All-Time Pirate Line Ups

Last Updated 31 October 1999

In 1999, Pirate fans voted for their Pirates Team of the Century. The Pirates, in conjunction with the Post-Gazette, received over 14,000 fan ballots. The following are the official results of the balloting at each position (votes received), with the runner-up listed second. Links are provided to short biographies on the Pirates Hall of Fame Page, the Other Pirate Greats Page, or the Pirate Near Greats Page.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES "TEAM OF THE CENTURY"

FIRST BASEMAN Willie Stargell (12,579) Dick Stuart (575)
SECOND BASEMAN Bill Mazeroski (13,049)
Rennie Stennett (364)
SHORTSTOP Honus Wagner (11,106)
Dick Groat (951)
THIRD BASEMAN Pie Traynor (9,754)
Bill Madlock (2,173)
LEFT FIELDER Ralph Kiner (7,948) Barry Bonds (4,834)
CENTER FIELDER Lloyd Waner (4,726)
Andy Van Slyke (4,678)
RIGHT FIELDER Roberto Clemente (12,791)
Paul Waner (890)
CATCHER Jason Kendall (5,508) Manny Sanguillen (5,265)
RIGHT-HANDED PITCHER Vernon Law (4,889) Bob Friend (3,177)
LEFT-HANDED PITCHER Harvey Haddix (6,222) John Candelaria (4,249)
RELIEF PITCHER Kent Tekulve (6,366) ElRoy Face (6,206)
MANAGER Danny Murtaugh (7,875) Jim Leyland (2,735)

The Post-Gazette carried the complete story. Other players who received votes were:
Catcher: Smokey Burgess 1958, Tony Pena 1546, George Gibson 225
First Base: Donn Clendenon 251, Elbie Fletcher 243, Gus Suhr 236
Second Base: Chico Lind 314, Johnny Ray 240
ShortStop: Jay Bell 937, Arky Vaughan 264, Gene Alley 123
Third Base: Richie Hebner 1106, Don Hoak 800, Tommy Leach 149
Left Field: Frank Thomas 385, Max Carey 344, Fred Clarke 232
Center Field: Bill Virdon 2749, Omar Moreno 1130, Kiki Cuyler 540
Right Field: Dave Parker 497
Right Handed Pitcher: Doug Drabek 2432, Steve Blass 2293, Babe Adams 673, Deacon Phillippe 656
Left Handed Pitcher: Wilbur Cooper 1850, Bob Veale 1669
Relief Pitchers: Dave Giusti 747, Stan Belinda 597, Grant Jackson 197
Manager: Chuck Tanner 2369, Fred Clarke 861, Frankie Frisch 196

Addtionally, Major League Baseball also selected a Team of the Century and named Honus Wagner to the squad.

Here is an All Time Pirates Line Up voted on by fans in 1969. It was listed on my souvenier program from the last game at Forbes Field.

1B: Gus Suhr
2B: Bill Mazeroski
SS: Honus Wagner
3B: Pie Traynor
OF: Paul Waner
OF: Lloyd Waner
OF: Roberto Clemente
C: Walter Schmidt 1916-1924
RHP: Deacon Phillippe
LHP: Wilbur Cooper

In the 1995 Media Guide, there is another All-Time Pirate Line up voted on by fans in 1987. There are a few changes from the '69 vote:

C: Manny Sanguillen: 1967, 1969-1976, 1978-1980
1B: Willie Stargell
OF: Ralph Kiner is added in place of Lloyd Waner
RHP: Vern Law
LHP: Harvey Haddix: 1959-1963
Reliever: ElRoy Face

Here is a listing of which players have played the most games at each position for the Bucs.
On our Pirates e-mail list, we tossed around this topic. Neal Traven presented his Pirate Sabrmetric All-Time Team. Neal's posting provides the complete details on his data set and methods involved in arriving at his Sabrmetric All-Time Team - check it out!
Another e-mail list member, John Stuart (jstu@engin.umich.edu), researched the Pirate starters from 1887-1996. He lists them by position and notes the years they started for the Bucs. Great job John!
On Wednesday January 3, 1996, Mike Emeigh (emeighm@bah.com) sent his All-Time Pirates Line up card to the e-mail list. Here's Manager Mike's roster:

I picked 25 men rather than 24.

