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.

2/5: Freddy & Dale Sign, Ted Hired; Jay Canadian HoF, Dapper Dick, Leyland Field; RIP Barney, HBD Grant, Javier, Tiger, Jack, Lick & Charlie

• 1852 - 1B Charlie Hautz was born in St. Louis. Charlie got his start in 1875 with his hometown Red Stockings when he hit .301 in 19 games. Then he took a circular route back to the show, flipping between umpiring (for three seasons) and minor league gigs until the Alleghenys gave him another shot a decade later at age 32 in 1884. He hit .208 in a seven-game audition, playing mostly first and a little center, and that was the last entry on his big league resume. Hautz returned to St. Louis and went on to a series of blue collar jobs. 
• 1910 - Matthew “Lick” Carlisle was born in Wenonah, Alabama. After playing SS for Montgomery, New Orleans, Birmingham and Memphis, Lick joined the Homestead Grays in 1935. A very good gloveman and dangerous base stealer, he mainly started and batted second for the Grays through 1943, then closed out his career as a bench player, retiring after the 1946 campaign following a tour in the Navy. He remained in Pittsburgh until he passed away in 1972. 
• 1925 - OF Jack Maguire was born in St. Louis. His early career started late when he was in the service from 1943-45, but he returned to the Giants system and in 1950 made his big league debut. Unfortunately for him, the G-Men had another young OF’er coming up who bumped Maguire out of his slot: Willie Mays, who not only took his position but his number 24. He was waived in May of 1951, then claimed by the Pirates, who kept him for a month as a bench guy (he went one-for-five in nine games) and released him again, this time to the St. Louis Browns where he finished out a hectic year. He was sent to the minors in 1952 and he retired after the year, tired of the travel and ready for some family time. He did drop one of the great baseball nicknames on an American Legion teammate of his after joining him & a pal at the movies. On the screen was a travelogue of India that showed its mystics, and one of the swamis reminded Jack of his bud sitting beside him, Lawrence, whom he dubbed “Yogi” Berra. 
• 1928 - 3B Don Hoak was born in the Potter County town of Roulette. The Tiger played four years for the Pirates (1959-62), hitting .281 and earning two All-Star outings after coming over as part of the 1959 Frank Thomas deal with the Reds. Hoak was renowned for his scrappy play on the diamond, earning the Gunner-given nickname of “Tiger” by living up to his resume as an ex-boxer and Marine. After his playing days ended, Hoak was a Pirates' broadcaster for two years and managed a couple of seasons in the Pirate farm system; he was one of the final candidates for the 1970 skipper’s position that went to Danny Murtaugh. 

Don Hoak - 1960 Topps

• 1932 - Longtime owner and one of baseball’s early pathfinders, Barney Dreyfuss, died at 66, leaving Pirate ownership to his widow Florence and his son-in-law Bill Benswanger. Not only was he influential in developing Pittsburgh sports, building a solid franchise and a signature park, but he was also a sturdy rudder for baseball as it sailed some stormy seas in its early decades. In Dan Bonk’s Story of Forbes Field, it was noted that “Between 1895 and 1932, Dreyfuss was in the middle of every important decision facing professional baseball including syndication, contraction, league conflicts, the Federal League, schedules, and of course, the scandal arising out of the 1919 World Series.” 
• 1956 - 1B Dale Long, 30, signed his contract for $13,500 after hitting .291 w/16 homers in his first full-time season. The amount was well worth it - he made his only All-Star appearance in ‘56 while belting 27 homers, driving in 91 runs, and putting his name in the record books by hitting eight home runs in eight straight games, a record since tied but yet to be topped. 
• 1961 - The Dapper Dan added to Dick Groat’s 1960 gift bag of awards by naming him, along with Arnold Palmer, as Sportsman of the Year, replacing the ‘59 awardee, teammate Elroy Face. Also being recognized at the Hilton Hotel Ballroom were owners John Galbreath and Tom Johnson, along with GM Joe Brown, for their contributions to the City’s sports scene through the years. And not to pile on, but Danny Murtaugh was recognized as the Manager of the Year while Face, Bill Mazeroski, Hal Smith, Vern Law, Don Hoak, Bill Virdon, Bob Friend, Vinegar Bend Mizell and Rocky Nelson had to clear more space in their trophy cases for various honors that the Dapper Dan bestowed on them. 
• 1977 - RHP Javier Martinez was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Martinez was a third-round pick of the Cubs in 1994 who was claimed as a Rule 5 player in 1997 by the A’s; the Pirates bought him from Oakland and he lasted through the campaign, going 0-1/4.83 in 37 games. After two years in the minors, he couldn’t work his way back to the show and was released by Pittsburgh. His career in the states ended after the 2005 season which he spent tossing for an indie club. 

Javier Martinez - 1988 Pacific On Line

• 1992 - The Pirates hired Ted Simmons as General Manager, replacing Larry Doughty. He served in that position for only a year, retiring after suffering a heart attack in June 1993. He was under a lot of job-related stress, as ownership wanted to trim payroll, resulting in an antsy locker room as players such as Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Doug Drabek were lost to greener pastures. Cam Bonifay, the Assistant GM and former Scouting Director, replaced Simmons. 
• 1993 - The baseball diamond at Perrysville (OH) HS was renamed Jim Leyland Field. Leyland, a 1962 grad of PHS, said “I really thought you had to be dead before they did anything like this.” In that vein, he did muse that “I’ll bet a lot of my old teachers are rolling in their graves...” 
• 1997 - C Grant Koch was born in Fayetteville, Arizona. The Razorback backstop was taken by the Bucs in the fifth round of the 2018 draft (#144 overall) and settled in as an organizational player. Grant got his call up in May of 2024 when both Joey Bart and Jason Delay went down. A glove-first guy, he got into three games, made eight plate appearances and was pretty much a true outcome player, walking once and whiffing six times in the other seven at-bats. 
• 2008 - 2B “Steady” Freddy Sanchez inked a two-year/$11M contract with an option for $8M in 2010. He lasted half way through it before being traded at the 2009 deadline to the Giants for RHP Tim Alderson. Sanchez played only one full season for the G-Men, the 2010 World Series campaign, as knee and shoulder injuries eroded his career. Alderson never cashed in as a Pirate prospect and has been out of baseball since the 2016 campaign, which was spent tossing indie ball. 
• 2019 - OF Jason Bay was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. A native of Trail, British Columbia, Bay was the 2004 NL Rookie of the Year and was selected to three All Star games during his 11-year career, spent playing with the Pirates, Padres, Red Sox, Mets and Mariners. He became the fourth Bucco - Matt Stairs, Rocky Nelson and George “Mooney” Gibson are the others - to enter the Ontario Hall, with his induction on June 15th.

2/4 Through 1964: Joe Joins, George Goes, Hoopin' Hans, Roberto Dapper, All-Time Bucs; HBD Dan, Steve, Johnny, Possum & Lefty

• 1875 - OF Alfonzo “Lefty” Davis was born in Nashville. Between 1901-02, he went to the plate 678 times for the Pirates and hit .300 w/.399 OBP, scoring 139 runs in 146 games played while swiping 41 sacks. Despite that production on the bases, he would only play two more big league seasons (.237 BA/.292 OBP with three other teams), spending most of his career toiling in the minors as both a player and manager. Lefty passed away on his birthday in 1919. 
• 1890 - UT George “Possum” Whitted (he picked up his nickname because of his tales of backwoods possum hunting) was born in Durham, North Carolina. Possum played in Pittsburgh from 1919-21, hitting .286 while manning first, third and left field. The vet was at the back end of an 11-year big league career while with the Pirates, and after one game for the Dodgers in 1922, his MLB days were done. His versatility was a big part of his longevity. Possum was the first rookie in history to start at every position except pitcher and catcher during a season, and over the course of his career started at least 39 times at every non-battery position. 
• 1902 - The Hans Wagner basketball team made its debut, defeating a five from McDonald by a 9-5 score. It was common for players to work or tour in some fashion during the off-season to augment their meager pays, wrote Max Bultman of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (per Baseball Reference, The Flying Dutchman made just $138,500 during his 17-year career, topping out at $10K per season). Barnstorming was an especially popular practice for star players, who could trade in on their name for cash to carry them through the winter; the Pittsburgh Press of 2/5/1902 noted that pitcher Deacon Phillippe canceled a trip to Virginia because he was too busy practicing for manager Fred Clarke’s hockey team. Wagner was an all-around athlete - Hans’ hoopsters were an off season tradition and Wagner himself helped coach basketball at Carnegie HS and Carnegie Tech during the off-season and his post-baseball years. 
• 1916 - RHP “Schoolboy” (he was a high school whiz on the mound, once striking out 25 opponents) Johnny Taylor was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Schoolboy began his pro career in the Negro/Latin Leagues in 1935 and joined the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1938, going 11-2. Like many on the team, he jumped to Mexico the following year and played there until 1942 when he entered the Army during WW2. He played ball sporadically after the war, tossing his last game in 1948. 

Joe Harris- 1927 photo George Rinhart/Detroit Public Library

• 1927 - The Bucs claimed veteran 1B/OF Joe Harris for the waiver price from Washington, where he was made expendable by the acquisition of Tris Speaker even though Joe had hit .306. Harris, an Allegheny County native from Coulter on the Yough, was happy with the deal, and the Bucs were, too. He started 116 games in Pittsburgh as a 36-year-old despite a foot injury, hitting .326 and was batting .391 into June of 1928 when he was flipped to the Brooklyn Robins for Charlie Hargreaves in what became Harris’ final stint after 10 MLB seasons. 
• 1932 - The Pirates sold 31-year-old 2B George Grantham to the Reds. Grantham was the Bucco second sacker for the 1925 and 1927 World Series clubs and put up seven straight .300+ seasons for Pittsburgh, with a BA of .315 between 1925-31. The FO must have had a glimmer that his tank was running low; his .300 streak ended at Cincinnati (.294) while his Pirates replacement Tony Piet hit .282 and then .323 the following campaign. George became a sub for the Reds in 1933 and the next campaign was his final MLB tour of duty. 
• 1934 - The Pittsburgh Press announced its all-time Pirates squad (it was a limited edition, with the years bookended from 1900-33) but it was a pretty decent collection of talent - the outfield was RF Paul “Big Poison” Waner, CF Ginger Beaumont & LF Fred Clarke, the infield was made up of 3B Pie Trayner, SS Hans Wagner, 2B Claude Ritchey & 1B Kitty Barnsfield, and the battery consisted of C George “Mooney” Gibson, southpaw Wilbur Cooper & righty Deacon Phillippe. 1949 - OF Steve Brye was born in Alameda, California. Steve was a former first round pick of the Twins out of high school and had eight years in the show when the Pirates signed him as an extra outfielder in 1978. He played all three outfield spots during the campaign and pinch hit, getting into 66 games while batting .235 during the year. He was released after the season, played a year in AAA Hawaii for San Diego and retired at the age of 30. 

Steve Brye - 1979 Topps

• 1962 - LHP Dan “Sacman” Plesac was born in Gary, Indiana. He was a Buc from 1995-96, about in the middle of his 18-year career in the show, and slashed 10-9-14/3.86 while with Pittsburgh. He was a part of the deal swung after the 1996 campaign that brought Jose Silva, Craig Wilson and Abraham Nunez to the Pirates from the Toronto Blue Jays. Dan did some broadcasting work after his playing days and the avid racing fan now trains horses. 
• 1962 - Roberto Clemente was given the Dapper Dan Man of the Year Award after hitting .351 in 1961 to claim the NL batting title, his first of four crowns. Ex-Pittsburgh mayor and then Pennsylvania governor David Lawrence presented Clemente with his plaque to a standing ovation from the 2,000+ fans packed into the room. The Great One was humble, saying that “This award belongs to the fans and my teammates as much as it does to me." Dick Stuart also was recognized with a DD award after hitting .301 with 35 HR’s and 117 RBI’s.