Willie Stargell 1979 NL MVP

Lore & Background

By the summer of 1979, Willie Stargell was no longer the fleet-footed left fielder who had terrorized right-handed pitchers for a decade. His knees ached, his speed was a memory, and the Pirates had shifted him into a first base and left field role. The baseball world had largely written his story. Then, in the third month of the season, he began hitting the ball into the upper deck of Three Rivers Stadium with a frequency that made the crowd roar in disbelief. Thirty-two home runs. A .281 average. Eighty-two runs batted in. The numbers read like a young player's résumé, but the man delivering them had two decades of baseball in his bones.

The 1979 Pirates were a complete team—98 wins, the NL East title, a deep run in the postseason—but it was Stargell who gave the season its emotional spine. He was the anchor, the guy the whole clubhouse rallied around, the veteran who refused to let the young guns believe the season was slipping away.

Stargell's 1979 season is also a quiet testament to the Pirates' culture of loyalty. The franchise did not trade him, did not bench him, did not let age become an excuse. They handed him the first base and left field duties, the best at-bats, and the full weight of the city's belief. In return, he gave them the finest individual season a 39-year-old has produced for the club, and a memory that outlived every player who came after.

Reader's Guide

In 1979, Willie Stargell won the National League MVP award for the Pittsburgh Pirates, capping a season in which the 38-year-old designated hitter slashed .308, drove in 116 runs, and launched 44 home runs. The Pirates finished the year with 98 wins and the NL West pennant, but it was Stargell's individual campaign that defined the season in the minds of fans.

The narrative power of the award lies in context. Stargell was no longer the Gold Glove outfielder of the early 1970s; his legs were gone, his range in the field was a memory. The Pirates had moved him to the DH role, and many in the league assumed his batting power was fading with his age. He answered by posting numbers that rivaled the league's youngest sluggers, hitting 44 homers in a season where the average NL MVP candidate was a decade younger.

The MVP vote was not a coronation of a surprise; it was a vindication. Stargell had been a 10-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, and a 475-career-home-run slugger before 1979 even began. But this was the season that proved the story was not over. The Pirates' 98-64 record gave the team the hardware, but Stargell's 44-homer, .308 campaign gave the city its hero for the year. The MVP trophy remains the single most celebrated individual honor in Pirates franchise history.

Did You Know?

• By 1979, Stargell had been moved to first base and left field after years as a standout left fielder, yet he still led the league in power. (The designated hitter was not used in the National League until 2020.)
• Stargell's 475 career home runs were a Pirates franchise record at the time of his retirement, and his number 7 was retired by the club.
• The 1979 Pirates finished 98-64 and won the NL East, but Stargell's MVP season is still the most referenced individual achievement in the franchise's modern era.