Tombstone
Born: 1968 – The York White Roses re-brand as the York Pirates
Folded: September 30, 1969
First Game: April 20, 1968 (W 4-1 @ Reading Phillies)
Last Game: September 2, 1969 (L 7-4 @ Pittsfield Red Sox)
Eastern League Champions: 1969
Stadium
Memorial Stadium (5,000)11969 York Pirates Program
Dimensions (1969): Left: 335′, Center: 410′, Right: 335′21969 York Pirates Program
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: Roy Jackson
Major League Affiliation: Pittsburgh Pirates
Attendance
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Trophy Case
Eastern League Most Valuable Player
- 1969: Angel Mangual
Eastern League Manager of the Year
- 1969: Joe Morgan
Background
The York Pirates were a short-lived Class AA farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates, active in the Eastern League for two summers in 1968-1969. The Pirates replaced the York White Roses in the EL following the 1967 season. The ‘White Roses’ name was used by York minor league clubs that operated in various baseball leagues dating back to 1884.
1969 Championship Season
The 1968 York Pirates were lousy. The team finished in second-to-last place with a 58-82 record.
The 1969 season was a different story. York rode a dominant pitching staff and the bat of Eastern League Most Valuable Player Angel Mangual to an 89-50 first place finish. York boasted the EL’s three stingiest pitchers by ERA with Frank Brosseau (10-3, 1.90 ERA), Lyn Fitzer (12-7, 2.03) and Fred Cambria (9-2, 2.16). The staff had a combined 2.93 ERA for the season.
Mangual, a 22-year old Puerto Rican outfielder, played for York in both 1968 and 1969. His 1969 MVP campaign included a league-best .320 batting average along with 26 homers and 102 RBI.
Weirdly, the York Pirates won the 1969 Eastern League championship despite losing the only game played during the league’s championship series in September 1969. York lost Game 1 to the Pittsfield Red Sox. But horrible weather washed out the remainder of the series and York were declared league champs by virtue of having the best record in the regular season.
Demise
York owner Roy Jackson, who also owned the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coast League at the time, announced the Pirates would not return on the last day of September 1969. Jackson cited a lack of community interest in the team in 1969, pointing to an annual attendance of 52,000, which was less than 1,000 fans per home game.
Pro baseball disappeared from the White Rose City for nearly four decades until the formation of the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League in 2007.
York Pirates Shop
Trivia
21-year old Fred Cambria hurled a 7-inning perfect game for York in game 1 of a double-header against the Waterbury Indians at Memorial Stadium on July 15, 1969. Only 499 fans were on hand for the feat.
York Pirates owner Roy Jackson and his wife Gretchen became champion breeders of thoroughbred race horses. Most notably, they owned 2006 Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro. Going for the Triple Crown, Barbaro suffered an ultimately mortal injury in the 2006 Preakness Stakes and had to be euthanized in January 2007.
Links
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One Response
I remember going to see the Pirates as an 9 yr old kid. My father would take me and my brother to the stadium which had a soap box derby strip beside it and a skating rink on the other side of the front parking lot.They used to pay 5 cents for a foul ball. all the kids would scramble to get it.With my nickle, I would get a licorice stick that was 2-3 ft. long. After they left, they would have softball games at the stadium. I saw Eddie the softball King there.He was the guy who could strike out everybody ,his team would actually sit down at times.