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
2018 Hampton Pirates football team schools agreeing to play them, forcing the Pirates to become an FCS independent for 2018 before joining the Big South in 2019. In their final season as a member of the MEAC, the Pirates finished the season 6–5, 5–3 in MEAC play to finish in a tie for fourth place. On November 20, 2017, head coach Connell Maynor resigned to become the head coach at Alabama A&M. He finished at Hampton with a four-year record of 20–25. 2018 Hampton Pirates football team The 2018 Hampton Pirates football team represents Hampton University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season.