Legacy Hall inside PNC Park offers a unique — and massive — look at Pirates' rich history

Jim Trdinich couldn’t decide where to start.

Standing inside PNC Park’s brand new Legacy Hall, which replaced the old team store at the base of the rotunda, the Pirates team historian simply looked around and marveled.

“There’s so much stuff here,” Trdinich said. “It’s the ultimate fan cave and a way to showcase Pirates history.”

Legacy Hall, which officially opens Wednesday, is most certainly that. It’s loaded with memorabilia and artifacts celebrating the greatest players, moments and buildings throughout Pirates history.

The process started around 2024, when chairman Bob Nutting, president Travis Williams and Trdinich began brainstorming ways to further highlight the organization’s rich history.

From there, the Pirates worked with Janet Marie Smith (chair/founder) and Jackie Riggleman (senior project manager) at Canopy Team — a sports design and strategy consulting firm — to conceptualize the space, which displays a stunning array of memorabilia.

Much of it comes from the Pirates, but Legacy Hall also featured loaned pieces from Denny Heindl, a Ridgway resident and limited partner of the Pirates since 1997, and Stephen Wong, a prominent baseball memorabilia collector and historian with a focus on 19th and early 20th-century items.

“We are excited to open a new space that will house and highlight many artifacts and select artwork from our organization’s rich history,” Pirates President Travis Williams said. “Legacy Hall is not just an area to showcase memorabilia; it is also one of the more unique event and meeting spaces in the city, and we look forward to seeing its many uses.

“We want to thank Denny Heindl and Stephen Wong for loaning items from their personal collections, items that have a deep and special meaning to Pirates history and our fans. We believe this display will be another fun stop for fans visiting PNC Park.”

Legacy Hall will play a variety of positions for the Pirates and their fans. It’s an event space that can host meetings, presentations, cocktail receptions or intimate, seated dinners. It will be available for family events, corporate meetings, network events and more, with a capacity of up to 150 guests.

It will also be open all ticketed fans each game day and accessible once inside the ballpark, provided it’s not reserved for a private event. Additionally, it will serve as the new starting point for PNC Park’s popular ballpark tours.

When fans enter Legacy Hall, they’ll see benches from Three Rivers Stadium and a few TV screens playing a video on loop, highlighting significant moments throughout Pirates history. Once the game starts, the SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast will be carried instead.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg. During a recent tour with current Pirates manager Don Kelly, Trdinich explained much of the history fans will get to experience.

“We don’t think of it as a museum,” Trdinich said. “It’s a combination of memorabilia from the Pirates, Denny Heindl and Stephen Wong — the largest collection ever in one spot at PNC Park.”

The tour started with five giant trunks from the 1940s, each carrying a different theme. One celebrates Pittsburgh’s rich Negro Leagues history, another the 1994 All-Star Game.

To the left is a display featuring Teenie Harris photos of Josh Gibson and others, as well as the Hall of Fame catcher’s Homestead Grays contract from 1946.

There’s also Francisco Cordova’s jersey from the last no-hitter in franchise history (July 12, 1997), plus a Barry Bonds bat bag, Danny Murtaugh and Jim Leyland jerseys and a pair of Mitch Keller’s spikes.

“We not only go back deep in history, but we are curating items from current players, as well,” Trdinich said.

Fans can study the evolution of Pirates hats over the years in one of the trunks and how much the team’s uniforms have changed with a display on the ballpark side of Legacy Hall.

That one seemed to really resonate with Kelly, who took time to study each one.

“It’s cool to see the difference in uniforms and how you have it all laid out through the years,” Kelly said.

Along another wall, there are displays geared solely toward the championship seasons, with a 1960 banner featuring autographs from both Pirates and Yankees players. Below, fans will see the final out ball from Game 6 of the 1909 World Series, plus a 1927 piece featuring gameday tickets and programs.

There are seats and turnstiles from Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park, replica World Series trophies and an enclosed display featuring some of Chuck Tanner’s handwritten notes on how to pitch Mike Schmidt and Von Hayes.

Kelly loved a 1992 NLCS bat signed by Barry Bonds, Doug Drabek and Andy Van Slyke that Mike LaValliere donated — “That was my team,” Kelly said — and the current skipper couldn’t help but smile at a replica Three Rivers Stadium with lights that flick on and off.

From there, Trdinich walked over to actual lockers from Three Rivers Stadium used by Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente, pointing to the sledgehammer Stargell used to swing and likening it to Oneil Cruz.

There’s a never-before-seen Clemente jacket from 1960, plus a shrine to Bill Mazeroski including his 1965 Gold Glove and the actual glove he wore that season.

A little further down the same side, Trdinich explained the modern PNC Park locker, with items commemorating Bryan Reynolds’ 1,000th hit, Konnor Griffin’s debut, a Jason Kendall chest protector, Jack Wilson bat and so much more.

There’s even a bottle of champagne from the 2013 NL Wild Card game celebration.

“Neil [Walker] couldn’t donate anything?” Kelly said, joking about his brother-in-law.

“It’s coming,” Trdinich said. “We’ll have a hometown player display.”

Baseball card enthusiasts can open five drawers of graded Pirates cards, while there’s a separate display honoring Ralph Kiner and Honus Wagner, including game-worn uniforms and even a letter from former President Dwight D. Eisenhower to Wagner in 1954.

“I guess that’s when you know you’ve made it,” Kelly said.

Either that or when your signature winds up on the massive ball wall. In yet another unique, engrossing part of Legacy Hall, Trdinich has helped to collect more than 450 signed baseballs from former Pirates players dating back to 1920.

Pirates fans will see everything from Clyde and Vic Barnhart (only father-son duo in franchise history) to a row of signatures reminding us all why a space like this can exist in the first place, with signatures from Maz, Bob Friend, Elroy Face, Dick Groat, Omar Moreno and more.

If that’s not enough, there’s an adjacent display honoring 2025 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Dave Parker, complete with photos donated by Dave’s widow Kellye, along with bats, uniform pieces, portraits more.

No wonder Trdinich couldn’t decide where to go first.

“There’s so much to see,” Kelly said. “There’s so much to see.”

Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.