The Team That Changed The Game

On September 1st, 1971 the Pittsburgh Pirates sent out a roster comprised entirely of non white players.  It was the first time a MLB team had a starting lineup of such ethnicity.

To celebrate that incredible time in our history I thought it would be fun to look at a Pirates All Time lineup consisting of only black and latin players.  

I will be using each of the 9 traditional positions along with a utility player, a 4th outfielder, DH, some extra bats, and a few extra arms to use in the bullpen. 

3rd Base

Bill Madlock

Madlock won two batting titles for the Pirates and was a key part of the 1979 World Series Champion team.  He can play both 2B and 3B.

Left Field

Barry Bonds

Before Barry was the *All Time Home Run King, he was hitting leadoff for the Pittsburgh Pirates and was a true power/speed athlete becoming just the second member of the 40/40 club in the history of the game.  His .380 OBP (Pirates years only) combined with the speed and power make him a perfect match for the number 2 hitter in the lineup.

Right Field

Roberto Clemente

The Pirates All Time hit leader, finished his career with exactly 3,000 hits and a .317 batting average

1st Base

Willie Stargell

The Pirates All Time Home Run Champ finished his Pirates career with 475 HR and 1,540 RBI.  Pops is a perfect fit for knocking in the guys on base ahead of him in.

DH

Bobby Bonilla

I really didn't know who to play at 3rd and who to make the team's DH.  Bonilla is still earning a paycheck from the Mets so if he's still collecting a paycheck from a MLB team, I'm putting him in the field, albeit at the DH spot. His pop is loud enough to protect Willie from the 5th spot.

Centerfield

Andrew McCutchen

Cutch has batted leadoff for every team he has played for.  He had developed into a more of the middle of the lineup threat after his first two seasons, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to put a run on the board early in the game with his 203 Pirates HRs ranking 4th all time in Pirates franchise history had I chosen to bat him leadoff, but one of his best months of his career occurred in June 2017 when he was named player of the month and batted predominately from the 6 hole, a lineup spot he has also batted for Team USA and the Phillies. 

Catcher

Manny Sanguillen

Manny was a pretty good hitter and was a part of two World Series teams with the Pirates.  Besides one season in Oakland, Sangy played his entire career with the Pirates. He made 3 All Star teams and finished his Pirates career with a .299 batting average. 

2nd Base

Josh Harrison

For an undersized player and a prospect that was a throw in from the Cubs for John Grabow, the man known as JHay was a spark plug for the success of the mid 2010s Pirates teams.  He served on two All Star teams and played a multiple of positions for the Pirates as they reached the postseason three consecutive years.

Shortstop

Rennie Stennet

There just wasn't many options for this team at Shortstop.  

Pitcher

Bob Veale

From 1964-1966, Veale struck out 755 batters.

Bench Bats

Pedro Alvarez

Pedro didn't have a very long career despite being the second overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft.  He won a Silver Slugger in 2013 and participated in the All Star Game that same season when he won the National League Home Run title.  He hit 131 HR in Pittsburgh and become the first player in MLB history to collect an RBI in each of their first 6 postseason games.  He likely will be used as a pinch hitter on this squad of a HR is needed.

Dave Parker

The Cobra will serve as the team's 4th outfielder and has won an MVP, batting title, and possesses an absolute cannon for an arm in the outfield.  He could be a late inning defensive substitute or a clutch hitting pinch hitter.

Al Oliver

This borderline Hall of Famer is one of the most underrated hitters of the 1970s.  Oliver can play all three outfield positions and 1st Base

Tony Pena

A criminally underrated catcher in his day, Pena could serve as backup to Sanguillen.

Starling Marte

Marte has developed into a prime five tool athlete.  He is one of the best defensive outfielders in the game even in his 30s and can still swipe up to 20 bags a year while hitting .270+ and providing double digit homerun totals.  He won't walk much, but once on the bases he is a dangerous threat.

Cole Tucker

Ok, he hasn't lived up to what made him a number one draft pick, but I am a huge fan of Cole Tucker.  He is a super fan friendly player and heck...hes dating Vanessa Hudgens so let's give a reason to allow her to come to PNC Park more often.  He could play 2B, SS, 3B, and any of the outfield positions.