Catcher: George Gibson (1905-1916)
1B: Willie Stargell
2B: Bill Mazeroski
3B: Pie Traynor
SS: Honus Wagner
LF: Ralph Kiner
CF: Barry Bonds
RF: Roberto Clemente
BENCH: Manny Sanguillen (C), Gus Suhr (1B), Glenn Wright (SS; 1924-1928), Arky Vaughan (SS), Dave Parker (OF), Max Carey (OF), Paul Waner (OF)

Starting Pitcher: Doug Drabek, John Candelaria, Deacon Phillippe, Wilbur Cooper, Bob Friend, Vernon Law
Relief Pitcher: ElRoy Face, Dave Giusti, Kent Tekulve, Harvey Haddix (SP/RP)

Manager: Danny Murtaugh
Coaches: Jim Leyland, Fred Clarke, Bill McKechnie

I had some tough choices to make here. Probably picking Sanguillen over Burgess was the toughest pick for me; subjectively I think Sangy was better defensively and wasn't too shabby with the stick. Smoky was a Pinch Hitter/platoon catcher for most of his career, which also contributed to the choice.

I wanted another non-SS in the Infield, but couldn't justify leaving either Wright or Vaughan off the team. Either of them could play 2B or 3B, I'd guess.

It amazing how few pitchers merited serious consideration. Babe Adams and Sam Leever were the only other ones I even considered. The World Series Bucs of 1925 and 1927 had no really good pichers; Remy Kremer was probably the best, and he only had about 4 good years.

I chose Murtaugh over Leyland for the managing slot, because I think Murtaugh was a better handler of the pitching staff than Leyland is, and they were basically even in the other areas of managing. It's a close choice, IMO.

If you didn't already read Neal Traven's post from the link above, then check out Neal's response to Mike's line up card.
Mischa Gelman (megst19+@pitt.edu) started this discussion. He volunteered to put together the results of a list-wide poll on an All-Time Pirates Team. Neal's and Mike's provided two of the responses. I have edited Mischa's poll and posted it here with his permission. The comments after each position are mostly mine (Glenn's). Here are Mischa's results:

"I awarded 3 Points for a starting vote, 1 point for a bench vote:
Catcher:

                        Starter Votes   Bench Votes     Points
Manny  Sanguillen               6               2        20
Tony Pena                       1               4         7
Don Slaught                     1               1         4
George Gibson                   1               1         4
Smoky Burgess                   1               1         4
Hal Smith                       0               1         1
Surprising consensus!

1st base:

                        Starter Votes   Bench Votes     Points
Willie Stargell                 5               0        15
Elbie Fletcher                  2               0         6
Jake Beckley                    1               1         4
Dick Stuart                     1               1         4
Orlando Merced                  1               0         3
Bob Robertson                   0               2         2
Donn Clendenon                  0               1         1
Gus Suhr                        0               1         1
Sid Bream                       0               1         1
Stargell wins the spot here, but he also gets several votes in Left Field too. Elbie Fletcher makes the squad as a solid back-up.

2nd base:

                        Starting Votes  Bench Votes     Points
Bill Mazeroski                  9               1        28
Dave Cash                       1               0         3
Rennie Stennett                 0               2         2
George Grantham                 0               2         2
Phil Garner                     0               1         1
Maz is the popular fan's choice here; with the strength of Pirate Shortstops over the years, the back-up infielders on the all-time roster would probably come from the shortstop pool of Vaughan, Groat, Alley, and Wright.

Shortstop:

                        Starting Votes  Bench Votes     Points
Honus Wagner                    9               0       27*
Arky Vaughan                    0               8        8
Jay Bell                        1               0        3
Dick Groat                      0               2        2
Gene Alley                      0               2        2
Glenn Wright                    0               1        1
Raffy Belliard                  0               0       100 (Note: Mischa's Favorite!)
*Someone only picked those players he had seen play; that's how we can explain that a Pirate fan picked Jay Bell over the Flying Dutchman. This is a strong position for the Bucs. Arky Vaughan would be a starter on most franchises' All-Time team, but he plays back-up to Honus in Pittsburgh. The all-time roster would also include Groat, Alley, or Wright as a utility infielder.

3rd base:

                        Starting Votes  Bench Votes     Points
Pie Traynor                     8               0       24
Bill Madlock                    1               2        5
Tommy Leach                     1               1        4
Bob Elliot                      0               2        2
Richie Hebner                   0               2        2
Arky Vaughan*                   0               1        1
Vaughan is a Hall of Fame Short Stop. Although he could have easily played the hot corner, this extra vote just reinforces Vaughan's position as the back-up to Honus Wagner on any All-Time team.
Traynor is the popular choice at third base. I think Madlock's popularity is based on his fairly recent career in Pittsburgh, but by the results of this small sample poll, "Mad Dog" makes the team as the back-up.

Outfield: Paul Waner got starting votes at all 3 outfield positions, and many voters mixed-and-matched Barry Bonds in center so I condensed this area to one field. This is similar to most All-Star type games.

