From My Collection: Manny Sanguillen

I don't remember Manny Sanguillen as a player; everything I know about him I've learned fairly recently.  I know that, like Willie Stargell, he was on the Pirates World Champion teams in both 1971 and 1979.  I know that he played a bigger role in the 1971 team than in 1979.  I've watched the 1979 World Series a few times (I have it on DVD), and Sanguillen had one at bat then; he was a pinch hitter, and got an important hit.  So, he did contribute to the 1979 win.

I've read that he was Roberto Clemente's friend, so much so that he skipped the funeral so that he could go diving to try to recover Clemente's body (which was never found).  I've also read that he has one of the food concessions at PNC Park, and you can get his autograph there.

Here are the two Sanguillen cards I have, the 1973 Topps and 1974 Topps.

1973 Topps Manny Sanguillen

1974 Topps Manny Sanguillen

I really like both the 1973 Topps and 1974 Topps sets. Maybe I'll set a collection goal to get more of them, say to get more Pirates from those years.