- 1892 - Pirate suit Bill Benswanger was born in New York City. His family moved to Pittsburgh when he was five and he attended Central HS, located in the Hill. Bill married owner Barney Dreyfuss’ daughter Eleanor, and in 1931 he became the team’s treasurer. Dreyfuss passed away the following year and passed the Pirates torch onto Benswanger who became president, a position he held until 1946. Baseball wasn’t exactly in his blood (Actually, music was - Ben was an accomplished pianist, was active as a backstage presence for the PSO and served as president of the Pittsburgh Musicians Club & the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society.). He told Vince Johnson of the Post Gazette “I literally got dumped into baseball. I didn’t know a thing about it. I was there just because I was the only man in the family.” But Bill was a quick learner and ran the club creditably before the Dreyfuss family sold it to Frank McKinney’s group for an estimated $2,225,000.
- 1900 - C Roy Spencer was born in Scranton, NC. He played his first three campaigns in Pittsburgh (1925-27) on two World Series clubs as a reserve, appearing in the ‘27 Classic. In three years, he hit .307 for the Pirates. After leaving the Steel City, he honed his game by spending a year with Indianapolis of the American Association. Spencer then played nine more seasons with four other teams, beginning in 1929 with Washington and ending in 1938 at Brooklyn.
- 1911 - C Bill Baker was born in Paw Creek, NC. The backup played four seasons (1941-43, 1946) with Pittsburgh, missing a couple of years while in the Navy during WW2, and hit .247. Baker went into umpiring after his career and worked his way up to an NL arbitrator for a season before his knees finally gave out, an occupational hazard for an old catcher.
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| Doc Johnston - photo via Find-A-Grave |
- 1915 - The Pirates bought 1B Wheeler "Doc" Johnston from Cleveland for $7,500. It was thought that Doc was brought in to challenge Honus Wagner for the first base slot, with owner Barney Dreyfuss telling the Pittsburgh Press that “No man is certain of his job with the Pirates. Every place is open this spring…” Hans was 41 and it was assumed that he would slide over to cover Ed Konetchy’s spot at first after Konetchy skipped to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Federal League. When the season started, Doc was indeed at first, but not at Wagner’s expense - the Dutchman held onto his shortstop job, playing 131 games at the position. Doc started in Pittsburgh for two years and then was moved as part of the Burleigh Grimes deal after the 1916 campaign.
- 1922 - SS Frankie Zak was born in Passaic, New Jersey. He played three years, all in Pittsburgh (1944-46), as a reserve infielder and pinch runner with a .266 lifetime BA. Even though he only got 160 at bats in 1944, he was named a replacement All-Star. The game was held at Forbes Field, and with wartime travel restrictions creating logistic problems, the NL took the easy road by selecting him (Frankie did hit .300 that season). Red Patterson in the New York Herald-Tribune explained “Frank Zak was substituted at the last moment for (Pirate) Pete Coscarart, who was supposed to replace Eddie Miller (of the Reds) but went fishing before he could be notified.” A local sports scribe cracked "He (Zak) got a break. He thought he'd have to pay his way in." The poor guy couldn’t even get a memento of his unexpected day in the sun; he was named to the team too late to have his name included in the All-Star program.
- 1947 - For the first time since 1918, the Pirates held spring training in Florida with the pitchers reporting OTD and the full squad checking in on the 27th. Billy Herman’s club worked out in Miami Beach, with the players getting $5 per diem in spending money, which the Post Gazette estimated as enough “for a couple of hamburgers...and a cup of coffee.”
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| Tom Griffin - 1982 Topps |
- 1948 - RHP Tom Griffin was born in Los Angeles. He was a first round pick of the Astros (4th overall) in 1966 and spent 14 years in the show as a swingman. He bowed out as a Bucco in 1982 in a deal with the Giants for Doe Boyland. Griffin got into six games, went 1-3/8.87, and hung up his spikes at age 34 after the Pirates released him in May to clear a spot for IF Ken Reitz. His career game was tossed against the Bucs in May of 1974, when he threw a one-hitter to take home a 2-1 win for Houston. To add a little salt to the wound, Milt May, who the Bucs had sent to the Astros for Jerry Reuss in October, tripled home the game winner.
