{"id":1365,"date":"2013-09-25T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1365"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:32:50","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:32:50","slug":"the-last-time-the-pirates-reached-the-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/09\/25\/the-last-time-the-pirates-reached-the-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"The last time the Pirates reached the playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Barry <\/a>
Barry Bonds hits against the Los Angeles Dodgers in this August. 25, 1992 photo. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"1992: <\/a>
1992: The Braves’ Sid Bream (R) slides across the plate to win the National League Championship Series as the Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Mike LaValliere applies the late tag in the ninth inning. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Until two days ago, some Pirates fans may have thought the playoffs were unreachable for their favorite team. Others, who\u2019d witnessed it before, forgot how it feels to cheer on such a winner.<\/p>\n

Yes, once upon a time\u2026 a looong<\/em> time ago\u2026 21 years to be precise, was the last time the Pirates didn\u2019t have a losing season and were a playoff team.<\/p>\n

In 1992, the Pirates finished first in the National League East, their third consecutive division title.That was the team of legendary stars such as Barry Bonds, Bob Walk, and Don Slaught (pictured above). The postseason was heartbreaking, though, as the Pirates lost a seven-game National League championship series to the Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n

As remarkable as it was, there is little material in our photo archives about the Pirates from the summer or fall of 1992. Most of the photos come from the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

That season, as Gainesville (Fla.) Sun reported in an October issue, \u201cThe Pirates found out what every big league employee must have always realized, but never dared to admit. Despite the daily hounding of the local press, newspapers give baseball teams an amount of free publicity every day that others in the entertainment business can only dream about.<\/p>\n

“Pirates\u2019 general manager Ted Simmons admitted as much Thursday. Commenting on the Teamsters\u2019 strike that has shut down the Press and Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh\u2019s two newspapers, since early May, Simmons said, \u2018It killed us.\u2019<\/p>\n

” \u2018We\u2019re working very hard to take a small market and put people in the park, but when a newspaper strike hits, I believe people get out of custom of following their team.\u2019 ”<\/p>\n

Despite their third consecutive NL East title in 1992, the Pirates fell 237,907 from their record attendance total of 2,065,302 in 1991.<\/p>\n

And then \u2026 for more than two decades the Pirates were losers. Not a single winning season. With all the newspaper coverage and the city\u2019s competitive media market, they were still losing. In the Steel City, it was called the curse of Barry Bonds \u2026 the losing season streak began after the Pirates outfielder signed with the San Francisco Giants in December, 1992.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s 2013 and the Pirates are back. Baseball fans in the Steel City haven\u2019t had this much fun since a young Barry Bonds patrolled left field at Three Rivers Stadium. The Pirates are losers no more.<\/p>\n

Long live Buctober<\/em>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Until two days ago, some Pirates fans may have thought the playoffs were unreachable for their favorite team.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe last time the Pirates reached the playoffs<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[944],"tags":[969,1027],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/tumblr_mtnjep4kH81rr5swxo4_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1020%2C661&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1840,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/04\/29\/branch-rickey-pirates-general-manager\/","url_meta":{"origin":1365,"position":0},"title":"Branch Rickey, Pirates\u2019 general manager","date":"April 29, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"As a manager of baseball teams, he was innovative and his ideas improved the game we know today.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/tumblr_mltqzn5KWT1rr5swxo3_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C893&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1918,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/04\/01\/exposition-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":1365,"position":1},"title":"Exposition Park","date":"April 1, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Fred Carroll was, by all accounts, an outstanding catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he made history at Exposition Park.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/tumblr_mke4xbydGB1rr5swxo1_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C773&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":813,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/03\/31\/jim-leyland-and-barry-bonds\/","url_meta":{"origin":1365,"position":2},"title":"Jim Leyland and Barry Bonds","date":"March 31, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Few figures in Pittsburgh sports history are as polarizing as Barry Bonds.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_n3622mx41X1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C688&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1320,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/09\/dreaming-of-the-world-series-too-soon-you-say\/","url_meta":{"origin":1365,"position":3},"title":"Dreaming of the World Series\u2026 Too soon, you say?","date":"October 9, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It\u2019s not done yet. 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