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An opener dampened by the loss of a legend
Tuesday, April 10, 2001
Seven-time All-Star, first-year Hall-of-Famer, a clubhouse leader called "Pops" - Willie Stargell died yesterday, the day the team officially opened the gates to its new home at PNC Park.
It's not as if the Pirates needed one more way to remember their home-run king and 1979 World Series hero. The ailing 61-year-old sports great spent most of his career being adored by hitters and feared by pitchers. His daunting physical frame and "pinwheel" warmup swings intimidated his mound opponents, but not as much as his towering home runs, which soared longer and higher than most balls hit in the stadiums of his day.
While Pittsburgh fans celebrate their old-fashioned, newfangled ballpark, the bland, concrete symmetry of Three Rivers Stadium recedes from memory. But Willie Stargell, a left-handed batter whose early stats were curbed by the deep right-field power alley in Forbes Field, relished the team's move to the North Side in 1970, where his home run totals took off. It was fitting in October that he threw the ceremonial last pitch at the stadium where his career soared.
Willie Stargell's towering presence will still be felt at Pittsburgh's newest baseball shrine, in the form of a 12-foot statue outside the left-field entrance. The muscular bronze image stands with feet wide apart, ready to crush another ball skyward. At its feet are representations of the famous "Stargell stars," patches he awarded to teammates for good work and which were sewn onto their caps.
But the death of No. 8 also marks several other passings.
Willie Stargell came from an era of players who felt the sting of racial discrimination - in motels, restaurants and elsewhere - while hitting the minor-league circuit on the team bus in the late 1950s. He played at a time when it wasn't unusual to spend a 22-year career with the same team. And for many Pirates fans, he was the enduring connection to the Great One - the cleanup hitter who followed Roberto Clemente in the batting order and then assumed the mantle of leadership after Clemente's death in 1972.
For all that Willie Stargell was, overcame and represented, Pirates fans yesterday gave thought to or thanks for. There was joy over the debut of PNC Park, but a hollow ache over one who had given the game his heart.