’79 Champs Witness Bucs Rise to 5th Place

I was supposed to be in the audience tonight. But a business trip looms tomorrow. Thusly, I witnessed the game courtesy of Fox Sports Ohio. 22 members of the 1979 World Series champs were honored before the game and they got to watch Zach Duke, Ryan Doumit and Garrett Jones pitch and pound the Reds into submission. And into the cellar.

The Pirates took over 5th place with their fifth straight win. Duke allowed two runs on eight hits and no walks in seven innings. The Pirates got on Justin Lehr in the first inning with three runs. Doumit was in the middle of it. With the Pirates already up 1-0, one gone in the first and Jones on third, Doumit hit a high bouncer back to Lehr. The Reds hurler wanted to get two and end the inning, but Doumit hustled down the line and was credited with a fielder’s choice RBI. He then swiped second based and scored on a single from Lastings Milledge.

Doumit hit a two run homer high into the seats in right in the fifth to make it 6-1. Jones added a two run double in next frame and the route was on. The Pirates added four more in the 7th. Steve Pearce had a two run single. Had it not been for an acrobatic stop by Brandon Phillips off the bat of Delwyn Young that Phillips helped turn into a double play, it could’ve been worse.

Lehr allowed six runs on 8 hits in five innings.

The Good

Five straight wins.

Fifth place.

Doumit had three hits, scored three times and drove in three.

Jones also had three hits and three runs knocked home.

Duke picks up win #10.

The Bad

Nothing at all, other than me not being in the Steel City tonight.

The Rest

The 19 players from the 1979 team on hand were:

Matt Alexander, Dale Berra, Bert Blyleven, John Candelaria, Mike Easler, Phil Garner, Grant Jackson, Bruce Kison, Lee Lacy, Bill Madlock, Omar Moreno, Steve Nicosia, Ed Ott, Dave Parker, Don Robinson, Jim Rooker, Manny Sanguillen, Rennie Stennett and Kent Tekulve. Chuck Tanner and coach Al Monchak were there along with trainer Tony Bartirome. Willie Stargell’s wife was also there.

Among the deceased in addition to Stargell are Bill Robinson, John Milner, Dave Roberts and Dock Ellis (not on post-season roster). Living players who did not come back were Jim Bibby, Doe Boyland (not on post-season roster), Joe Coleman (not on post-season roster), Tim Foli, Gary Hargis (not on post-season roster), Alberto Lois (not on post-season roster), Rick Rhoden (disabled most of the season), Enrique Romo, Frank Taveras (traded early on for Foli), Ed Whitson (traded for Madlock in June)

This was Doumit’s fifth career game with three runs scored. It was the third time he reached three RBI and three runs scored in one contest.

Jones has six RBI in the last two games.

Duke reached double figures in wins for the second time in his career.

Each of the starting 8 had a hit and scored a run.

Last five game winning streak was May 15 to 20th against Colorado and Washington. Each of the starters were the winning pitcher during the current winning streak.The bullpen picked up three wins during the earlier winning streak.

Luis Cruz got his third start of the year in place of Ronny Cedeno who has a fractured finger.

Welcome back Phil Dumatrait who pitched a scoreless inning, his first game since July 7, 2008.

 

Former Pirate Player, Coach Dave Ricketts Dies

Dave Ricketts has died of renal failure.
He is mostly remembered as a longtime Cardinal coach and catching instructor. He spent his last season as a player – 1970 – as a Pirate. His first gig as a coach was also with the Bucs, starting immediately after his playing career ended. Ricketts joined the Pirates after the 1969 season as part of the trade that saw Dave Giusti come to the steel city in exchange for Carl Taylor.
Ricketts played college basketball at Duquesne. In the 1974 book (written about the 1973 season) Out of Leftfield, Willie Stargell describes Ricketts as being the hardest working coach and a counselor to the young Pirate players on the team. During his stint as Pirates coach, Ricketts lost his 12 year old son to cancer.
After leaving the Pirates, he spent a good chunk of the next 20 years as a Major League coach for St. Louis.

