Dave Giusti, who made one All-Star team and won a World Series championship in a 15-year career in Major League Baseball, died Sunday. He was 86.
Giusti won 100 games and saved 145 more over 15 seasons, including a National League-best 30 saves in 1971 with the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.
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Two years later, Giusti made the National League All-Star team with the Pirates, who he played for from 1970-76. Giusti also pitched for the Houston Astros/Colt .45s (1962-68), St. Louis Cardinals (1969), Oakland A’s (1977) and Chicago Cubs (1977).
Giusti still ranks fourth all-time in Pirates franchise history in saves, with 133. Beyond his impact on the field, former teammate Steve Blass remembered Giusti as a good teammate who supported him when he went through a famous case of the “yips” in 1973.
“We were roommates when I was miserable and couldn’t do anything,” Blass told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “But every night on the road, he was there with me. You don’t forgot those things. … He was in relief of me personally that entire year.”
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“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Pirates pitcher Dave Giusti,” the Pirates wrote on their Twitter/X account Monday. “Dave spent seven of his 15 big league seasons with the Pirates and was an important member of the 1971 World Championship team as he led the NL in saves that year with 30.
“After his playing career, Dave made his home in Pittsburgh and remained an active member of the community and the Pirates alumni group. We extend our sincerest condolences to the Giusti family.”
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With the Pirates, Giusti became one of the most prominent relief specialists in MLB after the league adopted saves as an official statistic in 1969. In 1974, Giusti became the first relief pitcher to make $100,000 in a season.
After his baseball career, Dave went to work as a salesman for Millcraft Industries, a company that specialized in industrial fabrication, and later enjoyed a successful career at American Express as a corporate sales manager.
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