Bill Virdon, star of the Pittsburgh Pirates, World Series hero, and successful manager, is a testament to the solid and unwavering principles of fundamental baseball as a road map to victory.
Before Baseball
William Charles Virdon was born June 9, 1931 in Hazel Park, Michigan. When he was growing up, his stay-at-home mom proved to be his biggest assistant to playing baseball; she would play catch with him for hours at a time and, in the end, it paid off.
In the Big Leagues
He went into the minors to play for his favorite team, the New York Yankees. However, the team traded him while he was still in the minors to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for aging star Enos Slaughter. Bill's first season in the big leagues was 1955, where he played in 144 games and batted .281. He also clubbed 17 home runs and showed a lot of promise in the field. He was awarded for his season with the National League Rookie of the Year award. However, only 24 games into the 1956 season, with Bill struggling at a .211 clip, the Cards traded him to league rivals the Pittsburgh Pirates, where Virdon made the rest of his career. As if to make the Cardinals pay for their mistake, Bill batted .334 for the rest of the season, including a scorching .422 against his old St. Louis club.
Virdon was a slightly above average hitter with no real power (after 1956 he never hit more than 9 home runs in a season) and no speed (he had the dubious distinction of being caught stealing more than he stole a base), yet he somehow managed to always hit for extra bases - he even led the league in triples in 1962. He also had a tremendous arm, constantly holding runners from scoring. He was awarded a Gold Glove Award in 1962 for his excellent fielding.
Virdon was a wonderful player on the field, charging high bouncers and chasing down balls in the corners (occasionally he would lose the trademark glasses he wore on the field and play would be stopped while he and the other outfielders would hunt around for them!)
Virdon went to his only World Series in 1960 against the dreaded New York Yankees, with Mantle and Ford. However, he and the rest of the Pittsburgh club held on through seven games, and in the most dramatic fashion possible were rewarded when Bill Mazeroski hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Pirates the championship. Virdon only batted .241, but he helped the Pirates win with his glove (robbing Yogi Berra of a sure home run in Game 3) and his clutch hitting - it was his single that started the game-winning rally.
How Did He Ever Manage?
Virdon was plagued by injuries, and in 1968 after making a short homestand farewell tour in July, he retired. He stayed on with the Pirates as first base coach, and when Danny Murtaugh retired after the 1971 season, Virdon stepped in as manager. His "rookie" season he, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Steve Blass led the Pirates to a 96-59 record and the NL East pennant, though they lost in the last game of the league championships to eventual World Series victors the Cincinnati Reds. Still, Virdon was a bit of a surly manager, and after a major run-in with Dock Ellis, he was fired midway through the 1973 season.
Virdon's next stop gave him a sort of lasting notoriety, when he was selected by George Steinbrenner to manage his boyhood heroes the New York Yankees. In 1974, he led the team to a second place finish, but his middling performance in 1975 got him the quick heave ho from The Boss. Just 17 days after his firing, he was hired to replace Preston Gomez as manager for the Houston Astros.
Virdon made the most of his years in Houston, winning the pennant in 1980 (and his second Manager of the Year award, in addition to 1974) but losing a heartbreaking championship series to the New York Mets, compounded by the tragedy of J.R. Richard. In the strike-shortened 1981 season, the Astros again looked dominant, winning the second half of the season to earn a postseason spot. They faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in a five game series. The Astros took the first two games, and the Dodgers the second two. With Nolan Ryan on the mound, Virdon was confident his Astros would pull through. It was not to be, however, as the Dodgers collected four runs off Ryan which proved to be enough to win the series. Midway through the 1982 season, with the Astros languishing in fifth place, Virdon was fired. He was picked up in the offseason by the Montreal Expos and guided them to a third place finish. Once again, however, his team failed to materialize, and near the end of a disappointing 1984 season, he was fired for the fourth time, finishing just five games shy of 1000 career managerial victories.
Today
In 1999, Bill was asked to rejoin his favorite team the Pittsburgh Pirates as bench coach underneath Lloyd McClendon, where he worked until 2002, when he resigned after the team showed little improvement. Bill currently resides in West Springfield, Missouri.
Career Statistics
Batting:
YEAR TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA
1955 STL NL 144 534 58 150 18 6 17 68 2 4 36 64 .281
1956 STL NL 24 71 10 15 2 0 2 9 0 1 5 8 .211
PIT NL 133 509 67 170 21 10 8 37 6 6 33 63 .334
TOT NL 157 580 77 185 23 10 10 46 6 7 38 71 .319
1957 PIT NL 144 561 59 141 28 11 8 50 3 3 33 69 .251
1958 PIT NL 144 604 75 161 24 11 9 46 5 3 52 70 .267
1959 PIT NL 144 519 67 132 24 2 8 41 7 4 55 65 .254
1960 PIT NL 120 409 60 108 16 9 8 40 8 2 40 44 .264
1961 PIT NL 146 599 81 156 22 8 9 58 5 8 49 45 .260
1962 PIT NL 156 663 82 164 27 10 6 47 5 13 36 65 .247
1963 PIT NL 142 554 58 149 22 6 8 53 1 2 43 55 .269
1964 PIT NL 145 473 59 115 11 3 3 27 1 5 30 48 .243
1965 PIT NL 135 481 58 134 22 5 4 24 4 3 30 49 .279
1968 PIT NL 6 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 2 .333
CAREER 1583 5980 735 1596 237 81 91 502 47 54 442 647 .267
* Bold denotes led league.
Managerial:
YEAR TEAM G W L PCT FINISH
1972 PIT NL 155 96 59 .619 1
1973 PIT NL 136 67 69 .493 3
1974 NYY AL 162 89 73 .549 2
1975 NYY AL 104 53 51 .510 3
1975 HOU NL 35 17 17 .500 6
1976 HOU NL 162 80 82 .494 3
1977 HOU NL 162 81 81 .500 3
1978 HOU NL 162 74 88 .457 5
1979 HOU NL 162 89 73 .549 2
1980 HOU NL 163 93 70 .571 1
1981 HOU NL 57 28 29 .491 3 (1st half)
1981 HOU NL 53 33 20 .623 1 (2nd half)
1982 HOU NL 111 49 62 .441 5
1983 MON NL 163 82 80 .506 3
1984 MON NL 131 64 67 .489 5
TOTAL 1918 995 921 .519
Sources
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/v/virdobi01.shtml
- http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ ballplayers/V/Virdon_Bill.stm
- http://www.astrosdaily.com/players/Virdon_Bill.html