2001 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 2001 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 120th season of the franchise; the 115th in the National League. This was their first season at PNC Park. The Pirates finished sixth and last in the National League Central with a record of 62–100, their first 100 loss season since 1985. The year also saw longtime Pirate Bill Mazeroski inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Offseason

February 1, 2001: Billy Taylor was signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Regular season

Detailed records

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %
April	23	9	14		85	108
May	28	8	20		109	166
June	27	12	15		134	156
July	27	12	15		109	134
August	28	8	20		99	149
September	23	9	14		97	122
October	6	4	2		24	23
Total	162	62	100		657	858

Roster

Notable transactions

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

PNC Park

The Pirates opened the park with two pre-season games against the New York Mets, the first was played on March 31, 2001. 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.
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. 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. 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." Major League Baseball executive Paul Beeston has said the park was the best he's seen so far in baseball. Many of the workers who built the park said that it was the nicest that they have seen. In 2008, Men's Fitness named the park one of "10 big league parks worth seeing this summer".

Awards and honors

2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Brian Giles, OF, reserve

Statistics

;Hitting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player
	2	3	1	0.333	0	1
	88	158	49	0.310	13	32
	160	576	178	0.309	37	95
	17	46	14	0.304	1	3
	158	603	181	0.300	34	112
	97	313	87	0.278	11	50
	41	26	7	0.269	0	0
	83	214	57	0.266	4	21
	157	606	161	0.266	10	53
	115	301	79	0.262	1	21
	30	4	1	0.250	0	0
	46	147	36	0.245	5	14
	22	43	10	0.233	0	4
	142	449	104	0.232	14	65
	37	125	28	0.224	1	4
	108	390	87	0.223	3	25
	7	9	2	0.222	0	1
	44	27	6	0.222	1	6
	87	270	57	0.211	4	25
	51	72	15	0.208	5	9
	56	120	25	0.208	2	13
	48	103	21	0.204	2	11
	61	123	25	0.203	3	13
	43	51	10	0.196	0	2
	8	31	6	0.194	1	2
	46	129	24	0.186	1	8
	12	23	4	0.174	1	1
	46	156	27	0.173	5	13
	22	55	9	0.164	2	5
	32	59	9	0.153	0	3
	32	59	7	0.119	0	3
	20	34	4	0.118	0	2
	7	11	1	0.091	0	0
	23	21	1	0.048	0	1
	4	2	0	0.000	0	0
	68	1	0	0.000	0	0
	23	4	0	0.000	0	0
	4	5	0	0.000	0	0
	12	17	0	0.000	0	0
	21	3	0	0.000	0	0
	66	2	0	0.000	0	0
	26	2	0	0.000	0	0
	2	2	0	0.000	0	0
	4	3	0	0.000	0	0
	20	0	0	—	0	0
	17	0	0	—	0	0
	1	0	0	—	0	0
	14	0	0	—	0	0
	38	0	0	—	0	0
Team Totals	162	5,398	1,333	0.247	161	618

;Pitching
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player
	31	40	2	1	2.68	24
	71	79	3	2	3.39	80
	40	41	2	4	3.67	43
	22	114	3	7	3.71	57
	22	36	0	0	3.72	17
	33	207	11	15	4.47	124
	1	2	0	0	4.50	3
	20	17	1	1	4.58	11
	14	84	6	6	4.61	77
	23	36	0	1	4.71	39
	24	88	5	7	5.09	39
	34	206	9	17	5.10	89
	12	69	2	6	5.19	36
	42	115	7	11	5.23	58
	70	62	2	2	5.60	79
	45	110	6	9	6.55	69
	26	32	3	3	6.75	23
	14	17	0	1	6.75	11
	4	15	0	2	8.62	9
	18	18	0	1	11.50	9
	2	6	0	2	12.00	7
	4	16	0	2	12.38	4
Team Totals	162	1,416	62	100	5.05	908

Draft picks

Rd	#	Player	Pos	DOB and Age	School
1	8	John Van Benschoten	RHP		Kent State University
3	84	Jeremy Guthrie	RHP		Stanford University
4	114	Jeff Keppinger	SS		University of Georgia
5	144	Travis Chapman	1B		Indian River Community College
6	174	Drew Friedberg	LHP		Arizona State University
7	204	Mike McCuistion	C		Yucaipa HS
8	234	Chris Duffy	OF		Arizona State University
9	264	Jason Fellows	1B	—	Berkmar HS
10	294	Aaron Bulkley	SS		Port Byron HS

;Note

''Age at time of draft.''

Farm system

LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS: Williamsport