Willie Stargell

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Willie Stargell, the thunderous home run hitter who carried the Pittsburgh Pirates into two baseball World Series with his power and helped win them with his patriarchal leadership, died early Monday after a long illness. He was 61. Stargell had been in failing health for several years due to a kidney disorder, according to officials at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilimgton, North Carolina, where he died. One of the greatest home run hitters ever, in volume and in distance, Stargell hit 475 homers -- many of them soaring, majestic shots that rattled a pitcher's confidence. With Stargell batting cleanup for most of his 20-year career, the Pirates won World Series championships and National League pennants in 1971 and 1979 and six National League East titles from 1970-79. Nicknamed "Pops," Stargell was a dynamic leader on the field with his tape-measure shots and a fatherly yet forceful presence off it, distributing his coveted Stargell stars for extra effort to teammates who proudly attached them to their ballcaps. "When you had Willie Stargell on your team, it was like having a diamond ring on your finger," said Chuck Tanner, the Pirates' manager for Stargell's final six seasons. Big and powerful at 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, with a deep, commanding voice, Stargell intimidated pitchers even before they delivered the ball by pinwheeling the bat in rhythm with their delivery. Despite being overshadowed at times by more prolific home run hitters Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, and by the play of his own Hall of Fame teammate, Roberto Clemente, Stargell's sheer power was unrivaled. He hit seven of the 18 homers over the right-field roof at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field from 1909-70 and once held the record for the longest homer in nearly half of the National League parks. "He didn't just hit pitchers, he took away their dignity," former Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton said. For nearly 30 years, Stargell was the only player to hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium, and he did it twice. If he hadn't played his first 8 1/2 seasons at cavernous Forbes Field, then the majors' most spacious ballpark, he probably would have hit more than 600 homers. Stargell's first wife, Dolores, kept detailed statistics on every ball he hit and estimated he would have had 22 more homers in 1969 if the Pirates had played in Three Rivers Stadium, which opened a year later.