The Pittsburgh Pirates’ iconic black-and-gold colors are among the most recognizable in professional sports, but they weren’t the club’s original colors.
The franchise, founded in 1882, initially wore blue and gray uniforms. After officially becoming the Pirates in the early 1890s, the team experimented with various color combinations, including red, white, and blue, as was common during baseball’s early years.
The historic change came in 1948 when Branch Rickey had the team adopt black and gold as their official colors. The decision reflected the official colors of the City of Pittsburgh, which trace their origins to the coat of arms of British statesman William Pitt, the city’s namesake.
The Steelers (who shared the Pirates’ nickname until 1940) had worn the colors since their first season in 1933. The Penguins changed from blue and white to black and gold in 1980.
Today, Pittsburgh is the only major U.S. city where all three major professional sports teams share the same official color scheme.
