1969 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1969 Pittsburgh Pirates
1969 Pittsburgh Pirates
Division	Eastern Division
Ballpark	Forbes Field
City	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Owners	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas Johnson (minority shareholders)
Managers	Larry Shepard, Alex Grammas
Television	KDKA-TV; Bob Prince, Jim Woods, Nellie King
Radio	KDKA; Bob Prince, Jim Woods, Nellie King

The 1969 Pittsburgh Pirates season was a season in American baseball. It consisted of the Pirates finishing in third place in the newly established National League East, twelve games behind the eventual World Series champion New York Mets. The Pirates were managed by Larry Shepard, and played their home games at Forbes Field, which was in its final full season of operation, before moving into their new facility in the middle of the following season.

Offseason

October 14, 1968: Maury Wills was drafted from the Pirates by the Montreal Expos as the 21st pick in the 1968 MLB expansion draft.^[2]
January 15, 1969: Manny Jiménez was traded by the Pirates to the Chicago Cubs for Joe Campbell and Chuck Hartenstein.^[3]

Regular season

August 6, 1969: Willie Stargell hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium.

Season standings

v t e NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Mets	100	62	0.617	—	52–30	48–32
Chicago Cubs	92	70	0.568	8	49–32	43–38
Pittsburgh Pirates	88	74	0.543	12	47–34	41–40
St. Louis Cardinals	87	75	0.537	13	42–38	45–37
Philadelphia Phillies	63	99	0.389	37	30–51	33–48
Montreal Expos	52	110	0.321	48	24–57	28–53

Record vs. opponents

1969 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	3–9	12–6	15–3	9–9	8–4	4–8	6–6	8–4	13–5	9–9	6–6
Chicago	9–3	—	6–6–1	8–4	6–6	10–8	8–10	12–6	7–11	11–1	6–6	9–9
Cincinnati	6–12	6–6–1	—	9–9	10–8	8–4	6–6	10–2	5–7	11–7	10–8	8–4
Houston	3–15	4–8	9–9	—	6–12	11–1	10–2	8–4	3–9	10–8	10–8	7–5
Los Angeles	9–9	6–6	8–10	12–6	—	10–2	4–8	8–4	8–4	12–6	5–13	3–9
Montreal	4–8	8–10	4–8	1–11	2–10	—	5–13	11–7	5–13	4–8	1–11	7–11
New York	8–4	10–8	6–6	2–10	8–4	13–5	—	12–6	10–8	11–1	8–4	12–6
Philadelphia	6-6	6–12	2–10	4–8	4–8	7–11	6–12	—	10–8	8–4	3–9	7–11
Pittsburgh	4–8	11–7	7–5	9–3	4–8	13–5	8–10	8–10	—	10–2	5–7	9–9
San Diego	5–13	1–11	7–11	8–10	6–12	8–4	1–11	4–8	2–10	—	6–12	4–8
San Francisco	9–9	6–6	8–10	8–10	13–5	11–1	4–8	9–3	7–5	12–6	—	3–9
St. Louis	6–6	9–9	4–8	5–7	9–3	11–7	6–12	11–7	9–9	8–4	9–3	—

Detailed records

National League
Opponent	W	L	WP	RS	RA
NL East
Chicago Cubs	11	7	0.611	83	69
Montreal Expos	13	5	0.722	88	56
New York Mets	8	10	0.444	74	68
Philadelphia Phillies	8	10	0.444	86	90
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals	9	9	0.500	56	73
Total	49	41	0.544	387	356
NL West
Atlanta Braves	4	8	0.333	48	53
Cincinnati Reds	7	5	0.583	68	55
Houston Astros	9	3	0.750	70	47
Los Angeles Dodgers	4	8	0.333	43	60
San Diego Padres	10	2	0.833	64	31
San Francisco Giants	5	7	0.417	45	50
Total	39	33	0.542	338	296
Season Total	88	74	0.543	725	652

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	RS	RA
April	21	13	8	0.619	89	82
May	26	11	15	0.423	108	120
June	29	14	15	0.483	143	128
July	27	15	12	0.556	106	113
August	27	17	10	0.630	136	100
September	30	16	14	0.533	130	103
October	2	2	0	1.000	13	6
Total	162	88	74	0.543	725	652

Total	162	88	74	0.543	725	652
	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	RS	RA
Home	81	47	34	0.580	324	322
Away	81	41	40	0.506	401	330

Game log

1969 Game Log: 88–74 (Home: 47–34; Away: 41–40)

April: 13–8 (Home: 9–4; Away: 4–4)

May: 11–15 (Home: 4–7; Away: 7–8)

