On the Rangers last homestand, the Pittsburgh Pirates came to town in inter-league play. I want to thank my friend Mike who made sure I got some good seats for one of the games. I wore my vintage 1979 "We Are Family" Gold Pirates cap and rooted for the Rangers. Sounds schizophrenic and I'm sure some of the people around me were wondering. The reason I root for the Rangers is because I'm a Rangers fan too. The sad state of my hometeam is such that today's Pirates are a minor league shadow of the '79 Pirates, the last team from Pittsburgh to win the World Series. There are some fascinating leadership lessons when you look at what has happened to my Pirates.
First, talent matters! Discovering and developing talent matters more! Knowing how to build a championship team matters most! The 1979 Pirates were not the most talented team in baseball that year. But their talent reached championship levels because an old manager and a humble star created a family. The old manager was Chuck Tanner and the humble star was Willie "Pops" Stargell, who learned how to lead from one of the all-time baseball greats, Roberto Clemente. The Pirates adopted Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" as a theme song and slugged and sang their way to a World Series championship.
Talent + Character + Chemistry are simply hard to beat! Today's Pirates struggle with all three. Go Rangers!
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