2/13: Inge, Neagle, AVS, Giusti Sign; Cool Papa HoF; RIP Nellie; HBD Curtis, Stretch, Pete, Rocky, Oadis, Herman, Harl, Crazy & Bill

• 1864 - C/OF Bill Farmer was born in Philadelphia (Baseball Reference cites his DOB as 2/27 and sources seem split as to whether he came from Philly or Dublin, Ireland). Either way, he got into five MLB games, two with the 1888 Alleghenys, going 0-for-4. He had spent some of 1887 in the Central PA League and likely showed enough to get a look from Pittsburgh. It was a tough lineup for a catcher to crack as Fred Carroll was still playing and Doggie Miller had the top job locked down. Bill finished his big-league days with a short stay with the Philadelphia Athletics and retired a couple of seasons later after playing for St. Paul of the Western Association. 

Crazy Schmit - image by Al Demaree via Baseball History Daily

• 1866 - LHP Frederick “Crazy” Schmit (often misspelled Schmidt) was born in Chicago. The lefty was unleashed on baseball first by the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1890, when Crazy went 1-9/5.83 in his rookie campaign. He tossed for five MLB seasons with a 7-36/5.45 line and 185 career walks to 93 K. One of Crazy’s idiosyncrasies was to warm up with a ball soaked in water so that when he got to the mound, a game ball would feel like a feather. He was also credited with being the first to keep an actual book on hitters out of necessity; it was said his memory was too poor to keep the info stored in his head so he wrote it down. One oft-told story has Crazy pitching against Cap Anson by the book. Schmit pulled his notes from his back pocket, looked up Anson, followed his finger and muttered “walk,” then tossed him four wide ones. His nickname was due to his eccentricities like the wet warm up ball, his book and also Schmit’s overblown sense of his abilities as a pitcher. He also answered to “Germany.” 
• 1883 - OF Harl Maggert was born in Cromwell, Indiana. He got his first taste of the majors when he played two games for the Bucs as a 24-year-old in 1907, going 0-for-6, though he did walk twice and scored. He wouldn’t get another shot until five years later in 1912 with the Philadelphia Athletics, doing better by batting .256 in 74 games, but it wasn’t enough to earn any more big league time. From 1913-20, he played in the PCL when he got embroiled in a fixing scandal; he was acquitted in court but expelled by the league. That ended his pro career although he squeezed out a few more seasons with outlaw league teams. His son Harl (not a junior, different middle names) got in a year of MLB ball, too, hitting .281 in 1938 for the Boston Bees. 
• 1901 - OF Herman Layne was born in Gallipolis, Ohio. His big league time totaled 11 games for the Bucs in 1927, spent mainly as a pinch hitter/runner, going 0-for-6 with a walk and three runs scored. Herman did cobble together a 13-year pro career, playing mostly for Toronto of the International League along with Louisville & Indianapolis of the American Association. He was a star there, hitting .327 with 2,097 hits and 315 stolen bases in 1,696 games.The WVU grad hit over .300 for 11 consecutive years and played on five pennant winners. 

Oadis Swigart - photo via IG Preston Experience

• 1915 - RHP Oadis Swigart was born in Archie, Mississippi. Oad spent his brief MLB career as a Pirate, going 1-3/4.44, from 1939-40. His ball playing days were short-circuited by Uncle Sam. The 26-year-old was with the Pirates for spring training in 1941 but was called into the Army on May 1st as the first Bucco player to be drafted. He wasn’t released from active duty until the 1946 season when he was 31, and he failed to make it out of camp. 
• 1919 - IF Bobby “Rocky” Rhawn was born in Catawissa, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. He got parts of three seasons in the show, with his final year of 1949 being especially hectic as he went from the NY Giants to the Pirates (three games, 1-for-7) and then to the White Sox. The Bucs got him and P Ray Poat from the Giants for P Kirby Higbe, then released Rhawn to Chicago 10 days later. 1949 was the last year of MLB ball for Shawn and Poat; Higbe lasted into July of 1950. 
• 1921 - IF Pete Castiglione was born in Greenwich, Connecticut. He played seven years (1947-53) for the Bucs, mainly as a reserve, and hit .258 for Pittsburgh. Pete actually signed with the Pirates in 1940, but he joined the Navy in 1943 while in the minors and served two years in the Pacific. He participated in campaigns at the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Palau Islands, Philippine Islands and Okinawa, and was stationed at Wakayama, Japan, at the end of the war, so his best work may not have been at Forbes Field, but in the Pacific theater. 
• 1930 - LHP Al “Stretch” (he was 6’4”) Grunwald was born in LA. He was a guy that flitted between positions. Grunwald was a first baseman in the minors for the first five years, then converted to pitcher. He tossed for the Pirates during the 1955 season (three games, 4.70 ERA) and then with the Kansas City Athletics in 1959. Grunwald put in 14 pro seasons between 1947-62 with stints in Mexico and Japan, returning to 1B during his final two seasons. He posted a 41-31/3.96 ERA in 160 appearances and a .295 BA/111 home runs in 1,392 games during that time. 

