2/20 From 1960: Big Bob, Pat, Matt Sign; Jack-Jose Staredown; Campers Galore; Price Cut; RIP Joe & Bill; HBD Tony

• 1963 - Bill Hinchman passed away in Columbus at the age of 79. He finished his 10-year MLB career with the Bucs from 1915-20 (he hit .284/129 OPS+ in that span), was a Pirates coach in 1923 and scouted for Pittsburgh from 1921-58, signing Rip Sewell, Clyde Barnhart, Claude Passeau, Cookie Lavagetto & Billy Cox for sure and more nebulously, Arky Vaughan & Lloyd Waner. 

Tony Menendez - 1993 Bowman

• 1965 - RHP Tony Menendez was born in Havana, Cuba. Tony was a first round draft pick of the White Sox out of high school in 1984 and had a three-year MLB career with three teams between 1992-94 that lasted 23 appearances. He got 14 of those outings as a 1993 Bucco. He did pretty well, with no decisions but a 3.00 ERA in 21 IP, mostly as a September call-up from AAA Buffalo. Tony signed with the Giants the following year, got a brief look in the majors and retired as a Bay farmhand after the 1995 campaign. 
• 1971 - Bob Veale signed his contract, valued at approximately $30,000, and GM Joe Brown immediately deducted $300 from it in $100/day fines for the big lefty being late for camp. Veale had stirred Brown’s ire earlier in the week by calling for an extension and not returning his contract to the Pirates. Veale was penciled to head to the pen after a 10-15/3.92 line in 1970 and went 6-0 as a reliever, but with a sky-high 6.99 ERA as at age 36, Father Time was bearing down on him. 
• 1979 - In a move called “unprecedented” by Buc GM Harding Peterson, the Pirates cut sixth-level reserved seat ticket prices by a buck (from $4.25 to $3.25) and announced Monday through Thursday group discounts in an effort to boost attendance, which had dropped below a million (965,000) in 1978 for the first time since Three Rivers Stadium opened in 1971. It helped some as 1.4M fans spun the turnstiles during the season; of course, performance had a little to do with it, too, as the Bucs won the NL and World Series. In TRS’ 30-year history, the Pirates drew under 1M fans five times and went over the 2M mark twice (1990-91). 
• 1997 - The Pirates brought 70 players to spring training; the sportswriters thought it may be a record for bodies in a MLB camp. No problem, said GM Cam Bonifay, who planned to beef up the “B” game schedule to get the boys in action. Probably not quite as content was equipment manager Roger Wilson, who had to get uniforms for all those players. Bonfay explained that he wanted the organization to get a look at some of the youngsters, and also wanted them exposed to the MLB way. He said after the first cut, expected a week into camp, they’d get to work at filling the holes in the roster. 

Pat Meares - 1999 Pacific Revolution

• 1999 - The Pirates signed free agent SS Pat Meares to a $1.5M contract. In April, they extended the deal through the 2003 season for $15M. He broke his hand early in 1999, had surgery, and was out of baseball by 2002 after a prolonged soap opera clash with management, having played 240 games for the Bucs and hitting .238. 
• 2007 - SS Jack Wilson and his DP partner, 2B Jose Castillo, locked themselves in manager Jim Tracy’s office (he was out supervising practice) to discuss Wilson’s withering review of Castillo (poorly conditioned, not prepared mentally and overall “lazy” in the field) three weeks prior during the Pirates Fest. They came out of tete-a-tete 20 minutes later unbruised, though without comment other than Castillo saying he was ready to play, physically and mentally. Apparently the suits agreed with Jack’s assessment. Freddy Sanchez took over at second base and had an All-Star season while hitting .304; Jose was relegated to utility duty and released at the end of the year. 
• 2016 - The Pirates agreed to a minor league deal with former Angels’ OF Matt Joyce, 31, an eight-year vet with an All Star game under his belt. It was a good signing; Joyce made the club and while he hit just .242, he posted an OBP of .403, a slugging % of .463, swatted 13 homers in 231 at bats and finished with an OPS+ of 132. He earned $1M as a Buc and turned the campaign into a two-year/$11M deal with Oakland in the off season; he’s now with his seventh team, Miami. 
• 2019 - LHP Joe Gibbon passed away at the age of 83 in Newton, Mississippi. Joe tossed for the Pirates for eight years (1960-65; 1969-70) and slashed 44-46-16/3.61 in 248 outings (107 starts), beginning his Pirates career as a member of the ‘60 World Series winners and finishing it as part of the ‘70 NLCS team. He was a rookie who went 4-2 for the ‘60 Bucs whose World Series check for $8,400 was more than his salary of $7,500. He was also an All-American hoopster for Mississippi who finished second in the country in scoring his senior year and was drafted by the Boston Celtics. Gibbon was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1979, the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988, and in 2009, he was honored as a member of the Ole Miss Men’s All-Century Basketball Team. He was sometimes known as “Old Hickory” thanks to his hometown of Hickory, Mississippi.