June: 14–15 (Home: 7–4; Away: 7–11)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
48	June 1	Astros	14–7	Blass (4–2)	Wilson	—	21,023	25–23
49	June 3	Reds	3–7	Merritt	Veale (3–6)	—	4,576	25–24
50	June 4	Reds	3–5	Carroll	Hartenstein (2–2)	Granger	6,685	25–25
51	June 6	@ Braves	1–3	Niekro	Ellis (3–6)	—	17,049	25–26
52	June 7	@ Braves	10–2	Blass (5–2)	Jarvis	—	21,120	26–26
53	June 8	@ Braves	10–11	Niekro	Hartenstein (2–3)	—		26–27
54	June 8	@ Braves	3–4	Pappas	Veale (3–7)	—	27,318	26–28
55	June 10	@ Astros	4–7	Griffin	Ellis (3–7)	—	14,660	26–29
56	June 11	@ Astros	13–8	Blass (6–2)	Guinn	Hartenstein (7)	15,871	27–29
57	June 12	@ Astros	4–3	Bunning (6–4)	Gladding	—	14,260	28–29
58	June 13	Braves	2–1 (10)	Dal Canton (3–0)	Pappas	—	11,610	29–29
59	June 14	Braves	4–2	Moose (6–2)	Upshaw	—	18,283	30–29
60	June 15	Braves	4–6	Reed	Blass (6–3)	Upshaw	19,974	30–30
61	June 16	Cubs	9–8	Dal Canton (4–0)	Regan	Blass (1)	8,810	31–30
62	June 17	Cubs	1–0	Veale (4–7)	Jenkins	Dal Canton (3)		32–30
63	June 17	Cubs	4–3	Blass (7–3)	Abernathy	—	26,817	33–30
64	June 18	Cubs	3–2 (10)	Gibbon (1–0)	Regan	—	12,198	34–30
65	June 20	@ Phillies	7–8	Wilson	Marone (0–1)	Boozer	10,669	34–31
66	June 21	@ Phillies	8–2	Dal Canton (5–0)	Palmer	—	5,469	35–31
67	June 22	@ Phillies	6–0	Ellis (4–7)	Champion	—		36–31
68	June 22	@ Phillies	2–3	Jackson	Blass (7–4)	—	33,712	36–32
69	June 23	@ Cubs	4–5	Regan	Dal Canton (5–1)	—	12,500	36–33
70	June 24	@ Cubs	2–3	Hands	Bunning (6–5)	—	17,530	36–34
71	June 25	@ Cubs	2–5	Jenkins	Veale (4–8)	—	26,434	36–35
72	June 26	@ Cubs	5–7 (10)	Regan	Dal Canton (5–2)	—	29,473	36–36
73	June 27	@ Mets	3–1	Blass (8–4)	Koosman	Gibbon (1)	42,276	37–36
74	June 28	@ Mets	7–4	Bunning (7–5)	Gentry	Gibbon (2)	48,398	38–36
75	June 29	@ Mets	3–7	Seaver	Veale (4–9)	—	27,455	38–37
76	June 30	Phillies	2–4	Fryman	Ellis (4–8)	Boozer	17,954	38–38

July: 15–12 (Home: 12–7; Away: 3–5)

