2/11 Through the 1990s: Cecil, Pops & Groat Sign, Bell & Brett Lose Arb, Priddy - Crandall, Vic - Burleigh, Starg Hired, Jay Dapper; RIP Kiki, HBD Trey, Hoot & Leon

• 1912 - C Leon Ruffin was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. Leon spent three seasons (1931-33) of his 14-year Negro/Mexican League career with the Pittsburgh Crawfords, with the first campaign serving as a backup, the next as a starter, and the final year as trade bait, being shipped to Newark in May. That was a recurrent theme in his ball playing days; he served four different tours of duty with the Jersey nine, including his one All-Star year. Leon was a defensive specialist behind the dish with a rifle arm who made up for his quiet bat by mastering small ball, becoming an expert bunter and hit & run guy, a unique skill set for a backstop. 
• 1924 - OF Hal “Hoot” (his middle name was Housten) Rice was born in Morganette, West Virginia. After several seasons with the St. Louis Cards serving as Stan Musial’s backup, he joined the Bucs for the 1953-54 seasons and started in left field for Pittsburgh after the Ralph Kiner trade. He hit .311 in that year’s audition, but was batting under .200 in June of 1954 and was shipped to the Chicago Cubs in what was his last MLB campaign. Rice gave up three years of baseball during WW2, winning a Purple Heart as a tank commander. 
• 1928 - Pittsburgh sent RHP Vic Aldridge, who was fishing for a raise from owner Barney Dreyfuss, to the NY Giants for RHP Burleigh Grimes. Old Stubblebeard won 42 games in 1928-29 for the Pirates before being sent to the Braves after reaching a contract impasse. He returned in 1934 for his third Pittsburgh stint to finish his MLB career as a Pirate, the team he started with in 1916. The Hall of Famer won 48 of his 270 career victories as a Buc. Aldridge held out until late May, then put up a mediocre line (4-7/4.83) for Boston and was sent to Brooklyn in August. He refused to report to the Dodgers, opting to retire instead. 
• 1950 - 51-year-old RF Hazen “Kiki” Cuyler passed away from a heart attack in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Kiki spent the first seven seasons of an 18-year Hall of Fame career as a Pirate, but left on salty terms. He and manager Donie Bush banged heads battling over attitudes; his contract was also weighing heavily on the Bucco purse strings, and the two issues created a perfect storm that got him benched and traded. After his playing days, Kiki managed in the minors and coached for the Cubs & BoSox. He also ran a still-existent restaurant, Ki Cuyler’s Bar & Grill, in his hometown of Harrisville, Michigan. 

Dick Groat - Helmar This Great Game/1960s

• 1960 - Dick Groat signed his contract after several meetings with GM Joe Brown, whose first offer was a 25% cut, surprising as Groat was an All-Star who batted .275 in ‘59. The ultimate figure wasn’t released, but the Post-Gazette guessed he had been “nicked” while the Press believed he signed for the same $27,500 salary he had last season. Whatever the number ended up as, it was a good deal for the Bucs - the Swissvale native was named the National League’s MVP, was an All-Star again after leading the NL with a .325 BA and posted a 5.8 WAR in 1960. 
• 1965 - The Pirates traded youngsters 1B/OF Bob Burda & RHP Bob Priddy to the San Francisco Giants for veteran backstop Del Crandall. Burda played for six MLB seasons, primarily off the bench, hitting .227 in 381 games while Priddy tossed for seven more seasons for five clubs as a long man/spot starter with a slash of 22-36/4.01. Crandall was about at the end of the road at age 35, and hit .214 in 60 games. He was released at the end of the season and played through 1966 with the Indians to end a 16-year career. 
• 1974 - Willie Stargell eclipsed Roberto Clemente to become the Pirates highest paid player to date when he inked a one-year/$165K deal. Captain Willie was worth the dinero - he was the MVP runner-up after hitting .299 with 44 homers and 119 RBI in ‘73 and slashed .301/25/96 in ‘74. 
• 1974 - OF Trey Beamon was born in Dallas. The Bucs took him out of high school in the second round of the 1992 draft, and he was named the organization’s top prospect in 1995. But Trey never made much of a dent in MLB, spending 24 games with the Bucs in 1996 (.216 BA) before being traded to the Padres as part of the Mark Smith package. He got into a few dozen games with San Diego and was shipped to the Tigers, and that 1998 season would be his last in the bigs. He appeared in 98 games and hit .253 in Motown without a long ball. He played in the minors and indie leagues until 2006. 
• 1974 - 48 players filed to settle their contracts through the newly instituted arbitration system, but the only Pirate player to argue his case at a hearing was pitcher Ken Brett, who asked for $45,000 while the Bucs countered with $35,000. Brett lost but bore no grudge; he went on to have his only All-Star season in ‘74 and re-upped with the Pirates in 1975. 

Cecil Espy - 1992 Fleer Ultra

• 1991 - OF Cecil Espy signed with the Bucs as a NRI free agent for an undisclosed amount. He spent two seasons in Pittsburgh as a reserve outfielder, hitting .254, with much of 1991 spent on the farm at Buffalo. He was a first round pick of the White Sox in 1980 (eighth overall) but was an everyday player for just one year during his eight big league seasons before his last MLB campaign of 1993. He played in the minors afterward and retired after spending 1996 in the Mexican League. Utilityman Lloyd McClendon signed before his contract reached an arb judge. He had asked for $295K, the Bucs countered with $170K, and Lloyd won the bidding battle by settling for $260K. 
• 1992 - The Bucs won their arb case against SS Jay Bell, who had to accept an $875K paycheck rather than the $1.45M he was after. Bell turned down a reported settlement of $1.175M a few days prior, calling it a “great offer” but deciding to go through the process. The infielder felt his .270 BA, 16 homers and 96 runs scored would help carry the day; the Pirates countered that his batting stats were pretty much league average, and that his 24 errors were tops among NL shortstops. 
• 1994 - SS Jay Bell took home the Dapper Dan Sportsmen of the Year award at the annual dinner at the Hilton Hotel after hitting .310 and scoring 102 runs during the 1993 season. It was a very good year for Jay - he also was named an All-Star for the first time, won a Golden Glove award for his fielding, and started it off by signing a five-year/$20.1M deal in April. Bell played for the Bucs from 1989-96, and returned in 2013 as the hitting coach before joining the Reds as their bench coach the following year. He later managed in the Yankee and Angel systems. 
• 1997 - Willie Stargell came back home when he was named a special assistant to GM Cam Bonifay and later became an advisor to owner and CEO Kevin McClatchy. He had a general portfolio in the FO, but was most active in player evaluation, both prospects and big leaguers. Unfortunately, he was beset with health issues and passed away in 2001 as PNC Park opened.

2/11 From 2000: Yasmani, Tony, Brian, Eric, Doug & Danny Sign, Manny Latino HoF, Garth, Scouts Scoops, Boom TRS; RIP Chuck

• 2001 - Three Rivers Stadium, the home of the Pirates since 1970, was imploded before a full complement of TV cameras and thousands of onlookers. Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit, Mike Schmidt's 500th home run, the 1994 All Star game and a couple of World Series championships were part of the sometimes unappreciated park's 30-year baseball legacy. 
• 2003 - New GM Dave Littlefield cleaned house in his scouting department by firing Mickey White, Brandon Bonifay, Ken Parker and George Zuraw, who were all top guns under former GM Cam Bonifay. It didn’t take a fortune-teller to predict their time was short; Littlefield had raided the Marlin staff for three scouts earlier and brought in a fourth Fish, Doug Strange, a former Bucco, to replace them. The Florida scouts were in a state of flux as the team was in the process of being sold to Jeffrey Loria and Littlefield swooped in to give them a new home. 
• 2006 - Jackie Bowen was hired for a second stint in Bucco scouting, becoming an assistant to Dave Littlefield before moving up to national scouting supervisor after working from 1985-90 as a Bucco area scouting supervisor. He progressed from there to work for the Reds, Giants and Mets before returning home. And home it was as Jackie was the grandson of super scout Rex Bowen and was raised in the City’s South Hills, graduating from Mt. Lebanon HS and Pitt. 
• 2007 - The Pirates inked eight-year veteran righty Danny Kolb (Gary’s cousin) to a minor league deal. He pitched three games for the Pirates in June, each with a one inning-two hits-one earned run line, and he spent the rest of the season with AAA Indianapolis before being released, pitching briefly for the New York Mets in 2008 before taking his final MLB bow. 

