Stargell never had the opportunity to manage—at any level. But his work in the Braves front office caught the attention of a new regime in Pittsburgh. A new ownership group headed by a young Californian named Kevin McClatchy bought the ballclub in 1996 for $92 million, and it wasn’t long afterward that he began wondering why Stargell was no longer in the Pirate fold. McClatchy talked to Dick Freeman, the team’s former president and chief operating officer, but still couldn’t understand why the broken relationship hadn’t been mended. “So I reached out to Willie,” McClatchy recalled.36 Cam Bonifay, whom the new Pittsburgh ownership had hired to serve as general manager, said one of the things he and McClatchy had talked about after he took the job was to get more former Pirates involved in the organization and particularly in the field operations side. “We wanted to help develop the ‘Pirates way’ of bringing back championships to Pittsburgh,” Bonifay said.37 Toward that end, the Pirates called Atlanta and asked permission to speak with Stargell and ask him to come back to the Pirates. Bonifay and McClatchy envisioned Stargell wearing multiple hats—going to spring training and evaluating some of the minor league players and also serving as a sounding board for what was going on at the major league level. McClatchy said Stargell was surprised that the club would contact him but excited at the prospect. McClatchy asked Stargell to visit in person to discuss the idea. “It was a very emotional meeting,” McClatchy said. “I think he had felt a separation. Obviously it was a powerful moment—a tearful reunion to being asked to come back to the organization that he loved. It meant a lot to him—there was no hesitation on his part to come back once that offer was made. He wanted to be here.”
McClatchy said it was important to mend that fence—and strengthen it—and bring Stargell back to the fold. “He was the identity of the organization in many ways,” McClatchy said. “He helped with former players; he helped with fans. There was a presence. Getting Dave Parker back would not have evolved if Willie had not reached out to him.” Stargell, officially hired as a senior adviser, also worked with the team’s alumni organization and met with potential sponsors, trying to sell the concept of what would become PNC Park—a brand new Pirate playground that would rise from the banks of the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, a long Stargell poke from the now-departed Three Rivers Stadium. Stargell was effective in his new role, McClatchy said. “When Willie spoke, people would listen. There was no question that players respected him and would listen to anything he had to say. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer.” Pirates brass anticipated that Stargell’s presence might have residual positive impacts off the field—and specifically in the black community. Although the club claimed that its minority attendance—pegged at 6.8 percent—had increased by 300 percent, it also looked to capture a more robust share, particularly considering more than one in four city residents was black. Steve Greenburg, the Pirates’ vice president, said he hoped Stargell’s return to the organization could translate to an upward tick at the gate among minority residents. “If it shows a prominent minority presence in Pirates baseball and in baseball in general, it’s going to be a big plus,” he said. McClatchy said he had spoken to some members of the black community, and they were very excited that the hiring of Stargell could help in that area. “But we have a lot more steps to take to get the black community back to the ballpark. I’ve done a lot of speaking there and a lot of our employees have been involved, but they need to see us there more and they need to know we’d like them here. I think part of it is that it’s a little intimidating to go to a baseball game where 99 percent of the people are white.”38
At a February 11, 1997, press conference announcing Stargell’s return to the club, he said he was surprised when the Braves had told him that the Pirates had called to ask permission to talk with him. “I felt good, yet I felt kind of strange because I hadn’t entertained it. I had almost forgotten about the idea of coming back.” Bonifay was excited about the prospect of having Stargell around to help evaluate players at all levels of the system. “He will be a man that I will count on,” Bonifay said. “He will be a man I will use in a lot of different ways.” Stargell said one of the reasons he was willing to return to the organization was because it seemed committed to building a championship-caliber club. But he said that wouldn’t be done quickly—just as it wasn’t in Atlanta or in Cleveland, where the long moribund Indians franchise had been resurrected in the mid–’90s. There, he said, the organizations asked fans to be patient. “As a result, they have brand-new stadiums and great atmosphere within the community,” Stargell said.39
Looking back nearly 15 years later, Bonifay said Stargell’s role with the club was a meaningful one and his presence certainly was a boon to the organization. During spring training, Stargell would observe both major and minor league players and mingle with them to share what he had learned during his life in the game. “The amount of knowledge and the amount of information he gave our younger players, and the suggestions he made in the development of our younger and older players, was very positive,” Bonifay said. “We were very happy to have him as a member of our staff. There’s no question he had the background and knowledge to talk to our younger players about specific things they needed to become successful players. The knowledge of what it took to prepare to be a major-league player while still in the minor leagues—the things that have to be accomplished, the individual skill sets necessary to become an improved player. Those kinds of things were the most important aspects he offered our organization at the time.” Although Stargell was nearly 60 by this time, he had no problem relating with younger players—and vice versa. “When it came to hearing his expertise, they were open and willing to listen,” Bonifay said. “He had a very good way of talking to and relating to younger players. He was not overbearing. He could describe and teach and break things down in a very simple manner, without being over-mechanical. He had a very simplistic way of giving young players knowledge and being able to have them understand what he was saying. He was very good in that regard.”