August: 17–10 (Home: 7–5; Away: 10–5)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
104	August 1	Giants	1–5	McCormick	Bunning (9–8)	—	10,500	53–51
105	August 2	Giants	7–3	Veale (6–11)	Marichal	—	12,566	54–51
106	August 3	Giants	2–3	Perry	Ellis (7–12)	—	14,841	54–52
107	August 5	@ Dodgers	11–3	Blass (11–7)	Foster	—	22,604	55–52
108	August 6	@ Dodgers	5–7	Sutton	Walker (1–2)	Brewer	18,347	55–53
109	August 7	@ Dodgers	0–6	Osteen	Bunning (9–9)	—	20,475	55–54
110	August 8	@ Padres	7–1	Veale (7–11)	Niekro	—	6,061	56–54
111	August 10	@ Padres	7–5	Ellis (8–12)	Kelley	Gibbon (5)		57–54
112	August 10	@ Padres	8–6	Blass (12–7)	Kirby	Gibbon (6)	10,073	58–54
113	August 12	@ Giants	3–6	Perry	Walker (1–3)	—	5,496	58–55
114	August 13	@ Giants	10–5	Bunning (10–9)	McCormick	Moose (3)	5,966	59–55
115	August 15	@ Reds	5–1	Veale (8–11)	Nolan	—	21,314	60–55
116	August 16	@ Reds	2–5	Merritt	Ellis (8–13)	—	13,218	60–56
117	August 17	@ Reds	8–5	Blass (13–7)	Fisher	Hartenstein (9)	20,732	61–56
118	August 18	@ Reds	12–5 (10)	Dal Canton (6–2)	Granger	—	16,657	62–56
119	August 19	Astros	5–1	Walker (2–3)	Wilson	Gibbon (7)	5,409	63–56
120	August 20	Astros	1–0	Veale (9–11)	Lemaster	—	10,563	64–56
121	August 22	Reds	8–2	Ellis (9–13)	Fisher	—		65–56
122	August 22	Reds	5–3	Dal Canton (7–2)	Carroll	—	28,184	66–56
123	August 23	Reds	3–1	Moose (8–2)	Arrigo	Hartenstein (10)	16,283	67–56
124	August 24	Reds	9–4	Veale (10–11)	Maloney	Dal Canton (4)	16,506	68–56
125	August 26	Braves	4–6	Reed	Walker (2–4)	Doyle	15,449	68–57
126	August 27	Braves	0–1	Niekro	Ellis (9–14)	—	11,454	68–58
127	August 28	Braves	2–8	Stone	Blass (13–8)	Doyle	10,767	68–59
128	August 29	@ Astros	4–2 (10)	Moose (9–2)	Bouton	—	20,405	69–59
129	August 30	@ Astros	1–2	Dierker	Belinsky (0–1)	—	27,747	69–60
130	August 31	@ Astros	6–4	Marone (1–1)	Gladding	Blass (2)	24,722	70–60

September: 16–14 (Home: 6–7; Away: 10–7)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
131	September 1	@ Braves	7–1	Moose (10–2)	Britton	—	10,479	71–60
132	September 3	@ Braves	1–8	Reed	Ellis (9–15)	Upshaw	6,317	71–61
133	September 5	@ Cubs	9–2	Blass (14–8)	Holtzman	—	10,411	72–61
134	September 6	@ Cubs	13–4	Veale (11–11)	Jenkins	—	24,566	73–61
135	September 7	@ Cubs	7–5 (11)	Dal Canton (8–2)	Johnson	—	28,698	74–61
136	September 8	@ Expos	6–2	Hartenstein (5–4)	Raymond	Dal Canton (5)	9,526	75–61
137	September 9	@ Expos	2–4	Renko	Walker (2–5)	—	9,129	75–62
138	September 10	Cardinals	2–11	Gibson	Blass (14–9)	—		75–63
139	September 10	Cardinals	1–2	Torrez	Belinsky (0–2)	Grant	11,898	75–64
140	September 11	Cardinals	3–2	Veale (12–11)	Carlton	—	4,579	76–64
141	September 12	Mets	0–1	Koosman	Moose (10–3)	—		76–65
142	September 12	Mets	0–1	Cardwell	Ellis (9–16)	McGraw	19,303	76–66
143	September 13	Mets	2–5	Seaver	Walker (2–6)	—	10,440	76–67
144	September 14	Mets	5–3	Blass (15–9)	Ryan	—	11,324	77–67
145	September 15	@ Phillies	1–2	Wise	Veale (12–12)	—		77–68
146	September 15	@ Phillies	3–4	James	Belinsky (0–3)	—	2,933	77–69
147	September 16	@ Phillies	9–5	Moose (11–3)	Fryman	Gibbon (8)	1,169	78–69
148	September 17	@ Cardinals	4–2	Ellis (10–16)	Taylor	—	11,646	79–69
149	September 18	@ Cardinals	7–8	Campisi	Gibbon (4–1)	—	8,612	79–70
150	September 19	@ Mets	8–2	Veale (13–12)	Ryan	—		80–70
151	September 19	@ Mets	8–0	Walker (3–6)	McAndrew	—	51,885	81–70
152	September 20	@ Mets	4–0	Moose (12–3)	Gentry	—	38,784	82–70
153	September 21	@ Mets	3–5	Koosman	Ellis (10–17)	—		82–71
154	September 21	@ Mets	1–6	Cardwell	Blass (15–10)	—	55,901	82–72
155	September 23	Phillies	3–4	Jackson	Veale (13–13)	Johnson	2,364	82–73
156	September 25	Phillies	5–3	Walker (4–6)	Wise	—		83–73
157	September 25	Phillies	9–7	Moose (13–3)	James	Gibbon (9)	2,379	84–73
158	September 26	Cubs	2–0	Ellis (11–17)	Jenkins	—	4,973	85–73
159	September 27	Cubs	4–1	Blass (16–10)	Holtzman	Moose (4)	4,157	86–73
160	September 28	Cubs	1–3	Hands	Veale (13–14)	—	24,435	86–74

