Stargell’s celebrity status only increased with his performance in that ’79 Series and the flip side of that was that he was even more in demand than before. “It did take him away from us,” Willie Jr. said. “But we were already programmed to be used to that type of situation. Not that it was a good thing that he was being taken away. But that was the lifestyle he had to have by being a celebrity and a superstar. You’re going to be away from your family a lot. In ways it helped and in ways it hurt. It hurt in the way where we didn’t get all the quality time we should have had as kids. He loved playing baseball and that was his passion. So in order for him to be as good as he was at it, he had to give more than 100 percent. And that took away from family times sometimes.”
Celebrity did have its perks, though; for example, the family was able to travel to Hawaii in the off-season following the ’79 World Series run for the ABC television show “Superteams,” staying in a high-rise hotel on the island of Maui for 10 days. The show brought players and their families from four teams—the Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams—together for some televised competitions. There were other trips, including one memorable deep-sea fishing trip to Mexico which father and son made as part of a contest sponsored by a major rod/reel manufacturer for which Stargell had done some promotional work. That morning, before the group headed out to sea, young Willie gorged himself at breakfast and when the boat hit the water, his stomach took a turn for the worse—and he ultimately lost his breakfast overboard. “I was about 12 or 13—it was so funny,” he said. “My dad is like, ‘Yeah, have whatever you want for breakfast. Have some more sausage.’ Knowing that I’m not supposed to eat. He was laughing and I’m like, ‘Thanks, Dad.’”
At home, the slugger was an attentive father who looked for opportunities to teach his children a lesson. One time, Stargell got wind that Kelli was experimenting with smoking cigarettes and told both her and Willie Jr. that if they wanted to smoke, they should try smoking with him. So he bought some cigars and cigarettes—and Tab soda—and they all sat down and smoked for half the evening. The kids spent most of the time coughing and choking—and feeling nauseated. They don’t smoke to this day. “It was her idea,” Willie Jr. said of Kelli. “I didn’t want to smoke anything. But I had to because it was a ‘one for all, all for one’ type of thing in our house. I got so sick, dizzy-like sick, I wanted to throw up. And he’s like, ‘Well, taste it with some Tab.’”
While Stargell certainly had no difficulty providing for his family during his playing days, the transition from player to retired player, particularly before he got the call from Cooperstown in January 1988, provided some financial challenges. Stargell’s divorce file, which included an entry dated November 4, 1983, indicated Stargell was earning $40,000 in salary from the Pirates in 1983—his first retirement year. It was a far cry from his final salary as a player—$336,218, in 1982, and an even steeper decline from the $416,908 he took home during the 1980 season. Stargell did list other income in the divorce documents—$900 from Willie Stargell Inc. in 1983, $10,000 from services rendered to Jiffy Foods, $47,333 from promotional and advertising work for Koolvent Aluminum products, $46,429 from Champale in 1982 and 1983 and $42,000 from HSE in 1983—but that didn’t come close to matching his final salary as a player. And it wasn’t as though Stargell had squirreled away thousands; a different court document, dated May of 1984, indicated that he had a less than $2,900 combined in four separate bank accounts.
Willie Jr. said he believed his father was disappointed the Pirates didn’t offer him a front-office position in the late 1980s after he worked for the team for several years following his retirement as a player. He said his dad never talked about being a field manager but said that if he’d been given a chance, he would have been a successful one. “He had a lot to teach,” Willie Jr. said. “He definitely went before his time because there were a lot more lessons to learn from my father.” Willie Jr., who attended Johnson & Wales University in Miami, where he studied culinary arts for two years and worked for years in the restaurant industry in and around Atlanta, said after his father got involved in the scouting/instructing/player development end of the business, he took to it very quickly. “I know he loved looking at the young guys coming up—that was one of his other passions. To help them and to teach those kids the different things they needed to come up in the game then because it was totally different from when he came up in the ’60s. There was a lot he wanted to show them, to teach those guys.”
