Pirates/MLB category, Page 231
Rare Honus Wagner rookie card sells for a record $192,000 at online auction
A rare Honus Wagner rookie baseball card, one with a photo of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame shortstop dressed in a suit, was auctioned Sunday night to a private collector for $192,000. The card was one of two issued in the W600 Sporting Life cabinet cards series, with the...
Former Pirate Rinku Singh describes journey from baseball to pro wrestling
Pirates fans never got to see Rinku Singh pitch in a Major League game at PNC Park. But now they can watch him on a big stage. As a blossoming wrestling star. Singh grew up in Bhadohi, India. He and fellow Pirates minor league teammate Dinesh Patel were thrust onto...
Derek Shelton has one clear goal to protect Pirates pitchers amid coronavirus shutdown
No one in the baseball world is happy right now. No season to start. No games to be played. Everyone is just sitting around idle. Although sitting around idle is still better than having your entire offseason of work go up in smoke. Then having to do it over and...
Former Pirate, World Series MVP Steve Pearce retiresVideo
BOSTON — Steve Pearce, the career journeyman and former Pittsburgh Pirate who broke loose to become the unlikely MVP of the 2018 World Series, said he’s done playing after an injury-plagued season for the Boston Red Sox. “You know what? It has been a good run. I have 10 years...
To celebrate Jackie Robinson, Pirates will make deliveries to people affected by covid-19
Need toilet paper, or, perhaps, lunch? Pirates Charities will help those in need Wednesday while celebrating the 73rd anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier. MLB typically marks the occasion of the Dodgers infielder’s memorable achievement by having every player wear Robinson’s No. 42. The games are canceled...
Tim Benz: New MLB idea to save season is better, but some flaws can’t be fixed
The latest model to lay out some version of a potential Major League Baseball season in 2020 appears to be an improvement over the first one we saw. But it is still fraught with specific problems, unavoidable pitfalls and significant overarching questions about health during the coronavirus pandemic. Please don’t...
Pirates’ Roberto Clemente game-used bat, Honus Wagner rookie card up for auction
Pittsburgh Pirates fans will have an opportunity to own some rare prized team memorabilia – if they have about six figures worth of disposable cash lying around. A 1959 Roberto Clemente game-used bat and a 1902 Honus Wagner rookie card are up for auction at robertedwardauctions.com. According to a release...
MLB players, including Pirates’ Cole Tucker, to play video game tourneyVideo
NEW YORK — Blake Snell, Juan Soto and Bo Bichette are among the baseball stars switching over to PlayStation with America’s pastime on hold. Thirty big leaguers — one from each team — have signed on to play a round-robin regular season on the “MLB The Show” video game with...
Pirates 22nd most valuable MLB team, according to Forbes; Yankees topVideo
NEW YORK — Forbes estimates the New York Yankees are baseball’s most valuable franchise at $5 billion, up 9% over last year and 47% more than the No. 2 Los Angeles Dodgers at $3.4 billion. The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped 1% to $1.26 billion, 22nd in MLB. The Yankees are second...
U mad, bro? The shut-in is making readers enraged about Bill Cowher, NFL Draft, MLB plans
The longer this coronavirus quarantine goes on, the angrier people are getting. Myself included. As you will find out shortly. I can’t blame myself. Or anyone else. This stinks. No sports. No movies. No shows. No concerts. No outdoor gatherings. And for me, no escape from Twitter. Which makes me...
Mark Madden: Playing all MLB games in Arizona sounds far-fetched, but we could use some normalcy
MLB’s proposal to sequester all 30 teams and their attendant personnel in Arizona by way of starting the season there sometime in May sounds far-fetched. But if games are played in empty ballparks, it’s going to be easy to hear the Houston Astros wallop that trash can. They won’t get...
Tim Benz: Play MLB games. Or don’t. But spare us the social distancing optics.
Try to keep up, baseball fans. Because you are reading a column that’s being written while stuck in “fast forward.” In an effort to avoid a covid-19-induced shutdown, Major League Baseball is considering playing the 2020 season exclusively in a league-wide, semi-quarantined state of existence throughout the Phoenix, Az., area....
