3/26: Yates, Milligan Deals; Herges Release; HBD Jack & Josh; Sandy in Spring

• 1869 - LF Jack McCarthy was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts. McCarthy started for the Pirates in 1898-99 and hit a robust .298. But the Pirates landed Fred Clarke, also a LF, when they absorbed the old Louisville team and sold McCarthy to the Chicago Orphans. He played until 1907 and had a lifetime .287 BA.

Jack McCarthy (photo via Chicago Daily News)

• 1963 - The LA Dodgers' Sandy Koufax surrendered two homers and was touched for six runs while whiffing nine Buccos in seven innings during a spring tune-up. It was not an omen of things to come. In 40 starts that season, Koufax gave up six runs in an outing only once, going 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA, winning the Cy Young Award and earning a World Series ring. The Bucs did get to the Hall-of-Fame lefty better than most that campaign, going 1-1 against him in three starts and scoring over three runs per game.
• 1981 - IF Josh Wilson was born in Pittsburgh and played prep ball at Mt. Lebanon High along with Don Kelly. He was only with the hometown organization briefly at Indy in 2008 but played in eight big-league campaigns. Wilson earned the nickname “Paperboy” not so much because he delivered (his lifetime BA was .229) but as a nod to his youthful appearance. Josh was the son of one of the area’s top baseball mentors - his dad, Mike, was a long time coach with stops at Mt Lebanon HS (he coached up Josh & Kelly), Pitt and Duquesne while also part of the semi-pro Greater Pittsburgh Federation Baseball League for more than 20 years as a player, coach, and manager.
• 1988 - C Mackey Sasser and RHP Tim Drummond were traded to the NY Mets for minor leaguer Scott Henion and 1B Randy Milligan. Milligan hit .220 for the Bucs before having some solid seasons at Baltimore while Sasser caught the next six seasons for the Mets, batting .286 for NY.

Randy Milligan 1989 Fleer Rookie

• 2003 - The Pirates released RHP Matt Herges, for whom they had traded RHP Chris Young to the Padres in December. SD reclaimed Herges on April 1st, keeping their reliever and getting a young front-line pitcher basically for free from Pittsburgh’s GM Dave Littlefield.
• 2008 - The Pirates traded minor league RHP Todd Redmond to the Atlanta Braves for reliever Tyler Yates. Fastballer Yates went 6-5 in two seasons with Pirates, pitching to a 5.08 ERA before arm surgery derailed his career. Redmond finally got a shot at Toronto in 2013 and was effective in 2014 after being converted to the pen. He got beat up in 2015 at Toronto and spent most of the year in AAA. He’s now with the Baltimore organization.