The Pittsburgh Pirates’ No All-Star Game All-Star Team

Center Field

Bill Virdon

Bill Virdon won Rookie Of The Year, got MVP votes in another year, received a Gold Glove, but never went to an all-star game. Virdon was more of your typical glove-first center fielder. He hit .266/.313./375 with a .308 wOBA, 89 wRC+, and OPS+. But he was well above average when it came to fielding.

Throughout his career with the Pirates, Virdon racked up +50 total zone runs as an outfielder. He had a +4.3 defensive WAR with the Bucs, which included 3 years with a dWAR of at least 1. He’s also just one of 5 Pirates to have at least 50 TZ as well.

Virdon spent 5856 of his 6582 plate appearances as a Pirate outfielder. However, his best season started with him as a St. Louis Cardinal. In 1956, the year after Virdon won Rookie Of The Year as a Cardinal, Virdon was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates early into the season, on May 17th, for Dick Littlefield, and Bobby Greco.

Virdon would post a .319/.361/.445 line, .355 wOBA, 117 wRC+, and 118 OPS+. This was one of three seasons Virdon had a wRC+ above 100, and one of two seasons both OPS+ and wRC+ saw him as a league-average or better batter. Virdon wasn’t much of a fielder this season with only -3 TZ and -.7 dWAR.

Virdon might not have been much of a hitter, but he racked up 16.2 fWAR in his career, including 15.2 with the Pirates.