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Friday, December 20, 2002

By Robert Dvorchak, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

"One night in Pittsburgh, 30,000 fans gave me a standing ovation when I caught a hot dog wrapper on the fly."

	BY THE NUMBERS Dick Stuart’s career: Category No. Seasons 1958-69 Games 1,112 At-bats 3,997 Hits 1,055 Home runs 228 Runs batted in 743 Batting average .264 All-star games 1 World Series rings 1

-- Dick Stuart

Bill Virdon can see the play yet. It was a one-hop smash that Dick Stuart, a first baseman so noted for his defensive shortcomings that he came to be known as "Dr. Strangeglove," fielded with uncharacteristic prowess.

"He picked it clean," said Virdon. "But when he went to tag the bag to get the out, he dropped the ball."

Then there was the time when Stuart, known as much for his prodigious power as his balky mitt, launched a home run over the scoreboard in Crosley Field in Cincinnati to win a Sunday game in the ninth inning. As it happened, the Steelers were playing at home, and almost everybody at a Steelers game in those days carried transistor radios to keep abreast of baseball.

The news of Stuart's heroics brought a spontaneous cheer just as the Steelers were getting thrown for a 10-yard loss.

"When Stuart was told about it later," Virdon recalled, "he said, 'Darn, the first time I was ever cheered in Pittsburgh and I wasn't there to hear it.'"

Teammates from the 1960 championship team were saddened by the news that Stuart, 70, died of cancer Sunday at his Redwood City, Calif., home. But they remembered him fondly in uproarious anecdotes that immortalize him as one of the game's true characters and lovable rogues.

"You couldn't help but love Dick Stuart," said Dick Groat, the National League MVP in 1960. "All of us thought the world of him. He could make fun of anybody, including himself."

Groat recalled a play against the Dodgers in the Coliseum. In the 10th inning, pinch-hitter Gil Hodges smote a ball that glanced off Dick Hoak's glove at third. Playing in the hole, Groat tracked it down and wheeled to fire a strike to first.

"Stu thought the ball had gone through, so he turned around and was talking to the umpire while the throw sailed right past his ear. If he had been standing on first base, I would've hit him right in the No. 7," Groat said, laughing. "Then he came into the dugout after the game, and the first thing his says was, 'E-six. Two-base error.'"

Richard Lee Stuart played 10 major-league seasons, the first five with the Pirates. He hit 117 of his 228 home runs while with the Pirates. But he also struck out an average of once every 4.2 at bats, and he was charged with 90 errors in those first five seasons. He also played for the Red Sox, Phillies, Mets, Dodgers and Angels.

When Stuart signed autographs as a major-leaguer, he wrote "66" next to his name. A free swinger and a free spirit, Stuart had drawn national attention in the minor leagues when he launched 66 home runs in 1956 while playing for Lincoln, Neb., of the Class A Western League.

It was such a feat that Life magazine dispatched a photographer and reporter..

"They called me an irrepressible egotist," Stuart told the Post-Gazette five years ago. "That hasn't changed any."

Bob Friend recalled a blast by Stuart that he swears "was one of the longest home runs I ever seen. It was at Forbes Field, which was so spacious they used to put the batting cage in right center because nobody thought anybody could reach it with a ball. It sailed over the cage, over the wall. It must've gone 525 feet. It came off Glenn Hobbie of the Cubs."

Stuart also hit a winning home run that allowed Friend to notch his 20th victory in 1958, and Friend still has a picture of that moment. But he got a chuckle recalling Stuart's fielding.

"He could have been a great fielder, but he never worked on it. He liked to hit," Friend said. "One time, there was a throw over to first that bounced in the dirt in front of him. He lost it and was looking around when he looked up at the umpire and said, 'Don't just stand there. Help me find the S.O.B.'"

The myth is that Bob Prince hung the "Dr. Strangeglove" nickname on him. But Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" didn't come out until 1964, after Stuart had been traded. Stuart credited Henry Aaron with giving him the moniker. During his first two seasons, the Pirates had a slugger named Ted Kluszewski; and Prince called them "Big Stu" and "Big Klu."

The boos hurled at players from Dave Parker to Derek Bell never reached the decibel levels of the catcalls aimed at Stuart.

But Stuart reveled in his relationship with the fans.

Long before his days as a broadcaster, the noted writer Myron Cope, who always had a fondness for characters, profiled Stuart in a magazine piece that became a part of Cope's book, "Broken Cigars."

"He was a delightful fellow, and he toyed with the fans," Cope said. "During infield practice, he used to drop balls on purpose to get the fans going. And he'd laugh and say, 'When they start throwing Coke bottles, that's when I know it's time to go to the dugout.'"

Stuart platooned with Rocky Nelson at first base during the 1960 season. A sliver of Pirates trivia has Stuart in the on-deck circle when Hall of Famer and defensive wizard Bill Mazeroski hit the home run that beat the Yankees in the 1960 World Series. And it has been speculated that Stuart was the only Pittsburgher not jumping up and down -- because he had wanted to hit the historic shot.

"We were in spring training the following year and everybody on the bus was razzing Maz about waving his arms and his helmet while he was running around the bases," Groat said. "Stuart said, 'You should have seen what I had planned.' That's how confident he was."