Schwall & Pags, Rick Reuschel, Jim Leyland Hired, Happy B-Day, Jeff Locke...
- 1962 - The Pirates traded 1B Dick Stuart and P Jack Lamabe to the Boston Red Sox for P Don Schwall and C Jim Pagliaroni. Pags appeared in 490 games over the next five years for the Bucs, batting .254 while Schwall became a multi role pitcher, tossing four years for Pittsburgh with a 22-23-4/3.24 ERA. Stu hit 103 homers in the next three seasons and then faded away, while Lamabe lasted six more seasons in the show, with a couple of strong campaigns in 1966-67.
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| Don Schwall 1965 Topps series |
- 1985 - 36 year old Rick Reuschel was named the NL’s Major League Comeback Player of the Year by United Press International. Reuschel went 14-8 with a 2.27 ERA, starting the year with Hawaii in the Pacific Coast League after signing as a free agent with Pittsburgh during the off season.
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| Rick Reuschel 1989 Fleer series |
- 1985 - Syd Thrift hired Jim Leyland to manage the Pirates, replacing Chuck Tanner. During his Pirate years from 1986 to 1996, Leyland won two Manager of the Year awards (1990 & 1992), finished as runner-up in 1988 and 1991 and led the team to three divisional titles (1990-92).
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| Jim Leyland 1989 Topps series |
- 1987 - LHP Jeff Locke was born in North Conway, New Hampshire. He joined the Bucs in 2009 as part of the Nate McLouth trade, and the Redstone Rocket - Redstone is his home neighborhood - made his MLB debut in 2011, joining the rotation in 2013 and earning an All-Star berth that season.
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| Jeff Locke 2012 Bowman Chrome Rookie series |
Love your historical retrospective as always, Ron! Reuschel brought back memories. He was of course much better known for his work with the Cubs, but his late career renaissance with Pittsburgh was one of the few bright spots for the Pirates of that era. Didn't he also have a brother (Paul?) who also pitched for the Cubs? Re: Locke. I am not a big fan, though he has one big plus and that has been durability. There doesn't seem to be any specific explanation for his boom or bust career to date---other than his probable injury in 2013, which as usual was "Belichicked" by the current front office. But I think the deal with him is that while he has four pitches and throws them all pretty reliably for strikes, none of those pitches is truly a "plus" pitch. He doesn't have a hammer or reliable out pitch. Thus, when he is on, he is throwing his four so-so pitches for strikes and is commanding them exceptionally well. When he is off, he doesn't have the stuff to last very long against most lineups. Your take?
ReplyDeleteLiked Rick myself, Will - he was always one of those easy throwing, under control guys on the hill. As for Paul, he and Rick are the only brothers to ever combine for a MLB shutout; Paul relieved Rick in the 7th while with the Cubbies to seal a whitewash.
ReplyDeleteI think Locke prob needs to be a little less cute & stay aggressive on the edges of the zone; his probs seem to start when he looks for early swings and misses. That ain't happening against any club with an iota of plate patience, and then he has to work from behind. As you noted, strikes are the name of his game.