50 Fun Facts About Pittsburgh Sports

What colours do all of Pittsburgh's major pro teams uniquely share?

The Penguins were the last to switch, in 1979, over objections from the Boston Bruins, who had used the combination since 1935.

Pittsburgh became the 'City of Champions' after the Pirates, Pitt and Steelers won titles in which decade?

In 1979 alone the Pirates won the World Series and the Steelers won the Super Bowl.

Who became the first known professional football player when paid $500 for a game in 1892?

He scored the game's only points in a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Athletic Club at Recreation Park.

The Pirates got their name after a rival league called their 1891 signing of Lou Bierbauer what?

The club had been the Alleghenys since 1881, and did not switch to black and gold until 1948.

Which Pittsburgh native, 'the Flying Dutchman', was among the first five Baseball Hall of Fame inductees?

He was born in Chartiers, now Carnegie, and left school at 12 to work in the coal mines with his father and brothers.

A T206 baseball card of which Pirates star sold for $6.6 million in 2021?

He won a joint-record eight National League batting titles and retired holding the career hits record later broken by Ty Cobb.

Forbes Field, opened in 1909, was the National League's first ballpark built from which materials?

Owner Barney Dreyfuss bought the land near Schenley Park with help from Andrew Carnegie, and critics dubbed the distant site 'Dreyfuss's Folly'.

Bill Mazeroski's 1960 World Series home run remains the only one ever to do what?

It beat the heavily favoured Yankees; fans still gather at the remnants of the Forbes Field wall every October 13 to relive it.

How many Gold Gloves did Roberto Clemente win, in consecutive seasons from 1961 to 1972?

He finished his career with exactly 3,000 hits; the last came in his final regular-season at-bat.

Clemente died in a 1972 crash while delivering earthquake relief to which country?

The Hall of Fame changed its rules to admit him in 1973, making him the first Latino and Caribbean inductee.

On September 1, 1971, the Pirates became the first MLB team to do what?

That same team went on to beat Baltimore in the World Series behind Clemente, the Series MVP.

Which Pirates slugger nicknamed 'Pops' is the only man to win NL MVP, NLCS MVP and World Series MVP in one season?

He hit 296 home runs in the 1970s, more than anyone else that decade, and seven of the 18 balls ever hit over Forbes Field's right-field roof.

How many consecutive losing seasons did the Pirates post from 1993 to 2012, a record for the four major leagues?

The streak began the year after Sid Bream slid home for Atlanta in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS.

Whose statue was unveiled outside PNC Park on April 7, 2001, two days before he died?

He joins Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski among the Hall of Famers cast in bronze around the park.

The Allegheny and Monongahela meet at Three Rivers Stadium's site to form which river?

It opened on July 16, 1970 with a Pirates loss to the Reds and was imploded in 2001 after the Steelers and Pirates moved to separate new homes.

Which Negro league team, formed by Cumberland Posey in 1912, ran for 38 seasons and won the 1948 Negro World Series?

By 1943 they were playing most home games in Washington, D.C., which is why they are also called the Washington Grays.

Which Pittsburgh numbers boss bought the Crawfords in 1931, signed Satchel Paige and built them a ballpark?

Paige and Josh Gibson unwound at his Crawford Grill, where Lena Horne and Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson performed.

Which Pittsburgh catcher became MLB's career batting average leader when Negro league stats were integrated in 2024?

Some who saw both men play called Babe Ruth 'the white Josh Gibson'; Gibson may have hit close to 800 home runs including exhibitions.

To which city did Pittsburgh's first NHL club move in 1930 to spend a final season as the Quakers?

That team was also called the Pirates; captain Lionel Conacher scored the city's first NHL goal in a 2-1 win at Boston on Thanksgiving night 1925.

The Penguins' name was chosen partly because their home, the Civic Arena, carried what nickname?

'Penguins' won a naming contest with 700 of 26,000 entries; the triangle in the logo stands for downtown's Golden Triangle.

The Civic Arena, built in 1961, was the world's first major sports venue with what feature?

It was originally built for the Civic Light Opera; the roof stopped opening after 1995 and the building came down in 2011-12.

How many Stanley Cups have the Penguins won?

The 2016 and 2017 wins made them the first back-to-back champions of the salary-cap era.

Mario Lemieux is the only man whose name is on the Stanley Cup in which two roles?

He bought the bankrupt Penguins in 1999 and won three more Cups as owner before selling control to Fenway Sports Group in 2021.

Which illness forced Mario Lemieux to miss the entire 1994-95 season?

His back pain was at times so severe that other people had to tie his skates, yet he still retired with 690 goals.

Sidney Crosby wears number 87 and signed a 2007 deal paying $8.7 million a year. What does the number reflect?