Eyechart - 2008 Topps Heritage

• 2008 - IF Doug Mientkiewicz (aka “Eye Chart” thanks to his last name) signed on as a free agent for $750K. The 34-year-old utility guy had a fairly solid year, hitting .277 in 125 games, then moved on to LA in 2009 to close out his 12-year career. He managed in the Tigers minor league system after stints with the Dodgers and Twins, and now operates a chartered boating business in the Florida Keys while helping out with some local amateur coaching.
• 2011 - Manager Chuck Tanner died at the age of 82 in New Castle. Captain Sunshine led the club from 1977-85 (the Bucs traded Manny Sanguillen to the A’s for Chuck’s services), winning the World Series in 1979 with the “We Are Family” gang and spending 10 more years as skipper for the White Sox, Athletics and Braves. The Coke Trials and consecutive last-place finishes in 1984-85 pushed him out of town, but he came back in 2007 as a Special Assistant to the GM. 
• 2011 - C Manny Sanguillen was part of the second class to be inducted into the Latino Hall of Fame, located in La Romana, Dominican Republic. He was joined by Fernando Valenzuela, Luis Tiant, Edgar Martinez, Dennis Martinez, Andres Galarraga and Rico Carty. Beisbol is a big deal in the DR; the ceremony was conducted by Dominican president Dr. Leonel Fernandez Reyna. 
• 2016 - The Pirates signed veteran LHP Eric O’Flaherty, 31, to a minor league deal with a camp invite that was worth $1.75M if he made the roster. He had been a strong bullpen piece until a 2013 elbow injury laid him low. The lefty didn’t make the Bucco 25-man list, but he did break camp with a MLB deal after the Pirates sold him to Atlanta in late March. O’Flaherty had enjoyed his best years there, going 13-7/1.99 in 295 games for the Bravos between 2009-13, but the reunion tour was less successful - in two seasons, he got into 61 games with a line of 1-4/7.28, was released in July of 2017, and retired before the 2018 campaign. 

Garth suits up - 2020 Pirates photo

• 2019 - The Bucco pitchers and catchers reported to camp with a surprise addition: singer Garth Brooks, who became a Bucco fan as a boy in Oklahoma, also showed up to shag some flies and take a couple of swings. Brooks spent a week in camp to mark the 20th anniversary of his Teammates for Kids Foundation, which has raised millions of dollars for children's charities while pairing children with pro athletes. Garth played high school ball and the Pirates were the fourth camp he visited over the years to play some ball and promote his charity. 
• 2021 - Pittsburgh filled a couple of bench holes by signing FA’s C Tony Wolter and OF Brian Goodwin to minor league/NRI deals. Wolters, 28, started for the Rockies in 2019-20 and hit .230. A lefty batter with a .238 lifetime BA in five MLB campaigns, he signed for $1.4M, but didn’t make the cut - he was released at the end of camp and was claimed by the Cubs; he announced his retirement this year. Goodwin, 30, played five big league seasons with a .250 career BA and was another left-handed swinger. He had played all three OF spots and was with the Angels and Nats in 2020, hitting a combined .215 for the two clubs. His contract was worth $1.6M w/$900K in possible bonuses. He lasted until May as a AAA insurance policy, was released and went to the White Sox. He started ‘22 in the Mexican League and then played ball in China and the indie leagues before hanging up his mitt. Tony’s now a minor league coach in the Rockies organization. 
• 2024 - While the rest of the nation was watching the Super Bowl, Ben Cherington and Yasmani Grandal were talking contract as the White Sox backstop agreed to a one-year/$2.5M plus incentives deal with the Bucs. The Pirates were rumored to be after Gary Sanchez to provide a veteran mentor for a young crew of catchers, but Milwaukee had the same idea and signed him for $7M, leaving Yasmani as the Bucs Plan B. For the 35-year-old, Pittsburgh was his fifth team as he entered his 13th year in the show. He caught 72 games with a line of .228 BA/9 HR/27 RBI and was Paul Skene’s caddy, but lost his job to mid-year pickup Joey Bart, spent 2025 with Boston’s AAA club and is now a free agent.

2/10 Through the 1950s: Lloyd, Jimmy & Otto Sign, Jim Joins, No Seer, Wet One Done; HBD Larry, Digger, Jake, Cotton, Bill & Jim

• 1857 - UT Jim Keenan was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He spent 10 years in the show playing for five teams with an 1882 stop with the Alleghenys, hitting .219 as a catcher and outfielder (he played every position but 2B during his career). Jim was one of the better catchers of the 1880s, spent mostly with Cincinnati. He caught barehanded (ouch!) and is also noted as being one of the few players of that rambunctious era to kick the booze habit during his playing days. Keenan caught the first Pittsburgh Alleghenys game (by extension, the first game in Pirates franchise history), a 10-9 win over his future mates, the Red Stockings, played on May 2nd, 1882 at Cincinnati's Bank Street Grounds. 
• 1893 - RHP Bill Evans was born in Reidsville, NC. He spent his three-year MLB stint with the Bucs (1916-17, 1919) as a fringe hurler, going 2-13 with a 3.85 ERA. Evans went into the military and missed all of the 1918 campaign. He worked seven games for Pittsburgh in 1919, then spent the next decade in the minors. Evans died in Burlington, North Carolina at age 53. 
• 1894 - 2B James “Cotton” (because of his light blond hair) Tierney was born in Kansas City, KS. He started his pro career in Pittsburgh (1920-23), mainly as a second baseman but also seeing time in the outfield and at the hot corner. He hit .315 for Pittsburgh and was the main piece in the 1923 trade for P Lee Meadows. Cotton was remembered when in 2005, his great-great-nephew Jeff Euston created the website Cot's Baseball Contracts, named after his MLB uncle. 
• 1900 - SS “Country Jake” Stephens was born in Pleasantville (or nearby York), Pennsylvania. Jake played in the Negro leagues for 17 years, with stops with the Homestead Grays (1929-31) and Pittsburgh Crawfords (1932). The SS wasn’t much of a batsman with a .240 career BA - the curve befuddled him - but he was a fast and acrobatic fielder with a rifle arm. As loaded with bats as the legendary local clubs were, carrying a glove at shortstop was a natural fit. His leather earned him spots in Pittsburgh and York Sports Halls of Fame. 

Greenfield Jimmy - photo Chicago Daily News/History Museum

• 1916 - Local boys Otto Knabe from Carrick and Greenfield Jimmy Smith had their contracts purchased from the Baltimore Terrapins of the Federal League. Otto was on the downside of his career, suiting up as mainly a player/manager, and after a couple of dozen games, he was traded to the Cubs. Greenfield Jimmy was a utility guy; the colorful infielder got into 33 games for the Pirates in 1916. Smith finished out his MLB days in 1922, playing for seven teams during an eight-year big league run, before returning home to Greenfield. 
• 1920 - The spitball, shineball, and emeryball were outlawed by the AL/NL Joint Rules Committee. Seventeen pitchers who were known to use the pitch, including off-and-on Pirate Burleigh Grimes, were grandfathered out of the ban so they could continue to toss a wet one. Grimes, who finished in 1934 with Pittsburgh, was the last man to legally throw a spitter. 
• 1932 - RHP Billy “Digger” O’Dell was born in Whitmire, South Carolina. He closed out his 13-year career (twice an All-Star) with the Pirates in 1966-67, going 8-8-4/4.44. Digger retired and left baseball, coaching Legion ball and earning a spot in the South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. He got his nickname from the radio/TV show “The Life of Riley” that featured a character named Digby “Digger” O’Dell. 
• 1939 - RHP Bob Klinger exhibited his flipper to Pittsburgh Press beat writer Les Biederman and told him that “You are now looking at the arm that belongs to the fellow who is going to win 20 games...this year.” Klinger had gone 12-5/2.99 in 1938 with a gimpy arm, then underwent off season treatment for neuritis. He did get 33 starts, but finished 14-17/4.36 and 0-1 as a prognosticator. Apparently his arm remained chronically cranky. The Pirates switched him to spot starter/reliever in 1940, and he didn’t rejoin the rotation full-time again until 1943. He was in the Navy from 1944-45, then went to the Boston Red Sox at age 38 and was their closer from 1946-47 as part of the Bosox 1946 World Series club. 

