3/8: Kris Signs; Casey HoF; Stadium OKs; Nate; Arriba TV; Fed League Born; HBD Cal, Jim, Joel, Juan, Toby, Al, Bill, Ironman & Coldwater Jim

• 1869 - RHP James “Coldwater Jim” Hughey was born in Wakeshma, Michigan. A journeyman, he pitched for the Pirates from 1896-97, going 12-18 with a 5.03 ERA. Coldwater (named for his first minor league outpost and eventually where he settled) is the last pitcher to lose 30 games, doing so for a historically terrible 1899 Cleveland Spider club that finished 20-134 (he did lead the club in ERA and wins). Because of poor attendance, the Spiders did some regular season barnstorming in an attempt to draw some warm bodies and played only 42 home games, resulting in them posting an untouchable record of 101 road losses! 

Coldwater Jim Hughey - 1896 Pgh Bulletin

• 1912 - C Ray “Iron Man” Mueller was born in Pittsburg, Kansas. Iron Man played in Pittsburgh (PA, not KS) from 1939-40 and again in 1950, hitting .251. He earned his nickname when he caught every game the Cincinnati Reds played (155) during the 1944 season. Mueller caught a NL-record 233 consecutive games in 1943–1944 and 1946, missing 1945 when he was in the Army. 
• 1913 - The Federal League was born as a six-team outlaw circuit with Pittsburgh (first called simply the “Feds” and later becoming the “Rebels”) among its clubs. It was a minor league during its first season, but became a third major league, along with the NL and AL, from 1914-15. It initiated a costly wage war by signing established players, but the league pockets weren’t deep enough to continue the battle. After 1915, six of the eight teams were bought or merged into the NL/AL, ending the last major league to compete against the established powers. 
• 1917 - C Bill Salkeld was born in Pocatello, Idaho. He began his career as a Pirate, batting .293 from 1945-47 as a spare catcher/pinch hitter and put in six big league campaigns for three teams. Salkeld retired from baseball in 1953 after spending some time in the minors and died young from cancer at the age of 50 in 1967. His grandson Roger, born four years after Bill passed away, was chosen by the Seattle Mariners in the first round of the 1989 MLB Draft, and pitched in 45 games for the Mariners and the Cincinnati Reds during the mid-nineties. 
• 1922 - OF Al Gionfriddo was born in Dysart, in Cambria County. He played four years (1944-47) as a spare OF’er and pinch hitter for the Bucs, batting .276, but made his mark after being traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He played in the World Series that year and made a famous fence-kissing catch of a Joe DiMaggio blast to rob Jolting Joe of extra bases. As Red Barber famously called it on Mutual Radio: "...back goes Gionfriddo! Back, back, back, back, back, back...he makes a one-handed catch against the bullpen! Ohhh-hooo, Doctor!” ESPN’s Chris Berman adapted the "back-back-back" call as part of his web-gem package. 

Al Gionfriddo - photo via Mainline Autographs

• 1924 - C Maurice “Toby” Atwell was born in Leesburg, Virginia. A strong glove guy, Atwell was a part-time Bucco catcher from 1953-56, batting .250. His career ended the next season; he had injured his knee in the minors and never fully recovered. Toby also answered to “Buster,” after silent film star Buster Keaton, because he spoke so little, per ex-Bucco Nellie King. Lloyd Larsen of the Milwaukee Sentinel added that the Chicago Cubs called him “Three Word” because that’s all he said - “hello” when he arrived at camp and “good bye” when the season ended. 
• 1949 - RHP Juan Jimenez was born in La Torre, Dominican Republic. Jimenez’s MLB career consisted of four September, 1974, Bucco outings, giving up four runs (three earned) in four IP with six hits and two walks as a mop-up man. He had earned the call after going 6-9/2.66 as a swingman at AAA Charleston. Juan spent the ‘75 campaign there and then tucked the ball in his back pocket. 
• 1966 - The Hall of Fame Special Veterans Committee elected Casey Stengel to the Hall. He broke his hip in 1965, ending his managerial career, and the Committee waived his waiting period to make him immediately eligible for Cooperstown. (The electors, who weren’t sure The Ol’ Perfessor would last long enough to become eligible, needn't have worried - he lasted another decade, living to the ripe old age of 85). He was inducted July 25th. Stengel was a Pirate outfielder from 1918-19; his famous "sparrow under the hat" antic was performed as a Bucco. 
• 1967 - RHP Joel Johnston was born in West Chester, PA. He was a Penn State grad and highly touted KC prospect, breaking into Baseball America’s Top 100 (#59). After a poor showing with the Royals, he was traded to the Pirates in 1993 with LHP Dennis Moeller for 2B José Lind, and he rebounded with a line of 2-4-2/3.38 in 33 games. But he bombed the next year and was released in May, 1994. 

