1/27: St. Mary's Joe, Hernandez, Mateo, Dressen, Ray, Perez, Lamabe Sign; Starling, Lunchbox Hero Trades; Maz Statue; RIP Dale; HBD B-Rey, Zags, Steve, Al & Otis

• 1876 - OF Otis Clymer was born in Pine Grove (Schuylkill County), Pennsylvania. Clymer started his career in Pittsburgh, playing from 1905-07, before the often injured OF was traded to Washington after hitting .285 during his Pirate days. He was a feisty guy, once getting into a fight with Reds 1B Cliff Blankenship during a 2-1 win at Expo Park in 1905. It started when Clymer spiked Blankenship as a payback for an event a few days prior when the Reds infielder ran into Honus Wagner. Blankenship won the battle but not the war as he was pelted with bottles (even a knife was tossed from the stands) by heated Bucco fans after the pair were ejected, per The Baseball Library. A more memorable career highlight came in 1908 when Otis hit for the cycle while a Cub. 
• 1888 - OF Al Wickland was born in Chicago. Wickland got his start with the Reds in 1913, then jumped to the Federal League the following year, playing for the hometown Feds/Whales. Next, he suited up for the Pittsburgh Rebels, where he appeared in 100 games and hit pretty well with a .301 BA in 1915. When the league folded, he joined the American Association’s Indianapolis Indians for a couple of seasons to earn a ticket back to the bigs. He did return, but hit just .249 for the Boston Braves and NY Yankees over two campaigns (1918-19). Al finished out his career with a three-year stay with the AA’s Toledo Mud Hens before leaving the game in 1922 at age 34. 
• 1935 - Coach Steve Demeter was born in Homer City. Steve got a little MLB time with the Tigers (1959-60) and was the Pirates first base/bench coach in 1985. Before that, he served in the Bucco farm system as skipper of the Sherbrooke Pirates (1972), Salem Pirates (1973; 1976–77), Charleston Charlies (1974–75), Shreveport Captains (1978), and Buffalo Bisons (1979–80). He also was a roving instructor and scout for Pittsburgh. He passed away in 2013 at age 78. 

Steve Demeter - 1977 TCMA

• 1957 - RHP Jack Lamabe joined the Pirates with the signing credited to scout Ed McCarrick. It was a non-bonus deal so that the Pirates could start him in the minors instead of the big club as the rules of the day would have dictated. Jack became a Buc in a round-about way. Originally drafted by the Phils, he was declared a free agent over a college kerfuffle. The clubs weren’t supposed to sign college players during that era, and although Lamabe said he had left the University of Vermont, the league disagreed. That made Jack a FA and he inked his Bucco deal two months later. He had a strong Pirates rookie campaign in 1962, going 3-1/2.88 in 46 outings, and Pittsburgh leveraged that into a deal with Boston, sending Lamabe and 1B Dick Stuart to the BoSox after the season for RHP Don Schwall and C Jim Pagliaroni. 
• 1976 - The Bucs’ Latino scout Neftali Cruz signed 19-year-old amateur RHP Pascual Perez of the Dominican Republic. He rose quickly through the system, reaching AAA in 1978 and debuting with the Bucs in 1980. In 80-81, he slashed 2-8/3.94 and was traded for Larry McWilliams. In 1983, he had an All-Star season with the Bravos and won 29 games over two years. It was the best back-to-back string he put together although he did spend 11 years tossing in the show. Perez may have been best known for his trademark quirks - notably, he shot a finger pistol at strikeout victims and eyeballed the runner at first through his legs when holding him. The peek-a-boo technique worked pretty well - his catchers had a career 35% throw-out rate against wanna-be base stealers. 
• 1983 - Jumbo reliever LHP Mike Zagurski was born in Omaha. The Bucs signed the 6’, 240 pound southpaw to a minor league deal for 2013, and it appeared that they found a gem as he dominated in camp and struck out 37 batters in 21 IP at Indy. He earned a call to the show, but in six innings surrendered 10 runs on 10 hits with eight walks, becoming a poster boy for AAAA pitchers. Zags was released to make room for Brandon Cumpton, and the Yankees picked him up. Mike was hit hard there, too. He spent two seasons pitching in Japan, and since then has bounced around in several organizations, pitching for Milwaukee briefly and before being released by the Cubs during their 2019 camp and is currently a free agent. 

