- 1873 - IF Eugene Napoleon DeMontreville (AKA Gene Demont) was born in St. Paul. Gene only played for the Pirates in his 1894 rookie season, hitting .250 in eight at-bats, but went on to have an 11 year MLB career and put together a 36 game hitting streak between 1896-97 with Washington, the 10th longest run in baseball history. Gene left the show with a .303 lifetime average and six .300+ campaigns. (PS - don’t take this date to the bank; many sources agree on it but his SABR bio claims it was March 26, 1874, so caveat emptor)
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| John Cangelosi 1990 Donruss |
- 1963 - OF John Cangelosi was born in Brooklyn. The hustler hit .243 between 1987-90 for Pittsburgh, and in 1987 became the first Pirate in 21 years to steal home. Cangelosi played 13 years for seven clubs; Pittsburgh was his longest stay with one team. He now operates Cangelosi Baseball, located inside the Bo Jackson's Elite Sports Dome, a Chicago-based sports training facility.
- 1977 - OF Tike Redman was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He played five of his six MLB seasons (2000-01, 03-05) in Pittsburgh as a reserve outfielder, with a .281 BA. He had a decent stick, but he lost out when Nate McLouth and Chris Duffy were called to the show.
- 1992 - The Pittsburgh Pirates traded LHP Neal Heaton to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for OF Kirk Gibson. Heaton was released the following season, while Gibson hit just .196 for the Bucs, though Kirk did have three decent seasons for Detroit afterward, hitting .273 with 45 HR during that span before hanging them up in 1996.
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| Reggie Sanders 2003 Upper Deck Vintage |
- 2003 - OF Reggie Sanders signed a one-year/$1M contract with Pittsburgh and earned every penny by hitting .285 with 31 HR and 87 RBI. The big campaign paid off for him as he left the following year and inked a two-year/$6M deal with St. Louis as a free agent.
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