Sports & Outdoors Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

If you walked the streets of Pittsburgh’s Strip District in 1924 at noon, you may have needed a lamp to cut through the thick air pollution of the city once described as “hell with the lid off.” With air twice as polluted as bad air days in modern Beijing, Pittsburgh represented the worst of the …

Pittsburgh’s Future as a Climate Haven Read More »

Birds

A Tiny Airborne Hunter

by David Liebmann

You might remember an owl on a Pennsylvania license plate from the 1990s. It was one of those plates for which you pay a little extra to support conservation efforts, featuring an owl with bright yellow eyes, an intense little bird with a bit of a scowl that said, “Who are you looking at?” This …

A Tiny Airborne Hunter Read More »

Nature

Carpenter Bees

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

We raised our babies in this old farmhouse, wrapped them in swaddling clothes like little cocoons, and protected them as best as we could. We renovated parts of the house, added a bathroom and knocked through a kitchen wall to create more space for a growing family. We fed our children, taught them what we …

Carpenter Bees Read More »

Nature

Tryon-Weber Woods

by Thomas Saunders

There’s a great place to go for an autumn road trip where you can take a deep-forest hike and feel the awe of old forest trees. About 90 miles north of Pittsburgh in western Crawford County, the 100-acre Tryon-Weber Woods area originally was protected by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1976 and enlarged in 2017. …

Tryon-Weber Woods Read More »

Birds

Take a Trip, Find a Puffin

by David Liebmann

Summer in Pittsburgh is pretty fine, but it’s good to explore farther afield now and again. That’s how I came to find myself on a bobbing boat beyond the breakwater of New Harbor, Maine. We were cruising out to look for Atlantic Puffins on Eastern Egg Rock, a five-mile trip on what were calm seas. …

Take a Trip, Find a Puffin Read More »

Nature

Poison Ivy Flourishes on Carbon Dioxide

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

One of my husband’s first tasks when we moved to the farm 36 years ago was to remove poison ivy from the trees. He never used chemicals, just his two (gloved) hands. He came home time and time again with poison ivy pustules on his wrists that leaked liquid for three weeks. “A fool’s errand,” …

Poison Ivy Flourishes on Carbon Dioxide Read More »

Sports

Seeing Reds: The Pirates’ 1970s Rivals

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

Early in the 1974 season, with the Pirates struggling after finishing April at 6-12, Dock Ellis took the mound against the Cincinnati Reds. In spring training, Ellis vowed that he would hit the first five Reds batters because the Pirates had lost their aggressiveness and self-respect ever since their painful loss to the Reds in …

Seeing Reds: The Pirates’ 1970s Rivals Read More »

Nature

What Was that White Bird?

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

The first time I saw the white bird flying overhead, I thought I’d gone slightly mad because large white birds are not common in the Ligonier Valley. I was riding my bike on a rural road between two cow fields, a herd of black-angus eyeing me warily. I pedaled slowly, watching what I presumed was …

What Was that White Bird? Read More »

Birds

TVs in the Sky

by David Liebmann

When John James Audubon went about portraying the biggest American birds, he took advantage of the double elephant paper that made his enterprise unique. At 26 by 39 inches, the huge sheets lent themselves to nearly full-scale images of our largest avifauna. Take his “Turkey Buzzard,” for example, an old name for the turkey vulture. …

TVs in the Sky Read More »

Sports

Pittsburgh Hopes to Finally Get a Team Worthy of its Ballpark

by Brian O'Neill

Editor’s note: This piece was written and originally published prior to the Pirates getting off to the second-best start of the 30 Major League Baseball teams. Sixteen. That’s how many teams have won the World Series since PNC Park opened in 2001. Another five have gotten to the big autumn show and lost. That’s 21 …

Pittsburgh Hopes to Finally Get a Team Worthy of its Ballpark Read More »

Sports

Baseball’s First Great Jewish Star

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

On April 15, 1947, Hank Greenberg played in his first game in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform. He doubled in the only run of the game as the Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 1-0 at Wrigley Field. A few hours earlier Jackie Robinson had trotted onto the infield at Ebbets Field and integrated baseball. Greenberg, baseball’s first …

Baseball’s First Great Jewish Star Read More »

