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A Man Called Pops · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to another home run edition of uh Pittsburgh Sports Memories.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm your co-host, Steve Wert, and as usual, I'm joined by I am Tim Hannon.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh like every episode's a home run, but there aren't a lot of strikeouts.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we're definitely gonna hit this one out of the park like this guy did.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: He had a lot of them literally out of the park.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like literally out of the stadium, Tim.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um that would be a man called Pops, and if you don't know who that is, that would be Willie Stargil.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um a great quote to start off with is uh this is Willie Stargil talking about Pittsburgh.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Pittsburgh isn't a fancy town, but it's real.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a working town, and money doesn't come easy, and they don't worm up to quick turnovers.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: They want a guy to be around.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh stick around, he did.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: He only ever played for the Pirates, never played for anybody else, no, you know, going to Seattle for a last hurrah or something like that.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Nope, he stuck with the Pirates and he stuck a 20-year baseball career.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: That is a long run.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um later in his career, he really became a leader, um, especially that '79 series.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: He became known as Pops.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't, you know, you would think, oh, Pops is kind of derogatory, but no, it was like a term of infection, affection for them, not infection.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: That would be weird.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Got the Pops again.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh no.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Gotta take some antibiotics for then.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I was really hoping they uh come up with a vaccine for that.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, more importantly, he was a leader off and off the field also.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: He gave the charity and he endeared himself to the people of Pittsburgh, and he left the legacy that, you know, quite honestly, of his character that probably um people remember more than any of his home runs.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So um, without further introduction, we'll go uh where was he born?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: He was born in Earlsboro, Earlsboro, Oklahoma.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea where that is except for in Oklahoma.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: But he did move around a lot when he was younger until he finally settled with his mother in Oakland, California.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Some places say Alameda.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think Alameda and Oakland are kind of the same place.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um like I said, he spent all of his career with the Pirates.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And uh when he first came up, he played left field.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: He was not the greatest fielder of all time, but um he did at the end of his career as he kind of lost his legs a little bit, he moved the first base.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um he was definitely a feared home run hitter.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um he had this remember, remember his wind up, Tim?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like he had that cool like windmill, like he'd moved the bat like around in a very over-exaggerated circular motion.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was just, you know, it was pretty, pretty cool.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: It it fit it fit him because he was this like big towering guy.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it looked like and it looked like the bat was just like this little plaything that he was just kind of like whining around and you know, come on, throw me a ball.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm just I'm just warming myself up.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: It just it it fit that that fit him better than it would have like a guy that was like five foot eight, you know, and and smaller.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Tim Foley or Omar Moreno.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it just wouldn't have looked as natural, but with him, it was just like, oh, I got this, got this bat, got this, I'm ready to go.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: There was something very distinct about it.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I when I was a kid, you and I talked about this, I think, on the show before.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: When I was a kid, I used to always imitate batting stances and batting styles whenever I played baseball.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and so when guys had like a distinct uh um routine like that at the plate, uh I when I was such a baseball fan as a kid, I'm sure other kids probably did the same thing.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: You would you would imitate that.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was just cool.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, much like you know, Julio Franco and whatever the heck he was doing up there.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And uh but yeah, I remember like oftentimes when I was a child, like just like going out in the backyard playing with a ball and like, I'm Willie Stargil, I'm gonna hit a home run, and then I'd swing and miss.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Much much like Willie Stargil did a lot too, but he had he had home runs in big spots.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um did you you remember he threw the last pitch at Three River Stadium?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was a pretty emotional moment.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think that was was that 2000?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it would have been like October 2000, yeah.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and he was really kind of like in poor health at that point, like you know, it was it was really really cool to see him do that.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we'll start with um some iconic home runs.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've never been to Dodger Stadium, but um it looks like a cool place to go.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And um he actually hit two home runs out of Dodger Stadium.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think he might have hit more than that actually.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the two uh they have are 470 feet and five hundred and seven feet, and he literally I think he hit one off like a facade or something like a scoreboard, and then the other one actually went clear out of the stadium.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like five hundred and seven feet is just unheard of.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, e especially in the 70s, like people just did not hit the ball that far.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's become a little more commonplace, but I mean that that's that's just a crazy home run.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that like, and you're gonna notice this throughout here, like the Dodgers, like I'll have some videos and stuff.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um we'll post them to our website, but the Dodgers actually part of like uh I think the 50-year or 60-year celebration of Dodgers Stadium actually included this in their like stadium like montage, like the Dodgers did.