Pittsburgh Pirates: Five Best First Basemen in Franchise History

Although the Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t had as many great batters at first base as they have other positions, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any quality players.

As we finish up our top five Pittsburgh Pirates lists, we end it off at first base. First base was a bit of a tricky position to find five players for as many of them, such as Willie Stargell, George Grantham, or Orlando Merced, were part of other lists, and therefore did not qualify for this list. Had I not included them on other lists, they probably would have ended up here.

Regardless, the Pittsburgh Pirates still have had some impressive first basemen throughout their history. As I do with all of these, I will be heavily weighing era adjusted numbers such as wRC+ and OPS+. A .500 slugging percentage is way different in 1900 to 2000, and both wRC+ and OPS+ are adjusted for things such as the deadball era, pitching quality, and so on.

Also, to qualify, the player needs at least 2000 plate appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates to make the list. A player with more plate appearances will be weighed heavier than a player with fewer plate appearances. So, without further ado, let’s get into our first player.