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Diary of a long suffering Pirates fan: If you think the MLB team is bad, you should see the AAA club.

A Pirates AAA affiliate has not won a league championship since 1959

By Russell Hardiman |
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Philadelphia Phillies v Pittsburgh Pirates / Justin K. Aller/GettyImages
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44 years is a long time not to win a championship. But that is the sorry lot of being a Pirates fan.  44 years of mostly mediocre baseball with no championships to point to.

But as I wrote yesterday, some of the Pirates-affiliated minor league squads have won League championships in the past 15 years.  However, one affiliated level has had a wee bit of a dry spell.  A dry spell that is even worse than the major league club. That would be the Pirates AAA-affiliated teams. 

A Pirates AAA affiliate has not won a League championship since 1959.  By my count, that is 64 years without a championship.

In 1959 the Salt Lake City Bees won the Pacific Coast League championship.  In 1959 the Pacific Coast League did not have playoffs.  So the Salt Lake City team was declared the champion by virtue of having the best won-loss record in the league.  As I will show below, the lack of a playoff in 1959 was fortuitous.  As subsequent history would show playoffs were not kind to Pirates AAA affiliates.

And less you think that the Salt Lake City team was a feeder team for the 1960 Pirates world championship, it was not.  Only one player—Jim Umbricht—actually saw playing time on the major league club in 1960.  Umbricht was a late-season call-up in 1960 and pitched in a handful of games.  But he did not make the Pirates World Series roster and thus did not play in the 1960 World Series.

But this is not a post to celebrate that 1959 Salt Lake City team. The last Pirates AAA team to win a championship.  Rather, it’s just one more anecdotal example of how the Pirates organization has a strong and troublesome association with “not winning championships.”  It’s as if the baseball gods have sprayed a good dose of championship repellant on the MLB and the AAA Clubs.

But I am perhaps a little too hard on the AAA Clubs.  While the AAA Pirates affiliated teams have not won a league championship, they have at least consistently made the playoffs.  In fact, in several years the Pirates AAA affiliate teams have not only made the playoffs, but they have made it all the way to their League championships, only to fall short.

Let’s review some of that history:

2017:  Indianapolis Indians lose in the first round of the playoffs.

2015:  Indianapolis Indians lose the International League championship to Columbus.

2013:  Indianapolis Indians lose in the first round of the playoffs

2012:  Indianapolis Indians lose in the first round of the playoffs

2003:  Nashville Sounds lose championship to Sacramento

1992:  Buffalo Bisons lose American Association championship to Oklahoma

1991:  Buffalo Bisons lose American Association championship to Denver

1985:  Hawaii Islanders lose in the first round of the playoffs

1984:  Hawaii Islanders lose the Pacific Coast League championship to Edmonton

1975:  Charleston Charlies lose in the first round of the playoffs

1973:  Charleston Charlies lose the International League championship to Pawtucket

1972:  Charleston Charlies lose in the first round of the playoffs

1971:  Charleston Charlies lose in the first round of the playoffs

1970:  Columbus Jets lose International League championship to Syracuse

1969:  Columbus Jets lose International League championship to Syracuse

1968:  Columbus Jets lose International League championship to Jacksonville

1967:  Columbus Jets lose International League championship to Toledo

1966:  Columbus Jets lose in the first round of the playoffs.

1965:  Columbus Jets lose International League championship to Toronto.

1961:  Columbus Jets lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Yes, you read that correctly.  In a six-year period (1965 to 1970), the Columbus Jets lost the International League championship five times, including four in a row from 1966 to 1970.  They were the minor league equivalent of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, who lost four consecutive Super Bowls from 1990 to 1993. 

Of course, those of us around to enjoy Pirates baseball in the 70’s, were treated to the greatest decade in Pirates history. 

And those Pirates teams in the 70’s were built from those Columbus Jets and Charleston Charlies teams.  So one cannot be too hard on them for not winning minor league championships.  Whatever they did wrong in those minor league playoffs, they clearly got it right in 1971 and 1979.

But since those 1960s and early 1970s minor league teams, there has been no consistently great play from the Pirates AAA squads.  There have been playoff appearances, but no sustained level of excellence.  While the 2012 and 2013 Indianapolis Indians did not win a championship, they did make the playoffs and they were arguably the last teams to be consistently good for a longer than a one year stretch.  And that success arguably ushered in/previewed the success that the MLB Club had from 2013 to 2015.

So Indianapolis will try again in 2024 to break the AAA championship drought.  And their success or non-success may be predictive of how the Pirates will fare in the coming years. 

So keep an eye on those Indianapolis Indians.  The future fate of the Pirates may rest on how they perform.

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