Pittsburgh Pirates Tie to the Late, Great Meat Loaf

The music world lost an all-time great on Friday when Meat Loaf, who had ties to the Pittsburgh Pirates, passed away at the age of 74

The music world lost a legend on Friday. This occurred when Meat Loaf passed away at the age of 74. Meat Loaf was best known for his Bat Out of Hell album, which is one of the best selling albums of all-time, as well as his roles in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club. But, did you know that Meat Load also had a tie to thePittsburgh Pirates?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have hosted the Major League Baseball All-Star Game five times. Forbes Filed and Three Rivers Stadium each hosted the game twice, while PNC Park has hosted it once. To be honest, it is a shame that 2006 is the lone season in which the best ballpark in America has hosted MLB’s All-Star Game, but that is a discussion for another day.

One of the two seasons in which Three Rivers Stadium hosted MLB’s All-Star Game was in 1994. While the 1994 season is, unfortunately, best known for ending early due to a player’s strike and being the only year since 1902 to not have a World Series, it also featured a terrific All-Star Game.

In the 1994 MLB Al-Star Game the National Leagued picked up an 8-7 walk-off victory over the American League. The game ended when Montreal outfielder Moisés Alou smashed a double that scored Padre all-time great and MLB Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn who slid under the tag of fellow Hall of Famer Pudge Rodríguez to give the NL the victory.

It was in this game that you get Meat Loaf’s tie to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prior to the game’s first pitch it was Meat Loaf who sung the national anthem. It only made sense. After all, there were few bigger stars in the country at the time then Meat Loaf.

It is always fun to look at the pop culture ties to baseball. When it came to Meat Loaf, he had a tie to the Pittsburgh Pirates due to the 1994 MLB All-Star Game. While the 1994 MLB season is one that is remembered for all the wrong reasons, it was still one that connected a music icon to the Pirates forever.

The thoughts and prayers from everyone at Rum Bunter goes out to his family with his passing.