- 1985 - SS Arky Vaughan was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Vaughan batted .318 with a .406 OBP over a 14-year career with the Pirates (1932-41) and Brooklyn Dodgers, hitting .300 or better in 12 of those campaigns. He was inducted on July 28th. Earlier, in 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. Twenty years later, in his 2001 New Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James rated Vaughan as the second-best shortstop in MLB history, behind fellow Pirate and mentor Honus Wagner.
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| Fran - 2019 Topps Update Steel City Bashers |
- 1986 - C Francisco Cervelli was born in Valencia, Venezuela. He joined the Bucs in November of 2014 from the Yankees, traded for Justin Wilson. New York signed him in 2003. Originally an infielder, they flipped him to catching, where he’s considered one of the better defensive players with a solid bat, although injuries have bitten him throughout his career. In his first year as a Buc, Cervy was healthy as a horse, playing 130 games and hitting .295. That wasn’t quite the tale in 2016, as he got behind the dish 95 times due to various injuries and hit .264. It was worse in the following campaign when Fran was again banged up and started just 75 games, batting .249. Fran got into 104 games in 2018, though still dinged a bit, and put up a 123 OPS+ with 12 HR and a line of .259/.378/.431, his best offensive showing as a Bucco. He was hurt through much of 2019 and moved on to Atlanta as a free agent in late August. Cervy is now with Miami.
- 1999 - 1B Kevin Young signed the richest contract to date in Pirate history, a $24M, four-year deal that was made possible by anticipated revenues from the team's soon-to-be-built stadium. The deal called for a $500,000 signing bonus and salaries of $5.5M in 2000, $6M in 2001, $5.5M in 2002 and $6.5M in 2003. That carried him to the end of his 12-year career, with all but one campaign spent as a Pirate. He rejoined the team in 2015 as a special assistant of the baseball operations.
- 2001 - 2B Bill Mazeroski was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. He was inducted on August 5th, tearing up during his speech and tucking his handwritten notes away, saying "I think you can flush these 12 pages down the drain." The Pirates retired his number, built him a statue, and every October 13th fans meet at the Forbes Field wall to celebrate his famed longball, selected by ESPN as the “Greatest Home Run of All Time.”
- 2006 - RHP Kip Wells had surgery to remove a blood clot from his right armpit, returning on June 19th. He was traded at the deadline to Texas, beginning a 10-team exodus that finally ended when he retired in 2013. From the surgery on, he pitched in 108 more MLB games, topping 100+ IP just once and went 14-34/5.66 over that span, while more clots were found in his hand in 2008. In the seven years before the clot was found, Kip had posted a 55-69/4.36 line.
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| Kip Wells - 2006 Upper Deck |
- 2007 - The Bucs signed Cuban righty Yoslan Herrera to a three year/$1.92M deal. He made it to the show in July, 2008, and in five starts, he went 1-1/9.82. The Pirates released him during the 2009 off-season, and he was out of baseball after another year. Herrera did rebound though, pitching for the LA Angels in 2014 before moving on to Japan.
- 2012 - Andrew McCutchen signed a six-year contract worth $51.5M with a club option for 2018 worth $14.75M. The deal bought out his remaining pre-arbitration year, all three arb years, and a pair of free agent seasons with a club option for another. The breakdown: $1.25M signing bonus; 2012: $500K; ‘13: $4.5M; ‘14: $7.25M; ‘15: $10M; ‘16: $13M; ‘17: $14M; ‘18: $14.5M club option ($1M buyout) plus bonuses worth $25K each for a World Series MVP, Gold Glove, or All-Star selection and $125K for an NL-MVP ($75K for runner up, $50K for third). He almost saw it through, lasting until his 2018 option was exercised and he was traded to the SF Giants; he’s now with the Phils.
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