‘Burgh’s Best to Wear It, No. 3: Phil Garner pivotal in Pirates’ 1979 World Series run

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. 3: Phil Garner

No. 3’s company is extensive when it comes to quality candidates to wear that number in Pittsburgh sports history.

In the end, the Tribune-Review sports staff chose a man known as “Scrap Iron.”

Given the nickname in recognition of his gritty demeanor and style of play, Phil Garner earned his place in local lore as much for his Yosemitie Sam-style mustache as he did his play during the Pirates’ run to the 1979 World Series title. Garner had at least one hit in each of the team’s 10 postseason games that year and batted .500 during the seven-game Fall Classic victory against the Baltimore Orioles.

An infielder who mostly played second base over his 4½ seasons for the Pirates, Garner slashed .267/.335/.404 with 44 home runs and 112 stolen bases between 1977-81. He was an All-Star during his final two seasons with the Pirates before being dealt at the ’81 trade deadline to the Houston Astros for a three-player package that included Johnny Ray.

Phil Garner went 2-for-4 in Game 5, and hit 500 in the series. As a team, the Pirates hit an incredible .323. Garner credits the other big bats in the line-up for allowing him to thrive. --RKing #BucsClassic pic.twitter.com/pj80FIAwKh

— AT&T SportsNet™ PIT (@ATTSportsNetPIT) April 8, 2020

Ray was Garner’s successor at second base for the next six years. Ray, who twice hit .300 and twice led the NL in doubles with the Pirates, also wore No. 3, as did former Pirates Jay Bell, Richie Hebner and Elbie Fletcher.

Hebner played parts of 11 seasons for the Pirates, manning third base for five playoff teams, including the 1971 World Series champions. Fletcher’s seven seasons with the Pirates spanned a two-year service in World War II. A first baseman, Fletcher three times led the NL in on-base percentage while with the organization.

Bell was a core member of the Pirates’ most recent division-winning teams from 1990-92. A slick-fielding shortstop who batted second in the order, Bell finished 12th in the 1991 NL MVP balloting when he hit .270/.330/.428 with 16 home runs for a 98-win Pirates team.

Phil Garner, 1977 Pittsburgh Pirates, sporting a personalized Yosemite Sam sleeve patch pic.twitter.com/HrxcZc4na0

— Todd Radom (@ToddRadom) November 30, 2018

Garner, Ray, Hebner, Fletcher and Bell combined for parts of 38 seasons with the Pirates between 1939-1996. But the notable Pittsburgh No. 3s span far beyond baseball, including one for the Major Indoor Soccer League’s Pittsburgh Spirit. Mt. Lebanon graduate John O’Hara played for the Spirit during six of its seven seasons.

Defenseman Olli Maatta was a reliable part of the 2016 and ’17 Stanley Cup-winning Penguins teams in the middle of his six-year tenure with the team.

Steelers kicker Jeff Reed was part of two championships: the Super Bowl XL and XLIII winners after the 2005 and ’08 seasons. Reed didn’t miss a game for the Steelers between his signing in November 2002 until his release almost eight years to the day later. Reed’s 919 points and 204 field goals each rank second in team history.

There’s quite a threesome at No. 3 for Pitt athletics, too: Tyler Palko, Vonteego Cummings and Sean Miller.

Palko twice led the Big East in touchdown passes and finished second in the conference in passing yards each of the three seasons he started for the Panthers (2004-06). A West Allegheny graduate who started Pitt’s only BCS game (the 2005 Fiesta Bowl), Palko’s pro career lasted parts of five seasons and three leagues. He spent two weeks on the Steelers roster in 2009 and appeared in eight games (four starts) for the Kansas City Chiefs the following two seasons.

Vonteego Cummings led Pitt basketball in scoring three consecutive seasons in the late 1990s, setting the program record for minutes per game (40.1) as a senior in 1997-98. Cummings has the third-most steals in Pitt history (235), the ninth-most assists (458) and 15th-most points (1,581).

Arguably, though, it was Sean Miller who provided Garner with the stiffest competition as the best No. 3. Long before he became a nationally renowned coach at Xavier and Arizona, and after he was a local youth phenom and high school star, Miller was a starting point guard at Pitt for four seasons, three of which ended with NCAA Tournament berths.

Groomed by his father, the legendary former Blackhawk coach John Miller, Sean Miller’s natural basketball skills earned him a segment on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson as a 14-year-old and a cameo in the 1979 film “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh” as a 10-year-old.

Miller led Blackhawk to a WPIAL title in 1986, and less than two years later as an All-Big East freshman, he helped Pitt get as high as No. 2 in the AP rankings. Miller holds the Panthers career record for best free-throw percentage (88.5%), is second in career 3-point percentage (41.6%), third in 3-pointers made (239) and second in assists (744). He is tied for 21st in career points at Pitt (1,282).

Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.

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