The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates

by Bruce Markusen

The 1971 Pirates of Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski, Dock Ellis, and Steve Blass are among my all-time favorite teams, and their spectacular World Series win over the Orioles of Earl Weaver, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, and Dave McNally is one of the great baseball upsets of the postwar era. Still, though I followed their season closely, I never fully understood their impact. "—Allen Barra, The New York Sun In 1947, major league baseball experienced its first measure of integration when the Brooklyn Dodgers brought Jackie Robinson to the National League. While Robinson's breakthrough opened the gates of opportunity for African Americans and other minority players, the process of integration proved slow and uneven. It was not until the 1960s that a handful of major league teams began to boast more than a few Black and Latino players. But the 1971 World Championship team enjoyed a full and complete level of integration, with half of its twenty-five-man roster comprised of players of African American and Latino descent. That team was the Pittsburgh Pirates, managed by an old-time Irishman. In The Team That Changed Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates , veteran baseball writer Bruce Markusen tells the story of one of the most likable and significant teams in the history of professional sports. In addition to the fact that they fielded the first all-minority lineup in major league history, the 1971 Pirates are noteworthy for the team's inspiring individual performances, including those of future Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Bill Mazeroski, and their remarkable World Series victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. But perhaps their greatest legacy is the team's influence on the future of baseball, inspiring later championship teams such as the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics to open their doors fully to all talented players, regardless of race, particularly in the new era of free agency.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Audiobook

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2006

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates were the team that made me a baseball fan. Their World Series victory excited my imagination and won my baseball heart, turning me into a life-long Pittsburgh Pirate fan. Steve Blass, Roberto Clemente, Manny Sanguillen, and Willie Stargell became my baseball heroes, and shaped my idea of what ideal baseball players should be. So I brought high expectations to Bruce Markusen's book about the team, and I am happy to say that he did not disappoint me.

Markusen recreates the arc of the Pirates' '71 season, from the deal making in the winter of 1970, to spring training, and on through the regular season. He devotes a chapter to each month. Along the way he introduces the reader to many of the quirky characters who made up the '71 Pirates squad. His strongest writing is his blow by blow recreation of the historic 1971 World Series. He breaks it down with a chapter for the first two games in Baltimore, one for the next three in Pittsburgh, and a chapter apiece for games six and seven in Baltimore. Baseball fans, and particularly Pirates fans, will be enthralled by his vivid description of one of the all-time great Baseball Fall Classics. In addition to recreating the Pirates' season, Markusen also includes an interesting post script "Where are they now?" chapter that brings each player from the '71 team up to date (as of the book’s printing).

While recreating the exciting '71 season, Markusen returns repeatedly to the theme of his title - that the 1971 Pirates team changed the face of baseball with its color blind approach to picking talent. No previous team had such a diverse racial mix between White, Black, and Latino players. Pirates' management totally disregarded the unwritten practice that had been common through the `50s and `60s of having a quota for ethnic players on a team, in favor of picking the best talent available regardless of race. The Pirates' clubhouse was a loose place full of boiserous and friendly play rather than racial tension. Pirates' manager, Danny Murtaugh, saw only Pirate black and gold, not black and white, in his players, and was liked and respected by all. In a game played on September 1st, 1971, Murtaugh sent out a line-up made up completely of Black and Latino players in all nine positions, a first in Major League history. When asked after the game if he realized what he had done, Murtaugh replied, "Did I have nine blacks out there? I thought I had nine Pirates out there." Markusen argues convincingly that the success the Pirates had with their color blind strategy influence the rest of baseball to emulate it, and fundamentally changed the game.

One thing that should be noted; the subtitle, `Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates' is a bit misleading. While there is plenty of Clemente in the book, and he was the team leader, it is really a team story, and it doesn't dwell on him any more than many of the other players. This doesn't detract in any way from the book's quality. It is both fast moving and fun. As a history of one of the great modern teams that significantly impacted the game, most baseball fans should enjoy it. If you are a Pirates fan this book is a must read.

[David Clifton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for a recap of my favorite team, the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates.
However, "the team that changed baseball" is a stretch. Markusen makes this claim because on 09/01/1971, the Pirates fielded an "all black" (Afro-American and/or Afro-Latino) team, the first in MLB history. While significant, I don't believe it "changed" baseball in and of itself.
The '71 Pirates are also remembered for another first - winners of the first World Series night game. Pirates 4 - Orioles 3, Game 4 of the 1971 World Series.

