Caught the episode for 1979 the other night andloot a lot out of it (I was only 7 that season):

1. Pops was only 31! Maybe it's just the way that most current athletes take care of themselves, but it's amazing that he was pretty much done at that age and, compared to today's athletes, looked closer to 40 than 30. CORRECTION - MJG set the record straight below and I misheard - he was 39.
2. Rickey Henderson had his first stolen base in 79 - amazing considering he was playing in the majors until 2003.
3. Was interesting to see/be reminded of the teams that some players started with but I associated with other teams when I was old enough to pay attention to the entire league instead of just the Pirates. Bill Madlock, Keith Hernandez and Ray Knight stood out.
4. Nice to be reminded of the winning ways of the Buccos!

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- Dman 29

Dman, sounds like a fun watch1 I'll have to look to see when it will be shown again.

Indeed, wonderful to be reminded of the last time the Bucs won a World Series Championship!

I will correct them though, Pops was 39 in 1979, which makes it all the more amazing what he accomplished that season. Pops was born in 1940.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

Thanks for the clarification MJG - I was practically floored when I thought I heard 31. I must have misheard - 39 makes much more sense and I'm sure they wouldn't have missed by that much.

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- Dman 29

I watched it too Dman. Made me feel old! I believe they said Willie was 31 when the '71 Series was going on. He made his major league debut in September of 1962 which was two months before I was born. Amazing.

I have the full ABC broadcast of the '79 World Series on DVD if you want to borrow it sometime. It's really good with Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson, Al Michaels and Don Drysdale in the booth. They don't make announcers like that anymore.

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Jack, I totally agree about the announcers back then. And DMan, that 79 world series set that Jack mentioned is great. In the next thread down, I found a set of 5 clips (the end is cut short though, unfortunately) on youtube that I've not seen before. The first 3 are a detailed recap of the series, the next two are a comprehensive look at the season. Those were also pretty decent, but the actual games are fun to watch. I also found (and posted a link to) the complete 77 Candy Man no-hitter against LA. Love to find those older complete games.

Fun to watch our team when they were not only competitive, but feared. Found a Fergie Jenkins interview recently where he discussed how much they feared the "Lumber Company", especially in his park with the short fences. He said he knew he was in trouble whenever we were coming to town.

Oh to have that kind of respect again.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

Not to split hairs MeanJoe, but the Candy Man no-hitter was August 1976. I missed it by two games! Candy pitched the no-hitter on August 9, a Monday. My Dad bought tickets to the August 11 game, a real snoozer with Rick Rhoden outpitching Larry Demery 2-0.

Thanks for posting those clips MeanJoe. Gonna check them out tonight after work.

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Ah, right you are, Jack! My mistake. 1976 it was! I missed the game, but listened to on the radio.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

But Candy did win 20 games in '77. The first Pirates pitcher to do so since the Deacon in '60. One of the unsung Pirates of the 70's IMO.

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Jack that's where I think I got mixed up between the seasons. Thanks for reminding me bro.

I remember Candy going up against the fucking Reds in game 3 of the 75 NLCS, our last playoff appearance before 79 that decade. As I recall, Candy mowed those fuckers down 14 times, around 3 runs. I thought we'd win that one, but it was not to be. We got our revenge in 79.

It's a shame Candy developed back problems early in his career, and had to modify his delivery. He was a LH fireballer when he came up and you never knew what he may have been capable of. As it is, he was a very good pitcher, but he might have been one of the all time greats.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

My dad, who hated the Pirates, particularly hated Candelaria & Parker ('Ol Bubble Ass). His beef with Candelaria was that the Candyman was a 5-inning pitcher.