Four Bucs Go To the Hall, Lunchbox Hero, Eight Pirates Say Nay to Branch, Manny & Ronny...
- 1951 - Eight Pirates rejected contracts offered by Bucco GM Branch Rickey - pitchers Cliff Chambers, Murry Dickson and Vic Lombardi; catchers Clyde McCullough and Ed FitzGerald, 1B Jack Phillips, IF Pete Castiglione and OF Wally Westbook. They all settled before the season started except for Lombardo, who had his salary cut by the 25% maximum allowed by the league, and signed with Hollywood of Pacific Coast League, never earning another MLB job.
- 1956 - RHP Manny Sarmiento was born in Cagua, Venezuela. The Bucs purchased him from the Red Sox and he tossed a pair of strong campaigns in 1982-83, going 12-9-5 with a 3.25 ERA as a starter and reliever, but he blew out his elbow during spring training in 1984 and never pitched in the majors again.
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| Manny Sarmeinto 1984 Donruss series |
- 1964 - P Burleigh Grimes was selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee and was inducted on July 27th. The 270 game winner began, ended, and played some during the middle of his career with the Pirates. Also chosen was OF Heinie Manush, who spent his last two seasons (1938-39) in Pittsburgh, getting 25 at-bats.
- 1969 - RHP Waite "Schoolboy" Hoyt was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Special Veteran's Committee. He spent 4-1/2 of his 21 pro seasons in Pittsburgh between 1933-37, going 35-31, topped by a 15-5 record in 1934. He was inducted on July 28th.
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| Schoolboy Hoyt 1933 Goudey series |
- 1976 - The Special Veterans Committee selected OF Freddie Lindstrom to the Hall of Fame. He played two of his 13 big league campaigns for Pittsburgh, hitting .302 and driving in 147 runs. He was inducted on August 9th.
- 1983 - SS Ronny Cedeno was born in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. He manned the spot for Pittsburgh from 2009-11, hitting a streaky .254 but never showing any consistency in the field, flashing the good, the bad and the ugly with his leather. He spent most of last season in the minors and is a free agent.
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| Ronny Cedeno 2009 Associated Press photo |
- 1988 - OF Travis Snider was born in Kirkland, Washington. He came to the Bucs from Toronto in the 2012 Brad Lincoln deal. After sputtering for a couple of years, he had a solid 2014 season with 13 HR and a .264 BA, which earned him a ticket to the Baltimore O's for a pair of minor league prospects.
5 comments:
Ron...I love your stuff, but I have to correct you. Lunchbox was sent to the O's. :)
Lee - thx, bro. I get those dang AL East guys all mixed up, lol.
Re: Ronnie Cedeno, he really wasn't horrible for us, but I think the deal with him was that he was more correctly a utility man---and a pretty good one---than he was a starter. In other words, he was okay as a stopgap, nothing more, nothing less. Sort of the position player equivalent of his starting pitcher teammate from that era, Kevin Correia.
He was the poster boy for inconsistency, Will. Pity, too, because he did show some bursts.
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