Willie Stargell

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Wilver Dornell Stargell (March 6, 1940 – April 9, 2001), nicknamed "Pops" later in his career, was an American professional baseball left fielder and first baseman with the Pittsburgh Pirates for 21 seasons (1962–1982).

He batted.282, 323 doubles, 475 home runs, and 1,540 runs batted in, helping his team win six National League (NL) East division titles, two NL pennants, and two World Series championships (1971, 1979).

Stargell was a seven-time All-Star and two-time NL home run champion.

He received the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, the NL Championship Series MVP Award, and the World Series MVP award in 1979.

The Pirates cut him off his uniform number 8 in 1982. In 1988, Stargell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Early life

Stargell was born in Earlsboro, Oklahoma, but after his parents divorced, he moved to Florida with an aunt. Later, he returned to Alameda, California, to live with his mother. Tommy Harper and Curt Motton were among his baseball teammates at Encinal High School, where he met future MLB players. In 1959, Stargell signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates team and began to play minor league baseball.

Stargell competed for farm teams in New Mexico, North Dakota, Iowa, Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio. Stargell was not permitted to stay in the same accommodations as the white players while on the road with some of those teams. In those towns' impoverished black communities, black players were locating. He was accosted at gunpoint by a man who had threatened his life if he was involved in the night's football while in Plainview, Texas. Nothing came of the incident, and Stargell was uninhibited. He may have left baseball due to his racial challenges, but he was inspired by letters from a friend and baseball scout Bob Zuk.

Later life

Stargell spent two years as the Atlanta Braves' first base coach from 1986-1988, wearing his customary #8. He was Chipper Jones' first minor-league hitting coach. In 1988, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, his first year of eligibility. He had an uncomfortable time with the Pirates earlier this season when the club wanted to schedule a Willie Stargell Night to honor his Hall of Fame election. Stargell refused to participate in the team's plans, but the team's refusal to hire him for its managerial position this season stings.

Curtis Strong, a suspected cocaine dealer in 1985, was charged by Dale Berra and John Milner of selling "amphetamines" (amphetamines) to players. Berra said he obtained amphetamines from Stargell and Bill Madlock "on any given day I asked him for one." These allegations were debunked by Stargell. Stargell and Madlock were not immediately cleared of any wrongdoing by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth.

Stargell's 1996 return to the Pittsburgh club as an aide to Cam Bonifay, the team's general manager. In addition, he served as a special baseball advisor to Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy, who dubbed Stargell "the ultimate class act." Stargell was hospitalized for three weeks in 1999 to treat undisclosed medical conditions with one of his organs. Stargell's health issues were attributed to his weight gain after retiring as a player, according to a source close to the Pirates. While working in the Pittsburgh front office, Stargell shed some of the pounds but gained weight again.

He died of complications connected to a stroke in Wilmington, North Carolina, on April 9, 2001, after years of suffering from a kidney disease. Stargell had also suffered from hypertension and heart disease in his later life. More than two years before he died, a portion of Stargell's bowel was removed. At the time of his death, he had been in the hospital recovering from gallbladder surgery. A larger-than-life statue of him was unveiled at the Pirates' new stadium, PNC Park, two days before Stargell died, on April 7, 2001, as part of the opening-day festivities. The statue served as a de facto memorial for Stargell on the same day as the official opening of the stadium against the Reds.

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MLB career

Stargell, a beloved in Pittsburgh for his style of play and affable demeanor, shot seven of the 18 balls ever over Forbes Field's 86-foot-high right-field stands, and several of the top-tier home runs at its new stadium, Three Rivers Stadium. Despite being identified as Willie Stargell, his autograph indicates that he preferred his given name, Wilver. Stargell's family and friends called him Wilver, and Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully made a point of using Stargell's given name. Scully said that because he used the name Wilver, he became Stargell's mother's favorite broadcaster.

Stargell was larger than most batters despite his long arms and a unique bat-handling technique of holding only the knob of the bat with his lower hand. Stargell's swings seemed to be meant to hit home runs of Ruthian proportions. Stargell took to warming up with a sledgehammer as the majority batters used a simple lead-weighted bat in the on-deck circle. He'll windmill his bat until the pitcher starts his wind up while standing in the batter's box.

