11/7 From 1970: Jake GG; No Sale; Eli, Cordova Inked; Doughty Hired; '83 FA Class; Starg Funder; '72 Buc MVP Gang; HBD Roansy, Kris & Todd

• 1971 - RHP Todd Ritchie was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. Ritchie went 35-32/4.29 for the Bucs from 1999-2001, winning 15 games in ‘99. In 2001’s off season, he was traded to the White Sox for Kip Wells, Josh Fogg and Sean Lowe. Derailed by a bum shoulder, he signed again with Pittsburgh in 2005, but retired during camp. Todd’s final comeback effort was in 2008 with the Rockies; he lasted through five minor-league starts before leaving the slab for good. 
• 1972 - Willie Stargell came in third in the NL-MVP race, finishing behind winner Johnny Bench of the Reds and runner up Billy Williams of the Cubs. Bench had 263 vote count, Williams 211 and Pops 201. The Bucs had a gang of players finish in the Top 20 - Al Oliver (7th), Roberto Clemente (13th), Manny Sanguillen (17th), Steve Blass (18th) and Gene Clines (20th). 

Pops - 2002 Upper Deck Legendary Reflections

• 1973 - Some of baseball’s biggest names took their shot at throwing a strike at Willie Stargell’s Celebrity Bowling Tournament at the North Versailles Bowl, with the proceeds going to the Black Athletes Foundation to fight sickle cell anemia. Those attending included Henry Aaron, Reggie Jackson, Billy Williams, Brooks Robinson, Joe Morgan, Sparky Lyle, Jim Palmer, Satchel Paige and Joe Morgan, along with a small army of Pirates and Steelers (the Penguins were AWOL; they had a game that night); in all, over 50 athletes showed up for Pop’s event. 
• 1974 - RHP Kris Benson was born in Kennesaw, Georgia. The first overall selection of the 1996 draft, the Clemson grad pitched for the Pirates from 1999-2004 (missing 2001 after TJ surgery) with a line of 43-49/4.26. His antics with wife Anna were sports page fodder throughout his career, culminating in a 2013 divorce. On the flip side, he and Anna also fronted many charitable causes and raised an estimated $750K during his nine-year big league career. 
• 1983 - Dave Parker, Jim Bibby, Kent Tekulve, Richie Hebner, Miguel Dilone and Dave Tomlin became free agents and entered the convoluted compensation draft; only Teke (three years + option/$1M per year) and Tomlin (who spent two years at AAA Hawaii) returned to the Pirates. Parker went to Cincinnati, Bibby to Texas, Hebner to the Chicago Cubs and Dilone to Montreal. 
• 1988 - The Pirates replaced Syd Thrift with Larry Doughty as GM, three years to the day after they officially announced Syd’s hiring. Doughty had been hired from the Reds and became the Pittsburgh assistant GM in 1987, served a brief apprenticeship as the acting GM and was passed the torch OTD. His background was in player evaluation; with Cincinnati, he had been the head of their scouting department. The Pirates won division titles in ‘90 and ‘91, but Doughty caught flak for his handling of young talent, losing top prospects like Wes Chamberlain on a waiver snafu and Moisés Alou via trade. In 1992, the club's new president, Mark Sauer, replaced Doughty with Ted Simmons. 

Francisco Cordova - 1997 Topps Stadium Club

• 1997 - The Pirates reached agreement with RHP Francisco Cordova on a three-year/$4.1M contract with an option year. Cordova went 11-8/3.63 with a nine-inning no-hitter during the season. He went 27-32 over the three guaranteed seasons of the deal, but his ERA zoomed each year, from 3.31 to 4.43 to 5.21 as arm troubles limited his effectiveness. After his MLB days, the lefty tossed in his native Mexico from 2002 through 2011. 
• 1999 - RHP Roansy Contreras was born in Peralvillo, Monte Plata, Dominican Republic. Signed by the Yankees in 2017 as an international FA, he had a strong 2019 Class A campaign with Charleston before the minor-league 2020 season was scrubbed before he became part of the package sent to Pittsburgh for Jameson Taillon. An early season forearm injury limited him to 60 IP, mainly at Altoona, but he showed enough to get the call during the Bucs final 2021 homestand and an off season assignment to the Arizona Fall League. The Pirates were careful with his innings in 2022, but he went 5-5/3.79 and will enter camp as one of the frontrunners for a rotation spot. 
• 2005 - Owner Kevin McClatchy denied rumors that the Pirates had been sold to Dallas Maverick owner/Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban. McClatchy told Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette bluntly that “..the team was not for sale.” But the deck was being shuffled: by January 2007, shareholder Bob Nutting had taken over as the principal owner of the club. 
• 2008 - Scout Rene Gayo signed 18-year-old C Elias Diaz out of Venezuela. Eli developed slowly but steadily, outpunching first-round prospects Tony Sanchez and Reese McGuire. Baseball America named him the best defensive catcher in the minors in 2014. After being injury-bitten and sputtering in his early MLB calls, Diaz broke out in 2018 and became Fran Cervelli’s heir apparent, shaking his earlier backup rep, but then backtracked in the 2019 campaign. He was released in the offseason and is now playing with Colorado. 

Jake Stallings - 2021 image/Pirates

• 2021 - C Jake Stallings won a Rawlings Golden Glove award, beating out Yadi Molina and JT Realmuto. He was the first Pirates catcher to win the award since 1987 when Spanky LaValliere took the gold. The only other Bucco backstop to ever earn a GG was Tony Pena, who took the prize twice, in 1983 and again in ‘85. Pittsburgh also had two other Golden Glove finalists who fell short: CF Bryan Reynolds and SS Kevin Newman.