October 17, 1979: As in 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series by beating the Baltimore Orioles in Game 7 at Memorial Stadium, winning 4-1 to complete a comeback from 3 games to 1 down.
Willie Stargell, the 1st baseman known as "Pops" not just for his age (39) but because of his playing of Sister Sledge's hit disco song "We Are Family," hits his 3rd home run of the Series, and is named Series MVP, after having also been named MVP of the National League Championship Series.
Despite the group being from Philadelphia, and being about sisters rather than brothers, the song was adopted by the baseball team across Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Pirates, as they made their postseason run. It did not quite hit Number 1, getting stuck in June behind another iconic disco track, “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer.
An online friend and fellow Yankee Fan, Paul Louis, once told me, "Part of me has come to suspect it might have been a subtle swipe at the dysfunctional image of the previous two seasons' World Series winning teams."
After the season, it was be announced that there was a tie vote for the regular-season MVP, between Stargell and the NL's batting champion, St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman Keith Hernandez. Despite the only tie vote for an MVP in either League, Stargell became the 1st man, and remains the only one, ever to sweep the regular season, LCS and World Series MVPs in a single season.
This was the worst-looking World Series of all time. I don't mean it was poorly-played; that was hardly the case. I mean it looked bad. The Orioles had those bright orange home jerseys with the black lettering, and those dumb black caps with the white front panels and the Oriole head; the all-black caps with that head, which they wore from 1966 to 1974, looked a lot better.
Six of the NL's 12 teams wore 19th Century-style caps to celebrate the League's 100th Anniversary in 1976, and the Pirates were the only team to keep them, and continued to wear them until 1986. I didn't mind that. But their mix-and-match of white, white with yellow pinstripes, gold, and black, sometimes mixing up the jerseys and pants, was atrocious.
The stadiums were little better: I saw 3 games at Memorial Stadium, and liked it, but it had terrible lighting, and a grass field that was already chopped up by Colts games; while Three Rivers Stadium was a concrete ashtray with a hideous pea-green carpet of artificial turf. This was a World Series made for radio, not television.
The 1979 season was an outlier in its era. In the American League Eastern Division, the Yankees won in every season from 1976 to 1981, except 1979, when the Orioles won it. In the Western Division, the Kansas City Royals won in every season, except 1979, when the California Angels won it, for the 1st time in their 19-season history.
In the National League Eastern Division, the Philadelphia Phillies won it every year from 1976 to 1980, except 1979, when the Pirates won it, before giving way to the Montreal Expos in 1981. And in the NL West, the Cincinnati Reds completed their "Big Red Machine" era of dominance in 1976, and then the Los Angeles Dodgers won it in 1977, 1978 and 1981, losing a Playoff for it to the Houston Astros in 1980, with the Reds winning again in 1979.
In the League Championship Series, the Pirates swept the Reds in 3 straight, gaining revenge for NLCS losses in 1970, 1972, 1974 and 1975, though they'd beaten the San Francisco Giants in the series since 1971; while the Orioles, having won the Pennant in 1969, 1970 and 1971, and lost the ALCS in 1973 and 1974, beat the Angels 3 games to 1.
Stargell, pitcher Bruce Kison and catcher Manny Sanguillen were the only players to have played for the Pirates in both the '71 and the '79 Series, although Sanguillen had left and since returned.
Game 1 of the World Series was supposed to be played in Baltimore on October 9, but was postponed due to rain and snow. The temperature for the postponed Game 1 was 41 degrees, the coldest on record, although there had been snow at a Series game in 1907. The O's won, 5-4, behind the pitching of Mike Flanagan, despite a Stargell home run. The Pirates scored in the 9th to win Game 2, 3-2.
Game 3 in Pittsburgh had a midgame rain delay, and the Pirates blew a 3-0 lead. Scott McGregor outpitched John Candelaria, as the O's won, 8-4. Despite another Stargell homer, the Bucs blew a 4-0 lead in Game 4, and the O's won, 9-6. Coming back from being down 3 games to 1 had only happened 3 times in World Series history to this point -- but the Pirates had done it twice, in 1925 against the Washington Senators, and in 1971 against the Orioles, with a few of the same people involved.
