El Profe: On Sept. 1, 1971 the Pirates broke a color barrier
By Adrian Burgos
The starting nine the Pittsburgh Pirates put on the field on Sept. 1, 1971, was unlike any that a crowd at a Major League Baseball game had witnessed. Not since the heyday of the Pittsburgh Crawfords or the Homestead Grays in the Negro Leagues had Pittsburgh fans seen such a lineup on the field.
The Pirates lineup was entirely non-white, composed solely of African American and Latino players.
Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh did not intend to make history that night versus the Philadelphia Phillies. He also wasn’t trying to make a political statement. With a couple of his regulars nursing injuries, he was merely filling out a lineup card with the players he had available that evening.
It was historic nonetheless.
An International Legacy
Historians and journalists have described the lineup that night as all-black. That description doesn’t fully convey the scope of the story. Four Latinos started for the Pirates that night, pointing to the international legacy of baseball’s racial integration, as baseball’s integration pioneer Jackie Robinson opened doors for non-whites from throughout the Americas.
After all, excluded players during MLB’s Jim Crow era were not just from the United States. They also came from Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Mexico.
The best evidence that great Latino talent had been excluded while a color line reigned came in the star players that emerged during the 1950s and 1960s. In those two decades Afro-Latinos such as Minnie Miñoso, Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, Tony Oliva, and Tony Pérez emerged as perennial All-Stars.
Taking the Field
The Pirates’ Sept. 1 lineup showed that players were coming from throughout Latin America to perform.
Right field was occupied by the Great One, Clemente. The Puerto Rican was still going strong at 36 years old. He would end the 1971 season with a .341 average. Accompanying Clemente in the outfield were two African Americans, Gene Clines in center and Willie Stargell in left.
Two of the infield spots were taken by Panamanian players. Manny Sanguíllen was the regular starting catcher. His countryman Rennie Stennett, a 20-year old rookie, took over at second base for Dave Cash, who moved over to third base to give a rest to the hobbled Rich Hebner.
Cuba native Jackie Hernández filled in at shortstop that day for Gene Alley. Hernández had come to the Pirates during the 1970 off-season as part of a six-player trade that sent the diminutive shortstop Freddie Patek to the Kansas City Royals.
Surprisingly, Al Oliver started at first base instead of Bob Robertson. Oliver’s usual position was center field, but the lefty demonstrated great versatility during this early stage of his career, starting 112 games in center and 21 at first base in 1971.
A Different Time
On the mound that evening for the Pirates was Dock Ellis. The veteran right-hander was in the midst of his best season as a major leaguer in 1971. In his lone All-Star season he just missed out on 20 wins by ending up with 19.
It was not a strange sight for fans to see an African American like Ellis take the mound as a starting pitcher.
The 1970s were a decade when African American pitchers were not a rarity. This was a decade when Bob Gibson, Vida Blue, Al Downing, Ferguson Jenkins, and J.R. Richard all notched 20-win seasons, a few did it multiple times.
Cuba native Luis Tiant, whose father had pitched in the Negro Leagues, also had three 20-win seasons that decade.
What was rare then, and even more so now, was a black catcher in MLB, unless he came from Latin America.
Ellis’ battery mate that night for the Pirates was Sanguíllen. The Panamanian held the starting catcher role from 1969 through 1976. During that span, he was an National League All-Star three times.
What became evident during the 1970s was that the legacy of Josh Gibson, Roy Campanella, and Quincy Trouppe, among other great catchers from the Negro Leagues, wouldn’t continue in the same way in the major leagues.
A Season to Remember
Neither starting pitcher lasted long in the Sept. 1 game. Phillies lefty Woodie Fryman retired just one Pittsburgh batter in the bottom of the first as the Pirates scored five runs.
Ellis fared little better. He was out after an inning and a third, giving up three runs.
The Pirates prevailed in a10-7 slugfest between the two teams from the Keystone state. Pittsburgh’s offensive outburst was powered by a Sanguíllen two-run homer and extra-base hits from Clines, Oliver, and Stargell.
The historic lineup produced the Pirates’ 82nd win. Pittsburgh would total 97 wins and claim first place in the NL East. The Pirates then bested the San Francisco Giants in a best-of-five series for the league pennant.
Their memorable 1971 campaign would end in Baltimore with the Pirates winning Game 7 over the highly-favored Orioles. Their first World Series title since 1960 marked the climax of a historic season.
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