the last time the pirates won the world series was 1979.
the last time the pirates won the world series was 1979.
when is the last time the pirates won the world series?
1979
the pirates did win the world series in 1979, in a similar style as they had ended the 1978 season: from last place in the nl east at the end of april, the pirates clawed their way into a first-place battle with the montreal expos during the latter half of the season. they excited fans with numerous come-from-behind victories along the way (many during their final at-bat) to claim the division pennant on the last day of the season. at his urging as captain, the team adopted the sister sledge hit song "we are family" as the team anthem. then, his play on the field inspired his teammates and earned him the mvp awards in both the nlcs and the world series. stargell capped off the year by hitting a dramatic home run in baltimore during the late innings of a close game 7 to seal a pirates' championship. the home run was his third of the series and, coincidentally, credited stargell with the winning runs in both game 7s of the two postseason meetings between the pirates and the orioles (1971 and 1979). the 1979 world series victory also made the pirates the only franchise in baseball history to twice recover from a three-games-to-one deficit and win a world series (previously they had done so in 1925 against the washington senators). for the series, stargell went 12-for-30; along with his three home runs, he also recorded four doubles for 25 total bases, which remains tied as a world series record, reggie jackson having set it in the 1977 world series, and his seven extra-base hits (3 hrs and 4 doubles) in the 1979 world series also set a record.
willie stargell
rawlings returned to major league action with the boston braves (1917-'20), and later played for the philadelphia phillies (1920-'21), new york giants (1921-'22) and pittsburgh pirates (1923-'26). his most productive season came in 1921 for phillies and giants, when he posted career-numbers in hits (156), runs (60), extrabases (27), rbi (46) and games played (146), while hitting a respectable .278 average. in 1922 he hit .282 in 82 games, good enough to play for john mcgraw's national league pennant winning giants in 1921 and 1922. he hit .333 (10-for-30) with three doubles and four rbi for the 1921 giants world series champions. of particular note was the last play in the series, the last time a best-of-nine game format was used. with the giants winning in the 9th inning and the yankees facing elimination, yankees manager miller huggins sent babe ruth in to pinch hit to lead off the inning. ruth had knee and elbow injuries and had missed games 6 and 7 completely, and hat sat out game 8 thus far. he grounded out to the first baseman unassisted. aaron ward coaxed a walk, and represented the tying run. the next batter was john franklin "home run" baker. after fouling off several pitches, he hit a ball that appeared to have eyes for right field. ward took off on contact. rawlings reached the ball, and after tumbling, threw to first base from his knees to get the out. ward inexplicably continued running, rounded second base, and with his head down, barreled toward third. an astute throw to frank frisch at third base nailed ward for the third out, and the series was won by the giants. six seasons later, the winning pitcher, art nehf, then with the cincinnati reds, would call rawlings snag the best play he had ever seen. in all, johnny rawlings earned three world series rings, though he did not play for the 1922 giants and 1925 pirates series champions. during an early september game at pittsburgh against the st. louis cardinals, rawlings, now playing for the eventual world champion pirates, broke the fibula near the ankle in his left leg, while sliding into second base. the injury would keep him out of the world series, and would cut short his major league playing career the following year.
johnny rawlings