3/23: Cover Boy Jim; RIP Don; & Lotsa HBDs - Lanny, Johnny, Wendell, Hooks, Frenchy, Slappy, Denny, Mike & Farmer

• 1865 - C/OF Bill “Farmer” Weaver was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He split 1894, his final MLB season, between Louisville and Pittsburgh after spending six years with the Colonels, where he was one of the earliest players to hit for the cycle in 1890. He swung the bat well in his short stay with the Pirates (.348 w/24 RBI in 30 games), even filling in at SS, but it wasn’t enough to earn an invite back. Farmer (he got his nickname from a “Farmer Bill Weaver” newspaper article) played in the minors through 1910, then spent the next three years playing prison ball due to an affair with an underage girl before moving to Akron and going to work for Goodyear Tire & Rubber. 

Mike Smith - Ars Longa Art Card

• 1868 - OF/P Elmer “Mike” Smith was born in Allegheny City (Pittsburgh’s North Side). Smith was a pitcher who was converted to the OF after his arm wore down. He played for the Pirates from 1892-97, then returned in 1901. He was a good hitter with a .325 BA, .415 OBP and 136 OPS+ during his Bucco years. In 1893 he scored 121 runs and drove in 103 runs. Mike led the team in 1894 with a .357 BA and, in 1896, he hit .362 with a .454 OBP. Smith, converted to the OF by his Bucco time, also tossed for the Pirates in 1892, going 6-7/3.62. He remained a local boy after his 14-year career in MLB (he kept a North Side home on Madison Avenue) working as an inspector for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Highways and was buried in North Side’s Union Dale Cemetery. 
• 1885 - OF Danny Moeller was born in DeWitt, Iowa. Danny began his career by playing 47 games in 1907-08 for Pittsburgh, batting .219. He sharpened his skills in the bushes afterward (and picked up the nickname “Rochester Rambler” for his time spent with that club), returning to the show in 1912 to begin a five-year run with Washington and a brief stint with Cleveland. He started four years for the Senators, batting leadoff while sporting a soft glove and strong arm, although he became the first MLB player to strike out 100 times in a season when he collected 112 whiffs in 1912. Danny’s career was cut short by a chronic shoulder dislocation. 
• 1886 - RHP Cy “Slappy” Slapnicka was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He pitched pro ball from 1906-20, working 10 games in MLB. His last stint was with the 1918 Pirates, who bought his contract from Birmingham of the Southern Association in late June. Slappy, then 32, went 1-4/4.74 in seven outings (six starts) and was released. He had a long and solid career in the bushes as an administrator and manager, but made his mark after he retired as a big-time scout for the Indians, signing Bob “Rapid Robert” Feller, Roger Maris, Herb Score, Lou Boudreau, Bobby Avila and several other A-Listers. 

Ray Kremer - 1924 Pittsburgh Press

• 1893 - RHP Remy “Ray/Frenchy” Kremer was born in Oakland, California. Kremer pitched 10 seasons for the Pirates (1924-33), his only MLB club, and went 143-85/3.76, winning 20 games twice, leading the NL in ERA in 1926 and 1927 and claiming a pair of victories in the 1925 World Series. What's more amazing is that he didn't make his major league debut until he was 31-years-old after spending nine campaigns in the Pacific Coast League! But he didn’t come with a senior discount; the Pirates, in battle with the Cubs for his services, sent pitchers George Boehler and Earl Kuntz, infielder Spencer Andrews, and a reported $20,000 to the Oaks in exchange for Kremer, who also got a little slice of the pie after he threatened to hold out after the deal. 
• 1905 - OF Harold “Hooks” (he had noticeably bowed legs) Tinker was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but moved to Pittsburgh with his family in 1917. He played sandlot for the Edgar Thompson team before moving up to the Pittsburgh Monarchs. Hooks joined the Crawfords in 1928, playing center field as an assistant player-manager of the team; he was also said to have discovered Josh Gibson. Tinker was on the team when it was sold to Gus Greenlee in 1931, but when faced with Greenlee's decree to "work or play," Tinker chose to keep his mill job to support his family. Hooks later answered to a second calling and became a highly respected reverend in the Hill District. 
• 1914 - Writer Wendell Smith was born in Detroit. After his graduation from West Virginia State in 1937, where he pitched and played basketball, Smith began his career with the Pittsburgh Courier, then perhaps the most influential black paper in the country. Smith, as a baseball writer and sports editor, covered the Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Pirates. In 1947, he went to the Chicago Herald-American and later, the Sun-Times. He also became a WGN-TV sports anchor. He chronicled the early days of Jackie Robinson and was reputed to be one of the industry insiders to recommend Jackie to Branch Rickey. Wendell also was a tireless advocate of baseball integration, pushing teams (including the Pirates) to try out Negro League players such as Josh Gibson. He was recognized by the BBWAA Spink’s Award in 1993. In a bit of irony, the group had turned down Smith’s membership application while he was with the Courier, though in 1948 they finally relented and admitted him as one of its earliest black members, behind only Sam Lacy. He passed away of cancer in 1972, and in 2014, was the posthumous winner of the Associated Press’ Red Smith Award. 

Wendell Smith - undated Teenie Harris photo via Hall of Fame

• 1926 - IF Johnny Logan was born in Endicott, NY. Logan finished his 13-year career with the Pirates (1961-63), appearing in 152 games and batting .249. Playing mainly as a Brave, Logan batted .268 with 93 home runs, 547 runs batted in and 651 runs scored. He was a four-time All-Star selection, including three berths in a row from 1957-59, and was on Milwaukee’s 1957 World Series-winning club. Johnny finished his career in Japan, then did some broadcasting, scouting and took a gig welding on the Trans-Alaska pipeline in the seventies, which provided a better payday than any baseball salary he had ever received. 
• 1948 - Pirate announcer Lanny Frattare was born in Rochester, NY. Lanny was the voice of the AAA Charleston Charlies in 1974-75, and got in the booth for a couple of Pirates games after the minor league season at Bob Prince’s invitation, getting to announce an inning or so. He was officially part of the Pirate broadcasting team from 1976-2008, starting out as Milo Hamilton’s color man, and announced over 5,000 Bucco games during his 29 seasons as the alpha broadcaster ("...and there was no doubt about it"), becoming the Pirates longest-tenured voice before moving on to academia at Waynesburg University with some local announcing gig sprinkled in. In 2008, he was nominated for the Ford Frick Award, given by the Baseball Hall of Fame for excellence in broadcasting. 
• 1968 - Jim Bunning was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Bucks In Pirate Bank.” The season didn’t work out quite as expected, though. Injuries to his groin, ankle and hip led Bunning to win just four games as he came in with his worst major league season to date with a 4-14 record and 3.88 ERA, and he was sent to the Dodgers at the ‘69 deadline. 

Don Osborn - 1976 Pirates Picture Pack

• 1979 - Coach Don Osborn, 71, passed away in Torrance, California. After a minor league pitching career and some managing on the farm for the Cubs and Phils, he joined the Pirates in 1957 as a roving minor league coach and pitching mechanic. In 1963, Osborn was named Bucco pitching coach, and he served three stints in that post (1963–64, 1970–72, and 1974–76) mostly under Danny Murtaugh, with minor league duties in between big league gigs. Osborn was named pitching coach one last time after the 1978 season by Chuck Tanner, but failing health led to his resignation, and he died a year later.