12/12 From 1920-1990: Kremer, French, Lindstrom, Salveson, Phelps, Leppert, Helms, Hendricks Deals; HBD Bill & Joey

• 1921 - OF Bill Howerton was born in Lompoc, California. He spent four years in the majors, joining the Pirates in 1951 as part of a big swap with the Cards. Bill hit .279 as a Bucco, leaving the club in May of 1952 to join the NY Giants. He closed out his big league career there and then spent a couple of seasons in the PCL until retiring to become a trucker. 

Ray Kremer 1924 (photo Conlon/Getty)

• 1923 - The Pirates traded IF Spencer Adams, along with pitchers Earl Kunz and George Boehler plus $20K, to the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League in exchange for RHP Remy “Ray” Kremer. The start was bumpy - as often happened, the player and team disputed if the sale cost went the team only or should be shared - but Kremer became a Pirate lifer, pitching from 1924-33 with a 143-85-9 slate and 3.76 ERA. The workhorse went 200+ IP, won double-digit games (hitting 20 wins twice) for eight straight years (1921-34) and was the NL ERA leader twice. The Frenchman went 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA in 1925 & 1927 World Series games and was the hero in ‘25, winning games six and seven, the former as a starter and the finale with 4-⅓ scoreless IP from the pen. He spent much of 1933-34 with Oakland before retiring; he became a mailman. Fun fact: Kremer didn’t pitch in the majors until he was 31. He spent eight years in the PCL (1916-23) and was considered by the east coast/heartland-based big league clubs to be a warm weather pitcher (he often had problems with rheumatism, making California a better clime for him). The newspapers called him the “Frenchman” because of his ancestry, and he also went by “Wiz”/”Bush Wiz” as a nod to his long and impressive minor-league career. 
• 1928 - The Pirates bought LHP Larry French from Portland of the Pacific Coast League. From 1929-34, the knuckleballer went 87-83 with a 3.50 ERA for Pittsburgh and won 197 games in a 14 year MLB career. French, like a lot of players, joined the Navy in 1942. Unlike most, he became a career swabbie, retiring in 1969 with the rank of Captain. 
• 1932 - Giant CF Freddie Lindstrom ended up a Bucco in a three-way deal. New York sent CF Chick Fullis to the Phillies, Pittsburgh sent RHP Glenn Spencer to the Giants and OF Gus Dugas to Philadelphia, who shipped OF Kiddo Davis to New York. Lindstrom hit .302 in two seasons at Pittsburgh, playing with Lloyd and Paul Waner. For the cost of two reserves, the Bucs got two years of a Hall-of-Famer. 

Freddie Lindstrom 1933 DeLong

• 1934 - The Pirates sent RHP Leon Chagnon to the New York Giants for 21-year-old righty Jack Salveson. Salveson never developed and was flipped to the White Sox after five forgettable outings; following the ‘35 campaign, he reappeared in the majors for two more seasons during the war years. Chagnon had worked five years for the Bucs (19-14-2/4.61), but 1935 would be his last big league hurrah. 
• 1941 - The Bucs traded SS Arky Vaughan to the Brooklyn Dodgers for IF Pete Coscarart, RHP Luke Hamlin, C Babe Phelps and OF/1B Jimmy Wasdell. Only reserve infielder Coscarart stuck with the team past 1942. In 10 seasons, Hall of Famer Vaughan hit .324 for Pittsburgh. He later had a couple of strong seasons for Brooklyn, then left the team and worked his ranch for three years because of, according to baseball lore, a dispute with manager Leo Durocher (although his family said he ran the spread because his brother Glenn was drafted and there was no one else to do the job.) Whatever the reason, he didn’t return to baseball until 1947, after Durocher was suspended for gambling. 
• 1961 - The Pirates shipped minor league OF/1B Tom Burgess to the Angels for C Don Leppert. Leppert spent two seasons as a backup in Pittsburgh, while the persistent Burgess, whose only prior MLB action was in 1954 with the Cards (he signed with them as an 18-year-old in 1946), got to swing it off the bench with Los Angeles. Sadly, he didn’t get past the Mendoza Line either season and hung ‘em up after a final year in the minors. 
• 1975 - Houston sent veteran IF Tommy Helms to the Pirates for a PTBNL (IF Art Howe). Helms was at the end of his days here, while Howe went on to have a solid career with the Astros and Cards, playing for 11 years with a .260 career BA. Afterward, Art scouted, coached and managed the Astros (1989–93), Oakland Athletics (1996–2002), and New York Mets (2003–04). 

Tommy Helms 1976 Topps Traded

• 1984 - The Bucs traded LHP John Tudor and OF Brian Harper to the St. Louis Cardinals for UT Steve Barnard and OF George Hendricks. Tudor won 21 games with the Cards while tossing 10 shutouts the next season and won two World Series games. “Jogging George” hit .230 and lasted until August, when he was sent to the California Angels. Barnard never made it out of A ball. 
• 1992 - OF/1B Jose Osuna was born in Trujillo, Venezuela. He made his MLB debut with the Buccos in 2017, and in two years bouncing between Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, he’s hit .231 w/10 HR in 321 AB’s. The Pirates are working third base into his resume to build up his bench versatility.