WELCOME to the Post-Gazette's review of historical baseball sites in and around Pittsburgh. Hold your cursor over any of the numbers on the map above to view a brief synopsis of each site. Each synopsis contains a link to a more detailed look at the site. Select the link above -- [ Start over ] -- to return to this short instructional section.

Exposition Park
The birthplace of Pittsburgh baseball and the site of first World Series
When the Pirates and Boston Red Sox met at PNC Park on June 4, 2003, for an Interleague series, Pittsburgh's starting shortstop was Jack Wilson, and Boston's winning pitcher in that game was Byung Hyun Kim. These facts seem wholly unremarkable, except that it was the first time the two clubs had met in Pittsburgh since a Boston fireballer named Cy Young bested a Germanic shortstop called Honus Wagner and his Pirates a century earlier during the first World Series played at Exposition Park in 1903 -- the birthplace of baseball in Pittsburgh and the World Series.

PNC Park
The outfield backdrop is one of the most dramatic in baseball. The Downtown skyline shimmers day and night, as the waters of the Allegheny churn past. Bronze statues of Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell stand guard outside the ballpark gates, Clemente's faces toward the 21-foot right field wall, a homage to the Great One's number and position.

Babe Ruth's final home run
There were 713 that came before it, but Babe Ruth's final home run -- hit May 25, 1936 at Forbes Field -- was a towering shot that gave fans in attendance a stark reminder of the Bambino's past glory, and added a wrinkle to baseball history in Pittsburgh.

Three Rivers Stadium
On the surface it had all the charm of a cement ashtray, and indeed it looked that way, but a mention of the memories that transpired in cold, concrete, cookie-cutter Three Rivers Stadium will warm the heart of any seamhead.

Josh Gibson's gravesite
He was at time called the "black Babe Ruth" though to be fair, perhaps the Bambino should have been tagged the "white Josh Gibson." With strength and power of mythical proportions and a life and death shrouded in mystery and further clouded by time, his legacy is also part John Henry and part Jack Johnson.

Hill District
Home of the Pittsburgh Crawfords
They were called the Yankees of Black Baseball and boasted their own Murderer's Row lineup that could best the Bronx Bombers: Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston and lightning hurling ace pitcher Satchel Paige.

Forbes Field
Though the Pirates have had five homes throughout their history, one above all others is remembered as "the" home of the franchise. For it was there Oct. 10, 1960, at 3:36 p.m. that the greatest moment in Pirates, Pittsburgh sports and possibly all of baseball history took place.

Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum
The Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum will use the All-Star Game to highlight the final years of Roberto Clemente's career. More than 40 action and off-field images of Clemente from 1969 to 1972 are on exhibit in "Roberto Clemente -- Photographs by Les Banos," displaying the work of the former Pirates team photographer.

Carnegie
The birthplace and Home of Honus Wagner
"It is hoped that Louisville didn't throw away very much money on the Wagner deal, as times are hard and Wagner won't set the world afire as a third baseman. He is a better outfielder than infielder."
-- From a July 24, 1897 article in the "Sporting Life" assessing Wagner's talents.

One can only hope that the less-than-prescient scribes at "Sporting Life" had employment options other than sportswriting as Honus Wagner's baseball career unfolded, one so stellar that it once prompted Hall-of-Fame New York Giants manager John McGraw to remark that Wagner was "the nearest thing to a perfect player" he had ever seen.

Donora, Pa.
The birthplace of Stan Musial, Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr.
For a century-old steel town of only 5,600 that has known lean times in recent years, the Monongahela Valley river burg of Donora has given an embarrassment of riches to Major League Baseball. Specifically, three players and two surnames: Musial and Griffey.