[Dave Cottenie · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Team That Changed Baseball” takes a look at the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates team. Under manager Danny Murtaugh, the Pirates would put on the filed a starting lineup that consisted entirely of black and Latino players. The diverse team lead by Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente would break down barriers in the clubhouse and become a close and integrated unit. Bruce Markusen chronicles the team throughout the season, highlighting the key personalities. At times, the influence of the team is lost and there is a bit of drama lacking in the story. Overall a good chronicle though.

[Doug · Rating 1 out of 5]

The 1971 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates was the first team in baseball history to field a starting nine that included only African/American and Hispanic players. You would think this would make for a thought provoking study of race relations and sports in the early 70's. Much to my disappointment, this only briefly touches on that wider subject and instead is just another routine diary of a season book. I was hoping for more because the '71 Series between the Pirates and the Orioles was the first World Series I ever watched on TV.

[James Hallmark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today is "Opening Day"! Those who are baseball fans won't need to ask, "opening of what," and if you have to ask then this isn't the book for you. This is for baseball fans, or perhaps natives of Pittsburgh, or maybe folks who are getting old and grew up as a baseball fan (you probably need to be over 60 to know these names, maybe even 65). It's not long (about 250 pages). I enjoyed it, but I happen to be a baseball fan and 1971 happens to be the year that I first remember following baseball. I enjoyed hearing the players' names and strolling down memory lane. The meat of the book is rather pedestrian: a boilerplate book that follows a team through a season, with superficial treatments of larger issues sprinkled in (e.g. race relations, Vietnam war, etc.). This book is about the games, not their personal lives. That doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable, but it is superficial. The '71 Pirates were a good team and had remarkable chemistry. Markusen (rightly) puts that on the Manager, Danny Murtaugh, the tremendously successful and well-liked long-time manager of the Pirates. (Honestly, I assumed he was in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but apparently he isn't. He should be.) The reason one could say this team "changed baseball" is that the '71 Pirates are the first MLB team to field an all-Black lineup. September 1, 1971. Hard to believe now, but that was a big deal in 1971. And in the World Series (which they won, upsetting the dominate Baltimore Orioles in 7 games), their game-one starting line-up included 7 persons of color and 2 whites. Very unusual for that era. And they seemed to get along well with each other. If you are a baseball fan, you may remember the 1979 Pirates (also World Series Champions) adopting the Sister Sledge song "We are Family" as their mantra. Well, apparently that family mindset started in 1970 or so in Pittsburgh. The book is soft-gloved, but not a hagiography. For example, baseball history has lionized Roberto Clemente, whereas Markusen doesn't shy away from the fact Clemente was a difficult person, bristly, respected but not liked in the locker room. Dock Ellis was a handful, always mouthing off and getting into trouble, Al Oliver constantly complained about playing time, etc. The final chapter is long but is a jewel. He alphabetically goes through the entire roster with a "where are they now" discussion. And he didn't just talk about their playing careers but about how so and so died in a traffic accident and so and so has been selling insurance in Boca Raton since 1981, etc.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book on the 1971 Pirates by Bruce Markusen. There is a chapter on each month of the season, but the author does a good job of weaving game highlights with stories on the players such as Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Al Oliver, Bob Robertson, Doc Ellis, Bill Mazeroski, Dave Cash, Steve Blass, Many Saguillen, Rich Hebner and many others. There is some historical significance about this team, but I won't say what it is in case you don't know. There are other chapters on the postseason and World Series as well that are written very well. I knew which team won, but didn't know how and was on the edge of my seat from how Markusen described it in his writing. With each big play he offers not only what happened, but what could have happened if the manager of a team had decided another way. I kind of wish their might have been a little more written about what was happening in the world outside of baseball -- big events like what Nixon was doing, what was going on with the Vietnam War and Apollo missions, what movies were big, what music albums were dropped, etc. But for a baseball fan only, this was about as good as it gets. Well done by Markusen. Pirate fans will love and baseball fans will enjoy as well.

[Mr. Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can also see this review, along with others I have written, at my blog, Mr. Book's Book Reviews.

