1983 Pittsburgh Pirates

This week, the Pittsburgh Steelers have made their record tying 8th trip to the Super Bowl. Today we get to the black sheep of Pittsburgh sports teams, the Pirates. 1983 wasn't a bad season for the Bucs. They had an unexpected winning season. This would be the last Pirates team that didn't include Barry Bonds that had a winning season. In fact this would be their last winning season until 1988.

Best Player: Tony Pena

Best Pitcher: Rick Rhoden

All-Stars: Bill Madlock

Hall-of-Famers: none

Rookie Card of the Year: Cecilio Guante, pitched through 1990 with the Pirates, Yankees, Rangers, and Indians. Odd thing is, he never started until the very last game of his career against the Yankees.

Other rookie cards: Jim Smith (listed under retired players), Lee Tunnell

First Pirate card: Lee Mazzilli, Larry McWilliams, Manny Sarmiento, Gene Tenace

Most interesting non-Topps card: Cecilio Guante, appeared in only the Donruss set, but with the name "Matt Guante". Where did the Matt come from? His full name was Cecilio (Magallane) Guante. From my understanding of Spanish naming conventions, and this may be wrong, but Magallane would've been his dad's last name and Guante would've been his mother's. They really don't have middle names like Americans do. So it makes no sense to turn Magallane into Matt. Then again, this just may have been an error at the Donruss factory and nothing more.

Other notes: Bob Owchinko's card showing him as an Oakland Athletic is listed here.

Starters

__	TO	590	C	Tony Pena	PIT
__	TO	730	1B	Jason Thompson	PIT
__	TO	149	2B	Johnny Ray	PIT
__	TO	433	SS	Dale Berra	PIT
__	TO	645	3B	Bill Madlock	PIT
__	TO	385	LF	Mike Easler	PIT
__			CF	Marvell Wynne
__	TO	205	RF	Dave Parker	PIT
__	TO	69	OF	Lee Lacy	PIT
__	TT	67	CF	Lee Mazzilli	PIT

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	781	SP	Rick Rhoden	PIT
__	TO	253	SP	Larry McWilliams	PIT
__	TO	755	SP	John Candelaria	PIT
__	TT	118	SP	Lee Tunnell	PIT
__			SP	Jose DeLeon

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	17	CL	Kent Tekulve	PIT
__	DO	423	RP	Cecilio Guante	PIT
__	TO	566	RP	Manny Sarmiento	PIT
__	TO	355	RP	Jim Bibby	PIT
__	TO	537	RP	Rod Scurry	PIT

Other Players

__	TO	778	3B	Richie Hebner	PIT
__	TO	173	IF	Jim Morrison	PIT
__			LF	Brian Harper
__	TT	110	UT	Gene Tenace	PIT
__			LF	Doug Frobel
__	TO	462	C	Steve Nicosia	PIT
__			C	Milt May
__			CF	Joe Orsulak
__			C	Junior Ortiz
__			MI	Ron Wotus
__			SS	Rafael Belliard
__			PR	Miguel Dilone
__	TO	44	SP	Don Robinson	PIT
__	TO	329	RP	Randy Niemann	PIT
__			RP	Jim Winn
__			RP	Dave Tomlin
__			SP	Alfonso Pulido
__	TO	338	RP	Bob Owchinko	OAK

Manager

__

TO

696

MG

Chuck Tanner

PIT

Ultimate Set Hall of Fame - Willie Stargell

I am going to try something here with players that retire whenever I feel like writing something a little different than the typical team checklist. I am creating a Hall of Fame and then providing a checklist for that player in the Ultimate Set era (1981 - present). The first player I am putting in my Hall of Fame is Willie Stargell. Not that he is my favorite player or the best player in my opinion, but because the 1983 contain his last cards as a current player.

Stargell was a solid player whose career lasted from 1962-1982, all played with the Pirates. As definition of a team leader, he was NL MVP in 1979 at age 39. He finished his career with 475 homers and was elected to the real Hall-of-Fame in 1988.

The checklist below represents the very tail end of this good career and only the cards that would be in the Ultimate Set. The team listed is the team checklist that this card will be found in. If you want a complete checklist of all of Stargell's cards, click on this link. Just noticed when finding the pictures for this post that the same photo used in his 1981 Topps card is used again in the 1982 set for his in action card. The exact same photo, not a photo taken 2 seconds later.

