12/31: Adios Roberto; Walk Signs; CBA Expires; RIP Al; HBD Jose, Liover, Esteban, Jim, Dorothy & Bobby

• 1884 - 3B Bobby Byrne was born in St. Louis. The pint sized (5’-7”, 145 lbs.) scrapper played five seasons for the Pirates (1909-13) and hit .277 with 97 stolen bases in Pittsburgh. He was acquired late in 1909 and helped the Bucs to their World Series title against the Tigers. A leadoff hitter, Bobby had 176 swipes in his career and walked more often than he whiffed. Byrne was also a very good soccer player, making the All-St. Louis team as a youth and playing in the area until Barney Dreyfuss made him stick to one sport. 
• 1925 - Dorothy Kovalchick Roark was born in Sagamore, a coal-mining town in Armstrong County. For eight years she barnstormed with her dad’s team, the semi-pro Kovalchicks, and was the only girl on the squad. She stood 5’2” but played first base even though she wasn’t a typical cleanup slugger, but in fact the exact opposite, a skilled bunter. In 1945, Dottie took a trip with her father to Chicago, where he had, unbeknownst to her, signed her up for a tryout with the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. She impressed and spent a season in the OF and 3B as a member of the Fort Wayne Daisies. Playing for $75 a week, the team toured with the Grand Rapids Chicks before getting into the regular season. Dorothy played a year (no stats available) before returning home to once again play for the Kovalchicks, according to the Heinz History Center. 
• 1954 - The day that caused Roberto Clemente’s legendarily achy back: While in Puerto Rico, Clemente suffered disc damage to his lower spine when he was broadsided by a drunk driver who ran a red light. The accident caused Clemente to suffer from sporadic back pain for the remainder of his life, sometimes leading to hypochondria allegations from some writers and teammates. 
• 1955 - Manager Jim Tracy was born in Hamilton, Ohio. Tracy was hired by the Pirates in 2005, taking the spot of interim skipper Pete Mackanin, who finished Lloyd McClendon’s term. Jim logged a 135–189 record in two Bucco campaigns and was let go after the 2007 season, replaced by John Russell. Clint Hurdle hired him as a bench coach at Colorado in 2008, where Tracy took over after Hurdle was fired in May. He did pretty well, too, being named Manager of the Year with the Rox in '09. Clint also landed on his feet, taking JR’s place in 2010 in Pittsburgh and winning the MoY honor himself in 2013. 

Jim Tracy - 2006 Upper Deck

• 1962 - RHP Al Mamaux passed away from a heart attack at the age of 68. Al was born in Dormont and had a dazzling sandlot career here, playing for semi pro Wilkinsburg and Duquesne U. Al signed with the Pirates late in 1912, saw no action and started 1913 in the minors, getting a September call up. He pitched well if not often in 1914 - the Bucs had him on reserve, and he only got into 13 games - before breaking out in 1915-16, going 42-23-2/2.31. But the workload caught up to him, even as a 22-year-old, as the 561-2/3 innings over the past two campaigns took its toll on his arm. He went 2-11 with a 5+ ERA and in 1918 was traded to Brooklyn, where he had a couple of solid years. By 1924, Al was done as a MLB hurler, but moved on and spent eight years in the International League with Trenton before bowing out in 1935 at Albany and taking on the manager’s job at Seton Hall College. Mamaux also had a night job - he had a fine voice as well as a solid violinist, and for decades added to his kitty by performing in nightclubs, vaudeville houses and various banquets under the tag “The Golden Voiced Tenor.” 
• 1971 - RHP Esteban Loaiza was born in Tijuana. He began his 14-year career in Pittsburgh from 1995-98, where he showed maddening promise but no consistency, going 27-28/4.61 over that span. He did put it all together once, in 2003 for the White Sox, going 21-9/2.90 and earning his first of two All-Star berths. He was also considered for the Cy Young that year, finishing second behind Roy Halladay but ahead of Pedro Martínez and Tim Hudson. 
• 1972 - The day that baseball still mourns: Roberto Clemente, 38, was killed when his plane, on a humanitarian trip to Managua, crashed in the Atlantic while on a rescue mission. Clemente had quietly spent much of his time during his off-seasons involved in charity work. When Managua was affected by a massive earthquake, he put together relief flights to aid in its recovery and was aboard on the fourth trip he had personally organized, on an overloaded and mechanically cranky DC-7. In an eerie trivial bit, pitcher Tom Walker, Neil’s dad, helped The Great One load the plane and was going to take the flight with him, but Clemente insisted he stay in San Juan and enjoy New Year’s Eve. Roberto went because he thought the situation called for his presence as some supplies were being hijacked by government officials, but it wasn't to be. The plane crashed into the ocean, and Clemente's body was never recovered. In fact, Manny Sanguillen missed Roberto's memorial service; he was diving in a search for the body. Posthumously, Clemente was elected to the Hall of Fame as its first Latino player, and the second to have the five-year wait waived (Casey Stengel was granted a waiver in 1966). The Roberto Clemente Award was established to provide a charitable grant to the player who was the most committed to community service, his number was retired by the Pirates (an effort is ongoing to get it retired by MLB) and his statue is prominent near the Roberto Clemente bridge leading to PNC Park. 

• 1979 - The New Year wasn’t a happy one for baseball or its fans. The Collective Bargaining Agreement expired, and it wasn’t acceptably hammered out until May, after a threatened player’s strike date was set. It still didn’t address the 800 pound gorilla in the room, free agent compensation, and kicking that can down the road helped to trigger the 1981 strike. 
• 1991 - RHP Bob Walk inked his final contract, signing up for $4.2M over the two campaigns, counting bonus money included in the package. He went 23-20-2/4.64 over the life of the deal with a solid 1992 (10-6/3.20) before hitting a rough patch (13-14/5.68) in 1993, his last go-around. 
• 1997 - LHP Jose Hernandez was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. He was signed by the Dodgers in 2016, but had only had two full stateside seasons (2021-22), working his way from Lo-A through AA. The fastball specialist (his heater sits between 95-97 and he’s touched 99 several times) fanned 130 batters in 105 IP in that span and was selected by the Bucs as the #1 pick in the Rule 5 draft, despite questions about his control and secondary pitches. He got into 50 games, slashing 1-3/4.97 with 11 K & four walks per nine innings while missing a month of the season on the IR with a calf sprain. 
• 2000 - IF Liover Peguero was born in Higuey, Dominican Republic. Originally signed by Arizona in 2017, he came to the Bucs as part of the Starling Marte deal. “Peggy” is another of the Buc contingent of highly touted young infielders and made a brief stop in Pittsburgh in mid-June of 2022, just long enough to debut and go 1-for-3 with a walk before being returned to Altoona, where he spent the remainder of the season before playing winter ball in the Dominican. He returned to the Curve before moving up to Indy in June, 2023 and was called up in July. He hit .237 while splitting time between shortstop and second base.

