The Slide: Leyland, Bonds, and the Star-Crossed Pittsburgh Pirates

by Richard Peterson, Stephen Peterson

In the deciding game of the 1992 National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves, the Pittsburgh Pirates suffered the most dramatic and devastating loss in team history when former Pirate Sid Bream slid home with the winning run. Bream’s infamous slide ended the last game played by Barry Bonds in a Pirates uniform and sent the franchise reeling into a record twenty-season losing streak. The Slide tells the story of the myriad events, beginning with the aftermath of the 1979 World Series, which led to the fated 1992 championship game and beyond. It describes the city’s near loss of the team in 1985 and the major influence of Syd Thrift and Jim Leyland in developing a dysfunctional team into a division champion. The book gives detailed accounts of the 1990, 1991, and 1992 division championship seasons, the critical role played by Kevin McClatchy in saving the franchise in 1996, and summarizes the twenty losing seasons before the Pirates finally broke the curse of “the slide” in 2013, with their first playoff appearance since 1992.

Genres: Baseball, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2017

About the author

Richard “Pete” Peterson is the author and editor of several baseball books. A Pittsburgh native, Peterson is professor emeritus of English at Southern Illinois University. He is the editor for Kent State University Press’s Writing Sports series. His essays have appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He lives in Makanda, Illinois.

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Slide covers over three decades of Pirates history in under two hundred pages. Starting in the aftermath of the 1979 World Champion season, it charts the rapid devolution of that great team into the pathetic and forgettable teams of the 1980s, reaching its nadir in 1985, when the Pirates lost over a hundred games, were humiliated as the nexus of a baseball wide drug scandal, and the City of Pittsburgh nearly lost the team. It continues by chronicling the herculean efforts of Pittsburgh's Mayor Caliguiri to keep the Pirates in Pittsburgh, and the rebuilding of the franchise under general manager Sid Thrift and manager Jim Leyland.

After covering the decade of the '80s in two interesting chapters, The Slide spends the next six chapters covering three years - the division winning seasons of '90 through '92. There is some justification for this; those Pirates teams were some of the greatest in their long history - certainly the greatest that never played in a World Series. Those years also marked the emergence of Barry Bonds as a superstar destined to become a Titan of the game. Beyond that, the dynamics of the interactions of the personalities on this problematic team - Bonds and Leyland, Bonds and Van Slyke, Bonds and Bonilla, Pittsburgh and its black superstars - are worthy of extensive coverage.

Unfortunately, it is in this section where The Slide stumbles over the most common fault of baseball books. It spends far too much time in a blow by blow recreation of seasons and games, which after a while begins to sound like, "and then what happened was...and then what happened was..."

After completing it's recreation of the devastating seventh game of the 1992 Championship Series with its final iconic play that gives the book its name, The Slide's coda devotes a chapter to the next two decades of record breaking futility, as the Pirates amassed twenty consecutive losing seasons, and another to the team's most recent phoenix-like rising to contender status under superstar Andrew McCutchen and manager Clint Hurdle.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book was very short, I really liked it. It brought me back to watching a lot of baseball during the time I was in junior high and the Pirates were really good. Book starts with the year after Pittsburgh won the 1979 World Series and then quickly has chapters on the years 1980-1985 and then 1986-1990 when they picked up players like Bonds, Bonilla, Van Slyke and Drabek to name a few. Then the bulk of the small book focuses on the 1990-1992 seasons and playoffs. Still hard to believe they never went to a World Series, losing twice in seven games to Atlanta and once to the Reds in six games. If you are a fan of the Pirates, you'll love this (or hate it having to relive some heartbreaks) and baseball fans should give this a try too. Not too in depth and the book goes by quick but a fun trip down memory lane.

[Brw2024]

Hardcore Pirate fans will enjoy this although reminding us of the 20 year longest losing season streak in pro sports history isn't much fun. The author spends considerable attention to some games and others almost nothing at all. Ans spends very little time on the actual Sid Bream slide game. Iw as hoping for more detail on that game particularly.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice nostalgia factor reading through some of the baseball seasons of my youth, but it was too high level to really cover anything in depth. The seasonal recaps could be accomplished reading through the daily schedule on baseball-reference and some of the details of the 80's downfall were new to me, but much more can be found in much more detail elsewhere. Big Data Baseball by former beat writer Travis Sawchick, for instance, does a masterful job getting into the details of the 2013 resurgence with actual interviews.

[David Garza · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a pretty good job of covering the division leading Pittsburgh Pirates teams from 1990-1992. The first few chapters provide the background of how on once reputable team of the '70s stumbled into the '80s until it could get its sea legs once again as the '80s melded into the '90s. The last few chapters focus on the fall from grace that occurred sharply as 1992 turned the page to 1993 and beyond.

But what this book doesn't to is dive into the relationship of Jim Leyland and Barry Bonds as much as the title suggests it would. The book has a lot to say about the hiring of Leyland as manager and how important that was for the Pirates' eventual success. And we do get some early coverage of Bonds, from being drafted to his rise towards being an MVP-caliber player. But once the book starts covering the Pirates' team success from 1990-1992, the roles of Leyland and Bonds are put on the backburner and they get lost in story. The first half of the book made it seem like it was building up to the point where Leyland and Bonds could be dealt with in more detail, but then it just starting dealing with the team as a whole and it became a book about the Pittsburgh Pirates and not a book about the two strong personalities I was interested in reading about.

[Eric Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

As one who became a fan in 1986, and “came of age” as a baseball fan between 1988-1992, this book shook a few cobwebs loose, brought forth good memories and bad. Well worth the read, especially for those Pirates fans now in their 40s, with the most detail given to the 1990-1992 teams.

There were little facts that I had no clue about—such as the Pirates’ significant offer to Bobby Bonilla in 1991 (Bobby was my childhood favorite) who declined for lack of a fifth year and Bonds stating he’d sign that same deal right then.

The authors are fans of the Bucs and that comes through. Just a wonderful book.

[Sean Grimm · Rating 1 out of 5]

As much as this time resonates with my childhood and love of baseball, it just seemed like I was doing nothing but reading 3 years' worth of boxscores. In addition, I know how this book ends and the dread I feel working my way to 1992 and eventually "the slide" is too much to overcome.

I don't recommend.

[Bobby Winner · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The immediate reaction of fans and sportswriters to the new Nutting management team was deep suspicion. The Post-Gazettes Smizik expressed the commonly held view that the Pirates, with a payroll of $43.4 million, twenty-eighth out of the thirty MLB franchises, were little more than a business investment for the Nutting family.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Bill Freil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read

This book is enlightenly, depressing and polarizing. Its a must read for any Pirate fan. Great detail of the complete and utger diaaster that has been the Pirates organization and its complacent fan base

[Joe DiLeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a quick, fun look back at the Pirates that I remember as a kid. It's a short read with a lot of game recap, but it's entertaining enough to keep the pace moving without becoming a drag. I'd recommend it.

[Zan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much of this book was seasonal recaps. But it held my attention.

[Micah]

I remember reading it, I just don't remember much about it. Gotta review books as soon as I read them. Basically the pirates have sucked for a long time and will continue to forever.