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 16

The Buccos were in it in 1982. They didn’t win it, but they played meaningful games in September – something that the club has failed to do in recent times. And as Willie Stargell once said, “I love September, especially when we are in it.” Pops retired following 1982. With a strong offense (2nd in the NL in runs scored) and a decent pitching staff in place (John Candelaria, Larry McWilliams and Rick Rhoden were slated for the rotation), what were the Bucs looking for heading into 1983?
After the jump you have more than 4,000 words including over 1,000 on Lee Mazzilli.

Fun with Baseball-Reference – Pirate comparable players

October is a boring time for a Pirate fan. Even the revamping of the team’s front office and management has come to a virtual standstill, at least publicly. The World Series started last night, but the coverage here, here and at many other places is far superior to anything I can provide. Desperate for anything interesting and Pirate-related, Cory’s comment on Tuesday gave me an idea. He mentioned that Warren Morris was listed by Baseball-Reference as one of Jose Castillo’s top comparables. I decided I would try to find as many players with Pirate ties that were connected to each other through the comparable player lists. Basically, I just plugged in a random Pirate’s name and began playing my own stupid version of Six Degrees of Separation. Now, as a reward for visiting this site, you get to view my findings.
I started with Cory’s example of Jose Castillo. Warren Morris has had the seventh most comparable career to Castillo. At the age of 26, Morris’ most comparable player was another former Pirate second baseman, Carlos Garcia (Randy also noted this in the comments section of my last post). Garcia’s tenth most comparable player was Nelson Liriano. Liriano’s tenth most comparable player was Luis Sojo, who had 176 at-bats with the Pirates in 2000. Sojo’s most comparable player when he was 33 was Einar Diaz, who spent 2007 in Indianapolis with the Bucs’ Triple-A affiliate. In addition, Sojo’s most comparable player at the ages of 27 and 31 was Hal Smith. No, this is not the Hal Smith who hit one of the biggest home runs in Pirate history (though not many seem to remember it for obvious reasons). But this Hal Smith did have three at-bats for the Pirates in 1965.
The next name I tried was Al Martin. His sixth most comparable player was former Pirate outfielder Bob Skinner. Number three on Skinner’s list was Orlando Merced. Martin’s most similar player through the age of 26 was Moises Alou, who was a prospect in the Pirates’ system before being dealt in the Zane Smith trade in 1990. Alou’s sixth most comparable player through the age of 40 is Pirate great Willie Stargell. Martin’s eighth most comparable player was the infamous Pirate Derek Bell. On Bell’s list, I found Jose Guillen (fourth) and Matt Lawton (fifth). Also, his most comparable player was Gary Ward, father of former Pirate first baseman Daryle Ward.
Things got interesting (is any of this actually interesting?) when I checked out Nate McLouth. His fifth most comparable player was Ruben Mateo, who provided 33 at-bats for the team in 2004. Mateo’s most comparable player at 26 years old was Midre Cummings, whose eighth most comparable player was former Pirate manager Chuck Tanner. Mateo’s most comparable player through the age of 29 was Mike Kingery, and fifth on his list was R.J. Reynolds. Through the age of 32, Mateo’s most similar player was Turner Ward, who became a local legend when he stormed through the right field wall at Three Rivers Stadium. Ward’s sixth most comparable player was Jacob Brumfield. The most similar player to Brumfield was Luis Matos, who spent some time in Indianapolis this season.
Next up was Raul Mondesi, which led me to Reggie Sanders (2003 with the Bucs) and Kirk Gibson (56 at-bats with the team in 1992). Number four on Sanders’ list was Jeromy Burnitz, and Craig Wilson showed up as Burnitz’s top comparable at age 26.
There were a few other notables. Chris Duffy brought up Adrian Brown at sixth at the age of 26. Jermaine Allensworth was Brown’s ninth most similar player. Evidently those centerfielders were as similar as we suspected. A search for Jack Wilson brought up Pat Meares, Wilson’s ninth most comparable player.
This was about the point where I got tired and quit. If you made it this far, congratulations. That was quite a bit of nonsense. I am sorry to report however, there there is no exciting conclusion or point to this exercise. It has simply been an excuse for me to discuss former Pirate players.

