11/28 From 1960: Bell-for-Fermin; Ribant, Wood, Tiger Dealt; '12 Additions; HBD Yefry, Taylor, Jose & Angel

• 1962 - The Pirates traded 3B Don Hoak, 34, to the Philadelphia Phillies for IF Pancho Herrera and OF Ted Savage. It ended up a minor deal; The Tiger was at the end of his career while Herrera and Savage never established themselves as regulars in MLB. Hoak got his nickname from Bob Prince for his relentless, hard-nosed play augmented by his background as an ex-Marine and boxer. 
• 1966 - The Bucs completed a deal that sent knuckleballer Wilbur Wood to the White Sox for Juan Pizarro. Under Hoyt Wilhelm's tutelage, Wood pitched twelve seasons for Chicago and won 168 games with three All-Star appearances. His career was cut short in 1976 when Ron LeFlore’s liner broke his kneecap; Wood missed that campaign and was generally ineffective afterwards. Pizarro pitched a season and some change in Pittsburgh before being sold to Boston in 1968; he would return in late 1974, ending his 18 year career as a Pirate. 
• 1967 - In a reliever swap, Pittsburgh dealt Dennis Ribant to the Detroit Tigers for Dave Wickersham. Both were near the end of their careers and while they had solid 1968 campaigns, they were out of the MLB following the 1969 season. 

Dave Wickersham -- 1968 KDKA promo

• 1972 - RHP Jose Parra was born in Jacagua, Dominican Republic. Parra got in pieces of five MLB campaigns, stopping in Pittsburgh for six games in 2000, going 0-1/6.94 as a reliever after working most of the year at AAA Nashville as part of the rotation. He could never quite figure out where to toss - beside his big league stops, he spent 11 years in the minors, four in Mexico, two in Japan and one in Korea before hurling his last pitch in 2005. 
• 1988 - The Pirates sent UT Denny Gonzalez and SS Felix Fermin to the Cleveland Indians for SS Jay Bell. Gonzalez was the only player actually traded on the day of the deal. He was out of options and had to go to clear roster space for the returning RHP Bob Walk, who had inked a free-agent contract with the Bucs on the day before. Fermin and Bell were PTBNL, and weren’t officially named until March 25th. Bell solidified the SS spot for the Bucs, batting .269 over eight years and earning an All-Star and Gold Glove during that spell. Fermin started 4-of-5 years for the Tribe, hitting .256, while Gonzalez got into eight games in ‘89 to end his MLB career. 
• 1989 - RHP Angel Sanchez was born in Tenares, Dominican Republic. He had a minor-league breakout in 2015, but it was followed by TJ surgery. He came back in 2017 and got his MLB baptism with a handful of games for the Bucs, giving up five homers in 12-⅓ IP but also whiffing 10. His 2017 birthday gift was his release: the Pirates seemed poised to give him another year to knock off the rust, but he got a $850K deal from the KBO’s SK Wyvern club and hopped the pond. 
• 1989 - C/IF Taylor Davis was born in Tampa, Florida. He turned down the Marlins, who drafted him late in 2008 as a prepster, went to Morehead State and later signed with the Cubs in 2011 as an undrafted FA. Davis played 20 MLB games with Chicago from 2017-19 (.222 BA, one HR, seven RBI) and was DFA’ed. He signed a minor league deal with the Orioles for 2020, and was traded to the Bucs in June of 2021 for minor league OF Jose Berroa. Taylor got the call up when Jake Stallings was placed on a concussion protocol in September after posting a line of .253 BA, two HR, 22 RBI between AAA clubs Norfolk and Indy. He was released at the end of the year and is now a free agent. 

Yefry Ramirez --- 2019 photo via MLB.com

• 1993 - RHP Yefry Ramirez was born in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Signed in 2011 as an international FA by Arizona, he ended up with Baltimore, where he went 1-10/6.07 between parts of 2018-2019 as a starter/long man. The Pirates picked him up for cash/PTBNL in late May. He was added to the roster on June 16th as an insurance policy, wasn’t needed, and returned to Indy on the 18th when Chris Stratton returned from the IL, then was recalled again in July. Y-Ram was released at the end of the season after turning in a 7.71 ERA in nine outings. He joined the Dodgers in 2021. 
• 2012 - The Pirates acquired RHP Vin Mazzaro & 1B Clint Robinson from Kansas City in a waiver deal for two pitchers from the Dominican Summer League (Luis Rico & Luis Santos), also adding RHP Zach Stewart from Boston for a PTBNL (RHP Kyle Kaminska). Vin was a Pirate from 2013-14, with most of the second year spent at Indy, slashing 8-2-1/2.89 in 62 outings. His moment of glory was in 2013 against Milwaukee. After a rain delay, he set down all 15 batters he faced in order in a game that the Pirates eventually won in the 14th. Robinson never made it to PNC Park, claimed off waivers as a late cut at the end of camp by Toronto. Stewart was lost the same way. Two months after getting him, the Pirates tried to slip him through waivers to create 40-man roster room, but were foiled by the White Sox.