Bob Fulton, who attended many Pirates games at Forbes Field as a youngster and later covered the team as a newspaper reporter, has written two books about the Pirates, the most recent “Burial at Home Plate: An Oddball History of the Pittsburgh Pirates."
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 …
Ralph Kiner and the FBI
Though he was regarded as one of the most fearsome sluggers in Major League Baseball, Ralph Kiner did step aside once for a “pinch hitter.” An FBI agent. The Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder was the focus of an extortion plot in the summer of 1952. He was instructed in a letter to deliver $6,200 to an …