Nature

Created by the Glaciers

by Thomas Saunders

There are only eight natural lakes in western Pennsylvania. Among the most beautiful is Lake Pleasant, in central Erie County between the towns of Waterford and Wattsburg. It’s wonderful for exploring, particularly for canoeing and kayaking. These lakes were formed by retreating continental glaciers, about 20,000 years ago. Tremendous blocks of ice were left behind …

Created by the Glaciers Read More »

Sports

Baseball’s Best Book

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

When Ty Cobb died in 1961, Lawrence Ritter thought that “someone should do something, and do it quickly, to record for the future, the remembrances of a sport that has played such a significant role in American life.” He decided that he would take a tape recorder and, traveling around the country, talk to as …

Baseball’s Best Book Read More »

Sports

Paul Giamatti’s Father, Bart Giamatti

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

A few weeks ago, the CBS Sunday Morning program featured a lengthy story on actor Paul Giamatti. He had recently won a Golden Globe award for his role in The Holdovers. He was also one of the favorites to win an Academy Award, though he lost to Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer. Giamatti started his career …

Paul Giamatti’s Father, Bart Giamatti Read More »

Sports Sports & Outdoors

Radio Rich

by Bill Christine

One night in Pittsburgh, in the middle of a Pirates game, Radio Rich, puffing on his pipe, came up to me in the press box and asked why the San Francisco Giants named their venue Candlestick Park. “Because,” I said, “they built it on Candlestick Point.” Radio looked askance. “Any other reasons?” he said. His real …

Radio Rich Read More »

Nature Sports & Outdoors

Engineering a Comeback

by Deborah Weisberg

The deep woods of Pennsylvania’s northern tier could be home again to an iconic native mammal not seen in the state in 120 years. The American marten (Martes americana) — a weasel-like creature as prized for its pelt as its cousin, the mink — was gone from the landscape by about 1900 as a consequence …

Engineering a Comeback Read More »

Nature

Bentley Run Wetlands

by Thomas Saunders

A beautiful place to hike and explore in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania is the Bentley Run Wetlands, two miles northeast of Union City in Erie County. This 350-acre property is protected by a permanent conservation easement held by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which protects the property from development and allows public access and recreation. …

Bentley Run Wetlands Read More »

Nature

Chanterelles

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

We bought a small section of woods some years ago that came with treasures not spelled out in the purchase agreement: chanterelles. We had no idea the prized orange mushroom would fruit the following summer. I wasn’t even positive what type of mushroom it was — I’d never foraged for chanterelles before — but after …

Chanterelles Read More »

Sports

The American League’s Jackie Robinson

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

Black History Month recognizes and honors the greatness of African-Americans who triumphed over prejudice and hatred and brought about major changes in American culture and society. In baseball, the player most honored during Black History Month is Jackie Robinson, who integrated the Major Leagues when he jogged onto the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers on …

The American League’s Jackie Robinson Read More »

Sports

Pie Traynor and Dale Dodrill: Lest We Forget

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

When Pittsburgh sportswriters go back into the past, they tend to focus on the glory years of Roberto Clemente and Willis Stargell and of the Super Bowl dynasty, but there are players from earlier eras that richly deserve our remembrance of the glory of their times. There are four statues at PNC Park honoring Pirate …

Pie Traynor and Dale Dodrill: Lest We Forget Read More »

Birds

Fond and Friendly

by David Liebmann

If any bird qualifies as the neighbor we’ve known our whole lives, it has to be the chickadee. Gregarious, sprightly, and fearless, chickadees can become so habituated to people and the offer of birdseed that they’ll literally eat out of your hand. They’re at our windows wherever a feeder goes up, finding the food within …

Fond and Friendly Read More »

Nature

Spring Blooming Plants Blooming in Fall

by Daryln Brewer Hoffstot

It’s the holiday season and my rural Pennsylvania town is bursting with the signs of Christmas: wreaths hung on doors, trees strung with colorful lights, a creche erected in the town square — and spring-flowering plants in bloom. My forsythia is blooming a bright yellow. White lilac flowers are just dying back. Pink magnolia buds …

Spring Blooming Plants Blooming in Fall Read More »