Pitchers

Dock Ellis

He threw a no hitter on LSD and was the pitcher on the mound for that legendary September 1st 1971 game.

Francisco Liriano

Liriano pitched the most important game in the history of PNC Park when he got the winning decision of the "Blackout Game", the 2013 Wild Card Game.  It was the first time the Pirates were in the post season for over 2 decades and the first time PNC Park hosted a postseason game.  Over his 5 year Pirates career, Liriano had a 9.4K/9 and a 3.65 ERA.  His last season with the Pirates was strictly out of the bullpen, but his previous four were as a front of the rotation starter.  He won the 2013 Comeback Player of the Year.

John Candaleria

The Candy Man has served as a long man and starting pitcher for the Pirates. 

He who shall not be named

Nicknamed, the Nightmare, this man is currently serving a four year prison sentence for crimes he committed while a member of the Pirates.  He made a couple All Star Games and was one of the best relief pitchers in the game, collecting 86 saves over 3 years as the primary closer and having an 11.8K/9 rate.  This doesn't ignore the fact that he is a terrible human being and I hope to never discuss his name on this blog again.

How do you think this team would compete versus other team's all time non white teams?

Could the Steel City take on teams like the Giants or A's, both teams very rich in black and Latino talents? 

I challenge other bloggers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this culture changing game by creating their favorite team's lineup using only Black and Latino players.

Who are the Magnificent Seven Members?

So I recently got in an Andrew McCutchen 2021 Stadium Club Members Only card which has an estimated print run of 30 copies.

The design this year follows expectations for what you'd expect from Stadium Club.  Full bleed photos ✔

Players name in small print ✔

Team name or city in smaller print ✔

The back follows the model that we have come to expect from Stadium Club as well.

It gives a brief look at the player (birth date, bats/throws, height/weight, and how they became a member of the team)

It also has the standard "counting stats" for both the most recent year and career stats.

What I found most interesting was the writeup on the back.  

With a HR on Sept 26, 2020 Cutch joined only 7 other National League players IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME to have double digit homerun totals in each year since they debuted.  The list of players to play in the National League to begin their careers and be thought of as power hitters is an impressive bunch.  

Hall of Famers like Hank Aaron, Billy Williams, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, Andre Dawson, Chipper Jones, Willie Stargell all came to mind first.

I immediately wanted to know who the other 7 players were.

It would have to be someone to play a long time in the National League and they would have to begin their career in the NL.

Let's start with the NL East

Braves

The Braves have had a lot of power hitters over their cross country travels from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta.  

The most notable of course is the former HR King

Hank Aaron ✔

Hammerin' Hank began his career with 21 straight seasons in the National League hitting 10+ HR in a season

Aaron's long time protection at the plate was Eddie Matthew's who clubbed 493 homers for the Braves to begin his career over 15 seasons.

Eddie Matthews ✔

So here we are on the first team and already have 2 of the 7 established just by thinking of Braves All Time Greats.

Speaking of All Time Greats, how about Dale Murphy?  Well he unfortunately fell short in collecting 12 seasons to begin his career with 10+HR as he came up as a catcher and smacked only 2 homers in 37 games as a backstop.

Many people forget that before Chipper Jones was the runner up for Rookie of Year in 1995 he made his debut in 1993 before an ACL tear ruined his next 2 seasons.

Andruw Jones, who broke into the majors as a 19 year old only played in less than a quarter season which didn't lend him to enough at bats to start his career with 10+ HR per season.

Marlins

The Marlins aren't known for keeping their players for 12+ years, but they certainly have had some notable power sluggers play in their franchise history.  Gary Sheffield and Giancarlo Stanton both stand out and both failed to 1)even play 12 consecutive seasons for a National League team to start their career and 2)collect 10+HR in each season to begin their career

Mets

Darry Strawberry and David Wright only had 9 seasons of 10+HR to begin their careers before substance abuse and injuries derailed their careers.

Mike Piazza, another famous Mets slugger, debuted in 1992 with only 1 HR in 21 games.  He would win Rookie of Year award the following season as a member of the Dodgers.

