Hey Jordan, enjoyed this post very much. Been a baseball fan (and pretty much any sport) for many, many years. Roberto Clemente was my baseball idol. Hit for power, hit for average, ran like the wind and had a rocket arm. Saw him throw a Cub runner out at home from the base of the outfield wall. A straight rope, no bounce, perfect throw on the dime. I remember the Miracle Mets well. They were loaded with talent. Some just emerging and others like Tom Terrific. Came out of nowhere in '69 as the Cubs collapsed and they caught fire. One last mention, being a Clemente fan, I of course remember all the other Pirate players (another team that was loaded) Steve Blass was mentioned and I will never forget the crushing, sudden and sad experience of watching a once great pitcher, suddenly (seemingly overnight, to this young boy) not be able to find the plate. I watched him throw it wild outside, behind the batter and over Manny Sanguillen's head all the way to the backstop. Anyway, enough rambling. Great job with this post. - Jim
Thanks Jim! I appreciate the kind words! No apologies for rambling I can talk about baseball history all day. LOL. Those Pirates teams were great. 1971 beating the Orioles 4 20 fame winners of Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Pat Dobson, and Mike Cueller. Then the Pirates down 3 games to 1 in 1979 to beat the O's in 7 games. Roberto Clemente was unbelievable. So was Willie Stargell and Dave Parker. Of course in the prior years Bill Mazeroski was great, a wizard at second base and of course won the 1960 WS. The pirates Frank Thomas was also good and one hitter who I feel should get talked about more is Ralph Kiner. He was fabulous and only played 10 years. Speaking of the Miracle Mets, that was a dynamite pitching staff with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Don Cardwell, Jim McAndrew, and Nolan Ryan. As well as the closer Tug McGraw (ya gotta believe!) Great teams, great players! They just don't make em like that anymore.
Another guy who doesn’t get talked about enough is the greatest player of all time for the Pirates, Honus Wagner. Hands down. Just curious, have you ever seen the Ken Burns documentary on baseball? I suspect you have. What a gem that is.
Hey Jordan, enjoyed this post very much. Been a baseball fan (and pretty much any sport) for many, many years. Roberto Clemente was my baseball idol. Hit for power, hit for average, ran like the wind and had a rocket arm. Saw him throw a Cub runner out at home from the base of the outfield wall. A straight rope, no bounce, perfect throw on the dime. I remember the Miracle Mets well. They were loaded with talent. Some just emerging and others like Tom Terrific. Came out of nowhere in '69 as the Cubs collapsed and they caught fire. One last mention, being a Clemente fan, I of course remember all the other Pirate players (another team that was loaded) Steve Blass was mentioned and I will never forget the crushing, sudden and sad experience of watching a once great pitcher, suddenly (seemingly overnight, to this young boy) not be able to find the plate. I watched him throw it wild outside, behind the batter and over Manny Sanguillen's head all the way to the backstop. Anyway, enough rambling. Great job with this post. - Jim
Thanks Jim! I appreciate the kind words! No apologies for rambling I can talk about baseball history all day. LOL. Those Pirates teams were great. 1971 beating the Orioles 4 20 fame winners of Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Pat Dobson, and Mike Cueller. Then the Pirates down 3 games to 1 in 1979 to beat the O's in 7 games. Roberto Clemente was unbelievable. So was Willie Stargell and Dave Parker. Of course in the prior years Bill Mazeroski was great, a wizard at second base and of course won the 1960 WS. The pirates Frank Thomas was also good and one hitter who I feel should get talked about more is Ralph Kiner. He was fabulous and only played 10 years. Speaking of the Miracle Mets, that was a dynamite pitching staff with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Don Cardwell, Jim McAndrew, and Nolan Ryan. As well as the closer Tug McGraw (ya gotta believe!) Great teams, great players! They just don't make em like that anymore.
Another guy who doesn’t get talked about enough is the greatest player of all time for the Pirates, Honus Wagner. Hands down. Just curious, have you ever seen the Ken Burns documentary on baseball? I suspect you have. What a gem that is.
Honus Wagner was great. I actually haven't seen Baseball by Ken Burns
You must watch that, Jordan. Must is a strong word but it absolutely fits in this instance. Binge on it. Do yourself a favor partner. - Jim
I most definately should watch it thanks Jim!