11/1: Starg, Maz, Roberto & Alley All-Stars, Robinson ROTY, Nicosia All-Rookie, Miceli-Sodowski, Cover Boy Omar, HBD Eddie, Gary, Miguel, Howie, Larry, Clarence, Earl, Ham & Mike

1872 - C Mike Hopkins was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He’s one of only eight native Scotsmen to play MLB, and for him it was just for one game. His family crossed the pond and took up residence in Chartiers (now Carnegie); his dad was a miner and Mike became a railroader. He also played semi-pro ball for Chartiers and his neighbor, Honus Wagner, talked the team into taking him on a road trip in 1902, a year when the Pirates were waltzing away with the pennant. He got into a blowout game at Cincinnati’s Palace of the Fans and went 2-for-2. That was his career; he was married with a child on the way and had a regular day job, so a baseball gig didn’t ring his bell. Mike worked on the RR into the 1940s, played a little sandlot ball, and raised nine children who gave him and the missus 18 grandchildren and two great-grandkids before he passed away at the age of 79.

1884 - PH Robert Hamilton “Ham” Hyatt was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Nominally a 1B/OF but used mainly as a pinch-hitter, Hyatt played for the Bucs from 1910-11, went to the minors for a season and returned from 1912-14, hitting .267 for Pittsburgh. Ham spent a couple of more years in the show and finished off his career with a PCL stint. 

1892 - C Earl Blackburn was born in Leesville, Ohio. Earl played for parts of five big league seasons, batting .262, but you can be excused if you missed him in Pittsburgh. He played one game as a 19-year old in 1912, but never made it to bat before moving on to the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves and Chicago Cubs. Blackburn then put in one more season with Kansas City  in the American Association before spending 1920 with Bethlehem of the Bethlehem Steel League, an industrial league that raided MLB players, before his horsehide trail turns cold.

1894 - RF Clarence Berger was born in East Cleveland, Ohio. His MLB resume consists of six games for the 1914 Pirates with a 1-for-13 batting line after a late September call up from the Richmond Colts, from which the Bucs had bought Berger’s contract for $2,500. He was released the following year before camp broke, played the season in the minors and got on with his life’s work.

Larry French (1933) - 1983 TSN/Conlon

1907 - LHP Larry French was born in Visalia, California.  He started his 14-year career in Pittsburgh (1929-34) and had a line of 87-83-9/3.50, winning 15 or more games four times with the Pirates. French won 197 games before he hung ‘em up and was an All-Star for the Cubs in 1940. He’s still noted for his 1933 “Soap Game.” With the Bucs up 8-0 in the ninth, French ducked out of the bullpen to get to the hot water first. But the pesky Boston Braves tied the game, and French was summoned to the mound with soap still dripping down his face. It didn’t hurt his performance; he tossed 1-2/3 squeaky-clean innings and took home the win in 10 frames.

1934 - OF Howie Goss was born in Wewoka, Oklahoma. Howie spent nine years in the minors before the Bucs called him up in 1962 after he put together a .299/27/100 slash line in the PCL. In 89 games (25 starts) Goss hit .243. As the 1963 camp broke, Goss was traded to the Colt .45s for OF Manny Mota. Goss became Houston's regular CF’er, but hit only .209 in what was his last MLB year. Manny spent six seasons as a Pirate with a .297 BA and went on to become an all-time great as a pinch hitter with the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

 
1945 - OF/3B Ben Guintini was the Pirates selection in the Rule 5 draft. He had hit .283 for the San Francisco Seals in the PCL, but went 0-for-3 as a Buc in 1946 and returned to the Seals, closing out his MLB career with three more games with Philadelphia in 1949, never managing to collect a big league hit. Ben did have a long career in the minors, playing 1,000+ games and once hitting 32 homers. He became a Cadillac salesman after he retired.

1948 - The Pirates hosted the annual farm directors conference at the Hotel Schenley in Oakland, across the street from Forbes Field. Apparently there wasn’t much on the minor league agenda; the meeting lasted just one day with an evening banquet following. The Pittsburgh hosts were Pirates GM Roy Hamey, Farm Director Ray Kennedy and Assistant Director Fred Hering.

Miguel Dilone - 1978 Topps Rookie OF's

1954 - OF Miguel Dilone was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic. He played parts of five seasons for Pittsburgh, from 1974-77 and again in 1983, but mustered just 75 PA and a .145 BA over that span and was utilized primarily as a pinch runner, finishing with 23 swipes as a Bucco and 267 lifetime steals. Dilone carved out a 12-year MLB career and had a .265 lifetime BA while playing for seven teams. The speedster was known in the Dominican as the "Saeta Cibaeña" (the Cibao Dart; Cibao is the region where Santiago is located) because of his baserunning chops. He lost an eye in 2009 to a foul ball, distracted while he was on the field helping coach young players.

1956 - 1B/OF Gary Redus was born in Tanner, Alabama. He was a minor league phenom who hit .462 while playing 68 games for the Pioneer League Billings Mustangs’ in 1978, setting a record for pro baseball that still stands, across all levels and all leagues. Redus played off the bench as a platoon bat for five years (1988-92) and was on three division-winning teams as a Pirate, hitting .255 in 398 Buc games. His biggest day as a Buc was on August 25th, 1989 when he hit for the cycle in a 12–3 victory over the Reds. Redus retired from playing in 1994, coached baseball for six years at Calhoun Community College in Tanner, Alabama, and was an outfield instructor for Pittsburgh and Houston before retiring for good.

1964 - 1B Eddie Williams was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. Williams had put in eight MLB years (and another in Japan) playing baseball’s corners when the Pirates added him to their bench at the 1997 deadline, where the 1983 first-rounder (4th overall) hit .247. He got a cup of coffee with San Diego after that and finished his career in Mexico, Korea and the indie leagues.

1967 - 2B Bill Mazeroski, RF Roberto Clemente and SS Gene Alley were named to The Sporting News 1967 NL Gold Glove Team. It was Maz’s eighth GG, Roberto’s seventh and Alley’s second. It would be the last one for the infielders while Clemente still had four more to collect.