October: 2–0 (Home: 2–0; Away: 0–0)

Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Pirates team member

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

June 5, 1969: Pedro Ramos was released by the Pirates.^[4]
July 30, 1969: Bo Belinsky was purchased by the Pirates from the California Angels.^[5]

Roster

1969 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

5 Alex Grammas
7 Larry Shepard

Coaches

^[6]

Statistics

Batting

Regular Season^[7]
Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Carl Taylor	104	221	77	0.348	4	33
Roberto Clemente	138	507	175	0.345	19	91
Matty Alou	162	698	231	0.331	1	48
Johnny Jeter	28	29	9	0.310	1	6
Willie Stargell	145	522	160	0.307	29	92
Manny Sanguillen	129	459	139	0.303	5	57
Richie Hebner	129	459	138	0.301	8	47
Bruce Dal Canton	57	10	3	0.300	0	2
Al Oliver	129	463	132	0.285	17	70
Jose Pagan	108	274	78	0.285	9	42
Dave Cash	18	61	17	0.279	0	4
Jose Martinez	77	168	45	0.268	1	16
Steve Blass	44	84	21	0.250	1	9
Angel Mangual	6	4	1	0.250	0	0
Gene Alley	82	285	70	0.246	8	32
Freddie Patek	147	460	110	0.239	5	32
Ron Davis	62	64	15	0.234	0	4
Jerry May	62	190	44	0.232	7	23
Bill Mazeroski	67	227	52	0.229	3	25
Bob Robertson	32	96	20	0.208	1	9
Dock Ellis	37	68	6	0.088	0	1
Gary Kolb	29	37	3	0.081	0	3
Bob Moose	44	53	4	0.075	0	1
Chuck Hartenstein	56	14	1	0.071	0	0
Bob Veale	34	79	4	0.051	0	2
Jim Bunning	25	47	2	0.043	0	1
Bo Belinsky	8	2	0	0.000	0	0
Gene Garber	2	1	0	0.000	0	0
Joe Gibbon	35	5	0	0.000	0	0
Ron Kline	20	5	0	0.000	0	0
Pedro Ramos	5	1	0	0.000	0	0
Jim Shellenback	8	1	0	0.000	0	0
Luke Walker	31	32	0	0.000	0	1
Frank Brosseau	2	0	0	—	0	0
Lou Marone	29	0	0	—	0	0

Pitching

Regular Season^[8]
Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Joe Gibbon	35	Template:Sortfrac	5	1	1.93	35
Lou Marone	29	Template:Sortfrac	1	1	2.55	25
Bob Moose	44	170	14	3	2.91	165
Bob Veale	34	Template:Sortfrac	13	14	3.23	213
Jim Shellenback	8	Template:Sortfrac	0	0	3.24	7
Bruce Dal Canton	57	Template:Sortfrac	8	2	3.34	56
Dock Ellis	35	Template:Sortfrac	11	17	3.58	173
Luke Walker	31	Template:Sortfrac	4	6	3.64	96
Jim Bunning	25	156	10	9	3.81	124
Chuck Hartenstein	56	Template:Sortfrac	5	4	3.95	44
Steve Blass	38	210	16	10	4.46	147
Bo Belinsky	8	Template:Sortfrac	0	3	4.58	15
Gene Garber	2	5	0	0	5.40	3
Ron Kline	20	31	1	3	5.81	15
Pedro Ramos	5	6	0	1	6.00	4
Frank Brosseau	2	Template:Sortfrac	0	0	10.80	2

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Columbus Jets	International League	Don Hoak
AA	York Pirates	Eastern League	Joe Morgan
A	Salem Rebels	Carolina League	Chuck Hiller
A	Gastonia Pirates	Western Carolinas League	Frank Oceak
A-Short Season	Geneva Pirates	New York–Penn League	Bob Clear
Rookie	GCL Pirates	Gulf Coast League	Buddy Pritchard

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: York

Notes

^ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
^ Maury Wills at Baseball Reference
^ Manny Jiménez at Baseball-Reference
^ Pedro Ramos at Baseball Reference
^ Bo Belinsky at Baseball Reference
^ http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1969&t=PIT
^ "Major League Baseball Regular Season Hitting Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
^ "Major League Baseball Regular Season Pitching Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

References

1969 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
1969 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.

[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Maury Wills at Baseball Reference

[3] Manny Jiménez at Baseball-Reference

[4] Pedro Ramos at Baseball Reference

[5] Bo Belinsky at Baseball Reference

[6] ttp://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1969&t=PIT

[7] "Major League Baseball Regular Season Hitting Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

[8] "Major League Baseball Regular Season Pitching Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

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