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1979 Pittsburgh PiratesHome Fields: Three Rivers Stadium
World ChampionsHit: #1 R, #2 BA
W - 98 L - 64  (.605)  2GA Pitch: #3 RA, #3 ERA
Manager: Chuck TannerDef: #1t FA

The Pirates were led by the veteran slugger Willie "Pops" Stargell who shared the league's MVP honors with Keith Hernandez by posting 32 home runs, 82 RBI's and a .281 batting mark.  The 39 year old Stargell spearheaded a potent attack which featured Dave Parker's 25 home runss.  Bill Robinson and John Milner who platooned in left field and respectively contributed 40 homers and 135 RBI's and centerfielder Omar Moreno, who hit .282 adn chalked up a league leading 77 stolen bases.  Although John Candelaria was the club leader with 14 wins a strong bullpen saved the Pirates, led by Kent Tekulve's 31 saves and 10 wins.  If anything, the Bucs benefited most from deals which brought shortstop Tim Foli from the Mets and Bill Madlock from SF which, with the presence of Phil Garner at second, made the infield into a tight cohesive unit.

The Pirates won the NL East by a slight edge over the Montreal Expos and then sweeping the NLCS from the Reds before staging a dramatic come from behind victory in the World Series, where the entered the fifth game facing extinction when they magically went to threat "extra" resource and pulle out the game and the next two to clinch the championship behind Stargell's seventh game homer which capped a .400 series performance good enough to get him the series MVP.  (contributed by Neft & Cohen)



1979 PITTSBURGH PIRATES TEAM ROSTER
Pitchers
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Bibby, Jim P R R 6'5" 235 10/29/1944
28 Blyleven, Bert P R R 6'3" 220 4/6/1951
54 Candelaria, John P L L 6'6" 225 11/6/1953
-- Coleman, Joe P R R 6'3" 175 2/3/1947
-- Ellis, Dock P B R 6'3" 205 3/11/1945
-- Jackson, Grant P B L 6'0" 180 9/28/1942
-- Kison, Bruce P R R 6'4" 178 2/18/1950
-- Rhoden, Rick P R R 6'4" 203 5/16/1953
-- Roberts, Dave P L L 6'3" 195 9/11/1944
40 Robinson, Don P R R 6'4" 235 6/8/1957
-- Romo, Enrique P R R 5'11" 185 7/15/1947
-- Rooker, Jim P R L 6'0" 195 9/23/1942
-- Tekulve, Kent P R R 6'4" 190 3/5/1947
31 Whitson, Ed P R R 6'3" 200 5/19/1955
Catchers
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Nicosia, Steve C R R 5'10" 185 8/6/1955
-- Ott, Ed C L R 5'10" 190 7/11/1951
-- Sanguillen, Manny C R R 6'0" 193 3/21/1944
Infielders
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Berra, Dale 3B R R 6'0" 180 12/13/1956
14 Foli, Tim SS R R 6'0" 179 12/8/1950
3 Garner, Phil 2B R R 5'10" 175 4/30/1949
-- Madlock, Bill 3B R R 5'11" 180 1/2/1951
-- Stargell, Willie 1B L L 6'2" 188 3/6/1940
-- Stennett, Rennie 2B R R 5'11" 160 4/5/1951
-- Taveras, Frank SS R R 6'0" 155 12/24/1949
Outfielders
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Alexander, Matt -- B R 5'11" 168 1/30/1947
-- Boyland, Doe -- L L 6'4" 200 1/6/1955
-- Easler, Mike -- L R 6'0" 190 11/29/1950
-- Hargis, Gary -- R R 5'11" 165 11/2/1956
-- Lacy, Lee -- R R 6'1" 175 4/10/1948
-- Lois, Alberto -- R R 5'9" 175 5/6/1956
-- Milner, John -- L L 6'0" 185 12/28/1949
-- Moreno, Omar -- L L 6'2" 180 10/24/1952
-- Parker, Dave -- L R 6'5" 250 6/9/1951
-- Robinson, Bill -- R R 6'2" 189 6/26/1943

 

