pirates

Baseball scribes made a few references during this postseason to the fact that the last time a visiting team won a Game 7 in a World Series, it was when the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the 1979 classic.  Of course, we were acutely aware that we were running this daily Scoreboard easter egg on the site, and thought it would be a great coincidence to follow up a Texas Rangers win in St. Louis by finishing our 13th Legendary Game to match.  Alas, the Cardinals took the 2011 Series in stunning fashion, and the We Are Family Pirates remain the holder of this interesting distinction.

As this final scoreboard shows, Kent Tekulve finished off pinch hitter Pat Kelly for the final out, inducing a lazy flyball that landed in the glove of the speedy centerfielder Omar Moreno, and we are left to marvel at the lasting legacy that Chuck Tanner’s club embedded in our brains.

The Black and Gold Bucs had a unique charisma that young fans in that era had rarely seen on the World Series stage, especially coming off back to back years of Yankees vs Dodgers, a matchup of the traditional powerhouses.  It is arguable that if you were to randomly ask fans who were in their formative years at that time to recall their top 5 most memorable teams, these Pirates would appear on a majority of the ballots.

This team had larger than life superstars in Willie “Pops” Stargell and Dave “Cobra” Parker.  There was the stringbean reliever with the glasses and the submarine delivery, Kent Tekulve, who made everyone wonder if their math teacher had somehow found a sinkerball.

Then there were the intangibles that caught the attention of casual fans including the pillbox hats with the “Stargell Stars” to represent good play on the field, multiple uniform variations and of course the theme song, Sister Sledge’s disco hit We Are Family.

It’s a challenge for some to remember that it was an Earl Weaver led Baltimore Orioles team, including Cy Young Award winner Mike Flanagan, that lost both games 6 and 7 at the old Memorial Stadium.  (BTW, this game has played a few times on MLB Network and it’s incredible to see how dark and dingy that place was .. even during a World Series)

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