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smokeyburgess
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
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I remember when the Pirates obtained Alou in a trade before the 1966 season. He had been a relatively weak-hitting outfielder with the Giants and no one expected him to make much of an impact on the Pirates. Fortunately for Alou (and Pirate fans), Harry "The Hat" Walker was the manager of the team at the time. Walker was a proponent of bat control -- "hitting the ball where they ain't" -- and he worked overtime with Alou to convert him to his approach.
During the 1966 season, Alou became a "Punch & Judy" hitter deluxe. Most of his hits were pokes to the left side of the field (he was a lefty), and many of them were bunts or dribblers he beat out for hits, grounders that found a hole, or bloopers that dropped between the infield and left field. He was successful enough at that that he won the batting championship that year
(.342, I think) and was a consistent .300 hitter for 3-4 years after that.
More significantly, he was an important part of one of the best-hitting teams the Pirates have ever fielded. The starting outfield consisted of Stargell, Alou, and Clemente, and Manny Mota was a monster off the bench. In the infield you had Clendenon at first, Maz at second, Alley at short, and Bob Bailey at third. I forget who the catcher was that year, but it might have been Jim Pagliaroni, a big, power-hitting guy who played for the team in the latter half of the 60s.
I have many fond memories of that exciting 1966 team and the teams that followed it in the late 60s. If they had better pitching, they might have won a few pennants, but that didn't come around until 1970-71, when some of their youngsters blossomed and they obtained some veterans like Nelson Briles to round out the staff.
It doesn't seem like that long ago, but many of those '66 Pirates are gone now. To all of them, thanks for the memories.
During the 1966 season, Alou became a "Punch & Judy" hitter deluxe. Most of his hits were pokes to the left side of the field (he was a lefty), and many of them were bunts or dribblers he beat out for hits, grounders that found a hole, or bloopers that dropped between the infield and left field. He was successful enough at that that he won the batting championship that year
(.342, I think) and was a consistent .300 hitter for 3-4 years after that.
More significantly, he was an important part of one of the best-hitting teams the Pirates have ever fielded. The starting outfield consisted of Stargell, Alou, and Clemente, and Manny Mota was a monster off the bench. In the infield you had Clendenon at first, Maz at second, Alley at short, and Bob Bailey at third. I forget who the catcher was that year, but it might have been Jim Pagliaroni, a big, power-hitting guy who played for the team in the latter half of the 60s.
I have many fond memories of that exciting 1966 team and the teams that followed it in the late 60s. If they had better pitching, they might have won a few pennants, but that didn't come around until 1970-71, when some of their youngsters blossomed and they obtained some veterans like Nelson Briles to round out the staff.
It doesn't seem like that long ago, but many of those '66 Pirates are gone now. To all of them, thanks for the memories.