Stargell made his MLB debut at the age of 22 at the 1962 season. His 1963 rookie season was lackluster, but he had much more success the following year, his first as an everyday player. Stargell was the Pirates' everyday left-fielder for the season, but he also spent extended time on first base. In the first game played at Shea Stadium on April 17, 1964, he scored his first home run at Shea Stadium. He was on his first of seven trips to the All-Star Game that year. In both years, he returned to the All-Star Game for the second time, hitting over 100 runs batted in (RBI) in both years and placing 14th and 15th in MVP polls. In June 1965, he received the first of three NL Player of the Month awards of his career (.330, 10 HR, 35 RBI).

When Stargell came up to spring training at a weight of 235 pounds, frequent offseason conditioning issues came to a head in 1967. He was told by the team that he should lose weight to 215 pounds. His batting average dropped by more than 40 points during the 1966-to-below in 1967; his home run total was reduced from 33 in 1966 to 20 in 1967. Stargell's personal trainer worked with him before the 1968 season to get him in the best shape of his career, but the team's owner Larry Shepard said the team's physique was too weak. He came out of the decade with a solid showing in 1969 (.307, 29 HR, 92 RBI), and finished 21st in MVP polling.

In 1970, Stargell had a stellar season, hitting.264 with 31 home runs and 85 RBIs, finishing 15th in MVP voting. In the Pirates' 20-ten victory over the Atlanta Braves at Fulton County Stadium on August 1st year, Stargell hit five extra-base hits, three doubles, and two home runs. After Lou Boudreau's 1946 and 1954 victories over five extra base hits in a single game, he became the third player to collect five extra-base hits in one game. Bob Robertson, a teammate of Andrew McCutchen, also earned five hits, including a home run, in the same game; not until the Pirates and Garrett Jones in 2012, which will be combined in the same game. For their first postseason appearance since winning the 1960 World Series, the 1970 Pirates captured the National League East championship for their first postseason appearance since winning the 1960 World Series. The Cincinnati Reds were swept in this year's NLCS, but not before Stargell hit six runs in 12 at-bats, the most hits by either team in this series.

In 1971, Stargell's career brought his career to a different degree. He won his first two home-run titles in 1971, beating Hank Aaron's 47 on the final week of the season, and second to last, only Ralph Kiner's 54 and 51 in 1949 and 1947, respectively. In April (.347, 11 HR, 27 RBI), and June (.333, 11 HR, 36 RBI), but he did not win the MVP award, finishing second behind Joe Torre in second place. Stargell finished in seventh in seven out of his nine seasons as his career progressed to a Hall of Fame track.

He was a member of the Pirates' World Championship team, which saw the Buccaneers defeating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games. Before Pittsburgh's return, the Pirates lost the first two games of the franchise, which Stargell said that media began referring to as "the St. Valentine's Day Massacre" in honor of the Pirates' arrival.

In 1972 (.293, 112) finishing third in MVP poll behind Johnny Bench and Billy Williams, the Stargell continued to post good results.

Stargell made history by winning the league in both doubles and homers in 1973. Stargell had more than 40 of each; he was the first player to record this 40-40 triumph since Hank Greenberg's retirement in 1940; other players haven't followed them (including Albert Belle, the first 50-50 player). Stargell claimed his second home-run title of the year, defeating three Atlanta Braves: Davey Johnson's 43, Darrell Evans' 41, and Aaron's 40. He also led the league in runs batted in and slugging percentages. He was barely edged out of the MVP award for the third year in a row, as Pete Rose received the award.

Stargell moved to first base in 1975 after years of experimenting at the position. He had never been to another game in the outfield.

On June 29, Stargell scored his 400th home run against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1977.

After a nice play or a good match, Stargell introduced the practice of enforcing his teammates embroidered "Stargell stars" for their caps. The Pirates went from fourth place and 11.5 games behind in mid-August to face the first-place Philadelphia Phillies for the Division title during the turbulent 1978 season. In Pittsburgh, the Pirates were supposed to lose all four games to win the championship, which was expected to come to an end. Following a thrilling weekend of the Pirates as a result of a sweep, Stargell belted a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning of the season's penultimate game to give the Pirates a lead early in the game, but the Pirates relinquished that lead later in the game and fell two runs short. Stargell named 1978 as his favorite team and hoped that the Pirates would win the World Series the following year.

