A Louisville Colonel for the first season of his career (1899), Deacon Phillippe was one of many players to be transferred to the Pittsburgh Pirates when the Colonels folded before the century's turn.  In Western Pennsylvania, Phillipe played the rest of his professional career, which turned out to be a pretty good one.

Phillippe won 21 Games with Louisville, and he would be a 20 Game winner in his first four seasons with Pittsburgh.  The Virginian's calling card was his control, leading the National League in BB/9 five times, SO/BB four times, and FIP twice.  He was a huge reason that the Pirates won the Pennant in 1903.

Late in his career, Phillippe was part of Pittsburgh's 1909 World Series win.  Retiring in 1911, he went 189-109 with a 2.59 ERA, 1.105 WHIP, and his BB/9 of 1.253 is in the top-twenty all-time.

How often is an athlete described as "small in stature but big in heart"?  This analogy has been used more times than we can determine but far too often, but it was an accurate assessment when describing the turn of the century ballplayerTommy Leach.

"Wee" Tommy Leach was a triples machine and one of the fastest ballplayers in his day.  Leach hit a few Home Runs in the Dead Ball era, though most were of the inside-the-park variety.  Leach was a power hitter for this time and often cleared the bases, or would himself get on base for the legendary Honus Wagner who batted behind him during his heyday in Pittsburgh.  It was fitting that it was Tommy Leach who would get the first hit and first run in World Series history.  Injuries would catch up to him by 1910, and he wasn't the same player, but Leach is a forgotten star in the first century of the 1900s.

With the Pirates, Leach had 1,603 Hits and stole 271 Bases.

When the name Bill Mazeroski comes up, the automatic response is "World Series-winning Game 7 Home Run".   Maz was a lot more than that.

Mazeroski played his entire MLB career with Pittsburgh, debuting in 1956 and staying until 1972.  Playing at Second Base, Mazeroski would be an All-Star in seven different years, collecting 2,016 Hits with 138 Home Runs.  Mazeroski never batted .300, but his lifetime Batting Average of .260 was respectable, though his .299 career OBP did hamper him, and did reflect on this list.  Still, nothing he ever did with his bat will be remembered as much as the walk-off Home Run that won Game 7 in 1960 over the favored New York Yankees, which is the only of its kind to date.

Defensively, Mazeroski stakes a claim as the best defensive player of the 1960s.  Mazeroski was an eight-time Gold Glove winner who also had eight years where he had a Defensive bWAR over 1.5.  He is currently the all-time franchise leader in Double Pays turned and Total Zone Runs.

Mazeroski declined in the 1970s, but he would help Pittsburgh win the 1971 World Series, making him and Roberto Clemente the only two players on the 1960 and 1971 Championship rosters.

The Veteran’s Committee inducted Mazeroski to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Pirates retired his number 9 in 1987.

Sam Leever played the entirety of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team he first joined in 1898.

After playing five Games in 1898, at age 27, Leever had a good rookie year in 1899, leading the NL in Games Pitched (51) and Innings Pitched (379), though he had a losing record (21-23) and had a 3.18 ERA.  Leever never had a season where he pitched over 300 Innings again, and he was far more effective, never having an ERA over three and winning the ERA Title in 1903.  He had four 20-Win seasons, winning 194 Games against only 100 Losses, an excellent record even if you don’t hold a Pitcher’s winning percentage in high regard.

Although he did not pitch in the Series, he was a member of the Pirates team that won it all in 1908, their first championship.  Leever retired after the 1910 season with 847 Strikeouts and a 2.47 ERA and is one of the most forgotten stars in Pirates history.