Pirate manager Chuck Tanner had planned to start Jim Rooker on short rest in Game 5, and then go to curveball master Bert Blyleven. That morning, his mother died. According to Kent Tekulve, the Pirates' submarine-pitching reliever, Tanner told the team before the game that his mother "knew we needed some help, so she went to get us some." Whatever the cause, Rooker had a no-hitter for the 1st 4 innings, and Tanner brought Blyleven in for the 6th, with the Orioles leading, 1-0. Then the Pirates got to Flanagan, and won the game, 7-1.
Back in Pittsburgh for Game 6, Candelaria and Jim Palmer traded goose eggs for 6 innings, before the Pirates reached Palmer, and they won, 4-0.
For what turns out to be the only time in his Presidency, Jimmy Carter attends a Major League Baseball game, and he picks a good one. He threw out the ceremonial first ball, saw Stargell homer off McGregor, saw Tekulve get his 3rd save in relief of Grant Jackson, and was among those congratulating the Pirates in the locker room afterward.
And, with the Pittsburgh Steelers having won Super Bowl XIII 9 months earlier, it gave the Steel City a rare MLB-NFL double, and the nickname "City of Champions." This was maintained 3 months later, when the Steelers won Super Bowl XIV. Sports Illustrated named Stargell and Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw "Sportsmen of the Year."
But in the 43 years since -- 2 full generations -- the Pirates have never won another Pennant, though they reached Game 7 of the NLCS in 1991 and '92, losing to the Atlanta Braves both times. The Steelers have since won 3 Super Bowls and appeared in 2 others; the Penguins have reached the Stanley Cup Finals 6 times, winning 5; and the University of Pittsburgh football team has won some bowl games and has usually been a contender for their conference title (formerly the Big East, now the Atlantic Coast Conference).
The Pirates? After 21 years out of the postseason, they made it for 3 straight seasons, 2011 to '13, but, so far, they can't get beyond the NLDS. So they're still waiting for the next generation of the Family to make good.
One more note about the '79 Series: When the Orioles won Game 4, the winning pitcher was Tim Stoddard. By simply appearing in the game, he became the 1st man ever to appear in both a World Series game and an NCAA basketball Final Four game. He was a member of the North Carolina State team that won the 1974 National Championship. He was still with the Orioles when they won the World Series in 1983.
He has since been joined only by Kenny Lofton, who reached the Final Four with Arizona in 1988, and the World Series with 3 different teams, the 1st being the Cleveland Indians in 1995.
Stargell retired after the 1982 season, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. The Pirates retired his Number 8. He threw out the ceremonial first ball before the last game at Three Rivers Stadium in 2000. He was invited to do it again for the first game at the new PNC Park, scheduled for April 9, 2001, with the dedication of a statue of him outside the park 2 days earlier. But his health declined, and he died the morning of the regular-season opener. He was only 61 years old.
Sister Sledge weren't quite "one-hit wonders," also hitting the Top 10 with their follow-up, "He's the Greatest Dancer." But they were one-shot wonders, as later albums failed to make much chart impact.
Nile Rodgers, leader of the disco band Chic, was their main songwriter and producer, and made them the 1st major music act to namecheck different fashion designers in music. He said, "They didn't even know what we were talking about when we wrote the lyric 'Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci'. First time anybody had ever name checked fashion designers."
From oldest to youngest, the sisters were Debbie, Joni, Kim and Kathy. Joni passed away in 2017. As of October 17, 2022, the others are still alive. Debbie's daughters Amber and Camille, and Kim's daughter Julie, have toured with their mother and aunts. Kathy's daughter Kristen has not. Joni was the only sister to have had a son and no daughters.
UPDATE: The Pirates have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1979 World Champions, they have inducted 1st baseman Willie Stargell, catcher Manuel "Manny" Sanguillén, and pitcher Kent Tekulve -- but not yet manager Chuck Tanner, right fielder Dave Parker, or pitcher Bert Blyleven.
*
October 17, 1979 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA that night:
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 113-88 at the Rutgers Athletic Center (now the Jersey Mike's Arena) in Piscataway, New Jersey. Julius "Dr. J" Arena scored 22 points against his former team.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 127-108 at the Boston Garden.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 100-97 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Indiana Pacers, 116-112 at The Summit in Houston. Moses Malone had a monster game, 44 points and 29 rebounds. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Denver Nuggets, 125-97 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Kansas City Kings, 107-94 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 112-110 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
And there were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Hartford Whalers, 3-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-1 at the Checkerdome, as the St. Louis Arena was then known.
* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.
No comments:
Post a Comment