Pittsburgh Pirates: Who is Player X from the Lumber Company?

In today’s article, we will try a new experiment. We will look at a certain Pittsburgh Pirates player from a decade and it will be your job to guess who Player X is. Today, we will start with an overlooked member of the Lumber Company Pirates.

In these trying times of no baseball, we at Rum Bunter are trying everything we can to maintain constant content for our followers to read to help give them the release from the real world that sports typically would. Today we are going to try a new experiment and see if you guys can name this former Pittsburgh Pirates player. There will be stats involved, and, if you know the answer, please do not give it away. Keep it to yourself and wait for tomorrow’s follow up article to reveal the answer.

It’s no secret the Pirates were a struggling team not just in the ’90s and most of the 2000s, but even in the ’50s part of the ’60s and the dreaded ’80s as well. The ’70s, however, was a great time to be a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Other than the 1973 season, when the team went 80-82, the Pirates had a winning record each year of the decade and won a pair of World Series (1971 and 1979).

The Pirates of the 1970s were loaded with talent, including multiple future Hall of Famers. As a result, the team was affectionately known as ‘The Lumber Company’ during the decade due to their offensive prowess. There is one player in particular that garners some attention, and most recently, that attention has been pretty high.

From now on, we will refer to the player as “Player X.” Player X played with the Pirates for 11 years, is a two-time World Series Champion, three-time Gold Glove Award winner, a seven time All-Star, and they won two batting titles. During his time with the Pirates, Player X was remarkably consistent in his play, and it showed in his stats. With a slash line of .305/.353/.494 with the Pirates, 166 of his 339 career home runs, 123 of his 154 stolen bases, and a 34.8 WAR, he indeed was a triple threat in the offensive department.

Defensively, Player X won three straight Golden Gloves, and, in one year, he showed off his cannon for an arm with 26 outfield assists that year would prove to be his best defensive year with a True Zone rating of 25. His next two Golden Glove years were good but not as good as his first year with a True Zone rating of 0 and 2. Overall, Player X played an integral role for the Pirates, but he is rarely the first name or even the second or third name mentioned most of the time when you mention those teams throughout the entire decade.