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The 2001 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 120th in franchise history. A new era in Pirates history began as the club moved into PNC Park. Longtime Pirate Bill Mazeroski was inducted into the Hall of Fame.^[1]

Offseason

• February 1, 2001: Billy Taylor was signed as a Free Agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[2]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

Season standings

Roster

Notable transactions

• April 2, 2001: Billy Taylor was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[2]
• April 3, 2001: Billy Taylor was signed as a Free Agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[2]
• April 11, 2001: Ramón Martínez was signed as a Free Agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[3]
• June 5, 2001: Jeremy Guthrie was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 3rd round of the 2001 amateur draft, but did not sign.^[4]
• July 30, 2001: John Vander Wal was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Jason Schmidt to the San Francisco Giants for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong.^[5]
• July 30, 2001: Jason Schmidt was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with John Vander Wal to the San Francisco Giants for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong.^[6]

PNC Park

Statue of Honus Wagner, outside the homeplate entrance

The Pirates opened the park with two pre-season games against the New York Mets, the first was played on March 31, 2001.^[7] The first official baseball game played in PNC Park was between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates, on April 9, 2001. The Reds won the game by the final score of 8–2. The first pitch was thrown by Todd Ritchie, a ball to Barry Larkin. In the top of the first inning, Sean Casey's two-run home run was the first hit in the park. The first Pirates' batter, Adrian Brown, struck out; however, later in the inning Jason Kendall singled, the first hit by a Pirate. Two days later, John Vander Wal became the first Pirate to hit a home run in the park.^[8]

Upon opening in 2001, PNC Park was praised by fans and media alike. Jim Caple, of ESPN.com, ranked PNC Park as the best stadium in Major League Baseball, with a score of 95 out of 100.^[9] He compared the park to Fallingwater, calling the stadium itself "perfect", and citing the high ticket prices as the only negative aspect of visiting the park.^[10] Pirates' vice-president Steve Greenberg said, "We said when construction began that we would build the best ballpark in baseball, and we believe we've done that."^[8] Major League Baseball executive Paul Beeston has said the park was the best he's seen so far in baseball.^[8] Many of the workers who built the park said that it was the nicest that they have seen.^[11] In 2008, Men's Fitness named the park one of "10 big league parks worth seeing this summer".^[12][13]

An evening game between the Dodgers and Pirates - August 7, 2001

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Other batters

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Other pitchers

Relief pitchers

Award winners

2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Brian Giles, OF, Reserve

Farm system

LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS: Williamsport

References

• 2001 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
• 2001 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.