Willie Stargell & Roberto Clemente - 2003 Fleer Fall Glory

1972 - Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente were selected as members of The Sporting News NL All Star team, as selected by the players. Another honor was bestowed on the Bucs when club president Dan Galbreath was selected as the Variety Club’s Sportsman of the Year and was recognized with other awardees at the VC’s annual dinner on November 26th. Dan’s family owned both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Darby Dan stables and produced champions from both. 

1978 - RHP Don Robinson was The Sporting News’ Rookie Pitcher of the Year. Used almost solely as a starter, he put together a 14-6/3.47 line, came in third in the NL BBWAA Rookie of the Year poll (Bake McBride of the Cards won) and finished among the Top Ten vote getters for the Cy Young Award. Robby ended strong, going 9-1 in 13 starts from August onward with five complete games.

1979 - Baseball Digest ran Omar Moreno on its cover, touting its “These Will Be The Stars Of The 80’s” story. The Antelope never did develop a n All-Star stroke, but in ‘79 he looked ready for a breakout after hitting .282 with 77 stolen sacks and a league-leading 757 PAs. As an added bonus, C Steve Nicosia was named to BD’s All-Rookie team after hitting .288 while sharing time with Ed Ott.

1996 - The Pirates traded RHP Dan Miceli to the Detroit Tigers for RHP Clint Sodowsky. Miceli started out as Pirate and in four years went 8-15-24/5.41. The Bucs gave him nine starts in ‘96 (his only year that he was used as a starter), and he spent the rest of his 14-year career primarily as a set-up guy. Sodowsky went 2-2/3.62 (his FIP was 4.67 and WHIP 1.6) in his only Bucco campaign and he was out of the bigs after tossing three games in 1999 for the Cards.

2020 - After making a boatload of player moves two days before, the Bucs finalized their 40-man roster by removing CF Anthony Alford, RHP Jameson Taillon, IF Phil Evans, RHP Michael Feliz and RHP Clay Holmes from the IL and protecting them on the roster. They had to jettison a couple of more guys to clear space: The Pirates turned down RHP Chris Archer’s $11M option for 2021, making him a FA, RHP Nick Burdi was removed from the IL & DFA'ed after he had his second TJ surgery in mid-October and RHP Dovy Neverauskas was waived.

10/31: Milt May-Jerry Reuss, '24 Roster Roll, 2011 Exodus, JR Hired, Jim Leland '90 MOTY, '89 FA Class, Cobra Surgery, Frank Thomas Inked, HBD Yamaico, Dee, Ray, Harry & Hardie

1862 - RHP James “Hardie” (his middle name was Harding) Henderson was born in Philadelphia. He tossed for six MLB campaigns, his last stint being a five-game swan song with the Alleghenys in 1888, posting a 1-3/5.35 line (he did hit .278; Hardie also played some outfield and a smidgen of infield during his career). Hardie had a good arm but forgot the zip code in his final three seasons, issuing 134 walks in 271 IP. He umpired for a while after that before meeting his Maker at age 40 when he was run down by a trolley in Philadelphia.

1874 - C Harry Smith was born in Yorkshire, England. He was a reserve catcher from 1902-07, hitting just .202 as a Bucco after joining the club as a highly touted youngster following his rookie season with the Philadelphia A’s. When the Bucs signed him, the Pittsburgh Press gushed “Clever Harry Smith...is the catcher pronounced by all the writers who are in sympathy with the National League as being the greatest young backstop in the country.” He didn’t blossom quite as advertised: Harry spent nine years in the NL and hit .209 w/-0.6 WAR. Smith was a player and manager for the Boston Doves briefly and went on to become a minor-league skipper after his playing days ended.

1894 - OF Ray O’Brien was born in St. Louis. Ray was a lifetime minor league guy, playing from 1913-32 on various farm clubs, but he did get a taste of the show in 1916 with the Pirates when he hit .211 in 57 AB/16 games. After his Bucco trial, he put together his longest stretch with one club at Denver of the Western League, spending nine seasons with the Bears. 

1924 - 1B Dee Fondy was born in Slaton, Texas. Dee joined the Bucs in 1957 from the Cubs after being dealt for Dale Long and Lee Walls, hitting .313 in 95 games. As a Bucco, he was the last player to bat at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn before the Dodgers switched coasts, grounding out. Fondy was a big guy but a contact hitter, and in the off season, the Bucs dealt him to Cincinnati for the more muscular Ted Kluszewski. Following his playing career he worked as a scout and in the FO for the Mets and the Brewers, where he signed Paul Molitor.

1955 - The Pirates signed Frank Thomas to an estimated $18,000 contract after an All-Star season when he belted 25 homers - he had a streak of six straight seasons in Pittsburgh with 23 or more dingers - though batting just .245. It was a good deal; he hit .284 with 83 homers and 278 RBI over the next three campaigns before being traded to Cincy as the centerpiece of a swap that landed Harvey Haddix, Don Hoak and Smoky Burgess for the 1959 Buccos.

Frank Thomas - 1955 Bowman

1973 - The Astros traded LHP Jerry Reuss to the Pirates for 22-year-old C Milt May. Reuss ended up 61-46-2 with a 3.52 ERA as a Buc and was a rotation mainstay for five seasons. The lefty worked six campaigns in Pittsburgh (1974-78, 1990) and spent his last MLB season as a Pirate. He did get around; Reuss was on the roster of eight different clubs at one time or another and won 220 games in a 22-year career. Milt had a quite respectable shelf life too, playing 11 more seasons, with the final two years (1983-84) a reunion gig with the Pirates. In his 15 campaigns, May hit .263 lifetime (.261 in his six Bucco years).

1980 - Dave Parker underwent knee surgery by Michigan Dr. Lanny Johnson to remove loose cartilage. The doc was recommended by Willie Stargell, who was also dealing from knee woes. The Cobra had been hobbled by the injury and a variety of other dings since after the All-Star Game. His knees survived the next season, but he had a series of other injuries (thumb, wrist, Achilles) during the remainder of his contract, exacerbated by weight issues, and signed with his hometown Cincinnati Reds as a free agent in 1984.

1987 - IF Yamaico Navarro was born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. Navarro got into 79 MLB games over four seasons; 29 were with the Pirates in 2012 after the Bucs sent RHP Brooks Pounders to KC for him. He hit .160 with an OPS+ of 27, then got a short look at Baltimore the next season after an off season deal, and that gig that ended his big league stay. Navarro has spent the last decade playing ball in Korea, Japan, the Dominican and Mexico.