Phillies

Michael Jack Schmidt, Ryan Howard, Dick Allen all went on to have impressive power numbers over their careers, but none of them hit 10+HR in their debut season.

Nationals

Ryan Zimmerman was the Nationals first draft pick, but didn't hit his first homerun until his second season.  He rattled off 8 consecutive seasons beginning in his sophmore season. 

Bryce Harper, another famous player for the Nationals and current teammate of Cutch, has only played for 10 seasons thus far.

So off the top of my head for the NL East I have

Hank Aaron ✔

Eddie Matthews ✔

Moving to the current NL Central teams

Brewers

The Brewers used to be an American League team so I am only looking at the NL versions of the franchise.  There were 2 guys that hit a lot of HR for the team in the mid 2000s.  Prince Fielder I knew left for an American League team (Tigers) following his free agency so I'd not have to waste time researching him.  The other guy came up around the same time as Prince and won Rookie of Year and MVP votes his first season, Ryan Braun.  I knew Braun got caught up in the Biogenesis scandal, but wasn't sure if he collected enough HR in 2013 before being suspended the remainder of the season.  He didn't.  Braun hit only 9 HR before serving a suspension for the rest of the year.  That left him with only a stretch of 6 straight seasons to start a career of 10+HR.

Cubs

Billy Williams played in only 30 games over his first two seasons collecting only 2 HR

Ernie Banks collected only 2HR in his 10 game "cup of coffee" stint in 1953.

Ron Santo got close in his debut season by clubbing 9 HRs and would continue 10+HR the rest of his career, but it was his 95 game debut season that prevented him from double digit homers.

Don't forget that before Ryne Sandberg became a "lifelong" Cub, he was actually a member of the Phillies and got only 6 plate appearances in the 1981 season.  It would be difficult to get 10HR in 6 at bats. 

Reds

The Reds were a powerhouse in the 70s and were known as the Big Red Machine.

Tony Perez and Johnny Bench didn't become regulars until their fourth and second seasons respectively.

Frank Robinson collected 11 National League seasons of 10+HR, but they weren't in consecutive years as Frank had gone from the Reds to the American League's Orioles before rejoining the National League with the Dodgers.

The more recent Reds teams like Joey Votto and Jay Bruce also failed to collect 12 straight seasons of 10 or more homeruns.

Cardinals

Can you believe that Albert Pujols spent nearly the same amount of time in LA as he did in St. Louis?  The 3 time MVP did hit 445 career homeruns in the Arch City, but that was only over 11 seasons, not 12.

Johnny Mize spent 3 years of his prime serving the military, but was still able to collect 12 straight seasons playing in the NL from his MLB debut of 10+HR.

Mize ✔

Stan Musial hit a lot of homeruns, but not in his first season.

Jack Clark was the big bopper of the "Whitey ball era", but his career didn't start off with 12 National League seasons of 10+ HR.

Matt Holliday began his MLB career in Colorado and collected a surprising 11 straight seasons of 10+ HR before an All Star campaign in 2015 cut him short for the rest of the season and ending his streak.

Pirates

Willie Stargell, the franchise leader in HR didnt get his 1st homer until his second season after a 10 game debut season

Dave Parker, much like Stargell didn't get started in the power department until his sophomore season.

Ralph Kiner who was one of the premier power hitters in the late 40s and won SEVEN STRAIGHT Homerun titles, unfortunately retired after only 10 seasons in the league.

We know that Andrew McCutchen made the list and stayed in the National League after his trade from the Pirates to the Giants, but what about another guy who left the Steel City to the bay?

The Home Run King * makes the list too.

Barry Bonds ✔

Ok so off the top of my head I have only 4 of the 7 

Hank Aaron

Eddie Matthews

Barry Bonds

Johnny Mize

Who are the other 3?  They must be known for their time in the NL West.

Let's take a look at the NL West

Diamondbacks

Paul Goldschmidt, Luis Gonzalez, and Justin Upton are all guys that are most often thought of as the pop in Arizona's playoff teams, but all of them didn't begin their careers with 10+HR from their debut seasons.

Dodgers

As discussed Piazza didnt collect 10+HR in his debut season.  Eric Karros who won the Rookie of Year the Year after Piazza suffered the "cup of coffee" problem too.