12/30: Babe-for-Babe; Torres, Thomas Sign; Mission #2; RIP Rex; HBD Tyler, Sean, Jim & Ovid

• 1888 - LF Ovid Nicholson was born in Salem, Indiana. Ovid had a six-game MLB career, and showed a nice stick as a 24-year-old rookie, going 5-for-11 with a walk during the last two weeks of September, 1912. He was a good contact hitter and speedster (he once stole 110 bases during a minor league season) but never got another shot at the show. He left baseball after the 1917 season to join the service, got married the following year and, except for one campaign in the 20s as a player/manager, lived out his life as a businessman. 
• 1890 - IF Jim Viox was born in Lockland, Ohio. Viox played from 1912-16, starting at second base from 1913-15. His five-year career was spent as a Bucco, and he put up a .272 lifetime BA. The Buc infielder had a good eye, drawing 100 more walks during his career than strikeouts. He left during the purge of 1916, when the Bucs, in a downward spiral since 1912, made major changes to the roster (it didn't help - the Pirates weren’t a contending club again until the 1920s). In a 506-game career, Viox had a .361 OBP, countered by *ouch* a minus-114 defensive runs rating per Total Baseball. He never played MLB ball again and became a minor league player/manager, including skippering the 21-year-old Pie Traynor at Portsmouth of the Class B Virginia League. 
• 1943 - The Phillies traded 1B Babe Dahlgren to the Pirates for C Babe Phelps and cash. Dahlgren hit .271 with 176 RBI in his two-year stay with the Bucs. “Well traveled” described Dahlgren to a tee as he played for eight teams in his 12-year career, and he was best known as the player who replaced Lou Gehrig in 1939. The deal was a win for Pittsburgh as Phelps, 34, never played again after the trade (he had gone on-and-off the voluntary retired list since 1941). He had logged a solid career, though, being named to the NL All-Star Team from 1938-40 while his .367 batting average in 1936 for Brooklyn remains the highest for any catcher of the modern era. Babe was a nickname given to oversized (or baby-faced) players. Dahlgren at 190 pounds was just large. But Phelps was a 6’ 2” jumbo who tipped the scales at 235 lbs. with a stance and swing, not to mention physique, that were similar to Babe Ruth’s. He also answered to a second, less kindly moniker later in his career: “Blimp.” The trigger for the deal was Uncle Sam; the Pirates All-Star first sacker Elbie Fletcher was drafted, creating a hole at first until his return in ‘46. 

Frank Thomas - 1954 Dan Dee

• 1953 - 3B Frank Thomas, who bickered with Branch Rickey over salary as a matter of habit, was the first Bucco to sign his contract for 1954. After batting .255 with 30 homers and 102 RBI, his new salary was undisclosed but guesstimated to have doubled from $6,000 to $12,500. 
• 1985 - RHP Sean Gallagher was born in Boston. He came to Pittsburgh in July of 2010 from San Diego and was given every chance to show his stuff during 31 outings, but the impression he left wasn’t the one he wanted as he finished with a 6.03 ERA, 1.748 WHIP, 5.8 walks per nine and the only two balks of his big-league career. He was sent to Indy in 2011, and though he later landed minor league deals with the Reds and Rox, 2010 was the last of his four MLB campaigns. 
• 1989 - LHP Tyler Anderson was born in Las Vegas Valley, Nevada and was a Rox first-rounder (#20 pick) in the 2011 draft. He signed with the Pirates in February, 2021 after working five seasons for the Rockies and Giants, posting a 22-27/4.65 line with the contradictory rep as a ground ball guy who was susceptible to the long ball. Anderson also came with an injury history (2018 was the only year he made 20+ starts until ‘21), but had a healthy spring. Tyler went 5-8/4.35 for the Pirates and was sent to Seattle for two minor league guys at the deadline, C Carter Bins & RHP Joaquin Tejada. He then signed with the Dodgers in 2022 for $8M and was worth it, posting a line of 15-5/2.57. He moved crosstown this season, agreeing to a three-year/$39M deal with the Los Angeles Angels. 
• 2001 - The Pirates signed RHP 29-year-old Salomon Torres as a minor league free agent. He had retired after the 1997 campaign to coach, but came back after a successful year in Korea and the Dominican. Torres started a six-year run in Pittsburgh after spending most of the year in AAA Nashville, appearing in 358 games while posting a solid slash of 26-28-29/3.63 as a Buc, covering everything from starter to closer, before being flipped to the Brewers. 

Solly - 2003 Upper Deck 40 Man

• 2004 - Pirate bird dog and later scouting director Rex Bowen passed away in New Smyrna, Florida, at age 94. After a minor league playing and managing career, Rex scouted for the Pirates from 1950-1967 (the last 12 years as director) after starting out with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He signed Bill Mazeroski, Maury Wills, Dick Groat, Bruce Dal Canton, Gene Freese and George Freese among others. He later joined the Reds as special assistant to the GM and consultant. In 2000, Baseball America named him one of the top 10 scouts of the 20th Century. 
• 2004 - Per BR Bullpen: Aid originally destined for Nicaragua to commemorate the anniversary of Roberto Clemente's tragic flight 32 years ago, was sent instead to the earthquake and tsunami victims of the Pacific Rim. Roberto Clemente Jr., who with the help of the Project Club Clemente, collected two tons of supplies and raised nearly $20,000 in efforts to reenact his father's unfinished mission, decided to postpone that symbolic flight and instead diverted the relief to help those in immediate need. Junior didn’t forget his original task - he raised another planeload of relief aid for Nicaragua that he delivered on 12/31 of 2005.

12/29: Burghers Twisty Trail; Local Postseason Trivia; HBD Chase, Dustin, Kevin, Jack, Emil, Mike, George, Ump Frank, Clyde & Reb Frank

• 1882 - OF Frank Delahanty was born in Cleveland. He played two years in Pittsburgh, not as a Pirate but for the Rebels of the Federal League. Frank hit .239 from 1914-15, and that was the end of his pro career. Baseball was a sport that coursed through his family’s blood - his older brothers Ed, Jim, Joe and Tom also played in the majors; Tom made a brief stop here in 1896. 
• 1890 - The Burghers of the Players League gave up the ghost and became the National League Pirates in a Machiavellian maneuver. Though the PL only lasted a year, it had crippled the NL’s 1890 Alleghenys, who had lost most of their top guns to the upstart league and went through a disastrous NL campaign, finishing 23-113. Alleghenys owner Denny McKnight moved the franchise (on paper) to the American Association, then became part of the Burghers ownership. Next, the Burghers group repurchased the Alleghenys under a new corporate name to regain control of the player contracts, returned to the NL, snatched Lou Bierbauer from the Philadelphia Athletics and became known unofficially as the Pirates thanks to that personnel ploy. 
• 1895 - OF Clyde Barnhart was born in Buck Valley, in Fulton County near the Maryland border. He spent his entire career (1920-28) with the Pirates, starting as a third baseman and moving to the outfield. In 814 games, he hit .295, batting over .300 in five of his nine campaigns. Barnhart played on two World Series teams and hit .273 with nine RBI in 11 Fall Classic matches. Clyde played his college ball at Cumberland Valley State Normal School, today known as Shippensburg University. His son Vic was a Buc infielder from 1944-46. 
• 1930 - Umpire Frank Dezelan was born in Johnstown. After a decade in the minors, Frank was a National League substitute ump before becoming full-time in 1969. He only worked the ‘69-70 seasons due to a brain tumor, though he did survive the operation and went on to live 40 more years. Dezelan had the honor, shared by many, of ejecting Earl Weaver when both were in the Northern League, and in the show he worked Willie Mays' 600th home run game, the 1970 All-Star Game and the Three Rivers Stadium opener. He cited Roberto Clemente as one of his favorite players because he never griped (at least to Frank) about a call. 

George Perez - 1950 photo/Pirates

• 1937 - RHP George Perez was born in San Fernando, California. He was signed as an undrafted prep prospect from Verdugo Hill HS in 1956 and made his debut in 1958 at the age of 20. In four games, he was 0-1/4.50 and spent most of the year with AAA Salt Lake City. After a strong campaign there in 1959, he dropped off the record book for a season with a chronic bad wing. In 1961, a brief comeback bid with Asheville in the Sally League was his last hurrah. 
• 1959 - OF Mike Brown was born in San Francisco. After three years with the Angels, he came to Pittsburgh in 1985 as part of the John Candelaria deal and was plugged into right field. He delivered with a .332 BA in his audition of 57 games, but fell back to earth with an Icarus-type thud the following season, hitting just .218. Mike was released and mounted a brief comeback with the Halos in 1988, but he lasted just 18 more games before his MLB career ended. 
• 1974 - OF Emil Brown was born in Chicago. Brown started his career as a Pirate, playing in Pittsburgh from 1997-2001, but could never hit his way into the lineup, with a .205 BA as a Buc. Brown did breakout with the Royals from 2005-07 with a slash of .279/38/229, but after a so-so season with Oakland, he went to NY and was released by the Mets in 2009 after just six PA. 
• 1977 - SS Jack Wilson was born in Westlake Village, California. He played SS for the Bucs from 2001-09, hitting .269, after coming over from the Cards for Jason Christiansen. He was named to the All-Star team and won a Silver Slugger in 2004. The slick fielder (he led MLB in PO, assists and DPs 2004-05) collected 201 hits that year, the franchise's first player since Dave Parker (1977) and the first Pirate shortstop since Honus Wagner (1908) to reach the 200-knock mark. After Pittsburgh, he played for Seattle (part of a big deal w/Ian Snell for Ronny Cedeno, Jeff Clement, Brett Lorin, Aaron Pribanic and Nathan Adcock) and Atlanta, but a steady stream of nagging injuries led to his retirement after the 2012 season. He now coaches high school ball and is an instructor for a sports management outfit, also spending some time coaching 2020 first rounder Nick Gonzales, creating training vids while working as a hitting coach in a summer college league. 

