2/17 From 1935: Nate & Zane Signed; Ike Likes Hans; Groat DD; HBD Whammy & Dave

• 1935 - RHP Charles “Whammy” Douglas was born in Carrboro, North Carolina. Whammy only got 11 starts in MLB, all in 1957 with the Bucs, going 3-3/3.26. He was sent back to AAA Columbus for the ‘58 campaign, posting a 16-10/3.35 line and was traded to the Reds in 1959. His promising career was dead-ended by elbow and shoulder problems. One physical impairment that didn’t bother him, tho, was the fact that he was blind in his right eye after a childhood accident. Branch Rickey pressed him on the handicap, and Douglas replied that “You have one hitter. He’s got one bat. And I have one ball.” As for his moniker, Douglas recalled “I was striking everyone out, so they just started calling me ‘Whammy.’” The first to dub him as such was Burlington Times-News writer Bill Hunter and the nickname followed Douglas around. 
• 1941 - OF Dave Wissman was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The Bucs signed him out of the University of Bridgeport in 1961, and he got his only pro shot in 1964, playing in 16 games for the Pirates and hitting .148. Wissman played AAA ball for the Pirates and Tigers over the next three years and hung up the spikes after the 1967 campaign. 

• 1954 - A week before Honus Wagner’s 80th birthday, President Dwight Eisenhower sent Hans a letter that read in part "Realization that you now count your years at the four score mark reminds me, with something of a shock, that it was fifty years ago that I used to follow your batting average with the keenest of interest." Wagner was one of Ike’s childhood sports heroes when DDE was growing up in Abilene, Kansas. Eisenhower was a high school and local semi-pro ballplayer and as a youth had declared his ambition “to be a real major league ballplayer, a real professional like Honus Wagner.” 
• 1996 - The Pirates brought back LHP Zane Smith after he had left the fold for Boston on a one-year/$400K deal. The lefty had been a Bucco from 1990-94 with a couple of nice seasons during that span, but this was to be his last rodeo. The 35-year-old slashed 4-6/5.08 and was released in July to end his MLB career. 
• 2009 - CF Nate McLouth signed a three-year/$15.75M contract with an option that bought out his arbitration years. It guaranteed his salary but not his home; he was traded to Atlanta in June to open a starting spot for Andrew McCutchen. He returned to the Bucs briefly in 2012, then played in Baltimore and Washington before taking his final bow after the 2014 season. 
• 2016 - Dick Groat was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 80th annual Dapper Dan Dinner. In 1960, Groat hit .325, was named NL MVP for the WS winners and earned three All-Star berths as a Bucco SS. He was also a two-time All America at Duke as a hoopster.