Steve Garvey didn't get 10 on the board until his 5th season.

What about some other guys to collect a lot of homeruns over their Dodgers career?  Were any of these incredible athletes able to hit 10 or more HR to begin their career in the National League?

Duke Snider 👎

Matt Kemp 👎

Jackie Robinson 👎

Ron Cey 👎

Gil Hodges 👎

No no no! 

Padres

When I think of power hitters in San Diego, there are only a few names that come to mind: Ken Caminiti (who I know struggled early in his career), Adrian Gonzalez (who made his debut as a Ranger), Gary Sheffield (who debuted in the American League as a Brewer, Dave Winfield (who I know didn't play in the NL long enough to qualify), and Willie McCovey who is more well known for his time in San Francisco.

A quick search proves that McCovey did in fact begin his career with enough HR in 12+ consecutive National League seasons to qualify.

Giants

We already know of two names

Willie McCovey ✔

Barry Bonds ✔

Willie Mays began his career with 20HR then connected for only 4 in 1952 before serving the military the following year. 

Will Clark began his career with 8 seasons in San Francisco before heading to an American League team, thus ending the streak.

Orlando Cepeda began his career with a hot streak, but ultimately in 1965 only played in 33 games, collecting only 1 HR ending his 7 year stretch.

Rockies

Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki are the first guys to come to mind.  Helton didn't get more than 5 HR until his second season and only had 10 consecutive years.  Troy didn't play 12 years in the National League, much to my surprise.

So that makes 5 of the 7 and we went through all of the current National League teams, but have their been National League teams in the past that are no longer associated with a current franchise of the same name?

The forgotten NL Teams

Following up from the Rockies, Larry Walker also was unable to collect 10+HR to begin his career in a NL uniform as a member of the Expos.

Andre Dawson didn't collect his first HR until his second season following his debut.

Astros

Before multiple seasons of tanking and trash banging, the Astros had a few power hitters in their franchise. Jeff Bagwell is the only one to make the list of 12 seasons of 10 or more homeruns to begin their career in the National League.  Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence, and Ken Caminiti all fell short.

So here is the list I came up with

Barry Bonds

Hank Aaron

Eddie Matthews

Johnny Mize

Jeff Bagwell

Willie McCovey

That is only 6 players and according to the back of this Stadium Club card there are 7 players to begin their careers in the National League and have 10+ HR in a season for 12 consecutive years.  All six of them would go on to have several more seasons of 10+ HR in their careers and with the exception of a * all are Hall of Famers and All Time Greats.

I began looking at the leaderboards of All Time HR leaders, clicking on ANYONE that may have began their career in the National League.  It wasn't until the player that is 164th All Time that I came across a name I never heard of, Del Ennis.

Del Ennis began his career playing for his hometown Philadelphia Phillies in 1946.  As a 21 year old rookie, Ennis connected for 17HR while batting .313.  He made the All Star team and finished the season with an OPS+ of 144, meaning he was better than 44% of the league.  He played for the Phillies for 11 seasons collecting 259 round trippers. In the 1957 season, Ennis joined the St. Louis Cardinals and hit 24 balls out of the park, marking 12 straight consecutive seasons.  In 1958, Ennis would fail to hit double digit homers for the first time in his career and would retire following the 1959 season.  

Ennis failed to reach 13 seasons of 10+HR in the National League to begin a career.

With Cutch already having collected 15 HR in this half season, he has kept pace with the afformentioned Hall of Famers* as he now has 13 seasons of double digit homers.

3 MVPs, 1 Signed Photo

Do you remember who won the National League MVP in 1960?  

If you answered Dick Groat, your baseball knowledge is very very very strong.

Groat was the starting shortstop for the 1960 World Series Champions, Pittsburgh Pirates. He finished the season with a .766 OPS.  While advanced analytics weren't that common back in 1960, it took one teammate to voice his opinion about what he thought about the writer's choice for the 1960 NL MVP campaign.