Kevin Hart - 2010 Topps

• 1982 - RHP Kevin Hart was born in Cleveland. He came to Pittsburgh in 2009, along with Josh Harrison and Jose Ascanio, for Tom Gorzelanny and John Grabow. The Pirates threw him into the rotation, where he went 1-8/6.92. That line was probably due to a bum wing; he had labrum surgery that cost him the 2010-11 seasons, and he never made it back to the show. 
• 1993 - RHP Chase De Jong was born in Long Beach, California. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2nd round of the 2012 draft from Woodrow Wilson HS and debuted in 2017 for Seattle, getting 16 starts for three clubs in four years. The Bucs signed him as a free agent in 2021 and after a solid AAA start, he was called up in late May. He went 1-4/5.77 in nine starts and was released in November. He re-signed, was converted to bullpen duty and in ‘22 went 6-3-1/2.64 in 42 games in his new role. Chase hit rough seas the next year, was DFA’ed twice without being claimed and became an FA after the season. 
• 1994 - OF Dustin Fowler was born in Cadwell, Georgia. He was drafted by the Yankees in 2013. By the start of the 2017 season, he had nudged into the Top 100 Prospect list before tearing his patella in his only New York game. He was traded to Oakland, hit .224 with six homers in 200 PAs in 2018 and then sat in the minors until being sold to the Buccos in February, 2021. He broke camp as the fourth outfielder, edging veteran NRI Brian Goodwin for the bench spot, but was returned to Indy after hitting .171. The Pirates released him in August and he was claimed by Miami. The Fish let him go at year’s end and that concluded his career. 
• 2013 - Black & Gold trivia: The Steelers missed playing in the postseason, marking the first year since 1991 that the Pirates made the playoffs but the Steelers didn't. The streak began anew in 2014 for two seasons, then reverted back to football-only (sometimes) playoffs in recent years as  the Bucs floundered.

12/28: Klu - Dee; Cannonball Blows Up; Garcia, Hayes Signed; Leyland, Murtaugh Honored; Bucco Bidders; Bradenton & Minors Remix; HBD Dario, Zane, Hammer & Harry

• 1888 - Responding to rumors he was called “nonessential” to the Alleghenys by skipper Horace Phillips after posting 29 wins the previous season, LHP Ed “Cannonball” Morris told the Pittsburgh Press “...They are not going to break my heart by giving me my release. My present relations with the club are not so cordial that I would long regret such a measure...let baseball rip.” The two sides patched things up enough to bring Cannonball, one of baseball’s elite early southpaws, back into the fold. But at the young age of 26, he was on the downslope in 1889 - his starts dropped from 55 to 21 and his win total nosedived to six while his ERA shot from 2.31 to 4.13. He tossed one more year for the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players League before retiring to run his North Side hotel. Cannonball - he had a great heater - was a supernova for much of his brief Pittsburgh career. In 1886, he claimed 41 victories and even earned a save for good measure. Ed threw 500 innings in 1884 (with Columbus) and again in 1886 (for Pittsburgh) with 300 strikeouts in both seasons. And despite the battle of barbs, he and the team stayed tight. Morris remained a fan who rarely missed a Pirates game, and in 1934 he pitched an inning of the Silver Anniversary of Forbes Field at the age of 72. 
• 1915 - 1B Harry Sweeney was born in Franklin, Tennessee. Harry was a one-day wonder. The 29-year-old played for the Pirates on the last day of the 1944 season against the Philadelphia Blue Jays (the unofficial Philly nickname during the mid-to-late 40s), going 0-for-2 and flawlessly handling 10 chances at first base in his only big-league outing. Harry deserved the shot; overall, he spent 10 campaigns in the minors with a couple of years off for military duty. He retired two years later and worked as a Monsanto foreman back home in Tennessee. 
• 1938 - The Bucs shuffled their minor league clubs, dropping Montreal (International League), Savannah (South Atlantic League) and Mt. Airy (Bi-State League) while picking up Gadsden (Southeastern League) and Valdosta (Georgia-Florida League). They renewed contracts with Knoxville, Hutchinson, McKeesport, and Carthage, leaving the organization with one club each at the A, B and C levels with three D teams for prospects. They also announced that 10 minor leaguers would be promoted to the next level, chief among them 3B Frankie Gustine and OF Bob Elliott who moved up to Class A Knoxville of the Southern Association. The pair got auditions with the Pirates in 1939, became starters in ‘40 and they both ended up with multiple All-Star nods. 

John Milner - 1980 Topps

• 1949 - 1B/OF John Milner was born in Atlanta. “The Hammer” (he was a huge Henry Aaron fan growing up) was a platoon guy and pinch hitter for five years (1978-82) in Pittsburgh, hitting .263 over that span with a .333 BA in the 1979 World Series. He had perhaps his best season during that championship year, hitting .276 with 16 HR and 60 RBI. His low point came during the coke trials, when he admitted to cocaine and amphetamine use. 
• 1957 - The Pirates swapped first basemen with the Reds, as Pittsburgh acquired Ted Kluszewski, known for wearing cut-off sleeves to show off his pipes, and Cincinnati received seven-year veteran Dee Fondy in return. Neither side got much; Klu’s power days were behind him, and Fondy spent just one more season in MLB. Klu did have a last hurrah, though. Buried behind Dick Stuart & Rocky Nelson in Pittsburgh, he was moved to the White Sox in ‘59. His presence provided some insurance for the Tribe’s middle-of-the-order, and he had a terrific WS (.391 BA, three HR, 10 RBI) though Chicago lost the set to the LA Dodgers. Factoid: Bill Veeck introduced player names on the back of Chi-town’s jerseys for the first time in MLB history in 1959 when Klu joined the Sox. Kluszewski became the first player to appear in a game with his name misspelled (go figure), with a backwards "z" and an "x" instead of the second "k." 
• 1960 - Danny Murtaugh was selected as Sports Magazine’s “Man of the Year” after guiding the Buccos to the World Series title. He was hired on August 4th, 1957, replacing Bobby Bragan, and went on to hold the Pittsburgh job for all or parts of 15 seasons over four different tours of duty (1957–64, 1967, 1970–71, 1973–76) while winning two World Series crowns. 
• 1960 - LHP Zane Smith was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Smith came to the Bucs in 1990 in the Moises Alou deal with Montreal. He pitched well down the stretch in ‘90 and won 16 games in ‘91. Zane tossed five years (1990-94, 1996) for the Buccos, with a 47-41/3.35 line. He almost landed a spot in the record books in a clutch September 1990 match against the second place New York Mets, giving up a leadoff single to Keith Miller, then holding NY hitless the rest of the way, claiming a 1-0 victory to stretch the Pirates NL East lead to three games. 

