Pittsburgh Pirates

** Played in the era prior to uniform numbers; wore 33 while serving as coach. His is a heavily modified version, played on the soprano saxophone, in which the initial theme ("Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...") is repeated again and again, separated by long soloing vamps. * Manager. The jazz musician John Coltrane adopted the tune "My Favorite Things" as his signature tune. Despite this, the Pirates' mediocre performance has translated to subpar attendance figures. The seven von Trapp children are five girls and two boys: Liesl (16 years old "going on 17"), Friedrich (14), Louisa (13), Kurt (11), Brigitta (10), Marta (6), Gretl (5). Due to its simple, unpretentious concept and strategic usage of the remarkably beautiful Pittsburgh skyline, it is frequently regarded (as in a recent ESPN article) as currently the best park in baseball. Combine this with its success around the world in sales of tickets, videocassettes, laserdiscs, DVDs and its frequent airings on television, it is called "the most widely seen movie produced by a Hollywood studio" by Amazon.uk  (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005AA0L/qid=1105834994/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/026-3134903-6248437).

The Pirates opened a new stadium, PNC Park, in 2001. According to boxofficemojo (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?p=.htm), the film ranks third in both all-time number of tickets sold (142,415,400) and in gross adjusted for inflation ($911,458,400) in North America (behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars). Though this rash of trades has not been popular in Pittsburgh, it is generally accepted that it can mostly be attributed to the aforementioned "small market syndrome." It is felt that Littlefield is attempting, with perhaps mixed success, to follow the blueprint created by overachieving small market teams such as the Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins. In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. After the 2004 season, Kendall's salary was also dumped on the Oakland Athletics. Despite the enormous popularity of the movie, which at the time became the second-largest grossing picture of all time (behind Gone With The Wind, and has continued through the present day, noted film critic Pauline Kael blasted the film in a review in which she called the movie "The Sound Of Mucus." This review allegedly led to Kael's being fired from her position as a film critic. Pirate fans found this trade much more palatable in the short run, as Pérez led the majors in strikeouts per inning and Bay won the Rookie of the Year Award award in 2004, while Giles put up a subpar season by his standards. The title song's four-line prelude ("My day in the hills has come to an end, I know..."), sung by Mary Martin in the stage play (available on CD), is reduced to an instrumental hint during the overture and dramatic zoom-in shot to Julie Andrews on the mountaintop at the start of the movie.

Brian Giles was one of the National League's best hitters for several years, but he and his $9 million salary were also traded in 2003 to the San Diego Padres for youngsters Oliver Pérez, Jason Bay, and Cory Stewart. "How Can Love Survive?" was reduced to an instrumental, one of several waltz numbers played at the party occurring just before intermission. Enigmatic but talented third baseman Aramis Ramirez was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2003 for a fairly minimal return under pressure to dump his $6 million salary for 2004, and he proceeded to become a star for the Cubs. A couple of the songs were altered. Current General Manager Dave Littlefield was installed midway through the 2001 season and began overhauling the team to comply with owner Kevin McClatchy's dictum to drastically reduce the payroll. One example is that in the play, "My Favorite Things" is sung at the convent. However, the failure of the Pirates to compete in recent years has been blamed on "small market syndrome"; teams located in small cities such as Pittsburgh and Kansas City cannot compete with New York and Boston without a salary cap or similar agreement, as the better players tend to gravitate towards cities where teams generate more revenue, meaning larger salaries. The order of several of the songs is markedly different between the stage play and the film.

(Interestingly, video footage of Kendall's leg breaking from under him has been circulated on shock sites.). As pointed out in one of the DVD's extras, the real Maria and one of her daughters can (barely) be seen starting to cross the road at that point. No such incident has occurred with Kendall, but he has lost almost all of his power and much of his speed following a broken leg in 1999. During the extensive "Do-Re-Mi" segment, at one point Maria and the children run under an archway. Despite poor play in 2001, Bell announced that he would begin "Operation Shutdown", a passive-aggressive ploy in which he would fail to play effectively in response to losing his role as a starter. Another error, noted by astute observers who know the geography, is that in the scene where the family is hiking up the mountain presumably toward safe ground, they are actually walking toward Austria. Their overall lack of success in the last decade have been blamed partly on former General Manager Cam Bonifay, who gave large contracts to players such as Derek Bell and Jason Kendall while failing to identify, develop, and retain numerous young potential star players. This error cannot be seen in the film itself.

