Bill Virdon

William Charles Virdon (born June 9, 1931) is a retired American baseball player, manager and coach. One of the top defensive outfielders in the game during his playing days (1955-65) as a center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, Virdon also had a long tenure in Major League Baseball as a manager, with the Pirates (1972-73), New York Yankees (1974-75), Houston Astros (1975-82), and Montreal Expos (1983-84).

Virdon initially signed with the Yankees, but he never played for them. He was traded to the Cardinals in a multi-player deal in 1954 for veteran outfielder Enos Slaughter, now a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. A left-handed batter (who threw righthanded), Virdon's career batting average was .267 with 91 home runs during his 1,583-game career in the National League. He was the starting center fielder on the 1960 world champion Pirates, batting .241 in seven games.

As a manager, he led the Pirates to the 1972 NL East title, but the Buccos dropped the NLCS to the Cincinnati Reds when Pittsburgh pitcher Bob Moose unleashed a wild pitch in the final inning of Game 5, allowing the winning run to score. His career managerial record, over all or parts of 13 seasons, was 995-921 (.519). He also served three different terms as a Pirates coach.