Bill Virdon Marquee

St. Louis made him Rookie of the Year in 1955 with 15 of the 24 first-place votes, then traded him to Pittsburgh in May of the next season for Bobby Del Greco and Dick Littlefield, which the Cardinals regretted for a decade. He played center field in Pittsburgh for ten years and won a Gold Glove in 1962.

In the eighth inning of the seventh game of the 1960 World Series, with Pittsburgh down 7-4, he hit a ground ball to shortstop that took a bad hop and struck Tony Kubek in the throat. Nobody was out, the Pirates scored five, and the Yankees never got the lead back. Bill Mazeroski ended it two innings later.

Twelve seasons gave him 1,596 hits, 237 doubles, 81 triples and a .267 average. He managed the Pirates, Yankees, Astros and Expos across thirteen seasons, took Houston to the postseason twice, and was named Manager of the Year in both leagues. He died in 2021, at ninety.