Pittsburgh hosts its first major-league game

On May 10, 1882, 2000+ fans attend the Pittsburgh Allegheny’s first official game in Pittsburgh vs the St. Louis Brown Stockings at Exposition Park. The previous game on the 9th was rained out. The Alleghenys will prevail by the score of 9-5. and starter Harry Arundel will go 4-10 for the season,

The Pittsburgh Daily Post stated: “The attendance of spectators was quite large and the game was good enough to be thoroughly enjoyable.” The Cincinnati Enquirer promised: “Look out for some bold, bad, wicked work tomorrow.” As it turned out, the next day’s game would be rained out. The Alleghenys will prevail by a score of 9-5. and starter Harry Arundel will go 4-10 for the season,

The Alleghenys ended the American Association season in fourth place in the six-team league with a 39-39 record, a whopping 20½ games behind Cincinnati (55-25). The Pittsburgh team finished ahead of St. Louis (37-43) and the woeful Baltimore Orioles (19-54), while trailing the Eclipse of Louisville (42-38) and the Philadelphia Athletics (41-34). Pittsburgh was runner-up to Louisville for the most doubles with 110 (Swartwood led the league with 18; teammates Mike Mansell and Taylor tied for third with 16), while the Alleghenys’ 18 home runs (four by Swartwood) led the circuit. Swartwood also led the league in runs (87) and total bases (161).

They will eventually become the Pittsburgh Pirates. You can read the full account of this game – Pittsburgh hosts its first major-league game