 
                        Starting Votes  Bench Votes     Points
Roberto Clemente                9               1       28 (#1 in RF votes)
Paul Waner                      4               5       17
Max Carey                       4               3       15 (#1 CF votes)
Ralph Kiner                     3               5       14
Willie Stargell                 4               0       12 (#1 in LF votes, but already a starter at 1B)
Barry Bonds                     3               2       11
Lloyd Waner                     0               5        5
Bill Virdon                     1               0        3
Al Oliver                       1               0        3
Jake Stenzel                    1               0        3
Dave Parker                     0               2        2
Matty Alou                      0               1        1
Andy Van Slyke                  0               1        1
Ginger Beaumont                 0               1        1
As a manager, I would enjoy wrestling with how to play Clemente, P. Waner, Carey, Kiner, Bonds, and L. Waner all in the same line-up.

Starting Pitcher: Pitchers were voted on as Starters or Relievers. The Manager would set the rotation and decide his long relief, set-up man, and closer.

Deacon Phillippe                6
Babe Adams                      5
Doug Drabek                     4
Wilbur Cooper                   4
Vern Law                        4
Bob Friend                      3
John Candelaria                 3
Sam Leever                      3
Remy Kremer                     3
Steve Blass                     3
Pud Galvin                      2
Dock Ellis                      2
Jesse Tannehill                 1
Claude Hendrix                  1
Jim Bibby                       1
Pink Hawley                     1
Vic Willis                      1
Frank Killen                    1
Relief Pitchers: there are some repeats here from above.
Kent Tekulve                    9
ElRoy Face                      8
Dave Giusti                     5
Ramon Hernandez                 2
Bill Landrum                    2
Jim Gott                        2
Jim Bibby                       1
Al McBean                       1
Luke Walker                     1
Harvey Haddix                   1
Waite Hoyt                      1
Ted Wilks                       1
Deacon Phillippe                1
Rich Gossage                    1
Bob Friend                      1
Rip Sewell                      1
Jesse Tannehill                 1
Jim Rooker                      1
Grant Jackson                   1
John Candelaria                 1
Vern Law                        1
Manager: Fred Clarke (2), Danny Murtaugh (1)
Coaches: Clarke, Jim Leyland, Bill McKechnie (all provided by only one fan)

All participants voted for a 24-man roster, with these exceptions:
1 - 26, 2 - 25, 1 - 23, 1 - 21.

To wrap up this discussion, after reading Mike's, Neal's, and Mischa's summaries, I thought a nice light-hearted post would be in order. Chuck_Blahous(@simpson.senate.gov) provided this post to the list on Friday January 26, 1996. It is a list of his All-Time Favorite Pirates. I have edited it and placed it here with his permission:

"After that much more interesting list, I hate to pick too-distinguished players, but. . .

C: Manny Sanguillen; The Bucs have had many lovable catchers. Who doesn't love Tony Pena and Spanky Lavalliere? But I had most affection for the always-smiling Panamanian.
1B: Captain Willie Stargell; inspiration, big hits, Stargell stars, and shoving the opposing baserunner around playfully between pitches.
2B: Rennie Stennett; What can I say? I went to so many games in his amazing rookie season. I defaced a T-shirt as a kid with his number, much to my mother's consternation.
3B: Bobby Bonilla; it's hard not to like a guy in his pre-Met days who used to conk himself on the head with the bat after missing a pitch.
SS: Jay Bell; He's not as popular now, but a player of diverse talents who fingered his bat like a piccolo between pitches.
LF: Mike Easler; the Hit-man. Batting stance like a coiled spring; seemed to always show when he was about to get the pitch he was going to crush.
CF: Andy Van Slyke; I know, he's too well-known, but he's the most quotable Pirate ever, plus I remember his acrobatic catches.
RF: Roberto Clemente: A thin muscular body with an always present crick in his neck; flowingly graceful in the outfield with an exploding, accurate, cannon of an arm; throwing behind the runner at 1st base. Dangerous hitter who could hit nearly any pitch for a decisive base hit. Talent and grace - Roberto. Essentially, he was just beautiful to watch. Almost any in-action photo of him looks like a sculpted statue, or any slo-mo film looks like one of those physicists' slo-mo films done to analyze the movements of a racehorse -- whether he's swinging the bat, running around the bases, or catching-turning-throwing. I suppose what I remember him most for are his haughty dignity and grace on the field, and the elegant beauty of so many of his plays.
SP: Doug Drabek: for his workmanship and grit.
Steve Blass: for his enthusiasm, humor, and herky-jerk motion.
Nellie Briles: for falling on his face after pitches and causing rain.
Jim Bibby: His cap would be dripping with sweat by the 2nd inning. Always tough, always kept the Bucs close.
Bob Walk: 90% guts, 10% talent, always there when you need him.
RP: Kent Tekulve: sorry, the best-known again, but who else looked so spastic while pitching?"
Is there something here you like, that needs to be changed,
or would you like to see something that is not included?
Send me an
e-mail

Go back to Glenn's Pirates Page

Go back to Glenn's Home Page