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Who are the top Pittsburgh Pirates of all time? Here is our top 10 countdown:
10. Bill Mazeroski: famous for hitting the only walk-off home run in Game 7 of a World Series (1960 vs. the New York Yankees), Mazeroski was a slick-fielding Hall of Fame second baseman who was selected to 10 All-Star Games and earned eight Gold Gloves while winning a pair of World Series titles.
9. Barry Bonds: even before his historic (steroid-aided) home run barrage in the 2000s, Bonds was among the top all-around players in baseball – in his first seven MLB seasons with the Pirates, he won his first two MVP awards with two All-Star selections, three Silver Sluggers, three Gold Gloves, and a pair of 30-30 seasons (30 home runs and 30 stolen bases).
8. Dave Parker: the 1978 NL MVP, Parker spent his first 11 seasons with Pittsburgh and was one of the best players of the late 1970s: 4x All-Star, 3x Gold Glover, and back-to-back batting champion who was also part of the 1979 World Series-winning team.
7. Ralph Kiner: though injuries limited his MLB career to just 10 seasons (seven-and-half with Pittsburgh), Kiner was a 6x All-Star who led the league in home runs in each of his first seven seasons, including a career-high 54 dingers with 127 runs batted in during the 1949 season.
6. Pie Traynor: one of the top third basemen of his era, Traynor batted .320 during his 17-year MLB career with the Pirates and finished top-10 for MVP 6x, made the first two All-Star Games, and won a World Series title in 1925.
5. Arky Vaughan: the longtime shortstop of the Pirates in the 1930s, Vaughan made nine straight All-Star appearances in his prime and won a batting title in 1935 with a career-high .385 average en route to a .318 career batting average.
4. Paul Waner: nicknamed “Big Poison”, Waner was a .333 career hitter who won three batting titles with the Pirates and accumulated 3,152 career hits, highlighted by NL MVP in 1927 (his second season) and selection to four of the first five All-Star Games.
3. Willie Stargell: known as “Pops”, Stargell is the team’s all-time career leader in home runs (475) and runs batted in (1,540); during his 21-year career with the Pirates, he was a 7x All-Star selection, won the 1979 NL MVP, and led the team to a pair of World Series titles (with World Series MVP honors in 1979 as well).
2. Roberto Clemente: one of the best all-around players in baseball history and the franchise record holder for games played, at-bats, and hits, Clemente was a 15x All-Star and 12x Gold Glover who had exactly 3,000 career hits; the 1966 NL MVP also won four batting titles and a pair of World Series titles with Pittsburgh, earning World Series MVP in 1971.
1. Honus Wagner: a member of baseball’s inaugural Hall of Fame class and Pittsburgh’s franchise leader in a number of categories, Wagner was one of the game’s first superstars – with a career .328 batting average, he racked up 3,420 career hits and won an NL-record eight batting titles while leading the Pirates to the 1909 World Series.
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Note: All statistics as of time of publication.
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