Dave Giusti - 1974 Topps

• 1974 - RHP Dave Giusti signed a one-year deal worth $100K after coming off an All-Star (9-2-20/2.37) campaign. The 34-year-old closer inked his deal the same day that his eventual heir, Kent Tekulve, signed on the dotted line for what would be his first MLB campaign. 
• 1974 - OF James "Cool Papa" Bell was named to the Hall of Fame by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues. He played for both the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords and was inducted on August 12th. Cool Papa joined the Homestead Grays in 1943, and they won league championships in Bell's first two seasons. They were foiled going for the trifecta, losing in the 1945 World Series to the Cleveland Buckeyes. Per Biography.com, he got his moniker when he began as a pitcher for the St. Louis Stars in the Negro National League. He was dubbed “Cool” by his teammates after he struck out the legendary Oscar Charleston; Bell's manager added the “Papa.” 
• 1987 - RHP Curtis Partch was born in Merced, California. Curtis tossed for the Reds for parts of two campaigns and the Pirates signed him to a minor league, bullpen depth deal in 2016. He was a strikeout-per-inning guy at Indianapolis, but when called up in June, he gave up three runs in ⅔ IP and was released. He played indie league ball in 2017 and is currently a free agent. 
• 1988 - OF Andy Van Slyke agreed to an $825,000 contract with bonuses that could bring it to $900,000, remaining the highest paid player on the roster. AVS got almost all he requested for in arb ($850K), with the difference between his ask and the Pirates counter just $100K. Van Slyke had an ‘87 line of .293/21 HR/82 RBI/34 stolen bases, and he’d have another very good season with the bat in 1988. He really broke out, joining the 30-30 HR/SB club with 100 RS/RBI while earning spots for the first time on the All Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger squads.

 

Denny Neagle - 1996 Flair

• 1996 - LHP Denny Neagle signed a two-year contract extension after coming off an All-Star season in 1995 (13-8/3.43, 205 IP). He gave up his first free agency season in ‘97 for the security of $5.9M over the next two campaigns. The cash-strapped Pirates then traded him to Atlanta in August, where he worked in three postseasons and earned another All-Star berth. 
• 2005 - Former Buc hurler and Pirate alumni leader Nellie Briles died from a heart attack while golfing in Orlando, Florida, at an Alumni Association outing at age 61. He tossed from 1971-73 for the Bucs, winning game five of the ‘71 series by twirling a two-hit shutout, and in that time laid down roots in Pittsburgh, living his post-career days in Greensburg. The Bucs hired him as part of their corporate staff in 1986, mainly involving him in alumni affairs, after he had put in a broadcasting stint. “He wasn’t a homegrown Pirate but became part of the Pirate fabric,” said teammate Steve Blass, “...and he was tireless whenever he represented the Pittsburgh Pirates.” He was buried at St. Clair Cemetery in Westmoreland County. 
• 2013 - The Bucs signed 36-year-old IF Brandon Inge to a one-year/$1.25M free agent contract. 50 games and a .181 BA later, he was released on August 1st, ending his 13-year MLB career. He now lives on a 400-acre farm in his hometown of Lynchburg with his family.