Cookie, Matty, & Bailey for Wills...
- 1912 - IF Cookie Lavagetto was born in Oakland, California. He started his MLB career as a Bucco bench player, batting .249 between 1934-36. He was then traded to the Dodgers, where he blossomed into a four time All-Star before losing the next four years to WW2, then returning to Brooklyn for two more campaigns. After his career, he managed the Washington Senators & Minnesota Twins from 1957-61. He got his nickname as an Oakland Oak early in his career, copied from team owner Cookie DeVincenzi.
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| Cookie Lavagetto 1936 Goudey series |
- 1965 - The Bucs traded for Giants’ CF Matty Alou‚ who was coming off a .231 season‚ sending LHP Joe Gibbon and IF Ozzie Virgil to the Bay. Alou played five seasons in Pittsburgh, winning a batting crown in 1966 and putting up four straight .330+ years after manager Harry “The Hat” Walker retooled his batting approach. He finishing in the NL’s top five in hitting between 1966-69. In 2007, the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame inducted Alou into their Hall of Fame after he finished his 15 year career with a .307 BA.
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| Matty Alou - cover of 7/27/1968 Sporting News |
- 1966 - The Pirates sent 3B Bob Bailey and SS Gene Michael to the Dodgers for SS/3B Maury Wills. Wills hit .290 and stole 81 bases for the Bucs in his two seasons with the club. He was lost in the 1968 expansion draft, played a year with Montreal and closed out his career where he started it, in Los Angeles. The highly-hyped Bailey had been signed out of Wilson High School in Long Beach in 1961, and was given the largest signing bonus ever paid up to that time, a reported $135,000. But the defensively challenged 3B - he was shifted to 1B later in his career - hit just .257 as a Buc, and that ended up to be his career MLB average.
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| Bob Bailey 1963 IDL Drug Store promo picture |
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