Joel Johnston - 1994 Topps

• 1968 - RHP Jim Dougherty was born in Brentwood, New York. A late round Astros’ draft pick in 1990, he made 56 appearances for Houston in ‘95, then spent the next two seasons sipping cups of coffee with the ‘Stros and A’s. After spending ‘98 in the minors, he signed with the Pirates, spun two not-very-effective April outings and was sent to AAA Nashville. Dougherty then tried two other organizations before closing out his career as a Bucco farmhand in 2002, splitting time between the Sounds and AA Altoona during that final pro campaign. 
• 1998 - The TV special “Clemente” aired nationally on Fox Sports. The 45-minute program was produced by Black Canyon, who put together the “When It Was A Game” series for HBO. The show consisted of old clips, file footage and interviews. It was well reviewed and timed to introduce one of the great players of this century to an audience that either never knew him or forgot his accomplishments. 
• 1998 - The City and County ended decades of debate when they announced plans to build two stadiums on the North Shore at a cost of $459M, with construction to begin in the summer of ‘99. PNC Park & Heinz Field both had spring groundbreakings and stayed fairly close to the budget, costing taxpayers $497M, less than a 10% overrun of the estimated cost, which was awfully close to a bullseye for government estimators. Both fields opened for play in 2001. 
• 1999 - OF/DH Calvin Mitchell was born in San Diego, California. A second round pick of the Bucs in 2017 from Rancho Bernardo HS, Cal played all three outfield spots and his bat came around in 2021 as a 22-year-old, getting him some notice in the organization. He kept on at Indy the following season (.307/5 HR/26 RBI/6 SB) and the Pirates called him up to the big team in mid-May after reversing course and opting to play actual outfielders rather than recycled infielders in the pasture. Mitchell was penciled into the lineup the same day he arrived, and collected his first MLB hit and RBI during his debut. He hit .226 in 69 games, with some talk now of moving him to 1B. 

Cal Mitchell  - 2022 photo/Pirates 

• 2001 - Kris Benson signed a four-year contract worth a reported $13-14M that carried him through arbitration. Benson, 26, posted a 10-12/3.85 line in 2000. He missed all of 2001 after TJ surgery and never finished a season with an ERA under four in his remaining seven seasons. He played as a Pirate until the last year of the agreement, when he was sent to the New York Mets in the transaction that returned Jose Bautista to the Bucs after losing him in the 2003 Rule 5 draft. 
• 2007 - The Post Gazette featured a spring camp report wondering if Nate McLouth could hang on to win a bench spot after a disappointing campaign in 2006. He did go north with the Bucs, joining a rotating cast in center field consisting of himself, Chris Duffy, Rajai Davis and Nyjer Morgan, then took command of the pasture by putting together an All-Star season in 2008. Nate didn’t get much chance to repeat, though - he was sent to Atlanta in June of 2009 for RHP Charlie Morton, LHP Jeff Locke & OF Gorkys Hernandez to clear a spot for rookie Andrew McCutchen.