1989 - Pitchers Neal Heaton and Jim Gott joined Doug Bair as free agents. Heaton negotiated a solid contract for three years/$2.7M and immediately paid dividends, earning his first All Star berth in ‘90 with a 12-9/3.45 line. The lefty wasn’t as sharp during the next campaign and was sent to KC before camp broke in 1992. Bair also reupped, but at age 40, his tank was empty and 1990 was his last campaign, split between the show and farm. Gott was coming off elbow surgery and the Bucs were unsure how he'd rebound from the injury. He ended up with the Los Angeles Dodgers for four years at the Blue’s back end (14-19-36/2.64 in 235 outings) before ending his career as a Pittsburgh Pirate in 1995.

Jim Leyland - 2020 Topps 1990's Best Teams

1990 - Jim Leyland was selected as the National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America. He guided the Bucs to 95 wins and a division title, winning the first Pirates flag since 1979 and easily outdistancing the Cincinnati Reds’ Lou Piniella in the field manager polling.

2002 - The Pirates hired John Russell away from the Twins. He was a highly-touted minor league coach in the Minnesota organization but was happy to land a gig in the majors when the Bucs brought him aboard to be the third base/catcher coach. He was let go in 2005 with Lloyd McClendon and his staff and moved on to the Phils system, but returned in 2007 as Jim Tracy’s replacement as Bucco manager. He lasted until a 105-loss season cost him his job in 2010 and then went to work for the Baltimore Orioles until 2018. JR was then an instructor with Florida’s IMG Academy until returning to the managerial ranks as skipper of the PCL Tacoma Rainiers, Seattle’s top farm club, in ‘23.

2011 - The line forms at the right: the Pirates lost C Ryan Doumit, C Chris Snyder, SS Ronny Cedeno and LHP Paul Maholm to free agency the day after deadline rentals OF Ryan Ludwick and 1B Derrek Lee had declared themselves FAs. Dewey went to the Twins, Snyder to the ‘Stros, Cedeno to the Mets, Maholm to the Cubs, Ludwick to the Reds and Lee retired.

2024 - The World Series ended and the roster rumba began. Pirates who opted for free agency were OF Andrew McCutchen, C Yasmani Grandal and pitchers Aroldis Chapman, Ryan Borucki & Jalen Beeks. Also, a couple of minor league infield corner guys were inked as Indy 1B/3B Malcom Nuñez, 23, re-signed and one-time Bucco prospect IF Tristan Gray, 28, was claimed off waivers from the A's.

10/30: Short Season Shifts, Cutch Wins Clemente, Lloyd Wins Gibson, Big Deal, Barry & AVS All-Stars, Sauer CEO, Gunner & Nellie Canned, Giusti TSN Fireman, Danny & Co Back In '59, Colts-2-Allies, Howard Joins, HBD Ian, Lee, Houston, Mosquito, Bobby, Lefty & Pete

1866 - RHP Pete Conway was born in Burmont, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philly. For Pete, it was a matter of too much, too soon. He broke into the majors at age 18 in 1885, and by his 1888 campaign made 46 starts, with 43 complete games and 391 IP on the way to a 30-14/2.26 year for the Detroit Wolverines. After Motown disbanded, Conway signed with the Alleghenys for two years at $3500 per year and then worked all of three games even though his arm was shot (the Boston Daily Globe reported that he had “snapped a cord in his arm”; later researchers believed he had a rotator cuff injury) and Pittsburgh suspended him - without pay, of course - for not being in baseball condition. He became a cause celebre with the Players Brotherhood as they tried to get his contract enforced (Pete even reported to the team daily) but to no avail; the injury was deemed to have a “natural cause.” He tried to pitch for a couple of more years, then went to Michigan to get a law degree. He coached the Maize & Blue nine for two years, but wasn’t allotted much time for either career, passing away at age 36 of a heart ailment. His older brother Jim was also a big league pitcher and his career ended because of arm troubles, too.

1884 - Financially troubled despite finishing second to New York in the American Association, the Columbus Colts sold its players to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys for $8‚000 and disbanded. The Alleghenys needed all the help they could get; they finished the 1884 season 30-78 and 45-1/2 games behind the AA champion NY Metropolitans. The deal bolstered the Pittsburgh fortunes: 10 of Columbus’ players stuck on the Alleghenys 1885 roster, and five became core players for years - C Fred Carroll, OF Tom Brown, 2B Pop Smith, 3B Bill Kuehne and P Ed Morris.

1914 - LHP Aldon “Lefty” Wilkie was born in Zealandia, Saskatchewan. Lefty worked three years in the majors, all for Pittsburgh (1941-42, 1946), posting a line of 8-11-3/4.59. He lost 1943-45 to the war as he was sent to Europe by the Army, and he never regained his pitching touch after his return. Lefty worked in the minors through 1951, then retired to Oregon.

1917 - Manager Bobby Bragan was born in Birmingham, Alabama. The former big league infielder managed the Bucs in 1956-57, just before they turned the corner, putting up a record of 102-155 (.397) and earning a showman’s rep before Danny Murtaugh took the reins. Bobby moved on to Cleveland and after a break managed the Braves from 1963-66. He went on to become president of the Texas League and chairman of the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation.

1918 - SS Tony “Mosquito” Ordenana was born in Guanabacoa, Cuba. Ordenana spent from 1942 to 1954 in pro ball, playing in 11 leagues with 14 teams. After appearing in one big league game with the Pirates in 1943, going 2-for-4 w/three RBI while handling seven chances at short, he spent the rest of his pro career in the minor leagues. Mosquito (so called because of his quickness) hurt his MLB cause by batting just .250 without ever swatting a homer on the farm.

Houston Jimenez - 1987 Fritsch/Out Of The Park

1957 - IF Houston Jimenez was born in Mexico City. Jimenez got parts of four seasons in the show, with most of his playing time as a Twin. He went 0-for-6 with a walk as a Bucco, getting into five games in 1987 before moving on to the Indians for a final cup of coffee the following campaign. Houston finished out his career playing winter ball and in the Mexican League, taking his last at bat in 2001 as a 43-year-old. He managed/coached below the border through 2024 and in 2013 he was selected into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame.

