The outstanding career (and Pittsburgh Pirates tenure) of Bill Virdon

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had many great center fielders throughout the franchise’s storied history, such as Al Oliver, Andy Van Slyke and Andrew McCutchen. Two have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (Max Carey and Lloyd Waner). Barry Bonds, who many consider to be one of the greatest players of all time, played in center his rookie year, but moved to left after the arrival of Van Slyke. Another that gets overlooked in these discussions is Bill Virdon, who played a crucial role in 1960 World Series and would later manage the team. The man from West Plains, Missouri had a remarkable career in professional baseball that spanned six decades.  

Virdon was born in Michigan, but later moved back to his parents' native Missouri. At West Plains High, he was standout multi-sport athlete in basketball, football and track. His school didn’t have baseball, so he traveled a long distance to Kansas to play for an American Amateur Baseball Congress team. Virdon then played basketball at Drury University in Springfield. After impressing at a Yankees tryout, Virdon signed with New York and debuted with their Class D Independence squad in 1950. He was promoted to Class Triple-A Kansas City that year.  

He played the next two seasons with the Norfolk and Binghamton farm clubs, and returned to Kansas City in 1953. Virdon struggled at first, and was sent down to Class Double-A Birmingham, where he hit .317 in 42 games. Around this time, he started wearing his signature glasses and changed his approach to hitting, emphasizing contact and hitting line drives rather than selling out for power.  

By the mid ‘50s, the Bronx Bombers were the most dominant team in baseball, and were set with Mickey Mantle, Gene Woodling and Hank Bauer in the outfield, with Elston Howard on the way. Virdon was stuck in the minors and didn’t figure into the Yankees' future plans. He was traded to St. Louis on April 11, 1954, with Mel Wright and Emil Tellinger for Enos Slaughter, a Cardinals legend and two-time World Series champion. The trade was a surprise, but a big break for Virdon, who took full advantage of the new opportunity.

He was assigned to Class Triple-A Rochester, where he had the best season of his professional career to that point. Virdon hit 22 home runs and led the International League that year with a .333 batting average. He followed that up with a great season of winter ball in Cuba with the Havana Lions, where he hit .340 and was named a Cuban League All-Star. 

Virdon broke camp with the Cardinals in 1955 as their center fielder. Stan Musial had moved to first base, which wasn’t new to him, and 1954 NL Rookie of the Year Wally Moon shifted over to right. Virdon continued his hot streak in the majors, winning the award himself in 1955, a campaign in which he hit .281 with 17 home runs and 68 RBI. Still, the Cardinals finished with the second-worst record in the National League, ahead of the Pirates, with a 68-86 mark. St. Louis had hired Frank Lane as their new general manager after the season. Lane, previously the GM of the White Sox, made over 200 trades during his seven-year tenure in Chicago.

Pirates History: Bill Virdon dealt to Pittsburgh

Virdon was dealt to Pittsburgh after a slow spring and start to the regular season on May 17, 1956, for Bobby Del Greco and Dick Littlefield. With his new team, he quickly emerged from his slump and competed for the batting title, averaging .319 between St. Louis and Pittsburgh. The Pirates had been losers for some time (their last winning season had come in 1948), but had plenty of young talent, like Roberto Clemente, Dick Groat and Bill Mazeroski. Much of this core would be a part of the championship team soon to come.  

The Pirates were runners-up in the 1958 NL pennant race, eight games back of the Milwaukee Braves, who would go on to lose the World Series in seven to the Yankees. Pittsburgh had a formidable starting nine and were serious contenders once again. Their outfield, consisting of Bob Skinner, Virdon and Clemente, was one of the best in the sport. Virdon was never a power hitter, but always contributed strong defense and a reliable lefty bat.

Pittsburgh stumbled a bit in ‘59, but came back in ‘60 to win the National League and make their first World Series appearance in over thirty years (the Yankees' Murderers’ Row had swept the Bucs in the 1927 Fall Classic). It would be a rematch that heavily favored New York. While the 1960 World Series is best remembered for Mazeroski’s dramatic walk-off, Virdon’s defense and an unlikely hit in Game 7 played a factor in the Pirates' ultimate victory.  

In Game 1 at Forbes Field, he made an incredible catch at the wall in right-center, preventing a likely two-run double by Yogi Berra and preserving the Pirates lead. The catch has been immortalized in bronze, as Virdon was honored with a statue that resides at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield. He made another great play in Game 4, leaping to rob Bob Cerv with two men on in the seventh. The Bucs held their 3-to-2 lead to even the series at two games a piece. The Yankees had heavily outscored the Pirates, but the series remained tied going into the deciding seventh game. Game 7 of the 1960 World Series is arguably the most iconic finale in baseball history.

