#OnThisDay in 1969, Willie Stargell went yard for the Pittsburgh Pirates #mlb #baseball #pirates

So August 5th, 1969, so this day, Los Angeles, California, seventh inning, Willie Stargel of the Pittsburgh Pirates in his prime future Hall of Famer is at the plate. Allan Foster is on the mound for the do for the Dodgers. Count is one and two. Foster throws a curveball and start swings and it just goes boom and the ball travels, no joke, 56 ft. It bounces off the right field pavilion roof and lands outside Dodger Stadium and it is the first time a ball has left Dodger Stadium since the stadium opened in 1962. And initially it was measured at 580 ft. It wound up being adjusted to 506 ft. Afterwards, Star was asked about it and he said, "Eh, distance doesn't excite me that much. It's just a thrill to hit home run." This was his 16th home run of the season. Star obviously goes on to be a National League MVP and one of the great players in baseball history. And people remember the 79 we are family pirates. But if you talk to people in LA and you talk to Dodger fans of certain age and you talk to Pirate fans of a certain age, they remember watching Starel hit a baseball out of Dodger Stadium. And also must be noted, Star, who was 28 at the time, actually hit three balls out of Pittsburgh's old Forbes Field. So he had insane power. I think he goes overlooked in major league history for how good he was. And um on the date 1969 Stargel 506 home run out uh foot feed home run and Willie Starel for his career just want to say 475 uh home runs 2232 hits 1500 RBI's a great great great player died in 2001 at age 61 and uh the great Willie Starjo on this date hit a massive

30 comments

  1. My friend, this is a terrible camera angle. You should place your phone horizontally across from you so you are looking ACROSS at us, NOT down on us. (It's also way better for enunciating AND projecting words) Would love to see a video on Tony Conigliaro, who played in the same era as Willie Stargell. Thanks

  3. My all time favorite baseball team the “we are family “Pittsburgh Pirates of the late 1970’s. Chuck Tanner, Stargell, Parker etc. anytime I hear Sister Sledge coming on the radio brings back the memories .

  7. Willie actually hit TWO out of Dodger Stadium, and he hit those bombs without steroids or weight training. Another forgotten guy who was much smaller physically, but could hit the ball just as far as Stargell was Jimmy Wynn, the "Toy Cannon." Both underrated great players.

  8. There is lots of ink/video about the blown call that cost a perfect game, but nothing about the blown call that cost a 40/40 season. Considering that 40/40 seasons are rarer than perfect games I find this strange. Do a video on that. Thanks.

  12. I'd always heard Stargell's first cleared the pavilion entirely, without touching the roof. Another five have exited the stadium since then (Stargell's second among them), each one bouncing from roof to parking lot. And Wilver's longest also touched the roof, you're saying?

  16. He not only hit the first HR out of Dodger Stadium, he hit the 2nd one as well in 1973. It wasn't until 1997 when Mike Piazza hit the 3rd. There have been a total of 6 hit out of the stadium (McGwire in 1999, Stanton in 2015, Tatis Jr in 2021).

  18. Hey, I would love a story on Stargell. He is my all time favorite player, and I wonder how many home runs he could have hit if he played home games in more hitter friendly stadiums, and if he hadn’t had to play the last 11 years of his career on turf fields.

  22. My dad had Dodger season tickets, I was at this game. Sat on the 2nd deck, slightly up the third base line so we watched it go almost directly behind it. To measure it at 506' ? No way, I've never seen a ball crushed like that before or since. Wait, Reggie's All Star dinger was similar….

  24. Expos fan here: he hit the longest home run in Montreal Big O’s history way into the upper deck. Love that the Expos put a yellow seat on the landing spot within a sea of blue seats.

  25. I was told about this by one of my childhood friends he was at that game. My family moved from Pittsburgh to Pasadena Ca the year before and unfortunately my Dad didn’t get to take me to that game…GO BUCS

  27. I heard Vin Scully’s description of that majestic home run over a transistor radio. He said “ That ball was hit so far that if you could cut it up into singles then it would last you a month!”. Classic call from the greatest announcer baseball has ever known.

  29. You know, imagine if 3rs was opened early, he could have hit over 500 home runs easy. I think his wife used to count how many of those hit in forbes field compared to how many he hit in 3rs.

  30. As a six(6) year old know-nothing grinder in Allentown PA [Pee-Ay] > I saw for the first time [on TV in 1971] Wilver Dornell Stargell go into his patented "windmill" practice swing in the batter's box.. And that was THAT.. He became my favorite player for LIFE.. How could I have known that besides that mighty portside SWING of his [really, there was nothing like it at the time > nothing like it since, either] > Willie was also the most BELOVED man in professional baseball?.. To quote fellow Hall of Famer Joe Morgan: "When I played in the major leagues, there were six hundred players.. And five hundred and ninety-nine of them loved Willie.".. I get choked up, just thinking about him and how much I wanted to be like him.. I hope he wouldn't be disappointed with the man I've become.. Thank you, Willie..

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