2/12 From 1969: Jack Wins Arb; Milner, Rennie Sign; TRS Named; HBD Chris, Argenis & John

• 1969 - The Bucs sealed one of their top Latino deals when Pirates scout C. Herbert Raybourn inked 17-year-old 2B Rennie Stennett of Colon, Panama, to a contract. Rennie debuted in 1971 and played nine seasons with Pittsburgh, hitting .278. His Pirates red letter day was when he went 7-for-7 against the Cubs, a record-setter (and he got three more hits to lead off the next game for 10 in-a-row), in 1975. His career was derailed in 1977 when he broke his leg sliding and 1981 was his last season in the show. 

Rennie Stennett - 1972 Topps

• 1969 - The new North Shore playground for the Pirates and Steelers was officially dubbed “Pittsburgh Three Rivers Stadium” by a unanimous vote of the Stadium Authority board, overriding consideration to name the field for either David Lawrence (he got the Convention Center) or Roberto Clemente (who claimed the Sixth Street Bridge). The board also approved 3M’s Tartan Turf rather than Monsanto’s AstroTurf for the field covering; both the hardballers and gridders had recommended it after trying both rugs out. 
• 1980 - John Milner signed a one-year deal for an undisclosed amount to avoid arb and the Bucs were close to settling three more contentious contracts when Kent Tekulve, Omar Morena and Ed Ott all withdrew their names from the scheduled arbitration hearings list. All four played for the Bucs in 1980, although Milner and Ott would be traded during the 1980-81 off season. 
• 1981 - C Chris Snyder was born in Houston. He came to the Pirates at the 2010 deadline from Arizona as part of the DJ Carrasco deal. The Pirates plan was for him to become Ryan Doumit’s veteran caddy, but in 2011 an awkward slide caused him to miss most of the year with a bad back. His balky vertebra helped trigger the season of the catcher - the Pirates were forced to use eight players at the position after Snyder and Dewey were both injured. In his time with the Bucs, he hit .214 and the Pirates unsurprisingly declined his 2012 option. After a couple of seasons in a backup role for Houston and the O’s, Snyder retired in 2014. 
• 1987 - SS Argenis Diaz was born in Guatire, Venezuela. He and Hunter Strickland came over from the Red Sox in 2009 for Adam LaRoche and Diaz got his only big league time in 2010 as a 23-year-old with the Buccos, hitting .243 in 22 games. Argenis, with a reputation as an excellent defensive guy, has bounced around among several organizations as AAA depth since while a regular in Venezuelan League winter play, and after a couple of years of minor league ball has begun a coaching career at Indy this year. 

Argenis Diaz - 2010 Topps Rookie Update

• 1993 - The Bucs signed RHP John Ericks to a free agent deal. After a couple of seasons on the farm, the 6’7’ Ericks worked 57 games for the Bucs between 1995-97, going 8-14-14 with a 4.78 ERA. The Pirates liked the Fighting Illini as a starter, but he had two shoulder surgeries and was switched to the pen. He was never 100% afterwards and was out of baseball after working 10 games in 1997. 
• 2004 - Jack Wilson won his arbitration hearing and the fourth-year shortstop was awarded a salary of $1.85M, a hefty bump over the $335K he had earned in his last year of pre-arb. He had hit .256 and provided steady play in the field while getting into 150 games, and the arbitrators picked his number over the $1.4M offered by the Bucs. Jack was the first Pirate to go to arbitration since 1993 and the first to win against the club since Jose Lind in 1992.