1/17: Jeff, Kip, Josh, Matt & Dixie Sign, Huge 1990 & 2014-15 Arb Classes, Draft Duds; RIP Jewel, HBD Jeff, Jack, Doc & Milt

• 1861 - 1B Milt Scott was born in Chicago. He played in the majors for four seasons, joining the Alleghenys late in June of 1885 after being purchased from the Detroit Wolverines and batted .248. He was then “traded” to Baltimore (actually the American Association settled a contract dispute over Sam Barkley’s rights with his transfer). He hit .190 in 1886 and was out of the majors after that, retiring after spending 1890 with Fort Wayne of the Indiana State League. 
• 1882 - C/1B John “Doc” Kerr was born in Dellroy, Ohio. He accrued eight years in the minors to end up playing in 59 big league games, all in the Federal League, from 1914-15. His first 42 contests came as a Pittsburgh Rebel, batting .239. One and done: Doc played for 12 pro teams in 10 years and spent full back-to-back seasons with just one, Trenton, of the Class B Tri-State League. 
• 1922 - 2B Jack Merson was born in Elk Ridge, Maryland. Jack was with the Pirates from 1951-52, playing regularly during the second season until it ended prematurely when he broke his wrist. He hit .257 over that span, but he ended up with Boston the next season. In Beantown, the 31-year-old was blocked by bonus baby Billy Consolo and Merson played just one game in 1953, going 0-for-4 to end his MLB days. He played for a few more seasons in San Diego, then a minor league club, and remained there to work and raise his family. 
• 1948 - OF Dixie Walker inked a $25,000 contract with the Pirates after coming over the month before from Brooklyn, where he had been an All-Star for four of the last five seasons, as part of the Billy Cox/Preacher Roe trade. The 38-year-old, playing in his 17th major league season, hit .316 as the Bucco’s right fielder and finished his career in Pittsburgh after the 1949 campaign. 

Dixie Walker - 1948 R346 Hand Cut

• 1950 - Pirates player, coach and manager Jewel (his real first name) Ens died from an aortic aneurysm in Syracuse at age 60. Ens wore the Pirates colors as a utility infielder (1922–25; .290 career BA), player-coach (1923–25), F/T coach (1926–29; 1935–39) & manager (1929–31). He was a member of the 1925 World Series champs and coach of the 1927 National League pennant winners. After his Pittsburgh tours of duty, Jewel also coached for the Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, and Boston Braves before spending eight seasons as the field boss of the International League Syracuse Chiefs where he won three league titles. He was elected as a member of the IL Hall of Fame posthumously in 1950. 
• 1964 - LHP Jeff Tabaka was born in Barberton, Ohio. Jeff got a cup of coffee with the Pirates in 1994, moved on and returned again in 1998, slashing 2-2/3.02 as a Bucco. Jeff had the usual itinerary of a journeyman lefty - in his six seasons in the majors he pitched for the Pirates, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals. Tabaka’s promising career was short circuited by injuries; he had to undergo a pair of TJ surgeries. At last look, he was an instructor at the Strike Zone Academy in North Canton, Ohio. 
• 1970 - The Pirates selected players through the 28th round of the January player draft, going nine rounds deeper than any other club, and came up with exactly no one who made it to the majors. LHP Alan Jackson of Northeastern State was their top pick (14th overall); he declined to sign and was instead selected by the Red Sox in the June draft. He topped out a Class AA. The January draft was a secondary feeder. Its pool consisted of high school players who graduated early, JC/community college athletes, and players who opted out of four-year colleges. 
• 1984 - The Pirates drafted pitcher Gil Heredia first in the January draft, but the righty from Pima CC didn’t sign. He went pro three years later, albeit as a ninth-round pick of the Giants, and carved out a 10-year MLB career. Light hitting OF Alex Cole was also selected that year. The best pick was in the secondary phase when the Bucs took OF Jay Buhner, who ended up swatting 310 HR in 15 big league seasons after being traded to the Yankees. They also chose C Tom Prince in the fourth round of the secondary draft, and he hung with the Bucs from 1987-93 as a reserve backstop, later rejoining the club as a minor league manager and big league coach. He moved to Detroit in 2020, managing the AAA Toledo club. 

Cangy - 1990 Score

• 1990 - The Pirates had 11 players eligible for arbitration; all 11 filed for February hearings. OF John Cangelosi was the first to give in before judgment day, agreeing to a one-year/$220K deal after bringing home $150K the season prior. Cangelosi told the Post-Gazette that “The offer was fair. I didn’t want to make anybody mad.” The Buccos also re-signed minor leaguer LHP Scott Ruskin, who had a good start to the year and was subsequently flipped to the Expos in August as part of the Zane Smith trade. The big guns took a split decision: Doug Drabek won a $1.1M payday, but Barry Bonds ($850K) and Bobby Bonilla ($1.25M) lost their cases. 
• 2003 - RHP Matt Herges agreed to a one-year/$825K deal. The 33-year-old Expo reliever, who the Bucs had recently acquired as a setup man, came to Pittsburgh for pitcher Chris Young. Young went on to some success as a starter before injuries dropped the curtain on his career while Herges was in the fifth year of an 11-season MLB tour of duty. He pitched for six teams from 2003 forward, but Pittsburgh wasn’t one of them; they cut him in March. 
• 2005 - RHP Josh Fogg inked a one-year/$2.15M deal with the Bucs to avoid an arbitration hearing. Fogg went 6-11/5.05 during the ‘05 campaign and was non-tendered at the end of the season, ending up signing with Colorado in 2006. Craig Wilson agreed to a one year/$3M contract the next day to also avoid an arb judgment. He ended up playing only 59 games during the year as a result of hand injuries that landed him on the DL twice. 
• 2006 - The Bucs inked RHP Kip Wells to a one-year, $4.15M contract, avoiding arb. Kip only lasted to the deadline, going 1-5 with a 6.69 ERA before being dealt away to the Texas Rangers for RHP Jesse Chavez. Wells, a former first round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1998, pitched for nine teams in 12 seasons with a career slash of 69-103-2/4.78 ERA. 

Jeff Karstens - 2013 Topps

• 2013 - The Pirates signed vets RHP Jeff Karstens, who was non-tendered in arb, to a reported one-year/$2.5M contract as a FA and 1B/OF Brad Hawpe to a minor league deal. Karstens, who had missed two months of 2012 due to injury, never returned to the hill. He underwent shoulder surgery in early June that eventually led to his 2015 retirement. Hawpe was cut during camp, played briefly for the Angels and was done with MLB ball by late July after hitting .185. 
• 2014 - The Pirates signed five players to one-year deals (2B Neil Walker, 3B Pedro Alvarez, RHP Mark Melancon, 1B Gaby Sanchez and RHP Vin Mazzaro) to avoid arbitration. They had previously reached agreements with arb-eligibles RHP Charlie Morton, OF Travis Snider and C Chris Stewart, and non-tendered 1B Garrett Jones, C Mike McKenry and OF Felix Pie to close out the 2014 class. 
• 2015 - The Pirates had a MLB-high dozen players eligible for arbitration: Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, Mark Melancon, Josh Harrison, Tony Watson, Francisco Cervelli, Jared Hughes, Travis Snider, Antonio Bastardo, Chris Stewart, Vance Worley and Sean Rodriguez, after previously releasing arb-eligible players Ike Davis, Gaby Sanchez, John Axford, Jeanmar Gomez and Chaz Roe. Nine signed one-year deals; Walker, Alvarez, and Worley opted to take the arbitration route. Walker lost his case (asked for $9M and got $8M) while Alvarez ($5.75M awarded after being offered $5.25M) and Worley (he filed for a $2.45M salary and was offered $2M) won their cases at the hearings.