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's how like impressive those hits were.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the respect they have for Ruiz Dargell, you know?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: 1979, um the Pirates were playing the NLCS championship series against the Reds.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, we haven't really gone over this a terrible amount, but during the 70s, the Pirates just could not beat the big red machine.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: They were pretty pretty unstoppable.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like the Pirates lost at least three or four times to them.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh in this game, it the first it was a three-game series this year, and uh in the first game, he hit an 11th inning home run, and this was in Cincinnati, so it's just in Riverfront, and it gave the Pirates a 5-2 lead, and um that they ended up winning that game.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the Pirates would actually go on to sweep the Reds in three games.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So they actually only got to play one game in three or a stadium.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and and that's like another good example of yeah, you know, just uh I guess anytime you have an iconic player like this, you know, what did they do?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: What did they do in the uh in the big moments, right?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna get into what happens uh, you know, in the next series, and that's really what where he makes his mark.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that whole like 79 season, like he had actually dropped off a couple years before.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think in 77 he only had 13 home runs.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: But he still had an average of 274.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: But then that 78 and 79, even the year before, he batted, let's see, 78, 295, and then in 79 he ended up batting 281.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And he had a big resurgent.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: He those two years, 78 he had 28 home runs, 79 he hit 32, and um like he had this late career.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was in his late 30s, I think.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: He was like 36 to 38.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: So he was not young at this point.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: He had been around, that's towards the end of his career.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean it's pretty impressive that he was able to um pull that off.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good point that no one really ever brings up, is that his peak.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a lot of people think of his peak is that 79 season, and that's like you said, that's the very end of his career.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's not his uh prime, right?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, for sure.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and you look at the seasons after that, I'm looking at 80, 81, 82.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he made he didn't hit any home runs in 81.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: I um he only played in 38 games, so I mean, after that 79 season, he didn't play more than 100 games the rest of his career.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I get the feeling you know, he got hurt and you know the seasons caught up to him.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to look at his best pro season uh maybe 66 he batted, or no, 65, he batted 315 one year, and he had 33 home runs.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So for him, like he he was not a guy that hit for average, he hit for power and RBIs, you know, he had over a hundred RBIs there in the middle sixties.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So he definitely was an RBI and home run guy, not an average guy.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: But if you but I could live with that if he's gonna hit two, as long as he's hitting like 275, 280 and bringing in like 80 to 100 RBIs, you're okay.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: I can live with the strikeouts.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, a big reason is like he was very clutch too, and I know like, you know, this is I think where sometimes like the saber metrics people like, oh, there is no such thing as clutch.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there really is, because in the seventh game of a series, you know, if you don't if you go 0 for three, but you had like all these great hits going up to that game, what what does it really matter?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: The point is to win the series and win the game.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you know, if you're looking, that's where sometimes the statistics they work better over a whole season, but in a short series, maybe they don't tell the whole picture because there aren't as much, you know, once again your sample size is probably a little bit too small.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well well, contrast, you know, the the the the last the la the as of the time of this recording, the two most recent times that the Pirates were in the National Championship series was 79 and the 1990 through 92.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: So think about Barry Bonds.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he never had a great offseason, yeah.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, great, great, great home run hitter, great, great player.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but he wasn't clutch.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you don't need stats to tell you that.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: You you you knew you're watching those series against the Braves and the Reds, he he did not come through for the Pirates.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: And Willie Starjill did.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: So you're right.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: It there is such a thing as clutch, and it it matters because and like I said, going back to like what really makes a guy iconic is did he win you a championship?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's what that's what really made Starjill was that seventy the whole 79 season and then into the postseason.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he was on the 71 team that won a World Series, but he really like like I look he really stunk in that 71 series, he did not do much of anything.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: That was kind of more Clemente's.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like weird.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: You get the 71 was definitely Clemente and Blass, and this was definitely you know Willie Stargil and Kent DeCalvey, and I guess Candelaria was a pretty good their big starter.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: But someday we'll do a whole podcast on the 79 World Series.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: We really should.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Since we were both alive, at least that's the one we we were both alive for that, right?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we were very young, but we were there.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was I was alive.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um he was uh that's 79, he was part of the Lumber and Lightning Pirates.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um he actually won in that season, he won NL MVP.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I think him and Barry Bonds, are they the last two to win the NL MVP?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Or no McCutcheon won it too.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: So and they won a World Series MVP, obviously.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: For the reason that in 79 the Pirates are losing, I think one to nothing.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Moore had a pitcher named Scott McGregor.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Did he have a glove?