Staying in '79

 

Two straight posts on 1979! Hey, I guess I'm old!

Forty-five years ago tonight was Game 7 of the 1979 World Series, when Willie Stargell clinched the Series for the Pirates, the most recent championship for the Pirates.

That Series is notable for Stargell stars, "We Are Family," and some of the most colorful uniforms to appear together in a single WS. It's also the first World Series that I watched almost in entirety and the first Game 7 I saw to the end.

Because of that, it's been one of my favorite World Series, and it helped that it came immediately after experiencing the Dodgers lose to the Yankees in back-to-back years. Finally, I had a relaxing series to watch in which the team I rooted for actually won. (This is still a rarity).

I looked forward to 1980 Topps when I could see a few cards devoted to the '79 World Series as Topps had done in previous years. But, to my surprise, there was no recognition of the Series at all. It was the first time that Topps did not provide at least one card dedicated to the previous year's Series since 1966, when the Dodgers were snubbed after winning the Series in '65. Then Topps returned to recognizing the Series in its 1981 set before ignoring the '81 winner in the 1982 set -- which was also the Dodgers!! (F-you, Topps! Stickers aren't enough!).

I thought failing to recognize the 1979 World Series was a big miss for Topps. It remains one of the most memorable Series in my mind and I think it's been one of the better Series in the last 50 years.

And even with all the retro sets and insert series of the last 25-plus years, there have been few pictures on cards of that Series. For Willie Stargell, the hero of that Series, I found a mere handful.

 

This is probably one of the most notable. It's from the cool "Greatest" insert set(s) from 2019 Topps Update. This photo comes directly from Getty Images and it's of Pops admiring his Game 7 home run in the 1979 World Series.

There it is, straight from Getty.

 

The same image was used back in 1998 for the Sports Illustrated World Series Fever set.

The 2020 set shows another photo from the same home run, this time rounding the bases.

This is another Getty Image and the third base coach who is greeting Stargell is rudely cropped out.

I'm sure there are other images from the '79 World Series featuring Stargell but my time is limited and it was very apparent that there just isn't a lot out there from the 1979 season on cards.

I had to resort to which Stargell cards actually mention his achievements in the '79 World Series -- you know, like on the back?

There are several, but it still doesn't seem nearly enough. Fortunately I have a few in my collection.

Perhaps that Stadium Club Stargell is from the 1979 World Series, though it didn't pop up on my Getty Images search.

The 2001 Upper Deck Decade set is the king of mentioning that Series, because there sure are enough Willie Stargell cards in that set.

All of these mention his '79 achievements on the back.

And there is this card, specifically devoted to the 1979 World Series.

When I searched for this card for scanning from my "complete" 2001 UD Decade 1970's set, I was mortified to discover it was not in the binder devoted to that set. Is it somewhere else? Do I not even have it? Has it been incomplete this whole time?

I didn't want to risk it so a copy is on its way to me (I will find the other one while it is in transit, I'm sure).

What I'd really like though is some card -- like in Stadium Club -- that shows action from the 1979 World Series, in which both Orioles and Pirates are shown. Preferably with the Pirates in gold and the Orioles in that totally '70s orange. Perhaps there is one and I'm just not remembering, but there should be enough of those that I can cite them on cue!

Like I said, it's still one of the rare Series that I remember fondly. It ended on Tuesday, October 17th. And then we turned our attention to football, with still half of October left -- instead of what we do now (or I do), which is practically ignore two months of the NFL while I agonize whether my team can survive the gauntlet of playoff levels.