The Green Weenie: 4/4: Hit Man, Manny, Matt Capps, LaRussa, JT, Invisible Crowd, Astro Sweep

Saturday, April 4, 2015

1975 - The Pirates released minor league infielder Tony LaRussa after he hit .260 at Class AAA Charleston in 1974. He retired in 1977 and came back to haunt the Bucs as the manager of St. Louis’ Evil Empire that ran roughshod over the NL Central during his tenure as skipper.
1977 - OF Mike Easler was traded by the California Angels to the Pirates for P Randy Sealy. The Hit Man spent six seasons with the Bucs, hitting .302 and earning an All-Star spot in 1981. The Pirates actually sold him to the Red Sox after the 1978 campaign, but traded a couple of minor leaguers to get him back before the 1979 season began. Boston then eventually got him back for the ‘84 season, sending John Tudor to Pittsburgh for Easler.

Mike Easler - 1981 Fleer series

1978 - The Pirates sent OF Miguel Dilone, P Elias Sosa and IF Mike Edwards to the A’s for C Manny Sanguillen, who was traded to Oakland 17 months earlier for Chuck Tanner and cash. He spent three more seasons in Black & Gold, mainly as a bench player behind Ed Ott and Steve Nicosia.
1986 - 1B Jason Thompson was traded to Montreal for a pair of PTBNL minor leaguers, Ron Giddens and Ben Abner. It ended up a very minor deal: Thompson fared poorly for the Expos in his last MLB campaign and neither prospect the Pirates received made it to the show
2000 - The Bucs drew a record announced crowd of 54,399 as Jason Schmidt lost 5-2 to the Astros for TRS’s final home opener. The butts in the seats didn’t match the attendance figure, even with Christina Aguilera on hand to sing the Anthem. There were maybe 15,000 warm fannies in the house because of drizzly and raw 40 degree weather.
2007 - The Bucs swept the Astros in Houston for the first time since 1991, winning 5-4 at Minute Maid Park behind Tom Gorzelanny. Jose Bautista banged out three hits including a double and drove in three RBI to prime the attack.

Jose Bautista - 2013 Bowman Rookie Card Reprint

2008 - Closer Matt Capps agreed on a $3.05M, two-year contract that ran through 2009 and covered his first year of arbitration. Capps wasn’t tendered when the deal ran out - he had 27 saves in 2009, but with a 5.80 ERA - and moved on to Washington.