Fun with Baseball-Reference – Pirate comparable players

October is a boring time for a Pirate fan. Even the revamping of the team’s front office and management has come to a virtual standstill, at least publicly. The World Series started last night, but the coverage here, here and at many other places is far superior to anything I can provide. Desperate for anything interesting and Pirate-related, Cory’s comment on Tuesday gave me an idea. He mentioned that Warren Morris was listed by Baseball-Reference as one of Jose Castillo’s top comparables. I decided I would try to find as many players with Pirate ties that were connected to each other through the comparable player lists. Basically, I just plugged in a random Pirate’s name and began playing my own stupid version of Six Degrees of Separation. Now, as a reward for visiting this site, you get to view my findings.
I started with Cory’s example of Jose Castillo. Warren Morris has had the seventh most comparable career to Castillo. At the age of 26, Morris’ most comparable player was another former Pirate second baseman, Carlos Garcia (Randy also noted this in the comments section of my last post). Garcia’s tenth most comparable player was Nelson Liriano. Liriano’s tenth most comparable player was Luis Sojo, who had 176 at-bats with the Pirates in 2000. Sojo’s most comparable player when he was 33 was Einar Diaz, who spent 2007 in Indianapolis with the Bucs’ Triple-A affiliate. In addition, Sojo’s most comparable player at the ages of 27 and 31 was Hal Smith. No, this is not the Hal Smith who hit one of the biggest home runs in Pirate history (though not many seem to remember it for obvious reasons). But this Hal Smith did have three at-bats for the Pirates in 1965.
The next name I tried was Al Martin. His sixth most comparable player was former Pirate outfielder Bob Skinner. Number three on Skinner’s list was Orlando Merced. Martin’s most similar player through the age of 26 was Moises Alou, who was a prospect in the Pirates’ system before being dealt in the Zane Smith trade in 1990. Alou’s sixth most comparable player through the age of 40 is Pirate great Willie Stargell. Martin’s eighth most comparable player was the infamous Pirate Derek Bell. On Bell’s list, I found Jose Guillen (fourth) and Matt Lawton (fifth). Also, his most comparable player was Gary Ward, father of former Pirate first baseman Daryle Ward.
Things got interesting (is any of this actually interesting?) when I checked out Nate McLouth. His fifth most comparable player was Ruben Mateo, who provided 33 at-bats for the team in 2004. Mateo’s most comparable player at 26 years old was Midre Cummings, whose eighth most comparable player was former Pirate manager Chuck Tanner. Mateo’s most comparable player through the age of 29 was Mike Kingery, and fifth on his list was R.J. Reynolds. Through the age of 32, Mateo’s most similar player was Turner Ward, who became a local legend when he stormed through the right field wall at Three Rivers Stadium. Ward’s sixth most comparable player was Jacob Brumfield. The most similar player to Brumfield was Luis Matos, who spent some time in Indianapolis this season.
Next up was Raul Mondesi, which led me to Reggie Sanders (2003 with the Bucs) and Kirk Gibson (56 at-bats with the team in 1992). Number four on Sanders’ list was Jeromy Burnitz, and Craig Wilson showed up as Burnitz’s top comparable at age 26.
There were a few other notables. Chris Duffy brought up Adrian Brown at sixth at the age of 26. Jermaine Allensworth was Brown’s ninth most similar player. Evidently those centerfielders were as similar as we suspected. A search for Jack Wilson brought up Pat Meares, Wilson’s ninth most comparable player.
This was about the point where I got tired and quit. If you made it this far, congratulations. That was quite a bit of nonsense. I am sorry to report however, there there is no exciting conclusion or point to this exercise. It has simply been an excuse for me to discuss former Pirate players.