Zane Smith - 1993 Topps Throwback

• 1984 - Pirates Treasurer Doug McCormick told the Pittsburgh Press that he fielded 40-50 inquiries regarding the sale of the Bucs, with a dozen serious offers, and expressed surprise and disappointment that only four were local bidders (Jim Roddey’s Allegheny Media was the only caller identified as the others requested anonymity). He emphasized, especially to those groups trying to get the Pirates to relocate to their city, that the Buccos had a lease for Three Rivers Stadium that ran through 2011 and the owners planned to honor that agreement. 
• 1992 - Jim Leyland was chosen as MLB’s top manager in a reader’s poll conducted by Baseball America, winning 33% of the total vote. The Pirates won the NL East for the third straight year in 1992 with 96 wins, but once again stumbled in the postseason, losing a seven-game NLCS to the Atlanta Braves. It would be the Bucs last winning season until 2013. 
• 1994 - RHP Dario Agrazal was born in Aguadulce, Panama. Dario was signed as an international free agent in 2012, was promoted to the 40-man for 2018 and then dropped from it the following year. But he rebounded nicely, moving from Altoona to Indy, posting some nice numbers as a pitch-to-contact guy (4-2/3.10) and joined a revolving door cast of Pirates starters in June, making his first start in the 15th against the Miami Marlins. The first Pirates international signee of the Neal Huntington era to get a Bucco start, he slashed 4-5/4.91 in his only MLB stint and moved on to the Motown organization in 2020. He was part of the D-Back system in ‘21, and that was the last stop of his career. 
• 1995 - 30-year-old IF Charlie Hayes was signed as a FA by the Bucs to a deal worth $1.75M, hit .248 and then was flipped at the deadline to the New York Yankees for a minor leaguer, RHP Chris Corn. Hayes had a good September run with the Bronx Bombers, made the playoff roster and earned himself a World Series ring. His son Ke'Bryan, a third baseman, was selected 32nd overall out of high school by the Pirates in the 2015 draft and was a Top-100 prospect. Key put together a promising 2020 September rookie call-up campaign to claim the everyday job at the hot corner while earning an overdue Gold Glove award in 2023. Corn lasted two seasons with Pittsburgh, topping out at Class AA. 

Charlie Hayes - 1996 Leaf

• 2006 - The Pirates agreed to a 30-year spring-training lease with Bradenton after the City fathers voted to upgrade the ballyard facilities to the tune of $15M in time for the 2008 camp. The Bucs had called Bradenton their spring home since 1969, and the lease extended their stay until 2038. 
• 2022 - The Bucs got a lefty for the bullpen in former Giant Jarlin Garcia, 30. Garcia began his MLB career with the Miami Marlins in 2017 and had an overall line of 17-15-2/3.61. His slash was 1-4-1/3.74 last year in 58 outings and he’s been solid over the past four years (13-10-2/2.89). The deal was for $2.5M with a club option in 2024 of $3.25M. It took awhile to dot the i’s and cross the t’s of his paperwork to make the contract official - his deal was first confirmed during the winter meetings on December 6th. It wasn’t time well spent; he suffered a nerve injury, sat out the entire season, and was let go after the campaign ended. RHP Bryse Wilson was DFA’ed and sold to Milwaukee to clear a roster spot; he was strong for the Brew Crew, slashing 6-0-3/2.58 in 53 calls from the pen.

12/27: Rich, Ivan Signed; Brown TSN Exec of the Year; Meyers Dapper Dan's Man; Hoak Hitched; HBD Jeff, Craig, Jim T, Bill, Jim D & Ducky

• 1862 - OF William “Ducky” Hemp was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Hemp played a game for Louisville in 1887 and had one more MLB visit in 1890, getting into 29 contests with Pittsburgh and Syracuse. He hit .235 for the National League Alleghenys before finishing out the campaign with the American Association Stars. He got his nickname as a 19-year-old playing for the Wichita Braves, where he was a fan favorite and presumably everything he did was just ducky. 
• 1864 - SS Jim Dee was born in Safe Harbor, a small Lancaster County community in Conestoga Township in the southeastern, Dutch Country part of the state. Not much is known about Jim other than he got a brief 12-game audition with the Alleghenys as a 19-year old in 1884, hitting .125 with more errors (6) than hits (5), and that showing ended his MLB stint. 
• 1864 (or maybe 1869) - RHP Bill Bishop was born in Adamsburg, located in neighboring Westmoreland County near Jeannette. He pitched two seasons (1886-87) for the Alleghenys, going 0-4 in five starts with a 9.21 ERA. There are two different years given for his birthday. We went with 1864 as his DOB; he would have been a peach-fuzzy 16-year-old rookie if he was actually born in 1869, although that age would provide some cover for his pedestrian pitching results. 
• 1912 - RHP Jim Tobin was born in Oakland, California. Tobin spent his first three seasons (1937-39) as a Pirate with a line of 29-24/3.71 before being traded to Boston, where he would spend the majority of his nine-year career. He was double trouble, wielding a strong stick, too; Tobin pinch-hit over 100 times in his major league career with a batting line of .230/.303/.345 in the majors. He totaled 35 doubles, 17 homers and 102 RBI in 796 at-bats in the show. Tobin is the only pitcher in the modern era to hit three home runs in the same game, against the Cubs when he pitched for the Braves in 1942. 

Jim Tobin - `1939 Play Ball

• 1948 - Pirates skipper Billy Meyer was named the winner of the Dapper Dan Club Award, recognizing him as the outstanding local sports figure of the year. He made it a Bucco back-to-back honor, following 1947 winner Ralph Kiner, as he swamped runner-up Danny Murtaugh by a 56-3 tally. Billy was the second Pirate pilot to win the award, behind Frankie Frisch who took home the DD in 1944. He had earlier been named the NL Manager of the Year after steering the Corsairs to an 83-71 mark and a fourth place finish after going 62-92 the previous year. 
• 1952 - SS Craig Reynolds was born in Houston. The Bucs selected him in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1971 draft, signing the Houston HS Player-of-the-Year to a $2M bonus. He played sparingly for the Pirates, hitting .225 in 38 games over 1975-76 and was traded to Seattle for Grant Jackson after Craig was unable to oust Frankie Taveras from the SS job. He went on to have a pretty solid career, playing 15 seasons (11 with his hometown Astros) with a .256 BA and earning a pair of All-Star berths while a league-average gloveman at short. 
• 1958 - In his third year on the job, Buc GM Joe L Brown was named The Sporting News’ “Executive of the Year.” Under his hand, the Pirates finished second in the NL after a long run of second division play (the teams’ 84 wins were the most since the 90 victories of 1944) and drew 1,311,000 fans to Forbes Field in 1958, the first time the team cracked the million-fan mark since 1950. 
• 1961 - 3B Don Hoak married Avonmore’s Norma Jean Speranza, better known as pop singer and TV starlet Jill Corey, in a civil ceremony in Common Plea judge Frederick Weir’s chambers, with Mayor Joe Barr as a guest. The Tiger met the singer at a promotional event at Forbes Field and the pair took it from there, exchanging “I do’s” 16 months later. 

The Tiger & the Songbird- 12/28/1961 Post Gazette

• 1975 - RHP Jeff D’Amico was born in St. Petersburg, Florida. D’Amico was a 1993 first rounder of the Brewers, but after 40 MLB starts missed 1998-99 following shoulder surgery. The Pirates plugged him into the rotation in 2003; he went 9-16/4.77, and his 16 defeats were the most in the majors. His career ended the next season when the Indians released him in June. 
• 2016 - Ivan Nova, 29, officially re-upped with the Pirates. The deal was for three years/$26M (including a $2M signing bonus) with another $2M in performance bonus money available annually. Nova slashed 5-2/3.06 ERA in 11 starts as a Bucco after coming over at the deadline in exchange for minor league OF Tito Polo LHP Stephen Tarpley were sent to the New York Yankees and held down a back end rotation spot since. Like many multi-year Pirates signees, he didn’t outlast his contract in Pittsburgh, being traded to the White Sox for the 2019 campaign. 
• 2022 - LHP Rich Hill agreed to a one-year/$8M deal with the Bucs, pending his physical (he was officially added to the roster on January 5th; RHP Zach Thompson was DFA’ed). The 18-year vet, who turned 43 in March, posted an 8-7/4.27 slash with Boston in 2022, starting 26 times. He checked off the offseason box for an experienced (he was the oldest MLB player on Opening Day), preferably southpaw hurler to add to the staff, both to fill a hole in the rotation and provide a guy who could drop some knowledge on the youngsters on the current staff. He went 7-10/4.76 in 22 starts as basically a five-inning starter and was spun off to San Diego in a multi-player deadline deal. Dubbed Dick Mountain, Hill is currently on the market as a free agent.