Bob Klinger - 1939 Play Ball

• 1940 - CF Lloyd Waner signed his 14th Pittsburgh contract, coming off what was oddly the Hall-of-Famers only All-Star season when he hit .313. The amount of the deal wasn’t disclosed, though his 1938 salary was estimated to be $12,500 and this payday likely fell into the same range. The soon-to-be 34-year-old was nearing the end of the road; he lasted until the end of WW2 (1945 was his last campaign) but never was an everyday outfielder again, averaging 70 games per year in his last six seasons with five different clubs, including a swan song with the Pirates. 
• 1947 - RHP Jim Bagby Jr. was purchased from the Boston Red Sox for a little more than the $10,000 waiver fee. Bagby had been a two-time All-Star for Cleveland in 1942-43, but the 30-year-old was on his last legs in Pittsburgh, going 5-4/4.67 in ‘47 in 38 games (six starts), which proved to be his final season after 10 years in MLB. His father blazed a similar path, ending his big league days as a Bucco in 1923 after a nine-year tour of duty. 
• 1954 - LHP Larry McWilliams was born in Wichita, Kansas. The sixth overall pick of the 1974 draft by the Braves, he worked for the Pirates from 1982-86. Larry had three strong years as a starter, then faded and was shipped back to his original club, the Braves. His line with the Bucs was 43-44-2 with a 3.86 ERA. Per Wikipedia, he was nicknamed Spaghetti by Tony Pena. "That's what I call him. Take a look at his legs. They look like spaghetti...” his battery mate said.

2/10 From 1970: Melky, Lee, Trench & Kaat Sign, Ramon Deal, Jason Dapper, Judy HoF; HBD Jeanmar, Duke, Luis, Justin, Cesar & Ruben

• 1971 - The Pirates made one of their better deals when they sent minor league lefty Danilo Rivas to the Mexico City Reds for LHP Ramon Hernandez, who was recommended by Jose Pagan after playing winter ball against him. The southpaw was a bullpen anchor from 1971-76, going 23-12-39 with a 2.51 ERA in 263 outings before being sold to the Red Sox in 1976. The trade was a homecoming of sorts; the Pirates’ super scout Howie Haak had originally signed Hernandez as an 18-year-old out of Ponce De Leon, Puerto Rico, in 1959 to launch his MLB journey. The swap started Danilo on a five-year run in Mexico before retiring in 1974. 
• 1975 - 3B Judy Johnson was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Negro League Committee. Playing in the 1920s and 1930s, Johnson was a defensive whiz who batted .309 over a 17-year career, including stints with the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords. He was inducted on August 18th. His nickname came from his first Negro league club, the Hilldale Daisies, because he resembled Chicago American Giants’ player Judy Gans. 
• 1978 - OF Ruben Mateo was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. Mateo was highly touted, but after breaking his leg in 2000, he never regained his edge and became a AAAA player, suiting up for four teams in six MLB campaigns. He made a 19-game stop in Pittsburgh, hitting .242 in 2004 before being sold to the Royals; it would be his last big league stop at the tender age of 26. He spent the next dozen years playing in the minors, Korea, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and mainly in the Mexican League before retiring after the 2015 season. 
• 1980 - SS Cesar Izturis was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He spent 13 seasons in the big leagues, with a stop in Pittsburgh in 2007. He hit .276 after the Pirates bought his rights from the Cubs in mid-July but was released after the year (Jack Wilson was the #1 guy with Brian Bixler in the pipeline) and signed with St. Louis. He had three strong seasons left in him with the Cards and Orioles before becoming a bench guy in 2011; 2013 would be his last MLB campaign. 

Cesar Izturis - 2008 Topps

• 1980 - Coach Justin Meccage was born in Billings, Montana. After a brief minor league career and a couple of college coaching stops, he was hired by the Bucs as the pitching coach for the Bradenton Marauders (2013-2014), was promoted to Altoona (2015-2016), became the minor league pitching coordinator in 2017, was named assistant pitching coach as Ray Searage’s right hand man for the big team for 2018, was a pitching instructor under Derek Shelton regime and is now with the Giants. An eye for under-the-hood pitching tweaks runs in the family - Meccage's father Bob was a college pitching coach, as is his brother Jeremy now. 
• 1984 - SS Luis Cruz was born in Navojoa, Mexico. He was signed as a minor league free agent by Pittsburgh in 2008 and spent most of his two-year stay in the minors, seeing action in 27 games for the Bucs and hitting .214. He did have an auspicious start to his career, smacking a single in his first MLB at-bat off Aaron Harang. Luis played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees before going international in 2014, playing four seasons in Japan before returning home to suit up in the Mexican League. 
• 1984 - 45-year-old Jim Kaat was given an invitation to camp by the Pirates (and that’s all it was; he’d get a contract if he made the team). He had tossed 24 games for the Cards in ‘83 w/no record but a 3.89 ERA (4.40 FIP) and was released in July. Ironically, the Bucs signed Lee Tunnell and Trench Davis to contracts on the same day; Kaat was tossing in the majors before either was born. But it was the end of the road for the 25-year veteran, who retired when he didn’t make the final cut and then joined Pete Rose’s staff in Cincy as the Reds’ pitching coach. He coached a bit more, wrote a book, and had a long broadcasting career that won seven Emmys to go with a couple of foot-in-mouth moments before earning a spot in the Hall of Fame in 2022. 

Duke Welker - 2014 photo Elsa/Getty

• 1986 - RHP Duke Welker was born in Kirkland, Washington. A second round pick in the 2007 draft, the 6’7” pitcher was a hot prospect who never panned out. He got into two games with the Bucs in 2013, then was involved in a bizzaro trade. He was sent to the Minnesota Twins as part of the deal that had brought 1B Justin Morneau to Pittsburgh. The two teams changed their minds a few weeks later, and in November, Welker was sent back to the Bucs in return for P Kris Johnson. But fate trumped his return as Duke had TJ surgery in 2014. The Bucs released him, and he was signed and cut by the Giants in 2016. He’s now a medical sales rep. 
• 1988 - RHP Jeanmar Gomez was born in Caracas, Venezuela. The long man went 5-2-1 with a 3.28 ERA in 78 outings for Pittsburgh from 2013-14 after coming over from the Indians. Gomez became a free agent in the 2014 off season and signed with the Phillies. Jeanmar last pitched big league ball for the Texas Rangers in 2019, the last of his five MLB stops.
• 2001 - C Jason Kendall was honored as the Dapper Dan 2000 Sportsman of the Year. He rehabbed a gruesome ankle injury and came back to hit .320, score 112 runs and steal 22 bases, then made a long-term commitment to the Pirates by signing a six-year/$60M contract extension. He was the first Pirate to win the award since Jim Leyland in 1990. 
• 2019 - The Pirates signed OF Melky Cabrera, 34, to a minor league NRI deal (he made the team) for $1.15M guaranteed w/$850,000K possible in bonuses. He was recruited to be a platoon mate for Lonnie Chisenhall while regular RF Gregory Polanco was mending, then stepping into a bench role as the fourth fly chaser. But injuries kept him front and center; he got into 133 games, batting a solid .280 before being released at the end of the season. It was his last MLB campaign, and the Melkman retired early in 2022 with 15 years/nine teams on his MLB resume.

Weekly Report: Backend Signings, NRI's, WBC Bucs, FA's Finding & Looking...

The boys gather as spring is just about to be sprung...

Pirates Stuff:

• The Pirates signed RHP Mike Clevinger to a minor league/NRI contract. The nine-year vet (Cleveland, San Diego & the White Sox; 60-44/3.55) had neck surgery in 2024, missing most of the year, and was ineffective out of the pen last year, making eight outings before being sent to the minors. The Pirates are expected to try to resurrect him back into a backend starting role. 
• RHP Jose Urquidy signed a one-year/$1.5M deal with Bucs. He was a solid arm for Houston from 2019-22 but virtually lost the past three seasons with shoulder woes and eventual TJ surgery. 
• Camp unofficially started last Monday when the Pirates sent two truckloads of baseball gear to Bradenton. The first workout for P/C's is Feb. 11 with the full-camp opening on Feb. 16. WBC P/C's begin  their spring on Feb. 9 while position players will report on Feb. 11.  Alex Stumpf of MLB.com has the spring scoop.
• The Bucs extended camp invites to C Derek Berg, 1B Nick Cimillo, RHP Michael Darrell-Hicks, LHP Nick Dombkowski, UT Mitch Jebb and IF Alika Williams. All are Bucco minor league guys, with Darrell-Hicks & Williams having MLB time. Michael was injured for most of the '25 campaign with one big-league outing in Pgh. and Alika was released in mid-January & apparently re-signed to a NRI deal.

Spencer joins the WBC crowd as 14 guys from the org will rep the team.

