3/12: 2020 Short Circuit; '21 Pre-Arbs Fill the Dotted Lines; Chuck HoF; RIP Frankie; HBD Deacon, Dave, Greg, Raul, Lefty, Reb, Denny & Phil

• 1865 - LHP Phil Knell was born in San Francisco. In a six-year career, he made a pair of stops in Pittsburgh. He started out as a 23-year-old rookie for the Alleghenys in 1888, going 1-2/3.76, and appeared in one outing for the Pirates in 1894 and getting whacked. But during 1890-91, he won 50 games for the Philadelphia Quakers and Columbus Colts. At 5’7” and 155 pounds, he didn’t cut an intimidating figure, but no one in the box was comfortable facing him. In those two seasons, the wild child bopped 82, walked 392 and tossed 39 wild pitches in 748-2/3 IP. Phil started 52 games for the Colts in 1891 and set the season record for hit batsmen with 54. 

Denny Lyons - image from New York Public Library

• 1866 - 3B Denny Lyons was born in Cincinnati. He played four seasons for Pittsburgh (1893-94; 1896-97) and mustered a .299 BA during that span. He put together a 52-game hitting streak that was largely ignored - it seems that back in the day a walk was considered the same as a hit. Still, it was a pretty impressive on-base skein. Lyons played for 13 campaigns, quitting only after a fastball thrown by Amos Rusie broke two of his fingers that never fully healed. 
• 1899 - OF Ewell “Reb” Russell was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Russell started as a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox in 1912 and was a good one, but developed arm trouble in 1918 and was released. While in the minors, he converted to playing the outfield and became an accomplished hitter. Reb got back to the show with Pittsburgh in 1922-23, and in 511 at-bats hit .323 with 21 HR/113 RBI. His downfall was that though he hit like an outfielder, he played the outfield like he was a pitcher. Still, Russell returned to the minor league American Association and was a highly paid star in the AA through age 40. His eyes were sharp as ever and he even won the league batting title when he was 38-years-old with a .385 BA. Ewell was nicknamed “Reb” for his Mississippi roots. 
• 1907 - LHP Leroy “Lefty” Matlock was born in Moberly, Missouri. After a cup of coffee with the Homestead Grays in 1932, he closed out the second half of his Negro League career with the Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1933-38, winning 51 games in his first four years, posting a 26-game NNL winning streak and being named to three All-Star teams. He was suspended early in the 1937 season for playing on a Dominican League team and won just four more games in his final two campaigns for the Craws, closing out his career in various Latin leagues. 

Leroy "Lefty" Matlock - 2020 Negro Leagues Legends

• 1930 - RHP Vern “The Deacon” Law was born in Meridian, Indiana. The righty pitched 16 years for the Pirates (1950–1951, 1954–1967), putting up a 162-147/3.77 line and winning the Cy Young in 1960 with a 20-9/3.05 mark for the World Series champs. Law hurt his ankle during some horseplay after clinching the pennant. A true trouper - he pitched through it during the Fall Classic, won twice and left Game #7 with a three run lead - he then tore muscles in his shoulder while compensating for the ankle. Both injuries lingered on for the remainder of his career, and his arm woes led him to briefly retire in '63. He had one more strong campaign afterward, going 17-9/2.15 in 1965 when he was named the Comeback Player of the Year. Law was also selected twice as an All-Star. "The Deacon" came by his nickname honestly; a devout Mormon, Vernon was a church deacon. 
• 1971- OF Raul Mondesi was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. The Pirates signed the 33-year-old vet in 2004 and he had a good month, batting .283 w/two homers & 14 RBI before going home to allegedly handle a personal issue. He never came back to Pittsburgh, as it was a ploy to get out of his contract. It worked - he was released in May and signed with Anaheim 10 days later, hit .118 and was cut in August. In 2005, the Braves became his last stop in a 13-year career; he batted .211 and was released in May. Mondesi became mayor of San Cristobal after baseball but couldn’t quite shake his self-centered ways. In 2017, a Dominican court handed him an eight-year sentence and fined him $1.3M for embezzling funds while in office. 
• 1971 - RHP Greg Hansell was born in Bellflower, California. He closed out a four-year, four-team MLB run in 1999 with the Pirates, posting a 1-3/3.89 line in 33 outings following a June call up from AAA Nashville. In December, Hansell was purchased by the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese League. He tossed there through 2002, but big league comeback attempts in 2003 & ‘04 fell short. After serving minor league depth assignments, Greg retired after the 2004 campaign. 

Frankie Frisch - 1961 Fleer Hall of Fame

• 1973 - Frankie “The Fordham Flash” Frisch passed away at the age of 74 as the result of a car crash. The Hall-of-Fame 2B played for the NY Giants & the St. Louis Gashouse Gang, serving as their player/manager from 1933-37, and winning the MVP in 1931. He was the Pirates skipper from 1940-46 with a 539-528 record, but never took a title, finishing higher than fourth just once in seven seasons. He went on to become a broadcaster and Chairman of the HoF Veterans Committee. 
• 1979 - LHP Dave Williams was born in Anchorage, Alaska. He spent four seasons (2001-02, 2004-05) with the Bucs, going 17-26 with a 4.25 ERA, and got to play with high school teammate Ian Snell. Williams was traded to Cincinnati for Sean Casey after the 2005 season. He had surgery for a herniated disc in his neck in 2007 and never was sharp afterward, ending his career after the 2009 season following a 2008 stint in Japan and a year in the minors. 
• 1980 - OF Chuck Klein was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Klein batted .320 over a 17-year career with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and one season with the Pirates, 1939, when he hit .300 in his last stellar campaign. He was inducted on August 3rd. 
• 2020 - The Pirates lost 7-5 to the Toronto Blue Jays at Bradenton in a Grapefruit League game, and it proved to be their last contest of the originally scheduled preseason. While the two clubs were playing, the MLB announced they were pulling the plug on spring training and delaying the start of the season by at least two weeks in response to the coronavirus threat. It trickled down to the minors; MiLB joined in, saying they were delaying the scheduled April 9th kickoff of the farm season to a yet undetermined date (it finally canceled minor league ball in 2020 in favor of “alternate camp” sites). The Bucs and Jays fudged a bit on the closure - the MLB said the shutdown was to begin at 4PM, but the clubs decided to finish the game in its entirety and played 16 minutes past the deadline. Camps resumed in late June and a shortened season began July 23rd. 

Tuck - 2021 Indy promo card

• 2021 - The Pirates agreed to contracts with all 30 of their pre-arb guys with no petulance from the crew. Notable players inked were Bryan Reynolds, Kevin Newman, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Edgar Santana, Mitch Keller, Cole Tucker, Geoff Hartlieb, Michael Feliz and Anthony Alford.