'They treat us as if we're royalty': Pirates Hall of Famers thank fans, teammates for support

Selected to speak for the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame’s second class of inductees, Kent Tekulve naturally relied on an unorthodox delivery by turning the attention away from the four men being honored and toward their teammates.

Inducted alongside 1960 World Series champions in 95-year-old ElRoy Face and the late Bob Friend and Dick Groat, Tekulve returned to his role as the closer for the 1979 World Series champions and found the perfect pitch to put a finishing touch on the induction ceremony Saturday afternoon at PNC Park. The Pirates also recognized the four new Hall of Famers with another ceremony on the field before their game against the Chicago Cubs.

“One of the things that I’m most proud of is everyone in this group was responsible for bringing a championship to the City of Pittsburgh,” Tekulve said. “We might’ve been good. We might’ve been real good. But one, two, three or four people can’t win a world championship. It takes 25 contributing every single day to whatever degree is asked of them to put together a world championship ball club. I want to thank all of the players from all the years that we played with that allowed us as a group to be as successful as we were.”

That included Tekulve’s teammates from the “We Are Family” 1979 Pirates in starting pitcher John Candelaria, catcher Ed Ott and right fielder Dave Parker, who joined Steve Blass as inductees from the 19-member inaugural Pirates Hall of Fame class to attend.

Conspicuous by his absence was Pirates chairman Bob Nutting, so team president Travis Williams handled the opening remarks with Pirates play-by-play broadcaster Greg Brown serving as emcee. Where the inaugural induction was disrupted by a protester with a megaphone outside the Left Field Entrance, where the Hall of Fame plaques adorn the wall, this one was conducted without incident.

The ceremony focused mostly on the three members of the 1960 team, which won Game 7 of the World Series on Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off home run to stun the mighty New York Yankees at Forbes Field.

Groat, a Swissvale native, starred in both basketball and baseball at Duke University and played in the NBA with the Fort Wayne Pistons before signing with the Pirates. An eight-time All-Star, he had a .290 batting average in nine seasons with the Pirates and hit .325 in 1960 to win the National League batting title and MVP honors. At shortstop, Groat formed a formidable double-play combination with Mazeroski, leading the NL five times.

Groat, who spent four decades as the Pitt men’s basketball radio color analyst, died after a stroke on April 27 at age 92, nine days after Blass visited to inform him of the induction into the Pirates Hall of Fame.

“This was really special. I wish my dad could have been here, obviously, to see it all,” said Allison DeStefano, one of Groat’s daughters. “It’s kind of bittersweet. We’re so proud and so happy about everything. He would have just been so honored to be here today … with his teammates. That’s really what he always said: There was nothing better than winning a World Series in his hometown, in front of his home crowd.”

Friend, who died in 2019, led the NL with a 2.83 ERA and tied for the most wins in the majors (22) in 1955. The right-hander ranks as the club’s all-time leader in games started (477), innings pitched (3,481) and strikeouts (1,682), third in shutouts (35) and fourth in wins (191). He pitched 15 seasons with the Pirates and never spent a day on the disabled list, throwing 200 innings in 11 consecutive seasons.

“It’s an unbelievable honor,” said his son, Bob Friend Jr. “Knowing my dad, he probably would have been a little bit embarrassed by all of the attention. He was a very humble guy. Literally, you could be in a room with him for two hours, and unless you knew what he did for a living, baseball would never come up. … He was extraordinarily proud to be a Pittsburgh Pirate. He loved this ballclub. He loved his teammates. ElRoy and Dick, going in at the same time as my dad. … He would be extraordinarily proud to have this opportunity.”

The 95-year-old Face was proud to be recognized by the Pirates after serving as a pioneer for relief pitchers as baseball’s original closer. Relying on a forkball that was near-unhittable, Face is the Pirates’ all-time leader in appearances (802), owns the NL record with 96 wins in relief and recorded 188 saves, a statistic that wasn’t recognized until after his playing days in 1969.

“The save rules today, we had to face the tying or winning run, or they had to be on base in order to get a save,” Face said. “Now, the guy who’s the tying run could be sitting on the bench. Three-run lead and you get a save. It’s just not right to compare the present-day record with the record I had. I don’t think that it’s right. I’d probably have a save every time I went out there the way it is today.”

In 1959, Face had an unbelievable season. He went 18-1, setting a major league single-season record for wins in relief and winning percentage (.947). A year later, he saved three of the Pirates’ four wins in the 1960 World Series. Where Friend would have shunned the spotlight, Face reveled in his moment of glory.

“It means I’m one of the best Pirates who ever played here,” Face said. “We’ve still got some guys from the ’60 team that haven’t been elected yet and will be, like Vernon Law and (Bill) Virdon, guys like that. In the future they will be.”

Face opened the door for Tekulve to pitch 1,436 2/3 innings in relief, an NL record. A submariner nicknamed the Rubber Band Man, which doubled as his entrance song, Tekulve ranks first in club history with 158 saves and second (behind Face) with 94 wins. His 1,436 2/3 innings in relief are the most in NL history.

Tekulve thanked the players’ families for their personal sacrifices, his teammates for their chemistry and Pirates fans for the way they have embraced players long after their playing days ended.

“The first day that we showed up here, you Pirates fans accepted us and supported us,” Tekulve said. “You didn’t know anything about us. But yet you supported us. You didn’t know if we would be here for 15 games or 15 years, if we were gonna be good or bad. But you supported us because we were on your team. That was very special to all of us.

“But what was really amazing and makes Pittsburgh so much different from other places is the day we weren’t able to play anymore. In a whole lot of places, the day you can’t play anymore, you’re forgotten by the fans because you can’t help the team win a game. Pittsburgh is just the opposite. Pirates fans honor us. They remember us. They treat us as if we’re royalty. That really is not usual.”