1979 PITTSBURGH PIRATES TEAM BATTING STATS
Player AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K HBP SB CS GDP OBP SLG OPS
Rhoden, Rick 1.000 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
Alexander, Matt 0.538 44 13 16 7 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 13 1 0 0.54 0.692 1.231
Madlock, Bill 0.328 85 311 48 102 17 3 7 44 34 22 1 21 8 14 0.39 0.469 0.86
Parker, Dave 0.310 158 622 109 193 45 7 25 94 67 101 9 20 4 7 0.38 0.526 0.906
Garner, Phil 0.293 150 549 76 161 32 8 11 59 55 74 3 17 8 6 0.36 0.441 0.8
Foli, Tim 0.291 133 525 70 153 23 1 1 65 28 14 9 6 5 7 0.34 0.345 0.679
Nicosia, Steve 0.288 70 191 22 55 16 0 4 13 23 17 0 0 2 5 0.36 0.435 0.799
Moreno, Omar 0.282 162 695 110 196 21 12 8 69 51 104 3 77 21 7 0.33 0.381 0.714
Stargell, Willie 0.281 126 424 60 119 19 0 32 82 47 105 3 0 1 10 0.35 0.552 0.904
Easler, Mike 0.278 55 54 8 15 1 1 2 11 8 13 0 0 1 0 0.37 0.444 0.815
Milner, John 0.276 128 326 52 90 9 4 16 60 53 37 1 3 5 5 0.37 0.475 0.849
Ott, Ed 0.273 117 403 49 110 20 2 7 51 26 62 0 0 1 8 0.31 0.385 0.699
Robinson, Bill 0.264 148 421 59 111 17 6 24 75 24 81 1 13 2 13 0.3 0.504 0.805
Lacy, Lee 0.247 84 182 17 45 9 3 5 15 22 36 1 6 1 1 0.33 0.412 0.739
Taveras, Frank 0.244 11 45 4 11 3 0 0 1 0 2 0 2 1 2 0.24 0.311 0.556
Stennett, Rennie 0.238 108 319 31 76 13 2 0 24 24 25 0 1 4 11 0.29 0.292 0.581
Sanguillen, Manny 0.230 56 74 8 17 5 2 0 4 2 5 0 0 0 3 0.25 0.351 0.598
Berra, Dale 0.211 44 123 11 26 5 0 3 15 11 17 0 0 0 5 0.27 0.325 0.597
Robinson, Don 0.204 29 49 4 10 0 0 0 3 3 9 0 0 0 0 0.25 0.204 0.454
Coleman, Joe 0.200 10 5 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Bibby, Jim 0.178 34 45 3 8 1 0 2 5 0 25 1 0 0 0 0.2 0.333 0.529
Romo, Enrique 0.167 84 12 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.17 0.167 0.333
Kison, Bruce 0.145 37 55 6 8 2 0 1 6 1 19 0 0 0 2 0.16 0.236 0.397
Tekulve, Kent 0.133 94 15 3 2 0 0 0 1 1 8 0 0 0 0 0.19 0.133 0.321
Candelaria, John 0.132 33 68 0 9 4 0 0 6 1 18 0 0 0 4 0.15 0.191 0.336
Blyleven, Bert 0.129 38 70 1 9 1 0 0 3 0 33 0 0 0 2 0.13 0.143 0.271
Rooker, Jim 0.121 19 33 1 4 0 0 0 0 1 13 0 0 0 1 0.15 0.121 0.268
Team Totals: 0.272 162 5661 775 1541 264 52 148 710 483 855 32 180 66 113 0.33 0.42 0.75

 

1979 PITTSBURGH PIRATES TEAM PITCHING STATS
Player ERA W L SV G GS CG ShO  IP H R ER HR BB K RATIO BAVG
Ellis, Dock 2.57 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 7 9 2 2 1 2 1 1.57 0.346
Tekulve, Kent 2.75 10 8 31 94 0 0 0 134.1 109 46 41 5 49 75 1.18 0.222
Bibby, Jim 2.81 12 4 0 34 17 4 1 137.2 110 51 43 9 47 103 1.14 0.218
Jackson, Grant 2.96 8 5 14 72 0 0 0 82 67 32 27 9 35 39 1.24 0.23
Romo, Enrique 2.99 10 5 5 84 0 0 0 129.1 122 50 43 11 43 106 1.28 0.253
Kison, Bruce 3.19 13 7 0 33 25 3 1 172.1 157 70 61 13 45 105 1.17 0.246
Candelaria, John 3.22 14 9 0 33 30 8 0 207 201 83 74 25 41 101 1.17 0.253
Roberts, Dave 3.26 5 2 1 21 3 0 0 38.2 47 18 14 1 12 15 1.54 0.318
Blyleven, Bert 3.60 12 5 0 37 37 4 0 237.1 238 102 95 21 92 172 1.39 0.265
Robinson, Don 3.87 8 8 0 29 25 4 0 160.2 171 74 69 12 52 96 1.39 0.277
Whitson, Ed 4.37 2 3 1 19 7 0 0 57.2 53 36 28 6 36 31 1.56 0.238
Rooker, Jim 4.60 4 7 0