The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates

The 1971 Pirates of Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski, Dock Ellis, and Steve Blass are among my all-time favorite teams, and their spectacular World Series win over the Orioles of Earl Weaver, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, and Dave McNally is one of the great baseball upsets of the postwar era. Still, though I followed their season closely, I never fully understood their impact."—Allen Barra, The New York Sun

In 1947, major league baseball experienc…