Roberto Clemente, one of the greatest Pittsburgh Pirates ever, voiced his anger towards the writers selecting Dick Groat over Roberto Clemente for the 1960 MVP.  I found an article from 2008 that discusses a very early sabremetric look at the 1960 campaign to see how far off Clemente was.  Clemente finished with an 8th place vote with three other Pirates voted higher than him (Dick Groat, Don Hoak, and Vern Law)

Dick Groat might seem like an unlikely victor for the 1960 MVP as he hit only two home runs, stole zero bases, scored only 85 runs and knocked in only 50 runs.  He did finish with the second highest hit total in the senior circuit that season behind Willie Mays (who also happened to have a .936 OPS with over 100 runs and 100RBI while stealing 25 bags.  Goat's WAR that season was 6.1 which was based largely on his glove which accounted for nearly half that total (2.6 dWAR).  

While Goat's MVP season remains as much a controversy today as it was in 1960, Barry Bonds, the NL MVP of 1992 isn't questioned nearly as much.

Bonds QUIETLY put up a near Triple Crown campaign in 1992, his last season with the Pirates.  He finished 1HR shy of the leader, Fred McGriff and only 6RBI behind the NL leader, Darren Daulton.  His batting average of .311 was good for 6th place behind Gary Sheffield.  Bonds posted a 9.0WAR, the best among position players that season.  He also lead the league in on base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS (1.030!!!).  Bonds hit a HR once every 13 at bats in 1992.

Between 1993 and 2012 there wasn't much to root for regarding the Pittsburgh Pirates as the franchise suffered two decades without a winning season.  

That all changed in 2013 when the Pirates went to the playoffs in 2013 largely due in part to Andrew McCutchen, who was emerging as one of the game's greatest stars.  Cutch finished the season with the highest WAR among position players and finishing many categories in the top 10 (hits, HR, batting average, runs, RBI, SB).  Cutch didn't lead any traditional statistical categories, but excelled at them all.  He received 28 (of 30) 1st place votes for the 2013 NL MVP.  

I came across the signed photo you see above via eBay about a year ago.  It doesn't have any third party certification for the signatures, but the source I bought it from specializes in Pittsburgh sports signatures.  The autographs for Groat and Bonds both look authentic and the Cutch, while being a quick signature appears to be valid as well.  Even if it is not authentic, it is still a great looking 8x10 photo to hang on the wall as it features the Pirates 2014 Opening Day ceremonies with Dick Groat and Barry Bonds presenting Cutch with his MVP Award and Silver Slugger based on the 2013 season. 

I found this YouTube video of some of Cutch's 2013 highlights if you want to revisit how great Cutch was in his prime.

Who was the last MVP winner of the team you root for?

Make like a tree and get out of here

I have been watching some of my favorite movies and TV shows now that I am home more.

Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies.

It took old Biff a long time to realize the saying was "Make like a tree...and leave"

This then got me thinking about the old Leaf cards from 1990 and how I wish I didn't invest into them so much as they are practically worthless now.

This 1990 Leaf Barry Bonds has an interesting fact on the back.

Barry Bonds was only the second Pirate to post 20/20 seasons.

There are a few active Pirates players that could potentially be 20/20 guys with Kevin Newman being the most obvious choice.

The most recent 20/20 guys are no longer on the Pirates thanks to trades that shipped them off to NL West teams in 2018 (McCutchen to Giants) and 2020 (Marte to Diamondbacks).

With news that NECA toys is producing a line of figures for the 35th Anniversary of the film and (wait for it....)

A LINE OF TOYS FOR THE ANIMATED SERIES THAT LASTED 26 EPISODES

I am going to show off 26 of my McCutchen cards with Starling Marte.

2014 Gypsy Queen Dual Button

2015 Museum High Number

2013 Museum

2016 Museum

2017

2016 Museum

 2015 Triple Threads

 2015 Triple Threads

2014 Panini Classics Triple Jersey

2017 Stadium Club Photo Variant featuring Cutch and Polanco celebrating after a win.

2016 Heritage Box Loader

2016 Heritage

 2014 Museum

 2015 Museum

 2013 Museum

2015 Topps Heritage

Here is the card with in person autographs inserted into a 2018 Archives Top Loader.


And here are some base cards of Starling Marte that mention Andrew McCutchen on the back (cardboard cameos)

2020 Topps Series 1

2013 Topps Series 1

2017 Topps Chrome