11/20 From 1980: Leyland Hired; JR Builds Staff; Scout Shuffle; Reuschel Comeback Player; Roster Ruffles; Tanner Traded; HBD Jeff

• 1985 - 36 year old Rick Reuschel was named the NL’s Major League Comeback Player of the Year by United Press International. Reuschel went 14-8/2.27, starting the year with Hawaii in the Pacific Coast League after signing as a free agent with Pittsburgh in February. Rick went on to win 71 more games in the next five seasons with the Bucs and Giants before running out of gas and hanging up the spikes in 1991.

Leyland hired - photo 11/20/1985 Andy Starnes/Pittsburgh Press

• 1985 - Syd Thrift hired Jim Leyland to manage the Pirates, replacing Chuck Tanner after a 57-104 finish in ‘85. During his Pirate era of 1986 to 1996, Leyland won two Manager of the Year awards (1990 & 1992), finished as runner-up in 1988 and 1991, and led the team to three divisional titles (1990-92).
• 1987 - LHP Jeff Locke was born in North Conway, New Hampshire. He joined the Bucs in 2009 as part of Nate McLouth’s trade, and the Redstone Rocket (nicknamed by a local paper, Redstone is his home neighborhood, and Jeff had a mean HS fastball, along with the timely association of NASA’s moon-launch from a Redstone Rocket) made his MLB debut in 2011, joining the rotation full time in 2013 and earning an All-Star berth that season. He was DFA’ed in2016, tossed for Miami, and has sat out the past two seasons after a shoulder injury.
• 1996 - The Pirates lost IF Nelson Liriano to the Dodgers and RHP Marc Pisciotta to the Cubs on waivers, DFA’ed RHP Matt Ryan to AAA Calgary, then added OF’s Jose Guillen, Adrian Brown & TJ Stanton, IF’s Lou Collier & Brandon Comer, and P’s Kane Davis, John Dillinger, Jeff Kelly & Jose Pett to the 40-man roster. Other irons in the fire: the Indians were rumored to be working on a deal for IF’s Jeff King and Jay Bell, while the O’s reportedly had interest in Bell. Both players were moved in December, but to latecomer Kansas City, in exchange for IF Joe Randa, P Jeff Wallace and a couple of throw-ins. 
• 1995 - The Pirates lost OF Micah Franklin and reliever Jeff McCurry to the Tigers via waiver claims and DFA’ed pitchers Rick White, Dennis Konuszewski and Gary Wilson to AAA Calgary. They added C Jason Kendall, OF’s Jermaine Allenworth, Trey Beamon and Charles Peterson to the 40-man. Later, they re-signed White, but he had arm surgery and missed the year. 
• 2001 - The Pirates hired Ed Creech away from the Dodgers (he also worked for the Expos and Cards) and made him their new scouting director, taking over for Mickey White. He held that role until October of 2007, when the Pirates under Neil Huntington began to make their housekeeping changes (he was replaced by Greg Smith) and Ed moved on to the Giants. 

Ian Snell - 2004 Donruss Classic

• 2003 - The Pirates added pitchers Sean Burnett, Mike Johnston, John Van Benschoten and Ian Oquendo (Ian Snell), their minor league Pitcher of the Year, to their 40-man roster after losing pitchers Duaner Sanchez and Matt Guerrier, along w/OF Walter Young, on waivers. The shuffling left the roster at 37 players. 
• 2007 - Newly hired manager John Russell started to put together his staff, naming Tony Beasley third base coach, Gary Varsho bench coach and Luis Dorante bullpen coach. He later added Jeff Andrews as pitching coach, Don Long as batting coach and Lou Frazier as the first base coach. 
• 2018 - The Pirates sent RHP Tanner Anderson to Oakland for a PTBNL (RHP Wilkin Ramos). Anderson, 25, was a Harvard grad and had a six-game audition with the Pirates in 2018, going 1-0/6.35, with solid farm stats and a 60% ground ball rate. He was considered a potential mid-inning arm for the pen, but was caught in a 40-man roster churn and moved so the Bucs could add four pups to the list. Ramos was an 18-year-old lotto ticket, having pitched in the Dominican but not stateside as of the deal.