Monday, February 16, 2015

Pirate President's Day...

Tough to tell from the weather here, but guys are already rolling into camp, with the pitchers & catchers due to report Tuesday. So it's nearing time for ol' Green Weenie to get over the winter solstice and get crackin' with 2015 Bucco posts. But not quite yet...

It's Presidents' Day, so we thought we'd take a look at the Buccos' all-time roster and see just how we match up, name-wise, with the POTUS over the years.

The Father of our Country is barely represented; UL Washington (SS, 1986-87) is the only namesake we could dig up. The Railsplitter did better. The Bucs had Abraham "Honest Abe" Nunez (IF, 1997-2004) to go along with Bad Brad Lincoln (P, 2007, 2009-12) and Mike Lincoln (P, 2001-03). 
"Honest" Brad Lincoln (J Meric/Getty Images)

Thomas Jefferson's only Pirate scion is Jesse Jefferson, a little used pitcher from 1980. John Quincy Adams did better. He had three Adams rostered, the best of which was easily World Series hero Babe Adams (P, 1907-26).

US Grant and Mudcat (P, 1970-71) share a surname, and another Grant, Grant Jackson (1977-82), covers Old Hickory as the icing of the five Jacksons who donned Pittsburgh uniforms.

JFK has only Brickyard Kennedy (P, 1903) in the Black & Gold. Jimmy Carter has one namesake, Steve, an outfielder from 1989-90. The Bush duo is covered by pitchers Guy (1935-36) and Joe (1926-27). Lyndon and Andrew Johnson share last names with a half dozen Pirates, chiefly 1B Mark (1995-97) and P Bob (1971-73).

The James, Madison and Monroe, have namesakes in Art Madison (2B, 1899) and Craig Monroe (OF, 2009). Zachary Taylor has his pick - Carl Taylor (OF, 1968-69, 1971) leads the list of five Taylors, though Zachary Duke (P, 2005-10) might be a better choice. And of course, the Gunner's call of a Hoover when the Bucs turned two takes care of Herbert.

Grover Cleveland has Elmer (3b, 1888), Benjamin Harrison is proudly repped by 3B Josh (2010 - current), and Rutherford Hayes can flip a coin between Jackie (C, 1883-84) or 3B Charlie (1996). C/GM Harding Peterson (1955, 57-59 as a player; 1976-85 as GM) will make do for Warren Harding.

Zach "Taylor" Duke
Woodrow Wilson has a slew of followers, 11 to be exact. The longest lived was SS Jack (2000-09), but Craig, Chief, Justin and Glenn were Buccos for awhile, too. Oddly, no Roosevelts have made it out of a Pittsburgh camp, nor Taft, even though Howard attended a couple of Buc games.

The one-and-out CSA prez, Jefferson Davis, had a dozen Pirates that shared his name - Brandy, Butch, Dick, Harry, Ike (tho he could be our Eisenhower dude), JJ, Jason, Lefty, Rajai, Ron, Spud and Trench - but he's just a gray footnote now.

 And yes, we will get back to balls-and-bats baseball soon, we promise!

1 comment:

  1. Very amusing, Ron! Definitely enjoyed this offbeat post on a cold and snowy winter's day.

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