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: I swear I had a baseball glove that had like his name in it or something, or I don't know.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so Scott McGregor in the sixth hangs a I don't know, it was a fastball or curveball, and Willie Stargil just absolutely hammers it the right field, and that's the iconic video of uh the guy hanging on the fence while Howard Cosell cries in his Baltimore jersey, I guess.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, more stuff we'll link on the website.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um you can check it out.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um for that season, like I said, he hit 32 home runs, had 82 RBIs, and he batted 281, which, you know, like I said, if you can get him between 281, like keep him out of the cellar of like the 200s and 220s, you're you're doing, you know, Willie's competit contributing well.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: So now he hit he hit upper deck home runs.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now these are just home runs that he hit like super long.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like apparently Forbes Field had an 86-foot right field fence, because I think right field was kind of short.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, of the eight, only 18 balls ever from 1909 to 1970 were ever hit over it, Willie Stargil hit seven of them.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: So almost half of the home runs that went out the right field.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: You figure how many more, like they always say that about like um who is it that played in candlestick, Willie Mays?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if Willie Mays would have played somewhere else, how many more home runs would he had?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like if Willie Stargil wouldn't have played in Forbes field for all those years, how many more home runs would he have had?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh yeah, there's there's that's why like baseball, you can't just you can't just look at stats.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: You have to look at errors and and what was happening at the time and and the context.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: So so number one, like you said, he plays, you know, um the first almost decade of his career in Forbes field, which is really tough to hit home runs in.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then Well, Barney or Barney Drivers didn't like cheap home runs.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't like cheap home runs.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And Willie Stargil didn't hit cheap home runs, that's for sure.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: The the other thing that you have to consider, uh, and Steve, I'm sorry if I'm stealing your thunder here if you were going to talk about this, but the people didn't hit a lot of home runs in that era.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh um the during Willie Stargil's career, uh, there was only two guys that had 50 home run seasons.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: It was Willie Mays in 65 and then George Foster in 77.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and and that was it, his whole 21-year career.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's only two guys that hit 50 home runs.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and if you look at Hank Aaron didn't I thought Hank no, Hank Aaron like hit always hit 40 every year.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Hank Aaron never hit 50 home runs.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't until Cecil Fielder in 1990, and then that kicked off a whole wave of people in the 90s and the steroid era.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: But but like there was a long time where nobody really hit a ton of home runs.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and remember too that the a big part of that was the the roles were were favored towards pitching, and you had these guys, and they were like, I I feel like probably not all of them were in the National League, but it felt like a lot of them were because you had Bob Gibson like mowing people down, like they literally had to like what was it, lower the pitching mound because Bob Gibson was just too dominant.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: You had like you had Koufax, you had Steve Carlton, you had Tom Seaver, you had Nolan Ryan.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like like Willie Stargil had to bat against all those guys.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Would you ever hear Stargil's quote about trying to hit uh Sandy Koufax?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's like trying to eat uh soup with a fork.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: That makes a lot of sense.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: But that's what I mean.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: You had like these, you had this era, it's it's kind of like the NFL trying to measure you know Lynn Swan and John Stalworth's receiving stats in an era where you know Jack Tatum could like you know grab your helmet and throw you down, throw you down on the ground before the ball ever got there, right?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's not going to be the same as you know, Justin Jefferson today, right?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: So the the the I feel like Stargo was so hampered by all those things, and the fact that he put up the numbers he did makes it even that much more impressive.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, that's that's what's crazy, is like he played in um like kind of like the multi-purpose state.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like he in the 60s, I guess there were some weird stadiums.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like you still I don't know if he I don't think he ever played in the polo grounds, he was after that.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: But even like Yankee Stadium was like 500 feet to dead center or something ridiculous, but he never he obviously played in that American League Stadium.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: But like once again, candlestick was always tough to hit because of the wind.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess he did go to Wrigley fairly, but if the wind's blowing in in Wrigley, you it's harder to hit a home run there than if it's blowing out.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Bush Stadium was always another pitcher's ballpark.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: I always thought I always thought Bush Stadium was.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Riverfront was kind of the same as Three Rivers, the same thing with the vet.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So another stadium that well, this I don't think the stadium exists anymore.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure it doesn't.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Olympic Stadium.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the Montreal Expos, Tim, at all, ever?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, they played baseball in Montreal there.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Tim Raines, Dennis Martinez, Tim Wallock, who else?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Hue B.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Brooks.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's those that's the expos I remember.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: They have Andreas Galaraga at one point.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Pete Rose played there very temporarily, if you remember that.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't remember.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't think that's a good one.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Go look up Pete Rose in an expos uniform and 1976, the uh Montreal got the Olympics in the I can't.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Did we boycott that one?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: No, that was uh that was 1980.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was Russia.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, right, exactly.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think 1976 was no, what when do they have gymnastics?
