Jack Wilson & the Forgotten Years of Pirates Baseball

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1:01It wasn't a good run for the franchise, but I was falling in love with baseball. And he was a constant on this team. He was going to be there. You knew he was always going to work. He was going to find a way to make an impact, whether it was with his defense, whether he's getting a hit. I wish growing up, there were more Jack Wilson's on those OTS Pirates teams. I think they would have turned out a little different. And you know what? I am very happy that he is part of the Pirates Hall of Fame class of 2026. In my opinion, he is deserving. Just as much as John Candle area and Wilbur Cooper. There is one thing that needs to be addressed though. There are a couple decades here that are now viewed as team history that the parts did not have much or any success.

2:04How do you honor those players in those forgotten years? Good morning and welcome to Offbeat here on North Shore 9 presented by Fandall. My name is Alex Stump and this is a daily look at your Pittsburgh Pirates. Again, I'm very happy that Jack Wilson is a member of the Pirates Hall of Fame. I also get why some people maybe rose an eyebrow because he was a glove first shortstop. And he never won a gold glove. He should have. He absolutely should have. How many defensive runs saved do you think he had in the 2005 campaign? I'm going to give five seconds here. Really think it over. What's a ridiculous number of defensive runs saved for a shortstop? He had 32. That's one every five games the Pirates played that year.

3:04One every five games he prevented a run by himself. He was as impactful defender this side of Bill Mazorowski in Roberto Clemente. I think you can make a very legitimate claim that if you were to list the greatest defenders in this franchise's history, it would be Clemente Maz depending on your order of how you want to go one, two, but I would say Clemente one and then Maz, two and then Wilson, three. He absolutely was one of the best players of those Ots teams. He was an all-star, a silver slugger winner. Like I said, I think Pirates history might have been a little different if there were more Jack Wilson's in that building. It's also an era in history that not a lot of people have fond memories of and it's

4:07going to be tough to honor. The Pirates had 20 straight losing seasons from 1993 to 2012, the longest streak in North American sports. And honestly, outside of 1979, since then, in those five decades, there have been two three-year stretches where this organization has been relevant in the Major League Baseball Zeitgeist. They had three straight division titles from 1990 to 1992 and the three wild cards from 2013 to 2015. And we have seen the Pirates honor the former. Barry Bonds is in the team Hall of Fame. Jim Leeland is in the team Hall of Fame. I suspect someday down the road, we will see Doug Drebeck. We could see a Bobby Bonilla. There are players from that time that will get their flowers.

5:12As there were players from the 2013 to 2015 team that will also be inducted one day. Andrew McCutchen would be a Pirate Hall of Famer someday. Neil Walker, I think he is very deserving. I think he would be a Pirate Hall of Famer someday. But Josh Harrison was recognized very recently by this organization. And I think he will be a Hall of Famer someday. They're younger. They have to be patient. In Cuch's case, he still needs to retire. They will get their due. They're guys you can pick. You can pick the AJ Burnettes. You can pick guys like that. But there are also decades, literal decades, where not much happened. Where the team was not competitive at all. As good of a player as Jack Wilson was in the OX, he never played a meaningful baseball game in Pittsburgh.

6:15There is never a time while he was here where the pirates are in some sort of postseason chase. And that stinks. He deserved it. Players like him deserve it. And it's something that does impact our memories of some of the greatest players in this franchise of history. I'm going to use an example here. Steve Blas, if you look strictly at the numbers, nothing else. Just the baseball reference page is not a Pirate Hall of Famer. He had some pretty good, really good years, but it wasn't a long enough career, not a Hall of Famer. Do you know why he's a Hall of Famer? And unquestionably so, it's too fold. One is his 50 years with the organization. Decades upon decades, a lifetime of commitment to the organization. And a variety of roles.

7:15There's a player, broadcaster, Steve Blas, enshrined himself as part of this team's identity for decades. And as a player, he won Game 7 in 1971. There is a flag flying here. There is a banner, a penit flying at PNC Park. And we'll always fly here. The Steve Blas pitched the game of his life in Game 7 of 1971. They do not win that game without Steve Blas. So whenever you look at those two accomplishments, those two supplemental items, he is unquestionably a team Hall of Famer. There hasn't been a lot of team success here since 1980. Even whenever we look at those wall cards of 2013 to 2015, I talked to Paul Schemes about this in spring training of 2025, where he said, that's a wild card game.

8:21We are shooting to do more than that. And he was absolutely right. It's kind of sad that for most millennials like myself, the highlight of a lifetime of baseball watching was a wild card game win. That's rough. There hasn't been that. There also hasn't been just with the structure of the game's finances and not keeping a lot of icons here. How many players stick around for six, seven, eight years? Did you be captured? It is a very obvious exception to this rule. Not only signing that extension whenever he was young, but then coming back for the three years from 2023 to 2025. You could look at Josh Harrison. You could look at guys like that. But there is not a lot of opportunity for guys to have a decade long career in Pittsburgh.

9:25Normally, you're either not playing well enough and you get shipped off. That's why you're not going to be able to play a decade here. Before you play too well and you either get traded or you walk in free agency, it's a difficult situation where it's like you don't have teens that are really worth remembering and players that more or less pass through. It really raises a question here because this team Hall of Fame zero complaints. This has been done immaculately well. This isn't a Jimmy T. Tridentich, the team historian. This isn't a criticism of him at all. He's doing a really good job in my opinion with these selections. It's how do you reckon with that 20 years of losing? How do you reckon with decades where not a lot actually happened?