• 1B Spencer Horwitz said he'll play in the WBC tournament (Israel) and ditto for IF Nick Gonzales, who is suiting up for Mexico. RHP Kyle Nicolas joined the gang; he'll be playing for Italy. Recently signed RHO Jose Urquidy will toss for Mexico. Other roster guys already announced as rostered for the tournament are: Oneil Cruz, Dennis Santana, Paul Skenes & Gregory Soto. And finally, catching coach Jordan Comadena will be Team USA's bullpen catcher. 
• Minor league WBC players: RHP Pietro Albanez, international signing (Brazil); RHP Emannuel Chapman, 7-2/3.72, Altoona (Cuba); RHP Po-Yu Chen, 4-11/5.73 Altoona (Taipei); RHP Alessandro Ercolini, 1-8/4.04 Altoona (Italy) and RHP Antwone Kelly, 3-3/3.02, Greensboro-Altoona (Netherlands). NRI's in the tourney are P's Joe LaSorsa (Italy) & Oddanier Mosquido (Venzuela). 
• Baseball America picked the Bucs farm system as MLB's #1 going into 2026 (story behind a paywall).
• Baseball Prospectus Top 101 Prospects continued the trend by including SS Konnor Griffin (#1), RHP Bubba Chandler (#14), OF Edward Florentino (#21) and RHP Seth Hernandez (#67)

MLB Stuff:

• Some ol' Bucs are still in the FA marketplace as MLB camps are just around the corner - Starling Marte, Tommy Pham, Elias Diaz, Jose Quintana and Cutch are still hunting for landing spots. 
• What's Paul Skenes worth? Two-time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal won his third-year arb case for $32M, the largest salary ever won in arb. The Tigers counter at the hearing was $19M, a low-ball figure that didn't help their cause, a mistake the Bucs hopefully won't (but prob will) make. Skubal earned $2.65M and $10.15M in his first two arb years; Paul will be arb-eligible next season.
• Rick Renick, who was the Pirates' third base coach from 1997-2000 under Gene Lamont, passed away last week. After spending five years in the MLB, Rick embarked on a 20-year career as a manager and coach,
• Utilityman Marco Luciano, who was on the waiver windmill this offseason, finally found a home. The Giants, Pirates, Orioles and Yankees have all waived him since December. But he cleared the wire after the Yankees release, and they assigned him to AAA so now he at least has a camp to report to next week.

It took IKF a while,  but he found a new nest in Boston...

• Last year's hot corner replacement, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and the Boston Red Sox agreed on a one-year/$6M contract. They also claimed IF Tsung-Che Cheng off waivers from the Nats as his long strange trip continues.
• Lefty reliever Josh Fleming, whose last MLB gig was the Pirates in 2024 (1-1-1/4.02) signed a minor league/NRI deal with Toronto.
• OF Miguel Andujar signed with the San Diego Padres, inking a one-year/$4M contract  He played 39 games for the Pirates in 2022-23, with a slash of .250/4/27/100 OPS+ in 190 PAs.
• 1B Carlos Santana signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, his ninth team, agreeing on a one-year/$2M million. Carlos played here semi-regularly in 2023 (94 starts), hitting .235 with 12 HR.
• RHP Vince Velasquez, whose last MLB gig was with the Pirates in 2023 (4-4/3.86) inked a minor league deal with the Cubs.
• The Cardinals have signed 1B Bligh Madris to a minor league deal. Bligh was a Pirates product who got into 39 games in 2022 with the Bucs (.178/one HR) and has since been with the Houston and Detroit.
• Southpaw reliever Anthony Banda, who tossed for the Bucs in 2021-22 (2-2/4.70) was DFA'ed by the Dodgers. He was with them for their last two World Series crowns, posting a slash of 8-3-2/3.14 in 2024-25.
• RHP Kyle Keller, who last pitched in MLB in 2021 for the Bucs (seven outings, 1-1/6.48) took his game to Japan and after four years there got a minor league/NRI deal with the Boston Red Sox.

2/9: Josias & Walker Sign; Ross & Kip Win Arb, Phil Goes & Cobra Going, Oscar & Satch HoF, Dapper Jim, Woe Is Roe; HBD Aki, Buddy, Jim, Lee Roy, Wally, Hi, Harry & Sumner

• 1867 - LHP Sumner Bowman was born in Millersburg, Pennsylvania. His big league career was brief, with 18 outings from 1890-91, spending part of the ‘90 campaign with the Alleghenys while posting a 2-5/6.62 line in nine appearances (seven starts, six complete games). Bowman was also an outfielder who hit .278 for Pittsburgh. But the Penn grad’s true calling was the law (and no, not as an umpire!). Bowman's baseball career ended following his law school graduation from Dickinson in 1892, and he went on to practice law for seventeen years in New York City. Sumner also served as a government mouthpiece as a Deputy Attorney General for the state of New York for four years and during World War I, he held a position in the Judge Advocate General's Department. 
• 1869 - Harry Pulliam, early Pirate exec, was born in Scottsburg, Kentucky. Originally a newspaper writer covering the Cubs for the Louisville Commercial, he was considered one of the leading authorities on the game. Pulliam met the owner of the Louisville Colonels, Barney Dreyfuss, who hired him away from the Commercial. Barney appointed him to the position of club secretary, then quickly moved him to club president while Pulliam adroitly negotiated an ownership position in the team. He followed Dreyfuss when he purchased the Pittsburgh Pirates, remaining the team president, and convinced Hans Wagner to join the club, later talking him and his teammates from bolting to the American League during the 1900 player raids. Pulliam was unanimously elected president of the National League in 1902. He acted as president, secretary and treasurer of the league from 1902 until 1907, when the stress, workload, and occasional head bumping with owners who thought he favored Pittsburgh in his decisions caught up to him; he committed suicide. Harry was buried in Louisville on August 2nd, and for the first time in history, both NL and AL games were postponed in tribute. 
• 1870 - OF Arthur “Hi” Ladd was born in Willimantic, Connecticut. He spent two games as a big leaguer, going 0-for-1 in 1898 for the Alleghenys with another outing for the Boston Beaneaters. Those games were the highlight of a 20-year pro career, with Ladd spending a decade playing for Bridgeport, 60 miles southwest of his hometown, before retiring at age 41. Hi may have picked the wrong sport - he’s the great-great-grandfather of long-time NHL winger Andrew Ladd. 
• 1895 - OF Wally Hood was born in Whittier, California. Hood spent parts of three seasons in MLB, getting two games and two PAs with the Pirates in 1920. Hood had an interesting career, serving in WW1 before playing ball, then appearing in the baseball film Warming Up, the first sound feature released by Paramount Pictures, with further uncredited roles in Rhubarb, The Stratton Story and Alibi Ike. He also umpired for a decade in the PCL while his son, Wally Hood Jr, suited up with the Yankees in 1949, albeit for just two games. Hood passed on in Hollywood at the age of 70 from emphysema. 

Wally Hood - photo via Find-A-Grave

• 1904 - RHP Lee Roy Mahaffey was born in Belton, South Carolina. He got his start as a Pirate, getting into six games (1-0/5.14) in 1926-27 before being dealt as part of the Larry French swap. After some seasoning, he came back with the Philly Athletics in 1930 and put in seven more MLB seasons. Per SABR, Roy had a passel of nicknames - “Workhorse” because he was willing to take the ball at any time, “Speed” due to the velocity of his heater and hard curve, and most commonly, “Popeye,” as he was a strapping lad who had developed swole pipes as a bricklayer in the offseason. 
• 1944 - C Jim Campanis was born in New York. Jim spent bits of six seasons in the show (he got into just 113 games in that time) making his final appearances with the Pirates in 1973, going 1-for-6 in six games. He was Dodger GM Al Campanis’ son, and dad traded him to KC in 1968; from there, Jim joined the Bucs as part of the 1970 deal that included Bob Johnson and Jackie Hernandez for Freddie Patek, Bruce Dal Canton and Jerry May. Jim’s son, Junior, played in the minors and wrote the book “Born Into Baseball” describing the family ties. 
• 1946 - Talk about your off season mishaps! Bucco LHP Preacher Roe’s 148 strikeouts in 1945 led the NL and he was selected for the All-Star Game. But while coaching high school basketball after the season, Roe suffered a concussion (some say he actually fractured his skull) in a fight with a referee. His pitching fell off a cliff, dropping from 27 wins in 1944-45 to seven in 1946-47, and his ERA almost doubled. He was traded to Brooklyn, where he lasted seven seasons, winning 93 games while earning four All-Star berths. Some credit the bounceback to his full return to health, while others thought it due to his new pitch - the spitter. 
• 1950 - The Chicago White Sox purchased C Phil Masi from the Pirates. Masi only spent half a year with the Bucs after a swap with Boston for Ed Sauer, then he was sold to his hometown White Sox. Pittsburgh may have thought that at 33, his better days were behind him (vet Clyde McCullough started and 25-year-old Joe Garagiola was next in line, ahead of Masi), but he still showed some life as he hit .276 in 206 games during the next two years while the Sox staff’s ERA went from sixth to second in the AL. Phil broke in a pretty good replacement, Sherm Lollar, in 1953 before retiring, staying in Chicago as a printer until his death in 1990. 

