By John Mehno
Times Sports Correspondent
Published: Thursday, August 20, 2009 11:59 PM EDT
Thirty years later, you know all the basics of the 1979 season and the Pirates’ World Series championship. Here is a collection of items that you may not have known about the World Champion Pirates:
If the Pirate Parrot appeared at your school or community event in 1979, there’s a chance the person under the green feathers was current announcer Greg Brown.
Brown grew up as a Pirates fanatic in Mechanicsburg, Pa., following the KDKA radio broadcasts whenever atmospheric conditions cooperated.
His goal was to work for the Pirates, so when he came to Pittsburgh to attend Point Park College in 1979, he landed an internship with the team. Brown had a variety of duties working in the promotions department.
He had the assignment of playing the music at the games, so he was the one actually putting “We Are Family” on the turntable. In a pinch, Brown also served as the backup Parrot when the mascot’s schedule was especially crowded.
That modest start led to a full-time job with the Pirates in the marketing department for 10 years. Brown became the public-address announcer at Three Rivers Stadium in 1987, did some work on cable broadcasts, then launched his play-by-play career in Buffalo by calling games for the Pirates‘ Class AAA affiliate.
He joined the Pirates broadcast team in 1994 and is now in his 16th season.
——
Left-handed pitcher Dave Roberts was the “other” player acquired from the San Francisco Giants in the June 28 Bill Madlock deal.
The Pirates were the sixth of Roberts’ eight major-league teams in 13 seasons. He was 5-2 with a 3.26 ERA and one save in 21 games for the ’79 Pirates.
He was the only player on the roster who didn’t get into a World Series game. In fact, he was the only player on the Pirates’ three World Series teams (1960, ’71 and ’79) who didn’t see any action.
Roberts faced (and walked) one batter in National League Championship Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
——
Disco music was dominating the charts in 1979, and no one enjoyed the thumping beats more than Pirates starting pitcher Don Robinson.
He was responsible for bringing in most of the music that played in the clubhouse, and Robinson also made specialty mix tapes for teammates.
Robinson was serious about his music. He had a professional DJ console at his house, and was a regular customer at Stedeford’s record store on the North Side. The staff there would special-order the latest European imports for him so he would be ahead of every musical trend. Robinson would routinely spend several hundred dollars on records during his shopping trips.
——
The Pirates had only one rookie on their roster in 1979.
Infielder Gary Hargis, the team’s No. 2 draft choice in 1974, was promoted to the Pirates in September after batting .277 in 103 games with Class AAA Portland.
Hargis made his major-league debut on Sept. 29, 1979, in the Pirates’ next-to-last game of the season. In the bottom of the 13th inning, Hargis pinch-ran for Tim Foli, who singled with two outs and the bases empty.
Hargis advanced to second on Dave Parker’s single, then was stranded when Willie Stargell struck out to end a 7-6 loss at Three Rivers Stadium.
That 90-foot trip on the bases was the end of Hargis’ big-league career. He was back at Portland for 84 games in 1980, then retired after playing 87 games between Portland and Class AA Buffalo in 1981.
Short as his major-league career was, Hargis fared better than teammate Harry Saferight.
Saferight was a 30-year-old catcher who spent part of September with the Pirates. He was on deck on three occasions, but never made an official appearance in a major-league game.
——
“We Are Family” became the Pirates’ theme, even though Sister Sledge was from Philadelphia and the song was pirated from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Willie Stargell heard the song on the PA system during batting practice in St. Louis and decided the Pirates should adopt it. He especially liked the theme of family, which former Pirates General Manager Joe L. Brown had always emphasized.
Stargell told public relations director Joe Safety to get the record and start playing it at Three Rivers Stadium.
The song became identified with the Pirates, an image cemented when the players’ wives got on the roof of the dugout to dance to “We Are Family” during Game Three of the National League Championship Series.
“We Are Family” reached No. 2 on Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 and was No. 1 on the magazine’s R & B chart on June 9, 1979. It debuted on the Hot 100 chart on April 28 and lasted 19 weeks, most of the baseball season.
——
The Pirates didn’t get into first place until July 28, when they took a half game lead over Montreal. They held first place from Aug. 5 to Sept. 20, and their biggest lead was four games.
They fell to second, behind the Expos, from Sept. 20 to 24, then were back in first to stay on Sept. 25.
