Saturday, June 4, 2011

Pittsburgh Pirates

1B  Willie Stargell – Power-hitting family member; nine seasons with 90+ RBI; NL MVP in ’79, also MVP of NLCS and World Series.
2B  Bill Mazeroski – Perhaps the best defensive 2B of all time (8 Gold Gloves); hero of the ’60 World Series.
SS  Honus Wagner – Brilliant with the bat and glove; eight batting titles; slugged over .500 seven times for Pirates; stole 722 bases.
3B  Pie Traynor – One of the best hitting 3B; career .320 BA with seven 100+ RBI seasons.
OF  Roberto Clemente – A complete player; won four batting titles; hit 10+ triples nine times; 240 HRs; outstanding glove and throwing arm (12 straight Gold Gloves!); MVP in ’66.
OF  Ralph Kiner – Led league in HRs seven straight years (no one, not even Ruth, did that); drew 100+ walks five times.
OF  Paul Waner – Big Poison batted over .350 six times (.380 in ’27) and scored 100+ runs nine times.
C  Manny Sanguillen – Free swinger who batted .290 or better six times; threw out at least 40% of runners attempting to steal in five seasons (51% in ’71).
Bench  Arky Vaughan – Batted .300 or better all ten of his years in Pittsburgh (.385 in ’35); drew lots of walks to further elevate the OBP.
Pitcher  Sam Leever – Posted ERA below 2.50 six times; career .656 winning pct.; led Pirates to the first World Series with 25-7 mark in 1903.
Pitcher  Bob Friend – Won 14+ games eight times (22 in 1958); led NL with 2.83 ERA in ’55.
Pitcher  Doug Drabek – Won 14 or more games five straight seasons; won NL Cy Young in 1990 with a 22-6 record.
Closer  Roy Face – Forkball master who led NL in saves three times; set winning pct. record with 18-1 mark in 1959.

Aside from Drabek, who last pitched for Pittsburgh in 1992, the most recent Pirate on this team is Stargell who retired in 1982.

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