Smizik said it was apparent that the Pirates brass greatly appreciated Stargell’s skills and his opinions. “I don’t think he was a figurehead—I think he knew talent and Cam [Bonifay] had a lot of respect for Willie’s opinion,” he said. “And Willie got his role with the Pirates. He was a very perceptive baseball guy. Lots of times good hitters don’t get the credit they deserve. Ralph Kiner had a brilliant knowledge of hitting. Hal McRae had a brilliant knowledge of hitting. I can’t speak to Willie’s days as a hitting coach but talking to him and knowing how people regarded him, his word was tremendous.”40 Frattare said Stargell’s return in 1997 was a boon to the organization. Just to have him watch the younger players take batting practice was a major benefit. “He wasn’t going to push himself on anybody because that wasn’t his style,” Frattare said of Stargell. “But he had an opportunity to sit on the bench and watch. And he knew how much the mental approach was important to players, particularly younger players trying to figure it out. His time was extremely memorable from that standpoint.”41
In his first spring training with the club, Stargell said he just tried to pass along things that had been passed on to him. “It’s nothing I invented,” he said. “But it’s things that I know work.” He said he was looking for “uniqueness” and finding plenty of it. He compared it to the situation that existed when he first arrived in Atlanta. “They were struggling but they had a lot of young talent in the minor leagues. Same here. It’s like being in Africa in one of those diamond mines. You see a rock that’s all muddy, but it has a little tiny speck that’s glittering and you know there’s something there. It just takes somebody to get that prize jewel out and mold it so it can have the brilliance and color it should have.”42
Once the season started, Stargell would spend stretches of four or five days with minor league teams, then meet with Bonifay and others to discuss his observations. He kept up this arrangement despite needing time to tend to some health issues that wou
ld worsen in the coming years and ultimately end his life in April 2001. Bonifay said Stargell was receiving treatment—including kidney dialysis—for medical issues from the time he returned to the organization in February 1997 until he stopped actively working for the club in late 2000. The Pirates gave Stargell all the time he needed for treatment whenever he would require it. “At certain times, he was physically unable to do certain things,” Bonifay said. “But the times he was there and the times he felt well were the times we capitalized on the most.” The treatments that Stargell required, Bonifay said, were just part of his schedule.
After returning to the Pirates organization in January 1997, Willie enjoyed working with youngsters on the finer points of hitting, among other subjects (courtesy Pittsburgh Pirates).
