12/9 From 1950 Through the 1970’s: Purkey, Hall, Pena Trades; Close Calls; RIP Branch; HBD Bruce & Todd

• 1957 - The Pirates traded RHP Bob Purkey to the Cincinnati Reds for LHP Don Gross. Gross won six games in three years as a Pirate while Purkey, a Pittsburgh kid who went to South Hills HS, won 124 games after the deal, appearing in a World Series and three All-Star games. GM Joe Brown later called it “the worst trade I ever made.” Purkey pitched his final season (1966) for the Pirates and then retired to Bethel Park, where he became a successful insurance broker. He died in 2008 at age 78 and was buried at Queen of Angels Cemetery. 

Odd card for a pitcher but that's how Topps 1959 did it.

• 1959 - The Pirates sent RHP Dick Hall, IF Ken Hamlin, and a PTBNL (C Hank Foiles) to the Kansas City Athletics for C Hal Smith. Hall had a long career, tossing until 1971, and was also versatile enough to play the field in 127 games (he saw action everywhere but catcher & SS)/pinch hit, with a career .271 BA. Hamlin and Foiles each spent five more years in the league as reserves, both batting in the low .240’s. Smith got into 144 games in 1960-61 for Pittsburgh before being lost to Houston in the expansion draft, and his huge three-run homer in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series set the table for the legend of Bill Mazeroski. 
• 1961 - RHP Bruce Tanner was born in New Castle. Chuck’s kid, Bruce got to toss one year in the show for the White Sox in 1985, his dad’s final year as Bucco skipper. After the 1989 campaign, Bruce gave up organized ball as a player and spent the 1990s as a minor league pitching coach for San Diego. He became the bullpen coach for the Pirates in 2001, a position he held through the 2005 season. In 2006, he served as pitching coach for the Williamsport Crosscutters, one of the Bucs' minor league clubs. He jumped to the Tigers the next year to become an advance scout and since 2009 has served Motown as a major league scout. 
• 1964 - The Bucs sent IF Roberto Pena and cash to the Chicago Cubs for SS Andre Rodgers. Rodgers had a good start, getting into 75 games and batting .287 in ‘65, but he faded quickly and hit just .209 in the next pair of campaigns. Pena went on to play for five teams in six years with a .245 BA. 
• 1965 - Former Pirates GM Branch Rickey died of a heart attack. Famous for breaking the color barrier by playing Jackie Robinson while a Dodger exec and becoming the poster child for strong farm teams, Rickey was the Pirates GM from 1950-55 before he retired due to health issues. He walked the walk for Pittsburgh’s minor league system, bringing in Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Dick Groat and company, a group that would help take all the marbles in 1960. Rickey was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1967. 

Todd Van Poppel 1989 (photo The Sporting News/Getty)

• 1971 - RHP Todd Van Poppel was born in Hinsdale, Illinois. Todd spent 11 years in the show, tossing 18 games (seven starts) with Pittsburgh in 1989. He put up a line of 1-2/5.36 when he arrived in July with 2B Warren Morris after being traded by the Indians to the Pirates for P Esteban Loaiza. TVP was signed again for the 1999 season, but never got a call back to Pittsburgh, spending the campaign with AAA Nashville before moving along to the Cubs. 
• 1976 - The Post-Gazette reported that Al Oliver was an item on the trade market, what the hottest rumor involving the Montreal Expos, which were said to be dangling C Gary Carter and RHP Dale Murray as bait. But GM Pete Peterson held onto Oliver through the 1977 campaign before sending him to Texas in a four-team offseason deal that brought Bert Blyleven and John Milner to Pittsburgh. 
• 1977 - The Pirates tried to pry LHP John Hiller from the Detroit Tigers by offering pitchers Larry Demery and Odell Jones. The Tigers wanted Bruce Kison included in the package, and the two clubs parted ways on that demand. Hiller was a 35-year-old reliever who had one good campaign left in him, and the Bucco bullpen did just fine in ‘78, led by Kent Tekulve and Grant Jackson.