1959 - Danny Murtaugh was inked to a one-year contract, per the Pirates policy, for an undisclosed amount, another FO standard. Bill Burwell, Frank Oceak, Sam Narron, Lenny Levy and George Detore all stayed on as members of his coaching staff. Murtaugh, 42, had led the Buccos to 162 wins during back-to-back campaigns after the dark ages of the early-to-mid 50’s, with the best to come.

1960 - RHP Byron Lee Tunnell was born in Tyler, Texas. The Baylor righty was the Bucs’ second pick in the 1981 draft. He arrived in Pittsburgh the following September and then went 11-6/3.85 in 1983, but his four year run (1982-85) produced just a 17-24-1/4.06 line overall. Lee went on to toss for St. Louis and Minnesota. He pitched in the Japanese League for three seasons, then coached in the minor leagues for the Rangers and Reds with stints as the big league pitching coach. He spent last year with Lakeshore of the college summer league.

1971 - Dave Giusti was named The Sporting News Fireman of the Year by posting a line of 5-6-30/2.93 during the season after being the runner up in ‘70 to the Reds’ Wayne Granger. Though postseason stats weren’t considered for the point-based award, he was brilliant in the NLCS v the Giants and the World Series against the Orioles, giving up just four hits and no runs in 10-2/3 innings (seven outings) while earning three saves. Guisti was the last Pirate to win the award before it was renamed after the 2010 campaign; Roy Face (1962) and Al McBean (1964) were previous awardees. Also, the TSN issued on this date featured Roberto Clemente as the cover boy on its World Series Wrap Up issue, fittingly subtitled the “Corsair Cannon” for the ‘71 World Series MVP.

1975 - Westinghouse Broadcasting stunned Pirate fans by announcing that Bob “The Gunner” Prince and sidekick Nellie King were getting the ax. At the time, no major league broadcaster had ever spent more years (29) with one team than Prince had with the Pirates. The reasons given were that the pair didn’t do enough to promote the team and went off-topic too often (guilty of the latter, but not the former). Despite public outrage and a parade in his support that drew 10,000 fans, the duo were replaced by Milo Hamilton, formerly of the Atlanta Braves booth, and Lanny Frattare, the voice of the Pirates AAA Charleston club.

Ian Snell - 2004 SP Prospects

1981 - RHP Ian Snell was born in Dover, Delaware. He spent parts of six seasons (2004-09) as a Pirate starter, showing promise but never quite getting over the hump with a line of 33-46/4.75. Ian was demoted to Indy in 2009, at his own request, and traded to Seattle a month later. He bombed there and was DFA’ed in June of 2010, ending his MLB career, despite a couple of comeback efforts.

1991 - Mark Sauer was named club president/CEO after Carl Barger left for the Florida Marlins to deal with upcoming big-name free agency and negotiations to cut Pirates expenses at TRS without much financial ammunition. Sauer oversaw the cost-cutting that gutted the Pirates' 1990-92 powerhouse teams as per the orders of the Pirates' public-private ownership to reduce payroll, losing players like Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds, Doug Drabek and Andy Van Slyke. He was eased out of action by the Kevin McClatchy group and resigned in the summer of 1996; McClatchy slid into Sauers' CEO/President title. 

1992 - Outfielders Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke were named to the Associated Press All-Star team. Bonds’ line was .311 BA/34 HR/103 RBI and he would later be named the NL-MVP. AVS hit .324 and scored 103 times. But the eminent early-1990s club was coming apart. BB was an FA and signed with the Giants in December. AVS went on to have an All-Star year in ‘93, only to be curtailed by a broken collarbone just before the break, and then had a subpar ‘94 during the strike-shortened season before moving on to Baltimore in '95.

2002 - The Pirates signed the first overall pick of the draft, RHP Bryan Bullington, to a $4M deal, the most they had ever paid a draftee. The 22-year-old from Ball State was expected to be a power arm but never panned out; labrum surgery cost him the 2006 season and he was never the same pitcher afterwards. The Pirates cut him in 2007 after just three starts and six games in the show, and he failed to stick in later stints with Cleveland, Toronto and Kansas City. 

2003 - The Pirates announced price cuts for their 2004 tickets, slicing $3/ducat off full season ticket plans, a dollar off for partial fans and a sliding discount scale for single-game tickets. “We still haven’t delivered anything that we’re supposed to deliver,” Kevin McClatchy told Robert Dvorchak of the Post Gazette. “We have to do better on the field.” The move was estimated to require an extra 100,000 fans to break even, but McClatchy figured the cuts would boost the gate.

Cutch & the Clemente Award - 10/30/2015 Sports Illustrated

2015 - Andrew McCutchen became just the second Pirate to win the MLB’s Roberto Clemente community service award, following Willie Stargell, who took the honor in 1974. Cutch was presented the trophy during pre-game ceremonies before the third game of the World Series between the Mets and Royals at Citi Field. Andrew won the Pirate’s RC Award a record four straight times (2012-15), and holds the club mark of five in all, also taking the prize in 2009. Among his causes were the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, the Homeless Children's Education Fund, the Light of Life Rescue Mission and Habitat for Humanity. He also started the local “Cutch’s Crew” for at-risk inner-city kids. Even after he was traded, Cutch returned to Pittsburgh to sponsor local projects and he remained active in community/youth projects in his second go-around.

2019 - LHP Sam Howard was claimed by the Bucs from the Rockies. He was prone to the occasional meltdown outing; while he averaged better than a K per inning, he was bitten by walks and homers that blew up his ERA. Still, the lefty mostly provided the Pirates with some solid mid-game work in 2020-21. He was waived to Detroit in 2022 and that was his last pro stop.

2020 - In a short season that still saw 11 players end up on the 60-day IL, the Pirates had to make more moves than Salome to straighten out their postseason 40-man roster. They added C Michael Perez from Tampa Bay, then outrighted holdover backstops Luke Maile and John Ryan Murphy to make Perez the early backup to Jake Stallings. They also lost LHP Brandon Waddell to the Twins and RHP Nick Tropeano was claimed by the Mets off waivers. IF Kevin Kramer, RHP Yacksel Ríos and OF Jason Martin were returned from the injured list and outrighted off the 40-man roster. Before the cuts were made, pitchers Keone Kela and Derek Holland had declared free agency to start the culling of the herd.

