Chuck Tanner Fired by the Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates Monday fired Manager Chuck Tanner, who has been with the team for nine years, as part of a shakeup that will put a local government-private sector partnership in control of the team.

“We’ve decided that a change in field managers is in the best interests of the Pirates in 1986,” said Dan Galbreath, who will step down as president when Mayor Richard Caliguiri solidifies the buyers’ group he organized.

Galbreath said he has already been approached by four major league clubs that are interested in Tanner, who has two years left on his contract.

The Galbreath family, of Columbus, Ohio, last week agreed to sell the team for $22 million plus the assumption of about $7 million in player contract obligations.

“My loyalty is to the Galbreaths,” Tanner said at an evening news conference at Three Rivers Stadium. “The game has lost a lot by the loss of the Galbreath family. I know the game has to go on.”

Tanner said he plans to manage next year.

“I’ll be somewhere and it’s going to be good,” he said. “I want to win more world championships.”