Down 7-4 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, Virdon hit into what looked like an easy double play. The ball took a bounce at short, hitting Tony Kubek in the throat, who collapsed on the field, allowing Gino Cimoli to advance to second. Kubek left the game, and the Pirates rallied for a five-run inning, which included Hal Smith’s often forgotten three-run blast off Jim Coates. Had Virdon’s grounder taken a different hop and instead gone for two outs, who knows how things would have ended? 

Virdon played five more seasons with Pittsburgh, winning the Gold Glove Award and leading the league with 10 triples in 1962. In these years, the Pirates were up and down, never finishing higher than third in the National League (1965). Virdon hit .279 in his last full season. He began his coaching career soon after, spending two seasons as the manager of the Williamsport Mets and Jacksonville Suns. He had previously run a baseball academy, and coached in the Arizona and Florida Instructional Leagues. Virdon returned to the Pirates organization in 1968 under new manager Larry Shepard. He appeared in six games as a player that season; many players were serving in the military. Virdon interviewed for the role of skipper after Shepard left, but the job went to Danny Murtaugh, who returned for this third stint as Pirates manager.  

Murtaugh, a former Pirates second baseman, first helmed the ship in ‘57 and managed the ‘60 team that won it all. Virdon eventually got the job in 1972, after Murtaugh led the Bucs to another World Series in ‘71, then retired due to his health. Pittsburgh had won their third straight NL East title, but lost in heartbreaking fashion in Game 5 to the Reds in the Championship Series. 1973 would be Virdon’s last year as the Pirates manager. After the tragic loss of Roberto Clemente, the team had an unremarkable year, finishing 80-82. Virdon, usually a quiet man, had clashed at times with Richie Hebner and Dock Ellis and was fired in September. His replacement? Murtaugh was back again.  

Fortunately, Virdon got another opportunity with the team that originally took a chance on him. In 1974, he became the manager of the New York Yankees. He wasn’t George Steinbrenner’s first choice, though. That would have been Dick Williams, who had won the last two World Series with the Oakland A’s. There was a contract dispute that couldn’t be worked out, so Steinbrenner signed Virdon instead. The Yankees, under the new leadership, came close but short in the pennant race that year, following several seasons of mediocrity. The Sporting News named Virdon their Manager of the Year for ‘74. This success in New York, however, would not last.

Virdon was a very different manager than his predecessor, Ralph Houk. He wasn’t exactly popular with the players. The team was also playing in Shea Stadium at the time while Yankee Stadium was undergoing renovations. As the Yankees struggled that year, Virdon was let go and replaced by Billy Martin. The Houston Astros, themselves in the basement of the AL West, too had an opening at manager and hired Virdon that same month. 

Though he never returned to the World Series as manager of the Astros, Virdon led the team to an NLCS appearance in 1980, and the NLDS in 1981 as the first-place team in the second half of the strike-shortened season. With 544 wins, Virdon has the most of any manager in Astros history. He left Houston in 1982 and went on to manage the Montreal Expos for two seasons. After an uneventful run up north, Virdon once again returned to Pittsburgh as Jim Leyland’s hitting coach in 1986. He remained with the organization for a few more years as a minor league instructor, left to be a spring training coach for St. Louis, then came back to the majors, rejoining Leyland’s staff in ‘92.

Virdon later interviewed with the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies, expansion teams in search of their first manager. He was the bench coach of the Astros in 1997 and the Pirates in 2001, under Lloyd McClendon in his first year on the job, the first year the Pirates played at the newly built PNC Park. Virdon retired from coaching after the 2002 season, though he came back as a spring training instructor for many years thereon. 

Bill Virdon passed away on Nov. 23, 2021, at the age of 90. Throughout his life, he had made Springfield, Missouri his home with his wife Shirley, with whom he had recently celebrated a 70th anniversary. Last year, a statue was dedicated in his hometown, alongside Preacher Roe as “Baseball Greats of West Plains”. Virdon is a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, the Independence (MO) Baseball Hall of Fame, and Drury Athletics Hall of Fame.

Pittsburgh was his second home. His time with the Pirates as a player and coach meant so much to him. In his later years, fans young and old showed him their gratitude. A biography, titled “Bill Virdon: A Life in Baseball”, written by David Jerome, was published in 2023. It’s a fitting title. The dedication and passion Virdon had for the game was boundless, as one of the finest to ever put on a Pirates uniform.