The Pirates' 1960 win was the last time to date that a Pittsburgh team clinched the championship at home at the top level. The Penguins are trying to do that in this year's Stanley Cup Finals.
Pittsburgh has quite an interesting history with the Fall Classic. They played in the inaugural World Series in 1903, even besting the immortal Cy Young in the first game. But it was the American League's Boston Americans that emerged victories to take the first ever Fall Classic in eight games.
From there, Pittsburgh won in 1909 over Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers. But they won it all on the road. They did win it all at home for the first time in 1925, coming back from 3-1 down to beat the Washington Senators. But game seven, while at Forbes Field, was no cakewalk. The Pirates had to come back from 4-0 and 6-3 down to beat Walter Johnson. Two years later, the Pirates failed to win a game against the New York Yankees.
So when they beat the Bronx Bombers in 1960, on Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of game seven, no one in Steeltown knew it would be the last time they were there with a team to celebrate the clinching of it. The Steelers have been very successful in the National Football League, winning the Superbowl six times, including four times in the 1970s. However, it was never held in Pittsburgh in any of the years. The Pirates soldiered on in the 70s themselves, twice beating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games (1971 and 1979), but both times, it was on the road.
The team didn't make it back in the 1980s despite the arrival of Barry Bonds in 1986. The Penguins of the NHL arrived in 1967, and struggled for years. Mario Lemieux joined in 1984, but had to wait seven years to drink from the Stanley Cup. 1991, it was in Minnesota. The next year, in Chicago. Mario watched proudly from the owner's box as his team won it all in Detroit in 2009. They'd lost to the Wings previous season.
The Pirates were not so lucky during this time. The 90s passed with no World Series appearance. Bonds left after 1992. Bad times rolled around. Then the 00s passed as well. No returns to the Fall Classic. As of this writing, they are still waiting since 1979.
The Steelers won in 2008, a year before the Penguins skated with Lord Stanley's mug that night in June. It was the first time since 1979 that a pro sports team had sipped champagne on the road in game seven.
But then it was the National Hockey League's team from Steeltown's time to wait. Some years passed. The new kids, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin watched as Chicago and Los Angeles became the sort-of dynasties of hockey? Would they ever make it back?
They made it a point to this season. The 2015/16 Penguins had been quite a team. Getting to the Stanley Cup Finals was not easy. The New York Rangers series was close, although just five games. The scores didn't tell the story. Pittsburgh had to use a pair of new goalies, Matt Murray and Jeff Zatkoff. But they managed.
Washington was next. Pittsburgh was up three games to one, and looked like they wouldn't have to even make it back home. They came at the Capitals in game five in Washington with everything but the kitchen sink. But they lost it 3-1. A 3-0 lead on home ice was erased in the six contest. Pittsburgh needed overtime to win it. Nick Bonino was the man of the hour with the OT dramatics.
Then came Tampa Bay. Even though Steven Stamkos and soon Ben Bishop were sidelined, the Pens couldn't have imagined how close this series was. Leading two games to one, they dropped a pair of one-goal games. Pittsburgh had to scrape by with close wins in the sixth and seven contest, sending them back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in seven years.
The San Jose Sharks came into the league in 1991/92, the same year Mario and Jaromir Jagr took down the Chicago Black Hawks in the minimum amount of time. San Jose watched as new expansion teams like Tampa, Ottawa, Anaheim and Florida made it to the finals. They hadn't. But with Martin Jones in goal (All of 99 career regular season games to his name!), they broke through, pushing aside Los Angeles, Nashville and finally St. Louis.
Pittsburgh outplayed them in the first three games. But you wouldn't know that by the final score. 2-0 lead in game one, erased. The Pens had to win it late. Game two requited overtime for the home team to win. As they headed west, San Jose needed game three or they were looking at the possibility of a sweep. They won it on some overtime magic of their own. Pittsburgh regrouped in game four, winning it 3-1. As they head home for the fifth time, they can join the Pirates of 1960 as giving the city a chance to celebrate with the team in the same building!
Diamond, Dan. Total Stanley Cup: An Official Publication Of The National Hockey League. Toronto: Published in Canada by Total Sports Canada, 2000. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 07 June. 2016.
