- 1855 - OF and general utilityman Paul Hines was born somewhere in Virginia. Hines played in 1,659 games in three major leagues from 1872-91, had 2,135 hits, hit .300+ 11 times and posted a career batting average of .302. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh fans, he played for the Alleghenys during part of the disastrous 1890 113-loss season and performed at their level, hitting a career low .182 in 31 games. He was 35 then and had one more season left in him, bouncing back with a more representative .282 BA in his swan song with Washington.
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| Paul Hines - 1887 Bucher Gold Coin |
- 1864 - C Henry Yaik was born in Detroit. His big league career was spent with the Alleghenys when he played two games in October, 1888. Henry caught in one contest and played LF in another, with two hits, a walk, and an RBI in seven PA. His claim to fame: Henry was the catcher for Cy Young in the minors when they were battery mates for the Tri State League Canton club in 1890.
- 1885 - LHP Cleon “Lefty” Webb was born in New Gilead, Ohio. He joined the Pirates on September 1st, 1909 via the prospect draft. In his only big league season, he split time between the Bucs and the American Association Indianapolis squad in 1910, making seven Pittsburgh appearances (three starts) with a 2-1/5.67 line. 1914 was his last pro year; the Ohio Wesleyan grad went on to a second career of teaching, coaching and eventually became a school superintendent.
- 1891 - After earlier spiriting 2B Lou Bierbauer away from Philadelphia, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys again raided the American Association by signing OF Pete Browning and P Scott Stratton away from the Louisville Colonels, further cementing its new nickname of "Pirates." The Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing in any of the deals, and they thumbed their noses at being called piratical by rebranding as the Pirates for the 1891 season, at least per some of the media. The nickname was finally stitched on the team's uniforms in 1912.
- 1909 - Barney Dreyfuss began construction of a stadium near Schenley Park in Oakland, to be named Forbes Field after General John Forbes of French and Indian War fame. The steel-and-concrete ballyard was built and opened remarkably quickly on June 30th, remaining the Bucco’s playground for decades. The Pirates won three World Series there while sharing it with Pitt, the Steelers, the circus, rallies and events of all stripes before shutting down in 1970 and moving to Three Rivers Stadium.
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| Forbes Field construction - 1909 Pittsburgh Press |
- 1915 - RHP Nick “Jumbo” Strincevich was born in Gary, Indiana. The Pirates sent Lloyd Waner to the Boston Braves for Nick, and he remained a Buc from 1941-48, starting about half the games he appeared in while compiling a slash of 42-40-5/4.05 before being sold to the Phils. Strincevich was selected to play on the 1945 All-Star team but unfortunately due to wartime travel restrictions, the game and his day in the sun was canceled. Jumbo carved out a long career, pitching 16 seasons of pro ball. His nickname was lifted from his dad, who was known as Big Jumbo and Nick as Little Jumbo.
- 1939 - The first Major League Broadcasting Agreement was signed just prior to the 1939 season. Prior to that, many MLB clubs didn’t broadcast their games over the radio for fear of losing attendance, especially the two-team cities. Afterward, they all did except for a couple of times that clubs didn’t get their asking price for the rights. The first televised game was also aired this year, and in 1953 ABC began broadcasting a national game on Saturdays. League-wide broadcasts started when Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis orchestrated a deal in 1935 that allowed the World Series to be carried over the radio on all three major networks. In exchange, baseball was paid $400,000 for the radio rights. This marked the beginning of the end of the radio bans, and by 1939, all MLB teams were free to broadcast their games on the radio.
- 1953 - The Pirates opened their first and only spring camp in Havana. The Cuban government didn’t like the financial results of the experiment while the Pirates missed competing against other MLB teams based in Florida, so the original three-year deal ended up one-and-done by mutual agreement. The absence of drawing card Ralph Kiner, who was a holdout, was a raw point for both the Cuban promoters, who counted on his starpower, and the Pirates front office, who wanted him signed and on the field.
- 1956 - Roberto Clemente held out, missing the opening of camp. The Pirates offered $7,000; he felt he deserved $10,000. The Bucs held all the cards and signed The Great One for $7,500, but Roberto quickly made up the difference by hitting .311 and doubling his paycheck to $15,000 the following campaign. Clemente quickly became noted in Pittsburgh circles for late arrivals to camp for any variety of reasons, and it didn't seem to hurt his preparation any, although it did cause a little tooth-gnashing by his managers.
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| Roberto Clemente - 1956 photo/Sports Illustrated |
- 1957 - 2B Johnny Ray was born in Chouteau, Oklahoma. Johnny was the Rookie of the Year runner-up in 1982 to Steve Sax, playing in 162 games and hitting .318, also winning a Silver Slugger award in 1983. He played seven years (1981-86) for the Bucs with a .286 BA before being moved to make room for Jose Lind. He wasn’t done when the Bucs sent him to the Angels; in four years there, he batted .296 and played in an All-Star game.
- 1965 - Roberto Clemente didn’t report for spring training, suffering from malaria. He made it to camp a month later and muddled along until mid-May, then rallied to win the NL batting title with a .329 BA. He did struggle all year with his power stroke, bopping just 21 doubles and 10 home runs with 65 RBI, his lowest totals since 1959. But no worries; a healthy Roberto went long 29 times with 119 RBI the following go-around and was named MVP.
- 1976 - The owners ordered a spring training lockout, which lasted 17 days. Unwilling to delay the start of the season, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn decreed training camps to open March 18th. Players agreed to open the 1976 season without a collective bargaining agreement in place, and no games were canceled. A new four-year CBA was hammered out in July that allowed for free agency, and it was ratified in August.
- 1984 - The Pirates announced that their minor league players would be drug-tested when they reported to camp and then would be spot-tested during the season. Pete Peterson told Bob Hertzel of the Press that “I personally feel there should be drug testing on the major league level...” but it wasn’t permitted under the MLB CBA.
- 1988 - RHP Trevor Cahill was born in Oceanside, California. He was drafted by the Oakland A’s in the second round of the 2006 draft out of high school. Cahill debuted in 2009 and has been a starter/long man since, signing late with the Pirates in mid-March of 2021, making them the 9th club he’s hurled for. As a mound hybrid, he fit into Shelty’s plan to use an extended rotation, but went 1-5/6.57. In July, he was put on the IL with a calf injury and then fractured his foot. Cahill is now a free agent.
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| Trevor Cahill - 2021 photo/MLB.com |
- 2006 - Four Pirates who hadn’t reached arb yet - LHP’s Zach Duke & Mike Gonzalez, OF Chris Duffy and 2B Jose Castillo - refused to sign their contracts in a symbolic snit over the amount the Pirates had allotted them. GM Dave Littlefield said they had an internal salary system the club was sticking to, and the players themselves accepted their payday fate w/o much ado after the fact. Castillo got $348K, Gonzalez $347K, Duke $335K and Duffy $331K. 13 other pre-arb Buccos went with the flow and signed their deals.
- 2021 - The governor relaxed venue closure rules and allowed the Pirates to use 20% of its PNC Park capacity for fans, or roughly 7,900 people per game, as long as social distancing protocols were enforced. It was a welcome if a baby-step return to normalcy as Covid had killed the 2020 PNC campaign.
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