The Pittsburgh Pirates All-Time Forbes Field (1909-1970) team

The Pittsburgh Pirates called Forbes Field home from 1909-1970 and during those years the Pirates made four World Series appearances (’09, ’25, ’27 and ’60) with three World Series victories (’09, ’25 and ’60). 37 of those 62 seasons were winning ones for the Pirates compiling an overall record of 4,756 wins to 4,644 losses and their record at Forbes Field was 2,599 wins versus 2,125 losses.

Forbes Field saw so many great opposing players play there: Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Babe Ruth, Warren Spahn, etc., the list goes on and on. Imagine the all-time opponent team one could field, but what of the Pirates? What would the all-time Forbes Field Pittsburgh Pirates team look like?

Here are the selections for the Pittsburgh Pirates all-time Forbes Field team with players that merit honorable mention:

CATCHER:  Smokey Burgess. Burgess was an All-Star in four of his six seasons hitting .296 as a Pirate and had more walks than strikeouts striking out only 92 times in 2,030 plate appearances.

FIRST BASE:  Gus Suhr. Suhr set a then-National League record with 822 consecutive games played and the streak ended as Suhr attended his mother’s funeral. Suhr drove in 97 or more runs in a season four times driving in 818 in his Pirate career.

Honorable mention:  Dick Stuart and Donn Clendenon. Known as Dr. Strangeglove for his erratic fielding, Stuart spent five seasons as a Bucco with his 1961 season his best, hitting 35 home runs with 117 RBIs and batting .301 and making the All-Star game. Stuart hit 117 home runs as a Pirate.

Clendenon spent eight years in Pittsburgh with his best season in 1966 when he hit 28 home runs with 98 runs batted in and hit.299.  Clendenon hit 106 home runs as a Pirate.

SECOND BASE:  Bill Mazeroski. Who else but Maz, the greatest defensive second baseman of all-time? Maz was without peer in turning the double play and won eight Gold Gloves and was a seven-time All-Star. Maz still holds the MLB single-season and career records for double plays turned by a second baseman.

SHORTSTOP:   Honus Wagner. Undoubtedly, the greatest shortstop in MLB history, Wagner played the start of his career in Exposition Park but did play in Forbes Field from 1909-1917 winning two of his seven batting titles and that was good enough to earn the Flying Dutchman the spot on the All-time Forbes Field Pittsburgh Pirates team. During those nine years, Wagner hit .301 with 348 extra base hits and stole 187 bases.

Honorable mention:  Arky Vaughn. In his 10 years as a Pirate, Vaughn was an eight-time All-Star hitting .324 and hit greater than .300 all 10 seasons. Vaughn led the National League in runs scored twice, walks three times, on-base percentage three times, triples three times and won two batting titles including hitting .385 in 1935. You can make the argument that Vaughn was the most productive of any Pirate shortstop at Forbes Field, but how can you not name Wagner, the greatest shortstop of all-time, as your starter?

THIRD BASE:  Pie Traynor. Hall-of-Famer Pie Traynor was widely regarded as the greatest third baseman of all-time till Brooks Robinson came along. Traynor batted over .300 10 seasons and had seven seasons with more than 100 runs batted in. Traynor had a career batting average of .320.

LEFT FIELD:  Ralph Kiner. Kiner led the National League in home runs seven times in his eight seasons as a Pirate compiling 301 home runs, 801 runs batted in, 795 walks, scoring 754 runs while hitting .280. Six times Kiner drew 98 or more walks in a season and five times drove in more than 100 runs in a season on his way to Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Honorable mention: Willie Stargell. Stargell would merit greater consideration here, but he spent half of his career in Three Rivers Stadium playing first base and saw some time at first base in Forbes Field also.   

CENTER FIELD:  Lloyd Waner. 10 times in his 17 seasons as a Pirate, Waner batted over .300 and had more than 200 hits in four seasons. Waner, a Hall-of-Famer, had a career .319 batting average as a Pirate.

Honorable mention:  Max Carey. In Carey’s 17 years as a Pirate, he stole 688 bases leading the National League in that category an amazing 10 times. Carey is still the Pirates all-time stolen base leader. Carey scored 99 or more runs in a season six times and compiled 2,416 hits and hit .287.

Honorable mention: Bill Virdon and Matty Alou. From 1956 through 1965, Virdon patrolled the vastness of Forbes Field’s center field winning a Gold Glove in 1962. Virdon would be succeeded by Matty Alou in 1966 and over the next five seasons, Alou would amass 986 hits and hit .327. A two-time All-Star, Alou led the National League in hitting in 1966 with a .342 average and in 1969, Alou led the National League in hits with 231 and 41 doubles. Alou would add another 200+ hit season in 1970. In Alou’s five seasons as a Pirate, he hit. 342, .338, .332, .331 and .297.