1/16: JHK, Jose, Brendan, Ollie, Kip Sign, Lamb Deals, Josh Seeks Trade, Camping Out, ASG Juice, Interleague On, FDR OK, Hoops; RIP Frank, HBD Alfredo, Ron, Dave, Erskine & Art

• 1858 - IF Art Whitney was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. Known for his glovework, he played for the Alleghenys from 1884-87, hitting .248 while in Pittsburgh. His lifetime BA was a paltry .223, but the slick gloveman led the league four times in fielding percentage, three times as a third baseman (1886, 1887, and 1891) and once as a shortstop (1885). 
• 1890 - RHP Erskine Mayer was born in Atlanta. He worked two seasons for Pittsburgh from 1918-19, going 14-6 with a 3.19 ERA. In 1919, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox, becoming part of the infamous "Black Sox" team. His only appearance in the scandal-tainted 1919 World Series was a one-inning relief stint, and it was his last outing in an MLB uniform, ending his eight-year career with an overall slash of 91-70-6/2.96. His moment in the sun as a Bucco came in 1918 when Mayer worked 15-1/3 shutout innings as the starter of the longest scoreless game in Pirate history, eventually won over the Boston Braves, 2-0, in 21 innings. 
• 1930 - Before the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues, teams traveled all over the country for camp. The Pirates took 30 players to the 1930 spring training site, California’s Paso Robles, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The club announced nine late-March tune-up games after breaking camp, playing at nearby LA, SF and Oakland, traveling on to Fort Worth, Dallas, Tucson, Mobile, New Orleans and Cincinnati, then returning to Pittsburgh and Forbes Field. The pre-season warm-up trip rumbled over 6,500 miles of railroad track accompanied by the dealing of countless hands of gin rummy. 
• 1945 - FDR gave baseball the OK to go ahead with the season as long as the league didn’t hinder the services or manpower needed for the war effort, with the president making it clear that draft-eligible/war industry players would heed the call of their country first and baseball second. Roosevelt was a friend of sports during the war years, encouraging the leagues to play on within the manpower and other limits imposed by WW2 as a morale booster for the nation. He had written a similar 1942 note in support of continuing baseball despite the war. 

Dave Jauss - 2017 photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates

• 1957 - Coach Dave Jauss was born in Chicago. Dave was named to the Pirates scouting staff in 2011 and became a coach for Clint Hurdle next season. He’s been managing, coaching and scouting since 1982, managing college, Dominican & minor league nines while coaching and scouting for Montreal, Baltimore, Boston, the Dodgers and Mets prior to landing in Pittsburgh, where he’s a coach without portfolio. He was let go when the new regime took over in 2019 and went to the Mets as bench coach, where he was replaced by another ex-Buc coach, Glenn Sherlock, when Buck Showalter took the reins. He’s now an advisor with the Nats. 
• 1960 - The Pirates and Steelers picked a neutral sport - basketball - to go mano-a-mano for charity, with the gridders taking a 22-20 sudden-death overtime win at Fitzgerald Field House despite 14 points from Dick Groat. The 15-minute match, set up by The Gunner, was part of a tripleheader played for the benefit of Children's Hospital with Pitt whipping Westminster and Carnegie Tech upsetting Duquesne in front of 5,308 fans. Prince got into the action - he and the “Voice of the Steelers” Joe Tucker were the refs for the Bucco/Black & Gold game. 
• 1970 - LHP Ron Villone was born in Englewood, New Jersey. Villone played for 12 teams in his 15-year career, tied for second all-time with P Mike Morgan and OF Matt Stairs, trailing only P Octavio Dotel, who played for 13 teams. All but Morgan wore Bucco uniforms. Villone tossed for the Pirates in 2002, going 4–6/5.81 in 45 games with seven starts after signing a one-year/$900K deal in February. 
• 1974 - In a bit of a shell game, the Pirates sold RHP John Lamb to the White Sox, only to buy him back two months later. Lamb had three years with Pittsburgh (1970-71, 1973), going 0-2-5/4.07 in 47 appearances. They would be his last in MLB; the Bucs stashed him away at AAA Charleston as insurance and 1974 ended up his last pro season. The Buccos kept a couple of other guys around in a more traditional manner, signing LHP Jerry Reuss and prospect Ed Ott to contracts. 

John Lamb - 1971 Topps

• 1978 - IF Alfredo Amezaga was born in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. He was claimed off waivers in April ‘05 (Chris Duffy was sent down to clear a space for Alfredo), and then was released two weeks later with just four PA’s and four innings in the field after Jose Castillo came off the DL. Amegaza went on to play fairly regularly for Florida from 2006-08 and lasted nine MLB seasons in all, retiring after the 2011 campaign and closing out his playing days in Mexico in 2018 at age 39. 
• 1991 - LHP Bob Kipper avoided arbitration by signing a one-year/$825K deal with the Bucs, upping his take-home pay by $300K. His line was 5-2-3/3.02 in 1990, but he slashed 2-2-4/4.65 in 1991 and left as a FA to join the Twins in the off season. That was the end of his road; he was released by Minnesota in July after eight MLB campaigns and began coaching in the indie and minor leagues. 
• 1996 - Interleague play was approved by MLB for the next season and was later given an imprimatur from the MLBPA. It was meant to showcase rivalry games; three decades in, the Pirates are still looking for their natural rival; Detroit was designated as their MLB-designated blood foe. 
• 2003 - To add some skin to the All-Star game, the owners voted unanimously to give the winner home field advantage for the World Series, later approved by the MLBPA. It was eventually scrapped; 2016 was the last Mid-Summer Classic to determine the World Series home field. Good thing, too, for the NL - the Junior Circuit had won 11 of the 14 games played under that format. 

Oliver Perez - 2005 Topps Heritage

• 2006 - LHP Ollie Perez signed a $1.9M contract in his first arbitration year after coming off a 7-5/5.85 campaign. The Bucs had high hopes for a bounce back from the southpaw who had gone 12-10/2.98 with 239K in 2004, but the 24-year-old posted a 2-10/6.55 line during the season and the Pirates sent him to the Mets at the 2006 deadline as part of the Xavier Nady package. 
• 2010 - The Pirates inked 38-year-old reliever Brendan Donnelly, an eight-year vet who was a former All Star but had been released by three teams in 2009, to a $1.35M FA deal. The righty put up a line of 3-1/5.58 for the Bucs and was let go in late July to end his big league days, retiring in 2011. Before that, he had been the poster boy for a baseball journeyman - since 1992, he had played for 12 pro organizations, two indie leagues, 19 minor league teams, and for six MLB clubs. 
• 2011 - The Pirates signed RHP Jose Veras to a minor league deal worth $1M if he made the big club. He did, going 2-4-1/3.80 with 79K in 71 IP. Jose was one-and-done with the Bucs; in the off season, he was flipped to the Milwaukee Brewers for 3B Casey McGehee. Veras had three seasons left in the tank, slashing 9-10-23/3.64 and averaging almost 10 whiffs per game. McGehee hit .230 with eight homers for the Bucs while playing on a gimpy knee and was sent to the New York Yankees at the deadline for RHP Chad Qualls. 

