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With all the “heavy writing” we do around here, it’s fun sometimes to step back and enjoy something on the lighter side about the game we love. And I always love the personal reflections! Today we feature a guest post from Andrew Wilson, telling us about his experiences with foul balls, the first at Forbes Field (featured above from the 1960 World Series), going back over 50 years ago. The game he was at even had a connection between Willie Stargell and the great Bambino himself, Babe Ruth! I think you’ll enjoy what Andrew has for us today. -GL

Two Foul Balls and an Historic Home Run!

In 50-plus seasons of watching Pirates’ baseball spanning games at Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium and now PNC Park, I’ve gotten two foul balls.  There were a few near misses over the years, but only two that I’ve actually held in my hands.

The second one came to me in September 2019, when then Pirates’ catcher Jacob Stallings fouled off a pitch that reached my seats in the 300 level.  With no little kids in my vicinity, I gave the ball to the bride-to-be seated in front of me (at least that’s what the sash she was wearing read), much to the delight of the other members of her bridal party.

Men in their 60s aren’t supposed to get overly excited about catching baseballs, but I didn’t have to act cool with the first one.  I was only nine years old when my dad leaned over the railing at Forbes Field to scoop up that foul ball and put it in my glove. I still have that souvenir from 1970 – an official National League ball made by Spalding, the manufacturer back then. My dad took me to that April game between the Pirates and the Braves, just about three months before the Pirates played their first game at Three Rivers Stadium. To this day I remember my amazement that a ball held by Dock Ellis just a few seconds before was now safely in my glove. 

Going to the game was a rare treat for me.  My dad worked the swing shift as a crane operator at U.S. Steel’s Homestead Works and his days off would vary. We got the tickets from a salesman who called on the office where my mom worked as a secretary.  Because mom knew dad was off that Saturday, she claimed them immediately.  We didn’t realize how great those seats would be. They were in the first row of a box close to the Braves’ dugout on the third base side.  The Braves’ hitters warmed up in the on deck circle right in front of me and I could look across the way to see every move of my heroes in the Pirates’ dugout.

That’s not the only thing I remember about that day. The batter who fouled it off was Rico Carty, who would go on to win the National League batting title that year with a .366 average.  I remembered Ellis had trouble with Carty that day, but I needed a trip to the library to see just how tough it was.

Carty was off to a torrid start that year, batting more than .400 for the month. He went three-for-five that day with a single, double (which just missed leaving the park), and a monster home run over the 457-foot mark in center, the deepest part of Forbes Field.  His hitting staked the Braves to a 7-4 lead, chasing Ellis before he could retire a batter in the seventh.

At the opposite end of the spectrum was Willie Stargell, who came into the game with just three hits in 43 at bats, a .070 average. A few days earlier, he told the Pittsburgh Press’ Bob Smizik that he had “no place to go but uphill. I looked at that Sunday paper and I saw that I was last in the league.”

Pirates’ manager Danny Murtaugh, in just his first month of his second stint as manager, had been fielding questions about whether it was time to bench Stargell, especially with the Braves starting a lefty, George Stone, for Saturday’s game. “The club needs Willie’s bat to go anyplace,” Murtaugh told the Pittsburgh Press.  “He’s got to play himself out of it.”

Stargell wasn’t doing too good of a job of playing his way out of it. He came to the plate three times and managed two weak ground balls and a strikeout. Even so, the game was a tight contest. The Pirates scored three in the sixth to tie the game at four, but the Braves matched that in the seventh to take back the lead. When the Pirates scored two with only one out in their half of the seventh, the Braves manager brought in knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm to face Bob Robertson with Clemente on first. Wilhelm got Robertson to hit a foul pop for the second out, bringing up Stargell.

Wilhelm threw Stargell a knuckleball.  “[It] didn’t do anything,” Wilhelm told the Pittsburgh Press’ Bill Christine.  “It didn’t dip and was out over the plate.”

Stargell didn’t miss it.  From our seats at field level, Dad and I heard the crack of the bat and watched the ball sail up, up, and over the 86-foot right field roof at Forbes Field. I had never seen a ball hit higher or further, and I still can see it disappearing over the roof in my mind’s eye.

It was the eighteenth and final homer hit over the roof in Forbes Field’s 60-year history.  Babe Ruth had hit the first, but no one hit more than Stargell’s seven, and I was lucky enough to witness the final one on the same day that I got my first foul ball.

Andrew Wilson

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