3/4 From 1960: Mt Leyland Erupts; New Board; HBD Ric Rod, Rick, Brian, Fort & Bruce

• 1968 - 1B/OF Brian Hunter was born in Torrance, California. He was a bench guy for nine MLB campaigns, stopping off in Pittsburgh as a 26-year-old in 1994 after an offseason deal with the Braves, swapping places with Jose Delgado. The Pirates were familiar enough with him; his first inning homer in game seven of the NLCS launched the Bravos to a 4-0 win. He hit .227 with 11 homers as a Buc and then was sent to the Reds at the deadline in another minor deal for OF Micah Franklin. The FO hoped he’d be a middle-of-the-order 1B, but it wasn’t to be as seven different Buccos manned the spot in ‘94. Mark Johnson took over in ‘95 until Kevin Young was moved to first in 1997. 

Bruce Aven - 2000 Upper Deck

• 1972 - OF Bruce Aven was born in Orange, Texas. He was a five-year MLB’er, spending part of 2000 as a Pirate after a deal with the Marlins in a swap for Brant Brown. Aven hit .250. and was sent to LA in August. His last big league game was in 2002 and now he’s the baseball skipper at American Heritage School in Florida. 
• 1973 - Pirates hitting coach Rick Eckstein was born in Sanford, Florida. Eckstein replaced Jeff Branson following the 2018 campaign after coaching for the Rays, Expos, Nats, Angels, & Twins; he also served as skipper at the University of Kentucky. He played college ball at Seminole CC and the University of Florida before an injury ended his playing career. He was joined by his brother David, who was hired as a Special Assistant for Player Development two months later. 
• 1985 - C Mike “The Fort” McKenry was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was a back-up catcher for the Bucs from 2011-13 and was a popular player with several clutch hits on his resume. Overall, though, he hit just .226 as a Pirate and returned to his original team, the Colorado Rockies, as a free agent in 2014 before making the rounds as a depth player. He retired to become the Pirates pre-and-post game analyst in 2018 as a replacement for Teke and also serves as a rotating color man as part of the Steve Blass replacement project. McKenry earned his nickname because of the similarity of his name to Fort McHenry and the way he defended the plate on plays at home. 
• 1990 - RHP Richard Rodriguez was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic. He spent nine years in the Houston and Baltimore systems, getting a brief and ineffective stint with the O’s in 2017. The Bucs brought him in as a NRI during the offseason. After a decent camp, he was stashed at Indianapolis to begin the campaign but quickly got a mid-April call to Pittsburgh when the bullpen sprung some serious mid-inning leaks and broke out with a 4-3/2.57 slash and 11 K per nine innings. His second season was bumpier as he worked through shoulder issues. 

Oh bleepin' yah?

• 1991 - In Pittsburgh’s most famous manager meltdown, Jim Leyland was caught on camera as he blasted Barry Bonds at camp following a media spat. The redacted version of Leyland’s message went something like “I’ve kissed your (bleep!) for three (bleeping!) years here and I’m sick of this. If you guys don’t want to be here then get the (bleep!) out!” 
• 2005 - The Pirates announced that they were replacing the Sony video board at PNC after just four years because of moisture problems that blanked out part of the display, leaving a checkerboard effect. The new board was provided by Daktronics and was expected to cost at least $1M. The Pirates said that they’d foot the bill after the Stadium Authority had ponied up for the first screen. Though the new screen worked fine, it was replaced in 2007 so the Pirates could upgrade the evolving technology and add a LED ribbon display, with the team again picking up the tab.