Jose Veras - 2011 photo Justin Aller/Getty

• 2015 - The Pirates officially signed Korean SS Jung-Ho Kang to a four-year, $11M contract ($2.5M, $2.5M, $2.75M & $3M with a $250K/$5.5M option for 2019). He could earn up to $750K/year in at-bat bonuses, with a guaranteed annual stipend for family travel and an interpreter. Pittsburgh also paid his club a posting fee of $5,002,015 for negotiating rights, making the deal the most expensive the Pirates ever paid out for an international signee. Kang, 27, hit .356 with 40 home runs and 117 RBIs in 501 PAs for the Nexen Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization in 2014. His slash was .287/.355/.461 in his first MLB campaign, cut short by a late-season leg injury. He was strong again in 2016 but suffered through another injury-shortened year. That was followed by a missed campaign in 2017 due to legal issues in Korea that cost him his US work permit after a DUI conviction. JHK finally got back in good graces in 2018, but missed all but three games with a wrist injury. Kang was non-tendered, then re-signed by the Bucs for 2019 and released at the end of the campaign. He returned to Korea but hasn’t played since. 
• 2018 - IF Josh Harrison, reacting to the recent trades of his running mates, All-Star Andrew McCutchen and the team’s ace pitcher, Gerritt Cole, asked to be dealt too. “If indeed the team does not expect to contend this year or next, perhaps it would be better for all involved, that I also am traded,” he told The Athletic. Josh didn’t get his wish granted - although a handful of teams were said to be interested in him, he broke his hand in April - until the offseason when he signed a free agent deal with the Tigers. He’s been with six organizations since and has been a FA since the Reds released him in early 2024. 
• 2023 - 50’s Pirates slugger Frank Thomas passed away at the age of 92. Born in the shadow of Forbes Field in Oakland, Thomas played 16 years in MLB, spending his first eight seasons (1951-58) with his hometown Pirates. Primarily an outfielder and third baseman, Frank was a three-time NL All-Star as a Bucco. He led the club in home runs five times and in RBI four times, reaching the 25-dinger mark four times while driving in more than 100 runs twice. He was handed the Bucs rain-maker torch in 1953, replacing Ralph Kiner, who was traded the same year.

1/15 Through 1964: Ehret - Hawley, Chesne & Sunday Deals, '60 Rooks, 1B Jam, War Rules, Possum Joins; HBD Banny, Ed, Jock & Mike

• 1858 - OF Mike Mansell was born in Auburn, New York. He played three seasons (1882-84) for the Alleghenys, posting a .251 BA. His final big league year was 1884 when he played for three teams. Mansell did have a knack for scoring - in 202 games for the Alleghenys, he touched home 164 times. His two brothers also played in the big leagues, and the trio even played the outfield together, albeit for minor league Albany Blue Stockings of the National Association. 
• 1868 - RHP John “Jock” (the Scottish version of Jack) Menefee was born in Rowlesburg, West Virginia. Jock tossed three not very successful campaigns for Pittsburgh (1892, 1894-95), going 5-9/5.75. But he did have a shining MLB moment: Menefee became the first NL pitcher to pull off a successful steal of home while with the Cubs against Brooklyn on July 15th, 1902. 
• 1880 - RHP Ed Kinsella was born in Bloomington, Illinois. He got his first taste of the show in September, 1905, going 0-1/2.65, with the Pirates in three outings (two complete game starts) and made a final MLB stop in 1910 with St. Louis. Kinsella was an early example of a AAAA player who finished his career with 144 minor league victories, including four 20+ win campaigns, in 10 seasons. 
• 1888 - OF Billy Sunday was purchased by the Pittsburgh Alleghenys from the Chicago White Stockings for $2,000. Billy spent most of his last three years with Pittsburgh, hitting .243, while the final few weeks of his career were served as a Philly after a late August trade. But the aptly named Sunday was transitioning from chasing flies to chasing souls; he became a famed tent revivalist in the early 20th century, and in a rarity (for both road-tripping evangelists and old-timey baseball players), one who never had a scent of scandal waft around him. 

Billy Sunday - 1888 Goodwin

• 1895 - The Pirates traded RHP Red Ehret and $3,000 (“a large bundle of dollars” per the Pittsburgh Press) to the St. Louis Browns for RHP Emerson “Pink” Hawley, the swap becoming official a couple of days later. Hawley spent three years in Pittsburgh as a workhorse, tossing 1,133-2/3 IP with a slash of 71-61-1/3.76 and becoming one of only three Bucs to win 30 games in a single season when he notched 31 victories in 1895. Pink was deservedly well compensated for his era - the Pirates paid him $2,400 a year (he asked for $3,000). Ehret had won 53 games for the Bucs over the previous three years, but in his remaining four seasons could only put up one more double-digit win campaign when he went 18-14 for the 1896 Reds; he would claim just 35 more victories total during the remainder of his MLB career. As for Hawley’s “Pink” moniker, Dale Voiss of SABR wrote “Emerson was born one of two twins, the other being named Elmer. People had trouble telling the twins apart so the nurse who assisted in their birth pinned a blue ribbon to one and a pink one to the other. This resulted in Emerson being given the middle name Pink, and the brothers were known as Pink and Blue.” Voiss added that Pink was a hit with the local fans, too. “Hawley earned the nickname ‘Duke of Pittsburgh’ because of his stylish dress and good looks. He was known to wear diamonds and other items of high fashion and developed a reputation similar to that of a matinee idol in Pittsburgh. Later a cigar was named Duke of Pittsburgh after Hawley. Boxes of these cigars featured his picture.” 
• 1898 - The Detroit Tigers (then of the Western League, shortly to join the AL in 1901) were short at 1B and the Pirates had an overload at the spot, so owner George Vanderbeck stopped by Pittsburgh for a couple of hours of chat with Prez Bill Watkins to try to pry one of three redundant players - John Ganzel, Harry Davis or Jack Roth - loose for Motown. The Bucs refused to yield, admitting they weren’t going to carry all three but wanting to see them compete in camp. The patient Tigers eventually got their man when they bought Ganzel in late May. As for the other pair, neither made it through the year in the Steel City: Roth was sold to the KC Blues before the season and Davis, who had won the job early on, was sent to Louisville in July as Willie Clark claimed 1B. 
• 1942 - Baseball in wartime, per BR Bullpen: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sent his famed ‘Green Light Letter’ to Commissioner Judge Landis, encouraging MLB to continue playing during World War II. FDR stated that he believes playing the sport would be good for Americans and encouraged the owners to have more games at night to give war workers an opportunity to attend games. Despite the loss of players to the military (no sports exemptions), all 16 teams continued to play regular schedules for the duration of the war. 
• 1943 - Due to a league directive that satisfied wartime travel regulations, the Pirates switched their spring training facilities from San Bernardino, California, to Muncie, Indiana. The Bucs had pitched their tent for seven of their past eight preseason camps in San Bernardino and returned there after spending 1943-45 in the Midwest. From ‘55 on, they made camp in Florida, first at Fort Myers, then in 1969 at Bradenton in Pirate City and McKechnie Field/LECOM Park. 

Bob Chesnes - 1950 Bowman

• 1948 - The Bucs paid a steep price to land RHP Bob Chesnes, shipping OF Gene Woodling, C Dixie Howell and minor league pitchers Ken Gables & Manny Perez, along with $100,000, to the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League for Chesnes’ services to complete a deal that began back in September. Chesnes had just finished up with a 22-8/2.32 slash in the PCL and looked like the real deal as a rookie, going 14-6/3.57 with 15 complete games. But the next two campaigns were plagued by arm soreness and he posted a 10-16/5.81 line. In June of 1950, he was assigned to the minors and never tossed another big league game. The Bucs did have a pretty good replacement in the system, though - after Chesnes was sent down, Vern Law was called up. 
• 1958 - Jim “The Possum” Woods joined Bob Prince in the broadcast booth from NY, replacing Dick Bingham, who was axed. Woods and The Gunner formed a team that lasted through the 1969 season. In 1970, after battling KDKA over pay, The Possum moved to the second chair in St. Louis, supporting Jack Buck. He later manned the mic for Oakland, Boston and the USA Network. Bingham’s three-year run with Prince (the two didn’t have a smooth relationship) ended his radio career that had begun in 1946. He earned his daily bread as a realtor during the offseason and eventually gave up announcing to form his own real estate firm. 
• 1960 - The Pirates invited 22 rookies to join the club for spring training in Fort Myers. Out of the group, there were three who would end up pretty good ballplayers - LHPs Bob Veale & Joe Gibbon along with 1B Donn Clendenon. Gibbon made the club out of camp and saw action in the World Series. Clendenon claimed a spot on the big team the following season and a starting job in ‘63 while Veale joined the squad in 1962 and ended up second on the franchise K list. 
• 1964 - Jeff “Banny” Banister was born in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Drafted in 1986, he got one at-bat with the Bucs in 1991 and singled. After going through the minor league system, he then served as a coach or manager for the franchise beginning in 1993. He flew the coop in 2014 when he was hired as the skipper of the Texas Rangers and quickly earned the AL Manager of the Year award in 2015. He came back to the Bucs briefly before being let go in 2020; now he’s the Arizona bench coach. His nickname, btw, isn’t based on his surname, but is short for “bantam rooster,” a nod to his scrappy style of play.

