Andre Rodgers, The Baron, Dealin' With KC, Danny Murtaugh Passes, Bobby Bo Leaves Town...
- 1934 - UT Andre Rodgers was born in Nassau, Bahamas. He was with the Bucs from 1965-67, batting .257 over that time, playing all four infield spots and seeing action in left field, too. Rodgers was the first Bahamian to play in the major leagues. A talented cricket player who paid his own way for a tryout with the Giants in 1954, he finally cracked the majors in 1957 and played 11 big league seasons, finishing with a .249 BA.
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| Andre Rodgers 1967 Topps series |
- 1952 - The Pirates drafted ElRoy Face from the Montreal Royals, the top minor league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. During a 15-year career with the Pirates, Face led the NL in saves three times, collecting 100 wins and 188 saves as a Bucco while popularizing the forkball, a prototype of the modern day splitter. He retired to N. Versailles where he made his living as a carpenter.
- 1970 - The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Kansas City Royals completed a six player trade with P Bruce Dal Canton, C Jerry May and SS Freddie Patek going to the Royals and C Jim Campanis, SS Jackie Hernandez and P Bob Johnson sent to the Bucs. Patek and Dal Canton were everyday players for KC, with Patek playing nine years for the KC and winning three All-Star berths. Johnson was 17-16-7/3.34 with the Bucs and Hernandez was a reserve infielder, both lasting three years for the Pirates.
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| Bob Johnson 1972 Topps series |
- 1976 - Danny Murtaugh‚ who had retired two months earlier as Pirate manager‚ died of a heart attack/stroke at age 59 in his Chester home. He compiled a 1,115-950 record in 2,068 games (.540), second-most wins in Pirates history behind only Fred Clarke, and took two World Series championships. His number 40 was retired by the Pirates on Opening Day, 1977.
- 1991 - After six years as a Pirate, Bobby Bonilla signed as a free agent with the New York Mets. His five-year, $29M deal made him the game's highest-paid player at the time. From 1986 to 1991, Bonilla had a .284 batting average with 114 home runs and 500 RBIs. He led the league in extra base hits in 1990, and in doubles in 1991, earning a spot on the All-Star team four years in a row. Bonilla is currently being paid about $1.2M by the New York Mets each year up to 2035, tho that was a negotiated buy-out of a second deal signed in 1999, turning $5.9M due to him in 2000 into $29.8M over 25 years.
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| Bobby Bo 1991 Upper Deck series |
Very cool story about Andre Rogers. Had never heard of him before your post, but you would certainly think that many good cricket players would make decent (or better) baseball players, given how similar the skillsets are in both sports. I am surprised that the Pirates have not tried to mine that particular vein more often. Loved their signing of the two guys from India a few years ago. Last I heard, one of them was still pitching in the Pirates' farm system. I know that baseball is played on a fairly high level in cricket-playing countries like Australia. There have been a number of successful big league Aussies. Wonder why the Pirates don't make more of an effort in the Pacific?
ReplyDeleteFlat bat and no curve balls, Will, lol. In fact, Rogers' hardest adjustment was hangin' in instead of bailing out on hooks. And you're right; it never gained any traction in India (maybe a generation away?) and Australia still hasn't developed any MLB talent tho they're getting guys to the minors.
ReplyDeleteAu contraire re: Australian players. There was a brief blip in the late 80s to late 90s where several of them played in the majors. Shortstop Craig Shipley and pitchers Graeme Lloyd and Grant Balfour were probably the most successful, but overall there's been a couple dozen Aussies who tied their kangaroos down, mate, and came to America with Crocodile Dundee! :-D
ReplyDeleteGood catch Will; I certainly should have remembered Balfour. The Bucs had Stefan Welch in the minors for a long spell, too, and just signed a young SS in the last year or two. Still, you'd think they'd churn out a few more players; guess they're happy kicking out butts at rugby, lol.
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