Former Pittsburgh Pirates World Series champion pitcher Bob Veale has died, the team announced Tuesday. He was 89. Veale, a two-time MLB All-Star, also pitched for the Boston Red Sox during his 13-year career. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images) Bettmann Archive

Longtime Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bob Veale, who helped lead the team to victory in the 1971 World Series, died this past weekend. He was 89. “Bob was an integral member of the Pirates who helped our team capture back-to-back division titles as well as the 1971 World Series,

Bob Veale, a longtime left-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, has died at 89 years old in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, the team announced.

Longtime Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince had a nickname for Bob Veale’s fastball: a “radio ball.” Why did it get that moniker? Well, you could hear it, but you couldn’t see it. Veale and that radio ball became mainstays in the Pirates’ rotation in the 1960s,