Kent Tekulve and ’79 Pirates Still Possess What Made Them Champions (+)
To celebrate the 45 year anniversary, the 1979 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates were at PNC Park over the weekend.
Several players and family members were recognized on the field prior to the start of the Pirates game against the Atlanta Braves. The biggest ovation from the large crowd in attendance went to Dave Parker, whose bobblehead was given away to the Pirates’ faithful.
Among the other former players in attendance was Pirates’ Hall of Famer Kent Tekulve. The now 77-year-old pitched for the Pirates from 1974-85. Tekulve was an All-Star in 1980 and finished fifth in the National League Cy Young race and eighth in MVP voting during the Pirates’ World Series run in ‘79. That year, he went 10-8 with a 2.75 ERA while pitching in a league-high 94 games and recorded 31 saves.
Like the others in attendance, Tekulve was happy to be back with his former teammates.
“You know what, it’s something that has happened every five years since then,” Tekulve explained. “Yes, over time we have lost some guys and it’s not like the first couple where you basically had all the guys back together, but it’s still the same essence … It’s good to get back together and see the guys that you know everybody had an important piece in what we were able to accomplish.”
The 1979 World Series was one for the ages. The Pirates overcame a 3-1 series deficit in order to become champions after a game seven victory, a game Tekulve saved by recording the final five outs.
The Pirates’ roster that year had some obvious star power. Veteran Wille Stargell was named co-MVP alongside the Mets’ Keith Hernandez. Dave Parker was one of the most feared players during that era, and there were others too.
What Tekulve is most proud of in regards to that team is how well every player on that roster served in their role.
“Everyone on the team understands what we accomplished as a group,” he said. “Stargell, Parker, myself, Blyvlein, Candelaria, yes we were big contributors, but we don’t win without the Easler, Lacy, Matt Alexander, we don’t win without those guys. We won the division on the last day of the season then go right into the playoffs and the World Series. Any of those little contributions that they made were just as important as the big contributions that we made.”
While in today’s game there’s seemingly a stat for everything – too many, according to Tekeulve – what can’t be measured is what gave the ‘79 Pirates the edge they needed.
The brotherhood and camaraderie of that team ran deep, so deep that it can still be felt as strong as ever 45 years later,
Though the final Pirates’ team of the 1970’s fully displayed that togetherness, it was something that was instilled in the earlier years of the decade.
At that time, the Pirates were an incredibly diverse team, but it didn’t matter where each player came from or what they believed. They were all Pittsburgh Pirates.
“When you walked into the clubhouse, there were no nationalities, there were no religious beliefs, there was nothing else because everyone’s shirt said the same thing across the front, it said Pirates,” Tekulve said. “We had Willie, and he may have gotten it from Mazeroski, who always said, ‘Just remember, the name on the front is way more important than the name on the back. That comes first.’ That’s the way we looked at it.”
Not only did players on the Pirates get along well on the field, they were close friends away from it. That wasn’t the case with the other teams in the league.
It’s another piece of the equation that carried the Pirates all the way that season.
“There were other clubs with this click and that click,” Tekulve explained. “The good guys, the popular guys, the guys with the good numbers, the guys that don’t play very often, they were all kind of segregated. It wasn’t that way in our clubhouse. That’s really, to me, to this day, what made us as good as we were. We didn’t have any of that divide. We had 25 guys that were all pointed in the right direction doing the same thing.”
Of course one of the most famous aspects of that year’s Pirates is the adoption of “We Are Family” as the team song.
Sister Sledge, the group that sang the song, originated in Philadelphia, Pa., but the band members’ allegiances were tied to Pittsburgh. At the time, the Phillies were the Pirates biggest rivals, as Tekulve was explaining.
From 1976-78, the Phillies finished in first place in the National League East with the Pirates finishing as the runner-up in all three seasons.
When the Pirates finally got the better of their Keystone State counterparts while stealing one of their hometown bands, Tekulve and his teammates let the Phillies know it.
“When we saw the guys from Philly, we said, ‘We didn’t only beat ya, we took your women, too,’” Tekulve joked. “That was always fun.”
Nearly half a century leader, everything that made the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates what they were still remains. The togetherness, the feistiness, the spirit – it’s all still there.
That’s what made the Pirates champions, and it’s why the ‘79 bunch is immortalized in the city of Pittsburgh.
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