It’s baffling. Upon doing some office trivia, it was discovered the last player to hit 40 home runs in a season for the Pirates was in 1973!!!! Willie Stargell! Wow. It’s crazy, we have went through a steroid era and close to 40 years since the city of Pittsburgh has had 40 home runs in one season from one player. Crazy, just crazy. Every other team has one since early 2000, at least.
So, let’s see who has came close. I’m just baffled.
In 1973, Willie Stargell hit 48 home runs. Ralph Kiner hit 54 in 1949 and 51 in 1947. That’s the most, which is respectable numbers. But a power hitter in Pittsburgh? There’s only been seven seasons of 40 plus home runs by a single player in the Pirates history. Ralph Kiner has five seasons of 40 home runs or more for Pittsburgh, Willie Stargell has the last two. Just sad.
The biggest challenger, Brian Giles. He hit 39!!!!!!! 39!! in 1999, one short of the mark. He hit 37 in 2001 and 38 in 2002. Hey, at least he tried. Almost hit the mark in three years.
Josh Bell hit 37 in 2019, then found himself traded for nothing to the Nationals two years later.
Pirates have been around since 1882 and only had seven seasons with a player that hit 40 home runs. It’s amazing Andrew McCutchen didn’t hit the mark, at most was 31 in a season.
It’s just sad … and I had to share.