The Team that Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pirates by Bruce Markusen – The World Series championship, 1971, Pirates team was remarkable in many ways. This book takes the reader through the entire 1971 season with the Pirates, and during the process the reader learns much about MLB baseball and about many of the Pirates’ players, coaches, and their manager, Danny Murtaugh. Detailed accounts of significant games and player/manager actions are presented month by month as the enthusiasm (and stress) builds toward the playoffs. The reader learns about player-manager relationships, players’ personalities, skills, hardships, successes and failures. Each game during the playoff pennant race in covered in detail, as is each game of the World Series. Of course, Roberto Clemente’s superior talents were showcased during the pennant race and World Series. However, the monumental achievements of winning the National League Pennant and then the World Series were not the achievements that “Changed Baseball.” The Pirates changed baseball through their integration of players of color on the team, and Danny Murtaugh and the Pirates administration all played a roll in that integration. The Pirates in the early 1970s were the most integrated team in baseball and the benefits of that integration were very obvious from their successes on the field. During one game of the 1971 season the Pirates fielded an entire lineup of players of color, which was a first for Major League Baseball. It was a monumental decision, which Danny Murtaugh did not hesitate to make. To add to the reader’s enjoyment Markusen includes a long afterward that provides information about the post-1971-season careers and lives of every player (and the coaches and manager) of the 1971 Pirates team. It’s a very interesting and enjoyable book and I recommend it highly for baseball fans, especially Pirate fans. ( )

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