Mr. Book just finished The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente And The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates, by Bruce Markusen.

The 1971 Pirates won the World Series, with Roberto Clemente having a great World Series to lead them to the title. Along the way, the Pirates became the first team in MLB history whose entire starting lineup in a game featured all black and/or Latin players.

Race, both in terms of how it impacted the majors as well as the individual Pirate players, was a major theme of the book. But, it didn’t overshadow the baseball.

This book did a thorough job of covering the Pirates throughout the entire 1971 season, with complete coverage of each postseason game show.

You definitely did not need to be a Pirates fan to enjoy this book.

I give this book an A. Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.

Mr. Book originally read this on May 30, 2014. Mr. Book finished rereading this on October 16, 2024.

[Jeff Bracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I grew up near Detroit, I was a Pittsburgh Pirates fan growing up because my grandfather was. As a baseball book that chronicles a championship season this is a pretty good book. It is better than that because the Pirates' management had broken unwritten rules of Major League Baseball and the World Series Championship was its prize. From Jackie Robinson on, Blacks were slowly allowed to be Major League players. It took Latino players even longer. But, Major League Baseball owners adopted a de facto quota as to the number of non-white players a team could have on its roster. It lasted until the Pirates broke it. This is the story of the Pirates' 1971 championship which resulted from that action. And, on September 1, 1971, for the the first time none of the players in a starting Major League Baseball team lineup were white. This is a quiet book which tells a big story. It is an easy read, but an important and interesting one.

[Anup Sinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is well-researched and a pretty good diary on the 1971 Pirates. It doesn’t give a lot of color or big picture but it offers plenty to relive that glorious team and season. Markusen’s style is heavy on statistics and adjectives.

The subject matter fascinates me as a gigantic baseball fan born in 1971 and especially interested in the great Pirates teams of that era and their abundance of minority players. I would have liked a little more about the city and the fans, the mood, how this was really the last year the Pirates were the toast of the town over the Steelers...... things like that, which would require the author to have been there to have had a really good feel for. It’s nearly impossible to just research those less tangible aspects of the story.

I like that Markusen did a “where are they now” chapter for all the players.

Recommended for anybody like-minded.

[Chris Witt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suffers a bit from reading like you're going through the PBP log of each game on Baseball Reference, but should serve as a good recap of the season for fans of the 71 Bucs. I really was hoping for more stories and behind the scenes stuff, and it's mainly just a paragraph recap of each game of the season plus a few pages per postseason game and not much else. If you're okay with all that, you'll like this.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much you can do recounting every game of the season so it dragged at parts, but the locker room stories and team dynamics were more interesting than I anticipated. More off the field content, with lots of on the field content about this team. Great for the few Pirates fans still hanging on to hope we'll ever get back to the World Series.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a day by day account of the 1971 Pirates season than anything else. Still, a good book for baseball fans of that era. The author does talk about how the Pirates were way ahead of others teams as far as drafting players of color and from other countries, but I was hoping for a bit more. Probably due to the fact that a lot of those people that made decisions are no longer around.

[Larry White · Rating 3 out of 5]

A New and Forgotten Era

I grew up a Pittsburgh Pirates fan in the 1950s and 1960s. Those were the final days of woolen uniforms, Forbes Field, and, for me, my boyhood heroes.

The 70s saw a transformation for both the Pirates and the sport of baseball itself, some bad, some good. On the bad side, Three Rivers Stadium had none of the fan intimacy of Forbes Field, a situation somewhat rectified with the opening of PNC Park in 2001. The new double-knit uniforms were more sleek certainly, but opened the way for America’s pastime to suffer the same sartorial embarrassment as the culture in general in the 70s. Heroes just fade away often, and the early 70s carried over such luminaries as Clemente and Mazeroski. New heroes, as always, began to emerge, like Willie Stargell, but free agency, as appropriate as it is for the players, began to erode the feeling of my team. Fans, at least of my era, liked roster consistency (well, at least as long as they were winning!). Some teams today (e.g., the 2021 World Champion Atlanta Braves) go through mid-season team transformations like they were just changing pitchers during a game.

