Pittsburgh Northsider Frank Lochner tells the story about how former Pittsburgh Pirates great Willie Stargell improved his batting from advice by another Pirates legend, and radio broadcaster Pie Traylor. Interviewed by Bill Gandy.
Pie Traynor. Incredible player for the Pirates. Willie was my childhood hero and I saw him inducted into the Hall of Fame, one of the greatest days. Thrilling.
Pie Traynor, was a great baseball player, no wonder Willie became so damn good. This is a "Classic Baseball" story, so glad it has a positive turn out for Willie Stargell.
what a super cool and fun story to share! it must have been amazing to be standing there watching it happen! Willie Stargell is my favorite player of all time! except for my own kids of course!
I went from Philadelphia up to Penn State main campus in 1982. They assigned me a dorm roommate from Pittsburgh. He arrived first. He put up a Stargell poster and Carlton poster. He granted my request to put the Carlton poster above my desk and the Stargell poster over his desk.
Makes sense. It's about timing. It probably helped his patience with wait time. Then again, sometimes Willie would get those two swings in fast to catch up to a quicker windup start from the pitcher. Great old days. The Lumber Company.
Back in 1971, or maybe 1972, I saw Willie Stargell hit a home run into the swimming pool in back of the large scoreboard at Jarry Park in Montreal against the Expos. Unbelievable power! Had to have been 500 feet! I remember the sound, it sounded like a gunshot!
Actually, it was 1963, not 1962. Willie was a September call-up in September 1962 and batted .290. In most of the summer of1963, Willie hit poorly. However, in September 1963, Willie went on a tear.
Hmmm... I'm not quite sure how we get from A to B. Pie Traynor in effect said "Don't let the pitcher dictate the flow. Use swings to calibrate your timing. If the pitcher takes too long, step out." Sage advice. But how does this mean that Stargell got his unique "pinwheel" warm-up from Traynor?
In the next few decades there will never be any type of stories like this here in Pittsburgh. You can blame it on one man. ( Bob Nutting ). He is the reason I hate baseball.
Funny how people just believe this. I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale, by the way. According to Willie, it was so he wouldn't tighten up, not for his timing. This is probably nonsense, although who can be sure either way.