Epilogue
MORE THAN A DECADE HAS PASSED since Willie Stargell died, but his impact is felt by scores of those he left behind—family, friends, former opponents and countless fans who watched him windmill his bat and send baseballs flying to the upper reaches of stadiums across America. His legacy also includes the Willie Stargell Foundation Inc., whose mission is to provide funds to support kidney disease research and treatment for those afflicted with kidney disease, according to its website. Stargell’s name also is associated with the dialysis center at Wilmington, North Carolina–based New Hanover Regional Medical Center, which was renamed “The Willie ‘Pops’ Stargell Dialysis Center” in 2006 in recognition of a generous gift made in Stargell’s memory. According to the foundation website, Stargell spent the last five years of his life receiving dialysis treatments and he wanted others who needed similar treatments to receive it in a “comfortable and relaxed setting.”1
Margaret Weller Stargell, Stargell’s widow, serves as the president of the foundation’s board of directors. The foundation’s work is ongoing; in 2012, the group awarded $50,000 in grants—$5,000 each to the UNC and Duke Kidney Transplant Outreach Programs, $10,000 to the DaVita Kidney Emergency Fund, and $30,000 to the New Hanover dialysis center that bears Stargell’s name. The foundation’s major fundraiser is a golf tournament held each November; the 2012 tournament was the 10th annual.
* * *
Stargell also reentered the public consciousness in a major way in the summer of 2012 when the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a 45-cent First-Class Forever stamp in his honor. Also featured on the new stamps were Joe DiMaggio, Larry Doby and Ted Williams. The unveiling of the stamps coincided with the annual Baseball Hall of Fame Weekend celebration in Cooperstown, N.Y., and events commemorating the new stamps also took place in New York, Cleveland, Boston and Pittsburgh.
Weller Stargell, contacted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at her home in Wilmington, said she loved the stamp design, which depicts Stargell in a late–1970s era “We Are Family” gold shirt, in his batting stance. “I think it’s Willie,” she said. “It’s vibrant. He comes to life on that. It is an extraordinary honor for an extraordinary human being. To know he will be on a forever stamp to be remembered for years to come is overwhelming, and it warms my heart.”2 Steve Blass said he was thrilled to hear of the stamp honoring his long-time teammate “and I wish Willie was here and we could have a glass of wine together. He goes beyond just being a great ball player.”3
Stephen Kearney, executive director of stamp services for the U.S. Postal Service, told the Post-Gazette that Stargell’s inclusion in the stamp group was recommended by the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, a group that reviews 40,000 suggestions a year for new stamps. After the stamps were unveiled to the public, the Postal Service launched a campaign on August 8 that it called “8 on 8”—encouraging fans to mail eight letters to their friends and family using the Stargell stamp. “Willie’s amazing ability and appeal connected with people in Pittsburgh and the nation throughout his Hall of Fame career,” Joe Meimann, the Pittsburgh postmaster, said in a press release issued by the Postal Service. “Now his image can once again connect people together by sending his stamp on a letter to friends and loved ones.”
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Stargell’s image likely won’t disappear when the commemorative stamps do. A Pittsburgh resident named Gregory Gibson Kenney will see to that. Kenney, a professionally trained actor who operates an organization known as Educate
Us Productions, uses a theatrical setting to bring historical figures to life for school groups and other gatherings. Among the historical figures Kenney portrays is Stargell, whom he tried to emulate while growing up in the city. “He was left-handed and I’m left-handed,” Kenney said of Stargell. “Playing pickup baseball, as you do as a kid, he was always my guy.”4
Stargell met Kenney while the latter was re-enacting part of the life of Stargell’s former teammate, Clemente, at a Pittsburgh Pirates fan festival and the two had a chance to talk. The conversation resulted in a 30-minute presentation that takes audiences into Stargell’s life as a young child all the way until his retirement as a player in 1982. “I try to include little pieces of history that folks would never know about,” Kenney said. “That’s what the program is all about.” Kenney said the program doesn’t just look at the high points of Stargell’s life. He mentions the struggles that the slugger went through during the 1971 World Series, for example. Although Stargell never got to see Kenney perform the program, several members of Stargell’s family had a chance to take it in during a presentation at the Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh. “The family loved it so I think he would approve,” Kenney said.
