I’m not a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, but having spent many of my formative years in central Pennsylvania, I have been exposed to more than my fair share of Pirates history. I must say, the Pirates are a likeable franchise, with a strong history, and a knowledgeable fanbase. If I can’t have my Phillies winning it all (which has been the case for 123 of the last 124 seasons), I’d rather have a team like the Pirates win it than the New York Yankees. I like the teams from the smaller markets. It’s easy to root for them.

The 1979 Pirates were a little before my time (I was five), but their story is certainly not lost on me. The Pirates had been successful throughout the mid to late 1970s, finishing first or second in their division five straight years from 1974-78, but were not able to get over the hump and make it into the World Series. But everything came together in a magical summer of 1979 as the Pirates became an extremely close team, a family if you will. It seems silly to say this, but the Pirates actually were propelled by their theme song, Sister Sledge’s “We are Family.”

The Pirates faced Earl Weaver’s Baltimore Orioles in the 1979 World Series in what promised to be an outstanding matchup. The Series lived up to the hype with seven excellent games. The Orioles jumped out to a three games to one lead before the Pirates rallied to win the last three games and the Series.

The best thing about having complete World Series available on gigantic releases like this (seven complete games on seven discs) isn’t so much the games themselves, but the atmosphere. I’m a sucker for this stuff and can watch it for hours at a time without even being a fan of the teams. I just like hearing the old-school announcers (Keith Jackson, Al Michaels, Howard Cosell, and Don Drysdale) do their thing. Combine that with the ancient television graphics and the ballpark excitement that comes through and you have something fun to watch. And that’s not even mentioning the completely awesome black and yellow uniforms of the Pirates. Nothing beats seeing large man like Willie Stargell swinging a bat while wearing a yellow shirt. Very cool.

Speaking of Stargell, “Pops” was the leader of the 1979 Pirates, and one of my favorite players of his era. He’s just one of those cool old sluggers that you have to love. Add in the enjoyment of watching other old players like Bill Madlock, Dave Parker, John Candelaria, Bruce Kison, Bert Blyleven, Ken Singleton, Eddie Murray (and his Afro), Jim Palmer, Sammy Stewart, Mike Flanagan and Scott McGregor, and you know you have something enjoyable on your hands. This is good stuff.

Video
I wish I could answer this in the affirmative, but then I’d be a liar. It doesn’t look good. It’s very fuzzy, and there are lots of problems with the source material. The picture completely cuts out from time to time in a couple of the games, but it’s nothing too distracting. If you’re watching something like this because you’re expecting a beautiful picture, you need to lower your expectations and you won’t be disappointed.

Audio
It sounds better than it looks. Dialogue is clear, but nothing else is remarkable. It serves its purpose just fine.

Extra Features
1979 NLCS Pennant Clincher: Final Inning and Celebration – You’ve seen this sort of thing countless times before, but if the Pirates are your team, this will never get old.

1979 World Series Celebration – The same story applies here.

Official Trophy Presentation – It applies again here.

Presentation of World Series MVP Award to Willie Stargell ­–his one is cool because Pops was awesome. It’s sad that he died at such a young age.

Dave Parker Highlights from 1979 All-Star Game – This was an unexpected feature which was pretty cool. Stargell was the MVP of the All-Star Game that year. Would here be the right place to suggest to A&E and Major League Baseball should look into releasing DVDs of past All-Star Games? It may not be, but I just did it. If you’re listening, A&E and MLB, I’d buy those.

Rare Player Interviews: Willie Stargell, Bill Robinson, Tim Foli, Bruce Kison, Don Robinson – Never in my life did I ever expect to hear from Tim Foli again and, for that, this DVD set is cool.

Packaging
Exactly like the other complete World Series sets, it’s terrific. Seven discs each packaged in a translucent slim case with each case having a sleeve insert which provides great information on each game. The discs are packaged in a very sturdy cardboard box which will look great on any shelf. The front cover for each disc case features the line score for the game plus little bits of trivia about this series. The back cover for each game features a box score for that game and the inside features play-by-play recaps for each inning. Great stuff.

Parting Words
This is a very nice set and I’m thoroughly pleased that A&E and Major League Baseball is doing such a thorough job with these releases, but I was a little disappointed by the video quality. Still, this is a fun set of DVDs to watch. Pirates fans will love it, but even if you just love baseball, or grew up loving it in the ‘70s or ‘80s, you should give it a shot.