Ultimate Set Cards
__ 1981 - Topps #380 - Pittsburgh Pirates
__ 1982 - Topps #715 - Pittsburgh Pirates
__ 1982 - Topps #716 (In Action) - Special Cards
__ 1983 - Fleer #324 (or Donruss #610) - Retired Players

Other Possible Cards (listing these for those interested in the extra cards from sets other than Topps)
__ 1983 - Donruss #8 (Diamond King)
__ 1983 - Fleer #634 (Superstar Special, Fountain of Youth w/ Pete Rose)

1982 Pittsburgh Pirates

Before steroids, and the non-stop chatter about the use of them, baseball had another drug scandal in the early 1980s. The drug scandal centered around the use of cocaine, and many of the players on this Pirates roster were involved in that scandal. Dave Parker, Dale Berra, Rod Scurry, Lee Lacy, and John Milner were all involved in the Pittsburgh drug trials in 1985 that may have been the biggest baseball scandal since the 1919 Chicago White Sox.

I think this scandal has been mostly forgotten about because outside of a handful of players derailing their own careers, this didn't really ruin the history or integrity of the game the way the steroid scandal that would come along in just a decade or so did. It also wasn't reportedly to be as wide spread as the steroid scandal. I think the perception of recreational drug use has changed quite a bit since then as well. I can't imagine a player would be suspended for an entire year as some of these players were if this happened in 2010. In fact Rangers manager Ron Washington admitted to using them as recently as last year, and nothing really became of it.

MVP
Bill Madlock led the team in batting average and runs scored. He was second in home runs and RBIs. I will give him the award for this Pirates squad, but he narrowly beats out Jason Thompson, who led the team in home runs, RBIs, and OBP. Johnny Ray led the team in hits.

Cy Young
Similar to the batters in that there was really no one who stood out and several who deserved consideration as best pitcher on this team. I am going to give it to Kent Tekulve. He led the team in saves, was 2nd in ERA and 3rd overall in wins. Honorable mention goes to fellow bullpen member Rod Scurry and starter John Candelaria.

Rookie Card of the Year
Tony Pena had his first cards solo in 1982, having a card in each of the three major regular sets. But he had was on the multi-player Pirates prospects card in 1981. I may have given it to him anyway, because he would go on to be the face of the Pirates until Barry Bonds came along in the later half of the 1980s. I will give this instead to second baseman Johnny Ray. He would have an all-star career through 1990 with the Pirates and Angels. He led this 1982 team in games played and hits. He also was 2nd overall in National League rookie of the year voting. He had cards in the Donruss and Fleer sets, and was on the multi-player prospect card for the Pirates in the 1982 Topps set, but I am using his 1982 Topps Traded card in this checklist.

Most Interesting Non-Topps card
In the 1982 Donruss set, they included a handful of coaches. This is the only set outside of a team issued set that was released after 1980 (at least) that included coaches. Harvey Haddix was the pitching coach for the 1982 Pirates. He had a 14 season career from 1952-1965 pitching for the Cardinals, Phillies, Reds, Pirates, and wrapping it up with the Orioles. His claim to fame may be taking a perfect game into the 13th inning against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959 while pitching for the Pirates. He ultimately lost the game in the 13th inning as he received no offensive support for this effort.

Starters

__	TO	138	C	Tony Pena	PIT
__	TO	295	1B	Jason Thompson	PIT
__	TT	96	2B	Johnny Ray	PIT
__	TO	365	3B	Bill Madlock	PIT
__	TO	588	SS	Dale Berra	PIT
__	TO	235	LF	Mike Easler	PIT
__	TO	395	CF	Omar Moreno	PIT
__	TO	40	RF	Dave Parker	PIT
__	TO	752	OF	Lee Lacy	PIT

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	513	SP	Rick Rhoden	PIT
__	TO	425	SP	John Candelaria	PIT
__	TO	332	SP	Don Robinson	PIT
__	TO	733	SP	Larry McWilliams	ATL

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	485	CL	Kent Tekulve	PIT
__	TO	207	RP	Rod Scurry	PIT
__			RP	Manny Sarmiento
__	TO	106	RP	Enrique Romo	PIT

Other Players

__	TO	652	C	Steve Nicosia	PIT
__	TT	77	3B	Jim Morrison	PIT
__	TT	24	RF	Dick Davis	PIT
__	TO	715	1B	Willie Stargell	PIT
__	TO	543	OF	Bill Robinson	PIT
__			RF	Richie Hebner
__			SS	Jim Smith
__	TO	458	UT	Willie Montanez	PIT
__			RF	Doug Frobel
__			1B	John Milner
__			LF	Brian Harper
__			LF	Reggie Walton
__			C	Junior Ortiz
__	TO	245	3B	Ken Reitz	CHC
__			1B	Eddie Vargas
__			LF	Wayne Nordhagen
__			MI	Nelson Norman
__			SS	Rafael Belliard
__	TO	73	SP	Eddie Solomon	PIT
__	TT	3	SP	Ross Baumgarten	PIT
__	DO	473	RP	Randy Niemann	PIT
__	TO	97	RP	Paul Moskau	CIN
__			RP	Cecilio Guante
__	TO	777	SP	Tom Griffin	SFG
__			SP	Lee Tunnell
__	TO	779	RP	Grant Jackson	MON

