The Sister Sledge song, “We Are Family” was adopted by the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, who rode the beat all the way to a World Series title. The family oriented group fondly nicknamed their captain, Willie Stargell, Pops.

Stargell, who was named World Series MVP as well as co-NL MVP, was the glue that kept the team together. He would hand out embroidered gold stars to his teammates for contributing to the team in clutch situations. The players wore the stars on the crown of their pill box caps. Stargell was the leader and his teammates held the utmost respect for him. The Pirates defeated the Orioles in the seventh and decisive game with a Stargell sixth inning homerun proving to be the difference.

This pill box style Pirates cap was worn by Willie Stargell during the 1979 season. Stargell personalized his hat by writing his number in roman numerals under the brim. The under brim is the color gray, a practice first adopted by the Cincinnati Reds after the Navy released a report that the color gray triggers an attentive and alert sense. The inside is laced in mesh with a cotton band. The crown of the cap in wrapped with three layers of gold soutache with the Pirates P embroidered directly on the front. The gold embroidered stars are applied to the hat with the use of thick glue.

Willie Stargell spent his entire career in Pittsburgh and was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.