History of baseball team nicknames by calling them "Pirates" for "stealing" their players. The "Pirates" tag stuck and the alliterative name was eventually adopted as Pittsburgh's official team nickname. By the time of the 1903 World Series, the team was commonly known as "Pirates", although the club did not acknowledge it on their uniforms until 1912. Alternate nicknames such as "Bucs" or "Buccos", short for "buccaneer", have been used through the years. "Buccaneer" is typically used synonymously with "pirate", although historically "buccaneer" is a more specific term for pirates who operated in the Caribbean, especially along the Spanish Main coast. The Pittsburgh Steelers of the
Hampton Pirates and Lady Pirates team competes as an independent. On November 16, 2017, Hampton announced they would be leaving the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference to join the Big South Conference. Hampton is one of two Division I HBCU (after Tennessee State University of the Ohio Valley Conference) to be a member of a conference other than the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference or Southwestern Athletic Conference. Hampton Pirates and Lady Pirates The Hampton Pirates and Lady Pirates refer to the sports teams representing Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia in intercollegiate athletics. The Pirates and Lady Pirates compete in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and