Bruce Markusen’s “The Team That Changed Baseball” relates a very good transformation of the new era led by the Pirates, as is often overlooked. The 1971 Pirates, Markusen recounts, inaugurated an era of race-blind meritocracy that baseball, and too many fans, had resisted for too long. Late in the season, the Pirates fielded the first ever all-black starting lineup in Major League Baseball in a game they won against the Philadelphia Phillies. Manager Danny Murtaugh, a Pittsburgh legend, cared only about fielding the best team, not the most correct team by the standards of the day. Along with GM Joe Brown, he put together a team that excelled and gelled. One wonders had they not excelled (World Series champs) and gelled in the clubhouse and on the field if the new era would have been postponed. Baseball really has never been the same, and the significance of the 1971 Pirates is underreported. The change they ushered in is taken for granted today, or worse, sometimes discounted by athletes and fans who fail to recognize how sports (as a microcosm of our society, in fact) has improved.

While this is a story with a superordinate moral for any baseball fan, much of it will be of interest mostly to the Pirates’ faithful, especially of that era. It was a nostalgic treat to remember the players and their foibles. Although subtitled “Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates” the book is far more about the team than the immortal Clemente (whom always will be remembered fondly by his fans) in spite of his superb penultimate season. In relating so many specific games, Markusen draws heavily on the sportswriters’ thesaurus to overdo the colorful synonyms commonly sprinkled throughout newspaper stories to avoid such drab ideas as “run”, “score”, “hit”, “strikeout”, etc. etc. etc. Fine for retelling yesterday’s game perhaps, but a bit tedious in this format. Finally, and mysteriously, Pirates’ brash broadcaster and icon, Bob “The Gunner” Prince earns just two brief mentions in the book. Whether you liked him or hated him, Prince was the voice of Pirates’ baseball for nearly three decades, and I can’t help but think that the narrative would have benefited from his unique perspectives during that memorable season

[Ryan Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for baseball books especially ones about one full season which this book was as it chronicled the 1971 Pirates season. Wish this would have had more behind-the-scenes stories so we could learn about the players personalities more.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go Bucs!

[Clark Hallman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Team that Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pirates by Bruce Markusen – The World Series championship, 1971, Pirates team was remarkable in many ways. This book takes the reader through the entire 1971 season with the Pirates, and during the process the reader learns much about MLB baseball and about many of the Pirates’ players, coaches, and their manager, Danny Murtaugh. Detailed accounts of significant games and player/manager actions are presented month by month as the enthusiasm (and stress) builds toward the playoffs. The reader learns about player-manager relationships, players’ personalities, skills, hardships, successes and failures. Each game during the playoff pennant race in covered in detail, as is each game of the World Series. Of course, Roberto Clemente’s superior talents were showcased during the pennant race and World Series. However, the monumental achievements of winning the National League Pennant and then the World Series were not the achievements that “Changed Baseball.” The Pirates changed baseball through their integration of players of color on the team, and Danny Murtaugh and the Pirates administration all played a roll in that integration. The Pirates in the early 1970s were the most integrated team in baseball and the benefits of that integration were very obvious from their successes on the field. During one game of the 1971 season the Pirates fielded an entire lineup of players of color, which was a first for Major League Baseball. It was a monumental decision, which Danny Murtaugh did not hesitate to make. To add to the reader’s enjoyment Markusen includes a long afterward that provides information about the post-1971-season careers and lives of every player (and the coaches and manager) of the 1971 Pirates team. It’s a very interesting and enjoyable book and I recommend it highly for baseball fans, especially Pirate fans.

[Steven Voorhees · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1971, America was still recovering from the tumultuous hangover leveled by the '60s. De-escalation from Vietnam continued, ALL IN THE FAMILY premiered on CBS and THE FRENCH CONNECTION, a new kind of police drama, riveted the cinema. And the Pittsburgh Pirates, largely out of contention since their 1960 World Series win, reached baseball's heights with a colorblind and courageous squad. Their success launched the most glorious era in Pittsburgh sports history (the Steelers won four Super Bowls and the Pirates prevailed in the '79 Series). Bruce Markusen take the reader into the '71 season, month-by-month and through both the LCS and the Series. From spring training in Bradenton, FL to the clubhouse, we see first-hand the ups and downs that inform every major league season. The Pirate team that put their collective shoulder to the wheel was a racially diverse group that included Roberto Clemente, Manny Sanguillen, Willie Stargell and Steve Blass, to name but four. In fact, the Pirates made history by inserting the first all-black lineup into the September 1, 1971 contest. Throughout the '60s, baseball gradually became less of an all-white sport. But it was the following decade that witnessed many a breakout season by black players. The Pirates started this trend and continued the path of equality the Dodgers broke with Jackie Robinson in 1947. The Pirates used an explosive offense, strong pitching and manager Danny Murtaugh's tactics to outlast both the Cardinals and the Giants to reach the series. There, they faced a dynasty-in-the-making in the Orioles, the defending world champions. In "a finger-chewing good" series that went the full seven games, the Pirates used "championship resiliency" to stun Baltimore. The never-say-die Buccos helped clear America's collective body of the '60s as it focused fully on the '70s -- one of the most interesting (to say the least) decades of America's history.