Word of Stargell’s medical situation reached the media in the fall of 1999, and it was widely reported that he was battling serious health problems and had been hospitalized for three weeks. Team officials issued a statement attributed to Stargell in which he thanked his “well-wishing fans for their concern after hearing of my hospitalization. I have, in fact, been in the hospital for three weeks for management of a recent illness.” In the same statement, Stargell refuted media reports that he would be hospitalized for at least three more weeks and said he was expected to be discharged within a few days.43
In February 2000, a Pittsburgh media outlet reported that Stargell had undergone minor surgery in Wilmington, and that he was expected to attend spring training later that month. In March, while visiting the Pirates’ spring training complex in Bradenton, Associated Press reporter Alan Robinson wrote that “for a 60-year-old man who nearly died only a few months ago, Stargell looks very much alive, very much in charge, very much in control.” Stargell concurred, saying, “I haven’t felt this well in a long time.” Robinson wrote that although Stargell had been undergoing kidney dialysis for several years, it was an infected finger—not the kidney issues—that caused him to be hospitalized for six weeks the previous fall. The infection set in after Stargell accidentally cut himself in his kitchen and did not immediately seek treatment. Ultimately a portion of the finger had to be amputated. Although Stargell had not regained his strength—he relied on a golf cart to get around the Pirates’ minor-league complex in Bradenton—he hadn’t lost his touch when it came to evaluating talent. “Willie Stargell knows baseball,” Bonifay said.44
Bonifay said Stargell kept working for the Pirates, and his input continued to be appreciated. “He was always evaluating and I always asked him for his evaluations and his opinions—what he saw from different players,” Bonifay said. “I thought he had a very good feel for it. He pointed out things—development issues—in certain players that had to be addressed.” Bonifay said Stargell’s front-office skills were such that if his health had not deteriorated, he would have remained an important part of the Pirates organization for many more years, serving as a mentor for younger players. Bonifay said he didn’t believe Stargell’s effectiveness would have diminished over time and that he would have remained relevant to this day. “One thing you’ll find is that the Hall of Fame transcends every generation,” Bonifay said. “Without question, he was not only a Hall of Fame player but a Hall of Fame individual the way he approached people, how he put them at ease about who he was and what he had to offer. It could be the next generation or three generations down the road and he would have had relevance in terms of what he had to offer.” That’s because, in the end, baseball is not a game of change, Bonifay said. “Outsiders may view it that way, but not the players themselves. It’s still a game of 60 feet, 6 inches and 90-foot bases. That has not changed, pitchers have not changed, hitters have not changed and the ability to do that on a consistent basis is what separates those very good ones from those who do not have very good careers.”45
Stargell’s involvement in the organization grew smaller as the 2000 season went along when his health took a turn for the worse. “It was really a struggle for him and his family,” Bonifay said. “He spent a lot of time at home at the end of the 2000 season.” Stargell returned to town for the final home series of the 2000 season—the last games ever to be played at Three Rivers Stadium, which was to be replaced the following campaign by PNC Park. On September 29, the Pirates announced that a 12-foot bronze statue of the slugger would be built near the left-field entrance to PNC Park on Federal Street. He joined former teammate Clemente and Honus Wagner as the only members of the then-114-year-old franchise to have statues made in their honor, although World Series hero Bill Mazeroski would join those ranks in 2010. At a press conference announcing the statue, Stargell fought back tears, saying, “I’m overwhelmed, but I’m also thankful. All I wanted to do was play ball.” However, he added that now that the statue was in the works, “You’d catch hell taking it away from me. It’s special, very special.”46
The statue’s base was to be constructed of stainless steel and granite and was to include a “Stargell Star” that featured his signature. The base also includes the quote from Stargell regarding his initial impression of Pittsburgh, coming through the Fort Pitt Tunnel with Bob Veale, on the way in from Columbus in 1962: “Last night, coming in from the airport, we came through the tunnel and the city opened up its arms and I felt at home.”
