Willie Stargell

Baseball Player

• Born: March 6, 1940
• Birthplace: Earlsboro, Oklahoma
• Died: April 9, 2001
• Place of death: Wilmington, North Carolina

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Wilver Dornell Stargell was born on March 6, 1941, in the small town of Earlsboro, Oklahoma. He was the son of William and Verlene Stargell. When Willie was young, his family moved to Oakland, California, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. Willie grew up in an economically depressed neighborhood in Oakland, but this difficult childhood instilled in him a social conscience and a deep sense of personal responsibility. He never forgot the poverty of his youth. He remained proud of his parents, who taught him to recognize the dignity of each person. He attended public schools in Oakland.

The Road to Excellence

As a teenager, Willie excelled in baseball, basketball, and track at Oakland’s Encinal High School. He then went to Santa Rosa Junior College in California, where he played on the baseball team until he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1958. He played for almost four full seasons on various minor-league teams in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization as he perfected his skills as an outfielder and as a power hitter. He began with the Roswell, New Mexico, team in 1959. He played on minor-league teams in North Dakota, North Carolina, and Illinois. Late in the 1962 season, he was called up by the Pittsburgh Pirates at the relatively young age of twenty-one. Although he was originally signed as an outfielder, he was flexible. Beginning with his rookie season of 1963, Willie often played first base as well. He was definitely a team player.

The Emerging Champion

Willie spent his entire twenty-one-year career in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He and his wife, Dolores, reared their three children in Pittsburgh. Throughout the 1960’s and the 1970’s, Willie was a productive home-run hitter. He hit 475 homers and twice led the National League (NL) in homers: first in 1971, with 48 homers, and then in 1973, with 44 homers. Some of his homers were extremely long. For thirty years, Willie was the only batter to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, and he did this twice. He was considered the leading left-handed slugger of his generation. In addition to his accomplishments as a power hitter, Willie is remembered above all for his performance during the 1979 National League Championship Series (NLCS) and World Series and for his service to the community.

Continuing the Story

In 1971, the legendary Roberto Clemente was the acknowledged leader of the Pirates. His sparkling fielding and hitting helped the Pirates to defeat the Baltimore Orioles in a seven-game World Series. Clemente’s death in December, 1972, left a void in the Pittsburgh team that Willie filled. Willie was not a leader for the Pirates only. He also became involved in social causes. He helped to raise money for research on sickle-cell anemiA&Mdash;a serious illness that often strikes African Americans—and he also assisted with Pittsburgh’s Job Corps and Neighborhood Youth Corps. He became an admired member of the Pittsburgh community.

By 1979, Willie’s career seemed to be coming to an end. However, in 1979, “Pops,” as the younger Pittsburgh players called him, had an extraordinary year. He helped the Pirates to the team’s first Eastern Division Championship since 1975. He and Keith Hernandez tied in the voting for the most valuable player award in the National League. Willie was thirty-eight years old, making him the oldest player ever selected as a most valuable player, a record that was broken by Barry Bonds in 2004.

Willie’s performances in the 1979 NLCS and World Series were impressive. In the NLCS, his batting average was .455, and he won the first game with a 3-run homer in the eleventh inning. In the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles, Willie drove in 7 runs with 3 homers. His batting average was .400. In the seventh game, the Orioles were leading 1-0 in the sixth inning when Willie hit a 2-run homer, giving Pittsburgh a lead that it never relinquished. Willie was named the most valuable player in the 1979 World Series. He played with the Pirates until 1982. In 1988, in his first year of eligibility, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

In 1985, Willie joined the Pirates staff as first-base coach but moved to the Atlanta Braves organization the following year. In 1997, he returned to Pittsburgh as a special assistant to general manager Cam Bonifay. After his retirement, Willie struggled with a kidney disorder that required weekly dialysis. In the fall of 1999, he suffered a near-fatal infection that began from a small cut on his finger and spread throughout his body. After almost two months of hospitalization, he returned to his duties with the Pirates in early 2000, but ailing health resulting from his kidney disorder led to his death in April, 2001.

Summary

Willie Stargell was called the “Pride of Pittsburgh” not only because of his impressive accomplishments as a power hitter but also because of his service to the community. He strove to improve the quality of life for the underprivileged members of the Pittsburgh community.

Bibliography

McCollister, John. Tales from the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates: Remembering “The Fam-a-lee.” Champaign, Ill.: Sports, 2005.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Tales from the Pirates Dugout. Champaign, Ill.: Sports, 2003.

Preston, Joseph G. Major League Baseball in the 1970’s: A Modern Game Emerges. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004.

Stargell, Willie. Out of Left Field: Willie Stargell and the Pittsburgh Pirates. New York: Two Continents, 1976.

Stargell, Willie, and Tom Bird. Willie Stargell: An Autobiography. New York: Harper & Row, 1984.

Westcott, Rich. Great Home Runs of the Twentieth Century. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.