On June 1, 1979, during a rain delay in a game against the Padres, Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates chose a new team song. “We are going to make ‘We Are Family’ the team song,” he said. The song was by Sister Sledge. “We felt the song typified our ballclub,” he said later.
In the World Series that year, the Pirates trailed the Baltimore Orioles three games to one. They won in seven. “We had to scratch, we had to crawl, and we did it together because we are family,” Stargell said.