- 1955 - OF Lee Mazzilli was born in New York City. Mazzilli spent four of his 14 seasons as a Pirate, playing fairly regularly for his first two years (1983-’86) and hitting .244 overall. In 1986, the Mets were rumored to have offered Ray Knight (who was nearing the end of his career) for Mazzilli, but the Pirates turned them down. The Bucs released Lee in July when he was hitting just .226 and he joined NY for free while Knight batted .298 with one more solid '87 campaign still left in him.
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| Lee Mazzilli 1986 Topps |
- 1965 - Camp isn’t all fun and games. Bill Mazeroski broke a bone in his right foot on this day and was out of the Bucco lineup until May. He came back to hit .271 and earned another Golden Glove for his trophy case. It was the only time between 1964-67 that he didn’t appear in every game, and Maz still played in 130 contests after his foot healed.
- 1989 - The Pirates sent SS Felix Fermin and UT Denny Gonzalez to Cleveland for SS Jay Bell to complete a PTBNL deal from November 28th, 1988. Bell manned the SS spot for eight years and earned an All-Star berth in 1993 for the Bucs. He returned to the team in 2013 as their batting coach before moving on to the Reds. Fermin played eight more years in the AL, starting several years for the Indians. Gonzalez got into eight more MLB games after the deal and closed out his career with stints in Japan and Mexico.
- 2001 - Manager Lloyd McClendon officially announced that 23-year-old Jack Wilson was going to start the season at shortstop, bumping veteran Pat Meares to second base. Solid choice; Wilson held the job until he was traded in 2009, hitting .269 and winning an All-Star berth in 2004. Jumping Jack Flash was sent to Pittsburgh in 2000 by the Cards for LHP Jason Christiansen. For Meares, it was the end of the road - a nagging hand injury led to a battle royale with the club over treatment, and he got into just 86 games during the campaign, his last as a MLB’er, playing out his $15M contract on the DL through 2003.
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| Gregory Polanco 2013 Bowman Prospects |
- 2009 - Pirates Latin American scouts Rene Gayo and Rene Ellis signed a skinny 17-year-old kid who they envisioned as making the jump from pitcher to outfielder for $175,000. The vision became reality - the beanpole was Gregory Polanco and he’s been on patrol in Pittsburgh’s pasture since 2014. Although the potential has yet to catch up with the performance, he did a little better at the negotiating table in 2017, signing a five-year/$35M contract with two option years worth $26M more if tendered.
- 2014 - RHP Vance Worley was purchased from the Minnesota Twins. After going 1-5 with a 7.21 ERA in 2013, Vanimal started out at Indianapolis and following some tinkering with his arm angle, he was called up to start on June 15th to replace injured Francisco Liriano. He finished the campaign with an 8-4 record and 2.85 ERA. After a 4-6/4.02 line in 2015, he was released and went to Baltimore. He's now with the Reds on a NRI contract.
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