On the day before Christmas all through the house
Things were being shut down, it felt like a louse
The weather was pouring, snow melting away
Sending cascades of water down my driveway

Church services were cancelled, people stayed home
If you did leave your house there was nowhere to roam
Then came some sports news that gave me no glee
My Pirates traded Josh Bell to Washington, D.C.!

Unless you are a long-suffering fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, that Christmas Eve transaction may not have even caught your eye as you went about your final pre-Christmas preparations. But for those out there still waiting to celebrate baseball success in the Burgh, the immediate reaction had to be “here we go again.”

A little history, if I might.

In last week’s column, I had a little fun pointing out “what’s in a name” regarding the nicknames of professional sports teams as it relates to the ongoing political correctness. I tongue-in-check suggested that perhaps the Pirates should be the next team to change their nickname due to the hostile name association referencing those sea-going bandits. In truth, that is pretty much how they became known as the Pirates in the first place.

Professional baseball in Pittsburgh began in 1876 when the Pittsburgh Alleghenys were formed. They played two seasons and were disbanded. The team was reformed in 1882 as a member of the American Association and later joined the rival National League in 1887. The team had very little success and began to lose players to other teams. It got so bad that in 1890 the team won just 23 games and lost 113.

During the winter of 1890-91, Pittsburgh manager Ned Hanlon successfully persuaded Philadelphia Athletics star second baseman to sign with the Alleghenys. Philadelphia protested vigorously, calling the signing “piratical.” Pittsburgh officially nicknamed itself the Pirates for the 1891 season, and the name stuck. However, that was just the beginning.

In 1900, the National League cut back from 12 teams to eight. Barney Dreyfuss, the former owner of the now-defunct Louisville Cardinals, acquired controlling interest of the Pirates. He was then successful in bringing 14 players with him that became the largest player transaction in franchise history. Included among those players was all-time baseball great shortstop Honus Wagner; the team went on to win three consecutive pennants from 1901-03 and lost the first World Series to the Boston Americans in 1903. By 1912, the “Pirates” nickname officially appeared on the team’s uniforms.

Now, 109 years later, Pirates fans may be more likely to call their team “the Giveaways.”

Those three years, 2013-2015, when the Pirates last appeared in the National League playoffs indeed seem a bit like ancient history. Since then, they have had four losing seasons in the past five years and finished the abbreviated 2020 season with the Major Leagues’ worst record, 19-41.

The trading of Bell, the popular and only all-star player, was another in the recent trend of developing star players and trading them away rather than paying to retain them. The lost includes Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton, Andrew McCutchen, and Starling Marte. However, trading star players isn’t new in Pittsburgh.

In the late 1940s and early 50s, Pirates outfielder Ralph Kiner was one of baseball’s biggest stars. During that period, he led the National League in home runs seven times, and after his retirement, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. But in June 1953, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in a ten-player deal. Pirate fans were outraged. Branch Rickey, the same man who brought Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers, was then the Pirates’ general manager. He was reported to have told Kiner, “we finished last with you; we can finish last without you.”

The harsh truth is that same sentiment could have been told to Josh Bell.

Bell was a good guy to root for. He related to the fans and did charity work in the Pittsburgh community. I have a Josh Bell autographed jersey and a few of his bobbleheads among my sports collection. I wish him well in Washington. Perhaps he will get to experience a World Series as Cole and Morton have done after being traded away. For the Pirates, there is nowhere to go but up, whoever is on their roster.

Teams like the Yankees and the Dodgers don’t trade away their star players; they acquire star players from other teams. But the Pirates are a long, long way away from that. It has been said that “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Let’s just hope that beautiful PNC Park doesn’t turn into an ancient coliseum before these modern-day Pirates make opponents walk the plank.

Come opening day, disappointment over the Bell trade will dissipate. I’ll watch the Pirates games on TV and make a few trips to Pittsburgh and continue the open hope that “this time” new Pirates general manager Ben Cherington will be able to do what his predecessors couldn’t — bring some joy to Mudville on the shores of the Allegheny.