[Ads-l] Origin of Pittsburgh Pirates nickname

[Paul A Johnston]

What about Lou Bierbauer in the 1880s, when the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, founded in 1882, stole him, i believe from the Philadelphia Athletics.  Both teams belonged to the American Association, at the time a major league.  I always thought this transaction led to the Pirates nickname.

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2018 7:47:57 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Origin of Pittsburgh Pirates nickname

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Origin of Pittsburgh Pirates nickname
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> On Oct 15, 2018, at 5:13 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> =
wrote:
>=20
> Better Pirates of Penzance that No No Nanette=E2=80=A6

Yes, that was a painful transaction for us anti-Yankees fans, if we were =
weren=E2=80=99t (quite) alive at the time of the Babe Ruth salary dump.  =
Crazy Frazee. =20

I had always assumed the Pittsburgh Pirates were so-called for purposes =
of alliteration, like the Boston Braves, the Buffalo Bills, the Seattle =
Seahawks, the Jacksonville Jaguars, or the Philadelphia Phillies (well, =
OK, that one is a bit more than alliteration).  The real story is more =
interesting, I have to confess.  I wonder if the Tampa Bay Buc(caneer)s =
of the NFL stole any players when they started out.  Not enough of them, =
apparently.

LH

>=20
> On Mon, Oct 15, 2018, 4:24 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> =
wrote:
>=20
>> I recently posted an article about the origin of the Pittsburgh =
Pirates'
>> nickname.  The general story is well known - Pittsburgh "stole" =
(allegedly
>> - they were exonerated) some players - therefore "Pirates."  The =
story is a
>> bit more complex than that; there were a lot of pirates and =
accusations of
>> piracy flying around at the time.  Humorously, when the name Pirates
>> finally caught on with Pittsburgh, it was borrowed from lyrics from =
the
>> Pirates of Penzance, "It is, it is, a glorious thing, to be, to be a =
Pirate
>> King."
>>=20
>> =
https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-pittsburgh-pirates-of-penzance.html=

>>=20
>>=20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>=20
>=20
> On Oct 15, 2018 4:24 PM, "Peter Reitan" <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>=20
> I recently posted an article about the origin of the Pittsburgh =
Pirates'
> nickname.  The general story is well known - Pittsburgh "stole" =
(allegedly
> - they were exonerated) some players - therefore "Pirates."  The story =
is a
> bit more complex than that; there were a lot of pirates and =
accusations of
> piracy flying around at the time.  Humorously, when the name Pirates
> finally caught on with Pittsburgh, it was borrowed from lyrics from =
the
> Pirates of Penzance, "It is, it is, a glorious thing, to be, to be a =
Pirate
> King."
>=20
> =
https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-pittsburgh-pirates-of-penzance.html=

>=20
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org