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View Full Version : How does this guy get Stargell Stars?



RJB44
08-01-2011, 07:56 PM
How does Dick Davis earn at "least" six Stargell stars in roughly three months? He must be wearing another players cap in the 1983 Fleer card below. He came to the team at the end of June 1982, batted .182 in 77 at bats as an off the bench player, and wasn't very good in the field, yet he has six or more stars?? He was released by the Pirates in Spring training 1983.

trsent
08-02-2011, 03:16 AM
How does Dick Davis earn at "least" six Stargell stars in roughly three months? He must be wearing another players cap in the 1983 Fleer card below. He came to the team at the end of June 1982, batted .182 in 77 at bats as an off the bench player, and wasn't very good in the field, yet he has six or more stars?? He was released by the Pirates in Spring training 1983.

Can you explain what Stargell Stars are? Similar to those Ohio State Buckeyes they put on their helmets?

MSpecht
08-02-2011, 09:38 AM
The below reference is from Wikipedia, stating that the practice began in 1978:

Stargell also originated the practice of giving his teammates "stars" for their caps. Upon a good play or game, Stargell would give fellow players an embroidered star to place on their caps, which at the time were old-fashioned pillbox caps. These stars became known as "Stargell Stars (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stargell_Stars&action=edit&redlink=1)". The practice began during the turbulent 1978 season, when the Pirates came from fourth place and 11.5 games behind in mid-August, to challenge the first-place Philadelphia Phillies for the division title. As fate would have it, the season was scheduled to end in a dramatic, four-game showdown against the Phillies in Pittsburgh, in which the Pirates had to win all four games to claim the title. Following a Pirate sweep of the Friday-night double-header (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubleheader_(baseball)), Stargell belted a grand slam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_slam_(baseball)) in the bottom of the first inning of the season's ultimate game to give the Pirates an early 4-1 lead, although the Pirates would relinquish that lead later in the game and fall two runs short after a four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning,[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Stargell#cite_note-2) thus eliminating themselves from contention for the pennant. Stargell called that 1978 team his favorite team ever, and predicted that the Pirates would win the World Series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series) the following year.

Uni Watch (below) has a different start date on the practice, stating that it began in 1979.
--
Merit stickers have never caught on in the NFL, but there's a comparable example from baseball: the Pittsburgh Pirates (http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Pittsburgh+Pirates), who in 1979 began sporting gold merit stars on their caps, doled out by team captain Willie Stargell (http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Willie+Stargell). Stargell used plain store-bought star patches that first season, then designed special "Stargell Stars (http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Stargell+Stars)," with an S in the center, for 1980. Years after his retirement, he was still handing them out as appreciative gestures. As Baseball Hall of Fame researcher Bill Deane (http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Bill+Deane) recalls, "Moments before his 1988 induction into the Hall, he affixed gold stars to the staff ribbons of many Hall employees. I still have mine." All of which shows that it's the bighearted Stargell himself who deserved the biggest star of all.

- A search of the last few months of the 1978 season on Getty would probably clarify the issue.

Mike jackitout7@aol.com

ironmanfan
08-03-2011, 12:51 PM
could be wearing another players' hat (just a thought)