Tombstone
Born: 1983 (Affiliation change from Lynn Sailors)
Moved: 1984 (Vermont Reds)
First Game: April 16, 1983 (L 17-7 vs. Reading Phillies)
Last Game: September 10, 1983 (L 6-0 @ New Britain Red Sox)
Eastern League Championships: None
Stadium
Fraser Field
Opened: 1940
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners: Mike Agganis and Rico Petrocelli
Major League Affiliation: Pittsburgh Pirates
Attendance
The Pirates ranked dead last among the Eastern League’s eight clubs in attendance for the 1983 season.
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Background
This Pittsburgh Pirates’ Class AA farm club lasted only season at Fraser Field in Lynn, Massachusetts. The Pirates followed on the heels of the Lynn Sailors (1980-1982), a Seattle Mariners affiliate that struggled to find an audience in the small, economically depressed city north of Boston. Club owner Mike Agganis was a nephew of the late Harry Agganis, a Lynn native and rising Red Sox star of the 1950’s who died of a pulmonary embolism at age 26.
The Lynn Pirates 77-62 record was second best in the eight-team Eastern League in 1983. Mike Bielecki, Pittsburgh’s 1st round pick in the 1979 amateur draft, was the staff ace. Bielecki went 15-7 with a 3.19 ERA with Lynn in 1983 and would debut in the Majors the following summer. Benny Distefano was the club’s top offensive producer with 25 homers and 92 RBIs.
The club’s box office was so weak that the Pirates were asked to play all of their playoff dates on the road in the hopes of finding someone there to watch. Despite this disadvantage, the Pirates swept the Buffalo Bisons two games to zero in the semi-finals.
In the Championship Series, the Pirates hit the road again and ran smack into the New Britain Red Sox and Boston’s ace pitching prospect Roger Clemens. The Rocket fired a 3-hit complete shutout in the fourth and deciding game at New Britain. The team would never play another game in Lynn.
The End
The Lynn Pirates drew just 31,575 fans for their 70-game home slate in 1983.
Owner Mike Agganis spent much of the summer of ’83 negotiating with Burlington, Vermont mayor Bernie Sanders (yes, that Bernie Sanders) to move the team to the Vermont capital for the 1984 season.
On September 8th, 1983 Agganis confirmed the shift to Centennial Field, a 77-year old ballpark on the campus of the University of Vermont. Several days later the Pittsburgh Pirates severed their affiliation agreement with Agannis’ club. The owner inked a new affiliation with the Cincinnati Reds and began play as the Vermont Reds in the spring of 1984.
Trivia
Former Red Sox star Rico Petrocelli owned 5% of the Lynn Pirates and held the title of General Manager, though he reportedly took no active role in the operations of the club.
Voices
“”I counted 18 people in the stands here one night. A couple of the guys said there have been as many as 75, but I don’t know.”
Don Robinson, Pitcher 1983 (1983 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Interview)1Keidan, Bruce. “Robinson’s on rocky road from Lynn”. The Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA). May 10, 1983
Lynn Pirates Shop
Links
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