11/24 From 1960: Million Dollar Arms; Zach Dealt; Cecilio Signs; HBD Al, Mike & Kelvin

• 1967 - OF Al Martin was born in West Covina, California. Martin played eight years (1992-99) for Pittsburgh, hitting .280 with 107 HR and 485 RBI. His best season was 1996, when he hit .300 with 18 HR, 72 RBI and 38 stolen bases. In Pittsburgh, he was backed by “Al’s Army,” donated thousands of tickets to various groups and even met fans at the turnstiles before the game. After his Pirate years, though, he was beset with a string of bizarre personal problems, tarnishing his image as a Bucco good guy and pretty much dropping off the radar.

Mike Edwards - 2007 Bowman Future

• 1976 - Utilityman Mike Edwards was born in Goshen, New York. Mike closed out his three-year, 106 game MLB career with the Pirates in 2006, hitting .188 with 18 at-bats after being signed to an off season minor-league deal and spending most of the year at Indianapolis. He was in AAA for all of 2007,retired, and lives in the San Francisco area now.
• 1979 - The Pirates signed RHP Cecilio Guante, a member of the silver medal-winning Dominican Republic of the Pan American Games. The then 22-year-old reliever made his debut in 1982 and slashed a solid 13-17-20/3.08 in five years with Pittsburgh. He was sent to the Yankees in 1986 as part of the Doug Drabek trade and worked for them, the Rangers and Indians through 1990.
• 1987 - LHP Kelvin Marte was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He spent nearly a decade working his way through the Giants system when the Pirates signed him to a minor league deal in 2016. He got his only MLB action for the Bucs, spinning the ball for two outings with no decisions and a perfect ERA. That is a little misleading though - his FIP was 12.15 as he gave up five unearned runs in 3-⅓ IP thanks to an error and back-to-back two-out homers.
• 2008 - The Pirates became the first MLB team to sign players from India when they inked pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, winners of a reality show called "The Million Dollar Arm Hunt." Patel was cut in 2010 and returned home, but Singh made it to A ball before a rash of arm injuries; he tossed one inning between 2013-16 and returned to India, where he’s become a WWE wrestler. Their story was made into a Disney movie called (what else?) “Million Dollar Arm.”

Zach Duke - 2011 Topps 60 Years

• 2010 - After six years as a Pirate, Pittsburgh traded LHP Zach Duke (45-70, 4.54) to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a PTBNL, RHP Cesar Valdez. Duke’s 2005 rookie year saw him post an 8-2/1.81 slash and he made the All-Star team in 2009, but never put up an ERA south of four after his first campaign. Zach reinvented himself as a LOOGY after leaving town and resurrected his career as a bullpen specialist before having elbow surgery in 2016, returning to action the following campaign and working for four clubs since the deal. He’s a free agent now. Valdez tossed creditably at Indy in 2011 before departing for the Latin leagues.