1/15 From 1965: Cutch - Reynolds, Hartenstine Deal, Arriba Hurt, Rich Rod Signs, '16 & '91 Arbs, Pops Busy, WBC Bucs, Hans House; RIP Gus & Ben

• 1965 - Roberto Clemente aggravated a thigh injury in the winter league All Star Game, forming a clot that was surgically removed OTD. The operation was deemed a success but the leg limited his effectiveness with the Pirates in the first month of the 1965 season, during which he batted .257. He found his groove in mid-May and finished the year with a MLB-leading .329 BA. 
• 1969 - In a minor league deal, the Pirates traded OF Manny Jimenez to the Cubs for RHP Chuck Hartenstein and IF Ron Campbell. Jimenez played briefly for Chicago (he went 1-for-6) before fading into the minors, while Campbell never made it to the show. Hartenstein made 56 appearances for the Bucs in 1969, with 10 saves/3.95 ERA, but slipped in 1970 and was traded to St. Louis and then to Boston to close out his final MLB campaign. Chuck coached and scouted afterward, spending some time with the Bucs as a minor league pitching coach. 
• 1972 - Bill Benswanger, the Pirates president for 15 years, passed away. He held the position from 1932-46, taking over after the death of his father-in-law, Barney Dreyfuss. Bill never brought a title to Pittsburgh, but he did steer the club through the lean years of the depression and Second World War while fielding competitive clubs that usually finished in the first division and earned second four times. He sold the club to the McKinney interests for $2.225M in 1946. 
• 1983 - Willie Stargell narrated the premiere of Robert Schwanter's "New Morning for the World," performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington by the Eastman Philharmonic, before a crowd of DC politicos during an Martin Luther King Jr. birthday anniversary performance. Pops met President Ronald Reagan earlier in the day at a White House reception prior to the concert. 

Willie Stargell - 1983 Donruss Diamond Kings

• 1991 - The Pirates had nine arb-eligible players - Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Doug Drabek, Mike Lavalliere, Jose Lind, John Smiley, Bob Kipper, Bill Landrum & Lloyd McClelland - and all filed for arbitration, with four going the distance to a hearing. Bonds, Bonilla and Lind lost their cases while Drabek beat the club and won a $3.35M salary with $2.3M being the club's offer. Among the losers, Bobby Bo settled with $2.4M (he asked for $3.475M), BB got $2.3M (Bonds sought $3.25M) and Chico took home $575K (Lind wanted $950K, and although he lost this round, he won the next year’s challenge for $2M).
• 2004 - Gus Suhr, who played 10 seasons for the Bucs (1930-39) passed away in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the ripe old age of 98. Gus was more dependable than spectacular - he hit .278 as a Pirate, drove in 100+ runs three times and made the 1936 All-Star squad. Suhr walked 250 times more than he whiffed as a Corsair and compiled a .368 OBP to offset just average power. He played a then-record 822 consecutive games, with the streak halted not by injury or slump but by his mom’s funeral. The Golden Gate native liked his home by the bay - he spent from 1925-29 with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League before joining Pittsburgh and came out of retirement to play again for the Seals during the war years of 1943-45 prior to hangin’ ‘em up for good at age 39. 
• 2005 - Mayor Jim Pascoe of Carnegie announced plans for the Honus Wagner Museum which opened later in the year. The little-known attraction, filled with photos, news clips, and other Flying Dutchman mementos (with many culled from the local Elks Club that he belonged to) is on 1 West Main Street in the Carnegie Historical Society Building. It’s easy to spot with Honus’ famous baseball card replicated on a mural on the outside and is open to the public on weekdays. 
• 2006 - Canada’s first WBC team had a distinct Pittsburgh look to it, as current Bucco Jason Bay, past Pirate Matt Stairs, and future Corsairs Justin Morneau & Erik Bedard were named to the squad. 

Jason Bay - 2006 Flair Showcase

• 2016 - RHP Mark Melancon was the last of six arbitration-eligible players to agree to a contract. C Chris Stewart had earlier reached a two-year deal with the club. The others avoiding arbitration by inking one-year deals were C Francisco Cervelli, who then signed a three-year extension in May, LHP Tony Watson, RHP Jared Hughes, SS Jordy Mercer and LHP Jeff Locke. The FO trimmed five others off the list by non-tendering 1B Pedro Alvarez, 1B Travis Ishikawa, RHP Vance Worley and OF Travis Snider while trading 2B Neil Walker to the Mets. 
• 2018 - Two days following the Gerrit Cole trade, the Pirates sent Andrew McCutchen, in the walk year of a $14.5M contract, and $2.5M to the San Francisco Giants for OF prospect Bryan Reynolds, RHP Kyle Crick and $500K international pool money. Reynolds was a 22-year-old switch-hitter who developed into an All-Star outfielder here. Crick, a 25-year-old with great stuff and questionable control, became Pittsburgh’s eighth-inning bridge man during the ‘18 season. Injuries, up-and-down performances and other issues eventually earned him his release in 2021; he’s now a free agent. Cutch has played for three teams while undergoing knee surgery and returned home in ‘23. The FO had reportedly passed on a 2017 deadline deal with the Washington Nats that would have netted Gio Gonzalez, Lucas Giolito and a third lower-level player for Cutch’s services. 
• 2021 - RHP Richard Rodriguez signed a one-year, $1.7M contract with the Pirates to avoid arbitration. A Buc since 2018, he got into 196 games with a line of 16-14-19/2.98 as the 27-year-old became the Bucs closer in ‘20. But not for long; he was traded to Atlanta at the ‘21 deadline and went to the NYY. He was banged with an 80-game PED suspension in 2022 and has pitched in the Latin Leagues since.

1/14: Adam & Dock Sign, 2017 Arb Class, Moises Drafted; RIP Pep, Blow Out The Candles: HBD Dovy, Steve, Gary, Joe, Terry, Hank, Chet, Billy, Brode, Art & John

• 1868 - 3B John Newell was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He got an MLB cup of coffee with the Pirates in 1891, going 2-for-18 in five games during a 10-day audition. John spent a decade toiling in the minors for teams in the Western, Southern and Atlantic leagues - he even made a couple of hometown Wilmington stops - playing his last pro game in 1898 as a 30-year-old. 
• 1871 - IF Art Madison was born in Clarksburg, Massachusetts. Art was a minor league lifer, spending a dozen years on the farm, mainly in the Eastern and New York leagues. He did pay a couple of brief visits to the show, getting into 11 games for the 1895 Phillies and coming back four years later to make his major league swan song with Pittsburgh, entering 42 games and batting .271 while playing second, short and third. Madison was part of the big trade with Louisville in 1899; the Bucs later got his contract back and sent him to the minors. 
• 1891 - 2B John “Brode” Shovlin was born in Luzerne county’s Drifton, in the Pocono Mountains region. He got a wham-bam look with Pittsburgh in 1911, getting into two games and going 0-for-1 while scoring a run; he got into another 16 games in 1919-20 with the St. Louis Browns. He otherwise spent from 1910-31 in the minors/playing semi pro before going to work for a family-run coal company in Hazelton at the age of 40. He passed on in 1976 at age 85. 
• 1893 - Manager Billy Meyer was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. After his playing days and a long minor-league managing career, he became the Bucco skipper from 1948-52, with a dismal 317-452 record after a promising fourth place finish in his first year. But the Yankees thought so highly of him that they asked if they could hire him after that season to replace Bucky Harris. NY was rebuffed and had to settle for Casey Stengel instead. After managing, Meyer scouted for the Bucs until 1955, and later had his jersey #1 retired by the club. 

