2/1: Cruz, Armas Sign; Julio Dealt; War Tax; Holy Moly, HBDs Galore: Ernie, Rosey, Cecilio, Jim B, Stolmy, Jim M, Bob, Chuck, Candy Jim T, Dixie & Jim K

• 1884 - Pirate announcer Rosey Rowswell was born in Alton, Illinois and raised in Tarentum. In 1936, he joined WWSW as a Pirate broadcaster and remained with the station and team until his death. His last on-air partner was Bob Prince from 1948-54, who called Rowswell his mentor. Rosey was an unabashed homer, and known for his home run call of “Open the window, Aunt Minnie, here she comes” followed by the sound of shattering glass. He also coined the term “Buccos” and “FOB” (when the bases were loaded, they were Full Of Buccos). Rowswell died in Pittsburgh in 1955 at the age of 71 and was buried in Allegheny Cemetery. 

Candy Jim - photo via Center for Negro League Research

• 1884 - 3B/manager “Candy Jim” Taylor was born in Anderson, South Carolina. Taylor spent three decades playing in the Negro Leagues and another three decades managing. Candy Jim took the reins of the Homestead Grays from 1943-44 when their manager, Vic Harris, was on hiatus and working in the war industry. The Grays didn't miss a beat, claiming the title and the Negro League World Series both seasons under Taylor. During his career, he played/coached for 25 different teams and became the winningest manager in Negro League history with 1,049 victories while posting a .285 lifetime BA as a player. Per “Forgotten Heroes” by Dr. Layton Revel & Luis Munoz, Taylor got his nickname of “Candy Jim” because he played third base as sweet as candy. 
• 1884 - RF Jim Kelly was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He didn’t have a very lengthy pro career, spending two of his three MLB seasons in Pittsburgh, batting .227 as a part-time Pirate in 1914 and .294 as a starting outfielder for the Pittsburgh Rebels of the Federation League the following year. He was a sly one - born Robert John Taggert, he used the name James Robert Kelly and trimmed six years off his age (he changed his B-Date to 1890) to muddy the fact that he was beginning his minor league career as a long-in-the-tooth 27-year-old. 
• 1892 - RHP Oland “Dixie” McArthur was born in Vernon, Alabama (hence the nickname). His major league career consisted of one inning of work for the Bucs in 1914. The 22-year-old represented well in that one outing, giving up just a hit with a whiff and no runs. He was a football star at Texas A&M before the Pirates signed him, but Dixie turned his back on the gridiron life to stay with the organization for five years, pitching solidly in the minors but never making it back to the show. He retired and moved on to the real world, where he was a success as an auto dealer and later in real estate before passing away at age 94. 
• 1918 - Baseball joined the war effort when a 10% tax was levied on its ticket sales, which was expected to raise $200,000 during the 1918 season. The tax was even imposed on homeowners who sold rooftop or treetop seats, and scalpers, if identified by the Federal revenuers, had to pay 50% on any charge beyond face value in addition to a fine. 