Game #152 at San Diego

Petco Park | 10:05 | Snell vs. Chris Young | Box
Matt Capps has been pretty reliable this season. Not so much tonight. Nursing a one run lead, Capps was brought in with two down in the 8th and the tying run on third in the person for former Bucco farmhand Craig Stansberry. Capps whiffed Morgan Ensberg to end the inning. But he ran into trouble in the 9th. Adrian Gonzalez doubled with one gone. One out later, Kevin Kouzmanoff walked on a full count. Scott Hairston delivered a walk-off three run bomb.
It looked dicey early on. The Bucs actually got to (kind of) Chris Young. Nyjer Morgan led off the game with a triple and scored on a sac fly from Nate McLouth. Ian Snell allowed a lead off double to Brian Giles. One out later Giles moved up on a passed ball and Mike Cameron walked and stole second. Gonzalez singled in both of them.
The Pirates took back the lead on an RBI double by McLouth and a SF from Freddy Sanchez. And that was it. The Bucs had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, but Young retired Sanchez and Adam LaRoche without any damage.
Snell went seven innings and allowed just one earned run. He struck out five, walked two and allowed four hits. Young had a similar line. Five walks and two K’s but in six innings of work with three earnies.
The Bucs have dropped five in a row. Does it matter? No, not really.
Speaking of Stansberry, here’s a nice piece on him from OregonLive.com. Note that the Beavers manager is former Pirate first round pick Rich Renteria. Only now he goes by Rick Renteria.
Recaps
AP recap at Yahoo! Sports
Padres Official Site

Pirates making home run history

It is widely known that the Pirates set a team record with 45 home runs in the month of August. It was a fun time to watch Pirate baseball, as the team seemingly scored at will. However, even with that eruption of power, the Bucs are currently tied for 20th in Major League Baseball with 135 home runs. Overall, it does not seem like a historically significant season. But take a look at the team’s individual leaders in home runs:

• Adam LaRoche – 21
• Jason Bay – 20
• Xavier Nady – 17
• Jose Bautista – 14
• Nate McLouth – 12
• Freddy Sanchez – 11
• Ronny Paulino – 10
• Jack Wilson – 9
• Ryan Doumit – 9

What is noteworthy about these numbers? This is only the third team in the history of the franchise that has boasted seven players with ten or more home runs. If Wilson can hit one more in the final few weeks, it will be the first to have eight. The other two occasions in which seven players achieved the feat were in 1973 (Willie Stargell-44, Richie Hebner-25, Al Oliver-20, Bob Robertson-14, Manny Sanguillen-12, Rennie Stennett-10, Richie Zisk-10) and 1964 (Willie Stargell-21, Jerry Lynch-16, Roberto Clemente-12, Donn Clendenon-12, Bob Bailey-11, Bill Mazeroski-10, Jim Pagliaroni-10).
Keep in mind that these numbers do not indicate that the Pirates are developing into a powerful lineup. The fact that this has occurred only three times in the team’s history simply highlights the Pirates’ consistently feeble offense during Major League Baseball’s power explosion over the past 20 years. In fact, having seven or more players reach double digits in home runs is fairly common among the rest of the league. Taking a quick look around the league, I counted ten other teams that have accomplished the feat in 2007 alone. The New York Yankees have achieved the mark every year since 1996.
So let us enjoy watching this edition of the Pittsburgh Pirates make franchise history. However, as we are conditioned to do as Pirate fans, we must keep the feat in perspective. We are still taking baby steps when compared with the rest of the league.
Statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference Play Index

