What Led you to Becoming a Pirates Fan?

JollyRoger · Post by **JollyRoger** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 4:06 am

Grew up in Los Angeles. My dad left when I was very young. My mom got me into baseball. My first Little League team was the Pirates. My favorite colors were black and gold. I was a Pirate every Halloween. When I was 12 my mom took me to Dodger Stadium to see the Pirates. My first big league game. I'm not sure if it was 1969 or 1970 but Willie Stargell was in LF. We had seats by the LF foul pole. Willie made an incredible catch diving into the stands ( almost in our laps). I went crazy cheering wildly. A few seconds later a Dodger fan threw one of those frozen carnation malts and hit me in the back of the head. I was wearing a plastic Pirates batting helmet which shattered. I was in tears.

Willie saw what happened and told us to come by the dugout after the game. We waited by the dugout and Willie emerged with an official Pirates batting helmet and a signed baseball. I was hooked for life.

I also adopted the Penguins and Steelers that year and have been an avid fan ever since. Very rarely miss a game when the the Pirates and Pens are in SoCal. I've turned my daughters into Pittsburgh fans. We travel back to the Burgh every other summer to catch a few game. I'm also fortunate to work for a company whose headquarters are in Saxonburg; so I can sometimes parlay business trips with pleasure.

TBird · Post by **TBird** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 4:38 am

Well I became a baseball fan 1st then the Pirates. My favorate singer growing up became a Dodgers fan so of course I had do lol I used to follow both Teams for several yrs .. Now I just Pirate fan.. been a fan of baseball since grade school in 78... My dad never encouraged me to be a sports fan..

dmetz · Post by **dmetz** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:37 am

Easy question as to why!

there were 3 reasons as a kid:

1) Barry Bonds
2) Andy Van Slyke
3) Bobby Bonilla

now, admittedly Drebek and Smiley were every bit as vital. Zane Smith too. But as a young boy, the ace pitchers weren't as exciting

BucsFaninGA · Post by **BucsFaninGA** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 12:19 pm

I think it is super cool to hear how everyone became a Bucs fan! Thanks for sharing!

Beat'em Bucs
Bucs Fan in GA

skinnyhorse · Post by **skinnyhorse** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 4:18 pm

I starting watching baseball in 1961 as a kid. Lived in Arkansas and the game of the week on Saturday featured a lot of the 1960 world champion Pirates. Roberto Clemente was my favorite player and then came Willie Stargell. Listened to KDKA to get the baseball games. I was hooked and have never wavered through the years.

UtahPirate · Post by **UtahPirate** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 7:31 pm

280D0E0E1B300D050710620 wrote: Grew up in Los Angeles. My dad left when I was very young. My mom got me into baseball. My first Little League team was the Pirates. My favorite colors were black and gold. I was a Pirate every Halloween. When I was 12 my mom took me to Dodger Stadium to see the Pirates. My first big league game. I'm not sure if it was 1969 or 1970 but Willie Stargell was in LF. We had seats by the LF foul pole. Willie made an incredible catch diving into the stands ( almost in our laps). I went crazy cheering wildly. A few seconds later a Dodger fan threw one of those frozen carnation malts and hit me in the back of the head. I was wearing a plastic Pirates batting helmet which shattered. I was in tears.

Willie saw what happened and told us to come by the dugout after the game. We waited by the dugout and Willie emerged with an official Pirates batting helmet and a signed baseball. I was hooked for life.

I also adopted the Penguins and Steelers that year and have been an avid fan ever since. Very rarely miss a game when the the Pirates and Pens are in SoCal. I've turned my daughters into Pittsburgh fans. We travel back to the Burgh every other summer to catch a few game. I'm also fortunate to work for a company whose headquarters are in Saxonburg; so I can sometimes parlay business trips with pleasure.

That is such a great story! When the sun goes down you can actually pick up a couple of the powerful LA AM stations here on the Wasatch Front. Whenever the Pirates were in LA I would listen to Vin Scully over a crackling signal that was often barely discernible. I wonder if I was listening to that game

IABucFan · Post by **IABucFan** » Tue Jan 10, 2017 5:04 pm

I remember one day as a young child, probably five or six, asking my dad who his favorite baseball team was, and he said, "the Pirates," so, I said to myself that they were going to be my favorite team, too. This was probably in 1988 or 1989. After that, I didn't think anything of it, until the 1990 playoffs started. I didn't even realize the Pirates were good that year, but all of a sudden, they were in the playoffs. Truth be told, my dad wasn't much of a fan at all. In fact, I don't really have any memories of him watching games until the last few years when he and I would watch Pirates games together.

After the 1990 team, I was hooked in 91 and especially in 92. Bonds, Bonilla, Van Slyke, Bell, Lind, Lavalliere, Slaught, Drabek, Smiley, Walk (as an aside, how terrible must it have been to be an MLB pitcher with the name "Walk?"), Beuchele...all those guys. I remember Game 7 in the 92 NLCS. My parents actually made me go to bed in like the 7th inning since it was a school night. I snuck my radio underneath my sheets and listened to the game, not believing what I was hearing. I remember crying myself to sleep that night, unable to talk to my mom and dad since that would mean admitting that I had disobeyed them and listened to the game after they told me to go to sleep.

After that though, the rest is history. I fell in love with this team. I began following them passionately in the early 2000s...not really sure why.

StargellStar · Post by **StargellStar** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 12:16 am

Willie Stargell from the very first time I saw him wind his bat up.

GnatsEyelash · Post by **GnatsEyelash** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 7:09 pm

I was just about 2 when the Pirates won the 1960 World Series. Dad taught me the starting lineup, and took me to a dinner that off season where Bob Prince was the MC, and Dick Groat was a guest speaker, and had me do the lineup for them.

My sister moved to Pittsburgh when I was 8, and she had grand babies for my Mom to visit, and that left Dad and I to go to Forbes. Saw every team in the National League. Dad was also a friend of Bob Robertson, so as I got into the age where you develop as a fan, having a local to root for via radio and TV certainly was a part of it.

I think it helped that I grew up in a neighborhood that had a split of Pirates and Orioles fans. There was no middle ground...

RichD · Post by **RichD** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 10:31 pm

Around 1976 i was a little kid living in Rockville ,MD . My Dad had this friend who worked with him at the restaurant. Bob McKnight was his name and he was from Pittsburgh. And a big steeler`s fan .
Well he came back from a trip home to Pittsburgh and brought a steelers t-shirt for me.I was hooked as a steelers fan first.

Everything i owned was steelers this or that.

Then i decided well since im a steelers fan i guess, i should be a Pirates fan too.

Dad taught me how to read box scores and such .So i was able to keep up with the bucs on a day to day basis. Sporting news/Baseball America for minor league players stuff etc. It just grew from there