1925 Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates today are often looked down on as a joke. Like most teams now they've been capable of the occasional run for the pennant, but they haven't been a sustained threat since the early 1990's, which many fans today weren't alive to witness, let alone care about. Such is a far cry from the early days of baseball, when they won three straight pennants to open the 20th century. Unfortunately, two of those pennants predated the World Series, and the third pennant ended in an upset defeat. They would finally get off the hump in 1909 with a title, but it seems their first sustained title run ended with only minimal results.
Various bullpen arms the Pirates would call upon. Oldham had only 1 "Save" on the season, but he seemed like a seasoned Closer when her picked up the final 3 outs of the World Series to claim his ring.
Entering 1925, there was another NL team in the midst of a title run. The New York Giants were looking to add to their four straight NL pennants. The Pirates were usually in 2nd or 3rd place on the outside looking in, but this year the Giants were finally stumbling. Manager Bill McKechnie and the Pirates did not waste the opportunity as they posted a 95-56 season and won the pennant by 8.5 games over the Giants.
If topping the 4x NL champions wasn't impressive enough, the 1925 World Series saw the Pirates facing off against the defending champion Washington Nationals. Walter Johnson didn't make things easy for Pittsburgh as he pitched Washington to a 3-1 lead, putting the Pirates deep in a hole. Pittsburgh salvaged Game 5 to send the series back home, where they squeezed out a 3-2 victory (after trailing 0-2 early) to set up a winner-take-all Game 7.
The Nationals put up 4 runs in the 1st inning, and with Johnson on the mound it seemed like they were set up to repeat as champions, but the Pirates rallied for 3 runs in the 3rd to make it close. A homer put Washington safely back up 6-3, but the Pirates didn't let up. The weather had been rainy and became more of a downpour as the game progressed, with fog obscuring the field as well. Such conditions benefited the home team as the Pirates would tie the game up. In the 8th, the Nationals would pull ahead yet again, but in the bottom of the inning the Pirates had one more rally in them; doubling home the tying run with 2 outs, then with the bases loaded Kiki Cuyler would double home the winning runs (Nationals outfielder Goose Goslin insists it was a foul ball, obscured by the fog). Red Oldham entered for the Pirates in the 9th inning and retired Washington 1-2-3 to not only make Pittsburgh the champions, but also the first team in the World Series to overcome a 3-1 series deficit to win it all.
Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler led baseball with 26 Triples and came in 2nd in MVP voting. His .357 Batting Average was best on the team. And while he also led baseball with 144 Runs, his best moment of 1925 would be the runs he drove in as opposed to scoring; his 2-run double in the 8th inning of Game 7 was the deciding factor in the series.
Max Carey was another future Hall of fame talent who led baseball with 46 Stolen Bases.
The final member of the Hall of Fame trio of players in Pittsburgh's lineup. His solid all around stats, including a .320 Average and 106 RBI, helped net him an 8th place finish in MVP voting.
The other regulars. Wright finished 4th in MVP voting and led the team with 121 RBI. He also tied with Cuyler with 18 Home Runs for the team lead.
The men off the bench for the Pirates. Rawlings would taste life on both sides of the fence during the Pirates' wait for their shot at the pennant in the 20's. In '21 and '22, he played for the Giants, then joined Pittsburgh in '23 to live on the other side of the rivalry.
There was no Pittsburgh Starter that was especially lights out in 1925. No one had 20 Wins or 100 Strikeouts. Among them, Aldridge had the best ERA at 3.63 with his 88 Strikeouts while Meadows led the team with 19 Wins and 255.1 Innings Pitched.
Trades weren't exactly a common back in the day for pennant-chasers as they are nowadays. This trade didn't exactly move the needle. Sheehan had great control out of the bullpen, but did not pitch in the World Series, while Niehaus' time in Cincinnati wasn't very long before he found himself traded again, this time to the American Association for cash.