- 1970 - RHP Steve Blass signed an agreement estimated to be for $28,000 after going 16-10/4.46 in 1969. With that signing, Joe Brown wrapped up his staff contractually for the spring, having inked lefty Big Bob Veale to a deal two days prior to Steverino’s signing.
- 1980 - President Jimmy Carter hosted both the Steelers and Pirates in a single ceremony at the White House to celebrate their respective championship wins in Super Bowl XIV and the 1979 World Series. More than one cynical observer believed that the ceremony had more to do with the upcoming Pennsylvania primary than trophies. Championship showcases, thought to be initiated by JFK, were made into an annual rite by Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan.
- 1985 - The Pirates signed Orlando Merced as an amateur free agent out of high school at the age of 17. The Puerto Rican spent seven seasons with the Bucs, playing outfield and first, batting .283 from 1990-96 before being traded as part of the Jose Silva/Abraham Nunez deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Bucs also signed Luis Clemente, Roberto’s son, and that played into the Merced signing as he and Luis were friends, and the Clemente clan recommended Orlando to the Pittsburgh scouts. Luis lasted seven games in the Gulf Coast Rookie League before deciding to join his brother in continuing Roberto's work.
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| Doug Drabek - 1990 promo poster |
- 1990 - RHP Doug Drabek won his arbitration case against the Pirates, collecting $1.1M for 1990 after going 14-12/2.80 in 1989; the Pirates had offered him $750 K after he had made $335K for the past season. The Bucs got a bargain even with the loss; DD went on to have a Cy Young season, putting up a 22-6/2.76 slash in 1990. The Pirates dealt with nine arb cases in ‘90: they settled just one before the hearing date and went 3-5 in those eight contested sessions.
- 1999 - Howie Haak, known as the “King of the Caribbean” by baseball people and “Big Daddy” by young Latino ballplayers, died of a stroke at age 87. Haak toiled for the Pirates from 1950-88, when he resigned after a spat with GM Syd Thrift, and beat the bushes for the Houston Astros for several years afterward. In 1984, Haak was selected as the first recipient of the Scout of the Year award, voted on by his peers. He was involved with signing scores of players for the Bucs, including Manny Sanguillen, Omar Moreno & Rennie Stennett of Panama; Tony Pena, Jose DeLeon, Frank Taveras & Cecilio Guante of the Dominican Republic, Ramon Hernandez & Junior Ortiz of Puerto Rico, Joe Christopher & Al McBean of the Virgin Islands, Roman Mejias & Orlando McFarlane of Cuba and Tony Armas of Venezuela. He also reeled in some US players, like Dick Stuart, Dale Berra, Steve Nicosia, Joe Gibbon, Red Witt, John Candelaria and Bob Veale.
- 2018 - The Pirates swung a deal with Tampa Bay to land All-Star OF’er Corey Dickerson, 28, who was being DFA’ed as part of the Rays contract housekeeping. Pittsburgh acquired Dickerson for RHP Daniel Hudson, highly touted young 2B Tristan Gray and $1M cash. His 2017 line was .282/27/62. Corey was added to replace Andrew McCutchen, who had been traded to the Giants earlier in the off season, taking over in left field as Starling Marte shifted to center. Marte did well, posting a 118 OPS+, the same as the departed Cutch’s, in 2018. Since then, he’s played for four teams and is currently with the New York Mets. Huddy is tossing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Gray was with the Tampa Bay Rays’ AAA team, Durham, last season. Corey was shipped to Philly at the 2019 deadline and has played for four other nines since. He’s now a Nat.
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