Local sports media member Stan Savran said the press conference announcing the Stargell statue was one of the last times he saw Willie. “I did a long TV interview with him about that,” he said. “I have a picture of the two of us doing the interview—I still have it on my bulletin board. He was truly moved—he was moved to tears. That’s how touched he was that they were going to build a statue and put it out in front of PNC Park. Willie was really overcome with emotion.”47 At the press conference, Stargell reflected on what it was like to spend his entire playing career in one uniform and talked about how much he valued and respected that uniform. In fact, he said that never once in his career did he toss the Pirate uniform on the floor. “That’s how particular I was,” he said.48
McClatchy recalled visiting Stargell in the hospital to look at some photographs that were to be used as a model for his statue. McClatchy said Stargell told him, “I want a picture that shows me just before I was about to hit the shit out of the ball.”
On the night of September 29, Stargell received a standing ovation from the Three Rivers crowd of more than 40,000—and both dugouts—and spoke before the game. “Lots of wonderful things have happened in this stadium,” he said. “I’ll never forget you.” Stargell appeared much leaner than he had been in years, due to his health issues. He would not discuss those issues specifically, saying it was a “personal matter.” But he said he no longer was required to receive regular dialysis treatments and that the infection that had dogged him earlier was no longer an issue. “I’ve been given the green light to travel,” Stargell said. “My destiny is up to me. I do have a lot of fight in me.”49
Willie holds an imaginary bat as he scrutinizes a model of the 12-foot bronze statue that would be unveiled in early April 2001 as the Pirates got set to open their new PNC Park on Pittsburgh’s North Shore (courtesy Pittsburgh Pirates).
Two days later, the Pirates played their final game at Three Rivers, losing to the Cubs 10–9 in front of a sellout crowd of 55,351—the largest regular-season crowd in club history. About 30 minutes after the game, the Pirates paid their final tribute to the stadium. More than 20 retired players were on hand to say goodbye to the old yard, which at one time was considered state-of-the-art but had been relegated to irrelevancy by the advent of new baseball-only parks like Baltimore’s Camden Yards. Tekulve, the old submarining right-hander, took the mound and current catcher Jason Kendall stood near the area of home plate. But Tekulve wouldn’t be delivering the final pitch. Instead, the voice of the Pirates late public address announcer, Art McKennan, introduced Stargell, and the sellout crowd erupted. Stargell was helped to the mound, where he was embraced by his former manager Tanner and ex-teammates including John Candelaria, Manny Sang
uillen, Grant Jackson and Nellie Briles, and then made his final pitch.50
Several of Stargell’s former teammates were unable to attend the final game, including Oliver, who had a prior engagement. But he had a chance to see portions of the ceremony on the news later that night and was chilled by the sight of his mentor, whose health was deteriorating. “When I saw him, I just said, ‘Wow—it won’t be too much longer,’” Oliver recalled.51 Another former teammate who was not at Three Rivers that night regretted his absence. “I wish I’d been there because I had something really important to say to Willie,” said Bob Priddy, who had played with Stargell in the lowest of the minor-league rungs some 40 years earlier. “I would have said, ‘Hey, Willie, isn’t it amazing that at one time in your baseball career, they wouldn’t even let you sleep in the same hotel as us or eat in the same restaurants as us—you couldn’t go to the same toilets as us or drink out of the same water fountains. And now they’re building a statue for you. Ain’t that something?’”52
Chapter 11
“We Kiss You Goodbye”
SPIRITS WERE SOARING as the spring of 2001 approached and when April rolled around, the Pirates prepared to move into brand new PNC Park, with Opening Day slated for April 9. Two days earlier, the Pirates unveiled the 12-foot, one-ton statue of Stargell, coiled and ready to unleash his powerful swing in front of the left-field entrance to the park on Federal Street. The club said that Stargell was not feeling well enough to make it to the unveiling ceremony and was home in Wilmington. “It’s a great day,” Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy said, “but it’s not 100 percent great, because my friend isn’t here.” McClatchy said the Pirates planned to have an official dedication sometime during the summer when Stargell’s health improved enough for him to attend. However, the club wanted to unveil the statue in time for the April 9 home opener.1
Willie Stargell Page 29