12/26: Hanny/Holt-Shark; 6-Pack For O'Connell; Kluttz Contract; Can't Net Catfish; HBD Trader Jack, Jeff, Mario, Al, Bonnie & Lee

• 1892 - OF Lee King was born in Hundred, West Virginia, just across the Pennsylvania state line. After being picked up from the Central League’s Wheeling Stogies, he played for Pittsburgh from 1916-18, compiling a .241 BA. King’s Bucco career ended when he enlisted during the war; when he returned in 1919, his contract was purchased by the New York Giants. He played through 1922, mostly in NY, spent a few seasons in the minors and retired to his native West Virginia, where he would relive the old days with an occasional trip to watch the Pirates at Forbes Field. On the Big Stage: King drove in the final NY Giants’ run of the 1922 World Series with a single in his only at-bat in a WS game. 
• 1895 - RHP John “Bonnie” Hollingsworth was born in Jacksboro, Tennessee. Hollingsworth worked four MLB seasons, his first as a 27-year-old for the Pirates in 1922. In nine games, he had no decisions and an ERA of 7.90. He was shipped to Minneapolis of the American Association for Reb Russell, who was in his thirties but still hit .323 over two seasons for Pittsburgh. Bonnie closed out his decade in organized ball in 1930 with Chattanooga of the Southern Association. 
• 1935 - LHP Al Jackson was born in Waco, Texas. He was a Bucco product and worked his first two pro campaigns of 1960-61 as a Pirate, getting into 11 games and going 1-0/4.75. He was then lost to the Mets in the 1961 expansion draft. Al suffered through a couple of 20-loss seasons, but he also won 40 games in four years for the sad sack Metropolitans. He ended up with 10 campaigns in the show and then coached 20 more seasons with the Mets, Orioles and Red Sox. 
• 1946 - The Pirates purchased C Clyde Kluttz from the St. Louis Cardinals, and he caught 160 games over the next two seasons. In 1947, he hit .302 with career-high six home runs and 42 RBIs in 73 games, but faded to .229 the following season and was sent to the minors. He finished his career in 1952 with Washington, spent time in the bushes and then became a long-time MLB scout. 

Super Mario - 1975 Topps

• 1950 - IF Mario Mendoza was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. In five seasons (1974-78) with the Pirates, the infielder put up a .204 BA. About the Mendoza line: "My (Seattle Mariner) teammates Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte used it to make fun of me," Mendoza told Dave Seminara of the St. Louis Post Dispatch in 2010 "Then they were giving George Brett a hard time because he had a slow start that year, so they told him, 'Hey, man, you're going to sink down below the Mendoza Line (.200 BA) if you're not careful.' And then Brett mentioned it to Chris Berman from ESPN, and eventually it spread and became a part of the game." Mario ironically ended up with a .215 lifetime BA, safely above his namesake line. 
• 1953 - The Pirates sent 2B Danny O'Connell to the Milwaukee Braves for 3B Sid Gordon, RHP Max Surkont, OF Sam Jethroe, and minor league hurlers Curt Raydon, Fred Waters, and Larry LaSalle. The Braves threw in $100,000 to sweeten the deal. It was the only 6-for-1 deal in MLB history, outmanned only by Vida Blue’s 7-for-1 swap in 1978. Danny was sold at his high point; after hitting .294 for Pittsburgh, he never had a BA over .266 in the remaining eight years of his career. It evened out; none of the return for Pittsburgh had much impact, either. 
• 1964 - 3B Jeff King was born in Marion, Indiana. The first pick overall in the 1986 draft, King reached Pittsburgh in 1989 and stayed until 1996, hitting .258 with 493 RBI during that span and was part of two division title teams in 1990 and 1992. King is one of three players, along with Willie McCovey and Andre Dawson, to hit two home runs in the same inning twice during his career. On August 8th, 1995, he hit two home runs in the second inning of the Pirates' 9-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park. On April 30th, 1996, he repeated the feat in the fourth inning of the Pirates' 10-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Cinergy Field. He retired after the ‘99 season and now is a cattle rancher in Montana. 
• 1974 - The Pirates GM Joe Brown & President Dan Galbreath met with free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter in North Carolina. The Bucs sat down twice with Hunter, who was leaving the Athletics and Charlie O Finley after a 25-win campaign, and their offer, if one was made, was not disclosed. Catfish ended up signing a five-year/$3.2M deal with the Yankees, which we can assume dwarfed any bid contemplated by Pittsburgh (Willie Stargell only made $165K in ‘74). 

Trader Jack - 3/28/2008 Seattle Times photo

• 1990 - Jack Zduriencik was named the Pirates chief scout. The New Castle native played at California U of PA, coached at Clairton HS and was a Mets scout before joining the Bucco staff. He held the position through 1993. Zduriencik followed with a successful decade-long front office run with the Brewers, becoming the first non-GM to win Baseball America’s “Executive of the Year” award. He became Seattle’s GM in 2008, a job “Trader Jack” held until 2015. He transitioned into a media commentator on Root Sports and later, KDKA radio. 
• 2012 - RH closer Joel Hanrahan and IF Brock Holt were officially traded to the Boston Red Sox for RHP Stolmy Pimentel, IF Ivan De Jesus, RHP Mark Melancon and 1B/OF Jerry Sands to finalize a deal agreed to a week or so earlier. Hanny, 31, was the key player for Boston, with 76 saves in 2011-12 for Pittsburgh, but ended up with TJ surgery and is now a Nats minor league pitching coach, while Holt blossomed as a utility guy. The Bucs got some prospects that never emerged as more than fringe roster players, but did land a sterling back-end reliever in Melancon who thrived as both a set-up man & closer while earning a pair of NL All-Star berths as a Pirate. He went to the Nats at the 2016 deadline and then inked a juicy four-year deal with the Giants as a free agent. The Shark was moved to the Bravos in 2019, then made stops at San Diego and Arizona. He lost the 2023 season to a shoulder injury and is currently a free agent.

12/25: MERRY CHRISTMAS - Big Poison Wins Title; Bah Humbug; RIP Patsy; HBD Pud, Enyel, Tarrik, Scott, Rick, Gene, Big Train, Pickles, Ed & Alex

• 1856 - RHP James Galvin was born in St. Louis. The Hall of Famer was MLB’s first 300 game winner and may have had the most nicknames of any player ever, going by "Pud," "Gentle Jeems," “Gentleman James” and "The Little Steam Engine." He threw 6,003 innings and 646 complete games, both of which are second only to Cy Young. Pud tossed seven years (1885-89, ‘91-92) for the Alleghenys/Pirates, with the 1890 campaign lost when he jumped to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the rogue Player’s League. He was 126-110 with an ERA of 3.10 during his Steel City career. As for his litany of nicknames, Charles Hausberg in Galvin’s SABR bio wrote “He may have been called Pud because of his ability to turn batters into pudding, or from his pudgy physique. He was presumably called ‘The Little Steam Engine’ because he was small but powerful, and he was called ‘Gentle James’ or ‘Gentle(man) Jeems’ for his kind demeanor.” 
• 1869 - LHP Alex Jones was born in Bradford, located in the northern tier in McKean County. Alex got into 26 games in four big league campaigns with five teams, with his first victory as a 19-year-old for the Alleghenys, giving up five runs (three earned) in a complete game win. He tossed for 11 pro seasons, missing several more due to injuries, and called it a career after 1907 at age 37 when he tossed for the Class D Washington (PA) club. 
• 1884 - LHP Ed Henderson was born in Newark, New Jersey. He tossed six games for the Federal League’s Pittsburgh Rebels in 1914 (0-1/3.94) and two more for the Indianapolis Hoosiers later in the season to close out his only big league campaign. Ed had started his pro career in 1907; it appears he concluded it as a 30-year-old after his lone MLB season. 
• 1898 - RHP Earl “Pinches” Kunz was born in Sacramento, California. He worked one MLB campaign in 1923, going 1-2, 5.52 (per Baseball Reference; “Gold on the Diamond” cites a 2-4, 4.00 line). He preferred working out west, spending 10 years in the Pacific Coast League with half that time on the hometown Sacramento roster. The workhorse retired in 1930 at age 31 and spent his time raising and racing horses. His original nickname was Pinchers, as in the crab claws, and was shortened a bit; we’re assuming it came about because of his delivery/grip. 

