Buccos Cove

Yesterday it was announced that former Pirate and Pittsburgh native Neil Walker had retired from Major League Baseball. We look back at the career that Walker had in Pittsburgh and how he helped reconnect a city with their baseball team. Only a handful of players in Major League history have gotten the opportunity that infielder Neil Walker got. Not only was he drafted by his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft, but he was able to take the field for the Pirates for seven seasons at PNC Park. However, Walker was much more than your average starting second baseman on a Major League team. The Pine Richland Graduate helped reconnect a fan base with its baseball team as he helped the Pirates break a 21-year losing streak and bring playoff baseball back to the Burgh. He spent a total of 12 seasons in Major League Baseball, seven of those coming with his hometown team. When Walker was promoted to the Pirates at the end of the 2009 season, he came w...

Over the Pittsburgh Pirates' long and storied history, there have been many great players to play for the Pirates. Today, we look at the best Pittsburgh Pirates players to come from the Steel City. There have been many great players to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates over the team's 139-year history as an organization. Guys like Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, and Babe Adams have all worn the Black and Gold and represented the city with pride. While the city takes pride in these great players, that pride booms, even more, when a player on the team was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Overall, the Steel City has produced over 130 MLB players, but only a select few have got the opportunity to play for their hometown team. Some have only made it a couple of games in Black and Gold, while others centered their entire career around being a Pittsburgh Pirate. Today, we are taking a look at some of the best Pittsburgh natives to play in a Pirates uniform. Our list spans e...

As Spring Training begins for all 30 MLB clubs this week, many of the top free agents are off the board and with their new teams. One man still looking for a home is Pittsburgh kid Neil Walker, and that home could be where it all started. In 2009, the Pittsburgh Pirates saw the emergence of a young second baseman by the name of Neil Walker. The Pirates had a good look at him even prior to his professional career when he played at Pine Richland high school and they drafted him 11th overall in the 2004 MLB draft. He had played his entire year in the organization, and finally had his shot to play in the stadium that he grew up going to games in. The Pirates knew he was going to be good, but it was time for the Pittsburgh kid to show his city what he could do. Walker would do his hometown proud, hitting .272 with 93 home runs and 418 RBI over seven seasons. However, Walker's time in Pittsburgh came to an end on December 9th, 2015, when the Pirates traded him to the New York...

We continue our trip around the diamond for our Saturday Morning Rankings as we look at the top 10 Pirates second basemen since the 2000 season. It has been a position filled with talent on both sides of the ball as they have led the Pirates through the last several seasons. Over the years, the second base position has been an interesting one for the Pirates as any who manned the position did not fit the typical mold. In a position that usually hits for contact, while playing good defense, the Pirates have had a ragtag of talent from utility players trying to find their full-time homes on the field, to part-time players who have had breakout seasons. Either way, the men who have manned second base in recent years have usually been team leaders and many played an instrumental role in turning the Pirates from loveable losers to playoff contenders in the early 2010s. Today, we are going to look back at the men who have played Second Base for the Pirates over the last 20 season...