The day Pirates catcher Mike LaValliere finally cussed out the 1992 Game 7 umpire
On Friday night, the MLB Network replayed the painful seventh game of the 1992 NLCS. "I was hoping those people in left field were blowing on my back to give me some tailwind." - Sid BreamWatch the @Braves' thrilling 1992 NLCS Game 7 win at 10pm ET on MLB Network...
Tim Benz: Coronavirus may be ruining sports world. Does it have to ruin our hope?
I’m no longer simply bored with the coronavirus-induced sports desert of the moment. I’m now in full-blown depression. My blues extend well beyond sports and into just about every avenue of how people have politicized and polarized the pandemic. It started with the chorus of people insisting sports “weren’t important”...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden: Do sports have a future in coronavirus era?
This week’s Madden Monday is… …well, what can I say? It’s pretty bleak. Mark Madden and I are both pretty bummed out over the covid-19-induced state of affairs influencing the sports world. It’s feeling more and more like every sport — including football — won’t be allowed to resume for...
First Call: Steelers hidden gem draft prospect?; Jason Kendall’s crazy claim; Donnie Shell’s presenter
Monday’s “First Call” features a draft candidate for the Steelers. Some props for the Steelers cornerbacks. Donnie Shell announces his Hall of Fame presenter. And the walls may be closing in on former Pirate Jason Kendall. Is Kendall crazy? Perhaps the covid-19 shut-in has made Jason Kendall a little nutty....
John Steigerwald: When they return, sports should be made-for-TV events
Let the games begin. Or not. President Donald Trump held a conference call with the commissioners of all the major sports leagues Saturday and told them he is hoping people can start filling stadiums and arenas by August or September. That’s good news for the NFL and college football, but,...
In covid-19 era, will 2020 see sports join 1994 MLB, 2005 NHL as champion-less seasons?
A year without awarding the Stanley Cup? No 2020 NBA champion? Even, perhaps, no World Series or Super Bowl winner? All are seemingly in play as the nation — and world — deals with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The major sports leagues in North America have been shut down in...
Tim Benz: Are 7-inning doubleheaders the way to go for a revamped MLB schedule?
One idea to help Major League Baseball get as many games as possible onto the schedule in 2020 is to play a lot of scheduled doubleheaders. According to Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins, via ESPN one of the ideas being floated around is playing those doubleheaders as seven-inning...
Pirates home opener history includes some memorable momentsVideo
Under normal circumstances, the Pittsburgh Pirates would have played the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday at PNC Park in their 139th home opener. But the game — just like almost every sporting event around the globe over the past three weeks — was postponed (not yet canceled) by the coronavirus pandemic....
Pirates preventing Jameson Taillon from pitching in 2020
A pitcher who has already had all too much of his baseball career affected by injury and health, Jameson Taillon acknowledges that he’s allowed the fierce competitor inside of him to lobby to return to a major-league mound in 2020. “Yeah, I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t...
Pirates’ Jameson Taillon against neutral-site World SeriesVideo
During a conference call with Pittsburgh media Monday afternoon, Jameson Taillon repeatedly asserted players were open to a myriad of possibilities aimed at salvaging as much of the 2020 MLB season as possible. “Players,” the Pittsburgh Pirates union representative said, “will visit just about anything.” There is one thing, though,...
John Steigerwald: Ex-Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh belongs in Hall of Fame
Tim Murtaugh made it to the big leagues. Maybe you remember or have heard of Tim’s grandfather, Danny, who managed the Pirates off and on for 15 years and won two World Series. Tim’s father, also named Tim, never made it to the major leagues as a player, but he...
First Call: Bruce Arians destroys Antonio Brown rumors; former Pirate now a pro wrestler
In Friday’s “First Call,” Bruce Arians shuts the door on the Antonio Brown-to-Tampa Bay rumors. Hard. Former Pirates pitcher and “Million Dollar Arm” star Rinku Singh is making it big as a pro wrestler. Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams obviously misses opening day. A dangerous quote from an NFL star. And...
Pirates President Travis Williams sends message to fans
Thursday was supposed to be Opening Day for Major League Baseball. The Pittsburgh Pirates had a game – the first of 2020 — scheduled in Tampa, Fla., against the Rays. It was to be Derek Shelton’s first Opening Day as a manager, the first Pirates’ game without Clint Hurdle in...