Even though it’s been more than 30 years since Stargell last swung his mighty Louisville Slugger, Kenney believes the former slugger remains relevant due to his own unique story. “Everyone might not know his story but they know about ‘We Are Family,’” Kenney said. “It’s a great experience and everyone who watches it takes something from it and can put it into their own lives. For Willie, the lesson is that hard work and determination will get you there every single time. It’s all about working hard—dreams don’t come true without hard work. We can tell our kids that they can be anything they want to be, but sometimes we leave out the fact ‘if you’re willing to work hard.’ The message is, don’t be afraid to put in the time and you’ll see results.”
Chapter Notes
Chapter 1
1. Willie Stargell and Tom Bird, Willie Stargell: An Autobiography (New York: Harper & Row, 1984), 14–15.
2. Ibid., 27.
3. Ibid., 31.
4. Nick Cabral, in discussion with the author, June 2008.
5. Joe King, in discussion with the author, June 2008.
6. Curt Motton, in discussion with the author, June 2008.
7. Robert Earl Davis, in discussion with the author, June 2009.
8. Anthony “Lil” Arnerich, in discussion with the author, July 2010.
9. William Patterson, in discussion with the author, August 2007.
10. George Read, in discussion with the author, June 2008.
11. Lois Beard Booker, in discussion with the author, August 2009.
12. Paul Meyer, “Star Power,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 13, 1988, 11.
13. Al Abrams, “Willie Stargell for MVP,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 20, 1973, 23.
14. “Hot-hitting Willie Stargell No Longer Speaking Softly,” Eugene Register-Guard/Associated Press, June 27, 1971, B8.
15. Dan Donovan, “The Stargell Way,” Pittsburgh Press, May 20, 1974, 23.
Chapter 2
1. Ron Brand, in discussion with the author, June 2010.
2. Preston Bruce, in discussion with the author, June 2011.
3. Gene Alley, in discussion with the author, June 2008.
4. Vic Roznovsky, in discussion with the author, May 2010.
5. Dick Doepker, in discussion with the author, June 2011.
6. Bob Priddy, in discussion with the author, May 2010.
7. Cornell Law School. “Civil Rights.” Legal Information Institute.
8. Roy McHugh, “On the Hill, Will,” Sport, October 1964, 106.
9. Lois Beard Booker, in discussion with the author, August 2009.
10. Bryan Miller, “Eating Out, from the Minors to Montrachet,” New York Times, September 21, 1988, C1.
11. Edvins Beitiks, “Gun at His Head Put Stargell on Path to Manage,” San Francisco Examiner, June 30, 1987, F1.
12. George Read, in discussion with the author, June 2008.
13. Rex Johnston, in discussion with the author, June 2009.
14. Gene Alley, in discussion with the author, June 2008.
15. Rudy May, in discussion with the author, May 2010.
16. Joe Morgan, in discussion with the author, June 2010.
17. Joe L. Brown, in discussion with the author, June 2010.
18. Steve Blass, in discussion with the author, July 2009.
19. Bob Veale, in discussion with the author, June 2010.
20. Les Biederman, “Pirates May Trade for Outfield Help,” Pittsburgh Press, March 26, 1962, 14.
Chapter 3
1. Bill Virdon, in discussion with the author, May 2010.
2. Bob Skinner, in discussion with the author, May 2010.
3. Les Biederman, “Road Jinx Ruining Giants,” Pittsburgh Press, September 17, 1962, 26.
4. Bob Friend, in discussion with the author, August 2009.
5. “Both Stargell, Savage Ready,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 20, 1963, A8.