2021 - Former Pirates player, coach and manager Lloyd McClendon received the 2021 Josh Gibson Legacy Award at a celebration held at the Wyndham Grand hotel. The Gary, Indiana native’s career began as “Legendary Lloyd” as a little leaguer and included playing eight years for three MLB teams, coaching for two more, and managing three others. Mac was also the first full time African American manager/head coach of any of Pittsburgh’s three major sports teams.

10/29: Larry Anderson-Odell Jones, Jim & Staff Return In '91, 2018 Shuffle, 100 Years of Black Baseball, RIP Bill, HBD Dana, Jim, Solly & Fido

1863 - RHP Marcus “Fido” Baldwin was born in Homestead. He only pitched two years and some change for the Pirates (1891-93) but the club got its money’s worth. Between 1891-92, Fido started 104 games, went 47-55, and worked 878 IP with a 3.14 ERA. He was known as one of, if not the fastest, thrower of his era. He also was sued by St. Louis owner Chris von der Ahe for trying to influence his players to skip leagues (which he did), and was arrested for participating in the Homestead steel strike (he was freed, claiming to be just a spectator). Fido couldn't stay out of controversy; as a minor league owner in 1896, he and his teammates were arrested and convicted of a Blue Law violation for playing the first-ever Sunday professional game in Auburn, NY, and he was fined $5. Baldwin later became a doctor and was affiliated with Homestead’s Municipal Hospital. He’s buried in Allegheny Cemetery. His nickname came about because he seemed to live his baseball life in the manager's doghouse.

1882 - OF Arthur Frederick “Solly” Hofman was born in St. Louis. Hofman played for the Pirates in 1903, then returned again in 1912-13, hitting .246 for the Bucs. Solly had a long run in the show, playing 14 years in the National, American and Federation leagues. His nickname was "Circus Solly,” credited to either a comic strip character of the era or to his acrobatic “circus catch” fielding feats.

1944 - RHP Jim Bibby was born in Franklinton, NC. The big guy worked five years (1978-83; he was out all of 1982 with a shoulder injury) for Pittsburgh, and won 19 games in 1980 during his All-Star season. He was 50-32-3/3.53 during that span. Bibby started three games in the 1979 championship run (1 NLCS, 2 WS) and while not getting a decision in any of them, put up a 2.08 ERA. His Pirates highlight was in 1981, when he gave up a leadoff bloop single to Atlanta’s Terry Harper and then retired the next 27 batters. A shoulder injury suffered later that season eventually led to his retirement in 1984. Originally, the Pirates signed him as a free agent in 1978 to replace Goose Gossage as the new closer, but he started 91 of his 146 Bucco outings. Another factoid: at 6'5", you might suspect he harbored some basketball genes, and indeed he did. Jim was an older brother of Henry Bibby and the uncle of Mike Bibby, both NBA players.

Bill McKechnie - 1979 Bob Parker Hall of Fame series

1965 - Bill McKechnie passed away in Bradenton at the age of 79. A Wilkinsburg native, Bill spent 11 years in the majors as a player, then went on to lead three different clubs to the NL pennants as a manager and earned a spot in the Hall of Fame in 1962. He was a utility guy for the Pirates in 1907 & 1910-12 to start his career. By 1922, he was a Pirates coach and replaced George Gibson as skipper in mid-season. The club played better and eventually won the World Series over the Sens in 1925. The Pirates fell to third in 1926 and McKechnie was fired (he got caught up in the ABC Affair backwash), but bounced back with managing gigs at St. Louis, Boston and Cincinnati to carry him through 1946. As a field general, he split four World Series sets and was twice named Manager of the Year. The Pirates' spring training home, McKechnie Field in Bradenton, was named after him from 1962-2017, when it became LECOM Park.

1980 - The Pirates traded a PTBNL (AAA Portland’s RHP Larry Anderson) and cash to the Seattle Mariners for RHP Odell Jones. It was a homecoming for Jones, who had pitched for the Bucs in 1975 & 1977-78, and he went 4-5/3.31 in 1981. He was in AAA in 1982 and then lost in the Rule 5 draft to Texas. Anderson had a pretty good run - he pitched through the 1994 season and ended up appearing in 699 MLB games (40-39-49/3.15). Larry was involved in one other notable deal when he was traded by the Astros a decade later to Boston for Jeff Bagwell.

1983 - LHP Dana Eveland was born in Olympia, Washington. Eveland was your basic journeyman lefty; he logged parts of 11 big league seasons with 10 teams, making 187 appearances. The Pirates got him in June, 2010, from Toronto for RHP Ron Uviedo, and Eveland spent most of the year in the minors, toeing the slab three times for Pittsburgh and giving up nine runs in 9-2/3 IP. Dana tossed a bit in Mexico in 2017 to close out his pro career.

Dana Eveland - 2010 Topps Update

1991 - The Pirates retained Jim Leyland’s coaching staff, keeping pitching coach Ray Miller, 1B coach Tommy Sandt, 3B coach Gene Lamont, batting coach Milt May and bullpen coach Rich Donnelly. They were kept for good reason; though the Pirates lost a bitter seven-game NLCS battle to Atlanta, they won 98 games while claiming the Eastern Division crown. As for the skipper, the Pirates had him contractually locked up for two more seasons and steadfastly refused permission for other teams to talk to him.

2018 - The postseason shuffle continued with SS Jordy Mercer declaring free agency after 3B Jung-Ho Kang led the charge; 2B Josh Harrison joined them two days later. JHK re-signed with Pittsburgh while Jordy and Josh moved on to the Detroit Tigers. Now Kang is out of the show while Josh last played MLB ball with Philly (he retired in 2025) and Jordy called it quits in 2022. Others leaving earlier in the month were pitchers Casey Sadler and AJ Schugel. Casey signed with Tampa Bay and retired in 2024 while it was the end of the MLB road for AJ.

2021 - The Josh Gibson Foundation held a symposium on the 100th anniversary of black baseball (delayed a year due to the Covid pandemic) at Duquesne University, titled “Why the Negro Leagues Mattered, and Still Do,” featuring a panel of profs, historians, media folk and Pirates coach Tarrick Brock. Duquesne president Ken Gormley said “The historic Negro Leagues, and hometown powerhouse teams like Josh Gibson’s Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, will always be remembered for their significant...and positive influence on Major League Baseball.”

