Pittsburgh Sports Lore - World Firsts

World Firsts

  • Minor League: 1877 with the formation of the International League.
  • Two sport players: 1903 Fred Crolius and Christy Matthewson for the Pittsburgh Stars and Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • Standing ovation: May 28, 1956 Pirate slugger Dale Long gets a five minute standing ovation at Forbes Field after hitting his 8th home run in 8 games against the Brooklyn Dodgers, the first curtain call in sports history.
  • African-American manager: June 21, 1961 Gene Baker became the first African-American manager in Organized Baseball when the Pirates named him skipper of their Batavia Pirates farm club in the New York-Penn League.
  • Family in the Hall of Fame: July 24, 1967 Pirates' great Lloyd Waner joins his brother, and fellow Pirate, Paul Waner in the Hall of Fame becoming the first brothers in any sports hall of fames.
  • Hall of Fame waiver: March 20, 1973 Roberto Clemente became the first player to enter a major sports hall of fame, waiving the mandatory five year waiting period.
  • Back-to-back Hall of Fame broadcasters: April 10, 1976 Milo Hamilton announced his first Pirates game taking over for fellow hall-of-famer Bob Prince, making the Pirates the first major league team to have back-to-back hall of fame broadcasters. During this same season both hall of famers Myron Cope and Mike Lange also announced for the Steelers and Penguins respectively.
  • Million Dollar Contract: January 26, 1979 Dave Parker of the Pirates became the first $1 million/year player in sports.
  • Uniform uniforms: January 30, 1980 Pittsburgh became the first, and still only city, to have all it's major professional teams don the same colors, when the Penguins completed the process.
  • White House Double visit: February 22, 1980 President Jimmy Carter hosted both the Steelers and Pirates in a single ceremony to celebrate their respective championship wins in Super Bowl XIV and the 1979 World Series.
  • Drug trials: 1985 The Pittsburgh drug trials took place and were the first investigation in sports doping and drug use.

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Famous quotes containing the word world:

    “Day by day we hear the cry of AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANS. This cry has become a positive, determined one. It is a cry that is raised simultaneously the world over because of the universal oppression that affects the Negro.”
    —Marcus Garvey (1887–1940)