Pittsburgh Pirates: The Iceberg of Facts, Stories, & Trivia

Level Five

The Million Dollar Arm

In 2008, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed two Indian-born pitchers; Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. Both Singh and Patel participated in a contest held by sports agent J.B. Bernstein. The purpose was to find the fastest and most accurate pitcher in India. Singh retired from pro ball after 2016, and Patel retired well before in 2010. Singh is now a pro wrestler in the WWE under the ring name  “Veer.” Disney adapted Singh, Patel, and Bernstein’s story into the 2014 movie, “The Million Dollar Arm.”

The Unsung Hero Of The 1960 World Series

Everyone knows about Bill Mazeroski and his 1960 Game 7 World Series walk-off home run. The photos of him rounding second and third base are some of the most iconic baseball photos of all time. But had it not been for Hal Smith and his 8th inning home run, Maz may never have gotten that opportunity to hit that walk-off. Smith had spent most of his career as a platoon catcher up to this point, and while he did have a quality season as Smoky Burgess’ back-up, is one of the unlikeliest of post-season heroes. His three-run home run gave the Pirates a 9-7 lead. cWPA, or championship win probability added, provides context of how impactful a play was for a team to win a championship. Smith’s three-run home run added the most win probability percentage at 63.6%. In comparison, Maz’s home run added a 36.7% winning percentage. So while Maz may have gotten all the glory, he has Hal Smith to thank for giving him the opportunity.

Awful Night

Altoona Curve, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Double-A affiliate, hosted the “Awful Night” promotional night from 2002 through 2007. This ranged from promotions involving spork giveaways and a “Laaser Show,” which just involved broadcaster Jon Laaser running around with flashlights. They will also completely flip the photos and animations on the jumbotron upside down during the night. The most famous giveaway was photos of the team GM’s, Todd Parnell’s, gallbladder to the first 1000 fans. Yes, actual images of his surgically removed gallbladder. One lucky fan actually got to take home his gallbladder. The promotional night was revived in 2021, with the Curve giving out 2020 team photos to the first 400 fans. The photos were all blank because there was no 2020 minor league season.

Multiple Extra Inning No-Hitters

Earlier, we looked at Harvey Haddix’s near-perfect game in which he carried at least a no-hitter into extra innings. Among the 14 times, a no-hitter has gone into extra innings, the Pirates have been involved in four of them. The first was on August 1st, 1906, when Lefty Leifield threw 12 perfect innings vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Pirates ended up winning that game. The second was Haddix’s performance. The third came on July 12th, 1997, when Francisco Cordova threw nine no-hit innings vs. the Houston Astros but had to pass the torch onto Ricardo Rincon. Mark Smith became the unlikely hero of the day, hitting a walk-off home run for the Pirates. The last was pretty recently, on August 23rd, 2017. The Pirates were facing the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rich Hill had carried a perfect game into the 9th inning, but Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams matched zero-for-zero in terms of score. Although Hill had lost the perfecto, The Dodgers let the veteran southpaw out for the 10th inning for probably the last time any of us will see a starting pitcher start a game and end the game in extra innings. Infielder Josh Harrison sent everyone home with a home run to left field.