2/14 From 1975: Gene, Denny, Doug, Jason Sign; Scout Teke; Coach Harvey; Martin In Booth; Kevin OK'ed; Joe Pitt; HBD Damaso

• 1975 - LHP Damaso Marte was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He pitched for the Bucs in 2001, coming over from the Yankees for Enrique Wilson and then traded to the White Sox for Matt Guerrier after the season. He returned for 2006-08 after spending four years with Chicago in exchange for Rob Mackowiak. Damaso slashed 7-8-5/3.52 and struck out 200 batters in 186-2/3 IP. In 2008, Marte and Xavier Nady were traded to the Yankees for four prospects: José Tábata, Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, and Daniel McCutchen. 

Damaso Marte - 2006 Topps

• 1979 - Harvey Haddix filled out Chuck Tanner’s staff when he was named pitching coach, replacing Don Osborn, who was in poor health. A couple of players also added their John Doe to contracts on this day: SS Frank Taveras and P Ed Whitson. Neither player made it through the season; they became parts of deals that brought Tim Foli and Bill Madlock to Pittsburgh. 
• 1980 - Everyone remembers Lanny Frattare taking over for Milo Hamilton, but not many recollect the Dave Martin era following Milo’s departure, which the team announced on this date. That’s understandable as Martin only lasted a year as Lanny’s broadcast partner despite a resume that included stops with the Expos, A‘s, Indians and Red Sox. Lanny told Dave Finoli for The Pirates Encyclopedia “Dave came to Pittsburgh with a number of misconceptions about the team and market and struggled...” Amen; it was Martin’s last MLB booth gig after he was replaced by John Sanders. 
• 1983 - Coming off a .284/31/101 campaign, the Pirates signed 1B Jason Thompson to a five-year/$5.5M deal with a $400K signing bonus, an option and several incentives from weight to MVP. The deal deferred $200K annually, a contract ploy used by the Bucs in the 80’s that eventually led to cash problems in the form of “dead money” for the club. Thompson never had another big year after the deal; he hit .252 with 47 HR from 1983-85, partially due to bad knees and partially due to a power outage against LHP, and was traded to Montreal. 
• 1991 - Happy Valentines Day to Doug Drabek, who won his arb case to the tune of $3.335M, leaving Pittsburgh’s $2.3M counteroffer in the dust. DD became the first $3M awardee in baseball arbitration history and the Pirates highest paid player ever in one fell swoop. He had made $1.1M in 1990, but went 22-6/2.76 and won the Cy Young, and that earned him the bump. 

Kevin McClatchy - 1996 photo/AP

• 1996 - Kevin McClatchy and partners (and he needed to hustle to find one more warm body, as a few days before his offer was finalized, an investor bailed on him at the last minute) was approved by MLB and purchased the Pirates from the Pittsburgh Associates for $90M, with the understanding that a baseball-only stadium be built within five years. McClatchy had entered the fray about 10 months prior to the agreement, jumping in after John Rigas’ bid was rejected by MLB. He made a formal bid in September 1995 that twisted, turned and mutated until it finally passed muster. The sale saved the franchise from being moved out of Pittsburgh by other lurking buyers and greased the wheels for a new ballyard, but proved a mixed competitive blessing under the perpetually cash-strapped McClatchy, who eventually gave way to Bob Nutting.
• 1996 - In further good news, minutes after Kevin McClatchy was approved to buy the Pirates by MLB, 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. 
• 1998 - After guiding the Pirates to a second-place finish in the National League Central Division in 1997, manager Gene Lamont had his contract extended for a year, through the 2000 season. The compensation was undisclosed but guesstimated by the press to be $500,000. After the 2000 campaign, Lamont was let go and replaced at the Bucco helm by Lloyd McClendon. 

Gene LaMont - 2000 photo Ezra Shaw/Getty

• 2006 - The Pirates, who had gone three seasons without an advance scout, filled that hole by hiring old fireman Kent Tekulve to fill the role. Teke had no formal dealings with his old club since the 1990 campaign when he worked as a community relations guy before leaving to spend seven years as a Phillies’ announcer and then several more seasons working with the indie Washington Wild Things. But manager Jim Tracy wanted the position manned again and knew Tekulve from Ohio, so things fell into place. Teke moved to the TV side in 2008 with a break for a heart transplant in 2014, and remained a talking head until 2017, when he retired in September. 
• 2018 - Pitt head baseball coach Joe Jordano was named to the staff of the 2018 Collegiate National Team, as announced by USA Baseball. Jordano was in his 21st season as the Pitt skipper and ranked among the top-25 active winnings Division I coaches. It was a big year for JJ - he also coached his 1,500th game and was inducted into the National Italian Hall of Fame. He resigned after the season with a school-high 588 wins and is now with IMG Academy in Bradenton.