11/17: Groat MVP; Bay, Kendall Contracts; Hunter, Lucas Deals; Benjy Signed; Strickland Drafted; '92 Expansion Draft; Collins Hired Away; KD Deal; HBD Hunter, JT, Eli, Ty, Jim, Tom, Orlando & Don

• 1892 - OF Don Flinn was born in Bluff Dale, Texas. Flinn played pro ball for a decade from 1914-26 with a couple of breaks, but his only big league time came with the Pirates in 1917 when he hit .297 in 14 games. He was a good hitter, amassing a .330 BA in a variety of southern leagues (five seasons in the Texas League) but still only got two part-time shots at the Class A and MLB level before racking the bat for the last time at age 33 in 1926. 
• 1933 - The Pirates traded OF Adam Comorosky and 2B Tony Piet to the Reds for RHP Red Lucas and OF Wally Roettger. Lucas was the key player. He lasted five seasons in Pittsburgh, going 47-32/3.77 and making 96 starts. After the trade, Lucas never lost a game against his old Cincinnati mates, going 14-0 against them during the remainder of his career. Red went 15-4 in 1936 with a 3.18 ERA in his top Bucco campaign and was also handy off the bench with a stick (he started his minor league career in the OF), posting a career .281 BA. Red’s nickname, "The Nashville Narcissus," was coined by Colonel Bob Newhall, a reporter for the old Cincinnati Tribune, who thought the young pitcher who was raised in Nashville was a blooming baseball beauty per SABR. 
• 1933 - RHP Orlando Pena was born in Victoria de Las Tunas, Cuba. He tossed for parts of 14 big league seasons, getting into 23 games and posting a 2-1-2/4.78 slash as a 36-year-old for the Pirates in 1970. When Pittsburgh picked him up, he was the KC Royals BP pitcher and had been out of the majors since 1967. But he had a big-time angel: Roberto Clemente had seen him play in the Caribbean Series and liked his stuff; in the spring, The Great One recommended him to Joe Brown. Orlando was eventually released in August and picked up by Baltimore; he hung around through the 1975 campaign, tossing for three teams with a line of 10-10-11/2.70 in that span. He scouted for the Tigers and the White Sox through the 1990s and is a member of the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Tom Dettore - 1973 Pirates promo photo

• 1947 - RHP Tom Dettore was born in Canonsburg, graduated from Canon-McMillan HS and then went on to Juniata College. Tom tossed one year for the Bucs in 1973, putting up an 0-1/5.96 line, then pitched the next three seasons for the Cubs and closed out his career in Italy. After his playing days, Dettore was a pitching coach in the Pirates farm system (1988-95) before becoming the Pirates minor league pitching coordinator through 1998, later working for Seattle. 
• 1949 - The Pirates selected SS George Strickland from Birmingham of the Southern Association in the MLB minor league draft, somewhat akin to today’s Rule 5 draft. The Bucs traded the light hitting, good glove infielder (.224 lifetime BA) to Cleveland in 1952. Playing for the Tribe until 1960, Strickland started for four years and was part of their 111-win 1954 club that took the AL flag. He later managed the Indians for a couple of seasons. 
• 1960 - NL batting champ (.325) Dick Groat was named NL MVP, beating out teammate Don Hoak 276-162. Also trailing him in the race were Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks, all who had big years. Groat won despite losing the last three weeks of the season to a bad wrist, injured by a Lew Burdette pitch. Vern Law, Roberto Clemente, Roy Face and Smoky Burgess also received votes to place six Pirates among the Top Twenty finishers. 
• 1974 - RHP Jim Mann was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. He got into 25 MLB games in four seasons; his last two outings were as a Bucco in 2003, giving up two runs in 1-2/3 IP. Afterward, he was a AAA depth guy for Pittsburgh, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox before finishing up his final three seasons (2005-07) twirling in the indie leagues. 

