Willie "Pops" Stargell

Willie Stargell was one of my favorite players when I was a kid, I remember watching the Pittsburgh Pirates make that 1979 run to the World Series, what a post season that was for Pirates fans and baseball fans. There were many great players on that team, from Manny Sanguillen, Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock, Ed Ott, Tim Foli, Omar Moreno, Dave "The Cobra" Parker, Phil 'Scrap Iron" Garner, Mike "The Hammer" Easler and many others. But Pops was the main man, the leader of that club, that great smile of his was addicting and no one could resist being a fan of Willie.

The one memory I have of him that always stands out to me is when the Pirates were playing in a game, I can't remember who the opposing team was, but I recall Willie tried to steal second base, he took off from first, slid into second, but the only problem is that when he slid, he came up about 4-5 feet short of the bag. The second baseman simply walked over to him as Willie lay on the dirt laughing and tagged him out, he truly was one of the greats of the game. This particular card is the very first game used card that I ever pulled, it is a 2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers.