Buccos Cove Fan Vote All-Pirates Team: Third Baseman Bill Madlock
During the 1979 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates had one weakness as they headed towards the fifth World Championship in team history. They had a rotating crew at the position that included Phil Garner, Tim Foli, and Dale Berra, but nobody was able to hold down the position at a World Series caliber level. So, the Pirates went out and swung a trade in the month of June with the San Francisco Giants that would change the position for the next seven seasons. On June 28th, 1979, The Pirates gave up Fred Breining, Al Holland, and Ed Whitson for Larry Randle, Dave Roberts, and the man who was voted as our Buccos Cove Fan Vote All-Pirates third baseman.
Bill Madlock was the man who made the difference in that trade and was the missing piece to propel the Pirates to that 1979 World Championship. He brought a combination of speed, contact, and power that fit in quite nicely with the Pirates lineup. He fit nicely in the middle of the order and ended up hitting .328 with seven home runs and 44 RBI in 85 games. Overall, he spent seven seasons as the team's third baseman and hit .297 with 68 home runs and 390 RBI. Madlock was never a guy who was going to hit 20-30 home runs, but he had enough power to put up the productive numbers that you like to see from a third baseman. Today, we look at Madlock's Pirates career and how he earned your vote as the All-Pirates Third Baseman.
From Rough Up Bringing to Diamond in the Rough
Madlock was born in Memphis Tennessee and didn't have the best home life growing up. His dad left right after he was born, and his mom gave him to his grandma to be raised. They moved to a small town called Decatur Illinois. As he grew into a young man, sports were a big part of his life and he was a three-sport athlete at his high school. He played Football, Basketball, and Baseball and excelled in all three sports. He was an all-state halfback who once scored five rushing touchdowns in a game, all from at least 50 yards out. He also starred on the basketball court where he was an All-Capitol Conference second-team player. However, his true passion was baseball, and that is the sport he stuck with.
In a hilarious quote, Madlock said, "I didn't want to have 6-foot-5, 250-pound guys bearing down on me, so I decided on baseball." Madlock was originally drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1969 but ended up not signing for fear of little playing time so he went to Iowa Community College. That is where he was discovered by Washington Senators scout Elsworth Brown by accident. Elsworth took a different way home from work that day and noticed Madlock in a Legion team game. One swing was all he needed to see from Madlock and he knew he had the bat speed to be a Major Leaguer. He called the Senators and told them about Madlock's ability and they ended up drafting him in the 1970 draft, beginning his professional baseball career.
The Early Years to Pittsburgh
He fought through the Minor Leagues for the next three seasons and changed teams before making his MLB debut with the Texas Rangers in 1973. He only played in 21 games as a Ranger and hit .351 with a home run and five RBI. It was a short sample size, but he made enough of an impact to influence a trade with the Chicago Cubs that earned him his full time starting job. He would be with the Cubs for the next three years and found his footing. His best year was 1975 when he was named to his first MLB All-Star Game as a third baseman. He won the first of his two batting titles hitting .354 with seven home runs and 64 RBI.
However, just before the 1977 season, the Cubs sent Madlock to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Murcer and Steve Ontiveros. Over his first two years in San Francisco, Madlock put up similarly successful numbers. In 77 he hit .302 with 12 HR and 46 RBI while in 1978, he hit .309 with 15 HR and 44 RBI. He was having similar success at the start of the 1979 season, but the Giants were falling further and further out of the playoff race and were looking towards the future, that is when they linked up with the Pirates for a move that helped the Pirates now, and the Giants for the future. And thus began "The Mad Dog's" run in Pittsburgh.
Champion of the Future
When Madlock joined the Pirates, it wasn't just a move for the playoffs that season, but for the future. Madlock still had years of control associated with him and, at 28 years old he was just entering the prime years of his playing career. Madlock showed just what he could do, putting together his best season in recent years hitting .328 with seven home runs and 44 RBI. It was Madlock's first trio to the postseason in his young career, and he became even more productive than in the regular season. He hit .333 in the playoffs with a home run and five RBI to go along with two extra-base hits. Just as he had his entire career, Madlock used that short quick swing, and it was just what the Pirates needed in that World Series.
Madlock appeared in all seven games of the World Series and hit .375 with a double and three RBI. He only had one strikeout the entire series and used plate discipline to get on base. He walked five times and had an on-base percentage of .483 during the series. The team fell behind three games to one but was able to battle back and take the series four games to three. It was the fifth World Championship in Pirates team history, and it looked as though they were set up for several seasons. However, that is the last World Series the Pirates appeared in and the only World Series that Madlock would ever appear in.
Madlock would go on to play six more seasons in Pittsburgh and continued to perform well at the plate. He hit over the .300 mark in three of those seasons and was named an all-star in 1981 and 1983. He won the National League Batting title since abs took the Major League Baseball batting title during the 1983 season. It was the second time he had won the batting title, but at age 32 his age was beginning to show. He hit just .253 in 1984 and followed that up with a .251 batting average through the first 110 games of the season. The Pirates were starting to fall off and the Los Angeles Dodgers were on the rise. The Pirates ended up trading Madlock to the Dodgers and received RJ Reynolds, Cecil Epsey, and Sid Bream. It ended a fantastic Pirates career and Madlock would play just two more seasons before retiring in 1987. Madlock was the missing piece for the 1979 World Series and our Buccos Cove Fan Vote All-Pirates third baseman.
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