Remembering The Pittsburgh Pirates 1971 All-Minority Lineup

On September 1st, 1971, history was made by the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.

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On September 1st, 1971, history was made by the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.

September 1st, 1971 marked a monumental day in MLB history.

On this day the Pittsburgh Pirates became the first franchise to field an all minority starting lineup in a non-Negro League game. Due to injuries to third baseman Richie Hebner and shortstop Gene Alley, Jackie Hernandez and Dave Cash joined the lineup to cement this team into the history books.

Frankly, this was not something that was planned or even something that the players and staff noticed at the beginning of the game.

According to former Pirate first baseman Al Oliver, “It really wasn’t a major thing until around the third or fourth inning, and Dave Cash was sitting next to me and one of us said, ‘You know, we got all brothers out there, man.’ We really had no idea that history was being made.”

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