Willie Stargell

Willie Stargell
Stargell with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1965
Left fielder / First baseman
Born: (1940-03-06)March 6, 1940
Earlsboro, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died: April 9, 2001(2001-04-09) (aged 61)
Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
MLB debut
September 16, 1962, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Last MLB appearance
October 3, 1982, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
MLB statistics
Batting average.282
Hits2,232
Home runs475
Runs batted in1,540
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction1988
Vote82.4% (first ballot)

Wilver Dornell Stargell (March 6, 1940 – April 9, 2001), nicknamed "Pops" later in his career, was an American professional baseball left fielder and first baseman who spent all of his 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (19621982) with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Among the most feared power hitters in baseball history, Stargell had the most home runs (296) of any player in the 1970s decade. During his career, he batted .282 with 2,232 hits, 1,194 runs, 423 doubles, 475 home runs, and 1,540 runs batted in, helping his team win six National League (NL) East division titles, two NL pennants, and two World Series championships in 1971 and 1979, both over the Baltimore Orioles. Stargell was a seven-time All-Star and two-time NL home run leader. In 1979, at the age of 39, he became the first and currently only player to win the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, the NL Championship Series MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in one season. In 1982, the Pirates retired his uniform number 8. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.[1]

  1. ^ "Willie Stargell at the Baseball Hall of Fame". baseballhall.org. Retrieved December 31, 2011.