Billy Meyer  - 1946 Sports Exchange

• 1907 - RHP Chet Brewer was born in Leavenworth, Kansas. He pitched for a couple of dozen teams in the black leagues and Central America but never earned a check from Pittsburgh until his playing days were done. Brewer was a Pirates scout based in LA from 1957 to 1974 (he signed Dock Ellis) and later worked for the Major League Scouting Bureau, finding players like Willie Crawford, George Hendrick, Eddie Murray, Reggie Smith and Roy White. His Rookies program was the forerunner of MLB’s RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) project.
• 1911 - RHP Hank Gornicki was born in Niagara Falls, NY. He pitched his final three seasons (1943-44, 1946) for the Bucs, with a two-year military break when he served during WW2. His slate as a Pirate was 14-19/3.38, and he was used primarily as a spot starter. He had a notable week in August of 1943. Gornicki won both ends of a doubleheader against the Boston Braves on the 17th, then lost both games of a twinbill on the 22nd against the Brooklyn Dodgers. 
• 1952 - LHP Terry Forster was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He came over in the Richie Zisk deal and like his trademate, Goose Gossage, worked one season in Pittsburgh. Unlike Goose, he was released after slashing 6-4-1/4.43. The FO may have given up on him too soon; the 25-year-old never became a HoF closer like Goose, but did pitch nine more seasons with a lifetime ERA of 3.70, mainly as a back end guy, and posted 127 saves (he had three campaigns that he earned 20 plus closeouts). And you didn’t have to worry about replacing him with a pinch hitter as he posted a .397 career BA in 78 lifetime plate appearances. 
• 1961 - 3B Joe Redfield was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Joe played 10 minor league campaigns after being drafted by the Mets in 1982; he got into a couple of games for the Angels in 1988 and got a month’s stay with Pittsburgh in 1991, called up from AAA Buffalo to replace an injured Jeff King. He went 2-for-18 in 11 games, spent the next season with the Bisons and retired at age 31. 

Joe Redfield - 1992 Fleer

• 1962 - IF/coach Gary Green was born in Pittsburgh and played at Allderdice HS. He went on to play college ball at Oklahoma State University, and was the starting shortstop for Team USA in the 1984 Olympics. He was a first-round pick (27th overall) of the San Diego Padres in the 1984 draft, playing parts of five seasons in the majors. Green then was a coach/manager in the Detroit organization until 2004. He came home to the Pirates organization, managing Class A teams from 2006 to 2010, and in 2011 he became the Buccos minor league infield coordinator. In 2021, he was promoted to Altoona’s bench coach, the position he holds today. He came from good MLB bloodlines as the son of former pitcher Fred Green, who spent four of his five MLB years as a member of the 60’s Bucs bullpen. 
• 1962 - IF Pep (real name: Floyd Lemuel) Young passed away in his hometown of Jamestown, New York, at age 54. Pep spent the first eight years (1933-40) of his 10-season MLB run with the Pirates, playing regularly from 1935-38 (afterward, he played for the Reds and Cards with time in the minors) while putting together a .262 BA. Young was regarded as among the elite glovemen at second base, leading the National League in assists in 1938. Pep, nicknamed for his energizer-bunny style of play, stayed involved in the game by playing in his hometown semi-pro leagues after leaving pro ball in 1946 at age 38, and is a member of the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame. 
• 1964 - The Pirates signed RHP Dock Ellis (it was a year before the amateur draft began) shortly before he turned 19. He played on a sandlot team managed by Chet Brewer, a black baseball ace and mentor turned Pirates scout, and after several minor brushes with the law, agreed to a deal ($500/monthly salary and a $2,500 bonus) while pitching for Los Angeles CC. He made his MLB debut in 1968, slashing 96-80/3.16 in his nine-year Bucco career while adding several colorful chapters to the Pirates history book. He eventually cleaned up his life and became an addiction counselor before he passed away in 2008. 
• 1970 - LHP Steve Cooke was born in Lihue-Kauai, Hawaii. A 35th round draft pick in 1989, he spent five years with the Pirates (1992-97), going 26-36/4.31. 1993 looked like a breakout year when he went 10-10 with a 3.89 ERA and he was named to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team. But he had shoulder problems that surfaced in 1994, missed the ‘95 season, and never again matched his rookie line, toiling two more years with the Bucs before bowing out in 1998 with the Reds. 

Moises Alou - 1990 Score Rookie

• 1986 - The Pirates selected OF Moises Alou as the second overall pick in the January draft, behind pitcher Jeff Shaw. He signed on and played two games for the Pirates in 1990 before being shipped to Montreal for LHP Zane Smith. Moises went on to have a 17-year-career playing for seven different clubs, with six All-Star berths and a lifetime .303 BA. He’s the nephew of former Pirate Matty Alou and the cousin of former Bucco farmhand Mel Rojas, Jr. Zane tossed here for six years and was part of Jimmy Leyland’s rotation during the ‘90-’92 playoff seasons. 
• 1993 - RHP Dovydas Neverauskas was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. Dovy is a neat little story. He was signed out of the European Academy in 2009 by the Pirates as the first Lithuanian born-and-raised player to sign a pro baseball deal. The only other Lithuanian to play in the majors was OF Joe Zapustas, who was raised in Boston and played just two games for the Philadelphia A's back in 1933. In 2015, the Bucs converted the hard thrower into a reliever, and he played for the All-World Futures team in 2016. He made his debut in the show in 2017, and in four seasons slashed 1-4/6.81, with the long ball his nemesis (20 in 80-2/3 IP). He was released after the 2020 season to launch an extensive world tour. Dovy started with the Hiroshima Carp of the Japanese League during the ‘21 campaign, tossed in Germany in ‘22, spent the 2023 campaign pitching indie ball and in ‘24, he climbed the hill in both the Mexican and Australian Leagues. 
• 2008 - The Pirates re-signed 1B Adam LaRoche to a 1-year/$5M contract. He hit .270 with 25 homers, and was sent to Boston the following year. Baseball runs in his blood - literally. He’s the son of former MLB pitcher Dave and older brother of Andy, former LA Dodgers, Pirates, Oakland A’s, and Toronto Blue Jays 3B who’s now coaching in the Kansas City Royals system. 
• 2017 - The Bucs settled with all their arb-eligible players except for LHP Tony Watson (he asked for $6M and the Bucs countered with $5.6M; the team won the eventual hearing). Reaching one-year deals before the filing deadline were SS Jordy Mercer ($4.325M), RHP Gerrit Cole ($3.75M), RHP Juan Nicasio ($3.65M), RHP Jared Hughes ($2.825M), RHP Drew Hutchison ($2.3M) and LHP Wade LeBlanc ($800K), who had agreed to his contract earlier in the off season. LHP Jeff Locke was non-tendered, signed off on a $3M agreement with Miami in December and was the only member of the class to fly the coop.

1/13 Through the 1950s: Dickson Dump, Arky Signs; HBD Odell, Jim, Ron, Ben, Spades, Fred, Goat, Jud & Al

• 1865 - RHP Al Krumm was born in Pittsburgh. Al, who had a rep as a pot-stirrer, was ousted from his Lima squad by his teammates in 1888 and came home to work in J&L’s rolling mills. In ‘89, he tossed a game for McKeesport (it was his only outing with them; he couldn’t pitch much as the day games clashed with his steelworker schedule) but he still caught the Alleghenys eye. With Cannonball Morris and Pete Conway injured, they needed pitchers and gave Krumm a shot. He worked his mill shift, took a catnap, and caught a train to NY, getting there three hours before game time. It wasn’t auspicious - the tired hurler walked 10 and gave up two big innings in an 11-7 loss to the Giants. But the contest didn’t nick his confidence any - he vowed to buy a hat for any batter who could work him for a free pass in his next outing. That redemptive game never came, though, as he didn’t get a second start and he went back to his day job at the mill. 
• 1869 - 3B Grant “Jud” (his middle name was Judson) Smith was born in Green Oaks, Michigan. He played off-and-on in the show for four seasons, spending 1896 and 1901 with the Pirates. He hit .268 but only got into 16 games over those two campaigns, though he was a part of the Pirates 1901 championship roster. It was Jud’s destiny to be a minor league depth player; he toiled for 15 years on various farm clubs, batting over .300 several times. 
• 1880 - OF John “Goat” Anderson was born in Cleveland. He only played one MLB year, hitting .206 for the Pirates in 1908. But he was the regular right fielder and led off, with a .343 OBP and good base running skills. It wasn’t the lack of reaching base that did in the 27-year-old rookie; Goat developed arm problems and played his remaining ball in the minors through 1913. His nickname’s origin we can only speculate on, although based on his career line, we can safely eliminate Greatest Of All Time as a suspect. We’d guess it was because Anderson was small (his vitals aren’t listed, but he was compared to 5'4'' Wee Willie Keeler), aggressive both on the bases & in the field, and stubborn to the point of argument with anyone on the field from umpires to his own manager. 