10:28How do you put those players alongside the clemenies, the Stardewals, the Hanna swanners, the people who did win and had great careers? It's not an enviable position. There is a lot that needs to still go on, but it's a tough position to be in. I've got more to say here, but first we're going to take a quick break and thank you today sponsor, Lorinco. We all know nicotine patches are popular and part of it isn't so much the nicotine as it is the routine. Lorin just launched a pouch that keeps the routine believes the nicotine out. Lorinco pouches swap out the nicotine and give you clean focus and support your enamel the whole time they're in. It works like the pouches you've seen before. Tuck one in and go about your day. Each pouch has 50 milligrams of caffeine, basically a half cup of coffee, plus L-theanine and alpha-GPC for smooth, steady focus with no energy crash and it gives your teeth daily

11:32enamel support in between brushings. It comes in mint, cinnamon and mango and it's nicotine free always. It's doing something good for your teeth and it gives you smooth energy and focus without those jitters. Every other pouch out there makes you pick between something that helps you focus and something that's actually good for your teeth. This is the only one designed to do both and it comes from a brand that's leading the way at supporting your oral health. Give Lorin a try. Right now Lorinco is offering our listeners up to 50% off at bilorin.com slash North Shore. That's bilorin LAR INE.com slash North Shore for up to 50% off. Jack Wilson was made available to media on Thursday before the Hall of Fame dinner. I asked him, I said, you were a great player. You had a great parts career in a time that wasn't great for the franchise.

12:34Do you hope there are some players, some teammates that you had, that could be honored alongside you and what would that mean? He started off by saying he hopes it's the goal. He knows it was a tough time for everybody. It was a tough time for the players. It was a tough time for fans. He said everything right, but I really like how he ended his answer here. Quote, we had so many players that showed up and played extremely hard every day. Very proud of that time. Amongst those tough seasons, a couple hundred lost seasons, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Those guys are my brothers. We played hard. At the end of the day, we just came up short against a lot of the talent we played against. There's a lot of guys that put up some really good season that hopefully can get that recognition. Quote, this is the trouble with how you do a team Hall of Fame whenever you have decades

13:37where there's not much going on. You either just treat it like a blind spot. You don't ignore it and you just pretend everyone from 1993 to 2012 didn't exist. Or you put them alongside the world champions. And while Jack Wilson wasn't the reason why this team lost 20 seasons in a row, whenever you have them alongside like a Dave Parker, it's like one of them is a Cooper's Town Hall of Fame or an MVP, a World Series champion. The reason why the Pirates won in 79, it doesn't dilute his honor, but it does expand, you know, what is a Hall of Fame or the definition of it. Winning is not an inherent part of being in the Pirates Hall of Fame this way. Not through the fault of the player, but just in general now. I won in a stat head and I pulled up, you know, 1993 to 2012, who are the Pirates who

14:40had at least 15 war? I view that as like a very baseline, not that war is the be all end all for a Hall of Fame selection, but if you were good, you probably at least accrued 15 war. That's at least five impact seasons up three war or at least the pace thereof. The list is pretty short. Jason Kendall, he'll get in one day, Brian Giles, deserving as a player. There are some off the field issues that I don't know how that's going to be tackled, but just strictly what he did between the lines. Yes, Andrew McCutchen, he will get in there one day. Jack Wilson, he is in now and then Jason Bay, someone who I think there's no rush to do it at the moment, but there's there's a case to be made. Couple of all star games are rookie of the year. There is a case to be made there. I don't think you can tell the complete story of the Pittsburgh Pirates without mentioning

15:44a Jason Kendall in the same way that you can't tell it without mentioning a Jack Wilson in my opinion. And there could be other players. You could look at, you know, like a J. Bo, you know, be like, well, he's just as deserving. That's great. Have that opinion. This is this Hall of Fame is just going to keep getting bigger. They're going to honor more players. That's cool. But you can't just solely pluck the nominees from the early 90s, from the 70s, from the 60s, from beyond. If you have to honor the whole team, this is what this franchise is. For most, I'm going to speak here as a millennial. This is basically what Pirates baseball has been for most of my memory. You can't ignore the players though. There are still great players who pass through bad teams.

16:46So yes, I am happy Jack Wilson is being added in. And I, I feel like this might even be a little bit of a bone thrown to the millennials here. But there's a team Hall of Famer that we got to watch with our own eyes that we have formative memories of, whether seeing him in person at P. N. C. Park or watching him on Fox Sports or on FSN. There's a lot that needs to be addressed here. But I'm happy he's in. And as for future, Inductions, I hope there are some more guys from the lean years that get their flowers to. But it's going to be if nothing else, a discussion. Thank you so much for listening to Offbeat here on North Shore 9 presented by Fandall. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe wherever you find podcasts or check us out

17:49on YouTube if you want to see my smiling face. Thank you so much for listening. We will talk again Monday. All right, that wraps up this episode of North Shore 9. Thanks so much for tuning in whether you're listening on the podcast or catching us on YouTube. If you enjoyed the show, please give this video a thumbs up and don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. It really helps us grow. And if you're listening on the podcast, a quick review goes a long way in helping others find the show. Plus, be sure to tell a friend about us. There's always room for more here in the NS9 community. And for those looking to support us a little more, consider joining our Patreon, become an MVP member and get exclusive perks while helping us continue to bring you more of the pirates content you love. Thanks again for all your support and let's go bucks.