Stargell also hit the farthest ball in the 30+ year history of Veterans Stadium, and the right-field seat where the ball landed was specially painted Pirate yellow. I once sat in the seat and looked at home plate and my jaw dropped when I considered how far that ball was hit. He's also, I believe, the only player to hit a fair ball out of Dodger Stadium...and he did it twice. That windmill batting warm-up in the batter's box must have worked.

Joe Morgan actually wore #8 for his career in admiration of Stargell. I don't think a classier player than Stargell has ever put on cleats. The Pirates and Phillies were fierce rivals in the 70s. And in 77 and 78 they had close finishes for the division. In 78 there was a brawl right before the all-star break and going into the final weekend the Bucs had cut a large Phillie lead to 4 games with a 4 game series in Pittsburgh between the teams. The Pirates swept a doubleheader on Friday with 2 strange walk-off wins, and on Saturday Stargell hit a first inning grand slam off Randy Lerch, who actually hit two homers himself as the Phillies managed to rally to win in a slugfest.

During the televised locker room celebration Stargell came to the Phillie club house and congratulated each player and coach. I was 14 and was stunned by this level of sportsmanship at this moment of a bitter rivalry.