Fred Schulte - 1936 Rowe Postcard

• 1901 - OF Fred Schulte was born in Belvidere, Illinois. He was an 11-year MLB vet, and spent his last two campaigns in Pittsburgh in 1936-37, batting .248 (his lifetime BA was .291) before being released by the club at the age of 36. He managed and coached afterward in the minor leagues until 1946. Fred was also a scout for the Reds, White Sox, Indians, and Braves from 1947-64. 
• 1909 - Charles “Spades” Wood was born in Spartanburg SC. The lefty twirled for two years in Pittsburgh, from 1930-31, mostly as a starter, and went 6-9/5.61. He had a little problem with the strike zone, walking 78 in 122 IP while fanning just 56. JC Bradbury of SABR explained his moniker: “Wood earned his nickname from a 13 spades bridge hand he was dealt on a Sunday, which resulted in his expulsion (from his school, Wofford College) - playing bridge on Sunday was not allowed.” 
• 1920 - OF Ben Guintini was born in Los Banos, California. It took him a spell to get to the majors (two years of minor league ball, two years in the Army and two more years on the farm) but in 1946 the Bucs gave him a shot, picking him up in the Rule 5 draft from the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. He went 0-for-3 in two games and was sent back to the bushes, resurfacing for four at-bats with the A’s in 1950. He spent 10 years in the minors, mainly as a PCL player, and was considered quite an entertainer by the fans and even Joe E Brown, who tried to talk him into the movies. Fun fact: In one game when several hometown fans came to see him play, he did handstands on his way to center field to start the game. He was quickly benched by no-fun skipper Lefty O'Doul, per Baseball Reference. Alas, neither baseball nor show biz saved him from an eventual day job - he became a Cadillac salesman after he retired. 
• 1939 - The Pirates announced that SS Arky Vaughan had agreed to a one-year contract worth an estimated $15,000, putting him in the same pay class as Paul Waner. Vaughan, who was two months shy of turning 28, turned in his fifth straight All-Star season (he would run his streak to nine in a row) while batting .322 in 1938 with a .433 OBP; he was also second in fielding percentage. 

Ron Brand - 1964 Topps

• 1940 - C Ron Brand was born in Los Angeles. Brand signed with the Pirates in 1958 as an 18-year-old high school kid and began his big league journey with the Bucs in 1963, hitting .288. After spending all of 1964 in AAA Columbus, Ron was plucked by the Houston Colt .45s in the 1964 Rule 5 draft and put together an off-and-on eight-year run in the show. He managed for three years after putting away the mask, and then took a long hiatus to raise his family. Brand came back in 1994 as a scout for the New York Yankees after tending to the home fires. 
• 1949 - LHP Jim Foor was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Foor was a first round pick of the Tigers (15th overall) in 1967 out of high school. In 1972, he was traded to Pittsburgh by Detroit in a minor deal; the Bucs were looking for some back-end competitors for the rotation. Foor pitched in three games for the Pirates, walking one, striking out one and giving up no earned runs while spending most of the year at AAA Charleston in 1973. After the season, the Bucs shipped him to the Royals for Wayne Simpson. That was the end of his MLB career; after three more years in the minors, he hung up the spikes for good. 
• 1953 - RHP Odell Jones was born in Tulare, California. Jones had several stints with the Bucs, starting out in 1975, spending a year in the minors and returning from 1977-78, then coming back via trade in 1981. He went 9-12/4.28, splitting his time between the pen and starting. The fastballer last pitched in the show in 1988; his final hurrah was in 1992 when he finished in the Mexican League. 
• 1954 - The Pirates traded workhorse RHP Murry Dickson, a 1953 NL All-Star, to the Phils for RHP Andy “Swede” Hansen, IF Jack "Lucky" Lohrke and $80K. Dickson slashed 52-53-5/3.70 until he retired in 1959, while neither Hansen or Lohre ever suited up for Pittsburgh (or any other MLB club) as both were assigned to the top Bucco farm team, the Hollywood Stars. Dickson was a victim of a Branch Rickey payroll dump; both he and Ralph Kiner (in June, 1953) were traded, trimming $115,000 of Bucco salary. Swede’s moniker was because of his Scandinavian heritage (he was actually a Dane). Lucky came by his nickname honestly; by the time he was 22, he had several close brushes with the Reaper between WW2 combat and a couple of crashes.

1/13 From 1960: Cole Dealt To 'Stros, Cutch, Craigs, Teke & Terry Sign, '23 Arbs, No Deal, Scouting Trio; HBD Heath, Elmer & Kevin

• 1963 - Kevin McClatchy was born in Sacramento, California. McClatchy headed the group that purchased the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996 for $95M and pushed through the construction of PNC Park, keeping the team in Pittsburgh. Bob Nutting replaced him as principal owner after 10 years, and in July of 2007, McClatchy stepped down as CEO of the Pirates, replaced by Frank Coonelly. He’s a director of The McClatchy Company, a newspaper publishing group owned by his family, and stayed local, living in Ligonier. 
• 1965 - The Pirates entered into a mutual scouting community with the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers. It was the first time that an MLB-combined scouting collective was formed. 
• 1971 - RHP Elmer Dessens was born in Hermosillo, Mexico. He started out with the Bucs by signing with them in 1993 and then pitching from the bullpen from 1996-98 with a 2-8/6.12 slash. He went to Japan the following year, then came back to toss in the major leagues through the 2010 season, wearing eight different uniforms during a 14-year career. 
• 1977 - The Bucs signed RHP Kent Tekulve and LHP Terry Forster to contracts. Teke’s salary wasn’t disclosed; he was coming off a breakout year with 64 outings (102 IP) and a line of 5-3-9/2.45 while Forster had been held back by injuries in the past two years with the White Sox and would pitch just one year for the Pirates. He signed for $50,000 while going 6-4-1/4.43. 

Terry Forster - 1977 Topps

• 1989 - RHP Heath Hembree was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The righty was a nine-year bullpen vet, mostly with the BoSox, with an 18-12-11/4.19 slash in 331 outings, averaging 10 K per nine innings but also susceptible to the long ball. The Bucs signed him as a FA in mid-March of 2022 to a one year/$2.125M deal to help bolster the relief corps. He didn’t show much, tossing to a 7.19 ERA, was released in June and claimed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hembree spent ‘23 in the Tampa Bay/Detroit/Seattle systems, took the hill last year in the Dominican League and is now a free agent. 
• 2004 - Per the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the Padres and Bucs were cooking up a deal that would send C Jason Kendall to San Diego for C Ramon Hernandez and 3B Jeff Cirillo. While SD GM Kevin Towers was a big Kendall fan (this was the fourth different proposal he offered during the off season to get him in the Padre fold), Friar ownership had a late change of heart and killed the proposed swap, leery of taking on the $42M still owed to Kendall over the next four years. Jason was moved to the west coast after the season, but to the Oakland A’s. 
• 2006 - OF Craig Wilson avoided arbitration by signing a $3.3M contract in what would be his last Bucco season, as he was dealt to the NY Yankees at the 2006 deadline. He played for the Pirates from 2001-06, hitting .268 with 94 HR. He faded with the Yankees, went to the Atlanta Braves the following season and was finally sent to the Chicago White Sox, playing AAA ball for the remainder of 2007 and all of 2008 for the Pirates and Seattle Mariners before retiring. 
• 2010 - OF Craig Monroe inked a one-year/$750K deal with the Bucs. Another in a collection of guys of that era who were on the way out but were given a paid farewell tour by the Bucs FO, Monroe hit .215 with three homers and was released in July, ending his nine-year MLB career. 