Big Train - via Lauren County African-American History

• 1912 - C Quincy “Big Train” Trouppe was born in Dublin, Georgia. He worked for nine Negro League teams from 1930-49, including the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays in the early thirties, was an eight-time All-Star, played in the Mexican League, managed the Cleveland Buckeyes and had a cup of coffee in MLB when he caught six contests (10 games overall) for the 1952 Cleveland Indians. He was 39 years old when he made his big league debut and was behind the dish to catch "Toothpick Sam" Jones, forming the first black battery in AL history. Trouppe carried the nicknames of "Big Train" and "Baby Quincy," probably because of his 6’2”, 225 pound frame. 
• 1934 - The NL released its final official figures confirming that OF Paul “Big Poison” Waner had won his second batting crown, compiling a .362 BA to defeat Bill Terry of the Giants at .354. Long-ago Pirate Kiki Cuyler, 35-years-old and in his seventh season with the Cubs, claimed the third spot by hitting .338. Pittsburgh was a good-swinging club that year; they finished second in the league with a .287 BA, just one point behind the pennant winning St. Louis Cards. 
• 1934 - As noted by John Dreker of Pirates Prospects, RHP Bill Harris was the only Pirate ever released on Christmas Day (what a grinch FO!) when he was demoted from the big club and sent to the farm at Buffalo. He had one more hurrah in the show in 1938 with Boston, but otherwise spent 1935-45 toiling in the minors, hanging up his spikes at the age of 45. 
• 1946 - Gene Lamont was born in Rockford, Illinois. After serving stints as Jim Leyland’s 3B coach, he took over the team reins in 1997. In his first year, Lamont finished second with a young, inexperienced team (“The Freak Show”) that was widely predicted to finish last but stayed in the race until late September, and he was the runner up behind Dusty Baker for the Manager of the Year. That was the highlight; after the 2000 season, Lamont was fired after compiling a record of 295–352 and replaced by Lloyd McClendon. After coaching stops at Boston, Houston, and Detroit, Lamont moved to Kansas City in 2018 as a special assistant to the GM, focusing on baseball operations for the Royals. 

Gene LaMont - 1997 On Deck Mag

• 1953 - OF/Manager Patsy Donovan died at the age of 88 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Donovan played with the Pirates from 1892-99, putting together a stretch of six consecutive .300+ seasons and serving as player-manager in 1897 & 1899. That seemed to be Donovan’s niche; he was player/manager for four different clubs and managed two more after his playing days. The Pirates were sold late in 1899 to Barney Dreyfuss, who brought in Fred Clarke as, yes, player/manager, and the result was that Donovan was sent to the Cardinals to remove any potential friction. Fun fact: after Patsy retired, he coached for a bit at Phillips Academy in Andover, where one of his players was the future 41st President, George H.W. Bush. 
• 1961 - Rick Renteria was born in Harbor City, California. The Pirates selected him 20th in the 1980 draft, and he earned a cup of coffee with the team in 1986, going 3-for-12 in 10 games. He went on to play parts of four more seasons in the show before taking coaching jobs with the Marlins and Padres. He landed a gig as manager of the Cubs for a year, but despite doing a generally fine job with a rebuilding team, he was shown the door when Joe Maddon became available. RR moved crosstown as the White Sox’s bench coach; a year later, he became their manager. He lost that job after the 2020 campaign with a year left on his contract. 
• 1968 - OF Scott Bullett was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The Pirates signed Scott out of Martinsburg HS in 1988 and he was up-and-down in the minors. He got a couple of short visits to the big club in 1991 and again in 1993, batting .186 in 34 games. Bullett fell behind other Bucco OF prospects like Midre Cummings, Al Martin and Trey Beamon and was traded to the Cubs for Travis Willis, a pitcher who couldn’t get past AAA. He put in two years with the Cubs and closed out his career playing in China, Japan and Mexico. He now runs a baseball camp called Bullettproof Baseball Prospects. 

Scott Bullett - 1993 Bowman

• 1973 - Tarrik Brock, the Pirates first base/outfield/baserunning coach, was born in Goleta, California. Brock, a second round pick of the Detroit Tigers in 1991, had a cup of coffee with the Chicago Cubs in 2000. By 2006, he joined the coaching ranks, working with the Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers before he was hired by the Bucs in late 2019 to replace Kimera Bartee on Derek Shelton’s staff. He now serves as the 1B coach. 
• 1995 - RHP Enyel De Los Santos was born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. The Pirates picked him up off waivers from the Phils in September of 2021; he was assigned to Indy and called to Pittsburgh the next day when David Bednar was placed on the IL. He was highly touted as an International signee of Seattle in 2018, and struck out 66 batters in 58 MLB innings, but his line was just 2-2/6.21 in those 38 outings. He’s spent the past two years in Cleveland (10-2-1/3.18 in 120 appearances, K per inning) before being traded to San Diego.

12/24: Bell-Crowe; Barkley Brouhaha; New Logo; Groat, Long Dapper Dans; Pops/Terry Cover; Syd Honored; Spring In Muncie; FF On Fire; HBD Tim, Victor, Frank, Eppa, Tex & Del

• 1877 - OF George “Del” Howard was born in Kenney, Illinois. Del (short for his middle name, Elmer) spent his 28-year-old, 1905 rookie season as a Pirate after he was pried from the Phils for Kitty Bransfield, Otto Krueger and Moose McCormick. He had his best campaign, hitting .292 while playing 1B, OF and even pitching once before being flipped to Boston as part of the deal for Vic Willis. He spent four more years in the majors, twice appearing with the powerhouse Cub clubs that won the World Series of 1907-08. Howard trivia: Not only was Del born on Christmas Eve, but he also passed away on 12/24 at the age of 79 in 1956. 
• 1885 - The St. Louis Browns sold the rights of infielder Sam Barkley to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys for $1,000. It wasn’t an easy deal to consummate. In March, Browns owner Chris von der Ahe offered Barkley around the league for $1,000. Barkley, in the meantime, signed an undated contract with the Baltimore Orioles after von der Ahe had already inked his deal with the Alleghenys’ owner, Denny McKnight. The American Association threw a snit and suspended Barkley for not honoring his Oriole contract, finally settling out of court with a fine replacing the suspension. As part of the penance, Baltimore was sent 1B Milt Scott by the Alleghenys, so it ended up a costly trade + cash transaction (the fine) for McKnight. Barkley played well in 1886, hitting .266 with 31 doubles and 22 stolen bases. He faded the following campaign, batting just .224, and after the season was sold to the Kansas City Cowboys. His career in baseball ended after he injured his knee during the 1889 season. Sam then opened a local cigar shop before moving on to Chicago and becoming a saloon keeper. He passed away at the age of 53 in his hometown of Wheeling. 
• 1899 - C Fred “Tex” Burnett was born in Houston. Burnett was a backup catcher and sometime starter for at least 14 different black teams (talk about your journeyman!) during the 20s & 30s, including the Pittsburgh Keystones, Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords. He briefly managed the Newark Eagles in 1937, and took over the Black Yankees in 1940. 

