Who were the Killer B's from the Pittsburgh Pirates of the early 1990's?
The real "Killer B's" were Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Sid
Bream. Jay Bell also got some mention but not initially. Plus, I
think to be included among the real "Killer B's," a player had to
have spent more than one year with the Pirates.
[edit]
Wally Backman was in there too. Obviously there was no formal
listing but the team did use this in promotional materials for the
1990 season. That's why Backman should be listed but not Steve
Buechele.
[edit #2]
Sid Bream was not a Killer B in Pittsburgh. He played for the
Braves at the time.
[edit #3]
In 1990 there was Barry Bonds, Jay Bell, Bobby Bonilla, Wally
Backman, and Sid Bream as well as a pitcher named Stan Belinda. Not
hard to see where the "Killer Bees" moniker came from.
In 1991 Backman and Bream were gone by way of Free Agency.
In 1992, Folks might be surprised to know that Bonilla had left
also (to the Cubs in free agency I believe); leaving only Bonds and
Bell and the Pitcher Belinda. Bream, then with the Braves, scored
the winning run in the Championship Series to keep the Pirates from
going to the World Series. That was the end of "those" winning
Pirates and, due to the Pirates decision not to pay to retain
superior free agents, it was their last winning season.
By 1993 only Jay Bell remained and that was the first of their
17 consecutive (and still counting) losing seasons -- the longest
losing streak in American professional sports.