By Joe Starkey
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/joe-starkey/2019/07/19/Strong-spirit-defines-We-Are-Fam-a-lee-Pirates-Stargell-Tanner-Tekulve-Easler/stories/201907190054
July 19, 2019
If life were a ballgame, most of the 1979 Pirates would be nearing the seventh-inning stretch. Some have been lost along the way, including the patriarch, Willie Stargell. Others have endured major struggles.
Dave Parker, the larger-than-life right fielder, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012. He is 68. Kent Tekulve, the leaner-than-life closer, had a heart transplant in 2014. He is 72.
Which makes you and I how old?
Hard to believe,” Tekulve says, “that it was 40 years ago we were freezing our asses off in Baltimore.”
Father Time has proven to be a tougher foe than those Orioles, but believe me when I tell you this: The ’79 Pirates never, ever go down without a fight. A fair number of them will congregate this weekend at PNC Park for a 40-year reunion, and they remain a feisty, fun-loving crew.
Ten years ago, before the 30-year reunion, I asked manager Chuck Tanner how he was able to keep so many talented players content and engaged.
"I'd tell them, 'We're going to win the pennant, and if you don't want that, get the hell out of here,’” Tanner said. “I managed for the team.”
That’s the other thing about those Pirates — they defined team as well as any champion in baseball history. They truly were a family, personifying the Sister Sledge hit (“We Are Family”) that became their anthem, and they were the only team of the 20th century to win a World Series without either a pitcher who won 15 games or a hitter who knocked in 100 runs.
They were ahead of their time, too. The term “super-utility player” hadn’t been invented, but the Pirates had multiple players who could fit that description. And like today’s managers, Tanner would often go to his bullpen early.
“Look at it this way,” Tekulve says. “We went to the last day (to win the division), so anybody that had anything to do with any oddball win was important. It took every single person.”
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https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/joe-starkey/2019/07/19/Strong-spirit-defines-We-Are-Fam-a-lee-Pirates-Stargell-Tanner-Tekulve-Easler/stories/201907190054
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