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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 01The Pirates nickname arose after the club signed which second baseman in a 'piratical' move?
Lou Bierbauer
The Philadelphia Athletics had forgotten to put him on their reserve list; newspapers ran with 'Pirates' from 1891.
Q 02Before becoming the Pirates, the club was known by what name from its 1882 founding?
Alleghenys
It was chartered as the Allegheny Base Ball Club of Pittsburgh and played across the river in a then-separate city.
Q 03Pittsburgh acquired Honus Wagner from which club being eliminated when the NL contracted?
Louisville Colonels
The player deals were separate transactions rather than a merger, but they made the Pirates the class of the league by 1901.
Q 04The Pirates lost the first modern World Series in 1903 to which team?
Boston Americans
It was played at wooden Exposition Park, a site now marked by a sunken steel home plate in a parking lot.
Q 05The Pirates' first World Series title, in 1909, came against which team led by Ty Cobb?
Detroit Tigers
The two clubs are now interleague 'natural rivals' partly because of that Series.
Q 06Honus Wagner's nickname was what?
The Flying Dutchman
It referenced his German heritage and speed; he won a joint-record eight NL batting titles.
Q 07In 2021 a T206 Honus Wagner card sold for roughly how much, then the second-most ever for a card?
$6.6 million
It remains one of the rarest cards in existence, reputedly because Wagner objected to promoting tobacco.
Q 08The Pirates' 1925 title made them the first team in North American sports to do what?
Come back from 3-1 down to win a series
Two years later they were swept by the Murderers' Row Yankees.
Q 09Which slugger led the NL in home runs in seven straight seasons for Pittsburgh from 1946 to 1952?
Ralph Kiner
He later spent more than 50 years as a Mets broadcaster.
Q 10Bill Mazeroski's 1960 World Series-winning homer came off which Yankees pitcher?
Ralph Terry
It remains the only Game 7 in World Series history to end with a home run.
Q 11Bill Mazeroski was renowned defensively for what?
Turning the double-play pivot
He won eight Gold Gloves at second base and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001.
Q 12Roberto Clemente was born in which Puerto Rican town?
Carolina
He was a track and field star and Olympic hopeful before committing to baseball.
Q 13Roberto Clemente's 3,000th and final regular-season hit was a double off which Mets pitcher?
Jon Matlack
It came on September 30, 1972, in his final regular-season at-bat; he died three months later.
Q 21The Pirates' colours of black and gold, adopted in 1948, were taken from what?
The flag of Pittsburgh
The Pirates, Steelers and Penguins now all share the city's colours, unique among American cities.
Q 22After the National League's 1976 centennial, the Pirates alone permanently adopted what item?
Pillbox caps
They alternated black and gold versions and wore four different uniform combinations in the 1979 World Series.
Q 23The Pirates' mascot, the Pirate Parrot, 'hatched' at the ballpark on what date in 1979?
April Fools' Day
He was inspired by the Phillie Phanatic and originally looked thinner and meaner, in full pirate garb.
Q 14Roberto Clemente died on New Year's Eve 1972 flying earthquake relief to which country?
Nicaragua
His chartered DC-7 crashed off Isla Verde, Puerto Rico; he was 38.
Q 15How many consecutive Gold Gloves did Roberto Clemente win from 1961 to 1972?
12
He also won four batting titles and the 1966 NL MVP.
Q 16On September 1, 1971, the Pirates became the first team to field what kind of starting lineup?
All-Black and Latino
That team went on to beat the favoured Orioles in the World Series behind Clemente's bat.
Q 17The Pirates beat which team in both the 1971 and 1979 World Series?
Baltimore Orioles
Both times Pittsburgh won Game 7 on the road, the last team to do so until the 2014 Giants.
Q 18The Pirates' 1970s sluggers Stargell, Parker and Al Oliver were collectively nicknamed what?
The Lumber Company
The name played on the club's timber-heavy bats and Pittsburgh's blue-collar image.
Q 19Which disco hit did the 1979 Pirates adopt as their theme song?
We Are Family
Sister Sledge's anthem fit a clubhouse led by 'Pops' Stargell, who handed out stars for players' caps.
Q 20In 1979 Willie Stargell became the only player ever to win which three awards in one season?
NL MVP, NLCS MVP and World Series MVP
He shared the regular-season MVP with Keith Hernandez, and at 38 was the oldest World Series MVP.
Q 24The Great Pierogi Race at Pirates games features Sauerkraut Saul, Cheese Chester and whom?
Jalapeño Hannah
The race began in 1999 at the old stadium; Oliver Onion and Bacon Burt joined later.
Q 25Which outfielder did the Pirates draft sixth overall in 1985 and lose to free agency after 1992?
Barry Bonds
He won two MVPs in Pittsburgh, and his throw home in the 1992 NLCS was a moment too late.
Q 26The Pirates were one out from the 1992 World Series when which slow-footed Brave scored the winning run?
Sid Bream
Cabrera's pinch single and a late throw to catcher Mike LaValliere ended Pittsburgh's last pennant chance for decades.
Q 27The Pirates posted losing records in how many straight seasons from 1993 to 2012, a record?
20
The streak outlasted the opening of PNC Park by more than a decade.
Q 28Which outfielder won the 2013 NL MVP as the Pirates finally returned to the playoffs?
Andrew McCutchen
They beat Cincinnati in the Wild Card Game, still their only postseason series win since 1979.
Q 29The Pirates' home since 2001 sits on the banks of which river?
Allegheny
Fans walk over from downtown on a bridge renamed for Clemente as a consolation after the park took a bank's name.
Q 30PNC Park's right-field wall is exactly how many feet high, matching Roberto Clemente's uniform number?
21
Statues of Clemente, Stargell, Mazeroski and Wagner stand at the park's entrances.