Eppa Johnson - 1934 Goudey

• 1910 - LHP Lloyd “Eppa” Johnson was born in Santa Ana, California. Eppa tossed for a dozen years in the minors and earned a stat line and baseball card in 1934 when he got to work a scoreless inning for the Buccos against the Reds. He hung up his spikes in 1941 at age 30 after he was shuffled among three different farm clubs located in three different states. 
• 1939 - The Pirates President Bill Benswanger announced a uniform change to add a bit of character to the team's on-field look. They eliminated the script “Pirates” across the chest and replaced it with a Buccaneer logo on the left breast, the first time the yo-ho-ho team emblem was worn on a Pirates jersey. 
• 1942 - At the urging of the government and league office to conserve fuel, the Pirates switched their spring training site, along with several other clubs, to closer surroundings. The Bucs shifted from San Bernardino, California, where they had worked out since 1936, and moved the camp to Muncie, Indiana for the next three years. They returned to San Bernardino in 1946, then became spring nomads until deciding on Florida in 1954, going from Fort Pierce to Fort Myers and since 1969, they’ve spent the springtime honing their skills in Bradenton.
• 1949 - Frank Taveras was born in Las Matas de Santa Cruz, Dominican Republic. The SS spent eight years (1971-72, 1974-79) with the Pirates as a top-of-the order guy, swiping 206 bases with a streak of four seasons with 44+ steals, including a National League-leading 70 in 1977. But his bat (.253), OBP (.306) and not-so-steady glove work made him expendable and he was sent to the Mets in April of 1979 for Tim Foli, a dependable fielder and two-hole contact hitter that helped jell the World Series infield. Taveras played three seasons in New York, then spent his final year (1982) with the Montreal Expos. 

Frank Taveras - 1976 Topps

• 1956 - 1B Dale Long won the 1956 Dapper Dan Award in recognition of his record-setting eight-game home run streak during the season. He was the sixth Bucco to be honored as the Man of the Year; pitcher Murry Dickson was the last awardee after winning 20-games in 1951. Long received the award at the annual DD dinner at the Penn Sheraton, held the following month. 
• 1957 - Pirates SS Dick Groat outpolled Steelers coach Buddy Parker 16-13 to win the 1957 Dapper Dan Man of the Year Award after batting .315 during the season. It was presented to the Swissvale native on January 19th at the charity’s annual dinner funder. The honor marked the second straight MoY recognition for the Bucs; Dale Long was the award's 1956 recipient. 
• 1957 - RHP Victor Cruz was born in Rancho Viejo, Dominican Republic. Cruz came to Pittsburgh as part of the Bert Blyleven deal. He lasted one season here, and tossed pretty well in 22 games going 1-1/2.65 as a bridge man before he was traded to the Texas Rangers in 1982 for Nelson Norman. As it ended up, Cruz was the most effective Pirates asset of the trade that shipped out Blyleven, a Hall-of-Fame pitcher with 11 big-league seasons left in the tank, demonstrating that GM Harding Peterson could blow a deal as well as any Bucco exec. 
• 1964 - RHP Tim Drummond was born in La Plata, Maryland. Tim was signed by the Pirates after being chosen in the 12th round of the 1983 draft out of the College of Southern Maryland. He worked for the Bucs in 1987, making six outings/six IP with no decisions and a 4.50 ERA. Drummond worked 1989-90 with the Minnesota Twins, ending his MLB career. 

Tim Drummond (Prince Edwards) - 1986 Pro Cards

• 1970 - There was a fire in the right field stands of the vacated Forbes Field. The damage this blaze caused, followed by a July 1971 fire, hastened the old ball yard’s demolition. The Christmas Eve blaze grew into a five-alarm fire when Pitt security guards couldn’t find the keys to open the center-field gate, delaying the firefighter’s efforts to control the ballpark's flames. 
• 1979 - The famous Willie Stargell/Terry Bradshaw cover issue of Sports Illustrated hit the stands when the pair were named co-Sportsmen of the Year. Willie led his team to the World Series title and Terry & the Steelers won the Super Bowl, with both being named MVP of their sport's alpha event. 
• 1987 - Syd Thrift was given an early Christmas present when he was named the “Sportsman of the Year” by the Dapper Dan Club, awarded to him at their annual banquet in February. The glow wore off quickly as he was ousted following some internal jousting after the 1988 season, but he helped lay the groundwork for the success of Jim Leyland’s early 1990’s teams. 
• 2020 - 1B Josh Bell, 28, was traded to the Washington Nationals for minor league prospects RHP Wil Crowe and RHP Eddy Yean. Crowe, 26, was Nats' #3 prospect, and Yean, 19, was #6 on the DC list. Bell was an All-Star who was en fuego during the first half of 2019, but faded badly in the backstretch and then through 2020, and was traded to San Diego after the season. He played into 2022 for the Nats, was moved to the Padres at the deadline and signed with the Cleveland Guardians; he’s now with Miami. Crowe was considered a potential back-end starter (he went 4-8/5.48 in 25 Bucco starts in 2021) but was converted to the pen in 2022 with better results (6-10-4/4.38). He spent three years here and was released at the end of ‘23 after slashing 10-19-5/5.03 in Pittsburgh. Wil is a free agent now while Yean hasn’t worked beyond Hi-A ball.

12/23: Jaso Signed; Glenn, Ozzie Hired; Lowest Payroll; Bucs Bad; FA Roots; Strike Simmers On; HBD Roberto, Shawn, Rick, Dave, Cozy, Sam & Schoolmaster

• 1871 - RHP Sam "The Goshen Schoolmaster" Leever was born in Goshen, Ohio. He was a Pirate mainstay on the hill from 1898-1910, compiling a record of 191-100-13 with a 2.47 ERA, spending his entire 13-year career with Pittsburgh. Leever won 20 games or more four times, led the league with seven shutouts in 1903 and started 20+ games for 10 straight seasons. Sadly for Sam, he went 0-2 in the 1903 World Series, trying to pitch through a shoulder injury, and didn’t appear in the 1909 World Series. Sam got his nickname not only because he taught for several years at Goshen HS before he made it as a full-time ballplayer, but also because of his serious, schoolmarmish disposition. 
• 1882 - RHP Sam Frock was born in Baltimore. Sam spent five years in the majors, serving in 1909-10 as a Bucco. He went 2-1-1/2.58 before being traded to Boston, the club he began his career with, for Kirby White in April of 1910. He won a dozen games for the Doves that year, then tossed just four games covering 16 IP in 1911 to mark the end of his MLB road. 
• 1889 - 3B Albert “Cozy” Dolan was born in Chicago. Dolan had a seven-year MLB run and spent 35 games of it with the Pirates in 1913, batting .203. His career ended on a dark note. As a Giants' coach in 1924, Dolan was implicated in a botched attempt to throw a game during a close pennant race and Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis issued a lifetime ban from baseball on Dolan. His nickname may have been a hand-me-down from Pat “Cozy” Dolan, a baseball contemporary who played from 1895-1906, just before our Cozy’s debut. 
• 1949 - OF Dave May was born in New Castle, Delaware. He ended his 12-year career by going 0-for-4 in five games as a Bucco in 1978 after the Pirates purchased his contract in mid-September. A journeyman outfielder, May was included in a pair of deals involving a couple of baseball’s big names - in 1974, he was dealt by the Braves to the Brewers in a swap that allowed Henry Aaron to end his career in Milwaukee, and in 1976 he was part of the mega-deal that changed the address of 1974 MVP Jeff Burroughs from the Rangers to Atlanta. 

Dave May - 1979 Topps

• 1954 - Talk about your bad campaign: The NL announced the official end-of-season stats and Pittsburgh was, well... The Pirates finished last in the NL (53-101, 44 games behind the NY Giants), a sadly consistent position in 1954. They were also in the cellar for hitting (.248, & last in OBP/slugging %, too), pitching (4.92 ERA) and fielding (.971 FA) to hit the trifecta. 
• 1957 - Don Osborn was hired away from the Phils’ Miami Marlins AAA club, which he was managing, to become the Pirates organizational pitching coach. He replaced Bill Burwell, who had been bumped upstairs to become the Bucs big league pitching guru, a spot that Osborn would eventually fill off-and-on through 1978 as a member of Danny Murtaugh’s staff. 
• 1968 - RHP Rick White was born in Springfield, Ohio. White, a 15th round draft pick of Pittsburgh in 1990, began his 12-year MLB career as a Buc in 1994-95, and made another Steel City stop in 2005. He went 10-15-8 with a 4.03 ERA as a Pirate, who used him as a swingman. He was converted full-time to the bullpen by Tampa Bay in 1998, and worked 12 years in the league. 
• 1975 - MLB arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in favor of pitchers Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith, deciding that MLB players were free agents after playing one year for their team without a contract and dealing a fatal blow to baseball's reserve clause. MLB appealed the decision to the courts, but Seitz's ruling was upheld. As a result, the MLB and the MLBPA signed a new agreement in 1976 allowing players with six years experience to become free agents. McNally never got to take advantage of his suit, retiring from baseball (as he had planned prior to the ruling) while Messersmith inked a three-year/$1M deal with the Atlanta Braves. 

