The Greatest Pittsburgh Pirates Players in the Last 50 Years

I am continuing my list for the greatest players at each position in the last 50 years for every MLB team. Today’s team is the Pittsburgh Pirates

The criteria are as follows:

- Player must have played a full 5 seasons for the team.

-1 player will be selected for each position, 1 righthanded starting pitcher, 1 lefthanded starting pitcher, and 1 relief pitcher. I will include a DH for both leagues (considering interleague play now).

 Below is my list of greatest players by position for the Pirates in the last 50 years (since the 1970 season).  

 

First Base- Willie Stargell

Second Base- Johnny Ray

Shortstop- Jay Bell

Third Base- Bill Madlock

Left Field- Barry Bonds

Centerfield- Andrew McCutcheon

Right Field- Dave Parker

Catcher- Manny Sanguillen

Designated Hitter- Bobby Bonilla

Right-Handed starting pitcher-  Doug Drabek

Left-Handed starting pitcher- John Candeleria

Relief pitcher- Kent Tekulve

A couple of notes.  There are a lot of great players on this list.  It contains 10 MVPs combined between Bonds, Stargell, McCutcheon and Parker, and 6 batting titles combined between Bonds and Madlock.  Not many positions were in question. At catcher, Jason Kendall was considered. He was a great hitting catcher, but I went with Sanguillen, who was part of the 2 Pirate championship teams of the 70s. Andy Van Slyke was considered for CF. He was a key contributor for the Pirates playoff teams in the early 90s. I had to take McCutcheon, who was an MVP, and was a top 5 finisher 3 times. Stargell played many years in left field, but ended his career playing first base and winning the MVP and leading the Pirates to the 79 championship. 

Next up is the St Louis Cardinals.