Sixty-seven-year-old Barbara Smith remembers dancing on Fifth Avenue when the Pirates won the 1979 World Series.
Her husband, Claude, went to the airport that night to greet the newly crowned champions arriving home from Baltimore.
The couple from Brighton Heights and a large crowd of enthusiastic Pirates fans partied like it was 1979 again Tuesday afternoon at the Pirates playoff rally, as “We Are Family,” the Sister Sledge song turned 1979 Pirates anthem, blasted in Market Square.
The Pirates begin the journey to try to return to the World Series for the first time since 1979 tonight as the team takes on the San Francisco Giants in a one-game wild-card playoff that will determine which team will take on the Washington Nationals in a National League Division Series.
Fans are encouraged to come to the game dressed in black, and appeared optimistic at the rally.
The Smiths believe the Pirates are going to win tonight’s game and then win it all. “The Pirates are going to go all the way,” Mrs. Smith said.
“All the way!” Mr. Smith added, donning a black Pirates pillbox cap, the style the Pirates wore in 1979.
Jeff Walters, 32, of Tarentum came dressed in a long, dark-colored jacket, white-and-black-striped knickers and a three-cornered hat with black and gold feathers. He swapped his day job as an engineer to become a full-fledged pirate for the rally. He, too, thinks the Pirates are going to make it to the World Series.
“They’re on an upswing right now,” he said. “They’ve been playing really good ball in the past few weeks, and I think that’s good entering the playoffs.”
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald got the crowd of hundreds going with a “Let’s Go, Bucs!” chant. Former Pirates pitcher and current broadcaster Steve Blass began the “Yes” chant when he took the stage, a call originally used by wrestler Daniel Bryan and now used by the Pirates as a home run celebration.
Several members of the Pirates organization appeared, including team president Frank Coonelly, bench coach Jeff Banister and catcher Chris Stewart. Mr. Coonelly said that he and the organization were humbled by the support of the fan base and noted that the fans set the PNC Park record for attendance this season.
“The fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates have made the difference in this organization,” he said.
First Published: September 30, 2014, 4:26 p.m.
Updated: October 1, 2014, 3:46 a.m.