RIGHT FIELD:  Roberto Clemente. Clemente is the pick here over fellow Pirate Hall-of-Famer Paul Waner. Whereas Waner spent his entire career playing in Forbes Field, Clemente did play three of his 17 seasons in Three Rivers Stadium, however, Clemente was without peer defensively in right field. A 10-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner during his Forbes Field years, Clemente also won four batting titles and batted over .350 in 1961, 1967 and 1970.

Honorable mention: Paul Waner. Waner played 15 years with the Pirates and his statistics are truly impressive: A .340 career batting average good for second all-time in Pirates history, 1493 runs scored, 2868 hits, and two national league batting titles. Nine times Waner scored more than 100 runs, 13 times hitting .300 or better and had eight seasons with 200 or more hits. Waner holds the Pirates single-season hits record with 237 as well as four of the top 10 hit seasons in Pirates history.

STARTING PITCHER:  Wilbur Cooper. One must include the Pirates all-time winningest pitcher in team history on the team. Cooper won 202 games in 13 seasons as a Pirate to 159 losses and had a 2.74 ERA. Cooper was a four-time 20-game winner and in the eight years from 1917-1924, Cooper had 161 wins.

STARTING PITCHER: Babe Adams. Second on the all-time Pirate win list, Adams, a two-time 20-game winner, compiled a 194-139 record in 18 seasons as a Bucco with a 2.74 ERA.

STARTING PITCHER:  Ray Kremer. In Kremer’s 10 seasons with the Pirates, he won 143 games losing 85 and had a 3.76 ERA. Five times Kremer won 18 or more games in a season and was a two-time 20-game winner with his best year in 1926, winning 20 games losing only 6 with a 2.61 ERA.

STARTING PITCHER:  Vernon Law. In 16 seasons, Law had a 162-147 record with a 3.77 ERA for the Pirates. A one-time All-Star, Law went 20-9 in 1960 and won the Cy Young Award.

STARTING PITCHER: Bob Friend. In 15 seasons, Friend had a 191-218 record with a 3.55 ERA. A three-time All-Star, Friend had five seasons with 17 or more victories and went 22-14 in 1958. Friend is fourth on the all-time Pirates win list.

Honorable mention: Rip Sewell, Lee Meadows, Johnny Morrison, Bob Veale and Howie Camnitz. Sewell had a 143-97 record in 12 seasons as a Pirate with a 3.43 ERA while winning 20 games or more twice. Meadows had an 88-52 record as a Pirate with a 3.50 ERA in nine seasons and three times won 19 or more games. Morrison was a 25-game winner in 1923 and had an 89-71 record with a 3.52 ERA in eight seasons in Pittsburgh. Veale spent eight of his 11 seasons as a Pirate playing in Forbes Field compiling a 100-76 record in the Forbes Field era with four straight 16-plus win seasons. Camnitz was a three-time 20-game winner with a 116-84 record in his nine seasons as a Bucco and in Forbes Field’s inaugural season had a 25-6 record and a 1.62 ERA.

CLOSER:  Elroy Face. In 15 seasons with the Pirates, Face had a record of 100-93 with a 3.46 ERA and is the Pirates all-time save leader with 186 saves. Face was a three-time All-Star and set a league record for winning percentage in 1959 with an 18-1 record. Face led the National League in saves in 1958, 1961 and 1962.

MANAGER: Bill McKechnie. McKechnie was one of three Pirate managers to win a World Series during the Forbes Field era, but the only one of the three to not have a losing season. McKechnie led the Pirates to the World Series title in 1925 and compiled a 409-293 record for a .583 winning percentage.

Honorable mention: Fred Clarke. For those that instantly think of Fred Clarke, much of his managerial record came at Exposition Park before Forbes Field. Clarke ushered in Forbes Field in winning style with the Pirates winning the World Series in 1909, the year Forbes Field opened. Clarke coached the Pirates through 1915 and the Pirates had five winning seasons out of seven under Clarke in Forbes Field.

Honorable mention: Danny Murtaugh. Murtaugh led the Pirates to the World Series title in 1960 and coached part if not all of nine seasons at Forbes Field with five of those being winning ones and compiled a 644-586 record.

To read about who made the Pirates all-time Three Rivers Stadium team click on: https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/2021/12/21/the-pittsburgh-pirates-all-time-three-rivers-stadium-1970-2000-team/

To read about which Pirates made the All-time PNC Park team click on: https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/2021/12/21/the-pittsburgh-pirates-all-time-pnc-park-2001-2021-team/

Forbes Field Photo credit: wallyg on Visualhunt.com

Bill Mazeroski Photo credit: Brock Fleeger on Visualhunt.com

Honus Wagner Photo credit: rchdj10 on Visualhunt

Ralph Kiner Photo credit: Super-Nerd on Visualhunt

Roberto Clemente Photo credit: Atelier Teee on VisualHunt

John Baranowski is a sports historian and contributor to newspapers, sports publications, and sports websites. This and other articles written by him can be found on his blog:  https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/