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 07 June. 2016.
Pittsburgh has quite an interesting history with the Fall Classic. They played in the inaugural World Series in 1903, even besting the immortal Cy Young in the first game. But it was the American League's Boston Americans that emerged victories to take the first ever Fall Classic in eight games.
From there, Pittsburgh won in 1909 over Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers. But they won it all on the road. They did win it all at home for the first time in 1925, coming back from 3-1 down to beat the Washington Senators. But game seven, while at Forbes Field, was no cakewalk. The Pirates had to come back from 4-0 and 6-3 down to beat Walter Johnson. Two years later, the Pirates failed to win a game against the New York Yankees.
So when they beat the Bronx Bombers in 1960, on Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of game seven, no one in Steeltown knew it would be the last time they were there with a team to celebrate the clinching of it. The Steelers have been very successful in the National Football League, winning the Superbowl six times, including four times in the 1970s. However, it was never held in Pittsburgh in any of the years. The Pirates soldiered on in the 70s themselves, twice beating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games (1971 and 1979), but both times, it was on the road.
The team didn't make it back in the 1980s despite the arrival of Barry Bonds in 1986. The Penguins of the NHL arrived in 1967, and struggled for years. Mario Lemieux joined in 1984, but had to wait seven years to drink from the Stanley Cup. 1991, it was in Minnesota. The next year, in Chicago. Mario watched proudly from the owner's box as his team won it all in Detroit in 2009. They'd lost to the Wings previous season.
The Pirates were not so lucky during this time. The 90s passed with no World Series appearance. Bonds left after 1992. Bad times rolled around. Then the 00s passed as well. No returns to the Fall Classic. As of this writing, they are still waiting since 1979.
The Steelers won in 2008, a year before the Penguins skated with Lord Stanley's mug that night in June. It was the first time since 1979 that a pro sports team had sipped champagne on the road in game seven.
But then it was the National Hockey League's team from Steeltown's time to wait. Some years passed. The new kids, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin watched as Chicago and Los Angeles became the sort-of dynasties of hockey? Would they ever make it back?
They made it a point to this season. The 2015/16 Penguins had been quite a team. Getting to the Stanley Cup Finals was not easy. The New York Rangers series was close, although just five games. The scores didn't tell the story. Pittsburgh had to use a pair of new goalies, Matt Murray and Jeff Zatkoff. But they managed.
Washington was next. Pittsburgh was up three games to one, and looked like they wouldn't have to even make it back home. They came at the Capitals in game five in Washington with everything but the kitchen sink. But they lost it 3-1. A 3-0 lead on home ice was erased in the six contest. Pittsburgh needed overtime to win it. Nick Bonino was the man of the hour with the OT dramatics.
Then came Tampa Bay. Even though Steven Stamkos and soon Ben Bishop were sidelined, the Pens couldn't have imagined how close this series was. Leading two games to one, they dropped a pair of one-goal games. Pittsburgh had to scrape by with close wins in the sixth and seven contest, sending them back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in seven years.
The San Jose Sharks came into the league in 1991/92, the same year Mario and Jaromir Jagr took down the Chicago Black Hawks in the minimum amount of time. San Jose watched as new expansion teams like Tampa, Ottawa, Anaheim and Florida made it to the finals. They hadn't. But with Martin Jones in goal (All of 99 career regular season games to his name!), they broke through, pushing aside Los Angeles, Nashville and finally St. Louis.
Pittsburgh outplayed them in the first three games. But you wouldn't know that by the final score. 2-0 lead in game one, erased. The Pens had to win it late. Game two requited overtime for the home team to win. As they headed west, San Jose needed game three or they were looking at the possibility of a sweep. They won it on some overtime magic of their own. Pittsburgh regrouped in game four, winning it 3-1. As they head home for the fifth time, they can join the Pirates of 1960 as giving the city a chance to celebrate with the team in the same building!
References
Diamond, Dan. Total Stanley Cup: An Official Publication Of The National Hockey League. Toronto: Published in Canada by Total Sports Canada, 2000. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 07 June. 2016.
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