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: That the summer?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it was the summer or the winter Olympics that year, but whatever.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: The the 76, are you thinking of the Montreal?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Would that have been the summer or the winter Olympics?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: That would yeah, that would have I yeah.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: You want to say winter because it's Canada.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it was summer.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it was the summer because that would have been Nadia Komanich's perfect 10 then.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I was going with that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, a home run that was a perfect 10 was uh Willie Stargil hitting a home run in the upper deck, and you say, big deal, people hit home runs in the upper deck.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, this is the only one that was ever fair in the upper deck of uh Olympic Stadium.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: So Olympic Stadium is a weird stadium.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: When they built it, now do you remember this, Tim?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: When they first built it, there there was like it was like the old Texas stadium where there was an opening in the roof.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then for years it was just like that.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally one year they just like closed it.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was like the oddest stadium I remember in baseball.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember that.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: I that's interesting.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember the hole in the roof.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: I remember the hole in the roof for years, and then like somewhere in the 80s, they just like closed it.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, okay, I guess we're gonna finish it now.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Guess they weren't considered you know worried about God watching the expos playing or no.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um but uh the Willie hit a ball up in the upper deck, and uh, we have some pictures of that.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: We'll post them to our website also.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's a seat that it actually hit a seat like I would say run row back in the upper deck, and that has to be like a 500-foot home run.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's it's crazy.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, when you see the picture, you'll understand a little more.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: But once again, like and it's so iconic, once again, like how the Dodgers remember it.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like when they obviously they the Expos moved to Washington in the 90s, and I think they tore down Olympic Stadium, so they saved the seat, and it's in the Canadian baseball hall of fame.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So go figure.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's that's impressive.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I just that that's the fact that like other teams have have like commemorated home runs that Willie Starge will hit.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And this isn't that I haven't even covered them all yet.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and Jerry Park, which was a a a predecessor to Olympic Stadium, which was uh now this is just a brilliant idea to Tim.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: How about let's build an outdoor stadium in Montreal, Canada?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: An outdoor baseball stadium in Montreal.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: That should be great in April when the season starts in April.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because like it's still literally probably snowing in April in Montreal.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they're you know, they're they're Canadians.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: They don't play in the weather.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, um he hit a home run uh once again in right field all the way into a swimming pool that was beyond the right field fence.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that was another mammoth shot.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um if I now we've talked about this before in Three River Stadium, four out of the first five home runs in the upper deck of that stadium were hit by Willie Starjoel.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um I still contend that he might have hit one across the river at PC Park, but apparently physics is against me, as one of our astute listeners has pointed out.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm not one to let facts get in the way of a good story, so hey, I mean it could have happened.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: We'll never know.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: We'll just say that.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll never not true.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: We'll never know.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: But still an impressive feat.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember there was a there was a uh they had them numbered too.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that, Tim?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because one hit like the front of the 600 level, one hit a seat because there used to be a seat with a number on it where he hit one of his home runs.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it was really cool.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for those for those of you that might not remember Three River Stadium and baseball games, the the hitting a home run into the upper deck of Three River Stadium was was like this special event, right?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a huge deal if anybody did that.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Even when a even when a guy for the opposite, like I remember real late in the stadium's history, I think like um who was the guy for the Cardinals?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was like Ray Langford or somebody like that hit one up there.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that was Greg Luzinski hit one up there from the Phillies.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: So even when an opposing player did it, it was it was like this huge big deal, and Willie Starkle did that multiple times.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one to the seats, like not just hit off the front, you know, of the railing, it was in the seats.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like even hitting one into the red seats out in right field was that that was quite a shot there, you know.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: So then in Philadelphia, if we remember Veterans Stadium, Three River Stadium, and Riverfront were all kind of the same stadium.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Much like this happened again where Citizens Bank Park, PC Park, and whatever that what what what's the I don't know the name of their Riverfront Park or whatever the park the Reds play, they've changed the name.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Great American or something.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think they've changed the name.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Corporate name this year baseball stadium, yes.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: In Cincinnati.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like they all kind of look very similar.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Not complete, it's not as bad as when you had Three Rivers, Riverfront, and the vet.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: They looked almost exactly the same.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, go watch like an old uh Steeler game or something in Riverfront.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing that'll tell you the difference is like, are the Steelers wearing white jerseys or black jerseys?