——
The Pirates’ 1979 payroll was $4,296,292, third-highest in baseball.
In the NL, they trailed Philadelphia, which had risen to $4,953,928 after signing free agent Pete Rose. MLB’s top spenders were the Yankees at $4,990,608. Oakland had the lowest payroll at $566,160.
——
Three players remained from the 1971 World Series championship team: Willie Stargell, Bruce Kison and Manny Sanguillen.
Stargell and Kison stayed with the Pirates for all nine seasons: Sanguillen was traded to Oakland for manager Chuck Tanner in 1976, and rejoined the team in a trade in 1978.
Rennie Stennett played in 50 games for the 1971 Pirates, but was not on the postseason roster that year. The ’79 Pirates purchased Dock Ellis, a ’71 Series veteran, from the New York Mets on Sept. 21, 1979. Ellis appeared in his final three major-league games with the Pirates, but was not eligible for the postseason roster.
Coaches Harvey Haddix and Bob Skinner were members of the 1960 Pirates, who beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
——
Kent Tekulve saved 31 games in the 1979 regular season, and three more in the World Series. Not bad for a guy who had been dropped from the 40-man roster a few years earlier.
Tekulve made his major-league debut at 27 in 1974. He had a 1-1 record and 6.00 ERA. in eight games. That winter, he was taken off the 40-man roster, and available in the Rule 5 draft. Nobody selected him, so he signed a minor-league deal with the Pirates. Tekulve worked his way back to the major-league roster in 1975.
He appeared in 1,150 major-league games, 722 with the Pirates over 12 seasons, second to ElRoy Face in team history. Tekulve pitched 94 times in 1979, plus two of the three NL playoff games and five of the seven Series games.
——
Joe L. Brown retired as Pirates’ GM following the 1976 season. He could see free agency coming and wanted no part of baseball’s new system. He picked his successors, Harding (Pete) Peterson and Joe O’Toole. Peterson handled baseball matters, and O’Toole took care of the business side.
Brown always had a knack for making small trades that paid big dividends. One of his last “minor” deals wound up helping the 1979 Pirates.
On April 5, 1975, five days before the season opener, Brown sent pitcher Wayne Simpson to the Philadelphia Phillies for Bill Robinson.
Robinson, a McKeesport native, had clashed with manager Danny Ozark over playing time, and the Phillies were anxious to move him.
Robinson spent nearly eight seasons with the Pirates, and played 148 games in 1979. He batted .264 with 24 home runs and 75 RBIs. His home run and RBI totals trailed only Willie Stargell and Dave Parker on the Pirates.
Simpson appeared in seven games for the Phils in ’75 before ending his career for the Angels two years later.
——
The Pirates led the National League with 180 stolen bases in 1979. Omar Moreno stole 77 bases. They were 0-for-4 on steal attempts in the Series.
——
Nobody had a more interesting stat line than pinch running specialist Matt Alexander.
Alexander had been a second-round draft choice of the Cubs in 1968. But his great speed never translated into success — except in Pittsburgh.
He appeared in 44 games in 1979, getting 13 plate appearances. He pinch ran 30 times and pinch hit once.
He scored 16 runs and actually batted .538, with seven hits in 13 at-bats. He was successful on 13 of 14 stolen base attempts.
——
The mix-and-match uniforms debuted in 1977 as the Pirates looked to spice up their look.
There were three basic uniforms: all black, all gold and striped. They then spun off combinations, topped with either black or gold striped caps.
For the record, the World Series Game 7 combination was black cap, sleeves and pants with a gold jersey and stirrups.
——
The Pirates had a losing record against only one opponent in 1979.
They were 4-8 against the Cincinnati Reds, the same team they would sweep in three games of the National League Championship Series.
Their next-lowest winning percentage against an opponent was .556 as they finished 10-8 against the fourth-place Phillies and last-place Mets.
——
The season started with a picket line at Three Rivers Stadium.
Major-league umpires were on strike, a stoppage that would last until the middle of May.
Major League Baseball hired some minor-league umpires to serve as crew chiefs, then hired local sandlot and college umpires to fill out the crews.
The results were mixed.
One of the fill-in umpires became something of a folk hero at Three Rivers Stadium. Harry Smail of Greensburg worked third base for a number of games and the amply-proportioned Smail became an immediate fan favorite.
View Profile
View Forum Posts
View Blog Entries
View Articles
Reply With Quote