In 1971, when he was fourteen years old, Michael Lowenstein spent the summer watching Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and the Pittsburgh Pirates on their way to a World Series. Forty years later, in honor of that team, he committed to go to forty games to watch a Pirate team that had just finished its eighteenth losing season in a row. The Nineteenth Year tells the story of those two seasons, the world championship Pirates of 1971 and the surprisingly inspiring Pirates of 2011. This is a story of loyalty, passion and hope, and, most of all, of baseball and family.