My Top Five Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famers
May 25, 2014 by Matt Nadel · 7 Comments
Hey baseball fans!
Previously, I’ve counted down my top five Hall of Famers from certain teams. So far, I’ve done the Red Sox and then the Cardinals . Today, I am continuing my trend of counting down my top Hall of Famers of a team as I count down my top five Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famers.
Number Five: Paul Waner
Why? Waner played with the Pirates for three fourths of his career and shined with them. Looking at his career, in 20 years in the MLB, he batted .333 and collected 3,152 base hits, 17th on the all time list. Big Poison finished his career with 191 triples (tenth all time), 605 doubles (tied for eleventh all time), and 1,309 RBIs.
Number Four: Willie Stargell
Why? A member of one of my favorite World Series-winning teams (1979), Pops was a fan favorite in Pittsburgh during the 21 years that he wore the black and gold. Willie smacked 475 hits out of the park during his career and batted .282. The seven-time All Star and 1979 NL MVP was a very intimidating batter from the left side of the plate and was notorious to other teams for crushing many tape-measure home runs during the ’60s and ’70s.
Number Three: Honus Wagner
Why? Perhaps the greatest shortstop in baseball history, Wagner played with the Pirates for 18 of his 21 seasons in the Bigs from 1900-1917. During his entire career, The Flying Dutchman won the batting title a whopping eight times and batted .328. Wagner collected 3,420 hits during his heralded career, seventh on the all time list, along with 1,733 RBIs, 21st on the all time list.
Number Two: Ralph Kiner
Why? Probably the most shocking pick I made in the creation of this list, Kiner played eight of his ten seasons in the MLB with the Pirates. With Pittsburgh, he averaged 38 home runs a year and hit at least 50 dingers in a season twice! The six-time All Star led the league in home runs in seven consecutive seasons from 1946-1952. Had he not suffered from back problems that cut his career short, he could have been one of the greatest that baseball has ever seen.
Number One: Roberto Clemente
Why? Clemente, one of the most popular Pirates of all time, played in the black and gold for his entire 18-year career from 1955-1972. The benevolent Roberto is the only ballplayer in baseball history with exactly 3,000 hits, putting him in 28th place on the all time hits list. Arriba, as he was nicknamed, was a two-time World Series champion (1960, 1971), twelve-time All Star, 1966 NL MVP, and 1971 World Series MVP. The man who batted .317 during his career was one of the nicest men one could ever meet and although he passed away on New Year’s Eve of 1972, the memory of his amazing baseball career on and off the field will never be forgotten.
Do you agree with my list? Should someone be on it that isn’t? If you have anything to say about this list, write a comment in the comment section below. Thanks for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it. Check back in a few days for more of “all the buzz on what wuzz.”
No problem with the five except the order, and I understand why Bonds is not on your list. While I yield to no one in my admiration of Roberto Clememte, Wagner is generally considered the best shortstop of all time, and many people who have spent their adult lives researching these things name him as the best player period (he’s not), and virtually all consider him a top ten all time. You have Kiner too high for this list, though I have argued in various forums he’s better than most people think, so I will cut you some slack. Interesting the Pirates have had the best fielding 2nd basemen (Maz no question) first or second best right fielder (Roberto – From Detroit so I’m partial to Kaline but I saw more of him), and Wagner considered the best for his time, give him a modern day glove and they would have outlawed him.
Honus Wagner is one of the top five to ten players of all time. Hard to justify listing him third behind players who, though great in the own right, fall far behind him on any list of greatest players.
Bill Mazeroski 10 All Star games, 8 Gold Gloves, 5th in team games played, 1 walk off World Series winning HR, Holds the major league career record for double plays by a second baseman.
@freeredis –
Mazeroski shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. He got in based solely on one swing of the bat
I’d put Pie Traynor on and leave off Kiner
I’d put Lloyd Waner in the top 5 before Kiner. The Waner brothers were 2 of the best athletes in baseball during their careers( big & little poison). Pie Traynor was a more complete great player than Kiner also. I understand that Roberto is #1 but Honus Wagner is one of the greatest players of all time so he would be #2 on my list. This is why it’s so cool to be a Bucs fan – so many great players from the past. Everyone has their opinion about Bonds – best baseball player I ever seen play live period( as a Pirate ). The definition of a 5 tool player