Who Should Be up Next for Pirates Hall of Fame? (+)
The Pittsburgh Pirates added three more prominent members to the team Hall of Fame on Saturday at PNC Park.
In its third-annual class, Barry Bonds, Jim Leyland and Manny Sanguillen were the three inductees for 2024, pushing the total number of Pirates’ Hall of Famers up to 26.
Bonds, of course, is one of the greatest players in MLB history and spent the first seven years of his major-league career in Pittsburgh. Leyland managed the Pirates for 11 seasons and won three-straight division titles from 1990-92. Sanguillen won two World Series with the Pirates and has been a staple around the ballpark in his retirement.
After the latest round of inductions, who should be in the 2025 class? Several names come to mind.
Chuck Tanner
With two managers already in — Leyland and Danny Murtaugh — it’s time to add a third in Tanner.
I get why the Pirates added Leyland when they did. Not only did they pair him with a former player, but Leyland was elected into Cooperstown so the timing felt right, and he was certainly deserving. But a case could be made that Tanner should have been enshrined before Leyland in the Pirates’ Hall of Fame.
Tanner was the last Pirates’ manager to win the World Series, guiding the 1979 Pirates to their fifth title over the Baltimore Orioles. Though he didn’t have as many career regular-season victories as Leyland (851 to 711), Tanner had the edge in winning percentage (.509 to .496).
Tanner, who died in 2011 at the age of 82, managed the Pirates for nine seasons from 1977-85 and led the Pirates to six winning seasons.
Vern Law
Law spent his entire 16-year career in Pittsburgh and totaled 162 wins to go along with a 3.77 ERA in 483 appearances/364 starts. He’s one of two Pirates to win a Cy Young award, was a 1960 World Series champion and a two-time All-Star.
Law is third on the Pirates all-time list in games started (364), fourth in innings (2,672), fifth in strikeouts (1,092) and sixth in wins.
To me, it matters more to see these guys get in while they’re alive, a theme you will notice for the rest of my selections. At 94 years old, Law should be inducted as soon as possible.
Bob Veale
Speaking of World Series-winning pitchers, Veale is another pitcher the Pirates should seriously consider adding to the team’s Hall of Fame.
11 of Veale’s first 13 seasons came with the Pirates and the left-hander went 116-91 with a 3.07 ERA and is second to Bob Friend with 1,652 strikeouts in his career in Pittsburgh. Veale was a two-time All-Star and was on the 1971 World Series champion team under Danny Murtaugh.
Veale is 88 years old, so he’s in a similar boat as Law. Both players should be inducted in 2025.
John Candelaria
One more starting pitcher who won a World Series with the Pirates, Candelaria made two starts during the 1979 World Series and spent 12 seasons in Pittsburgh. While with the Pirates, the long left-hander amassed a 124-97 record and a 3.17 ERA. He was named an All-Star in 1977 and finished the year 20-5 with a league-best 2.34 ERA.
Candelaria has the fourth-most strikeouts in Pirates’ history with 1,159 and his 271 career starts are sixth-most.
Andy Van Slyke
With Leyland and Bonds in town and in their Hall of Fame jackets over the weekend, I couldn’t help but think of Van Slyke, who Bonds mentioned during his speech.
Van Slyke was another prominent member of the teams that won three-straight National League East titles from 1990-92. During his eight years with the Pirates, he was a three-time All-Star, won five Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers.
Two Others
If you look at essentially any list of pitching statistics in Pirates’ history, you’ll find both Babe Adams and Wilbur Cooper at or near the top of the leaderboards. Though they aren’t as recognizable as the other names because of when they played — Adams from 1907-26 and Cooper from 1912-24, both players are certainly deserving of the honor.
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