He was born in Halifax on August 7, 1987, and PPG Paints Arena's hockey capacity of 18,087 nods to the number too.

When the Penguins beat Detroit in 2009, Sidney Crosby set what NHL record?

He later became only the third player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy in consecutive years, in 2016 and 2017.

Which Penguins winger, drafted fifth in 1990, was the first Czechoslovak allowed to join the NHL without defecting?

Fans noticed that the letters of 'Jaromir' can be rearranged to spell 'Mario Jr.'; he won five Art Ross Trophies.

PPG Paints Arena opened in 2010 under what original name?

PPG bought the rights in 2016 when the coal company wanted out of the deal during an energy-price slump.

A fan phoned which Pittsburgh broadcaster with the name 'Immaculate Reception'?

NFL Films has ranked it both the greatest and the most controversial play of all time.

Which Steelers running back caught the Immaculate Reception and ran it in for the winning touchdown?

The pass was intended for John Fuqua; whether Jack Tatum ever touched it is still argued in Oakland.

Proceeds from the Terrible Towel have raised more than $8 million for which institution?

When Cope floated the idea in 1975, linebacker Jack Ham told him 'I think your idea stinks'.

Heinz paid $57 million for the naming rights to the Steelers' stadium through 2021. Why that figure?

The Steelers' home sellout streak there dates back to 1972; Acrisure took over the name in 2022.

Which two hockey teams played the 2011 NHL Winter Classic outdoors at Heinz Field?

Taylor Swift's 2023 Eras Tour show there drew 73,117, the biggest ticketed event in city history.

How many national championships does Pitt football claim?

Pop Warner won three of them, in 1915, 1916 and 1918, during a 33-game winning streak.

Which Aliquippa-raised running back won the 1976 Heisman Trophy while leading Pitt to a national title?

He was the first freshman All-American in 29 years and went second overall to Dallas in the 1977 draft.

Which Pittsburgh-born quarterback starred at Pitt before setting NFL passing records with the Miami Dolphins?

The Kansas City Royals drafted him as a baseball player in 1979; he chose Pitt instead and threw for 5,084 yards for Miami in 1984.

Pittsburgh is called the 'Cradle of Quarterbacks'. Which of these NFL greats was NOT from the area?

Elway grew up in Washington state and California; Unitas was cut by the Steelers in 1955 before starring for Baltimore.

The first live US radio broadcast of a college football game saw Pitt beat which Backyard Brawl rival on KDKA?

Forbes Field also hosted Pitt home games from 1909 to 1924 and was the Steelers' first home.

Which Pittsburgh team won the very first ABA championship in 1968, led by Connie Hawkins?

It remains the city's only pro basketball championship; the team moved to Minnesota weeks later, then came back and became the Condors.

Which Pittsburgh team was a founding member of what became the NBA but folded after 1946-47?

Wilt Chamberlain later set still-standing NBA records for consecutive field goals in a neutral-site game in Pittsburgh in 1967.

Pittsburgh's professional soccer club, founded in 1998, is known by what name?

They play at Highmark Stadium in Station Square and won their first USL title in November 2025 on penalties over FC Tulsa.

In which town east of Pittsburgh did Arnold Palmer grow up?

He won seven majors between 1958 and 1964 and in 1967 became the first golfer to reach $1 million in career earnings.

The Pirates played in the first modern World Series in which year?

They lost that first Series to Boston but in 1925 became the first team in North American sports to come back from 3-1 down to win a playoff series.

How many World Series titles have the Pirates won?

The 1979 team adopted Sister Sledge's 'We Are Family' as its anthem under its 39-year-old captain.

In 1967 the Penguins became the first expansion-class team to beat an Original Six club. Whom did they beat 4-2?

Their home opener ten days earlier had been against Montreal, with league president Clarence Campbell dropping the puck.

Which Pittsburgh Arena Football League team of 1987-90 later became the Tampa Bay Storm?

A second AFL team, the Power, played at the Consol Energy Center from 2011 to 2014.

Which NBA star set still-standing records for consecutive field goals in a 1967 game in the city?

The city has hosted 15 regular-season 'neutral site' NBA games despite never keeping a franchise for long.

The 1968 ABA champion Pittsburgh Pipers beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, a team owned by whose father?

The Pipers, later the Condors, were the city's most lasting pro basketball presence, from 1967 to 1972.

Which Pittsburgh venue, destroyed by fire in 1896, had the first artificial ice surface in North America?

It was lit by 1,500 incandescent lamps and was the first place in the city where organised ice hockey was played.

The women's tackle football team the Pittsburgh Passion went 12-0 and won a national title in which year?

Founded in 2002, the Passion play home games at West Allegheny High School in nearby Imperial.