Pittsburgh Pirates Trivia
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50 free Pittsburgh Pirates trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Pittsburgh Pirates trivia quiz starts with the Alleghenys and the 'piratical' signing that gave the club its name, then runs through Honus Wagner and the first World Series, Forbes Field, the 1925 comeback, Ralph Kiner, Bill Mazeroski's Game 7 homer, Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit and his death, the all-Black-and-Latino lineup of 1971, Willie Stargell and 'We Are Family', the Lumber Company, Barry Bonds and Sid Bream, the 20 straight losing seasons, Andrew McCutchen's MVP and Paul Skenes. The ballparks and traditions get their own round: Exposition Park, Forbes Field, Three Rivers, PNC Park and the Clemente Wall, the Pirate Parrot, the pierogi race, the pillbox caps and the black-and-gold colours borrowed from the city flag. Easy questions suit any Bucs fan; the hard ones are for people who know which team the Pirates raided for Wagner. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Pittsburgh's ball club was branded 'Pirates' in 1891 for taking a rival's what?
Second baseman
Second baseman. Philadelphia's Athletics had carelessly left Lou Bierbauer off their reserve list, and when Pittsburgh signed him, an official complaint called the move 'piratical'.
Q 02Before becoming the Pirates, Pittsburgh's ball club began play in 1882 under what name?
Alleghenys
Alleghenys. The club took the name of Allegheny City, the separate town across the river where it played, which Pittsburgh did not annex until 1907.
Q 03Pittsburgh acquired Honus Wagner from which club being eliminated when the NL contracted?
Louisville Colonels
Louisville Colonels. Their owner, Barney Dreyfuss, saw his club was doomed, bought a half-interest in the Pirates and took Wagner and most of Louisville's other stars with him.
Q 04The Pirates lost the first modern World Series in 1903 to which team?
Boston Americans
Boston Americans. Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss had issued the challenge himself, to seal the peace between the two leagues, and his club then lost the best-of-nine series five games to three.
Q 05The Pirates' first World Series title, in 1909, came against which team?
Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers. The series was billed as Honus Wagner against Ty Cobb, and Wagner won the duel, hitting .333 to Cobb's .231 and stealing six bases to his two.
Q 06Honus Wagner's nickname was what?
The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman. 'Dutch' was long used in English for Germans, and Wagner, the son of German immigrants, was quick enough to lead the National League in stolen bases five times.
Q 07Why do so few copies of Honus Wagner's T206 baseball card exist?
He had the printing stopped
He had the printing stopped. Wagner chewed tobacco and smoked cigars himself but would not lend his picture to cigarette packs, so only the few cards already out ever reached collectors.
Q 08The 1925 Pirates were the first to win a best-of-seven World Series after what?
Trailing three games to one
Trailing three games to one. Washington shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, that season's American League MVP, made a record eight errors, two of them in a rain-soaked Game 7 that Pittsburgh won 9-7.
Q 09Which slugger led the NL in home runs in seven straight seasons for Pittsburgh from 1946 to 1952?
Ralph Kiner
Ralph Kiner. The 1952 Pirates still lost 112 games, and when he balked at a pay cut the general manager reportedly told him they could finish last without him, then traded him.
Q 10Bill Mazeroski's 1960 World Series-winning homer came off which Yankees pitcher?
Ralph Terry
Ralph Terry. Two years later he was back on the mound for another one-run Game 7, and this time he shut out the Giants 1-0 and was named World Series MVP.
Q 11Bill Mazeroski was renowned defensively for what?
Turning the double-play pivot
Turning the double-play pivot. He was a shortstop until the Pirates' general manager watched him make the pivot a few times in camp and moved him to second, where his 1,706 double plays remain the record.
Q 12Where was Pirates legend Roberto Clemente born and raised?
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico. The Brooklyn Dodgers signed him first, but by sending him to the minors they exposed him to that winter's draft, and Pittsburgh, picking first, took him.
Q 13Roberto Clemente's final regular-season at-bat, in September 1972, brought which milestone?
His 3,000th hit
Q 21The Pirates' black and gold team colours were taken from what?
The flag of Pittsburgh
The flag of Pittsburgh. Black and gold are the city's official colours, and the Pirates dropped a patriotic red, white and blue to adopt them.
