2/1: Cruz Signs and a Boatload of Birthdays

• 1884 - Pirate announcer Rosey Rowswell was born in Alton, Illinois (although raised in Tarentum). In 1936, he joined WWSW as a Pirate broadcaster and remained there until his death in 1955. His last on-air partner was Bob Prince from 1948-54, who called Rowswell his mentor. Rosey was an unabashed homer, and known for his home run call of “Open the window, Aunt Minnie, here she comes” followed by the sound of shattering glass. He also coined the term “Buccos” and “FOB” (when the bases were loaded, they were Full Of Buccos). Roswell died in Pittsburgh in 1955 at the age of 71 and was buried in Allegheny Cemetery. 

Rosey Rowswell 1942 Radio Ad

• 1884 - 3B/manager “Candy Jim” Taylor was born in Anderson, South Carolina. Taylor spent three decades playing in the Negro Leagues and another three decades managing. He took the reins of the Homestead Grays from 1943-44 when their manager, Vic Harris, was working in the war industry. The Grays claimed the title and the Negro League World Series both seasons under Taylor. In that time, he played/coached for 25 different teams and became the winningest managed in Negro League history with 1,049 victories. 
• 1884 - RF Jim Kelly was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He didn’t have much a pro career, and spent two of his three MLB years in Pittsburgh, batting .227 as a part-time Pirate in 1914 and .294 as a starting outfielder for the Pittsburgh Rebels of the Federation League. He was a sly one - born Robert John Taggert, he used the name James Robert Kelly and trimmed six years off his age (he changed his B-Date to 1890) to muddy the fact that he was beginning his minor league career as a 27 year-old. 
• 1930 - RHP Chuck Churn was born in Bridgetown, Virginia. The Pirates signed him in 1949 out of HS, and he was moving up in the system when the service called him during the Korean War. He came back, continued to impress and got a five-game audition with Pittsburgh, going 0-0, 4.32, as a 27-year-old rookie. From there, he played for four different organizations over the next two years after Boston claimed him in the Rule 5 draft, getting cups of coffee in the show with the Indians and Dodgers. He tossed in the minors for all or parts of 18 campaigns and retired after the 1967 season. His highlight big league moment came in 1959 with the Dodgers, when he defeated ElRoy Face and the Pirates 5-4 in relief for his last MLB win. It was the only loss of the year (18-1) for the Baron of the Bullpen, and ended his 22-game winning streak. 

Bob Smith 1959 Topps

• 1931 - LHP Bob Smith was born in Woodsville, New Hampshire. The journeyman worked out of the Pirate bullpen from 1957-59, where he went 8-19-1 with a 3.74 ERA in 75 appearances. Smith’s everyday name played havoc with him. While with the Boston system, a similarly built lefty of the same name was often confused with him, and the Sox had to revert to using initials to differentiate the pair. In Pittsburgh, he suffered a more embarrassing fate - Smith’s 1958 Topps card, he claims, has the picture of Cardinal outfielder Bobby Gene Smith rather than his, and he has never autographed that particular card because of the mix-up. 
• 1947 - RHP Jim McKee was born in Columbus, Ohio. Jim tossed briefly for the Pirates in 1972-73, going 1-1, 4.17 in 17 outings. He was a life-long Bucco, selected by Pittsburgh in the fourth round of the 1969 draft out of Otterbein College (he was the first Cardinal baseball player ever drafted) and closed out his career in 1974 at AAA Charleston. He died at age 55, the victim of an auto wreck. 
• 1955 - RHP Ernie Camacho was born in Salinas, California. He send 10 years in the show, stopping off in Pittsburgh early in his voyage in 1981 when the Bucs sent Bob Owchinko to Oakland to get him. He spent most of his time with AAA Portland, getting into seven Pirates games with an 0-1, 4.98 slash. He was swapped, along with SS Vance Law, to the Chicago White Sox for P Ross Baumgarten and minor-leaguer Butch Edge in April of the following campaign. Ernie was a guy the Bucs had wanted; they drafted him as a 14th round pick back in 1975 out of Hartnell College, but he didn’t sign with them and instead went to the Athletics in the first round the next year. 

Ernie Camacho 1981 (photo via Sports Memorabilia)

• 1960 - P Cecilio Guante was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The righty was a bridge guy for Pittsburgh for five seasons (1982-86) and went 13-17-20/3.06 in that role before being traded to the Yankees as part of the Doug Drabek deal. Cecilio was a tough guy to miss on the mound - he had a big “G” (for Guante) covering the web of his glove. It was fitting, though - guante, in Spanish, translates as glove. 
• 1961 - Pitching wizard Jim Benedict was born in Burbank, California. After tossing in the KC system, he managed and coached in the college ranks. In 1990, he joined the Rangers, then from 1994-2000 was the minor league pitching coordinator for the Expos and Dodgers. Jim became a scout and Special Assistant to the GM for the Yankees for five years. In 2007-2008, he scouted for the Indians. In late 2008, he joined the Pirates as Special Assistant to the GM. He helped turn around the pitching and in 2015 was hired away by the Miami Marlins as the VP of pitching; now he's with the Cubs. 
• 1990 - RHP Stolmy Pimentel was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. He was a Buc from 2013-14, coming over from the Red Sox and going 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA. The old Sox Prospects scouting report on him held true: “Excellent overall stuff, but struggles with the consistency...” He was released, tossed briefly for Texas in 2015, and was out of organized ball last year after a season in the Mets farm system/Mexico. 

Stolmy Pimentel (photo via MLB.com)

• 2012 - 33-year-old RHP Juan Cruz agreed a $1.25M contract with the Pirates, earning a spot on the team as a non-roster invitee and finishing the campaign with a solid 1-1-3, 2.78 line. But his 4.19 FIP, 1.626 WHIP and five walks per nine painted a clearer picture of his performance and he was released in late August to end his last season in the majors.