[Glen Russell Slater · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed by this book. The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates were among my favorite teams of all time. Largely because my mother's parents lived in the Pittsburgh area (Ambridge, Pennsylvania) and my mother grew up there, and my maternal grandparents were Pirates fans, I became one, as well. The Pittsburgh Pirates fielded the first all-black starting lineup on my eleventh birthday. I loved the Pirates of the early '70s; they were second in my heart only to my beloved Mets.

This book could have been so much more. I think that the problem with this book is that unlike the 1971 Pirates, this book doesn't have much heart. It doesn't capture the spirit and joy that was the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates. It's informative, to be sure, but it's not a particularly enjoyable read. It's lackluster, coldly listing facts and not leaving in the happiness of that Pirates team. It's a shame, because this could have been such an enriching subject for those who aren't familiar with this team. I'll be honest; if I didn't already have an interest in the topic, I wouldn't have made it very far into this book.

Very disappointing.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 1971 World Series was the first one I remember seeing as a kid, so this particular Pirates team was one of my favorites to watch. Markusen has a pretty straightforward accounting of this season, which I surprisingly seemed to remember quite a bit of, even though I was five years old at the time. The team supposedly changed baseball because it broke down racial barriers, even going as far to start an all Black lineup (a combination of African-Americans and Latino players) at one instance.

If the Pirates changed the game of baseball, it's not quite clear if the changes were permanent. The book's scope doesn't extend much outside of the 1971 season. 1971 was a time which was just outside of baseball's alleged "Golden Age" (i.e., when teams from New York won a lot) and before games were widely seen on a national TV schedule. So many of the best players of the era have fallen through the cracks. This book is a good way to get reacquainted with stars like Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Frank Robinson.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follows the season from spring training to the World Series. Some of it is just a narrative of box scores. I wish there were more locker room anecdotes from the interviews the author did.

More than anything, it's interesting to see how the pre-free agency game existed. They way they managed. How relievers were used. There were even some players who had military reservist committments who had to be replaced by minor league call-ups. Can you imagine that happening today?

[Robert Morrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure that the 1971 Pirates were a team that changed baseball or a team that manifested the changes that were already taking place, but this is a well-written chronicle of their 1971 season. The ballplayer quotes are fairly much limited to the author's theme (that their racial diversity changed baseball), which makes for a one-dimensional read. Still, the author manages to weave his research into a satisfying story about a team that did surprise the experts in more ways than one.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book about the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates. The 1971 Pirates not only won the 1971 World Series but they were the first team in baseball to have a huge diversity of ethnic players. This book is written so well that even though I knew the outcome, the intensity of the World Series had my hands sweating. Clemente, Stargell, Blass, Hebner, Oliver, Gusti, Ellis, if you are a baseball fan and especially a Pirates fan this is a must read. I loved this book.

[Brad Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a Pittsburgh Pirates fan since childhood. Roberto Clements is my favorite baseball player ever. So of course u would love this book! The story of the 1971 Pirates team is important not only for their World Series championship but because they were the first team that ever truly embraced diversity on a large scale, and that diversity is what catapulted them to the top. Great read if you love baseball.

[Matthew Steinhiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book but was a bit diss appointing. The title is misleading because in the book more emphasis is put on the overall team more than Clemente. My hope was that this book would tell more about Clemente and it failed in that regard.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lifelong Pirate fan, I remember the Buccos of the 70's. A good read.

[Daryl Grigsby]

story of the wonderfully diverse 1971 pirates