10/28: Cutch & Shark '15 All-Stars, Tim ROTY & Jim MOTY In '92, Bo Free Agent, Neal Dismissed, Milo Goes, Nixie On Dixie, RIP T-Bone, HBD Diego, Jake, Corban, Nate, Big Bob, Gair, Canena, Joe, Percy & Big Bill

1867 - C “Big” Bill Wilson was born in Hannibal, Missouri. He played pro ball for 15 years, mostly in the minors, spending 1890 with the Alleghenys, which had been hard hit by defections to the Players League (he hit .214 and caught, played 1B and some OF) and then with the 1897-98 Louisville Colonels. He was argumentative and got into several donnybrooks during his career, stepping up to the world of crime when he retired. He was alleged to have been a member of Detroit’s “Purple Gang” and served time in Leavenworth. “Baseball” Wilson, as he was known to his associates in crime & law enforcement, met a bloody end when he was knifed in a St. Paul speakeasy in 1924. 

1899 - LHP Percy Lee Jones was born in Harwood, Texas. Percy closed out his nine-year career (seven spent with the Cubs) in Pittsburgh where the 30-year-old went 0-1/6.63 in nine games in 1930 before being sent down after becoming a Pirate in an April deal with the Boston Braves for Burleigh Grimes.

1917 - LHP Joe Page was born in nearby Cherry Valley and was raised in the mining town of Springdale. He was signed by the Yankees in 1940, starting out for the Class D Butler Yankees. Joe’s career turned in 1947 when NY flipped him from a starter to reliever, and he had several strong seasons before 1951 when his arm died, including winning the 1949 World Series’ MVP. He worked in the minors to overcome the loss of his bread-and-butter heater, coming up with a sinker (and almost assuredly a spitter, too). The Bucs gave him a shot in 1954, but after a quick start he was rocked (11.17 ERA in 9-2/3 IP) and released. He returned home to Springdale and ran a pair of local watering holes. Joe was known as “Fireman,” not only because he was a reliever but because he used to sport a red FDNY tee-shirt in the clubhouse. He was also called the “Gay (as in light-hearted) Reliever” by his bud Joe DiMaggio because of his love of the night-life. 

1924 - The Pirates got $16,545 for placing third in the NL race - they finished 90-63, three games behind the NY Giants - for a bonus of $570 for the 27 players who earned a full share with a little left over for the staff and short-timers. The cash bonus was determined by World Series revenues.

1925 - OF Luis Ángel "Canena" Sánchez Márquez was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. One of the first Puerto Rican players in the MLB, he played for both the Homestead Grays (1946–1948) and briefly for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1956), going 1-for-9 with four walks as a Buc. Though he played just two MLB seasons and 68 games, he spent 14 years in the minors, with another four seasons in the Negro League. His hometown baseball stadium is named for him.

Jewel Ens - Mears Collection/TSN

1930 - The Bucs re-signed skipper Jewel Ens to a one-year deal for an undisclosed amount. He had replaced Donie Bush late in the ‘29 campaign and the Pirates fell to fifth place in 1930, the first finish out of the first division since 1917, but Pittsburgh management attributed much of the slippage to injuries, and the suits also liked the way he handled the club, which had been in turmoil during Bush’s last year. But his leash was short and he was gone after the ‘31 season, replaced by former skipper George “Mooney” Gibson. 

1931 - IF Gair Allie was born in Statesville, North Carolina. The Pirates signed Allie out of Wake Forest in 1952 where he went to school with Arnie Palmer. He got a lengthy look in 1954, but hit just .199 in 121 games, and his chance to challenge in camp the following season was dashed by a broken ankle. He played well in the Southern League after he recovered and had a solid 1956 in AAA Hollywood, then lost a year to the service. Gair never put together a strong season after his return from the military and retired in 1961.

1935 - Big lefty Bob Veale was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He pitched 10-1/2 years for the Pirates (1962-72) with a line of 116-91/3.06 and 1,652 strikeouts. Veale led the league with 250 K in 1964 and had over 200 whiffs four times in his career; his 276 punchouts in 1965 are still a club record. He also led the league in walks four times. After his retirement from pitching in 1974 after a shoulder injury, he returned to his hometown, serving a few years as a coach for the Braves and Yankees. Veale stayed connected to baseball by working as a groundskeeper at Rickwood Field, a ballyard he played on as a youth. In 2006, Veale was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

1955 - Dixie Walker, manager of minor-league Rochester, pulled his hat out of the Bucco manager’s ring, telling Joe Brown that he was happy as part of the Cardinal organization and decided to stay after earlier expressing an interest in the job. His brother, Harry “The Hat” Walker, was also a skipper in the Redbird system and would take the Pirates helm a decade later in 1965. Bobby Bragan, an early front-runner, got Fred Haney’s job and lasted just through the 1957 campaign.

1979 - Radio announcer Milo Hamilton, who replaced Bob Prince in the booth but not in the hearts of the Bucco faithful, told the media that he was leaving the Pirates after four years, as soon as his contract expired at the end of the year. He made the move official the next day by announcing a deal with the Cubs, for whom he had broadcast earlier in his career. Milo was let go there in 1984 after clashing with Harry Caray before finding a home in Houston, where he broadcast from through 2012 on the final leg of his road to a Ford Frick media award.

Nate McLouth - 2008 Topps All-Star

1981 - OF Nate McLouth was born in Muskegon, Michigan. Drafted in the 25th round of the 2000 draft, he spent his first five big league years (2005-09) with the Bucs, hitting .256 and earning an All-Star spot in 2008. McLouth was traded to the Braves for Gorkys Hernandez, Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke after his AS season when his value was high and Andrew McCutchen was ready to step in to play center field. Nate finished his 10-year career with Washington in 2014.

1988 - Utility man Corban Joseph was born in Franklin, Tennessee. The younger brother of Caleb, he had cups of coffee with four different organizations before the Pirates claimed him late in the 2019 campaign from the Giants. He only hit .169 in his MLB stops, but had a .371 BA with 13 homers while spending most of the 2019 season in the PCL. He reverted to form to bat .182 in an August/September stint with the big club and was let go in the offseason. Corban finished his career following the 2021 campaign after being released by the Washington Nats.

1991 - Bobby Bonilla became a free agent. In his six years with Pittsburgh (1986-91), Bobby Bo slashed .284/.357/.481 w/114 HR, 500 RBI, four All-Star nods and was twice a top-three finisher for the MVP. He signed with the Mets for five years/$29M, making him the highest paid player in baseball at the time. He got deferred money from that deal and more from a buy-out of his second contract that pays him $1.19M annually until 2035. A couple of other Bucs, 3B Steve Buechele and P Bob Kipper, also declared for FA. Buechele returned to the fold while Kip signed with the Minnesota Twins.

1992 - Jim Leyland was named the National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America for the second time, receiving 20 of 24 first-place ballots to outpoll Felipe Alou of the Expos. Pittsburgh won 96 games and the division, only to be derailed by Atlanta in a seven game NLCS. Leyland would remain with the Bucs through the 1996 campaign, never winning more than 75 games after roster deconstruction began in the ‘92 offseason, then moved on to Florida, Colorado and Detroit. On the same day, RHP Tim Wakefield was named The Sporting News Rookie Pitcher of the Year.

1996 - RHP Jake Woodford was born in St. Petersburg, Florida. A 2015 first-round draft pick of the Cards, he tossed for them through 2023 as a long man/starter. He was with SL through 2023, signed with the White Sox and was DFA’ed by them in June of 2024 with a career line of 10-9/4.57. The Pirates claimed him and sent him to Indy before calling him up at the end of July. He was DFA’ed late in the year and returned to Indy. He declared for free agency after the season and worked for Arizona; he’s now a FA again.

Diego Castillo - 2022 Topps Allen & Ginter

1997 - IF Diego Castillo was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. A Yankee prospect, the Pirates picked him in 2021 as part of the Clay Holmes trade. He spent most of that year in AA, but his performance the following spring earned him a spot on the roster when camp broke. He got into 96 games for the Bucs, hitting .206 with 11 dingers in 262 ABs while playing every IF spot and RF. After a minor league swap, Diego rejoined the Yankees’ system. He’s been on an odyssey since then and is now playing in the Latin leagues. 

2015 - CF’er Andrew McCutchen and closer Mark Melancon were named to The Sporting News' National League All-Star team. Cutch hit .292 with 23 HR and 96 RBI, making his fourth straight appearance on the list, while Mark the Shark, who set a Pirate record and led the majors with 51 saves while appearing in 78 games & posting a 2.23 ERA, was a first-time awardee. It was a big day for Melancon; he also took home the 2015 Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year award.

2018 - Pirates scout Tom “T-Bone” Baker passed away at his Huntington, WV, home at age 75. Baker had served as a regional scout for the Pirates from 1990-2013 when health issues bumped him to part-time status; he also worked as a systems engineer until retiring from that gig in 1997. He and his dog “Scout,” who attended the games with him, knew every ballyard in the area inside and out as T-Bone played for Huntington HS and Marshall University. 

2019 - The Pirates made it a clean front office sweep by dismissing GM Neal Huntington after earlier relieving manager Clint Hurdle and President Frank Coonelly. Kevan Graves, one of the Pirates' assistant GMs, served as interim GM while the Pirates conducted a search for Huntington’s position, resulting in Ben Cherington’s hire two weeks later. The other newbies brought aboard were President Travis Williams, from of all places the Penguins, who was officially named as Coonelly’s replacement starting on November 1st and Derek Shelton, who was chosen manager on the 27th.

10/27: Meyer MOTY, Grimm-Grantham & Co, Fred Out Donie In, Spud Joins, Tony Dangled, Flood Anti-Trust, Blass Back, HBD Ralph, Jon, Jason, Mike, UL, Pete, Rube & Charlie

1876 - IF Charlie Kuhns was born in Freeport. The local lad made his MLB debut in 1887 for the Bucs as a 20-year-old fill-in for one-game, going 0-for-3 with a walk. He almost lost that line (and maybe wishes he did): the game he played in was at Philly, and the Pirates were losing but threatening weather was rolling in. Warming up between innings, the ball was zinged over his head and into the crowd, and the Bucs went on a recon mission to find it. Philadelphia pleaded their case to the ump that the Pirates were playing a delay game, hoping for the storm to hit. The ump agreed, but the Pittsburgh players remained a bit leisurely despite his warning, so he called the game in favor of the Phillies. Pity - the rains came shortly after the field was cleared; the Bucs likely would have got their wish for a washout if they had played it straight. As for Kuhns, he got a cup of coffee at Boston the next season and ended up with nine minor & indie league campaigns under his belt, mostly in the Eastern League, before retiring to home. 

1918 - RHP Ed “Rube” Albosta was born in Saginaw, Michigan. The Bucs drafted Ed from the Dodgers in 1942 after he had made a couple of September starts for Brooklyn, but he entered the service afterwards and was in the military from 1942 through 1945. Albosta spent the entire 1946 season with Pittsburgh and made 17 appearances. He finished with an 0-6 record and 6.13 ERA, ending his MLB days. Although he had a strong campaign or two in the minors, he never got another call up and retired from baseball after the 1954 season. Ed returned home and was named to the Saginaw Sports Hall of Fame. 

1922 - OF Ralph Kiner was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He led the NL in home runs for seven straight seasons as a Buc. Mr. Swat hit 301 bombs, drove in 801 runs, and had a .971 OPS in his eight Pittsburgh seasons (1946-53) and was named an All-Star six times. Kiner played part of 1953 and all of ‘54 with the Chicago Cubs, finishing his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1955 before a back injury forced him to retire from baseball at the age of 32. Ralph was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Pirates retired his #4 in 1987.

1924 - 1B Charlie Grimm, LHP Wilbur Cooper and SS Rabbit Maranville were traded to the Chicago Cubs for RHP Vic Aldridge, 1B George Grantham and rookie 1B Al Niehaus. Cooper was nearing the end of his career, Maranville would have two more strong seasons with Boston, and Grimm played for Chicago for the next dozen years, hitting .296 with 1,079 RBI and became their player-manager. Grantham hit .300 over six seasons with Pittsburgh, Aldridge won 40 games in his three-year Bucco tenure and Niehaus, 26-years-old and a key component in the deal as a highly rated minor league infielder, split 1925 between the Pirates and Reds in his only MLB campaign.

