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(More customer reviews)The Pittsburgh Pirates became the fourth team in baseball history to win the World Series after losing three of the first four games as the power of the Sister Sledge song "We are Family" rocked the Baltimore Orioles. Earl Weaver's team had won 102 games during the regular season but in the final three games of the Fall Classic managed to score only two runs. The great irony of the 1979 World Series was that each team only won one game on their home field and since the series started and ended in Baltimore the Orioles got the short end of the stick.
Baltimore announced its presence with authority scoring five runs in the first inning to knock out Bucs starter Bruce Kison as Mike Flannagan pitched a complete game to win 5-4. In Game 2 Pirates catcher Manny Sanguillen drove in the go ahead run in the top of the 9th and Kent Tekulve got the save to tie the series one game apiece. At Three Rivers Stadium the Orioles won Game 3 easily 8-4 behind Scott McGregor while shortstop Kiko Garcia drove in four runs with four hits. Pittsburgh was leading 6-3 in the eighth inning of Game 4 before the Orioles exploded for six runs to win 9-6. At that point the writing was clearly on the wall for the Pirates. So they started playing "We Are Family" more often and louder in Game 6, which, either way, was going to be the Pirates last home game of the 1979 season.
Jim Rooker and and Bert "Be Home" Blyleven combined on a six-hitter for a 7-1 victory and the teams headed back to Baltimore. Game 6 saw John Candeleria and Tekulve shut out the Orioles and future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer 4-0 to knot the series and set up the decisive final game. Four Pirates pitchers game up one run in Game 7 while Willie Stragell hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning and the Pirates tacked on another two runs in the ninth before Tekule earned his third save of the Series and Chuck Tanner's team won Pittsburgh's third title (and only one since Roberto Clemente's tragic death). Ironically, the Pirates had acquired Tanner's services by trading Sanguillen and $100,000 to the Oakland A's for their manager, but the popular and charismatic catcher was back again with the Bucs family.
Stargell was named the series MVP for hitting .400 with a record seven extra-base hits and tying Reggie Jackson's record of 25 total bases. "Pops" would also be named the co-MVP of for the National League for the 1979 season (along with Keith Hernandez of the St. Louis Cardinals), with his leadership on the team adding to the .281 average, 32 home runs and 82 runs batted in on his resume. At 39, Stargell was the oldest MVP in history (at that time, right, Barry Bonds?). Stargell rewarded teammates with "stars" for outstanding performances, which the players then worse on their rather unique caps (remember the roundish caps with the yellow stripes?).
"Pops" hit the most home runs of anybody in the majors in the 1970s, but in 1980 he suffered a knee injury and in the last three years of his career would only hit 14 more home runs in only 335 at bats. But the 1979 World Series put Stargell front and center in the spotlight and not only confirmed his spot in the Hall of Fame but his popularity in Pittsburgh and around baseball (I happened to be at the game at Busch Stadium when the Cardinals honored Stargell for his last appearance in St. Louis). This 90-minute video tape of World Series highlights is a celebration of the man who died too young in 2001 and the team that game back from the brink to win the title.
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