The Pirates did win the World Series in 1979, in a similar way as they had ended the 1978 season: the Pirates fought the Montreal Expos in the first half of the season, defeating the Ottawa Expos in the third division. The fans were ecstatic fans with a string of come-from-behind victories along the way (many during the final at-bat) to win the division pennant on the last day of the season. The team adopted "We Are Family" as the team anthem at his request as captain. Then's presence on the track inspired his teammates and earned him the MVP award in both the NLCS and the World Series. Stargell capped off the year by hitting a spectacular home run in Baltimore in the late innings of a close Game 7 to seal the Pirates' championship. The home run was his third of the series, and Stargell was credited with the winning runs in both Game 7s and the Orioles' two postseason meetings (1971 and 1979). The 1979 World Series triumph gave the Pirates their first franchise in baseball to twice recover from a three-games-to-one deficit and triumph in a World Series (previously against the Washington Senators). Stargell went 12-for-30 in the 1979 World Series, he also hit four doubles for 25 total bases, which is tied for a World Series record, Reggie Jackson having set it in the 1977 World Series, and his seven extra-base hits (three HRs and four doubles) tied for fifth in the series.

Stargell received the coveted MVP award (as co-winner alongside St. Louis' Keith Hernandez) at the age of 39, in addition to his NLCS and World Series MVP awards. Stargell is the only one to have won all three MVP awards in a single year. Terry Bradshaw, a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, was given the Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award by the Sports Illustrated magazine. "Having him on your ball team is like having a diamond ring on your finger," Pirates boss Chuck Tanner said of him. "We'll ask him to jump off the Fort Pitt Bridge if he asked us to jump off the Fort Pitt Bridge," teammate Al Oliver said once. That's how much respect we have for the guy.

Stargell played until 1982, but he never appeared in more than 74 games since 1979. Despite playing a large amount of his career at Forbes Field, his center field distance was 457 feet (139 m). During his eight seasons as Hall of Fame, Roberto Clemente estimated that Stargell shot 400 fly balls to the warning track in left and center fields. At Forbes Field, the short fence from the right field (91 m) to the foul pole was guarded by a screen more than 20 feet (6.1 m) high, running from the right-field line to the 375-foot (114 m) mark in right center. Stargell's power numbers were boosted by Three Rivers Stadium, a neutral hitter's park. Despite turning 30 in 1970, the Pirates moved to Three Rivers in mid-1970, with 310 of his 475 home runs from 1970 to retirement. In his first three years at Three Rivers, Stargell won his first three titles. The Montreal Expos' last game at Three Rivers Stadium on October 3, 1982. He hit a single off Steve Rogers while batting leadoff. Doug Frobel was then pinch ran by Doug Frobel and then Richie Hebner was brought to life at first base.

Stargell held the record for the longest home run in almost half of the NL parks at one time. Stargell ran off Alan Foster on August 5, 1969, leaving the stadium and measuring 507 feet, the longest home run at Dodger Stadium. On May 8, 1973, he scored 470 feet (140 meters), his second home run out of Dodger Stadium against Andy Messersmith. "I never saw anything like it," Dodger Hall of Fame founder Don Sutton said of Stargell. He doesn't only hit pitchers; he strips them of their dignity." Dodger Stadium has only ever been hit out of a home run.

During a 14–4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on June 25, 1971, Stargell recorded the longest home run in Veterans Stadium history. Jim Bunning, the starting pitcher, was chased out of the game after his shot came in the second innings. The ball's landing spot was eventually marked with a black star inside a white circle until Stargell's 2001 death, when the white circle was painted black. The actor remained in place until the stadium's 2004 demolition. Stargell played the first fair ball against Wayne Twitchell of the Montreal Expos in 1978, when they collided with Olympic Stadium's club deck. The seat where the ball landed (the home run was measured at 535 feet (163 m)) was replaced with a yellow seat, but the other seats in the upper deck are red. Following the Expos' demise in 2004, the seat was moved and donated to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

The colorful longtime Pirate radio announcer, Bob Prince, will greet a Stargell home run with the phrase "Chicken on the Hill." In Pittsburgh's Hill District, Stargell's ownership of a chicken restaurant. In a program dubbed "Chicken on the Hill with Will," Stargell's restaurant would give free chicken to all patrons present in the restaurant at the time of the home run for a time. Prince himself offered free chicken to listeners if Stargell had a home run; Stargell did homer and Prince picked up a $400 bill at the restaurant.

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