![]() Of course, as bad as the ’50s Pirates were, they were never as bad as they are characterized in Angels in the Outfield. In two of those years, the team finished more than 50 games out of first place. The Pirates would go on to lose over 100 games in 1952, ’53, and ’54. In 1950, the year before Angels in the Outfield was released, the Pirates finished in last place, 33½ games out of first. 1 In fact, from 1946 to ’57, the Pirates finished in the top half of the National League in only one year, and that was a fourth-place finish in 1948. While the team had the presence of Kiner, the National League leader in home runs for seven consecutive seasons starting in 1946, not much else was going well for the team after the end of World War II. In 1951, when MGM had to decide which major-league team most needed the help of angels to compete, the choice of the Pirates must have been easy. Pie Traynor, the Hall-of-Fame third baseman and former manager of the Pirates, has a brief moment as a bullpen coach, and then-current outfielder Ralph Kiner hits a home run in the film. The film also contains cameos from famous Pirates players. Much of the film was shot in Pittsburgh, particularly in Forbes Field, the home of the Pirates from 1909 until the ballclub moved into Three Rivers Stadium in 1970 and began to share the new multi-sports field with the Pittsburgh Steelers.Īngels in the Outfield is a tribute to the famous ball yard, with its ivy-covered walls (and no advertising on the walls), the scoreboard in left field in which the numbers were inserted by hand, a center field so deep (457 feet) that the batting cage was placed there during the game, the roofs of the Carnegie Library and Carnegie Museum visible from beyond the left-field wall, and the Cathedral of Learning of the University of Pittsburgh seemingly bending over so that it can get a better view of the action from its perch outside the bleachers down the left-field line. The most famous film to feature the Pirates involves an eight-year-old orphan, Bridget White, who has been praying for the hapless Pirates and their unsuccessful manager, Guffy McGovern, resulting in the Archangel Gabriel sending an aide, along with his heavenly choir of former baseball players (the Heavenly Choir Nine), to assist the Pirates during their games, resulting in the Pirates playing for the pennant on the last day of the season. ![]() This article will look at the many times the Pittsburgh Pirates have gone to the movies. The Pirates have appeared in so many movies that they actually rival the Yankees in silver-screen dominance. ![]() At the cinema, big-city teams such as the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs have disproportionately dominated teams from smaller markets, with one important exception: the Pittsburgh Pirates. But when it comes to the movies, there can be no argument. Small-market teams often complain about the unfairness of baseball’s financial structure, contending that teams in large markets have disproportionate access to money to spend on players, giving them an unfair competitive advantage. At the cinema, big-city teams have disproportionately dominated teams from smaller markets, with one important exception: the Pittsburgh Pirates. Small-market teams often complain about the unfairness of baseball’s financial structure.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |