Baseball Hall of Famer [and Hans Postcards all-time favourite baseball player} Willie Stargell was born on this day 1940.

Ten Notes On Willie Stargell.

1. Willie Stargell played his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates- from 1962-1982. His career batting average was .282. He hit 475 home runs, had 1540 RBI’s. He was a 7 time All-Star. He led the NL in home runs two times and in RBI’s once. He was the co-MVP in the 1979 season sharing the award with Keith Hernandez of the St.Louis Cardinals.

2. Willie Stargell didn’t just hit home runs he hit tape measure home runs. I remember growing up and seeing some of those home runs. It seemed like at every away ballpark when the games would be televised back in the Pittsburgh area, the Pirate announcer the great Bob Prince would point out where Stargell had hit the longest home run ever in this or that ballpark. He hit shots. I remember one he hit in Montreal at Park Jarry. There was a swimming way out a distance away from the fence. There were people out there swimming. Stargell came up and put one in the pool. I saw him live put one over the roof on a July 4th off of the Mets Tom Seaver. There were 16 balls hit over the roof in the history of Forbes Field-Stargell hit seven of them. At Three Rivers Stadium Stargell hit a number of home runs into the upper deck there. I am convinced if Stargell had started his career 30 years later he would have hit 700 home runs.  One of the most powerful home run hitters I’ve ever seen. Only 4 balls have been hit out of Dodger Stadium. Stargell hit two of them.

3. I grew up in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. The Pirates had a lot of outstanding players including The Great One- Roberto Clemente. My favourite player was always Willie Stargell. Clemente was like a god. I admired him. He was a great great player. He was the most exciting player I’ve ever seen. Stargell though was the player I identified with. Maybe because we were both left handed. Stargell was a power hitter and I fancied myself as a power hitter. We both played first base[Stargell played left field also the first half of his career} Stargell was an underrated left fielder, he had a pretty good arm for a left fielder. He probably could have played right had Clemente not been there. When he had some injuries and gained some weight he moved to first base full time. He was a big guy and when I was 12 I was already 6 foot. Stargell was my idol. I even adopted his windmill style at the plate like Stargell did.

4. Willie Stargell’s best season was probably the 1971 season. He didn’t win the MVP Award, it went to Joe Torre who had a career year with the Cardinals that season after losing a lot of weight. Stargell finished second in the MVP voting. He had 48 home runs, 125 RBI and hit .295. The 1971-73 seasons were his prime years. He finished 2nd-3rd and 2nd in the MVP voting those seasons. The year he did win the MVP-1979 he was 39 years old and won it more on leadership and a solid season than just great numbers. He led the Pirates to the World Championship that year. He hit 32 home runs, 82 RBI and .281 average. He carried the Pirates in the 1979 World Series. That would be his last great season. Injuries and age caught up with him. I was hoping that he would get his 500 career home runs. He fell 25 short. He would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1988. He received 88.4% of the vote.

5.  I grew up listening to the Pirates on the radio. I was obsessed with baseball. One of the great memories I have is the night that the Pirates needed a win- I think it was the 1971 or 72 season. Willie Stargell owned a chicken restaurant in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. They had a deal that if you were in the restaurant and Willie hit a home run the chicken was free. Bob Prince the voice of the Pirates [the voice of my childhood} said that if Stargell comes through with a home run that he would pay the bill. Stargell hit one. Prince was so happy he said that anyone in the neighborhood could stop in and get some chicken and he’d pay for it. It ended up costing him a couple thousand dollars. Prince would always say “Put some chicken on the hill with Will”

6. The 1971 World Series had been the showcase for the Great Clemente. Stargell had the great regular season but in the NL Playoffs and World Series that year he went into a terrible slump. He went 0-14 in the NL Playoffs and 5 for 24 in the 71 World Series. The Pirates though had a line up full of hitters and they picked up the slack. Clemente carried them to the title. 1979 was “Pops” Stargell’s time to shine. In the 3 game sweep in the NL playoffs vs the Reds he was 5 for 11 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. In the World Series vs Baltimore he was 12 for 30 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI. In game 7 home run in the late innings put the Pirates in the lead to stay. His 25 total bases in that World Series is tied with Reggie Jackson’s 25 for the most in a single World Series. That December, Sports Illustrated named Willie Stargell and Steelers Quarterback Terry Bradshaw were the Sportsmen Of The Year. It was a great time to be a Pittsburgh sports fan with the Pirates winning 2 World Series in the 1970’s and the Steelers winning 4 Super Bowls and throw in the Pitt Panthers winning the National Championship in college football in 1976. When I grew up the Pirates were always good. Somehow I thought it would always be like that.  In the past 29 seasons  they have had 4 winning seasons. None in the last 20. I hope to live long enough to see them win another World Series but I may have to live forever to see that happen. They are still my team.

7. Pops Stargell was the most admirable superstar of the 1970’s. If you had taken a poll of major league ballplayers there is no doubt in my mind that if asked the question-What player do you most respect?- Stargell would have won. He was so steady. The key to his leadership with the Pirates was he never got too up or too down and the Pirates followed his lead. He was a calming influence on a team with some wild personalities. The Pirates had a manager in Chuck Tanner who was a hands off kind of guy as far as discipline went. Its not like Stargell was some kind of disciplinarian on the team but the players looked to him and he led the way.

8. I was at the final game ever at Three Rivers Stadium. Some great things happened there but it was a dump. A cookie cutter boring ballpark for baseball. At the last game they had all the great Pirates from 1970-2000 back. I knew Pops was in bad health. I wondered if he would be able to make the trip. After the game they had the ceremonies. All the guys from yesteryear where there. At the end they announced that throwing the last pitch would be the man who saved the most games there- Teke- Kent Tekulve. My heart sank-no Pops. Teke went to the mound and then took the microphone and said that the only player who could throw the last pitch was -Willie Stargell. Pops came out. He was only 60 but looked 95. He was very ill and looked it. He couldn’t throw the ball further than a few feet. I had the binoculars on him. It didn’t look like Willie Stargell to me. I walked out after it was all over feeling sad. I knew his days were numbered. The next spring during a televised Pirate spring training game- Steve Blass- now a Pirate announcer but a former teammate and friend of Stargell’s said during the game that he wanted to send out a get well to Pops. That Stargell had been suffering from health problems but to get well…. I could hear Steve’s voice cracking. I sensed he knew info that I didn’t.  A week later on the day the Pirates were to open their new and beautiful PNC Park- I was on my way to school and I turned the radio on. Pops had died at the age of 61. I am not one to cry over the deaths of famous celebrity, well known people types- not that I hear the news on them and don’t feel sad but I don’t know these people. I cried the when I heard The Great One had been killed in a plane crash, I cried when I heard John Lennon was assassinated and I cried when I heard that my baseball hero Willie Stargell had died.

9. We Are Family. During the 1979 season Stargell adopted the Sister Sledge hit song as the Pirate theme song. That was a special team. It wasn’t the most talented team in the league but it was one of those years when you just felt something special was going to happen. I was 18 and just out of high school. I lived 40 miles from Pittsburgh but I had 3 friends who were Pirate fanatics too and we would take turns going to games. I saw over half the home games that year. I listened or watched on television every other game-home or away. On June 14th the Pirates had lost 5 in a row and were 28-28 6 games out of first place. I was convinced that the Pirates were going to win it all. I just had that feeling. The Pirates made two key trades that season- they traded a talented but erratic shortstop- Franklin Fabian Tavarez [he would make a spectacular play one inning and boot a routine groundball the next] for a steady, scrappy Tim Foli who made the plays you have to make- and Tim Foli would go on to have the best season of his career. I remember the moment when I KNEW the Pirates were going to do it. They traded some prospects to San Francisco for third baseman Bill Madlock. Madlock was a great average hitter who had some pop in his bat. By the time he left Pittsburgh my feelings on Madlock would be different but in 1979 he was the guy who put them over the top. He gave an already potent line-up another great bat. The Pirates and Expos battled it out all season. When it came down to the last weekend. Saturday game vs Cubs. A win and we win the division. In the top of the 13th -tie game. A runner is on second- a ball is hit to Pops at first-he throws to third- wildly- the runner scores [it was only the second error he made all season.}  In the Pirates 13th- 2 on 2 out. Who is up? Pops. He had delivered all season but on this day he struck out ending the game. It would go the final day of the season. I have never before or since heard a quieter crowd. Stargell had not only made an error putting the Cubs ahead but struck out with the tying and winning runners on base. When the game ended everyone just got up and walked out of the stadium. I never heard anyone saying a word. The only sound was of people moving. The next day Stargell hits a home run, knocks in 2 runs and the Pirates win the division. The rest is history.

10. His teammate Al Oliver said of Willie Stargell “If he asked us to jump off of the Fort Pitt Bridge, we would have asked him what kind of dive he wanted. That’s how much respect we have for the man.” His manager at the end of his career Chuck Tanner said “Having him on your ball club is like having a diamond ring on your finger.” My favourite Stargell quote was “The umpire says ‘Play ball” not “Work ball.” He also once said that trying to hit Sandy Koufax was like trying to drink coffee with a fork.”