COLLECTIONS

The Pirates and New York Yankees met in the 1927 World Series. This framed piece contains a photograph of Paul and Lloyd Waner, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, along with the World Series programs sold at Forbes Field and Yankee Stadium, a Game 1 ticket, a Game 4 ticket and a Press Pass issued to renowned American sportswriter and columnist, Shirley Povich, who was the recipient in 1975 of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

The Pirates defeated the Washington Senators in seven games to win the 1925 World Series, becoming the first team in North American sports history to overcome a 3–1 series deficit to win a playoff series.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

An iconic metal sign from 1960 encouraging fans to go watch the Pirates play regular season games as well as the World Series against the New York Yankees, at their historic home field. These signs were typically nailed to telephone poles and exterior building walls in Pittsburgh throughout that magical season.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968, Kiki Cuyler delivered the game-winning hit in Game 7 of the 1925 World Series, leading the Pirates to their second championship. This bat was used by Cuyler—whose 26 triples in 1925 were the second-most triples in any season after 1900—during the Series and is signed by members of the entire 1925 team. It also features a hand-written note to long-time Pirates fan and future broadcaster Rosey Rowswell. The bat derives from Rowswell’s family estate.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

Honus Wagner and the Pirates beat Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers in the 1909 World Series, marking the first major professional sports championship ever won by a Pittsburgh-based team. The 1909 World Series was as much about Wagner vs. Cobb as Pittsburgh vs. Detroit. Wagner entered the contest having just captured a fourth straight N.L. batting title, as well as leading the league in RBI, doubles, total bases, and slugging percentage. Cobb owned the A.L. batting crown while also leading the junior circuit that season in home runs, RBI, hits, total bases, stolen bases, runs scored, and slugging pct. However, their World Series confrontation involved more than just statistics. It was a battle between the beloved Wagner - the fan favorite, the best player in the National League who, at 35, would soon be nearing the end of the road - and the feisty Cobb - at 22, already a three-time American League batting Champion and one of the game's most feared and disliked players. This ball was used for the final out in Game Six when Pittsburgh’s Owen “Chief” Wilson was caught stealing third base and was tagged out by Detroit’s third baseman George Moriarty. The ball derives from George Moriarty’s family estate.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

Pirates General Manager Joe L. Brown once said about Roberto Clemente: "He's a shining star to many, many people. He grows and grows over time. He doesn't diminish... The sad part is that there are not enough TV pictures of him. He made so many great plays that people can only talk about. You could never capture the magnificence of the man.” Clemente wore this jacket during the 1965 season when he won the N.L. batting title with a .329 average and in 1966 when he won his first and only N.L. MVP Award. The jacket derives from Roberto Clemente’s family estate.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

This cap was worn by Roberto Clemente between 1955 and 1964. On the diamond, Clemente played “a kind of baseball that none of us had ever seen before,” wrote sportswriter Roger Angell, “throwing and running and hitting at something close to the level of absolute perfection, playing to win but also playing the game almost as if it were a form of punishment for everyone else on the field.” But his perfection extended beyond the diamond as well—he was a constant advocate for equality and fair treatment for African Americans and Latino players, a profound contribution to the game not noted in the record books. At the end of the 1972 season, he left baseball and threw himself into his charity work. On December 31, he boarded a plane to fly to Managua, Nicaragua, to ensure that relief supplies for victims of a devasting earthquake did not wind up in the hands of black marketers. The overloaded cargo plane crashed into the sea off Puerto Rico immediately after takeoff. Clemente’s body was never found. Clemente once said, “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.”

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

Previously on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, this game-worn batting helmet was used by Roberto Clemente during the early 1960s.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

Among the great rarities in the category of pre-war sports advertising is the sparsely issued 1928 Lucky Strike large-format, linen advertising banners. Measuring over 5 feet wide by nearly 2-1/2 feet tall, these two banners, which feature Hall-of-Fame Pirates brothers Paul and Lloyd Waner, were displayed outdoors throughout the east coast starting in 1928. For these banners to have survived in such remarkable condition is quite miraculous.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

Members of the 1960 World Champion Pirates are featured on posters promoting the Kahn’s line of hot dogs and a series of collectible trading cards that were inserted into their product. Kahn’s Wieners, made by the Cincinnati based meat company founded in 1883 and a long-time sponsor of the Pirates, were sold at Forbes Field. Headshots of 12 Pirates, including Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski, are displayed on one of the posters with the “BEAT ’EM BUCS” headline across the top.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

Mainstays in the Pittsburgh Pirates outfield between 1927-1940, Paul "Big Poison" Waner and Lloyd "Little Poison" Waner got their nicknames because New York (especially Brooklyn) fans pronounced “person” as “poison” when yelling about “that big person” and “that little person” in the Waner brothers’ batting order. They set the career record for most hits by two brothers, and both are the only brothers who are inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as players. Many of their autographs were signed in later years. Here we find an Official National League ball signed on October 28, 1927, which was on the heels of the Pirates '27 National League crown.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34^th President of the United States and was in office from 1953 to 1961. He sent this personal letter to Pirates legend Honus Wagner a few weeks prior to his 80^th birthday in February of 1954.

Courtesy of the Stephen Wong Collection