George Grantham - TSN Collection

1926 - Barney Dreyfuss received Fred Clarke’s resignation letter and named Donie Bush, the manager of Indianapolis of the American Association, as the Bucs new skipper. The switch was the final shake of the broom that cleaned out the ABC Affair fallout. Bush would have his own reckoning  - although he won the pennant, he irked the fanbase by his benching and eventual trading away of Kiki Cuyler, and then finishing in fourth-place in ‘28. Though in second in ‘29, he was 14-1/2 games behind the Cubs in August and resigned, jumping to the White Sox.

1935 - According to Charlton’s Baseball Chronology, a touring group of American League All-Stars topped the Negro League champion Pittsburgh Crawfords, 7-2, in Mexico City in the final match of a three-game barnstorming series. Rogers Hornsby drove in three runs against Bert Hunter after having driven in three more the day before when the All-Stars won, 11-7. The first game ended in a 6-6 tie. The AL squad featured Hornsby, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Lyons and Vern Kennedy while the Crawfords roster included Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson and Cool Papa Bell.

1939 - The Pirates purchased C Spud Davis from the Phils. Spud caught 99 games in 1940, but in 1941 Al Lopez took over the Pirates starting catcher's role. The next season, Spud became a coach for the Pirates before returning to the active roster in 1944-45 due to player shortages of WW2. In his four Pirate seasons, he hit .301 and continued as a Bucco coach (he also served as the manager for a short stint after Frankie Frisch resigned in 1946) and a scout. He then played farm ball and coached for the Cubs, retiring in 1953.

1948 - Manager Billy Meyer was selected as The Sporting News MLB Manager of the Year, edging out Boston’s Billy Southworth by an 89-87 vote tally. After 22 years in the minors, he improved the hapless Pirates by 21 games to fourth place with an 83-71 record, 8-1/2 games behind Southworth’s first place Braves (and just 2-1/2 games off the pace on September 12th before a late season nosedive). The glow wore off quickly after new GM Branch Rickey dealt the vets and rebuilt; Meyer and his Pirate puppies lost 112 games in 1952 and Billy resigned. 

Billy Meyer - 1949 Eureka Sports Stamp

1952 - RHP/coach Pete Vuckovich was born in Johnstown. In his 11-year MLB career, he never tossed for the Pirates, but in 1992 he was hired by Pittsburgh as a pitching instructor. Vuckovich served as the pitching coach during the 1997–2000 seasons for Gene Lamont, then worked his way through the organization to become the Special Assistant to the General Manager until joining the Seattle organization in 2012. Pete also had a role in the movie “Major League,” uttering the snarky “How’s your wife and my kids?” line. Pete is a member of the Clarion University Sports Hall of Fame, the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

1953 - IF UL Washington was born in Springtown, Oklahoma. He closed out his 11-year big league visit in 1986-87 with the Pirates, batting .207 off the bench. After ending his playing career, Washington coached in the minors for the Pirates (1989), Royals (1991–98), Dodgers (1999), Twins (2001–02) and the Red Sox (2003–2014). Two UL factoids: UL isn’t shorthand for anything; it’s actually his given name. Also, the toothpick he always had in his mouth was a by-product of Astroturf. UL had always played with a blade of grass in his mouth until he got to the show where there were no more grass fields, so he substituted a toothpick.

1962 - RHP Mike Dunne was born in South Bend, Indiana. The US Olympian from 1984 came to the Pirates as part of the Tony Pena trade and paid immediate dividends, going 13-6 with a 3.03 ERA in 1987 and finishing second to Benito Santiago in the Rookie-of-the-Year balloting (he won the TSN NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year award). He began to encounter arm problems and couldn’t match his first-year numbers, winning just eight more games before being traded to Seattle in 1989. His Pittsburgh slash was 21-18/3.65. Dunne’s last MLB campaign was in 1992 with the White Sox, and he left there to coach at his alma mater, Bradley University. Now he‘s involved with instructional baseball and basketball camps. 

1973 - RHP Jason Johnson was born in Santa Barbara, California. He was signed by the Pirates in 1992 out of high school and made his debut in 1997, working six innings and giving up four runs before being lost to Tampa Bay in the expansion draft. He turned into a journeyman, working 11 seasons for eight teams and spending another year in Japan. Jason played through lifelong Type 1 diabetes; he was the first MLB player to wear an insulin pump on the field. 

Jon Niese - 2016 Topps

1978 - LHP Jon Niese was born in Lima, Ohio. After working eight years as a Met, Niese was traded to Pittsburgh for Neil Walker in 2016. He was 8-6 for the Bucs, but a 4.91 ERA and 1.545 WHIP were more indicative of his performance. On August 1st, the Pirates sent him back to NY for Antonio Bastardo, a trade tree Neal Huntington would like to forget about. The Mets bought him out after the season, and he signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees but was let go in June. He didn’t have any better luck in 2018,  auditioning with the Rangers but being released in camp and ditto with the Mariners in 2019, his last hurrah. 

1986 - The Post Gazette’s Bruce Keidan wrote that C Tony Pena, who was entering the walk year of his contract, was available; Syd Thrift had already tried to get Glenn Wilson from the Phils in a deal that Philly declined. But Keidan was right that Thrift wasn’t going to sign Pena, who was nearing 30, to a long-term deal, and before camp broke in 1987, Tony was on his way to St. Louis for Andy Van Slyke, Spanky LaValliere and Mike Dunne in one of the GM’s better deals.

1998 - President Bill Clinton signed the Curt Flood legislation that overturned part of baseball's 70-year-old antitrust exemption (the reserve clause), putting baseball on a par with other professional sports on labor matters after Congress approved it unanimously earlier in the month. The new law overrode part of a 1922 Supreme Court ruling that exempted baseball from antitrust restrictions on grounds that it was not interstate commerce. The law took three sessions of Congress to pass and revoked the antitrust exemption only for labor relations, kicking the other issues down the road for another day.

2005 - Color man Steve Blass signed a one-year deal with an option while analyst John Wehner inked a straight one-year contract to broadcast with FSN Pittsburgh. They joined Lanny Frattare, Greg Brown and Bob Walk, who were already signed for the upcoming season, in the booth.