Buddy Solomon - 1982 Topps

• 1951 - RHP Eddie “Buddy” Solomon Jr. was born in Perry, Georgia. The 10-year vet worked the end of his career (1980-82) in Pittsburgh, splitting time between the pen and the rotation. He went 17-15-1 with a 3.58 ERA for the Pirates before being dealt to the White Sox in 1982, where he concluded his MLB run. He died two years later at age 34 in a car wreck. His nickname was bestowed on him by his family who called him Buddy Jay. 
• 1954 - The Pirates signed C Walker Cooper as a free agent. Walker, 39, was an eight-time All-Star who had a couple of down years. He got into just 14 games with the Bucs (3-for-15, one start) and was released in May. The Bucs were too quick to the trigger as Walker’s tank had more than fumes left - as a backup, he played through 1957 for the Cubs and Cards, hitting .285 over that span with 108 games behind the dish before hanging up the mask. 
• 1971 - RHP Satchel Paige became the first Negro League star to be nominated to the Hall of Fame. Satch pitched for both the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and was formally confirmed June 10th, then inducted on August 9th. He finally broke through the MLB color line in 1948 at the age of 41 and tossed six big-league seasons, with a pair of All-Star berths and a World Series title with the 1948 Cleveland Indians, to pad his Negro League resume. 
• 1976 - The Hall of Fame Special Committee on the Negro Leagues selected OF Oscar Charleston for enshrinement. In 1932, Charleston became player-manager of the Pittsburgh Crawfords with a roster that included Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Judy Johnson. The team went 99-36, and Charleston himself batted .363 in what was one of the best Negro League teams ever assembled. He managed the Crawfords through 1937 and was also a player with the Homestead Grays. Oscar was inducted into the Hall on August 9th. 
• 1979 - 2B Akinori Iwamura was born in Uwajima, Japan. He didn’t leave much of a legacy, hitting .182 in 54 games during part of 2010 before being released. Iwamura finished the year with Oakland, played in Japan afterward for four more seasons and is now managing there. But Aki did trigger one move that helped the Pirates for years: his sub-par performance (conditioning and a bad wheel were major factors) opened the door for catcher turned third baseman turned second baseman Neil Walker. Beginning with that season, Walker held down the position for six years, hitting .272 and earning a 2014 Silver Slugger award before being dealt to the Mets in the 2015 off season. 

Aki - 2010 Topps Heritage

• 1982 - GM Pete Peterson made it clear that the chasm between the Pirates and Dave Parker was insurmountable and announced that the Pirates were actively looking to trade the right fielder (Pete was careful to emphasize that “we won’t give Parker away”) after a disgruntled employee TV interview. As much as the both sides were willing to divorce, The Cobra remained a Bucco until his contract ran out at the end of the 1983 campaign. He only played 73 games with wrist and thumb injuries in ‘82, making him unmovable, then started off slowly in ‘83 before going on a second half tear that carried him into free agency and a two-year/$2M deal with his hometown Cincinnati Reds. 
• 1990 - LHP Bob Kipper won his arbitration hearing, taking home $535K after posting a 3-4-4/2.93 line in 1989 to best the Buc offer of $380K. Then Mike Lavalliere and the Bucs settled on a contract a day before they were slated to have their arb hearing. Spanky wanted $720K, and the Pirates offered $550K: Lavalliere had a good year hitting (.316 BA) but only played in 68 games due to injury. That led to him to concede to the Pirates bid; he signed for $575K. 
• 1991 - Jim Leyland was presented with the Dapper Dan Sportsmen of the Year award. Leyland led the 1990 Pirates to a 95-67 record and its first NL Eastern Division title in 11 years. He was named the NL Manager of the Year by both the Baseball Writers and The Sporting News. Jimmy hung around for 11 years with the Bucs (1986-96), winning 851 games and three division titles before moving on to Florida, Colorado, Detroit and Team USA. 
• 2000 - Pittsburgh signed RHP Josias Manzanillo, 32, as a minor league free agent. He gave the Pirates a pair of credible seasons with a 5-4-2/3.38 line before elbow surgery in 2002. Josias was released in August, moving on to Cincy and then Florida, but was never again effective, tossing his last MLB frame in 2004. 
• 2011 - RHP Ross Ohlendorf was an arbitration winner after being awarded a salary of $2.025M by a three-judge panel. He went 1-11/4.07 in 2010 while earning a $439K paycheck. Ohlie had rejected the Pirates $1.4M off-season offer to trigger the hearing, pitching his league-average ERA and stat line for the past two seasons (3.98 ERA/103 ERA+ in 50 starts, with 11 wins in ‘09) to the salary board to balance out his 2010 win-loss record.

 

2/8: Frankie, Bo, & Walkie Sign, Long Game Dealin', Josh, Buck, Danny & Joe Dapper, Pirates Charities Founded; RIP Ray B & Ray K, HBD Tree, Felix, Bob, Monty, Cookie & Whitey

• 1886 - SS Roy “Slippery/Whitey” Ellam was born in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Roy first got a shot in the show in 1909 with the Reds as a 23-year-old; he had to wait until 1918 to get a second look with the Pirates. He got an audition after the Pirates had swung a deal with Indianapolis of the American Association for him, getting 105 PAs, but he had more walks (17) than hits (10) and batted just .130. After the season, Ellam returned to his long-time base of operations, the Southern Association, and played out his 19-year pro career as an infielder and player-manager, retiring in 1930 to become a hometown contractor. 
• 1918 - LHP Arthur “Cookie” Cuccurullo was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He was called up in 1943 after posting a 20-win season for the Eastern League Albany Senators. Cookie spent his three-year MLB career as a Pirate with a line of 3-5-5/4.55 in 62 games, nine of which were starts. Cuccurullo was one of many ballplayers who filled in during the war years and returned to the minors afterward when players returned from the service; 1945 was his final MLB campaign. 
• 1922 - 2B Romanus “Monty” Basgall was born in Pfeifer, Kansas. Monty started with Dodgers, flew off to the Army Air Corps and was signed by the Bucs upon his return from the service. He was a yo-yo player for the Bucs from 1948-51, hitting just .215 as he went back and forth from the minors to the show. He was in the Pirate system until 1958, ending his pro career as a player/manager at Waco, Beaumont and Lincoln. He went on to become a scout and coach for the Dodgers. His nickname was thanks to his middle name of Montgomery. 
• 1934 - The Pirates were looking for infield help, per the Pittsburgh Press’ beat guy Volney Walsh, and Brooklyn had a surplus of what they wanted, but the Dodgers' insistence on LHP Larry French as the return squelched the deal. And it was no wonder that da Bums were focused on Larry; the lefty posted a 51-42-6/3.00 slash from 1931-33 and was in the early stages of an 11-year double-digit wins string. But he wasn’t untouchable; after winning 12 games with a 3.58 ERA in ‘34, the Bucs shipped the southpaw, along with Freddie Lindstrom, to the Chicago Cubs for Guy Bush, Babe Herman and Jim Weaver. Bush and Weaver together won 48 games in three years (Guy lasted for two campaigns and Jim three) as Pirates; French earned 51 victories during the same span for the Cubs and won 95 times in his seven year stay in the Windy City. 
• 1943 - 1B/OF Bob Oliver was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Bucs signed him out of American River College in 1963 and he got a brief (0-for-2 in three games) September call-up in ‘65. Pittsburgh shipped him to the Twins after the 1967 campaign for Ronnie Kline to launch Bob on a seven-year run in the Junior Circuit beginning in 1969. Oliver worked as a baseball instructor at his academy and other schools before passing away in 2020. His son Darren followed his footsteps to the show, pitching for 20 MLB seasons and now is a Texas Ranger exec. 

Bob Oliver - 1966 Topps

• 1959 - Manager Danny Murtaugh and GM Joe Brown were honored at the annual Dapper Dan dinner. Murtaugh was the top awardee, recognized for publicizing Pittsburgh sports (he beat out the Steelers’ QB Bobby Layne) and Brown was honored for his contributions to Pittsburgh sports while players Bob Friend, Bill Mazeroski (who missed due to his dad’s death), Roy Face and Frank Thomas were also given awards for outstanding performances in 1958. In a sidebar to the main event, old Bucco hurler Wilbur Cooper was inducted into the Pittsburgh Sports Hall of Fame, with former teammate Pie Traynor being his presenter. 
• 1965 - RHP Ray “The Frenchman” Kremer passed away at the age of 71 in Pinole, California, from heart problems. Ray spent his entire 10-year career as a Pirate, starting out as a 31-year-old rookie in 1924. A bout of rheumatism during a tryout with the Giants in 1916 seems to have erased him from the MLB radar. He went on to toss 2,100+ innings and post 100+ wins in the Pacific Coast League in the late 1910s and early 1920s, and the Bucs wisely gave him a second shot after a 357 IP, 25-16/3.08 Oakland campaign by purchasing his contract from the Oaks. He made up quickly for lost time as he won double-digit games while working 200+ innings for eight straight seasons, ending his big league days in 1933 at age 40 with a line of 143-85-9/3.76. Kremer twice won 20 games and led the National League in ERA in both 1926 and 1927. After two years with the Oakland Oaks, he retired and returned to his hometown in California to become a mailman. 
• 1965 - Another pitching legend passed away OTD, Hall of Famer RHP Ray Brown, who tossed for 13 years for the Homestead Grays. Noted for his variety of off speed offerings, he helped the Negro National League Grays to eight division/two World Championships in nine years, played in three All Star games and slashed 4-2/1.32 in his seven World Championship outings. Brown also helped himself with a .273 regular season BA for the Grays (he played some outfield when he wasn’t on the hill) and .281 average during the championship rounds. Ray traveled baseball’s circuit, also tossing in the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Canadian and Cuban leagues. 
• 1972 - C Josh Gibson and 1B Walter “Buck” Leonard were selected to become members of the Hall of Fame by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues. Gibson, the “Black Babe Ruth,” played for the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords. His statue is at Nationals Park, where the Grays often played, and Ammon Field in the Hill District was renamed to honor him. The Grays’ Leonard batted behind him and became known as the “Black Lou Gehrig.” Dubbed by the media as the “Thunder Twins,” they were inducted into the Hall on August 7th. 
• 1985 - OF Felix Pie was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic. After starting out with the Chicago Cubs, Pie had back-to-back solid campaigns for the Baltimore Orioles in 2009-10 but fell victim to a ruptured back. The Bucs signed him as a depth player in 2013. He was called up in late August and fizzled, batting .138, then took his game to Korea the following season. From 2014 on, Felix played in a variety of Asian, Latin and indie leagues before retiring in 2023. 

Felix Pie - 2013 photo Jason Watson/Getty

• 1988 - RHP Bob Walk avoided arb and signed a one-year/$450K deal. Walkie had put together a line of 8-2/3.31 in 1987 and settled between his asked-for $497,500 and the Buc offer of $375,000. It was a good deal as Walkie put together his only All Star campaign in ‘88, slashing 12-10/2.71 in 212-2/3 IP. 
• 1990 - Bobby Bonilla, in his second year of arbitration, became the first Pirate to take his case to an arb hearing since 1983. Bonilla took it on the chin and had to settle for $1.25M after seeking $1.7M; he pulled down $730 K during the season. The arbitrator found his four-year stat line to be middling in a comparison with 14 other players who had similar service/playing time. But Bo would end up OK financially; he’d get $2.4M in 1991 and then spent the next eight years knocking down between $5.1-$6.3M per campaign plus a juicy annuity. 
• 1998 - IF Jared Triolo was born in Nashua, New Hampshire. Jared was a second-round pick in the 2019 draft out of the University of Houston. A good glove man who’s versatile - he plays SS, 3B, 2B and OF - Jared hit well in the upper levels (.282 Altoona ‘22; .293 Indy ‘23) and was called up to the show in June, 2023, to replace injured 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes. He got himself dealt into the big-league mix by playing three infield positions (1B, 2B, 3B) and batting .298. Jared saw a lot of action at second base (+6 DRS) and the hot corner (+2 DRS) in ‘24, winning a Golden Glove as a utility player though his .216 BA/71 OPS+ needs work. Tree started 63 games on the left side of the infield in 2025, but his .227 batting average still left his future role undecided. 
• 2007 - Pirates Charities completed its first project when the East Liberty Boys & Girls Club opened the Pirates Community Baseball Center, a redo of some unused space that was converted to a baseball/softball training facility. The project cost $300K, with PC putting up $165,000 and the Roberto Clemente Foundation $65,000. The Pirates had donated to various charities under prior ownership, but Bob Nutting was the first to create a formal philanthropic framework. 
• 2013 - LHP Francisco Liriano was signed as a free agent. The Cisco Kid had agreed to a two-year contract worth $12.75M on December 12th, 2012, but broke his arm before the physical, voiding the deal. A new two-year agreement was reached with lots of incentives based on starts that would allow him to reach the original contract figures. Frankie came back May 11th, finishing 16-8 with a 3.02 ERA and was the NL Comeback Player of the Year. He followed that with a 7-10 slate in 2014 with a 3.38 ERA, netting a three-year contract during the off season. Frankie was shipped to Toronto at the 2016 deadline for Drew Hutchison, who was DFA’ed at the end of the 2017 campaign. Hutch spent 2019 in the minors, working for three orgs and was in AAA ball in ’23 while the Cisco Kid tossed for the Bucs in ‘19, his last season. He retired in 2022.

2/7: Bill, Bob, Buddy, Danny & Ralph Sign, Dapper Baron, Broadway Brault; Lotsa HBD's - Humberto, Adrian, Juan, Clipper, Joe, Bill, Lefty, Jack, Mitty & John

• 1859 - P John Fox was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. John spent one of his four major league campaigns with the Alleghenys in 1884, going 1-6/5.63 while on the hill for seven complete game performances. He was, surprisingly, third in starts on the team - Fleury Sullivan and Jack Neagle got 89 starts between them, leaving just 21 outings for the rest of the staff. It was the third year of existence for the big league Alleghenys (they were in the American Association then) and the birth pangs still showed - the club won only 30 games and went through five managers during the campaign. And though Fox tossed 45 big league games for four teams over four seasons, none of them bothered to note whether he was a lefty or righty. 
• 1863 - OF Michael “Mitty” Jordan was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He played just one year of big league ball in 1890 for the Alleghenys, and that’s not too surprising considering he hit .096 in 125 at-bats (he drew more walks than he had hits, 15-12). But as his nickname tells us, he was carried as a fourth outfielder and defensive replacement, although there wasn’t much call for a 23-win team to roster a glove guy whose sole purpose was to protect late inning leads. Mitty later went home to work in the local textile industry and became a politician later in life. 
• 1875 - OF William “Spike” Shannon was born in Clarksburg (Indiana County) and raised in Pittsburgh. He attended Grove City College, where in addition to baseball, he was an oft-injured football star who played semi-pro ball afterward. Spike also put in five MLB campaigns, closing out with the hometown Buccos in 1908 with a .197 BA (his career average was a healthier .259 and he was the NL leader in runs scored in 1907, when 104 tallies for the NY Giants). After his playing career (Shannon played pro ball until 1913, his 35-year-old campaign), he was an umpire in the Federal League. The Feds folded in 1915 but Spike’s gig in blue continued on in the minors through 1931. His nickname has a couple of possibilities. One holds that he was that he was a bit klutzy and spiked several opponents, although the more prosaic explanation is that he picked it up in college, when he wore a knee brace that was pinned together by a spike. 
• 1894 - OF Charles “Lefty” Jackson was born in Granite City, Illinois. Charlie had played in the Sally League, went off to WW1 and then got a cup of coffee (OK, one at-bat) with the White Sox in 1915. The Bucs inked him in 1917 and the 24-year-old outfielder hit .240 in 121 at-bats for his big-league final hurrah. He closed out his playing days with a three-year stint with the Minnesota Millers of the American Association, retiring in 1920 at the age of 26. 
• 1907 - C Bill Steinecke was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bill was a baseball lifer who spent 13 years in the minors, getting his reward in September of 1931 when the Bucs got him into four games, going 0-for-4. Steineke continued on - he managed in the minors for 22 years, then moved on to scouting. He’s the model for the semi-famous “Steiny” in Pat Jordan’s book “A False Spring.” 

