Sports History
Series Celebration
By Anne Madarasz

Eleven years after their miraculous World Series win over the Yankees in 1960, the Pittsburgh Pirates once again faced an opponent that few expected them to beat. In 1971, the Pirates took on the Baltimore Orioles, the defending World Champions, winners of 101 games, and a team coming off a sweep of Oakland to capture the American League pennant. Anchored by four 20-game winning pitchers-Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, Pat Dobson and Mike Cuellar-the Orioles also featured future Hall of Famers Brooks and Frank Robinson. In a Series that included the first ever night game, played at Three Rivers Stadium in front of 51,378 fans on Oct. 13, the underdog Pirates triumphed, winning the World Championship in seven games.

It was a Series that finally saw Roberto Clemente named Most Valuable Player. His brilliant bat matched his equally spectacular play in right field. Clemente hit safely in all seven games, racked up a .414 batting average, and hit a key home run over the wall in Game 7 to put the Buccos on the board. Other Pirates made noise with their bats. Manny Sanguillen hit .379 for the Series and Jose Pagan and Willie Stargell contributed to the Series efforts that would usher in the era of Pirate power hitters in the 1970s.

Pirate pitchers, led by Steve Blass, captured key victories against an intimidating Baltimore lineup. Blass gave the Pirates their first win, 5 to 1 in Game 3, holding the Orioles to just three hits. Rookie pitcher Bruce Kison got the nighttime win in Game 4 and a young Nellie Briles gave the Pirates a 3 to 2 game advantage with his win in Game 5. But the Pirates failed to close the door on the Orioles, letting them back into the Series with a close loss in Game 6.

The Series came down to a deciding Game 7, with Steve Blass once again on the mound. Blass started slow, but settled in; allowing only four hits in the Pirates 2 to 1 win over the Orioles. Blass, one of the self described, "no-name pitchers" of the Pirates squad, brought home victory, leaping for joy into the arms of his catcher Sanguillen. On this, the 35th anniversary of that October victory, we remember the men who not only captured the first of two World Series against the Orioles in the 1970s, but also ushered in the decade that gave Pittsburgh a national identity as the City of Champions.

Anne Madarasz is the Director of the Western PA Sports Museum which features Steve Blass's glove from the '71 Series in its baseball section..