• 24:57
  unknown: Yeah.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's really the only way you can tell the difference of where they're playing.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: So in in uh he hit an upper deck home run into the section 601 in the vet in Philadelphia.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't just like this, wasn't another one that just made it.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like there's like a um how would you call it like a walk, like the entranceway to the upper deck?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what you would call it, Tim?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, where you like came out of the concourse to like three receipts.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you're and he hit like the upper part of that entrance.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's insane.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and it was so far, like the Phillies marked it with an S.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: So once again, another the even even the rival Phillies respected uh that one.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it was funny, Larry Boa, who would eventually I think he managed the Phillies for a while.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: He did.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: He he said it would take me three swings to get one up there, and he said from second base.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: So Larry Bo was duly impressed.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good idea.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny that that home run was hitting on it was hit off a guy named Jim Bunning, who actually was a future U.S.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Senator from uh and house rep from Kentucky.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't know.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: He passed any resolutions about Willie Starjoel in the house, but maybe he should have.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: That should have been a campaign commercial for whoever was running against him.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Kim Bunning thinks he can resolve our border crisis, but he can't let Willie Starjo not take him, you know, way down into the upper deck.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that that's yeah, there's some fun, fun stuff there with Willie.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, Willie grew up in the uh 50s and 60s, and there were some racial things that happened to him.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: And uh when he was playing minor league ball in Plainview, Texas, he was actually threatened by a fan with a gun before the game.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember seeing interviews with him, like looking over his shoulder, like somebody said, if you hit a home run today, you're gonna like die or something.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like people were crazy.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, people still are crazy, they're not were, there's no were in that.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: But um, he couldn't, like also he played in New Mexico.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: He couldn't get served for dinner in that town.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's only one restaurant that would serve people, and it was out of the back door.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: So he would just go to the grocery store and make his own stuff.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh also when he was in the minors, he had the uh funnyly, he had to he had to stay with like they couldn't stay in a hotel because of course no African Americans were allowed to stay in hotels in the south.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: So like they had to stay with like other African Americans in town that would just put them up in their house.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he he stayed with some lady who uh grew her own bait in her house.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so she had all the windows like nailed shut, and he said it smelled absolutely horrible.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine like all those worms and whatever else, like bugs, and that had to be pretty gross.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how how often do you go fishing that you're growing your own bait?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Unless I was like, Well, I think she was selling it that was her business.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: I see.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's understandable.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: But that but I mean, how how absurd it is that you know it I think it's weird when you think about that, that that wasn't that long ago that that stuff was happening, what you just described.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: It really wasn't.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that was almost into our lifetimes.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I wasn't alive, but my parents were.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: So um he did also did some uh charity in uh hum and he was a pretty humble guy.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: He worked to fight sickle cell anemia, which is a disease that uh causes your red blood cells to sickle and causes you terrible cramps and pains and can cause death.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um Ryan Clark has it.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: His sister actually passed away from it.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: It mainly affects African Americans, it's a genetic disease.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um so he worked extensively with uh that uh community.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he f actually flew into Vietnam war zones to visit soldiers.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: So in an unpopular war, but at least you know he still supported the soldiers.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: So good guy all around.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: He would do you know the the tour of the schools and youth groups and talk about the dangers of substance abuse.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and and part of him just being willy and being uh being uh you know humble was somebody asked him about he was having a good day hitting home runs, and he said, Well, am I swinging where they are throwing, or are they throwing where am I where I am swinging?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: So just just kind of you know deferential humor there.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's interesting about the Vietnam thing.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: I never knew that.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's um well, I guess he was part of a group of larger people, but he he still went and still visited, you know, and that was an unpopular war.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, and that's like again, um times being different, uh that would be very common today, supporting the troops and bringing out the troops to the game.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, not back then.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, it wasn't.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: So kudos to him for for kind of being at the forefront of that.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and and recognize and I don't know what his views were on the war itself, right?
