'Burgh's Best to Wear It, No. 19: Pirates' Bob Friend made durability hallmark
The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.
No. 19: Bob Friend
Pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1950s was like taking the mound for the home teams these days at PNC Park.
Expectations for winning were not great.
Fortunately for the Pirates of yesteryear, they had a dependable and durable right-handed starter they could count on providing a quality start every fourth day. That is not a typo. Pitchers made 40 starts a year back then. Look it up.
Bob Friend was the best pitcher the Pirates employed during those lean years, and he was around when the franchise’s fortunes changed. The fruits of his labor came in 1960, when the Pirates upset the mighty New York Yankees for their first World Series title in 33 years.
Friend spent 15 seasons with the Pirates and became a four-time All-Star while winning 191 games and, in a testament to those lowly teams for whom he pitched in the first half of his career, losing 218.
Friend wore No. 19 in each of those seasons with the Pirates, and he was chosen by the Tribune-Review sports staff as the best athlete in Pittsburgh sports history to don that number.
The Pirates promoted Friend to the majors in 1951 when he was just 20 years old. From 1952-54, they lost a combined 317 games and lost at least 88 in each of his first seven seasons. The Pirates still finished in the cellar in 1955, but Friend went 14-9 with a 2.83 ERA, becoming the first pitcher to lead the league in ERA while playing for a last-place team.
Starting that season, Friend reached double digits in wins nine times over the next 10 seasons. In 1958, he led the National League with 22 wins. In 1960, he went 18-12 with a 3.00 ERA for the World Series champions. However, he was the pitcher of record in two of the three losses to the Yankees that October.
Friend threw a deceptive sinker that helped keep him off the disabled list for the entirety of his career. He led the NL in games started for three consecutive seasons starting in 1956. A four-time All-Star, Friend still holds franchise records for innings pitched and strikeouts. He threw 161 complete games and 35 shutouts, and his 191 wins remain fourth-most in Pirates history.
Friend pitched for the Pirates through the 1965 season. He continued to call Pittsburgh home until his death in February 2019 at age 88.
The Pirates won another World Series in 1979 with the help of a pitcher wearing No. 19. Left-hander Jim Rooker was 37 and coming off a 4-7 season when he was the surprising choice to start Game 5 with the Pirates trailing the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1, in the series. Rooker allowed one run and three hits in five innings, and the Pirates came back to win the game and eventually the series in seven games.
Rooker went 82-65 in 10 seasons with the Pirates with 47 complete games and eight shutouts. Twice, he was a 15-game winner for the Pirates.
For the Penguins, Jean Pronovost wore No. 19 prominently in the franchise’s first decade of existence. He was one of the Penguins’ stars in the era that preceded Mario Lemieux’s arrival in 1984. Pronovost scored 316 goals and totaled 603 points in 10 seasons with the Penguins.
In 1975-76, he became the first 50-goal and 100-point scorer in franchise history when he totaled career highs with 52 goals and 104 points. Pronovost scored at least 40 goals for the Penguins on three other occasions.
Bryan Trottier wore No. 19 with the Penguins in the final three years of his 18-year Hall of Fame career. Trottier was a vital contributor to the franchise’s first two Stanley Cup championship teams after the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons.
A current No. 19, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, is entering his fourth season with the Steelers and produced 111 receptions for 1,426 yards in his second NFL year. He is the youngest player in NFL history to reach the 2,500-receiving yardage mark.
Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.
Joe Rutter is a TribLive reporter who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since the 2016 season. A graduate of Greensburg Salem High School and Point Park, he is in his fifth decade covering sports for the Trib. He can be reached at jrutter@triblive.com.
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