Miller Pens Excellent Biography of Baseball’s Diminutive Giant: Manager Earl Weaver
Though he couldn’t keep his job after the Pittsburgh Pirates spun their wheels to begin the 2025 season, former skipper Derek Shelton could recognize the baseball man who best embodied the qualities needed for success: the legendary Earl Weaver. In his best-selling biography of the Baltimore Orioles’ Hall of Famer, The Last Manager: How Earl …
Nostalgic and Piercing, Bardenwerper Examines the Charm and Decline of Small Town Baseball
At first glance, Sewickley resident Will Bardenwerper’s Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America sounds like the kind of book that promises more than it can deliver. Instead, it’s a thorough examination of the state of minor league baseball through the lens of 21st century America (and often vice versa). …
Remembering Jacqueline Morby & Arnold Zegarelli
Earlier this month, two prominent Pittsburghers passed away, Jacqueline Morby and Arnold Zegarelli. Morby was a very successful private equity investor, who, along with her late husband Jeff, founded and funded the Cure Alzheimers Fund. You can read Jeff Sewald’s excellent interview with her about her life here — Jacqueline C. Morby, Businesswoman & …
An Archeology of Seeing: David Muenzer’s Compelling “Exit Interview” Exhibition
There are two kinds of artists one encounters in contemporary exhibitions: those who exist on the superficial, apparent plane of the obvious, and those who offer something deeper, with meaning to be found on multiple levels. (There is also nonsensical, banal art, but for the sake of argument, let’s concentrate on the former two styles). …
Martin G. McGuinn: A Great American Life
On April 26, I got a brief email from Marty McGuinn complimenting me on a remembrance column I’d written a few days earlier on Dick Simmons. I thanked Marty and added, “I’ve only helped two guys with their autobiographies…” The two were Dick and Marty. I didn’t know then that Marty’s time was short. Marty …
Pittsburgh Quarterly Awarded 8 Golden Quills, Best Magazine for 20th Year in a Row
Pittsburgh Quarterly has once again been recognized as the leading magazine in Western Pennsylvania journalism, winning eight Golden Quills in the 62nd annual Golden Quill Awards, sponsored by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania and judged by out-of-town journalists. The awards span the full breadth of Pittsburgh Quarterly’s editorial mission — from civic affairs and …
Look at Your Fish: David McCullough’s History Matters
Historian and biographer David McCullough, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, said that his strength as a writer was his love of storytelling. Over his brilliant career, he wrote about remarkable events — the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and Panama Canal — and remarkable people …
Daniels Explores Rustbelt Childhood in An Ignorance of Trees
In his first nonfiction book, An Ignorance of Trees, touted as a “memoir in essays,” author Jim Daniels seeks to upend that old saw — “You can’t go home again” — by returning to his Rust Belt roots in Warren, Michigan. It’s an act borne of the nostalgia and reflection that comes with age and …
The Spring 2026 issue:
Pittsburgh Tomorrow
With Pittsburgh Tomorrow turning two years old, a citizen might ask: What is it and what is it doing? I publish this magazine, and I also started Pittsburgh Tomorrow, working with a great team to improve this region’s future. Pittsburgh Tomorrow is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) non-profit funded by Pittsburgh citizens — wealthy people and working …
Mystery and Reverie
“Do not (repeat: DO NOT) attempt to cross the creek during periods of high water. This is a significant waterway and the current can be very strong.” So said the Guide to the Quehanna Trail tucked in my backpack. But exactly how high was “high water”? Yes, it was spring, but it hadn’t rained for …
A Wintry Forest Trail Walk in Lawrence County
About an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh in Lawrence County, Plain Grove Fens Natural Area is a wonderful place to visit. It’s just a few miles from the Slippery Rock exit off I-79, and once you’re there, you’re greeted with a 400-acre preserve featuring a hiking trail, hardwood forest, vernal pools and woodland stream. The …
20 Years of Interviews
Editor’s note: Since late 2005, we have interviewed many of the most interesting and noteworthy people in our “city-state of Pittsburgh” as my old editor and friend John Craig used to call this area. The number of interviews that have appeared in this magazine reaches well into the hundreds (writer Jeff Sewald alone has interviewed …
Steelers Cheerleaders?
Dedicated students of Steelers history are likely aware that Pittsburgh was the first NFL team to feature cheerleaders. The Steelerettes, composed of co-eds from what was then Robert Morris Junior College, were active from 1961 to 1969. But mention the Ingots — the Steelerettes’ male counterparts — to any Pittsburgh fan and the response is …
The Horseless Carriage Comes to Pittsburgh
The weather in Pittsburgh was rather bleak during March 1896. Snow and sub-freezing temperatures were the norm. Nicer weather arrived on March 10, so two young men took that opportunity to test a remarkable new apparatus. Anyone who was on the streets of the East End that day caught a glimpse of the first automobile …
Character Studies Drive Drue Heinz Winner
There’s a delicious sense of duality that runs through the lead characters in Bill Gaythwaite’s debut story collection, A Place in the World, winner of the 2025 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. It’s a trait wielded prominently by Katie, the protagonist of short story “Off the Grid,” who recalls her former bouncer boyfriend Nick returning a …
Purslane
Henry David Thoreau gathered purslane in a cornfield. He boiled and salted it and called it “a satisfactory dinner.” When writing about the plant in Walden, he made sure to include its Latin name — Portulaca oleracea — “on account of the savoriness of the trivial name.” By trivial name, I assume he’s referring to …
Heavyweight Champion John L. Sullivan’s Wild Bouts in McKeesport and Allegheny City
“The air of Pittsburgh has been thicker today than at any time since the discovery and general use of natural gas,” intoned an unnamed editorialist for the Pittsburgh Post on September 19, 1886. “But not as in the old time with smoke however but with pugilism.” On the previous evening, heavyweight boxing champion John L. …
20 Years of Interviews, Pt. III
Editor’s note: The Pittsburgh Quarterly team has interviewed many of the most interesting and noteworthy people in our “city-state of Pittsburgh” as my old editor and friend John Craig used to call this area. The number of interviews that have appeared in this magazine reaches well into the hundreds (writer Jeff Sewald alone has interviewed …
20 Years of Interviews, Pt. II
Editor’s note: Since late 2005, we have interviewed many of the most interesting and noteworthy people in our “city-state of Pittsburgh” as my old editor and friend John Craig used to call this area. The number of interviews that have appeared in this magazine reaches well into the hundreds (writer Jeff Sewald alone has interviewed …
Create Happiness in Your Holiday Shopping
As holiday shoppers buy candy, coffee, baked goods or ice cream this year, they’ll be able to purchase with purpose, working with stores and staffs with special needs. Just 34 percent of working-age adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are employed, compared with 83 percent in the overall population. While larger stores such as …
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