Ty Taubenheim - 2008 photo Joe Robbins/Getty

• 1982 - RHP Ty Taubenheim was born in Bellingham, Washington. The Bucs picked Ty up from Toronto in the 2007 off season; he got one start in 2008, his last in the majors, and it was a good outing. He didn’t get the decision, but went six innings of two-run ball in an eventual 4-3 win over Tampa. The Bucs released him in early September, and he continued through 2010 in the minors and a Mexican Winter League stint before stepping off the rubber for the last time. 
• 1990 - C Elias Diaz was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He debuted with Pittsburgh in 2015 and was up briefly in 2016, but an elbow injury and later a case of cellulitis derailed the season. He was considered a strong defensive catcher though an iffy hitter, and saw more action in 2017 when Francisco Cervelli was injured. He showed the ability to handle the stick in 2018 after a slow campaign the previous two seasons, batting .286 with 10 homers but backtracked in 2019 both with the glove and lumber. The Bucs cut him loose and he was picked up by the Rockies. 
• 1992 - The Pirates lost OF Alex Cole (the Pirates hoped that offseason shoulder surgery would let him slip through) to the Colorado Rockies in the expansion draft, along with LHP Danny Jackson and SS Ramon Martinez, who went to the Florida Marlins. The Fish flipped Jackson to the Phils, where he won 26 games in 1993-94 and earned an All-Star nod. 
• 1993 - Pittsburgh picked up 1B/OF Brian Hunter from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for a PTBNL (minor league utilityman Jose Delgado, who never advanced past AA ball). The Pirates were after some right-handed power, and Hunter did show some punch, hitting 11 homers in 252 PA, but his .227 BA was an anchor, and he was flipped to the Reds at the deadline for another PTBNL (farm OF’er Micah Franklin, who was waived after a year at AAA Calgary). Hunter played through 2000, and saw time with six teams over a nine-year career. 

Brian Hunter - 1994 Fleer Extra Bases

• 1993 - The Pirates lost a bullpen coach and the Astros gained a manager when Houston hired Terry Collins away from the Bucs. The move launched Terry on a 13-year voyage as skipper of the ‘Stros, Angels and the Mets, which he guided to a pennant in 2015 and still serves as a special assistant to the GM. Collins had honed his managerial skills when he led the Bucs’ AAA Buffalo Bisons for three years before joining the big club. Terry was replaced on Jim Leyland’s staff by Spin Williams who worked here for 12 seasons and four Pirates managers. 
• 1993 - RHP JT (Jonathan Trey) Brubaker was born in Springfield, Ohio. A sixth round draft pick in 2015 from Akron, he was the Pirates Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2018. Brubaker was the sixth starter and sent to Indy to stay sharp in 2019; instead he hurt his elbow and it cost him nearly the entire season. JT broke camp with the club in 2020 and made his first start in early August. In 2021, he was part of the rotation and went 5-13/5.31 in 24 starts. He was 3-12/4.69 in ‘22 with some hard luck as his FIP was a respectable 3.92, then missed the 2023 campaign after TJ surgery, with a return expected in mid-2024. 
• 1996 - RHP Hunter Stratton was born in Bristol, Tennessee. A 16th round draft pick of the Bucs in 2017 from Walters State CC (TN), he worked through the ranks. In 168 upper-level IP over three (2021-23) seasons, he whiffed 226 batters, but walked 95. The big righty was called up in September of 2023 to help bolster the Pirates opener/pitch-by-committee approach. 
• 1998 - The Bucs signed free agent IF Mike Benjamin to a two-year contract worth $924K. Benjy was brought in to challenge Tony Womack at 2B and won the job before camp started; Tony was traded to Arizona in February. But in a bit of a twist, Mike didn’t replace Womack (Warren Morris did) but instead claimed an unsettled SS position. Benjamin later signed a two-year extension worth $1.4M and played for Pittsburgh through the 2002 campaign after missing ‘01 due to injury. He hit .239 while manning all four infield positions in his last big league campaign. 

Mike Benjamin - 2002 Upper Deck

• 1999 - The Pirates announced a continuation of their radio contract with KDKA-AM, which was already at 44 straight seasons, inking a seven-year deal with the financials undisclosed. KD promised to include its FM family of WDSY, WBZZ & WZPT in year-round Pirates promotions, and the station was allowed to build and operate its own radio studio at PNC Park when it opened. One thing that didn’t change, though, was the broadcast team of Lanny Frattare, Steve Blass, Bob Walk and Greg Brown, which returned intact to work the 2000 campaign. 
• 2000 - C Jason Kendall signed the richest contract in team history (since surpassed by Ke’Bryan Hayes eight year/$70M deal in 2022). The $60M, six-year contract extension w/$4M signing bonus had a base salary of $6M in 2002 and peaked at $13M in 2007. To this point from his rookie year of 1996, Kendall had hit .300 or better every season except 1997, when he hit .294. He became the second highest paid active catcher in baseball, behind only Mike Piazza. He was traded to the Oakland A’s in 2004 before his back-loaded salary kicked in. 
• 2005 - Jason Bay agreed to an $18.25M, four-year contract that ran through his arbitration-eligible seasons after making $355K in 2005. He hit .296 with 58 HR and 183 RBI in 2004-05 and won the NL Rookie of the Year award. The main sticking point was including a fifth year that would have covered Bay’s first free agent season; his side wanted a four-year deal so he could step right into free agency. The Pirates gave in and accepted a four-year agreement. Jay Bay was traded to Boston in 2008, before the contract ran out, and he had a couple of solid years with the Red Sox before moving on to the New York Mets and Seattle, where injuries effectively derailed his career.