Chuck Churn - 1957 photo via Baseball Birthdays

• 1930 - RHP Chuck Churn was born in Bridgetown, Virginia. The Pirates signed him in 1949 out of HS, and he was moving up in the system when the service called him during the Korean War. He came back, continued to impress and got a five-game audition with Pittsburgh, going 0-0/4.32, as a 27-year-old rookie. From there, he played for four different organizations over the next two years after Boston claimed him in the Rule 5 draft, getting cups of coffee in the show with the Indians and Dodgers. He tossed in the minors for all or parts of 18 campaigns and retired after the 1967 season. His highlight big league moment came in 1959 with the Dodgers, when he defeated ElRoy Face and the Pirates, 5-4, in relief for his last MLB win. It was the only loss of the year (18-1) for the Baron of the Bullpen, and ended his 22-game winning streak. 
• 1931 - LHP Bob Smith was born in Woodsville, New Hampshire. The journeyman worked out of the Pirates bullpen from 1957-59, where he went 8-19-1/3.74 in 75 appearances. Smith’s everyday name played havoc with him. While with the Boston system, a similarly built lefty of the same name was often confused with him, and the Sox had to revert to using initials to differentiate the pair. In Pittsburgh, he suffered a more embarrassing fate - Smith’s 1958 Topps card, he claims, ran the picture of Cardinal outfielder Bobby Gene Smith rather than his, and he has never autographed that particular card because of the mix-up. 
• 1947 - RHP Jim McKee was born in Columbus, Ohio. Jim tossed briefly for the Pirates in 1972-73, going 1-1/4.17 in 17 outings. He was a life-long Bucco, selected by Pittsburgh in the fourth round of the 1969 draft out of Otterbein College (he was the first Cardinal baseball player ever drafted) and closed out his career in 1974 at AAA Charleston. He died at age 55, the victim of an auto wreck. 
• 1955 - RHP Ernie Camacho was born in Salinas, California. He spent 10 years in the show, stopping off in Pittsburgh early in his voyage in 1981 when the Bucs sent Bob Owchinko to Oakland to get him. He spent most of his time with AAA Portland, getting into seven Pirates games with an 0-1/4.98 slash. He was swapped, along with SS Vance Law, to the Chicago White Sox for P Ross Baumgarten and minor-leaguer Butch Edge in April of the following campaign. Ernie was a guy the Bucs had wanted; they drafted him as a 14th round pick back in 1975 out of Hartnell College, but he bet on himself, didn’t sign with them and instead went to the Athletics in the first round the next year. 

Ernie Camacho - photo via Sports Memorabilia

• 1960 - RHP Cecilio Guante was born in Villa Malla, Dominican Republic. The righty was a bridge guy for Pittsburgh for five seasons (1982-86) and slashed 13-17-20/3.06 before being traded to the Yankees as part of the Doug Drabek deal. Cecilio was a tough guy to miss on the mound - he had a big “G” (for Guante) covering the web of his glove. It was fitting, though - guante, in Spanish, translates as “glove,” even if Cecilio was a bit below average with his. 
• 1961 - Pitching wizard Jim Benedict was born in Burbank, California. After tossing in the KC system, he managed and coached in the college ranks. In 1990, he joined the Rangers, then from 1994-2000 was the minor league pitching coordinator for the Expos and Dodgers. Jim became a scout and Special Assistant to the GM for the Yankees for five years. In 2007-2008, he scouted for the Indians. In late 2008, he joined the Pirates as Special Assistant to the GM. He helped turn around the pitching and in 2015 was hired away by the Miami Marlins as the VP of pitching. Now he’s with the Cubs; Chicago hired him as a special assistant to baseball operations in 2017. 
• 1965 - The Pirates traded IF Julio Gotay to the California Angels for CF Bob Perry. Gotay couldn’t beat out Ducky Schofield for Dick Groat’s old shortstop spot, and Gene Alley’s emergence made Julio expendable. He would go on to play for five more years as a backup infielder, mainly with Houston, batting .263, while Perry spent the next six years in the minors, suiting up for four organizations before hangin’ ’em up after the 1970 campaign at age 35. 
• 1990 - RHP Stolmy Pimentel was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. He was a Buc from 2013-14, coming over from the Red Sox with a line of 2-1/4.50. The old Sox Prospects scouting report on him held true: “Excellent overall stuff, but struggles with the consistency...” He was released, tossed briefly for Texas in 2015, and was out of MLB after a season in the Mets farm system/Mexico. He tossed a bit in the Latino leagues and was out of baseball after 2017. 

Stolmy Pimento - photo via Pirates/MLB.com

• 2007 - The Pirates signed free agent RHP Tony Armas Jr., 28, for $3.5M, with a 2008 option for the same amount w/$500K buyout. He was the first MLB free agent deal of the off-season for the Bucs. The suits hoped Tony would be a solid veteran back-ender and mentor for a young staff, but he instead started the season 0–3/8.92 and was dropped from the rotation. The Pirates got a 4-5/6.03 line from him with just 97 IP and bought him out after the year. Tony tossed three times for the Mets in 2008, and that ended his MLB career after 10 seasons. 
• 2012 - 33-year-old RHP Juan Cruz agreed to a $1.25M contract with the Pirates, earned a spot on the team as a non-roster invitee and finished the campaign with a solid 1-1-3/2.78 line with 14 holds. But his 4.19 FIP, 1.626 WHIP and five walks per nine painted a clearer picture of his performance and he was released in late August to end his last season in the majors.