However, they did miraculously contend for the 1997 division title, finishing second and only being eliminated in the season's final week, despite having a payroll of only 9 million dollars. In some publicity shots for the film, a noteworthy error can be seen in a market scene immediately preceding the "Do-Re-Mi" number: an orange crate is marked 'Made in Israel'; however, Israel did not exist in the 1930s. Since then, the Pirates have not had a winning season. The Ländler dance that Maria and the Captain shared was not performed the traditional way it is done in Austria. Both players complained about the preferential treatment given to Van Slyke, leading some to believe that racism was well-ingrained in Pittsburgh sports. In fact, the "Sound of Music" itself is virtually unknown in the country, except in backpacker's hostels in Salzburg, where it is screened daily on DVD. Before the 1993 season, Bonilla and Bonds would leave for more lucrative contracts elsewhere. Many people believe "Edelweiss" to be the national anthem—in fact, this song is nearly unknown in Austria.

The Pirates would win the first three division titles of the 1990s, but failed to advance to the World Series each time, the second two losing closely contested seven-game series to the Atlanta Braves on questionable calls at the end of the final game. The musical has created a few misconceptions about Austria. Jim Leyland took over as manager, and the Pirates gradually climbed out of the cellar behind young and exciting players such as Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds, Jay Bell, and Andy Van Slyke. It had never been performed before anywhere in Austria. Following was a period of decline until the Pirates were regarded as the worst team in baseball during the mid-1980s. In February 2005, the musical premiered at the Volksoper in Vienna. Adopting the then-popular disco anthem "We Are Family" as their theme song, the Pirates won a fifth World Series, again in seven games, in 1979. This was the first stage production to incorporate the two additional songs that Rodgers had composed for the film version.

Stargell, speedy Omar Moreno and power-hitting but ostentatious and unpopular Dave Parker became the cornerstones of the Pirates as Murtaugh left and Chuck Tanner took over as manager in 1977. Playing to 101% of seating capacity, the show set the highest attendance figure for a single week (October 26-31, 1981) of any British musical production in history, as chronicled by The Guinness Book of Theatre. Clemente died tragically in a plane crash in 1972 while attempting to ship supplies to the victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua, and is today regarded as the most prominent figure in Pirates history, with a riverfront park and suspension bridge named for him. Due to an unprecedented demand for tickets, Clark extended her initial six-month contract to thirteen months. He retired soon afterwards. Maria von Trapp herself, present at the opening night performance, described her as "the best" Maria ever. However, in 1973, Blass suffered a mysterious breakdown in his pitching abilities and posted an outrageous 9.85 ERA. Despite her misgivings that at age 51 she was too old to play the role convincingly, Clark opened to unanimous rave reviews (and the largest advance sale in the history of British theatre at that time).

They also thought they had a genuine superstar pitcher (historically rare for the Pirates) in Steve Blass, who pitched two excellent games in the World Series and put together excellent seasons in 1968 and 1972. In 1981, at producer Ross Taylor's urging, Petula Clark signed to star in a revival of the show at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London's West End. The Pirates won their first of five division titles over the next six years, and won their fourth World Series the next year behind a .414 batting average by Clemente. Hammerstein died before the film was made, and two of the numbers added to the score were written solely by Rodgers: "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good". Slugger Willie Stargell became a fixture in the Pittsburgh lineup, and the Pirates would return to prominence in 1970 when Murtaugh returned as manager and the Pirates' home field, Forbes Field, was demolished in favor of the multi-purpose Three Rivers Stadium. Robert Wise won an Academy Award for Directing for the film, which stars Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp. However, the Pirates struggled for the remainder of the decade, and Murtaugh was replaced by Harry Walker in 1965. The film, which was released in 1965, was named Best Picture of the Year.

The 1960s would continue with extremely solid defensive play by Mazeroski and the first Puerto Rican superstar, Roberto Clemente. Clemente was regarded as both one of the game's best all-time hitters and right fielders. The Sound of Music, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959, and starred Mary Martin as Maria and Theodore Bikel as Captain von Trapp. In arguably the most memorable World Series in history, the Pirates were defeated by more than ten runs in three games, won three close games, then recovering from a 7-4 deficit late in Game 7 to eventually win on a walk-off home run by Bill Mazeroski. Ruth Leuwerik played Maria, Hans Holt was von Trapp. The 1960 team featured eight All-Stars, but was widely predicted to lose the World Series to a powerful New York Yankees team. Two German films, Die Trapp-Familie (The Trapp Family, 1956) and a sequel, Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (1958), were written by Herbert Reinecker and directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner. Murtaugh is widely credited for inventing the concept of the closer by frequently playing pitcher Roy Face late in close games. The von Trapps spent some years in Austria after Maria and the Captain had married - in 1927 - they did not have to flee right away - and they fled to Italy, not Switzerland.