Q 22After the National League's 1976 centennial, only the Pirates kept wearing which throwback item?
Pillbox caps
Pillbox caps. Pittsburgh wore the flat-topped throwbacks for another decade, and they became the display board for the gold stars Willie Stargell awarded his teammates.
Q 23Which Pirates pitcher said he was under the influence of LSD when he threw a no-hitter in 1970?
Dock Ellis
His 3,000th hit. A double off the Mets' Jon Matlack, it proved to be the last regular-season at-bat of his life: he died three months later with his career total frozen at exactly 3,000.
Q 14Roberto Clemente died on New Year's Eve 1972 flying earthquake relief to which country?
Nicaragua
Nicaragua. Told that earlier relief shipments had been stolen before reaching the victims, he boarded the next cargo plane himself, and it crashed into the sea moments after takeoff.
Q 15Roberto Clemente shares the outfielders' record of 12 Gold Gloves with whom?
Willie Mays
Willie Mays. Each won 12 in a row, and Clemente's arm, strengthened by throwing the javelin at school, made him the terror of National League baserunners.
Q 16On September 1, 1971, the Pirates became the first team to field what kind of starting lineup?
All-Black and Latino
All-Black and Latino. It was no staged gesture: manager Danny Murtaugh had long filled out his lineup card without regard to race, and that night's nine won 10-7.
Q 17The Pirates beat which team in both the 1971 and 1979 World Series?
Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles. In 1971 the heavily favoured Orioles won the first two games, then lost four of the next five, and in 1979 Pittsburgh beat them in seven games again.
Q 18The Pirates' 1970s sluggers, led by Willie Stargell and Al Oliver, were collectively nicknamed what?
The Lumber Company
The Lumber Company. The name saluted a lineup that hit its way to six division titles and two World Series wins in the space of ten seasons.
Q 19Which disco hit did the 1979 Pirates adopt as their theme song?
We Are Family
We Are Family. The Sister Sledge hit suited a clubhouse where captain Willie Stargell handed out gold stars for teammates to wear on their caps after a big play.
Q 20Which three awards did Willie Stargell alone win in one season?
MVP, NLCS MVP, World Series MVP
MVP, NLCS MVP, World Series MVP. He did it in 1979, sharing the regular-season award in the MVP vote's only tie, then decided Game 7 of the World Series with a two-run homer.
Dock Ellis. He had lost track of the days and thought he was not pitching, then walked eight San Diego batters, hit another and still won 2-0 without allowing a hit.
Q 24The Great Pierogi Race at Pirates games features Sauerkraut Saul, Cheese Chester and whom?
Jalapeño Hannah
Jalapeño Hannah. She joined in the first few years after the race began in 1999 with three runners, and the pierogies have since travelled to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers' racing sausages.
Q 25Which outfielder did the Pirates draft in 1985 and lose to free agency after 1992?
Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds. He won two MVP awards in Pittsburgh before signing with San Francisco, and the Pirates then went 20 years without a winning season.
Q 26The Pirates were one out from the 1992 World Series when which slow-footed Brave scored the winning run?
Sid Bream
Sid Bream. One of the slowest runners in baseball, he had been a Pirate himself until 1990, and he slid home safely on a close play at the plate.
Q 27Which manager ended the Pirates' record run of 20 straight losing seasons in 2013?
Clint Hurdle
Clint Hurdle. His 2013 club won 94 games and a wild-card playoff, ending the longest run of losing seasons in major North American team sports, and he was voted NL Manager of the Year.
Q 28Which Pirate won the 2013 NL MVP as the club finally returned to the playoffs?
Andrew McCutchen
Andrew McCutchen. Pittsburgh had drafted the centre fielder in 2005, deep in its losing years, and his MVP season carried the club to 94 wins and its first playoff berth in 21 years.
Q 29PNC Park, the Pirates' home since 2001, stands in which Pittsburgh neighbourhood?
North Shore
North Shore. Fans walk over from downtown on the Sixth Street Bridge, which is closed to cars on game days and was renamed for Roberto Clemente when the park itself took a bank's name.
Q 30PNC Park's 21-foot wall, a nod to Roberto Clemente's number, stands in which field?
Right field
Right field. Clemente patrolled it for the Pirates for 18 seasons, so the wall there rises 21 feet, with the out-of-town scoreboard built into it.