10/30 From 1960: Gunner, Nellie Axed; Bonds, AVS AS; Bullington Inked; Sauer Prez; Cutch Wins Roberto; Price Cuts; HBD Ian & Lee

• 1960 - RHP Byron Lee Tunnell was born in Tyler, Texas. The Baylor righty was the Bucs’ second pick in the 1981 draft. He arrived in Pittsburgh the following September and then went 11-6/3.85 in 1983, but his four year run (1982-85) produced just a 17-24/4.06 line overall. Lee went on to toss for St. Louis and Minnesota. He later pitched in the Japanese League for three seasons, then coached in the minor leagues for the Rangers and Reds. Tunnell joined the Brewers in 2009 as a minor league pitching coordinator and became their bullpen coach in 2012. 
• 1975 - Westinghouse Broadcasting stunned Pirate fans by announcing that Bob “The Gunner” Prince and sidekick Nellie King were getting the ax. At the time, no major league broadcaster had ever spent more years (29) with one team than Prince had with the Pirates. The reasons given were that the pair didn’t do enough to promote the team and went off-topic too often (guilty of the latter, but not the former). Despite a parade in his support that drew 10,000 fans, the duo were replaced by Milo Hamilton, formerly of the Atlanta Braves booth, and Lanny Frattare, the voice of the Pirates AAA Charleston club.

Ian Snell - 2009 Topps Heritage

• 1981 - RHP Ian Snell was born in Dover, Delaware. He spent parts of six seasons (2004-09) as a Pirate starter, showing promise but never quite getting over the hump with a line of 33-46/4.75. Ian was demoted to Indy in 2009, at his own request, and traded to Seattle a month later. He bombed there and was DFA’ed in June of 2010, ending his MLB career, although he did make a couple of comeback efforts. 
• 1991 - Mark Sauer was named club president after Carl Barger left to run the Florida Marlins. He oversaw the cost-cutting that gutted the Pirates' 1990-92 powerhouse teams as per the orders of the Pirates' public-private ownership to reduce payroll. He was eased out of action by the Kevin McClatchy group and resigned in the summer of 1996; McClatchy took his spot. 
• 1992 - Outfielders Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke were named to the Associated Press All-Star team. Bonds’ line was .311 BA/34 HR/103 RBI and he would later be named the NL-MVP. AVS hit .324 and scored 103 times, following with another All-Star season in 1993. 
• 2002 - The Pirates signed the first overall pick of the draft, RHP Bryan Bullington, to a $4M deal, the most they had ever paid a draftee. The 22-year-old from Ball State was expected to be a power arm but never panned out; labrum surgery cost him the 2006 season and he was never the same pitcher afterwards. The Pirates cut him in 2007 after just three starts and six games in the show, and he failed to stick in later stints with Cleveland, Toronto and KC. 
• 2003 - The Pirates announced price cuts for their 2004 tickets, slicing $3/ducat off full season ticket plans, a dollar off for partial fans and a sliding discount scale for single-game tickets. “We still haven’t delivered anything that we’re supposed to deliver,” Kevin McClatchy told Robert Dvorchak of the Post Gazette. “We have to do better on the field.” The move was estimated to require an extra 100,000 fans to break even, but McClatchy figured the cuts would boost the gate. 

Cutch & Roberto Clemente Award - photo 10/31/2015 Sports Illustrated

• 2015 - Andrew McCutchen became just the second Pirate to win the MLB’s Roberto Clemente community service award, with Willie Stargell taking the honor in 1974. Cutch was presented the trophy during pre-game ceremonies before the third game of the World Series between the Mets and KC at Citi Field. Andrew won the Pirate’s RC Award a record four straight times (2012-15), and holds the club mark of five in all, also taking the prize in 2009. Among his causes were the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, the Homeless Children's Education Fund, the Light of Life Rescue Mission and Habitat for Humanity. He also started the local “Cutch’s Crew” for at-risk inner-city kids. Even after he was traded, he returned to Pittsburgh to sponsor a week of community projects.