where did the name pittsburgh pirates come from
History of the Pittsburgh Pirates
The new owners also signed highly regarded second baseman Lou Bierbauer , who had previously played with the AA 's Philadelphia Athletics . The Athletics failed to include him on their reserve list , and the Alleghenys picked him up . Nonetheless , this led to loud protests by the Athletics , and in an official complaint , an AA official claimed the Alleghenys ' actions were `` piratical '' . This incident ( which is discussed at some length in The Beer and Whisky League , by David Nemec , 1994 ) quickly accelerated into a schism between the leagues that contributed to the demise of the A.A. Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing , they made sport of being denounced for being `` piratical '' by renaming themselves `` the Pirates '' for the 1891 season . The nickname was first acknowledged on the team 's uniforms in 1912 . Around the time the team adopted the Pirates nickname , the United States Board on Geographic Names forced the city of Pittsburgh to undergo a controversial name change by having them drop the `` h '' at the end of the name , making the team 's official name the `` Pittsburg Pirates '' from the adoption of the Pirates nickname until Pittsburgh was able to get the `` h '' restored to its name in 1911 . 
The new owners also signed highly regarded second baseman Lou Bierbauer , who had previously played with the AA 's Philadelphia Athletics . The Athletics failed to include him on their reserve list , and the Alleghenys picked him up . Nonetheless , this led to loud protests by the Athletics , and in an official complaint , an AA official claimed the Alleghenys ' actions were `` piratical '' . This incident ( which is discussed at some length in The Beer and Whisky League , by David Nemec , 1994 ) quickly accelerated into a schism between the leagues that contributed to the demise of the A.A. Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing , they made sport of being denounced for being `` piratical '' by renaming themselves `` the Pirates '' for the 1891 season . The nickname was first acknowledged on the team 's uniforms in 1912 . Around the time the team adopted the Pirates nickname , the United States Board on Geographic Names forced the city of Pittsburgh to undergo a controversial name change by having them drop the `` h '' at the end of the name , making the team 's official name the `` Pittsburg Pirates '' from the adoption of the Pirates nickname until Pittsburgh was able to get the `` h '' restored to its name in 1911 .
The Athletics failed to include Lou Bierbauer on their reserve list, and the Alleghenys picked him up. Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing, they made sport of being denounced for being ``piratical'' by renaming themselves ``the Pirates'' for the 1891 season.
The new owners also signed highly regarded second baseman Lou Bierbauer , who had previously played with the AA 's Philadelphia Athletics . The Athletics failed to include him on their reserve list , and the Alleghenys picked him up . Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing , they made sport of being denounced for being `` piratical '' by renaming themselves `` the Pirates '' for the 1891 season .