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 8

Continuing with a string of posts the looks at whether or not ill-conceived trades made to acquire the players on the 1979 roster doomed the team to flounder in mediocrity in the mid-1980s. I think no, but let’s continue with Bill Robinson.
The Trade
On April 5, 1975, the Pirates acquired Robinson even up for Wayne Simpson.
The Background
The Pirates had an insane amount of talent in the outfield in 1974. The primary outfielders were Willie Stargell, Al Oliver and Richie Zisk. The Pirates also had burgeoning superstar Dave Parker and do it all utility OF Gene Clines on the bench in 1974.
Clines always felt that he deserved a chance to play everyday and definitely wasn’t going to get it in Pittsburgh. So, he was traded to the Mets for Duffy Dyer after the 1974 season. Zisk played right, but he was better suited to left. Bob Robertson in the middle of his career tailspin played first in 1974, but was moved to the bench in 1975 as Stargell took over those duties to free up space for Zisk in left and Parker in right. While those moves gave the Pirates a great starting outfield, it left them short of a good sub. Hence the trade for Bill Robinson, less than one week before Spring Training started.
Robinson was originally signed by the Milwaukee Braves. He was traded to the Yankees with Chi Chi Olivo (brother of former Pirate reliever Diomedes Olivo) for the popular Clete Boyer and was tabbed to be Mickey Mantle’s successor. Like many other players given that weight to carry around (Bobby Murcer and Roy White come to mind), Robinson had a very good career but failed to live up to the billing. He played terribly for the Yankees, seeing action in 1967, 1968 and 1969, hitting just .206 in over 900 at bats.
Having seen enough, the Yanks traded him to the ChiSox for Barry Moore after 1970. Moore never appeared for the Yankees and Robinson never made it to the Show for the South Siders. Following 1971, Robinson went to the Phillies for a minor leaguer.
After not appearing in the bigs in 1970 or 1971, Robinson made it back in 1972, but hit just .239. Finally as a 30 year old in 1973, Robinson busted out with 25 homers and a .288 BA for Philadelphia. After another lackluster season in 1974 (.236 BA and five homers in 280 at bats), Robinson was dealt to Pittsburgh.
I’ve read (and can’t recall where), that Ken Macha was set to make the Pirates out of Spring Training in 1975, but the acquisition of Robinson blocked his way. Macha was a third baseman by trade and would’ve been Richie Hebner’s back up. Robinson had played 14 games at third in 1974 for Philadelphia and was supposedly going to help fill the back up role in Pittsburgh. I doubt that this was really the case. Robinson wasn’t a good third baseman (less than .900 fielding average for his career) and another young third baseman (Art Howe) did make the club out of Florida.
Robinson did, however, play third occasionally while with the Pirates. But in 1975, all of his appearances were in the OF. Robinson hit pretty well (.280) with decent power (6 homers in 200 ABs) in 1975. However, he would immediately begin to shine the following year. With Stargell, Parker and Oliver all missing some time, Robinson filled in beautifully, cracking 21 homers and hitting .303 in less than 400 ABs. He ripped three taters in a 15 inning game against San Diego on 6/5/76. He would continue that level of production through 1979 as he averaged 20 homers and 81 RBI in that span.
At age 36, Robinson hit 24 homers and drove in 75 for the 1979 World Champs. His post-season accomplishments were more modest (no hits in 3 at bats in the NLCS and five hits in 19 tries in the World Series). But, he was on base when Stargell stroked what proved to be the game winning homer in Game 7.
After a down 1981, Robinson was in the middle of a mediocre 1982 when he was traded to the Phillies in a bizarre trade. On 6/15/82, Wayne Nordhagen went from Toronto to Philly for Dick Davis. That same day, the Phillies shipped Nordhagen to Pittsburgh for Robinson. Nordhagen played one game for Pittsburgh (6/19/82) and went 2-4 with two RBI. But he came down with a stiff back. The Pirates claimed it was a pre-existing issue and cried foul. So, to remedy the issue, the Blue Jays swapped Davis to Pittsburgh for Nordhagen. I don’t know if he went on the DL or what, but Nordhagen didn’t play again until late August. Davis played in three games for the Blue Jays before the trade.
Robinson filled primarily a back up and pinch hitting role for the Phillies in 1982 and 1983. He didn’t last long in 1983, being released in June.
Since his playing days ended, Robinson has picked up two more World Series rings as a coach for the 1986 Mets (he was the closest person to Bill Buckner when the ball rolled through his legs) and the 2003 Marlins. In between those stints, Robinson was an analyst on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.
Robinson was involved in a Mets-Pirates brawl on June 6, 1986. Rick Rhoden was tossing for the Pirates. Robinson was the Mets first base coach. Rhoden struck out Gary Carter to end the fifth inning and Robinson accused him of scuffing the ball. A fight ensued with some fines being levied in the aftermath. That game is notable for two other reasons. First, Barry Bonds hit his second career homer off Ron Darling. Also, it was the Pirates only win against the Mets against 17 defeats in 1986.
The ballad of Wayne Simpson is a sad one. He was a first round pick of the Reds in 1967 and paid dividends upon his introduction to the Bigs in 1970. In his first big league appearance he tossed a complete game two hitter against LA. Two games later, he threw a complete game 1 hitter against Frisco. He made the All-Star team later than year but in a 7/31/70 start against Chicago he heard a pop in his arm. Turns out he tore his rotator cuff and would never be the same.
He started 20 games in each of the next two seasons for the Reds but was not good by any means. After 1972 the Reds packaged Simpson and Hal McRae to KC for Richie Scheinblum and Roger Nelson. The Royals clearly got the better of that deal. After a bad year in KC in 1973 (ERA of over 5.00), he was traded to Pittsburgh for Jim Foor. (Foor was one of the subjects interviewed by Rob Trucks -relation of former MBLer Virgil Trucks – in his book Cup of Coffee. Great book that I need to read again at some point). Not sure where Simpson spent 1974, but he didn’t appear in the Majors. Following that year, the Pirates dealt him for Robinson. The Phillies sold him to the Angels and he last appeared in the Majors in 1977 with California, going 6-12 with an ERA of 5.83.
The Data
Simpson won six games in 1977. But, he’s credited with no Win Shares. Perhaps because his ERA was so unsightly.