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: But kudos to him for you know being able to have the nuance to say, regardless of whether or not um I think this war is right, you know, these people fighting it, it's not their decision.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: So they deserve they deserve our support.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: So um in also his leadership, he was very you know known for his uh leadership.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um in 79, like we mentioned, he came up with the uh idea to help the team.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I guess the team wasn't getting along and they're in fourth place, and you know, you had a lot of personalities like Dave Parker and Jim Rooker, and you know, and so to bring the team together and uh get people you know all on the same page.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I guess there was a rain delay and they played the Sister Sledge Sister Sledge song, We Are Family.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he called up and said, Hey, what's the name of that song?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know, he didn't have like you know, whatever on his phone that he can tell.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: The app that tells you what yeah what song it is.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: So he he just uh he called up and he said, Hey, that's gonna be our song for the uh season, and uh it worked.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: It got him to play together and they you know went all the way to a World Series win.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that big you know, you gotta back it up too.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the thing, you just can't say stuff, but definitely he had a great season hitting them 28 home runs and you know doing all that.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, once again, another example of his humidity, humility.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: He when he received the World Series Award, he stated that I know only one person can win the award, but if I could I could, I would divide it among the entire organization.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: So and really that we've talked about that before in our traditions podcast, that uh we are families become kind of like the uh I would say like the theme song of that 79 season and that team.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: So oh yeah, it's iconic now.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever people you can't have like uh anything mentioning the 79 Pirates without talking about the family, like yeah.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: They actually put that on the dugout like where it would say the family, yeah.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's and he came up with that.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's pretty cool.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: And like too, like um remember the uh I I was looking for it this morning was my old 1979 pillbox hat.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom had so very used to give people stars.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you did something like hit a home run, stole a base, you know, pitched a good game, you would get a Star Joel star.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom actually put some of the Star Joel stars on my hat.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know where that went.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Probably the landfill, but my loss, I guess.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um he had the most home runs, actually, of any player in the 1970s with 296.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he had a career batting average of 282.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, he just a great, great hitter.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um seven-time All-Star, two-time National League home run leader.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he's the only player to ever win the NL Most Valuable Player Award and the NL Championship MVP Award and the World Series MVP.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: So like he swept the whole thing.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: He was the MVP of the Championship Series, the MVP of the World Series, and the MVP of the National League all in one season.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: So no one else has ever done that.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: According to Wikipedia.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: So Wow, that's that's pretty amazing.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's quite the sea.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: Boy, that would be an interesting argument.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like who had the best season, this the best single season of a pirate, yeah.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Or of any Pittsburgh athlete, right?
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: You'd have to you'd you'd have to put him at the at the somewhere near the top of that list, right?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and especially then did it with a championship, too.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's like kind of the cherry.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Wasn't there a year Terry Bradshaw was uh NFL MVP in the same yeah in the Super Bowl?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it was I think it was Was it 79?
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was either 78 or 79, yeah.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because that was the year that they won.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we won everything, well, except for the Penguins.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: But right, right.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we and that was the cover of Sports Illustrated with both them on on the cover.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is Gary Bradshaw and Willie Starjil.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because Sports Illustrated always did their sports sportsmen or sportswoman of the year, and that was 79.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was Starjil and Bradshaw.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: So some personal memories, like I said, and I'm sure Tim did too, we would always pretend to be um you know Willie's Willie Starjoil in our backyard.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, I struck out a lot, so I had that.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was actually at his retirement game in 1982.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I forg I did forget I retired, I did attend that.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was very I would have been six years old?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Seven years old.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I was at that game, it was pretty cool.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: He was still one of my favorites.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um when he retired, he did have the uh dubious honor of having the most strikeouts in major league baseball history.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh since that that is uh thank goodness for Reggie Jackson, Mr.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: October, talk about a guy who's clutch.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: He actually did strike out the most.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: So and uh he's all the way down the tenth on that list behind people like uh Sammy Sosa, A Rod, Cabrera, uh the aforementioned Andres Gabraga, uh Jose Canseco has uh has a couple more than him.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, all all all guys that literally swung for the fences, and when you do that, you're gonna strike out sometimes.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a like you said to your point about backing it up, right?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: You'll take that if if you're hitting all those home runs.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm looking at looking at the guys on this list.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Really, him and Reggie Jackson are probably the two most clutch out of all those people.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um now, all-time home runs.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I got a lot of my information from a book that I've had since I was a kid.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously the stuff upon Willie Starjoel hasn't changed a whole lot or at all, since Willie hasn't played baseball since 1982.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the home run hitters list sure has, Tim.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Willie Starjil, and when they printed this book, and it had to be like late 80s, early 90s, I think Starjil was like, you know, probably top 10 home run hitter.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: And now he ranks do do do do do do do do he is down at 32.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's actually tied with Stan Usual.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Adrian Beltray and Fred McGriff have more home runs than him.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like people you wouldn't think of.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Cabrera has more, Ernie Banks, Mickey Mannell.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Jimmy Fox was always wasn't Jimmy Fox the National League season leader, I think, until McGuire.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think he had 59 one year.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Don't quote me on that, but some some huge number like that.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's another guy stuck around forever, has more home runs than you think.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: 569, Raphael Pomero.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Was that guy good?