Joe Lonnett - 1977 Pirates photo

• 1927 - Coach Joe Lonnett was born in Koppel, Beaver County. A Beaver Falls HS grad who lived in Brighton Township for 45 years before passing away in 2011, he was a catcher for four seasons with the Phillies from 1956-59 before joining the coaching ranks. A long time bud and coaching extension of Chuck Tanner, he came to Pittsburgh with him from the AL - he was with Tanner when he managed the Chicago White Sox (1971-75) & Oakland Athletics (1976) - and was on the Pirates staff from 1977-84, serving as the third base coach during the 1979 World Series season. The pair worked in tandem for 14 years. 
• 1928 - OF/1B Felipe “Clipper” Montemayor was born in Monterrey, Mexico. The Bucs bought him from Mexicali in 1951 and he played for Pittsburgh in 1953 and again in 1955, hitting .173 as one of the league’s early Mexican pioneers. But he did have his time in the sun despite the stats. Montemayor had two career home runs, and they came on the same day, covering both ends of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 1st, 1955. The Clipper had a long career (1948-68) in pro ball although Pittsburgh was his only MLB stop - he started at age 20 and ended his playing days at 40, playing both in the US minors and for a decade in the Mexican League. Felipe remained in the sport after his playing days as a hometown sportswriter. He got his nickname in the 40s as a Mexican superstar, with “El Clipper” being a knockoff of Joe DiMaggio’s “Yankee Clipper” handle. He passed away in 2025 just three days shy of his 97th birthday. 
• 1937 - LHP Juan “Terin” Pizarro was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. The lefty had an 18-year MLB stint and spent 1967 and part of ‘68 with the Pirates, then returned for his last campaign in 1974, slashing 10-12-9/3.55 as a bullpen guy and occasional starter for the Bucs. Juan was a partier who lived large. Per Rory Costello of SABR, “In his childhood, he got the nickname that stuck with him for life, ‘Terín,’ (because) the neighborhood kids likened him to the main character of the comic strip ‘Terry and the Pirates.’” Pizarro was selected into the Caribbean Confederation and the Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fames with a lifetime line of 157-110/2.51 compiled during his Puerto Rican Winter League work (with an additional 38 wins in the Mexican League) to go along with his 131 major league victories and two All-Star selections. 
• 1949 - The Bucs signed OF Ralph Kiner to a one-year/$50,000 contract. During the 1948 campaign, his third in the show, he hit .265 with 40 HR, 123 RBI, 104 runs scored, .391 OPS (he walked 112 times) and a 146 OPS+, earning the first of six consecutive All-Star berths. The Bucs also signed veteran 1B Johnny Hopp to a one-year deal. He was traded to Brooklyn in May but sent back in June when the league voided the swap due to a sore arm alleged by the Dodgers’ Marv Rackley, Hopp’s return. Rackley’s wing was fine until the deal, which he didn’t like, and then suspiciously recovered once he was returned to the Dodgers. 

Ralph Kiner - 1949 Eureka Sports Stamp

• 1956 - Danny Murtaugh, who was to manage the Bucs Williamsport club, was instead signed to a major league role as a coach for Bobby Bragan after Tommy Tatum resigned. The Whistling Irishman, who had some time as a minor league skipper, took over the reins in August of 1957 after Bragan wore out his welcome. It would be the first of four managing stints spread out over 20 years (1957-1976; he was the boss man for 15 seasons) for the former Pirates infielder. 
• 1957 - Joe Brown signed the first bonus baby of his era, SS Buddy Pritchard of Southern Cal, reeling him in with a $30,000 payday. The Bucs outbid 11 other teams for his services, but like many bonus babies, being forced to tread water in the majors for a season delayed his progress enough that he remained a career minor leaguer. After eight years on the farm, he then made the transition to manage and scout for the Bucs, Cubs and MLB Scouting Bureau. 
• 1960 - Pirates reliever ElRoy Face was honored as the Dapper Dan Athlete of the Year in the annual award ceremony at the Hilton Hotel. The Baron of the Bullpen posted an 18-1-10/2.70 line with 17 victories in a row to begin the year after ending 1958 with five consecutive wins; he didn’t surrender a run in a month, from June 11th to July 12th. His teammate, Harvey Haddix, was also recognized after his 12-inning perfecto vs. the Braves at Milwaukee. 
• 1974 - OF Adrian Brown was born in McComb, Mississippi. A 48th round draft pick in 1992, he beat the odds by having a nine-year MLB career, the first six (1997 - 2002) with the Pirates as a reserve. He hit .261 during his Pittsburgh stay. The switch-hitter had a solid three-year run capped by a breakout 2000 campaign when he hit .315 w/ four HRs, 64 runs, 28 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 104 games/340 PA. But he had a pair of DL trips that season with hammy issues, and it got worse when he had rotator cuff/labrum surgery out of camp in 2001, costing him virtually all of the season. He never again came close to matching those ‘00 numbers. 

Humberto Cota - 2006 Upper Deck

• 1979 - C Humberto Cota was born in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. Cota was the Pirate backup catcher for his entire MLB career of seven seasons (2001-07) with a .233 lifetime BA after coming over from Tampa Bay as part of the Jose Guillen deal. He became a FA in 2008 and signed with the Rox but failed a drug test. Cota was suspended for 50 games and never returned. 
• 1989 - LHP Bob Kipper avoided arb by agreeing to a one-year/$230K deal (he asked for $285K, Pittsburgh countered w/$185K) with the Bucs. He spun a 2-6/3.74 line in ‘88 out of the bullpen, and said after the signing that he was eyeing up the fifth starter’s spot, vacated by Dave LaPoint. He didn’t get that job and remained a member of the relief corps, but posted a solid 3-4-4/2.93 slash in ‘89. That performance earned him a $525K salary in 1990, though this time around, he did have to take his case all the way to an arb hearing to get his payday. 
• 1991 - RHP Bill Landrum signed an $820K guarantee/$75K in incentives deal with the Bucs before arb. He had asked for $990K and the Bucs countered with $700K, with the two sides settling on a base roughly at the midpoint before the hearing. Landrum had gone 7-3-13/2.13 in 1990 with 42 saves over two seasons, but suffered from a sore knee during the second half of the campaign and had surgery on his hinge in October. He recovered to go 4-4-17/3.18 in 1991, but it would be his last year as a Bucco as he was bumped out of the closer spot by Stan Belinda. 
• 2020 - Pitcher Steven Brault picked a unique way to get ready for camp - he sang in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s three-day Pops show “Blockbuster Broadway” at Heinz Hall. He then reported to camp on the 10th, presumably with a song in his heart... Belting out show biz tunes, btw, are part of the lefty’s repertoire - shortly afterwards, he released the album “A Pitch to Broadway” (April 3rd) that featured him singing a dozen Great White Way hits.

2/6 Through the 1980s: Jose Added, Danny, Willie & Roberto Dapper; RIP Rosey, HBD Petey, Richie, T-Bone, Smoky, Dale & Buckshot

• 1901 - SS Glenn “Buckshot” Wright was born in Archie, Missouri. He played five years (1924-28) for Pittsburgh, hitting .294, and was considered one of the league’s elite shortstops until he suffered a shoulder injury in 1929. Wright was a member of the 1925 and 1927 World Series clubs and was named to The Sporting News All-Star team in ‘25 while finishing fourth in the NL-MVP vote. He got his nickname due to his strong but sometimes scattered tosses. 
• 1926 - 1B Dale Long was born in Springfield, Missouri. Long played four seasons for the Pirates (1951, 1955-57), hitting 27 homers in 1956 during an All-Star season. He put his name in the record books that year by hitting eight home runs in eight straight games between May 19th-28th, still the MLB standard, tied but never topped (Ken Griffey Jr & Don Mattingly co-share the mark). In 1958, Long became the last lefty to catch (though not much, just two games for 1-2/3 innings, and with a first baseman’s mitt) in the majors until Benny DiStefano backstopped in 1989. The big guy had a choice of careers; he turned down an audition with the Green Bay Packers as an 18-year-old to focus on baseball. 
• 1927 - C Smoky Burgess was born in Caroleen, NC. He spent six years (1959-64) as a Pirates platoon catcher, hitting .296 as a Buc, and was a key part of the 1960 World Series club. People sometimes forget what a strong player Smoky was. Burgess was a six-time All-Star who led NL catchers in fielding percentage three times, while his MLB record of 145 career pinch hits (a late career specialty) wasn’t broken until 1979 by Manny Mota. Smoky also called every pitch during Harvey Haddix’s legendary 12-inning perfecto against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959. 