The Pirates would have only one winning season until 1958, when Danny Murtaugh took over as manager. The Captain's eldest child was a boy, not a girl, and the names of the children were changed (at least partly to avoid confusion, as the Captain's eldest daughter was also called Maria). The post-World War II years were not kind to the Pirates, despite the presence of a genuine superstar in Ralph Kiner. The real Maria was sent to be nurse to one of the children, not governess to all of them. The 1927 season was the first for the sharp-hitting combination of brothers Lloyd Waner and Paul Waner, who along with shortstop Arky Vaughan ensured that the Pirates had plenty of Hall of Fame-caliber position players through 1941. It should be noted that some details of the von Trapp story were altered for the play and the film. The Pirates recovered from a 3-1 deficit to win the 1925 World Series over the Washington Senators, and reached the 1927 World Series before losing in a sweep to the New York Yankees, who at that time had built the most dominant team in baseball. However, during a singing performance in a theater, although they are guarded, the whole family manages to flee and walk over the mountains to Switzerland.

However, veteran outfielder Max Carey and young players Pie Traynor and Kiki Cuyler, along with a steady if unspectacular pitching staff, brought the Pirates back into the spotlight. Meanwhile, the Nazis take power in Austria as part of the Anschluss, and want Captain von Trapp back in service. The decline of Honus Wagner, considered by some to be the greatest shortstop ever, led to a number of losing seasons, culminating in a disastrous 51-103 record in 1917, Wagner's last season. Maria teaches the children singing. With largely the same star players, the Pirates would continue to be a strong team over the next few years and got their first World Series title in 1909, defeating the Detroit Tigers in seven games. He was soon to be married to a baroness but he marries Maria instead. Deacon Phillippe pitched five complete games, winning three of them; but it was not enough. The children, initially hostile and mischievous, come to like her, and the woman finds herself falling in love with the captain.

However, owing to injuries to their starting pitchers, they lost the first World Series ever played, in 1903 to Boston. In Salzburg, Austria, Maria, a woman studying to be a nun, is sent from her convent to be the governess of the seven children of a widowed naval commander, Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp. The 1901-1903 Pirates completely dominated the National League, in part because they lost few star players to the rival American League. It contains many hit songs, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "Do-Re-Mi," and "The Lonely Goatherd", as well as the title song. In 1900, the Pirates picked up star players from the defunct Louisville, Kentucky club, including greats like Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke (who also served as the team's manager from 1900 to 1915), triggering a long string of pennants. The Sound of Music is a Broadway musical and movie based on the book The Von Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. In 1890, they merged with the Pittsburgh team from the Players League after that league folded.

The AA club picked up a number of players from a defunct Columbus, Ohio team in 1885. In its early days, the club benefitted three times from mergers with defunct clubs. They are in the Central Division of the National League. The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Bradenton Pirates. Lynchburg Hillcats
Hickory Crawdads
Williamsport Crosscutters. Altoona Curve. Indianapolis Indians.

National League
. Pitching strikeouts: Bob Veale (276, 1965). Pitching wins: 28 Jack Chesbro (28, 1902). Hitting streak: Danny O'Connell (26 games, 1953).

Walks: Ralph Kiner (137, 1951). Stolen bases: Omar Moreno (96, 1980). Owen Wilson (36, 1912) [MLB record]. Triples: J.

Doubles: Paul Waner (62, 1932). Hits: Paul Waner (237, 1927). Runs: Kiki Cuyler (144, 1925). Runs batted in: Paul Waner (131, 1927).

Home runs: Ralph Kiner (54, 1949). Batting average: Arky Vaughan (.385, 1935). Branch Rickey. Bob Prince (legendary announcer nicknamed The Gunner).

Bill McKechnie. John Galbreath. Barney Dreyfuss (former owner and creator of the World Series). 42 Jackie Robinson (retired throughout baseball).

40 Danny Murtaugh *. 33 Honus Wagner **. 21 Roberto Clemente. 20 Pie Traynor.

  9 Bill Mazeroski.   8 Willie Stargell.   4 Ralph Kiner.   1 Billy Meyer *.

Jim Leyland (1990, 1992). Manager of the Year