A Forgotten Franchise
Remember Barry Bonds?
Of course you do, though we haven’t seen him play in almost a year. It seems like he’s been gone forever.
It's hard to believe that it was just a season ago that he passed Hank Aaron for the home-run crown.
Now, remember Barry Bonds...On the Pirates?
Yeah, that certainly seems like ages ago. It was actually 16 years ago to be exact.
It’s also the last time (1992) that the Pirates finished a season with a winning record.
That means that there are Latin American players signed by major-league clubs that were possibly not even born the last time that the Pittsburgh Pirates were north of .500.
A Franchise Restored
The Pirates certainly looked the part of a perennial contender back in the early ‘90s.
They had won three-straight division titles and had the best young player in the National League in Bonds.
One of the most storied franchises in baseball (if you can believe that now) was back on top after just one winning season between 1984 and 1989, five years after they won the last of their five championships in 1979.
In the final game that Barry Bonds ever played for the Pirates, they were leading the Braves 2-0 going into the bottom of the ninth, with 15-game-winner Doug Drabek just three outs away from sending the Bucs to their 10th World Series.
It was all for naught though, as the Braves scored three in the ninth, and the Pirates were sent packing. Little did they know that was also the last time they’d get a glimpse of glory, for what’s going on almost two decades.
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