Year	Robinson	Simpson
1975	6	2
1976	17	–
1977	18	0
1978	14	–
1979	12	–
1980	7	–
1981	0	–
1982	2	–

The Conclusion
No argument at all with this trade. Robinson was an important cog and Simpson was unable to regain the magic in his arm.

The Team that Changed Baseball by Bruce Markusen

One of the seven deadly sins is envy. And I have it for Bruce Markusen who gets to live in Cooperstown and write about baseball for a living. Okay, I wouldn’t want to live in Upstate New York during the winter as I don’t enjoy that much snow.
Markusen has previously written a biography of Roberto Clemente that I thought was well done and I rank as the second best Clemente biography behind the recent effort by David Maraniss.
This tome by Markusen looks at the 1971 Pirates and specifically focuses on the diverse racial make up of the club. The Buccos became the first team to start nine minorities in one game during the 1971 season, hence the title of the book. On September 1 skipper Danny Murtaugh filled out the following lineup:
Rennie Stennett – 2B
Gene Clines – CF
Roberto Clemente – RF
Willie Stargell – LF
Manny Sanguillen – C
Dave Cash – 3B
Al Oliver – 1B
Jackie Hernandez – SS
Dock Ellis – P
This book is well thought out but isn’t particularly insightful. The first part of the book details baseball’s slow (especially in the AL) integration of American blacks and darked skin players from Latin America. Markusen jumps into the 1971 season and gives some description from most of the contests before concluding the book with individual chapters on each game of the 1971 World Series.
Not a whole lot of anecdotes or humorous stories. My favorite one was about Dock Ellis wearing a batting practice helment that he had altered so that it was fuzzy. He called it “velvetized”. Also, according to Steve Blass from the middle of his masterful Game 6 performance in the 1971 series to its conclusion Manny Sanguillen refused to call any pitches and had no idea what Blass was going to offer. He and Sangy had a disagreement during a mound conference one inning. Sangy told Blass to throw whatever he wanted and the backstop refused to offer any signs. Blass notes that Sany had amazing athletic ability to be able to pick up the rotation on the ball and not commit any passed balls.

