Posted on 09/07/2009 12:54:30 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
PITTSBURGH -- The Chicago Cubs assured the Pittsburgh Pirates of a record-breaking 17th consecutive losing season, getting two homers from Derrek Lee and an effective start from Ted Lilly while winning 4-2 on Monday.
By losing their 10th in 11 games, the Pirates will finish below .500, just as they have every season since 1993. The string of losing seasons is a major league record and the longest for any team in the four major North American pro team sports. Only the Phillies (1933-48) have had as many as 16 losing seasons in a row.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Oh, my. I remember that. I listened to that on the radio while driving. I was pulling for the Braves, but that was some drama....
You have to wonder what might happen to the Steelers when the eventually get sold.
It’s not the city’s fault-—the Pirates go back to the 19th century-—it’s MLB’s fault.
Hey, I’m an Indians fan. We’re supposed to be good every year, and we disappoint most of the time. At least there aren’t any unpleasant surprises in Pittsburgh.
My condolences to Bucs fans (from someone who knows - you’d be hard put to match the epic fail of my 61-101 Mariners of last year). Thanks for Snell, and best of luck with Cedeno and Clement, both of whom I liked.
Jim Leyland can make a below average guy average and make average guys look like stars....not superstars mind you, but solid ballplayers. He has a knack for getting so much out of his players.
After the Pirate’s 9th inning collapse in the 1992 NLCS against the friggin Braves (I still have nightmares of the Tomahawk Chop) and subsequent firesale, he just couldn’t take management crying poor all of the time. I think the thing that did him in with the Pirates was trading Denny Neagle in 1996 ... he announced his resignation shortly thereafter.
We actually fielded a $9M payroll the year after (I think Albert Belle got a $12M contract that year). Ironically, we had our strongest finish in 1997 (we won 79 games I think ... sad).
I really miss him being the Pirate’s manager, but you can only take so much losing and not be able to do anything about it ... you have to have a level of talent to compete in the major leagues. The Pirates haven’t been able to either sign that talent or grow it in their farm system.
I don’t think Leyland was too thrilled about the Florida Marlins sale after a world series win either. I believe stability may have been a major part of his reason for coming to Detroit.
However Pittsburgh is still where he keeps a home.
I wouldn’t call the Pirates one of the worst franchises in history. The Pirates have won 5 World Series and at least 10 or more division championships in its over 100 year history.
In recent times, yeah, they’ve been bad ... no way to spin anything there :-).
I’m one of those rare fans here in Pittsburgh that roots for the Browns and thinks the NHL is a garage league, but that’s just me :-)!
I couldn’t stand the fans around here after the Penguins collapsed against the Islanders in 1993. I was a Devils fan thereafter, saw them win the cup in 1995, then really didn’t follow hockey after that.
Moreover, I still can’t believe the fans here still, to this day, think the Steelers won Super Bowl XL “honestly” against the Seahawks ... if there was EVER a fixed championship, Super Bowl XL had “bought and paid for” written all over it. I guess the refs felt bad after the Indianapolis debacle earlier in the playoffs.
Thank you for that wonderful (staged) picture of the greatest National League player of all time.
17 years of futility? And the last moment of their last good season was Barry Bonds’ Obama-esque throw home that was too weak to get Sid Bream? Sad.
Nice of the Pirate owners to give their fans a winner, or even a chance of a winner. $30 Million payroll? What is the share of TV money? Are they pocketing the cash and stiffing the fans?
Nice of the Pirate owners to give their fans a winner, or even a chance of a winner. $30 Million payroll? What is the share of TV money? Are they pocketing the cash and stiffing the fans?
I geuss the Pirates still haven’t gotten over “When Sid Slide” in 1992. One wonders if the Pirates had won that game how would things be different. Truthfully Pittsburgh has not been a baseball town for quite some time. Even many of those playoff games from the 70’s were never sold out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.