2/23 From 1970: Martin-Vander Wal Deal; Raul, Randy, Vincentes, Spanky, El Tiante Sign; Chico Loses Arb; Wehner To Booth; Russ Out; RIP Vic; HBD Jaff & Jason

• 1974 - RHP Jason Boyd was born in St. Clair, Illinois. He started with the Bucs in 1999 and ended it with them in 2004 after outings in Philly, Cleveland, and San Diego. Jason didn’t help himself much - he had a 1-0/4.91 line for the Bucs, broke his hand later in the season after punching the rubber when he was pulled from a minor-league game and had gotten into a couple of 2003 off-season fights. He spent 2005 in the Texas system before ending his pro ball tenure. 

Vic Harris - 1942 photo Teenie Harris/CMOA

• 1978 - Vic Harris, longtime outfielder/manager for the Homestead Grays, passed away at age 72 in San Fernando, California. Vic was born in Florida and moved to Pittsburgh, attending Schenley HS in Oakland. As a player, Harris spend 18 years with Homestead after his 1925 debut, hitting .304, and in nine years as skipper (with eight league titles) beginning in 1936, he led the Grays to a 406-281 record (per Seamheads) while serving as a player/manager for every season but his last in 1946. He even slipped in a campaign with the cross-town rivals, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, hitting .339 in 1934. Harris is one of the more egregious omissions of the Hall of Fame. 
• 1981 - RHP Luis Tiant signed a minor league deal with the Bucs for a guaranteed $125K. He tossed in Class AAA Portland until August, when the 40-year-old El Tiante was called up, going 2-5 with a 3.92 ERA down the stretch. He was released at the end of the season and tossed in Mexico the following campaign. He was purchased from the Plataneros de Tabasco club in August by California, appearing in six games for the Halos to end his MLB career after 19 seasons, 229 wins and nearly 3,500 IP. 
• 1988 - C Mike Lavalliere, coming off a season that saw him hit .300, throw out 45% of the attempted base thieves running against him and win a Gold Glove, signed for $215K. Despite the strong campaign, Spanky’s leverage wasn’t very strong - he was still a year away from arbitration. He was rewarded when his salary more than doubled for the next year. 
• 1990 - OF’er Jaff Decker was born in Phoenix. A first-round pick of the San Diego Padres in 2008 out of high school, he put in a couple of emergency stints in Pittsburgh in 2014-15, getting in 28 games and hitting .214, but with a strong .371 OBP. He's hopscotched organizations since and is currently a free agent. Jaff got his unique first name thanks to a slip of the pen; he was supposed to be named after his uncle Jeff, but the name was misspelled by a nurse and so Jaff it became.

Jaff Decker - photo Pirates/MLB.com

• 1991 - 2B Jose Lind lost his arb case, seeking $950K but instead awarded the Pirates offer of $575K. Chico was considered one of the best glove men at his position, but hit just .257 and slumped badly at the end of the year. The paycheck was an improvement over the $250K he earned in 1990, and he would come back in 1992 to win another arb battle against the Bucs to even the count. In a less combative atmosphere, LHP Randy Tomlin ($120K) and RHP Vicente Palacios ($125K) also signed new deals for the season. 
• 2000 - The Bucs dealt Al Martin to the San Diego Padres for OF John Vander Wal and pitchers Jim Sak and Geraldo Padua. The Mariners had also been making a pitch for Martin since the winter meetings and finally got their guy when the Padres sent him to Seattle in July at the deadline. Martin played three more years as a platoon guy while Van der Wal lasted the better part of two seasons for the Bucs before being traded to the Giants and playing through the 2004 campaign. Sak & Padua never made it to the show. 
• 2004 - The Pirates, which had been unable to pry Raul Mondesi from the Yankees the year before, signed him to a one-year/$1.75M free agent deal. Mondesi was hitting .283 w/two homers and 14 RBI when he left the team on May 7th to return to the Dominican Republic to fight a lawsuit; he never came back. The Pirates terminated him a couple of weeks later, citing breach of contract. It was suspected he was angling to leave town all along, and that probably was his game plan as he signed with the Angels at the end of the month (he tore a quad and was released from that contract for not showing up for rehab). He finished his 13-year MLB career with a 41-game stint with the Braves in 2005. He went into Dominican politics afterward, and in 2017 was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay a $1.3M fine for corruption and mishandling of public funds while mayor of San Cristóbal. 

John Wehner - Pirates promo card

• 2005 - John Wehner made the move from hitting instructor at Altoona to road-crew color man for Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh. He took over for Steve Blass, who announced that he wasn’t traveling anymore and was just going to work home games. The Rock only got to make a couple of cameo spring auditions after applying late in the process, but he aced them to join Lanny Frattare, Greg Brown and Bob Walk in the broadcast booth. He still serves as an AT&T SportsNet analyst on both radio and TV. 
• 2013 - C Russell Martin withdrew from the Canadian team roster of the World Baseball Classic because he wasn’t allowed to play shortstop. Both the Pirates and the Canadian team were uncomfortable with the switch, while Martin, who had signed a two-year/$17M deal with the Pirates, told MLB.com that “...I simply didn’t want to catch,” citing concern about the pre-season tournament wear and tear. He played in 2009 for the Canadian WBC nine.