Willie Stargell

Willie Stargell

Willie Stargell was born March 6, 1940 in Earlsboro, Oklahoma. He played professional baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1962 to 1982, hitting a total of 475 homeruns. While Stargell played for the Pirates, the Pirates won six NL east titles and two NL penants. He also helped the Pirates win World Championships in 1971 and in 1979.

In 1979, Stargell was named All Star Game MVP, NL MVP and World Series MVP. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.

Stargell's claim to fame was the ability to hit monstrous home runs. For example, nine players have hit one homerun out of Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. Stargell did it seven times. At one time, he held the record for the longest homer in nearly half of the National League parks.

He has several memorable quotations such as "The [umpire] says 'play' ball, not 'work' ball, you know" and "trying to hit Sandy Koufax was like trying to drink coffee with a fork."

He died April 9, 2001 at the age of 61.