The Pittsburgh Pirates Field Baseball's First All-Black Lineup

On September 1, 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates sent nine Black and Latino players onto the field at Three Rivers Stadium against the Philadelphia Phillies, becoming the first team in major league history to field an all-minority lineup. Manager Danny Murtaugh did not announce the lineup as a statement. He simply wrote down the names of the players he thought gave his team the best chance to win.

The lineup read: Rennie Stennett at second base, Gene Clines in center field, Roberto Clemente in right field, Willie Stargell in left field, Manny Sanguillen behind the plate, Dave Cash at third base, Al Oliver at first base, Jackie Hernandez at shortstop, and Dock Ellis on the mound. Pittsburgh won 10-7, with six of the nine starters collecting multiple hits.

Twenty-four years had passed since Jackie Robinson broke the color line with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. By 1971, Black and Latino players were well established throughout the major leagues, yet no team had previously started a game without a white player in the lineup. The Pirates did it without fanfare, and the moment went largely unremarked in the press at the time.

Clemente, the team's leader, had spent years advocating for Latin American and Black players to receive fair treatment and recognition. Stargell was in the middle of a 48-home-run season. Ellis had already thrown a no-hitter the previous year. The roster was loaded with talent, and the racial composition of any given night's lineup was simply a reflection of who the best players were.

The Pirates went on to win the World Series that October, beating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games. Clemente hit .414 in the Series and was named MVP. The September 1 lineup stands today as a quiet landmark, a night when the best team in baseball looked like the future of the sport.