The Pirates went 57-104 in 1985. That was the summer of the Pittsburgh Drug Trials. Cocaine was sold and used in the team's clubhouse. The city was a national joke both on and off the field. It was the darkest moment in franchise history.
Sydnor W. Thrift was hired as the Pirates general manager in November 1985 and promptly hired little-known Jim Leyland as his manager.
"It ain't easy resurrecting the dead," Thrift would say later.
