When Kent Tekulve wore his white Pittsburgh Pirates No. 27 jersey again, it was like he was transported in time.
The 77-year-old submariner felt like he was 32 again, swapping stories with his old teammates as the Pirates celebrated the 45th anniversary of their 1979 World Series champions before Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park.
“It’s the same stories,” Tekulve said. “They get better as time goes on.”
Some of them were even true, his teammates joked. If the tales they told sounded tall, it’s because you had to be there to believe it. Some of the decisions defied convention, so the results didn’t sound realistic.
Jim Rooker recalled left fielder Lee Lacy hustling to beat the throw on a routine double play in one game. When Lacy was called safe, despite appearing to be out by a step, Pirates captain Willie Stargell declared in the home dugout, “We’re going to win it all this year.”
“I said, ‘All of what?’ It was only July,” Rooker said. “He said, ‘The last time we won the World Series, I saw little things on the field like this, a little break here and there. You have to have a little luck along the way.’ Willie had such a calming effect on anybody and everybody, just because of the texture of his voice.”
Lacy credits the late Stargell’s leadership for creating the family bond on those Pirates, especially by rewarding Stargell’s stars for players to wear on their striped pillbox caps for their performance.
“It was all about unity,” Lacy said. “The stars, for Willie, wasn’t about the guy who hit the home run. He gave it to the guy who hustled, diving at the ball or running on and off the field like it was the last day of our life. It’s been a long time. By us coming back to this city, it lets people know that if you pull in the same direction and have a good attitude, anything is possible. It shows in the championship we won in 1979.”
Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven credits late manager Chuck Tanner for how he handled a team full of colorful characters, with superstars in Stargell and Dave Parker and a cast of players who reveled in their roles.
“Everyone knew they had to be ready for when they were called on,” Blyleven said. “Chuck did a great job of getting everybody together. It was a great clubhouse. Sometimes when we lost a tough ballgame, the music would get even louder. It was like, ‘OK, we lost. Move on.’ ”
Starting pitcher John Candelaria remembers the tide turning in early August, when the Pirates swept a five-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, who had finished ahead of them in the NL East the previous three seasons.
The Pirates trailed 8-3 in the first game of an Aug. 5 doubleheader at Three Rivers Stadium before rallying behind homers by Lacy and Steve Nicosia to tie it the eighth inning. When the Phillies brought in lefty closer Tug McGraw, Tanner opted to defy conventional wisdom by turning to a lefty bat to pinch hit for Nicosia.
“I started believing when Nicosia went 4 for 4 and, with the bases loaded, Chuck pinch-hits John Milner against Tug McGraw and he hit a grand slam,” Candelaria said. “That’s when I knew something was happening.”
It was the following weekend that clinched it for Tekulve, who pitched the final three innings of a 14-11 win over the Phillies that saw the late catcher Ed Ott hit another grand slam off McGraw in the eighth.
“Both left-handed hitters hit a grand slam off a lefty, Tug McGraw. You were like, ‘Something’s going on here,’ ” Tekulve said. “If they don’t do what they did, what Stargell, Parker, Tekulve, Blyleven and Candelaria did doesn’t mean anything. It takes contributions from all 25.”
To Pirates shortstop Tim Foli, the key for the Pirates was the belief that their group was better than the individuals on the other team, even if they had more talent.
“These guys did not like losing, and they just battled through everything,” Foli said. “There were so many guys that just gutted it out and did things that they probably didn’t even believe they could do. That’s how you win.”
Added Parker: “Those who played against us realized that they had their hands full. We were going to play hard. We were a special team.”
Parker recalled another Stargell prediction, before the Hall of Fame first baseman hit a two-run homer off Baltimore’s Scott McGregor in the sixth inning of Game 7 of the World Series.
“He called it. He told me, ‘Dave, they’re going to throw me a breaking ball, and I’m going to hit it out of the park,’ ” Parker said. “Willie never surprised me. He was a leader, a clutch hitter and a great friend.”
When the Pirates honored the 1979 team before the game, Parker drew the loudest cheers of all and received a standing ovation from fans and his teammates. Battling Parkinson’s disease, the Pirates Hall of Fame right fielder took off his cap and tipped it to the crowd.
“It’s a great feeling, always nice to come home,” Parker said. “I’m a Buc. Once a Buc, always a Buc. The Pirates is where it all started.”
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
