October 17th, 1979
World Series, Game 7
Pittsburgh Pirates at Baltimore
Orioles
Memorial Stadium, Baltimore
If
you’re old enough to remember watching the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late 70s
or early to mid 80s, then you probably also remember their awful looking
softball uniforms. You know, the ones with the yellow tops and the black pants.
Or the black tops and the yellow pants. Or how about the yellow tops and yellow
pants. Or the pinstripes that looked like pyjamas.
However,
all joking aside, the Pirates in the 70s were a very successful team, led by
Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Bill Madlock. As the 70s were drawing to a
close, they were looking to continue the reputation the city of Pittsburgh had
as the “City of Champions.” The Pirates had won the World Series in 1971 while
the National Football League franchise, the Steelers, had won Super Bowls
following the 1974, 1975 and 1978 seasons and would win another one a few short
months after the 1979 World Series ended.
The
Orioles had the makings of a perennial contender and were led by a strong
pitching staff: Jim Palmer, Dennis Martinez, Mike Flanagan and Scott McGregor.
They also had the “Little General,” Earl Weaver, as their manager. Weaver had a
reputation for getting into it with umpires, opposing players and coaches and
even his own players. Much the same style as Billy Martin, but for some reason
not criticized for it as much as the Yankee skipper.
The
teams would split the first two games in Baltimore, with the Orioles taking
Game 1 by a 5-4 score and the Pirates coming back in the second game with a 3-2
victory. With the series shifting to Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, the
Orioles proved home field advantage didn’t mean much as they stormed through
Games 3 and 4 with 8-4 and 9-6 victories, taking a three games to one lead and
pushing the Pirates to the brink.
The
Pittsburgh fans were relieved when the Pirates took the fifth game by a 7-1
score, but now the Orioles were headed back to Memorial Stadium, needing to
take only one of two games to win the championship. But the strong pitching of
starter John Candelaria and reliever Kent Tekulve shutout the Orioles and
Pittsburgh forced a seventh game with a 4-0 win.
For
the deciding game, Pittsburgh would send Jim Bibby to the mound while the O’s
would counter with Scott McGregor. The Baltimore right-hander shutout the
Pirates over the first five innings while his teammates took a 1-0 lead in the
bottom of the third on a solo home run by Rich Dauer.
But
McGregor ran into some trouble in the top of the sixth. With one out, he
surrendered a single to Bill Robinson. The next batter, Willie Stargell,
smashed a two-run home run over the right field wall for a 2-1 Pittsburgh lead.
The
score was unchanged until the top of the ninth when the Pirates doubled their
run output on an RBI single by Omar Moreno, and then on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch
while Robinson was at the plate. The inning featured five different Orioles
pitchers as Weaver tried in vain to keep the Pirates from adding runs.
Tekulve
retired the Orioles in the order in the bottom of the ninth and the Pirates had
another championship for Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell was the World Series Most
Valuable Player, adding to the NLCS MVP Award he had won as well. To date, this
was the Pirates’ last trip to the World Series.
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