sweep all the available MVP awards -- All-Star MVP was Dave Parker; NLCS, World Series and NL MVP was Willie Stargell. Stargell shared the NL MVP with Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals.

In 2001, the Pirates moved to a new stadium, PNC Park, which is widely hailed as the best park in the Majors.

The 2008 season saw the team make several player trades that sent veterans to other teams for fresh talents, among them left fielder Xavier Nady and pitcher D?so Mart?o the New York Yankees in return for Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, Dan McCutchen, and Jeff Karstens. Jason Bay was traded to the Boston Red Sox in a three-team deal that sent Manny Ram?z to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to the Pirates from the Dodgers and Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen to the Pirates from the Red Sox.

Pitchers on the current roster

Jimmy Barthmaier
Denny Bautista
T.J. Beam
Ronald Belisario
Sean Burnett
Matt Capps
Jesse Chavez
David Davidson
Jason Davis
Zach Duke
John Grabow
Craig Hansen
Yoslan Herrera
Jeff Karstens
Paul Maholm
Ross Ohlendorf
Marino Salas
Romulo Sanchez
Ian Snell
John Van Benschoten
Tyler Yates

Pittsburgh Pirates current news

With its pitching staff among the league?s worst in much of the statistical areas in the 2008 season, the Pirates have hired Joe Kerrigan as pitching coach to replace Jeff Andrews, who was with the club for only a year. Kerrigan served the Yankees as bullpen coach from 2006-2007. Prior to that he was part the Philadelphia Phillies pitching staff (2003-04) and the Red Sox (1997-2001). While with Boston, Kerrigan?s pitching crew compiled a record of 823-687. The Pirates hope that with Kerrigan?s experience and teaching skills, he?ll be able to help improve their pitching staff which compiled a Major League-low 33 wins (starting staff) and a National League-worst 5.36 ERA.

On rebuilding mode once again following the departure of veteran players, the Pirates franchise maybe in for new challenges. But as all good things must start somewhere, Pittsburgh fans could only expect things to get better for their favorite team.