[Terry D]

From 1976 through 1984, the Pirates wore the famous black-white-and-gold mix and match double-knit uniform with the pillbox style caps. They simplified this a bit in 1985, dropping the black and gold jerseys and pants and going with a white strip for home and a gray one for the road while retaining the pillbox cap. For 1987, they got rid of the pillbox cap and adopted a more orthodox cap style. These style changes followed each other so quickly that it isn't easy to get all the Pirate players of those years in the different styles. John Candelaria was the Pirate ace almost throughout the pillbox cap era. In 1985, manager Chuck Tanner (the Kid Gleason of the 1980s) moved Candy to the bullpen briefly. Candelaria was traded later in the season to the Angels as part of the opening stage of a much-needed Pittsburgh rebuilding plan. Here is Candelaria early in 1985, wearing the gray road colors. I was looking for such photos for quite a while.