Customer Reviews

Sailing the Three Rivers to the Title: Pittsburgh's 1971 Voyage of the Pirate Ship

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This is a topic that deserves much better than this book. I, like the author Greg Spalding, have fond memories of the Pirates '71 Championship team, and am a huge Bucs fan. That doesn't mean I could write a great book about that season, and neither did he.
He dwells far too much on a 1991 reunion of the team than on the season itself. Even worse, he includes no in depth interviews/recollections of the players involved on the team, many of whom he met in 1991. There is really no insight as to what went on that season, when there's plenty of material, such as Clemente's last great season, Mazeroski's last real contributions to the team, Danny Murtaugh's managerial style, Dock Ellis' personality, Bob Veale's demotion to the bullpen, etc. There just is no depth to the book; it's really just a love letter from Spalding to the team.
Also, the photos, many of which he took himself, are quite poor, adding little to the book.
The Pirates 1972 Yearbook and a highlights record album also from 1972 do a much better job of addressing this great season, and either is recommended over this disappointing book.

Not quite as in-depth as most people would like considering the lack of books written about the 1971 Pirates, but for about $10 it wasn't a horrible buy either.

The author describes the season, highlights some of the players and talks about a reunion the team had in the early ninties. There was not a lot of interview and commentary by the players, mostly the author's reflections and the general story itself.

Lots of photos, although most are from far away and very few closeups. Not great quality, although shots of the ceremony honoring Roberto Clemente were interesting to see.

This book is probably for Pirate fans only, but again not a horrible buy for the price, provided you are not expecting a 200-300 page expose.