Perrotto: Vernon Law, Al Oliver Believed in Joe L. Brown’s Family Concept
PITTSBURGH — The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates will be forever known as The Family.
That team adopted the then-popular disco song We Are Family, performed by Sister Sledge, and rode it to a World Series victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The franchise hasn’t been back to the World Series since then, and there is little hope they will end that four-decade-plus drought anytime soon.
However, those ’79 Pirates might not be the first team in franchise history that should be known as The Family.
Vernon Law says the 1960 team was a family. Al Oliver says the same thing about the 1971 team. Both won the World Series.
Law and Oliver discussed those championship seasons on Thursday night, before being inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame, along with the late Kiki Cuyler, during a ceremony at PNC Park.
The Pirates hadn’t been to the World Series since 1927, when they won the National League pennant in 1960. They were large underdogs going into the Fall Classic against the powerhouse New York Yankees.
Yet the Pirates pulled off the upset, and Law credited the team’s unity as a significant reason.
“The guys on our team, every one of them, we loved each other, we pulled for each other, and we had each other’s back,” Law said. “If things were down a little bit, we’d work out our challenges and problems together. We were a team that really worked together, and that really is what made it special for me and for each other.”
Law won the Cy Young Award that season, and shortstop Dick Groat was the NL MVP. And Bill Mazeroski hit the series-winning homer against the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth innings of Game 7.
Yet …
“It was a team that won that series, but not with one or two or three guys,” Law said. “There were so many people who contributed to that team.”
Law knows a little bit about family. The 95-year-old has six children, 31 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren, the number of whom he cannot recall off the top of his head.
Oliver discussed the 1971 team with similar terms as Law and the 1960 team. Oliver said that general manager Joe L. Brown, also the architect of the 1960 championship team, set the tone for the Pirates.
“He emphasized us being family, and we were family,” Oliver said. “We pulled for each other. We didn’t resent each other, even if we didn’t play. We got along so well.”
The 1971 Pirates are famous for more than beating the Orioles in the World Series as heavy underdogs, thanks to the tremendous play of Roberto Clemente and Steve Blass’ pitching mastery. They were also the first team to have nine Black and Latino players in the starting lineup, achieving this on Sept. 1 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Though Jackie Robinson had broken baseball’s color barrier in 1947, racism was still part of MLB, if not so overtly, 24 years later.
“Like Joe Brown said, ‘we scout, and we bring in talent. I don’t care what church they go to,'” Oliver said. “When I heard him say that statement, I just started laughing because I knew it was true. It doesn’t matter what church you go to or how you worship. It’s a matter of how you play ball. And that’s what we did. We had some great players on that team, guys that really cared about each other.”
There is always a question in baseball about whether good chemistry creates a good clubhouse atmosphere or if a good clubhouse atmosphere fosters good team unity. I’ve never been able to figure it out.
I often get asked about chemistry in the current Pirates’ clubhouse. I don’t have an answer because there are so few players in the dressing area during the media’s allotted 50-minute pregame access. It’s been that way since the pandemic ended.
The players don’t play cards together or table tennis, and they don’t take shots at the miniature basketball hoops. The few who are in the clubhouse are constantly on their phones.
It’s not criticism, just a sign of the times. Developing a family dynamic can be difficult when no one communicates with each other.
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