Sports & Outdoors Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Pileated Woodpeckers Read More »

I don’t understand why people don’t go wild over pileated woodpeckers. They look like little pterodactyls. They undulate as they fly, with a flap and glide pattern. Their call is a loud KA-KA-KA and when they drum on trees, which they do to defend territories and attract mates, the sound reverberates through the forest. People …

Explore French Creek in Venango County

Explore French Creek in Venango County Read More »

About a 90-minute drive north of Pittsburgh, in Venango County, there’s a new, beautiful, forested Western Pennsylvania Conservancy-owned nature preserve — great to visit for getting a sense of the French Creek watershed. French Creek is an ecologically important and beautiful stream, whose branches meander from Erie County in northwestern Pennsylvania and from southwestern New …

Birds Sports & Outdoors

Flying South With A Broad-Winged Hawk

by David Liebmann

Imagine a migrating Broad-Winged Hawk, crossing Pennsylvania from northeast to southwest. Along the way, steep climbs, dramatic drops, and ridgelines with spinning wind turbines mark its route. Born in a large, unbroken tract of mixed forest, high in a nest of sticks, the bird emerged from one of four eggs incubated for a month, mostly …

Flying South With A Broad-Winged Hawk Read More »

Nature Nonprofits

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy at 30

by Catherine Qureshi

When we talk about quality of life in Pittsburgh, we often point to neighborhoods, schools, or cultural institutions. But for me, it begins somewhere simpler — and more profound: access to our parks. Access means different things to different people. For one person, it’s a peaceful morning walk beneath tree canopies. For another, it’s experiencing …

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy at 30 Read More »

Restoring Nature on Historic Grounds

Restoring Nature on Historic Grounds Read More »

Just outside the city of Jeannette, in Westmoreland County, about a 45-minute drive east of Pittsburgh, is a new preserve of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy called Oakford Park Nature Reserve. Oakford Park was historically a “trolley park,” where people could enjoy picnicking, swimming and amusement park attractions. It opened in 1896 and operated until 1938, …

Sports

That Damn Crazy Pitch: Rip Sewell and the 1946 All-Star Game

That Damn Crazy Pitch: Rip Sewell and the 1946 All-Star Game Read More »

Just before the beginning of the 1946 All-Star game, played 80 years ago in Boston’s Fenway Park, Ted Williams approached Pirates pitcher Rip Sewell and said, “Hey Rip, you wouldn’t throw that damn crazy pitch in a game like this, would you?” Sewell responded, “I’m gonna throw it to you, Ted, so look out.” That …

Sports Sports & Outdoors

“Hey, Kraut Head: I’m Comin'”

“Hey, Kraut Head: I’m Comin'” Read More »

In a 1944 interview with Chet Smith, the long-time sports editor of The Pittsburgh Press, Honus Wagner was asked to name his greatest day in baseball. Wagner went back to the final game of the 1909 World Series between the Pirates and the Detroit Tigers and the moment that Ty Cobb, leading off first base, …

Birds

The Striking Hooded Warbler

by David Liebmann

A chorus begins at the cusp of dawn. Song builds around us, sunrise revealing birds competing for breeding territories or vying over mates. Step out into the garden, and you’ll hear them by the pond or just beyond the exedra wall. Walk in the woods, and you’ll find them there, too. While the season may …

The Striking Hooded Warbler Read More »

The Springhouse

The Springhouse Read More »

I love outbuildings: springhouses, woodsheds, barns, cottages, tractor sheds. I’d have more if I could — a tool shed, a sugar house, a summer kitchen, a cider house. We have a small wooden building we call a goat shed because once we housed goats there. When the children were young, I wanted to convert a …

Highlighting the Beautiful Eastern Redbud

Highlighting the Beautiful Eastern Redbud Read More »

This spring, there is a brief and spectacular sight to see right in the urban areas of Pittsburgh. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has been planting Eastern redbud trees in Pittsburgh since 2016. Their blooming period varies slightly from year to year, but generally begins in early to mid-April and lasts for two to three weeks. …

Birds

Jean Jacques’ Audubon and the Eastern Phoebe

by David Liebmann

Jean Jacques Audubon was born in 1785 to a naval officer and a maid in what became Haiti. Raised in his father’s native France, he came of age interested in fencing, music, dance, riding, and, importantly, drawing. His father had invested in property near Philadelphia in the young United States, and at age 18, Audubon …

Jean Jacques’ Audubon and the Eastern Phoebe Read More »

The Indian Pipe

The Indian Pipe Read More »

An eerie plant appears in the woods. i bend down and study its translucent white color — ghostly against the vibrant green of mid-summer. The three-inch stems have specks of gray and black, and its tiny leaves resemble scales. Some of the pipe-shaped flowers stand upright, while others droop in a melancholy manner. I think …

Sports Sports & Outdoors

When the Steelers Hired Three Coaches — In One Season

When the Steelers Hired Three Coaches — In One Season Read More »

As Mike McCarthy takes over as coach of the Steelers, sportswriters across the country remarked about the Steelers’ “unprecedented stability” with just four head coaches in 57 years, “unmatched by any NFL franchise in the Super Bowl era.” Well, sports fans, it wasn’t always that way. In fact, in the early years, the opposite was …

Sports Sports & Outdoors

Maz, You’re Up

Maz, You’re Up Read More »

In 2010, The Heinz History Center published Maz, You’re Up, a children’s book written by Kelly Mazeroski, Bill Mazeroski’s daughter-in-law. When Kelly was writing the book, Sally O’Leary, a good friend and, at that time, the Alumni Liaison for the Pittsburgh Pirates Alumni Association, told me that Kelly had never done anything like this before …

History Sports

Heavyweight Champion John L. Sullivan’s Wild Bouts in McKeesport and Allegheny City

by Clayton Trutor

“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. …

Heavyweight Champion John L. Sullivan’s Wild Bouts in McKeesport and Allegheny City Read More »

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 …

Purslane Read More »

Mystery and Reverie Read More »

Mystery and Reverie

by Christina Schmidlapp

“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

A Wintry Forest Trail Walk in Lawrence County Read More »

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 …

Sports

I Almost Missed the Greatest Play in NFL History