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 2

The authors of the book When the Bucs Won it All state that the Pirates plunge into last place in the 1980s was due to the poor trades that were made to acquire the players on the 1979 club. I disagree.
In part 1 of this series, I looked at how the World Series roster was put together – which players were acquire via trade, draft, and free agency. In the next several posts, I’ll analyze the trades that brought the members of the team to Pittsburgh. Going alphabetically, the first player on the 1979 post-season roster acquired in a trade was Bert Blyleven.
The Trade
After a season and a half pitching for the Rangers, Blyleven was involved in a mammoth four team trade on 12/8/77. Blyleven was dealt to the Pirates. The Braves sent Willie Montanez to the Mets. Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller went to Atlanta from Texas. The Rangers sent Ken Henderson and Tom Grieve to the Mets. The Bucs dealt Al Oliver and Nelson Norman to Texas. The Mets sent Jon Matlack to the Rangers. John Milner went from the Mets to the Pirates.
From the Pirates perspective, this boils down to Oliver for Blyleven and Milner. Norman’s career was inconsequential as he amassed just a single win share in the Show.
The Background
Oliver was a star, an outstanding hitter and a player capable of playing multiple positions. His career totals fall a touch short of serious Hall of Fame consideration, in my opinion. He hit .308 with 19 homers and 82 RBI in 1977. However, in that season, Willie Stargell was injured, leaving Bill Robinson as the Pirates primary first baseman. Robinson, finally living up to the billing given to him as a prospect, hit .304 with 26 taters and 104 RBI. A couple of things made Oliver expendable. Stargell was presumably healthy and the Pirates were most likely looking to keep the slightly more potent (and slightly more aged) bat of Robinson in the lineup. Stargell was only capable of playing first at this point in his career, which meant Robinson would go to the outfield. Fleet footed Omar Moreno manned center field. Though not as skilled a hitter as Oliver, his speed gave him range in center matched only by Garry Maddox in Philly. Moreno led all NL outfielders in put outs both in 1979 and in 1980. Dave Parker, a budding superstar, had a justifiable stranglehold on right field. Additionally, the rotation was a bit suspect. The pitching staff posted the third best ERA in the NL in 1977, but two of the four starters (Jerry Reuss and Bruce Kison) posted an ERA+ of less than 100. The fifth starting spot was manned most often by Odell Jones who posted an ERA above 5.00 in 34 appearances (15 starts).
For Oliver the Pirates acquired a pitcher with a track record for being a workhorse (no fewer than 230 IP in every season since he was a 20 year old rookie in 1970) and for being hard to score on (his career worst ERA+ was 117 in his rookie season). They also got Milner, a capable home run hitter who could (and would) spell Stargell at first and Robinson in left.
The Data
The following table has win share data for the primary players involved for 1978 to the end of their careers. I’ve included Robinson’s numbers here for comparison’s sake since he became the primary left fielder in Oliver’s absence.

Year	Blyleven	Milner	Oliver	Robinson
1978	16	10	22	14
1979	13	13	18	12
1980	9	7	21	7
1981	14	4	13	0
1982	1	2	26	4
1983	10	–	14	0
1984	20	–	8	–
1985	23	–	2	–
1986	18	–	–	–
1987	18	–	–	–
1988	4	–	–	–
1989	22	–	–	–
1990	3	–	–	–
1991	DNP	–	–	–
1992	5	–	–	–

The Analysis
In the short term, this was a good trade for the Pirates. Blyleven continued his solid pitching and Milner and Robinson proved to be capable players for the immediate future. However, Blyleven bristled at the frequency in which he pitched (he preferred a 4 man rotation) and the quick hook delivered by skipper Chuck Tanner. The Dutch Master felt that he pitched better when his arm was a little tired. The Pirates felt compelled to trade him following the 1980 campaign and got little in return. Robinson and Milner (and Stargell) declined quickly after 1979, while Oliver had perhaps his best season in 1982 when Milner and Robinson were bit players in the Show.
Conclusion
Overall, this was a good trade. Blyleven helped the Pirates win the 1979 World Series. He pitched the clinching game in the 1979 NLCS. Robinson and Milner played big roles that season, as well. The combination of Blyleven and Milner provided more win shares in both 1978 and 1979 than Oliver did. The trade went sour after 1980 when Blyleven was unloaded for a package of players that didn’t pan out. But that is the subject of a future post.