Bill Virdon Wiki
Bill Virdon Biography
Who was Bill Virdon ?
Virdon died at the Lester E. Cox Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri.
Bill Virdon was one of the softer center fielders in the major leagues of the 1950s and early 1960s. He led four teams, won division championships with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros, and led an amazing team. of the Yankees on the verge of one. But he is most remembered by many for hitting a seemingly routine groundout that was anything but: he sent the Pirates on their way to a dramatic Game 7 victory over the Yankees in the 1960 World Series.
William Charles Virdon was an American professional baseball outfielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball. Virdon played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955 through 1965 and in 1968. Wikipedia
Often described as “wearing glasses,” given the relative rarity of spectacled players, Virdon, who died at age 90 on Tuesday, was the NL rookie of the year with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1955, but passed most of his career with the Pirates. , playing alongside future Hall of Fame right fielder Roberto Clemente.
How old was Bill Virdon ?
He was June 9, 1931, Hazel Park, Michigan, United States
Death
November 23, 2021.
The Pirates announced the death of Virdon, in Springfield, Missouri.
Bill Mazeroski’s home run gave the Pirates the 1960 World Series championship. But Virdon played an important role in that decisive game, at Forbes Field, as the beneficiary of a bad jump. The Pirates trailed by three runs in the eighth with a runner on first and no one out when Virdon, a left-handed hitter, grounded out to shortstop Tony Kubek off left-hander Bobby Shantz.
“Shantz was tough on left-handed hitters and he was tough on me, so I didn’t like facing him,” Virdon told Victor Debs Jr. for the oral history “This Was Part of Baseball Then” (2002). “But he hung a curveball and I hit him hard, but he was right on Kubek. I said to myself, ‘Uh-oh, perfect double game ball.’
Bill Virdon Net Worth 2018
The pay of a baseball player can vary widely. In professional baseball, the median salary is about $ 3 million per year. The best baseball players can earn $ 25 million or more per year, and the lowest-rated players earn $ 1 million or less.
Outside of MLB, most contracts pay less than $ 10,000 a year.
So what is baseball player Bill Virdon’s net worth in 2018? Our estimate of Bill Virdon’s net worth as of 2018 is: $ 1.9 million
Is Bill Virdon in the Hall of Fame?
Bill managed at the major league level for 14 years and has the unique honor of being named Manager-of-the-Year in both the American League (Yankees, 1974) and in the National League (Astros, 1980). He was inducted into the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural class of 1987.
Where does Bill Virdon live?
Former Astros manager, who lives in Springfield, watched Houston win first World Series. Bill Virdon was the first manager to lead the Houston Astros to the playoffs when he did so in 1980
Career
Virdon remains Houston’s career win leader as a manager (544). He was named National League Manager of the Year in 1980 after guiding the Astros to the National League West title, one they achieved after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in a one-game playoff.
“His impact on the Astros organization will never be forgotten,” the Astros said in a statement. “He was respected throughout baseball for his intensity and knowledge of the game.”
Virdon was signed by the Yankees in 1950 and traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in April 1954 in a deal that sent star outfielder Enos Slaughter to New York.
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Bill Virdon Carrera, Earnings
Virdon hits left and throws right. Virdon made his MLB debut on April 12, 1955 for the St. Louis Cardinals. In all, Virdon played for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Yankees, the Houston Astros, and the Montreal Expos. Virdon’s career ended with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1968.
Some of Virdon’s standout stats in MLB include a .267 batting average stat, a 91 home run stat, and a 502 RBI stat. Some of Bill Virdon’s career highlights include – World Series Champion, National League Rookie of the Year, and Gold Glove Award.
Virdon retirement
Houston reached the postseason again during the strike-shortened 1981 season and his tenure with the Astros ended a year later. Virdon spent two more years managing the Montreal Expos in 1983-84. While he was interviewed for various management positions after the Expos fired him, he worked primarily as a coach for various organizations for the next two decades before stepping down as a coach for good in 2002.
Virdon remained an active part of the Pittsburgh alumni program after his retirement, often attending spring training as a special instructor.
Hal Smith, taking a 9-7 lead
However, the ball bounced as Kubek was about to catch it and hit him in the throat. A single was scored and Pittsburgh had runners at first and second.
The Pirates scored five runs in that inning, including a climactic three-run homer from wide receiver Hal Smith, taking a 9-7 lead. The Yankees tied the game in the ninth inning, but the Pirates won the World Series with a Mazeroski home run in the bottom of the inning off Ralph Terry.
In Game 4, at Yankee Stadium, Virdon had driven in two runs and caught a Yankees drive by Bob Cerv, hitting the wall of the stands at right center. The Pirates won, 3-2, tying the Series.
Virdon won a Gold Glove Award for fielding him in 1962.
He stayed with the Pirates until 1965, coached the Mets in the minors and then returned to Pittsburgh as a player-coach in 1968, his last season as a player. He became the manager of the Pirates in 1972, leading them to the NL East title, but was fired late the following season.
Virdon was managing the Yankees
In 1974, Virdon was managing the Yankees, but not as anyone’s first choice. The Yankees originally hired Dick Williams, who had resigned from the Oakland Athletics organization after leading the team to a second consecutive World Series championship in 1973. Williams had been angered by the meddling of the Athletics owner Charlie Finley. In the Yankees he would replace Ralph Houk, who had left to become the manager of the Detroit Tigers.
But the American League struck down the deal when Finley and George Steinbrenner, who was completing his first season as the Yankees’ primary owner, couldn’t agree on player compensation for the Athletics, who still had Williams under contract. Steinbrenner, instead, signed Virdon for a year.
The Yankees hadn’t won a pennant since 1964, but with players like Bobby Murcer, Thurman Munson and Graig Nettles, Virdon kept them in the ’74 division race until the penultimate day of the season. He was named the American League Manager of the Year by The Sporting News.
Virdon received a new two-year contract
Virdon received a new two-year contract after the 1974 season, at a time when Steinbrenner was under a two-year suspension for pleading guilty to federal crimes related to illegal contributions to President Richard M.’s 1972 re-election campaign. Nixon.
The stormy Steinbrenner was enraged by what he felt was Virdon’s lack of fire when the Yankees stumbled in the height of summer 1975. In late July, although he was not supposed to be involved in running the team, Steinbrenner went to the man’s apartment. Yankees president Gabe Paul. , and yelled, “Get rid of Virdon!” according to “Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball” (2010), by Bill Madden. Virdon was fired and Billy Martin succeeded him in the first of his five seasons as Yankees manager.
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