Craig Monroe - 2010 photo Rob Tringali/Getty

• 2018 - The Pirates sent RHP Gerrit Cole to the Astros for a gaggle of youngsters: RHP Joe Musgrove, 3B/1B Colin Moran, RHP Michael Feliz and minor-league OF Jason Martin a day or two after a premature report of a consummated deal between the clubs. The two teams had discussed a Cole deal starting from the 2017 deadline and got back to brass tacks during the winter meetings. The Yankees were considered the early frontrunners in the Cole sweepstakes and reportedly offered either Clint Frazier or Chance Adams as the featured return. Bronx prospects Gleyber Torres, Justus Sheffield, Estevan Florial and Miguel Andujar were all off the table, thwarting the Pirates FO, which had reputedly targeted Andujar or Sheffield. Cole had a great couple of seasons for the ‘Stros before the Yankees got their man two years later. Moran eventually moved to first and was non-tendered after the 2021 campaign - he hopped around some and is an FA now - while Musgrove joined the rotation and was later traded to San Diego for a platoon of prospects, including David Bednar and Endy Rodriguez. Feliz had been a yo-yo, spinning between Indy and Pittsburgh before being released in ‘21, going to Japan and now on the market, while Martin reached AAA ball and got a taste of the show in 2019-20 before his release; he got a taste with Texas, went to the Dodger organization, then signed a Korean deal for 2023 (he did well, hitting .283 w/17 HRs & 90 RBI), moved to the Angels system and is now a free agent. 
• 2023 - OF Andrew McCutchen was reported to be in agreement to rejoin the Bucs, which he played for from 2009-17, on a one-year/$5M deal, pending his physical. The deal took a week to become official before Andrew was added to the roster and 3B/OF Miguel Andujar was DFA’ed. It was touted as a highlight reunion (and possible retirement) tour for the 36-year-old after his five-year hiatus as he needed 52 hits to reach 2,000 and 13 dingers to get to 300 (he got knock #2,000 but a September injury kept him at a frustrating #299 for long balls). It was also touted as a step to transition from rebuilding to competitive status, and Cutch signed up for further Bucco go-arounds in 2024 & '25. 
• 2023 - 1B Ji-Man Choi was the only 2023 arb guy unsigned by the deadline (he lost at his hearing, but still took home $4.65M). Beating the clock were RHPs JT Brubaker, who made a deal for $2.275M, Mitch Keller for $2.4375M, Robert Stephenson for $1.75M and Duane Underwood Jr. for $1.025M. IF/OF/DH Michael Andujar settled earlier for $1.525M. CF Bryan Reynolds was under contract, earning $6.75M (he later signed a long-term deal carrying him through 2030 with a club option for ‘31), while 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes inked an eight-year agreement that locked him in through 2029 w/an option. SS Kevin Newman agreed to a $2.85M contract, then was traded to Cincinnati. The club culled the class after the season when it non-tendered/DFA’ed LHP Manny Bañuelos and C Tyler Heineman.

Notes: Arb Deadline Decisions; Ferguson Signed; RIP Big Bob; Ex-Bucs Move On

Some stirrings during siesta season on the North Shore...

Pirates Stuff: 

• LHP Caleb Ferguson, 28, was signed by the Pirates on Friday to a one-year/$3M deal. He tossed for the NYY and Astros last year with a line of 1-4-1/4.64 & 11K per nine IP. Before then, the free agent spent five seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, slashing 18-9-5/3.43.
• Free agent RHP Elvis Alvarado was added to the 40-man roster. The 25-year-old Alvarado spent most of the 2024 season with Miami's AAA Jacksonville club, where his slash was 3-4-11/2.79 over 48-1/3 IP (41 outings) with 71 strikeouts. The Pirates will be his fifth organization since he turned pro in 2017 (Elvis was an OF'er then and converted to pitching) and he has yet to make his MLB debut. 
• Oneil Cruz ranks ninth on MLB Network's Top 10 Center Fielders Right Now list. That's not too shabby for a guy with all of 23 MLB games (and no farm time) at the position though 21 homers and 22 swiped sacks will get you noticed.

Is Nick Yorke ready for prime time? - 2024 Apex image

• Utility guy Nick Yorke, a late season addition from Boston, was named SI/Bleacher Report's as the Pirates Most MLB Ready prospect.

Arb Signings:

• LHP Bailey Falter and the Pirates settled on a salary of $2.222M. His Bucco record is 10-11/4.86 in 35 starts (38 appearances).
• C Joey Bart agreed to a $1.75M deal. He claimed the top catcher's spot last year, batting .265 w/13HR in 80 games.
• Closer David Bednar and the Bucs inked a $5.9M contract. Bednar is looking to bounce back from a shaky '24 campaign (3-8-23/5.77).
• The Pirates signed RHP Colin Holderman to a $1.5M deal. He's coming off a season (3-6/3.16) that started with the flu in camp and included two IL stints due to a wrist sprain; half the earned runs he gave up (9 of 18) and four of his losses came in a six-outing stretch from late-July-to-August that triggered his second IL trip; he was strong when he came back in September.
• The Pirates couldn't reach agreement with righties Johan Oviedo and Dennis Santana. The two sides exchanged arb figures and can settle any time up to their TBD hearing. MLB Trade Rumors projected Santana to earn $1.8M and Oviedo $1.5M. Santana filed for $2.1M while the Pirates countered at $1.4M; Oviedo filed at $1.15M & the Pirates at $850K. 17 players total filed for arb hearings. The other arb-eligible '24 Pirates were OF/DH Bryan De La Cruz, OF/1B Connor Joe and RHP Ben Heller, who were released after the past season.

Other Stuff:

• Big Bob Veale passed away the past weekend at age 87. He spent 11 years (1962-72) as a Bucco, both starting and then converting to a reliever. He was part of the '71 champs, a two-time All-Star, had 200+ K's four times (the Gunner called his heater the "radio ball" because you could hear it but couldn't see it as it zipped by), 100+ walks four times, too, and posted a Bucco line of 116-91-21/3.06. Bob ranks second for the Pirates in strikeouts (1,652), is tied for ninth in shutouts (20) and is tied for 10th in wins (116). 

Bob Veale - 1965 Topps

• RHP Roansy Contreras was DFA'ed by the Reds and claimed by the Orioles.
• LHP Martin Pérez and the Chicago White Sox are in agreement on a one-year/$5M contract, pending his physical.
• The Japanese League's Orix Buffaloes have signed OF Edward Olivares. The terms of the agreement haven't been released yet.

