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Pittsburgh Pirates

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

The Pittsburgh Alleghenies plays their first National League game, defeating the defending league champion Chicago White Stockings, by a score of 6-2. Led by Honus Wagner, who hit 0.353 with 126 RBI, Runs Batted In, the Pirates won the National League pennant for the first time, compiling an impressive record of 90-49. In 1902, the Pirates went a remarkable 103-36, finishing 271 per 2 games ahead of second place Brooklyn, en route to their second National League pennant. In game seven of the World Series at Forbes Field, Kiki Cuyler laces an eighth-inning, two out, bases loaded, double off Washington's Walter Johnson to lead the Pirates to a 9-7 victory and their second World Championship.

The Pirates won pennants in 1925 and 1927, led by Pie Traynor, Max Carey, Kiki Cuyler, brothers Paul and Lloyd Waner, and manager Bill McKechnie. They took another seven-game Series from Washington in 1925, but dropped four straight to the awesome 1927 Yankees. Despite the presence of Ralph Kiner and Branch Rickey, the Pirates compiled a 326-597 record from 1950 through 1955. The Pittsburgh team defeated the Yankees in the 1960 World Series in dramatic fashion on Bill Mazeroski's seventh-game, ninth-inning homer.

The Pittsburgh team became the first team to wear double-knit uniforms. The Lumber Company seemed to have an endless supply of talented young hitters. When Clemente died in a plane crash on New Year's Eve of 1972, Stargell took over as team leader. In 1977 new manager Chuck Tanner brought speed to the offensive attack. Stargell led the family to a seven-game, 1979 World Series win against Baltimore. But the Pirates finished last from 1982 to 1984.

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