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he certainly hit a home run.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean he was another steroid guy.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: I remember he was the guy that was wagging his finger and and at at the um at the senators or whoever, and then it came out that he was one of the steroid guys.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that yeah, a bunch of the guys that are in front of him on that list are from the steroid era.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Reggie Jackson obviously isn't.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Schmidt is legit.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Did David David Ortiz, I don't think, was ever right?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: They never said he was doing steroids.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't look like he was doing steroids.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, again, like that's a whole another debate about who was doing it, who wasn't.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it wasn't illegal at the time.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Wasn't illegal at the time, so were they cheating?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Were the pitchers doing it too, so it kind of evened out.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Again, it's it's like baseball.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Baseball.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is the whole stupidity of it all, Tim, is number five on the number four on this list is Alex Albert Poolholes with 703 home runs, right?
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know he used an illegal bat for half his career?
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, what does that mean?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and they just because they just baseball do that.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, this bat's illegal now, but what about me?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, you can use it since your grandfathered in.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know why nobody cries and whines about that record, you know.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that taint the record since he was basically using illegal bat all those years?
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: I yeah, I mean, and and you know, Babe Ruth never had to face any any black pitchers, right?
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: He never had to face Satchel Page or any of those guys.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: So uh like you could just go up and down the list of that's what I said.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: You really have to um well Jim Tomey is has 612 home runs.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize Jim Tomey had over 600 home runs.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because it used to be like that big drop-off, like between like Willie Mays and Babe Ruth.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: It used to be like that big area where nobody was, and now there is.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: There is a bunch of people in that.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: Between, you know, uh, well, I guess not a bunch, two people.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: Pool Holes and Rodriguez, A-rod.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't believe Paul Holes finished his career with 700 home runs.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I can.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: He was a really good player.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, quotes about Willie Starjil.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is by other people.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Don Sutton.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: Don Sutton is in the Hall of Fame, finally, right?
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: They finally voted him in, right?
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: I believe so.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that was an argument for years.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: But about uh Starjil, he doesn't just hit pitchers, he takes away their dignity.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I don't know.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that was Don Sutton who gave up that home run out of Dodgers Stadium that still hasn't landed.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: But um another good quote Willie was our crutch.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Anything you needed, any problem you had personally or in baseball, he took the burden.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: That was former teammate Bill Robinson.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Pops.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: I remember him handing out stars to everyone.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: He was an outstanding player.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: That was uh Mets manager Bobby Valentine.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um I always remember the grace with which he treated my brother and my father when they would visit the locker room.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Always kidding around.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: He really was this gentle giant, former teammate Dave Gusty.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: So once again, like class act all around, leadership, just and he wasn't like a yelling, like one of those guys that has to yell and stuff.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: He just was kind of like a calm, steadying leader who was, you know, backed it up with his home runs, but you know, he he would, you know, set you in line if he had to.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: So the way he um really endeared himself to the people at Pittsburgh too, just the way he always talked, right?
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's the one that had that quote about coming through the Fort Pitt tunnel for the first time.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: He talked about, you know, he read that quote, Steve, at the beginning, about Pittsburgh being a working class town.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: And he he just always talked like that.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: He was always so deferential and respectful to you know what Pittsburgh was.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: He was never above especially back then.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean yeah, it's so funny.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: He experienced the same racism that Willie Mays did.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you look at like the two different ways those people went, or even Barry Bonds.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure Barry Bonds experienced some racism, but like it's like just so different, you know.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: In and why people I mean, I guess people like Willie Mays, but I I don't know.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say Willie Starjill is much more a fan favorite than at least around here.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sure, and and and again, like Pittsburgh back then was still such a blue-collar working steel mill kind of town.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: And he just always like celebrated that and always tried to like identify with that, you know, very humble, like you said, not not you know, not like he was like the star baseball player, and uh, you know, and and these peons from the mill were coming out to watch him.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: He he he never made anybody feel like that.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's another reason why people just gravitated to him.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: So um his number eight was retired in 1988.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, that's a lot of eights.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like we said before, he threw out the last pitch at Three River Stadium.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I don't know where he ranks in pirates all-time players.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, do you put Clementi, Honis Wagner, Willie Starjell?