1/12: Cole Train, Jordy, George, Tony, Brian, Pops & Manny Sign, Willie HOF & MOTY, '74 Draft, Farm AS's, Caitlyn Hired, Bikes 'n' Ball; HBD Ivan, Bobby, Rich, Mad Dog, Big Ed, Tom & Ed

• 1859 - C/1B Ed Swartwood was born in Rockford, Illinois. Swartwood played for the Alleghenys from 1882-84 (in fact, he was the first batter in franchise history, as the ‘82 Alleghenys were arguably the Pirates predecessor) and then spent his last big league season as a Pirate in 1892. He put up some good numbers, including a career .322 BA in Pittsburgh. In 1882 he led the American Association with 86 runs, 18 doubles, and 159 total bases, then went on to become the league batting champion in 1883 (the first Pittsburgh player to take the crown) with a .357 average. Swartwood married a Pittsburgh gal in 1883 while with the Alleghenys and became an Allegheny County sheriff when he was done with baseball (he also umped for a spell after his playing career). He was buried in North Side’s Union Dale cemetery after he passed on in 1924. 
• 1866 - C Tom Kinslow was born in Washington, DC. Tom spent 10 years in the show, squeezing in 19 games with the 1895 Pirates and batting .226 after being traded by the Brooklyn Bridegrooms for Ad Gumbert. The hard-drinking Kinslow, who owned a Washington bar, was released in May for overindulgence, expressing shock at the penance - in Brooklyn, they had punished his binges with fines. He was by all accounts a friendly galoot, but the drinking led to discipline and conditioning (his weight would yo-yo) issues, and he only played 380 games during his decade in MLB. Tom died young, at 35, from “consumption” (tuberculosis). 
• 1893 - Several National League owners, led by Pirates manager Al Buckenberger and Washington owner J. Earl Wagner, formed the National Cycling Association, hoping to build bicycle tracks in their baseball stadiums to help increase both their exposure and profit; bike racing was a big-time sport at the turn of the 20th century. But not all of the teams were interested in the venture, and many big-name cyclists opted to stay with their current organizations, scuttling the idea. 

Ed Stevens - 1949 Bowman

• 1925 - 1B Big Ed Stevens (actually, a modest 6’1”, 190 lbs, but that was king-sized in the forties) was born in Galveston, Texas. The Pirates purchased him from Brooklyn after he was bumped off the bag by a rookie named Jackie Robinson during the 1947 campaign. He replaced Hank Greenberg at first for a season in Pittsburgh, then lost the job to Johnny Hopp and found a seat on the bench while putting up a .253 BA in his three Pirates years. Big Ed didn’t show much power in the bigs but was a muscle man in the minors. In 16 farm seasons, Stevens belted 257 home runs and drove in 1,013 runs on his way to being named to the International League Hall of Fame. After his retirement, he scouted for the Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s. 
• 1951 - 3B Bill “Mad Dog” Madlock was born in Memphis. The third baseman played seven seasons for the Bucs (1979-85) with a line of .297/.357/.428 while twice leading the league in hitting in 1981 (.341) and 1983 (.323). He was a key component of the 1979 Championship team, batting .333 in the playoffs and World Series after coming over from the San Francisco Giants in a June trade for Ed Whitson. The nickname? Madlock had a fiery temper and was ejected from 18 games during his career. BTW, his birthday is reported as being on 1/2/1951 on some baseball sites, but Bill himself posted the correct date on his Twitter account. We trust him; after all, he was there. 
• 1965 - Willie Stargell and Manny Mota signed contracts with the financial terms undisclosed. Pops, who had missed 45 games in ‘64, still led the club with 21 HR and made his first All-Star team while Mota hit .277 off the bench. Willie would repeat as an AS by hitting 27 HR with 107 RBI in 1965 while Manny remained a steady fixture off the bench with a .279 BA. 
• 1972 - RH reliever Rich Loiselle was born in Neenah, Wisconsin. He tossed his entire six-season career (1996-2001) for the Bucs with a slash line of 9-18-49/4.38 during that span. Loiselle was the Bucco closer in 1997-98 when he picked up 48 of his 49 lifetime saves. He struggled after that, having both control and elbow problems, and his 18 outings in 2001 were his last in MLB. 

Rich Loiselle - 1999 Topps Finest

• 1972 - The Pirates picked up two keepers (one on lay-away) in the January draft. First they drafted South Georgia College 3B Jim Morrison, who didn’t sign and instead went in the 1974 regular June draft to Philadelphia. But Pittsburgh kept track and finally landed him in 1982 in a deal with the White Sox. Mo spent six seasons with the Pirates, playing 92 or more games in five of them and batting .274. In the secondary phase, the Buccos selected RHP Larry Demery, who made his debut in 1974 and over four Pirates campaigns went 29-23-7/3.72 before an arm injury effectively curtailed his career. 
• 1975 - The Pirates announced that 13 of their farm team prospects were named minor league All Stars. Prominent among those recognized were 2B Willie Randolph & Mike Edwards, CF Omar Moreno, LHP Rod Scurry, OF Miguel Dilone, and C’s Kenny Macha & Steve Nicosia. 
• 1980 - Willie Stargell was featured on the cover of The Sporting News after being selected as TSN’s Man of the Year. Pops hit .281/32 HRs in 1979 and added five more dingers in the postseason, clearing the table by winning the National League, NLCS and World Series MVP awards. 
• 1980 - IF Bobby Crosby was born in Lakewood, California. The Rookie of the Year for Oakland in 2004, he came to the Pirates after eight years with the A’s when the 30-year-old signed on as a free agent in 2010. But a .224/.301/.295 slash in 61 games got him flipped at the deadline to the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a five-man swap. The Snakes released him in August, ending his MLB days. 

Bobby Crosby - 2010 Jared Wickerham/Getty

• 1987 - RHP Ivan Nova was born in Palenque, Dominican Republic. After seven years with the Yankees, he joined Pittsburgh when the Bucs sent minor leaguers OF Tito Polo and LHP Stephen Tarpley to the Bronx Bombers at the 2016 deadline for him. In 11 starts, Nova went 5-2/3.07 during the remainder of his walk season and the FO lured him back again as a free agent with a three-year/$26M deal. He returned to earth in 2017 as his line was 11-14/4.14, in 31 games, more in line with his career results, then posted a 9-9/4.19 slash the next season before being sent to the White Sox, where he won 11 games in 2019, for prospects. He’s now tossing in Korea and the Dominican Winter League. 
• 1988 - Willie Stargell was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA and the 17th player elected in his first year of eligibility. Cap’n Willie was inducted on August 1st. His Pirate slash was .282/.360/.529 with 475 HR and 1,540 RBI, both team records. Ralph Kiner is second on the Bucco list of homers with 301 while Hans Wagner is the #2 Pirate for RBI’s with 1,475. 
• 1989 - The Bucs signed RHP Brian Fisher, 26, to a one year/$404K contract to avoid arbitration. Pittsburgh had the fireballer penciled into their rotation for the third straight year after coming over from the Yankees but he broke a bone in his knee in 1989. Brian only made three starts during the year, was released and would pitch just 26 more times before retiring in 1993. They also bought the contract of C Tom Prince from AAA as they began to form their 1989 club. 
• 1999 - 2B Tony Womack signed a one-year/$1.65M contract in his first year of arb as a Super Two player, zooming past his 1998 salary of $290K. Womack deserved the boost, hitting .282 with 85 runs scored and 58 stolen sacks while becoming the first Bucco since Omar Moreno to lead the league in swipes in back-to-back campaigns. He’d take the title for a third straight time with 72 larcenies in 1999, but not as a Pirate - a few weeks after he signed the papers, he was shipped to Arizona for Jason Boyd and Paul Weichard, with the Bucs looking to clear a spot for the newly acquired Warren Morris. 

Gerrit Cole - 2015 photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates

• 2018 - The Pirates signed both RHP Gerrit Cole & SS Jordy Mercer to one-year/$6.75M deals, while RHP George Kontos agreed to a one-year/$2.725M contract to settle with three of their four arb-eligible players. The fourth, RHP Felipe Rivero (later Vazquez), filed for a hearing. His ask was for $2.9M, while the Bucs countered at $2.4M. Less than a week later, the two sides agreed on a four-year/$22M contract (Rivero was a Super Two with four arb years) with two added team option years potentially worth another $19M. Cole, on the other hand, was traded two days later and Kontos was released in May. Jordy lasted the season before leaving as a free agent for Motown. 
• 2022 - In a move leaked before Christmas, the Pirates officially announced the hiring of the organization’s first uniformed female coach, Caitlyn Callahan, as a minor league development coach. The 26-year-old Callahan played D1 college softball at St. Mary’s College, then spent two seasons working as an minor league video/baseball technology intern for the Reds.