Bill "T-Bone" Koski - autograph card

• 1932 - RHP Bill “T-Bone” Koski was born in Modesto, California. The Bucs signed him as a 19-year-old fastballer out of high school and he debuted that year, going 0-1/6.67, with a remarkably consistent line: 27 IP, 23 R (20 ER), 26 hits and 28 walks, lagging only in strikeouts with six. The Pirates still thought highly of him, but Uncle Sam moved first. Bill was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and after his 1954 return, he never got above Class B ball. Jeff Jardine of the Modesto Bee explained his nickname: while on a train trip with the Pirates, the teenaged Koski ate a T-bone steak for dinner. Later that night, he got hungry and ate another. A sports writer on the trip dared him to eat a third steak. He did, and so that night his teammates dubbed the growing youngster “T-Bone.” 
• 1949 - LF Richie Zisk was born in Brooklyn. A third round pick in the 1966 draft, he spent six years in Pittsburgh (1971-76), hitting .299 as a Buc before being traded to the Chicago White Sox in the Goose Gossage deal. He made post-season appearances with the 1974-75 Pirates, batting .400 in the playoffs, and hit for the cycle against the Giants in 1974. After his playing days, Zisk managed, coached and scouted for the Cubs organization through 2011. 
• 1955 - While in the midst of preparing to go to Florida with the team, announcer Rosey Rowswell was struck with uremic poisoning and passed away in Pittsburgh at the age of 71. He was the Pirates announcer from 1936 until his death, beginning back when the road games were recreated from telegraphed wire reports. Rosey was a mentor to his booth partner, Bob Prince, and came up with plenty of unique phraseology - “Open the window, aunt Minnie” for homers, the “doozie marooney” for an extra base hit, the “old dipsy doodle” for a curveball, and even coined the phrase “Buccos” among his thesaurus of colorfully fractured English. Rowswell was also an author who wrote four books of humor and poetry. 

Rosey Rowswell - 1951 Pirates Yearbook photo

• 1972 - The Dapper Dans couldn’t make up their mind, so the annual Man of the Year honor was split three ways, with Danny Murtaugh, Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente sharing in the glory at the annual awards dinner. And just to make sure there were no hard feelings, six other Buccos received recognition for their contributions during the season - Manny Sanguillen, Richie Hebner, Al Oliver, Bob Robertson, Nellie Briles and Steve Blass. The emcee was, of course, the Gunner, Bob Prince and the dinner’s chairman was retired Bucco hurler and current Allegheny County Controller Bob Friend. And to make it a better day for the Bucs, GM Joe Brown and Clemente had agreed on a $150,000 contract earlier in the day; Dock Ellis also inked his deal. 
• 1974 - Recently retired Pirate vet Jose Pagan replaced Bill Mazeroski as coach after Maz resigned from Danny Murtaugh’s staff a day earlier. Bill cited a preference to playing over mentoring and the desire to spend the summer with his family; the media also speculated the difference in pay and the loss of Maz’s long-time Bucco bud, Bill Virdon (he was fired and replaced by Murtaugh), may have also played into the decision. Jose ended up staying on for five years as a Bucco assistant before jumping ship to coach in the minors and Puerto Rico. 
• 1987 - 3B Pedro Alvarez was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. El Toro, who played at Vanderbilt, was drafted in the first round (second overall) of the 2008 MLB draft. A last minute signing, complicated by some posturing by both the FO and Scott Boras along with a suit filed by the MLBPA, was accomplished and he joined the club, ultimately receiving a $6.4M bonus. Pedro took his big league bow in 2010 and tied for the National League lead in homers in 2013 with 36 while netting an All-Star berth, but spent 2014 with a bad case of the yips at the hot corner that triggered a switch to first base in 2015. The corner flip didn’t work out, and he was non-tendered in the off season. El Toro played with the O’s for three years, then went briefly to the Miami organization, where was released during the 2019 camp. He retired and took a player development position with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2022 while completing his Vandy BA. He’s now working as the Wellness Director of his Bronx prep school, the Horace Mann School.

2/6 From 1990: Tom P, Tom K, Jonathan & Spanky Sign, Dapper Clint & Cutch, Russ Honored; RIP Ralph, HBD Zack & Luke

• 1991 - Mike Lavalliere avoided an arb hearing by agreeing to a $950K deal with the Bucs, with at-bat incentives that could push the value to $1M+. He asked for $1.14M and Pittsburgh countered with $750K, with the Pirates eventually moving their package toward Spanky’s numbers, conceding their safety cushion if his grumpy knee acted up during the season. 
• 1991 - C Luke Maile was born in Edgewood, Kentucky. Luke signed with the catching-thin club in December, 2019, for one-year/$900K ($325K minor league) after stints with the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays. He came to Pittsburgh with a rep as a glove first backstop, a Pirates priority, with a DRS of +21 and a 33% throw-out rate but also with a BA of .198. He didn’t make it out of camp; a broken finger landed him on the IL shortly before the season started and didn’t appear in a game. The Bucs let him go after the season and he signed with the Brewers. Luke became the Reds & KC's backup backstop and is now a FA. 
• 1995 - C/1B Zack Collins was born in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Drafted by the White Sox in the first round of the 2016 draft out of the U of Miami, he made his big league debut in 2019. In 2022, he was traded to Toronto for ex-Buc prospect C Reese McGuire. He saw little time there and was waived in September, when he was claimed by the Pirates despite his .194 career BA. Collins went 1-for-25 in 10 games for the Bucs, playing 1B and a couple of games behind the dish. Zack moved on to the Cleveland Guardians before retiring to become a realtor. 
• 2013 - Two-time All-Star Andrew McCutchen was honored with the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year Award. He hit .327/.400/.533 with 31 home runs in a breakout 2012 season. A total of 18 Pirates have received the Dapper Dan SOY honor, but McCutchen was only the second to be recognized in the past 20 years, and the first since Jason Kendall in 2000. 

Jonathan Sanchez - 2013 photo Harry How/Getty

• 2013 - The Pirates signed free agent LHP Jonathan Sanchez to a minor league deal. He broke camp as the fifth starter, but was released on May 8th after posting an 0-3/11.85 line in five outings (four starts), giving up seven homers in 13-2/3 IP. Known as “The Comeback Kid,” he was one cat who ran out of lives. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since, although he had inked minor league contracts w/the Cubs, Reds & Royals, and worked in the Latino and the indie leagues until 2019. 
• 2014 - Manager of the Year Clint Hurdle was honored as the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year. Hurdle joined Andrew McCutchen, Ralph Kiner, Danny Murtaugh, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Dave Parker as winners of the award. Cutch was the 2013 winner, and it was the first time Pirates had won back-to-back Dapper Dans since The Cobra in 1978 and Cap’n Willie in 1979. 
• 2014 - Pirate Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner passed away at the age of 91. He was the game’s greatest home run hitter following World War II, was elected to six All-Star Games, led or tied for the NL lead in home runs in his first seven seasons in baseball and helped keep interest in Pirates baseball alive during a dismal stretch. Kiner hit .280 w/301 homers and 801 RBI in 7-1/2 Bucco campaigns (1946-53). He finished with a career line of .279 BA, 369 HRs, 1,015 RBIs and 1,451 hits while walking 100 or more times in six of his 10 MLB seasons. After his playing days, Ralph closed out his career with a 52-year gig calling New York Mets’ games. 
• 2019 - The Pirates agreed on a minor league deal, including a 2020 option, with RHP Tom Koehler, 32, who spent most of the season rehabbing after having shoulder surgery last summer. The payday was $150K/$850K(MLB) w/$250K in incentives for the ‘19 season; the 2020 club option was for $1.25M + $1.25M in incentives with a $50K buyout. Koehler was a six-year vet with a 36-55/4.39 line, mostly as a starter, and last tossed in anger in 2017; he had his surgery in July of 2018 after being shut down for the season by the Dodgers. He returned to the hill in August of 2019, working four innings with five whiffs but giving up six runs while pitching the minors. Koehler came back on an NRI deal but didn’t make it out of camp, retiring in March of 2020. 

Russ Martin - 2014 Topps Gypsy Queen

• 2024 - C Russ Martin, who backstopped for Pittsburgh during the 2013-14 postseason runs, was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame with the ceremony taking place on June 15th. He joined a gang of other Buccos already inducted - 1B Justin Morneau, OF Jason Bay, 1B Matt Stairs, OF Cito Gaston, C Jimmy Archer, C George “Mooney” Gibson and 1B Rocky Nelson. 
• 2025 - The media leaked the news that the Bucs signed OF Tommy Pham for his age 37 season to a one-year/$4.025M deal. Tommy hit .248 w/9HR for three teams in 2024; Pittsburgh was his 10th different organization in 12 MLB campaigns. He played all three OF spots in ‘24, but his numbers weren't very sparkly: -2 Outs Above Average and -10 defensive runs saved. He was officially added to the 40-man roster 10 days later when camp opened. Tommy got off to a slow start, changed phis contact lenses, and finished the year hitting .245 w/10 HR; he became a free agent in '26. RHP Dauri Moreta, still rehabbing from TJ surgery, was placed on the 60-day IL to make room for Pham.