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you put them above Barry Bonds?
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um you hit more home runs as a pirate than Barry Bonds.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'd I'd probably put him above Barry Bonds just because of A, the the time that Barry Bonds was here, and B the winning a championship.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm sorry that matters.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: It it really matters.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's one thing if you're um, you know, the the guy that they really performed well, but the team just never came together or they never put a team around you, like the Larry Fitzgerald kind of guy.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: But it's another thing when you know you just totally um didn't do it when you had the chance, and and Willie Starger did.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd I'd put him above Barry Bonds.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we're probably he has the most home runs by a pirate since obviously played his whole whole career.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's hit more than four hundred and seventy-five as a pirate.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't think anybody has a chance to catch him even.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I McCutcheon went and played for so many if may I don't know how many home runs Andrew McCutcheon has, Tim.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: How many does he have?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: Two hundred something, I think.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: But don't go.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds right.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: But like you said, that others weren't all hit with the pirates, so he's not gonna catch him.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see here.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: His home runs are 300.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: He actually 307.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: So but he's not a power hitter, though.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: So he can hit for power, but I always thought he hit more for average, and he was a very good fielder, too.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: And another good person.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: The second most pot home runs by a pirate is some guy named Ralph Kiner, who we could finish in last without or with.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: But he has 300, so that's why he even though McCuitchin has more home runs, those, like we said, those were some of those were with Philadelphia and other teams, I'm sure.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, 71 he had a bad postseason.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: 79, he had that incredible postseason.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: He actually ended up batting 400 with three home runs, seven RBIs.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um two of those RBIs were in game seven, so that's huge.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, blog a uh fifth World Series to the old Pittsburgh Pirates there against uh pretty good Baltimore team.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think they had.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the team with all the 20 game winners?
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and we talked about all those great National League pitchers.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: Probably the best American league pitcher of that era was probably Jim Palmer.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he played for the Orioles, so yeah, and McGregor and yeah, they had some some pretty good players.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, just just to finish it up, uh like I said, one of my favorite pirates of all time, class act, good guy.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: Just uh loved to watch him play.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even though you know I was pretty young, so that's a pretty young early childhood memory.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh what say you, Tim, on uh one dollar?
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: What what what's his offici his uh real name?
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I know I texted it to you.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: Wilver Wilver Darnell Star Joel or something like that.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Wilver Darnell Starjoel.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: Last comment on Wilver Darnell Star Joel.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, obviously an all-time great.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how many people in the city get a statue?
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_01: And he's one of the guys that has a statue, and um uh, you know, I think so Richie Pon, that's for sure.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no, no, but I mean, he's still pretty good.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh uh, you know, I think I think I I wonder too, Steve, if his legacy is enhanced by the fact that the pirates haven't won anything since he was here.
• 46:30
  unknown: Right?
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: Kind kind of like Joe Namus' legacy in New York is enhanced by the fact that you know the Jets never won anything after him.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I just wonder if that that's kind of not that Stargle's not deserving of it, don't don't get me wrong.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying I wonder if that kind of enhances or or takes that legacy in a different direction because when you don't have anything to fill the the void in all those years you tend to just look back on who was the last guy to to lead you to the glory to lead you to the glory land, and and that was Willie Stardore.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I I I just I have a hard time like with all the other guys that have more home runs than him.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like what where does he rate like among the all-time greats in baseball?
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: I still think he's up there with a Reggie Jackson or or uh who would Ortiz Ortiz was pretty clutch too for the Red Sox.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: So he's kind of like one of those those guys, and it it's tough with like all the inflated numbers to know, you know.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: He certainly struck out a lot.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: He he he did strike out a lot, but a lot of these other guys did too.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, like like we said, you really have to, you can't, it's really hard to compare Willie Star to a David Ortiz.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's just totally different errors, totally different roles, totally different like ballparks, even ballparks.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, it just it that's why it's so so hard to make those comparisons.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Willie was definitely my favorite, no slight on any of those other guys, and a good person to boot.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I had a lot of fun talking about him today, one of my childhood heroes.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: So um, thank you uh for listening.
• 48:08
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• 48:12
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• 48:17
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• 48:23
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• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate that people comment.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh just thank you for tuning in and thanks for all the support, word of mouth work too.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: So don't forget about that.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh have a great one, and uh, we'll talk to you next time.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.