3/18: Solly Signs; Puerto Rico Tour Rained Out; Bucs & Braves Trade Skeds; New CBA; HBD Brian, Dick, Elbie, Brute, Marcus & Nixey

• 1874 - Pirate skipper Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Callahan was the Buc manager in 1916 and part of 1917, never sniffing the first division and replaced midway through his second year by Honus Wagner/Hugo Bezdek after compiling an 85-129 record at the helm. He was a nice ballplayer for the White Sox, though he never suited up for the Pirates. In 1902, Callahan pitched the first no-hitter in American League history and is the only pitcher to have collected five hits in a game three times; because of that stick, he was exclusively used as an outfielder in the later stages of his career. Nixey was a childhood nickname of undisclosed origin which Callahan didn’t use as an adult, although newspapers often used it. 

Nixey Callahan - 1916 Holmes Bread

• 1896 - RHP Marcus Milligan was born in Heflin, Alabama. Milligan never tossed in the majors because of WW1. In 1918, as a 21-year-old rookie, he was given a good chance at breaking camp with the big league club after being signed by Barney Dreyfuss in 1916, then having a strong year at Class A Birmingham the following season. But he had enlisted earlier and was claimed  in March by Uncle Sam, reporting to the aviation corps. He died in a training accident in September when his biplane crashed at Barron Field in Fort Worth, Texas. 
• 1912 - SS John “The Brute” Lyles was born in St. Louis. He played one of his seven pro black baseball seasons with the Homestead Grays in 1934 as a 22-year-old shortstop, hitting .261. He then spent three years with the semi-pro Claybrook Tigers, known as the “Champions of the South,” then came home to the Negro League in 1938, playing through the 1942 campaign. 
• 1916 - 1B Elbie Fletcher was born in Milton, Massachusetts. In between opening and closing stints lasting six seasons with the Boston Braves, he filled in the middle years by playing for Pittsburgh for seven campaigns (1939-43, 1946-47), with two years off during WW2. Elbie put together a line of .279/79/616 as a Bucco, was a six-year starter and earned an All-Star bid in 1943. Fletcher began his big league career in 1934 with Beantown after a contest was held to determine which local high school player was most likely to reach the major leagues, with the winner receiving an invitation to the Braves' spring training camp. With the considerable help of the votes from his large family, Fletcher won, and then made the team. 
• 1926 - LHP Dick Littlefield was born in Detroit. The workmanlike southpaw toiled from 1954-56 for some pretty sad Pirate teams and put up a 15-23 record with a 4.29 ERA. Littlefield was the poster boy for journeymen per Wikipedia - he was one of the most well-traveled and frequently-traded players prior to the free agency era, rostering on 10 of the 16 MLB franchises of his era. 

Dick Littlefield - 1979 TCMA 50s series

• 1953 - The Boston Braves request to move to Milwaukee was approved by the MLB owners, the first relocation in 50 years. It became effective at the start of the season, less than a month away. It raised havoc with the Pirates ticket office, who had to switch schedules with the Braves. At the time, teams in the NL had schedules that differed among the four eastern teams and the four western teams, and the Bucs at the the time were one of the western squads (Boston, the two NY teams & Philly were the eastern reps while Pittsburgh, Cincy, Chicago & St. Louis were considered the western clubs). The Bucs’ Home Opening Day was moved back by two days, they had to reprint their tickets/promo schedules for the season and swap out the old ducats for new ones for the season ticket holders before playing ball for keeps on April 14th. 
• 1962 - RHP Brian Fisher was born in Honolulu. A second round draft pick of the Yankees, the Bucs traded for him in 1987. He was a workmanlike starter for two years, but suffered from knee problems in 1989 and was released by Pittsburgh after posting a Bucco slash of 19-22/4.72 ERA. He lasted in the show until 1992 when his knees finally called it a day. He was a second-round draft pick by the Atlanta Braves and featured a fastball that touched 97 MPH. 
• 1987 - The Pirates returned from a scheduled three-day, two-game trip to Puerto Rico a day early and with no games in hand. The quick trip to San Juan with the Toronto Blue Jays was rained out when rainstorms, described by Buc coach Ray Miller as “monsoons,” drenched the islands. The field wasn’t protected by a tarp and became an unplayable quagmire. Outside of inconvenience and the chance to play before the Puerto Rican fans, the only casualties were Jim Leyland’s camp pitching rotation and player’s sleep schedules. 
• 1990 - The suits and the MLBPA agreed on a new CBA that ended a 32-day lockout. The main points included increasing the clubs' ante to the pension fund, raising the minimum salary to $100,000 and the introduction of “Super Two” arbitration status. The lockout pushed Opening Day back a week to April 9th and the season had to be extended by three days.

Solly T

Solly Torres - 2003 Upper Deck 40 Man

• 2002 - After taking off five years, mainly to manage in the Dominican, RHP Salomon Torres, 30, signed with the Pirates in December as an NRI. It looked like his comeback dream may have ended on this day when despite a strong spring, he was sent to AAA Nashville. But Solly persevered and kept his eye on the prize, then got called up for a handful of games in September that turned into a six-year stay in Pittsburgh. He pitched in every role from starter to closer, breaking Teke's appearance record with 94 outings in 2006, and posted a line of 26-28-29/3.63 as a Bucco. Torres closed out his career in 2008 with the Brewers.