6. Lindy McDaniel, in discussion with the author, June 2010.
7. Les Biederman, “Pirate Bats Feast on Braves’ Hurling,” Pittsburgh Press, June 18, 1963, 28.
8. Steve Blass, in discussion with the author, July 2009.
9. Ed Rumill, “Pirates ‘Too Left-Handed,’” Christian Science Monitor, March 10, 1964.
10. Al Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 1964, 18.
11. Bill Jenkinson, Baseball’s Ultimate Power (Guilford, Connecticut: Globe, 2010), 155–159.
12. Al Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 24, 1964, 16.
13. Joe L. Brown, in discussion with the author, June 2010.
14. Frank Finch, “‘Big D’ and Dodgers Star(gell) Struck,” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1965, III-1.
15. Les Biederman, “Stargell & Co. Deflate Dodgers,” Pittsburgh Press, June 25, 1965, 27.
16. Les Biederman, “Stargell Shows He’s a Hustler all the Way,” Pittsburgh Press, July 14, 1965, 60.
17. Charley Feeney, “Stargell’s Bat Streaks Pirates Past Astros,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 6, 1966, 43.
18. McHugh, “On the Hill, Will,” 107.
19. Ron Santo, in discussion with the author, June 2010.
20. Ric Roberts, “Bucs Sure to Set Precedent,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 25, 1967, 12.
21. Les Biederman, “Mrs. Stargell’s Cooking Too Good,” Pittsburgh Press, March 1, 1967, 87.
22. Charley Feeney, “Roamin’ Around,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 1, 1967, 31.
23. Charley Feeney, “Stargell’s Weight, Average Rise Happily,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 18, 1967, 8.
24. Gene Clines, in discussion with the author, May 2010.
25. “Johnson Orders Out Troops; Dozen Cities Hit by Violence,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 6, 1968, 1.
26. “City Lifts Curfew but Keeps Guard Up,” Pittsburgh Press, April 10, 1968, 1.
27. Robert Johnson, “Fires, Looting Most Obvious,” Pittsburgh Press, April 10, 1968, 1.
28. Charley Feeney, “Pirates Tout Stargell as Season Opens,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 10, 1968, 30.
29. Richard Dozer, “Cubs Routed, 13–6; Stargell of Pirates Hits 3 Home Runs,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1968, 3–1.
30. Ed Rumill, “Stargell Escapes from the Shadows,” Christian Science Monitor, June 20, 1968, 6.
31. Les Biederman, “Morale Soars on Stargell’s Home Run Spree,” Pittsburgh Press, May 23, 1968, 43.
32. Tony Bartirome, in discussion with the author, August 2009.
Chapter 4
1. Joe L. Brown, in discussion with the author, June 2010.
2. Report of the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970).
3. Steve Blass, in discussion with the author, July 2009.
4. Bob Veale, in discu
ssion with the author, June 2010.
5. Bob Smizik, “Stargell’s ‘Fowl Ball’ Shoots Down Astros,” Pittsburgh Press, April 21, 1970, 30.
6. Bill Christine, “Stargell Hits Roof, Pirates Win,” Pittsburgh Press, April 26, 1970, 4–1.
7. Roy Blount Jr., “This Big Man Is the Cool Man,” Sports Illustrated, October 5, 1970, 17–18.
8. Brady Keys, in discussion with the author, July 2011.
9. Charley Feeney, “Ellis Fires No-Hitter Against Padres, 2–0,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 13, 1970, 10.
10. Bill Christine, “No-Hit Ellis Knows About Pressure,” Pittsburgh Press, June 13, 1970, 6.
11. Bob Smizik, “Ellis: I Pitched No-Hitter on LSD,” Pittsburgh Press, April 8, 1984, D1.
12. Roy Blount Jr., “No Disgruntlements Round Here,” Sports Illustrated, August 10, 1970, 18–19.
13. Paul Lukas, “The Pirates Great Uniform Revolution,” ESPN.com, July 29, 2010.
14. Phil Musick, “Bing Gets Bang Out of it … So Do Fans,” Pittsburgh Press, July 17, 1970, 21.
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