3/27: Guerrier, Cangy Deals; Demery, Blass Let Go; OF Shift; Pitching Pits; HBD Eric, Clay, Montana, Dave, Gary & Bill

• 1895 - RHP Bill Burwell was born in Jarbalo, Kansas. Burwell pitched just one year for the Pirates, going 1-0/5.23 in 1928, but later served as a Pirate coach and scout (1947–1948; 1958–1962). Burwell was the acting manager of the Pirates for the final game of the 1947 season after player-manager Billy Herman resigned and he beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-0. He was the pitching coach for the 1960 WS champs, and before that was a minor league assistant who helped develop Vern Law by teaching The Deacon how to change speeds and throw a changeup. 

Bill Burwell - photo via SABR

• 1953 - C Gary Alexander was born in Los Angeles. He had back-to-back strong seasons in 1977-78 while playing for three teams but a low BA and high K rate marked him as bench material by the time he arrived in Pittsburgh in 1981. He hit .213 as an OF/1B/PH for the Bucs in his last MLB season. Alexander was released by the Pirates in 1982 and finished out his pro career in Mexico. 
• 1956 - 1B Dave Hostetler was born in Pasadena, California. He closed out his five-year MLB run with six games played for the Pirates in 1988 after reviving his career with a two-year tour of duty in Japan. Hostetler went two-for-eight, and in May was sent to AAA Buffalo, ending his time in the show. After retirement, he stayed in sports as a regional manager for Riddell. 
• 1975 - The Pirates officially released RHP Steve Blass, who went from Game Seven World Series winner to a pitcher who had no idea where the ball was going once it left his hand, a condition that to this day is known as “Steve Blass disease.” Blass is now a Pirate ambassador and former long-time member of the broadcast team for Root Sports (now AT&T SportsNet). In other camp news, a position shuffle saw Willie Stargell moved from LF to 1B, Richie Zisk crossed the pasture into Pops’ old spot and Dave Parker was slotted into right. Bob Robertson ended up with the short stick; Willie’s shift (and Robby’s aching knees) reduced Big Red to just 152 PAs during the regular season. 

Larry Demery - 1978 Topps

• 1978 - RHP Larry Demery’s efforts to get a fresh start outside of Pittsburgh bore fruit when the Toronto Blue Jays claimed him off waivers for $20K. In four years with the Pirates, he slashed 29-23-7/3.72 but was coming off a poor ‘77 campaign (6-5-1/5.08) and felt that being swingman instead of a starter (139 appearances w/46 starts) affected his mound performance. The Pirates were trying to pass him through waivers so they could send him to Columbus to work out a sore shoulder. They had the right game plan; the Jays returned him four days later because of that shoulder. Larry spent three more years in the minors and was out of pro ball after the 1980 season. 
• 1987 - OF John Cangelosi was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Pirates for RHP Jim Winn, a first round pick (14th overall) of the Bucs in 1981. Cangelosi became a useful bench piece for the Bucs, spending four Bucco seasons and posting a .243 BA, while Winn worked two more MLB years. Cangy retired in 1999 and now operates a sports training facility in Illinois. 
• 1992 - RHP Montana DuRapau was born in Deltona, Florida. He was a 32nd round draft pick in 2014, from Bethune-Cookman College. He had a nice career in the minors, but proved his own worst enemy by getting banged twice for drug abuse, the last in 2018. He cleaned up his act, had a lights-out start at Indy, and when the Pirates went through a rash of injuries/poor performances from their bullpen, was called up in May, 2019, as a 27-year-old rookie. He got his name in the franchise highlights as the starting pitcher in the Pirates first-ever “opener” game on May 18th, a 7-2 Bucco win against San Diego. It was a rude initiation overall, though - Montana went 0-1/9.35 in 14 outings. He went to Oakland in 2021 as a AAA pitcher and retired after the year. 

Montana DuRapau - 2020 Topps Update

• 1993 - RHP Clay Holmes was born in Dothan, Alabama. A ninth round pick of the Bucs out of high school in 2011, his career was delayed by 2014 TJ surgery. Clay finally got the call, albeit for a cup of coffee, in April of 2018, getting into one game as a mop-up man, giving up a run in two innings on two hits & two walks with a whiff before being sent back down. He continued to yo-yo between Indy and Pittsburgh until 2021, when he was sent to the Yankees for Diego Castillo and Hoy Park. He pitched lights out in the Big Apple (5-2/1.61, 11 K per nine IP in 25 outings) and is still with the Bronx Bombers as a back-end reliever, although his recurrent control issues still pop up. 
• 1993 - LHP Eric Stout was born in Glen Allyn, Illinois. He was drafted by the KC Royals in 2014 out of Butler U, and had a cup of coffee with them in 2018. He then bounced around five different organizations (he made two more MLB appearances with the Cubs) with a couple of Indie league stints before joining the Pirates, who bought him from the Cubbies. Stout went to Indy and was called up in July, returned, and called back again in September. He got a save in 18 outings, but pitched to a 5.79 ERA with a K-per-inning but also seven walks per game. 
• 2001 - The papers speculated that the Pirates, whose FO was given the green light to increase the payroll after injuries to Kris Benson, Francisco Cordova and Jason Schmidt created the need for another pitcher, were after Brett Tomko of Seattle. But nothing ever became of the attempt to bolster the staff except dealing for Omar Olivares (6-9-1/6.55), who started 12 games before he was sent to the pen, and the free agent signing of Ramon Martinez, who got four starts while posting an 0-2/8.62 line to end his MLB career. Todd Ritchie and Jimmy Anderson carried the load, with 10 other pitchers joining the rotation. Ritchie, with 11 victories, was the Bucs only double-digit game winner. 

Omar Olivares - 2002 Topps Series 2

• 2002 - The Pirates sent out-of-options LHP Damaso Marte and minor league IF Edwin “Ruddy” Yan to the White Sox for RHP Matt Guerrier. The Bucs would get Marte back a few years later (he spent four campaigns as a Bucco) while Guerrier never tossed for the Pirates, spending two seasons at AAA Nashville before embarking on an 11-year, 555-outing MLB career. Yan spent the last eight years of his career (2008-15) working in the Dominican/US indie leagues after spending his first eight pro seasons in the minors.