Ranking Every Pittsburgh Pirates Hall Of Famer Player

Number Five
Willie Stargell (1988)

Willie Stargell is the best power hitter in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ history. Pops spent his entire 21-season career with the Bucs, from 1962 through 1982. The Pirates signed Stargell in August of 1958. After a few years in the minor leagues, he secured a regular role in 1963 and didn’t let go of it until 1979.

Stargell batted .282/.360/.529 with a 147 OPS+ throughout his career. Stargell was known for his big power, as he hit 30+ home runs six different times, including leading the league twice. With 475 career home runs, he leads Ralph Kiner by 174. Brian Giles, Kiner, and Honus Wagner are the only other Pirates batters to have a higher OPS+ as well (min. 2000 plate appearances). Though he leads Wagner in RBI at 1540.

Stargell was a big-time hitter but was never a great fielder. He played most of his career in left field, where he had -27 total zone runs and a range factor per game of just +1.59 (league average was +1.81). He moved to first base late into his career and was an even worse defender with -44 TZR with a +9.05 RF/G (+9.92 RF/G average).

His poor defense brought his bWAR down to a still impressive +57.6. I almost put Vaughn ahead of Stargell. But Stargell was a much better batter, had nearly 1000 more total bases than Vaughan, and still played in over 543 games with 1304 more plate appearances. Because of that, Stargell sneaks past Vaughn for a top-five spot. In 1988, Stargell made it to the Hall on his first ballot, receiving 82.4% of the votes.