Minors

__

TO

170

MN

Jim Bibby

PIT

Manager/Coaches

__	DO	150	MG	Chuck Tanner	PIT
__	DO	651	CO	Harvey Haddix	PIT

1981 Pittsburgh Pirates

Card Design
I really like the 1981 Topps card design. The hats are probably the most effective way to show the team on the card on any Topps design going back to maybe the '50s sets that had team logos on them. They've matched the colors that every team wore in 1981. We've seen teams like the Expos and Orioles with multiple colors and even those show up on the hat design. On the Pirates card, the hat is even shaped like the old painter hats that they wore during this era.

Losing Franchise
The Pirates in 2010 are currently on a 17 season below .500 streak, dating back to 1993. Seeing that this 1981 version finished in the bottom third of all of baseball, it makes you realize how bad Pirate baseball has been for well over a quarter of a century now. If the Barry Bonds/Bobby Bonilla led era of the Pirates from 1988-1992 hadn't existed, that streak could be even uglier. The Pirates had won the World Series in 1979, were a two games over .500 in 1980, had a pretty lousy season in 1981, then picked up to go 84-78 in both 1982 and 1983, then fell off a cliff in 1984, bottoming out in 1985 with a 104 loss team. The Barry Bonds era Pirates put it together in 1988 to have an 85 win team, then the Pirates went to three playoffs in a row from 1990-1992. And then we are where we are now with the Pirates. Hard to believe they haven't had a winning season since Barry Bonds was on their roster...that puts the streak in perspective.

Willie Montanez
In 1981, Willie Montanez played 26 games with the Expos and 29 games with the Pirates. He is shown on his regular 1981 Topps card in one of those awful airbrushed cards of the era with the Expos. In the 1981 Fleer set he is shown as a Padre. There are no cards of him in the Topps Traded set. He played for the Padres and Expos in 1980, but his 1980 Topps card shows him with the Rangers, the team he played with the year before. He was traded from the Padres to the Expos on August 31, 1980 for Tony Phillips. So the Padres card in the Fleer set is the only card ever showing him as a member of the Padres (unless there is a regional set or some retro set I am not aware of).

Since I am keeping all players who are in different uniforms from the various sets, I will place that Padre card of Willie Montanez in this Pirates checklist and I placed the card of him in an Expo uniform on the Expos checklist.

Starting Players

__			C	Tony Pena
__	TT	843	1B	Jason Thompson	PIT
__	TO	573	2B	Phil Garner	PIT
__	TO	715	3B	Bill Madlock	PIT
__	TO	501	SS	Tim Foli	PIT
__	TO	92	LF	Mike Easler	PIT
__	TO	535	CF	Omar Moreno	PIT
__	TO	640	RF	Dave Parker	PIT
__	TO	147	IF	Dale Berra	PIT
__	TO	332	OF	Lee Lacy	PIT
__	TO	212	C	Steve Nicosia	PIT

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	298	SP	Eddie Solomon	PIT
__	TO	430	SP	Jim Bibby	PIT
__	TO	312	SP	Rick Rhoden	PIT
__	TO	627	SP	Luis Tiant	NYY
__			SP	Pascual Perez

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	28	CL	Enrique Romo	PIT
__	TO	695	RP	Kent Tekulve	PIT
__	TO	194	RP	Rod Scurry	PIT
__			SP	Odell Jones
__	TT	751	RP	Victor Cruz	PIT
__	TO	518	RP	Grant Jackson	PIT
__	TO	265	SP	John Candelaria	PIT
__	TO	168	RP	Don Robinson	PIT

Other Players

__			2B	Johnny Ray
__	TO	51	UT	Bill Robinson	PIT
__			MI	Vance Law
__	TO	380	1B	Willie Stargell	PIT
__	TO	618	UT	John Milner	PIT
__	TT	729	UT	Gary Alexander	PIT
__	FL	506	1B	Willie Montanez	SDP
__	TO	118	IF	Kurt Bevacqua	PIT
__	TO	68	OF	Matt Alexander	PIT
__			PH	Doe Boyland
__			RP	Ernie Camacho
__			RP	Mark Lee
__			SP	Bob Long

Manager/Coaches

__

FL

367

MG

Chuck Tanner (or DO 257)

PIT