Louie Bierbauer can partially be credited with getting the Pittsburgh team it's name. The "Pirates" weren't always the known by that name. Up until 1890 they were known as the Alleghenies. Louie was a star play for the Philadelphia Althletics from 1886-1889. Then he left that team to join another league known as the Players League. Back in those days professional baseball was quite unstable with teams folding and leagues popping up here and there. He played for the Brooklyn Ward's Wonder's for one season and then the Player's League folded. The Althletic's did not re-include him on their roster. So when the Alleghenies had a chance they grabbed him up. The Alleghenies had been rocked by exiting star players in the previous years so they were needing to get some quality talent. They found this in Louie. This move was not very popular with the Philly team so they sent it to arbitration. They accused the Pittsburgh team of "piratical" behaviors. Then the name stuck although you wont see it on a uniform until 1912. Louie played for the Pirates for 5 years then left to play for the St. Louis Browns to finish out his career. His career numbers were .267 batting average with 1521 hits.
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