OnlyBucs

Baseball-Reference has a Today in History page. Yesterday, it said, "The Pittsburgh Pirates open at home for the first time in 61 years and defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4 - 2, before 32,294 spectators. Curt Roberts, the Pirates' first black player, hits a triple against Robin Roberts in the 1st inning."



Obviously, there was some sort of tradition that the Pirates always opened on the road. Does anyone know what that was about? I checked about 20 seasons back to 1894, and they were on the road to start all of them, often against the Reds but also the Cubs or Cards.

55667A7B7870467B607C6760717D7A140 wrote: Baseball-Reference has a Today in History page.  Yesterday, it said, "The Pittsburgh Pirates open at home for the first time in 61 years and defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4 - 2, before 32,294 spectators. Curt Roberts, the Pirates' first black player, hits a triple against Robin Roberts in the 1st inning."



Obviously, there was some sort of tradition that the Pirates always opened on the road.  Does anyone know what that was about? I checked about 20 seasons back to 1894, and they were on the road to start all of them, often against the Reds but also the Cubs or Cards.


When I get a chance later today I will checkout the Bucs 2018 media guide which has most of that stuff like that in it and report back.

From 1887 through 2019 the Bucs have played 133 seasons. That makes for 133 Opening Days of which 102 were on the road. The Bucs have an Opening Day record of 71 wins and 62 losses. They opened the season on the road for 60 consecutive years from 1894 through 1954. How's that for tradition?

715058715A52350 wrote: From 1887 through 2019 the Bucs have played 133 seasons.  That makes for 133 Opening Days of which 102 were on the road.  The Bucs have an Opening Day record of 71 wins and 62 losses.  They opened the season on the road for 60 consecutive years from 1894 through 1954.  How's that for tradition?


That's pretty weird that the Pirates would start so many seasons on the road.  Did the team ask for that for all those years?  If not, why did the schedulers do that?  60 straight years is more than a coincidence.  I can't imagine any other team has had such a difference between their home and away starts.

Thanks, Possum. It seems like for 50+ years the Pirates, Reds, Cards, and Cubs would open against each other.  I was wondering if maybe seniority had something to do with who played at home  but the Cubs are clearly older than the Cards, and it wasn't unusual for them to open in St. Louis. Whatever little system they were running, it seems it fell apart when the Braves went to Milwaukee, putting a fifth team in the Midwest.



Edit: looking at some Post Gazette stories, it seems like everyone was aware that the Pirates had always opened on the road, although no one was saying why. That opener was also the first game played after Greenberg Gardens was torn down.