Mike Zagurski - 2013 photo Justin Aller/Getty

• 1984 - Two days after his DP partner Dale Berra inked a five-year deal, 2B Johnny Ray got a five-year agreement, too (the media called it “Operation Twin Killing”). His contract was worth $3.75M, including signing bonus and incentives. He, like Berra, had been rumored as trade bait, with the chatter involving a swap with the SF Giants for Will Clark. Ray was a hot property; had been runner-up to Steve Sax in 1982 for Rookie of the Year and followed that up by batting .283 in ‘83. He lasted into the 1987 season when he was sent to the Angels for Miguel Garcia and Bill Merrifield in late August to clear a starting spot for Jose Lind. 
• 1991 - 1B Dale Long passed away in Florida at age 64 after losing his battle with cancer. His 1956 home run streak of eight straight games cemented his place in Pirates history, even though he only played two full seasons (1955-56) in Pittsburgh. He was recalled as more than a slugger by his Buc teammates, but as a leader who stood up to the vets and helped create a winning vibe in the locker room. Long played 10 years of MLB, half as a starter, before retiring in the 1963 season, and even faced his old mates during the World Series in 1960 as a member of the Yankee squad. 
• 1993 - The Pirates signed RHP Elmer Dessens. After some minor league seasoning, he debuted in 1996 and went 2-8/6.12 in parts of three campaigns. The Bucs released him and he tossed for a year in Japan. That seemed to turn the trick; he came back to the states and worked 11 more years as a back-ender and bullpen guy, retiring after the 2010 season as a 39-year-old. He’s now a pitching coach in the Reds system. 
• 1995 - OF Bryan Reynolds was born in Baltimore, Maryland. A second-round pick of SF in 2016, he joined the Pirates in 2018 as part of the Andrew McCutchen deal with Giants. A .312 hitter through the minors, he was called up on April 20th, 2019, after the Pirates outfield was cut down with injuries. He put together an 11-game hitting streak to start his career, tying Gregory Polanco for the franchise record. After a sluggish 2020 campaign, he came back with a vengeance and earned his first All Star nod. 

Ruben Mateo - 2004 photo Michael Zagaris/Getty

• 2004 - The Bucs inked OF Ruben Mateo to a minor league deal with an invite to camp. He started the year on the farm and got a call up after tearing it up in Nashville (.311, 11 HR) to replace the AWOL Raul Mondesi. He did OK, hitting .242 with three homers in 39 PA’s before being sold in July to KC. He faded there, and it was his last MLB go-around. He played a year in Korea after that and then went to the Latin leagues, finishing out his days after the 2015 campaign. 
• 2006 - The Pirates signed jack-of-all-trades Jose Hernandez, who had played for the Bucs in 2003, to a $150K minor league deal (which would jump to $850 K in the majors) with a camp invite. Hernandez did make the team and hit .267 before the 36-year-old was sold to Philadelphia in late August. He came back to Pittsburgh for 2007 as a free agent, but father time caught up to him. He spent the season at Indy and then ended his career with a two-year Mexican League stint. 
• 2010 - Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette leaked the news that the Bucs were going to build a Maz statue, confirmed by the team two days later during the Fan Fest. Maz joined Honus Wagner, Willie Stargell, and former teammate Roberto Clemente as Bucco greats honored with a statue outside of PNC Park. The 12-foot bronze, designed by local sculptor Susan Wagner, showed the Hall of Fame infielder rounding second base after his legendary homer and was dedicated in September during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Pirates 1960 World Championship season. 
• 2011 - St. Marys (Elk county) native Joe Beimel signed a minor league deal with the Bucs, reuniting him with both the Pirates (he began his career in Pittsburgh from 2001-03) and his former manager Clint Hurdle (he was with the Rox in 2009). The lefty reliever started the year on the DL with forearm stiffness, pitched six weeks to a 5.33 ERA, went back on the DL and was DFA’ed in August. He had TJ surgery in 2012 and returned as a Mariner in 2014-15. He signed several minor league deals afterward, played indie ball briefly in 2017 and announced his retirement from baseball in June of that year. He had 13 big league seasons under his belt, yet never signed a contract that was for longer than one year. 

Joe Beimel - Pirate promo card

• 2015 - Fourth outfielder Travis “Lunchbox Hero” (he was renowned for his team cookouts) Snider, a former first-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays, was traded to Baltimore for a pair of minor league prospects, LHP Stephen Tarpley and a PTBNL (LHP Steven Brault). He returned a few months afterwards for free, as the O’s released him in mid-August and the Bucs signed him a week later before releasing him in the off season. Snider has bumped around in the minors (he even spent a year playing indie ball) since the Pirates let him go, and was released by Miami in 2020. Brault took over a bullpen role after falling short in his starter challenge, then won a spot again in 2019 and pitched solidly from the rotation in 2020. The Pirates flipped Tarpley to the Yankees in 2016 along with minor league OF Tito Polo to land Ivan Nova. He made his debut in the majors as a 2018 September call up and is with Miami now; Polo has yet to reach the show. 
• 2020 - CF Starling Marte was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for RHP Brennan Malone, 19, and SS Liover Peguero, also 19, marking Ben Cherington’s first big move. Starling signed with the Bucs in 2007, debuted in 2012 and had been a fixture in the Pirates outfield since then, except for a 2017 PED suspension. He hit .287 in Pittsburgh with 239 stolen bases during that span. He was shipped to Miami in September by the D-Backs and then went to the Mets. Malone and Peguero were both highly touted prospects and are young works in progress, which would be a theme of Cherington’s early deals.