On September 1, 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup at Three Rivers Stadium against the Philadelphia Phillies was:
Rennie Stennett 2B
Gene Clines CF
Roberto Clemente RF
Willie Stargell LF
Manny Sanguillén C
Dave Cash 3B
Al Oliver 1B
Jackie Hernández SS
Dock Ellis P
In front of a crowd of 11,278, the team “fielded a lineup composed entirely of Black and Afro-Latino players. It is believed to be the first all-minority starting nine in AL/NL history. Five of those players — Clines, Stargell, Cash, Oliver and Ellis — were African American. Clemente hailed from Puerto Rico, Sanguillén and Stennett from Panamá, and Hernández from Cuba…
“The Pirates’ players on the field did not realize they were making history until the game was underway. Sanguillén remembers hearing about it in the second inning. That’s when, by several accounts, Cash turned to Oliver and said something to the effect of, ‘We’ve got all brothers out there.'”
You can read the entire account at MLB.com.
SIDEBAR: The starting pitcher for the Bucs that day got a mention in ESPN JEOPARDY’s final this summer. “It’s a 2-minute penalty in the NHL, 15 yards in the NFL & no penalty in MLB if you’re Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter in 1970.” The answer is below.
Ebony
When I was growing up, “Ebony ran an ‘Annual Black Baseball Roundup,’ featuring all the Black players in Major League Baseball.”My family subscribed, and I read the feature regularly.
I don’t recall that I was conscious of which teams had the most black players, though I realized my New York Yankees – my hometown of Binghamton, NY, had a Yanks’ farm team – seemed to have a dearth of players of color.
I do know that I was rooting for the Pirates in their World Series in 1971 and 1979, both against the Baltimore Orioles. Could this story have something to do with my affection for the Bucs? I wasn’t consciously aware of the September 1 game, but I must have seen a notice.
In any case, these were good players. The ones above with the links are members of the Pirates Hall of Fame. Clemente, the only player for whom I own a uniform shirt, and Stargell are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
When I mentioned this story in the past, someone said, “Why does it matter? Whether they can play or not should be the only consideration.” My [pretty darn obvious] retort was that, 25 years earlier, this could not have happened because there were ZERO black baseball players in MLB.
FJ response: Tripping.
Thus ends another Talk Like A Pirate Day
