Pittsburgh Pirates is a baseball team from Pennsylvania. It’s one of the oldest teams MLB has to offer (being established in the late 19th century), and you might think the age made them irrelevant. However, they are still considered one of the best professional teams in America.

Who owns Pittsburgh Pirates? The Pirates belong to the businessman Bob Nutting. Besides that, he’s also a proprietor of the Seven Springs Mountain Resort.

History Logo

The team was created in 1882 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had a few other names before adopting the current one in 1891. The reason for this change seems to be the policy of the club bosses, who frequently lured high-class players from other teams, positively stealing them from competition.

1900 – 1908

Their initial logo was adopted in 1900, and it was a simple blue ‘P’ written in a Gothic style resembling wrought iron. This peculiar font was rather popular back then.

1908 – 1910

In 1908, they instead adopted a trio of letters: ‘P’, ‘B’ & ‘C’. They were arranged in this exact order from top to bottom, although not in the usual way. They were intertwined, and two of them were positively written inside the third. It was the same style, except ‘B’ (in the middle) was squatter and wider.
Moreover, it was usually blue, while the other two letters sported red.

1910 – 1915

In 1910, they adopted a more orderly ‘P’. It was the same type of dark blue, and the font was a very basic typographic serif.

1915 – 1920

This one is very similar to the original logo, except it’s red, taller and slimmer than the original.

1920 – 1922

In 1920 logo, in turn, was a lot like the emblem from 1910, but more geometric and full of angles.

1922 – 1923

Then, they went haywire for a season and introduced a very slim, Gothic-looking ‘P’. Unlike the wrought iron style from before, this one is more like a medieval scribble. It was still blue, however.

1923 – 1934

In 1923, they returned to the red letter from 1915, but widened, shortened it and gave it a thin blue outline.

1934 – 1958

The 1934 was the first graphic emblem they got. It depicted a black-and-white engraving of a typical pirate: unshaved, brutish and with a cocked hat on. Right beneath, there was a writing saying ‘The Pirates’ in black capital letters.

1958 – 1960

In 1958, they tried coloring the pirate by mostly giving him the colors blue, red and yellow. The writing was scrapped for this variation.

1960 – 1968

By the 60s, they decided to adopt a more friendly-looking pirate: still unshaven, but wearing a more comical black hat, a red bandana, an eye patch and a bemused expression. To highlight the baseball aspect, they added two crossed baseball bats colored yellow right beneath the head, much like the bones on the Jolly Roger.
The final touch: the word ‘Pirates’ written in soft, tall letters right beneath the main emblem.

1968 – 1987

In 1968, they banked on an even friendlier pirate image. This one was of a handsome man wearing a bandana and a hat with the skull on it. All was black-and-white, except for a yellow rectangle this assortment was put in the middle of. It also featured the team’s name in the bottom. Because of it all, it looked like a ‘wanted’ poster.

1987 – 1997

In the 80s, a new pirate was adopted: a pale mustachioed man with a red bandana worn as a scarf and a cocked hat featuring two crossed white bats. It was then put onto a beige rhomb, which also accommodated the team’s name – now written in big, yellow letters above the man.

1997 – 2013

In 1997, they adopted another face. This one was mostly black-and-white and rather aggressive. He wore a mustache, a goatee and an earring, in addition to a red bandana. Again, two (also white) bats were crossed behind the fellow. And above him, there was an orange writing spelling the team’s name and outlined in red and black.

2013 – today

In 2013, the team returned to the roots by adopting another ‘P’. This one is golden and full of sharp tips and angles. It looks somewhat like a golden key, but it’s unclear if that was an inspiration.

Helmet History

The team uses black, yellow and white as their principal colors. As a result, these are the usual colors they prefer to put onto their helmets. The most popular by far is a completely black one (not counting the emblems), although there are also yellow ones with black visors and more.

Uniform History

Like for many other clubs, the most popular combination for the Pirates was an almost completely white uniform, but with black or yellow for belts, letters, sleeves, etc. The other popular one they liked to use is a black jersey paired with yellow pants, and vice versa. Some of these are frequently used by them as alternatives.

Pittsburgh Pirates Colors

BLACK
PANTONE: PROCESS BLACK
HEX COLOR: #27251F;
RGB: (39,37,31)
CMYK: (0,0,0,100)

GOLD
PANTONE: 123 C
HEX COLOR: #FDB827;
RGB: (253,184,39)
CMYK: (0,31,95,0)