Shawn Chacon - 2008 Upper Deck First Edition

• 1977 - RHP Shawn Chacon was born in Anchorage, Alaska. Shawn worked in Pittsburgh toward the end of his eight-year career in 2006-07, coming over after a trade with the New York Yankees for Craig Wilson. Chacon went 7-7-1/4.44 as a reliever and starter in the Steel City, making 64 appearances. His MLB days ended on a nasty note when he and Astro’s GM Ed Wade got into a mud-slinging fight and he was waived in 2008, never to return to the show. 
• 1988 - C Roberto Perez was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He spent the first eight years of his career in Cleveland, earning a rep as a fine defensive backstop with good glove skills, but was just a lifetime .208 hitter. The Pirates signed him to a $5M contract as the heir apparent to Jake Stallings shortly before the 2021-22 lockout. He also came with a notoriety for injury, and played just 21 games before damaging his hammy, which required season-ending surgery. 
• 1994 - Merry Christmas, indeed. The players, who struck in August rather than accept a hard salary cap, had their offer of a soft cap with a tax for overspenders rejected by the MLB, which then unilaterally imposed a salary cap and elimination of salary arbitration among other items. It was a mess that even DC intervention couldn’t smooth; federal mediators joined the sessions, ex-President Carter offered to chair the talks, and Congress introduced five different bills to resolve the situation to no avail. It lasted until camp, which all were filled by replacement players, until now-Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer slapped an injunction on MLB. Under it, the season started late and was played under the terms of the old CBA, with a 144-game schedule and replacement umpires; the MLB men in blue added to the churn by starting the season on strike. 
• 1997 - In the first year of the luxury tax, the Pittsburgh Pirates had the lowest payroll of any MLB club at $16.6M. The next lowest club was Detroit at $23.5M. Each payroll had $5.1M in benefits included, so the Pirates paid out just $11.5M in straight salary. That rings about right; the Associated Press had the Bucs Opening Day payroll pegged at just $9,071,667. 

John Jaso - 2016 photo Joe Guzzy/Pirates

• 2015 - The Bucs signed 1B/OF John Jaso, 32, to a two-year/$8M deal after Jaso hit .286 and produced a .380 OBP/.839 OPS in 70 games with the Tampa Bay Rays. JJ was primarily a catcher and DH in the show until the 2015 campaign, when concussion woes necessitated a switch of positions and he was converted to first base by the Pirates to replace Pedro Alvarez. John played 1B and corner OF while running hot and cold at the plate, posting a 2016-17 slash of .245/.342/.409 in a platoon/bench role before retiring in 2018, preferring to circle the globe rather than the National League Central. 
• 2019 - The Pirates announced the hire of coach Glenn Sherlock, 59, to Derek Shelton’s staff. His main focus was on coaching catchers and run prevention. He’s also tasked with game prep and in-game management. He’s worked with the Yankees, D-Backs and Mets, serving as a minor league manager/coach, bullpen coach, bench coach, catching coach, first base coach and third base coach during his 30-year career. Glenn returned to the Mets as a bench coach in 2022.

12/22: Dewey, Todd, Teke, Friend Sign; Bucs Win Kang Bid; Arky BA King; Fed Folds; Tiger Growls; Prez Dan; HBD Jake, Jaku, Glenn, Lonnie, Tommy, Matty, Connie & Bob

• 1862 - Cornelius “Connie” Mack was born in East Brookfield, Massachusetts. Mack was a reserve catcher for the Pirates from 1891-96, hitting a modest .242. Mack's last three seasons in the NL were as a player-manager with Pittsburgh from 1894 to 1896, where he got his feet wet as a skipper and eventually leading to a 50-year gig as the field general of the Philadelphia Athletics (1901–1950), where he won five World Series and became a Hall-of-Fame skipper. 
• 1915 - The Federal League and the Pittsburgh Rebels came to an end. The FL agreed to drop its antitrust suit and disband after the NL and AL made the following concessions: the reinstatement of all players who had been blacklisted during the bidding wars, the sale of Fed players to the highest bidder rather than a forced return to their old club, $600K to be distributed among the Federal League owners, and the Fed clubs in Chicago and St Louis combining with the existing Cub and Brown teams after being sold to Federal League owners. 
• 1923 - RHP Bob Hall was born in Swissvale. The local kid only had a three-year career, spending his early 20’s with the Coast Guard during the Second World War instead of honing his game in the minors. After two years with the Braves and two more seasons on the farm, he was part of Pittsburgh’s 1953 staff, going 3-12-1/5.39 in what would be his final MLB campaign. Hall went by two monikers: “The Blade,” because of his slender build, and “Tarzan.” We speculate that it may have been a bit of reverse mimicry, but more likely because the comic book Lord of the Jungle was sometimes drawn by a Marvel artist named Bob Hall. 
• 1935 - The Pittsburgh Pirates claimed their fourth batting titleist when Arky Vaughan was officially crowned by the league, joining Hans Wagner, Ginger Beaumont and Paul “Big Poison” Waner. It wasn’t much of a race; Vaughan left runner-up Ducky Medwick (.353) in the dust with his .385 BA. Along with posting the best average in baseball, Arky also led the major leagues in OBP at .491 and WAR at 9.2 for position players. 

Matty Alou - 1969 Topps Super

• 1938 - CF Matty Alou was born in Bajos de Haina, Dominican Republic. Obtained from the Giants for the 1966 season, he became a slap-hitting machine under Harry “The Hat” Walker’s tutelage. While in Pittsburgh, he won a batting title and hit .300+ for four straight years. Mateo was traded to the Cards in 1971 after hitting .327 as a Pirate. Alou is part of the Dominican Republic’s first family of baseball, along with his MLB brothers Felipe (who is Moises dad) and Jesus. 
• 1949 - The Pirates signed 17-year-old pitcher Bob Friend (he bypassed Purdue), reeling in the righty with a bonus of $12,500. GM Roy Hamey said “...he looks like he’s worth taking a chance on.” Hamey was right - Friend pitched 15 years for the Bucs, winning 191 games and fanning 1,682 foes, still the franchise record, while being selected to play in four All-Star games. 
• 1950 - Coach Tommy Sandt was born in Brooklyn. Sandt played only 42 games in the majors, but had a 15-year pro career. After he put down the bat, Tommy was a minor league coach, manager, and major league coach. He worked under skipper Jim Leyland with the Pirates from 1987-96 and stayed with Leyland for stints with the Florida Marlins in 1997-98 and the Colorado Rockies in 1999. Sandt returned as a Pirates coach from 2000-02 with Gene Lamont and Lloyd McClendon. Tommy passed away in late 2020 at the age of 69. 
• 1955 - OF Lonnie “Skates” Smith was born in Chicago. Lonnie spent 15 years in the majors, making a 1993 stop in Pittsburgh, an awkward destination considering he was one of the players granted immunity in the infamous 1986 coke trials. The 37-year-old was signed to a $1M FA deal by the Bucs, hit .286 and then was sent to Baltimore in September for a pair of minor leaguers. He closed out his career there after the 1994 season. Skates played in five World Series, winning three, and hit .278 in 63 post-season games over his lifetime. His nickname - which he despised - came about because he sometimes ran his routes a little circuitously in the outfield and took an occasional tumble while on the basepaths, looking more like he was on skates than spikes. 

Lonnie Smith - 1993 Leaf (reverse)

• 1958 - OF Glenn Wilson was born in Baytown, Texas. He came to the Pirates in 1988 from the Seattle Mariners for Darnell Coles and a year later was flipped to the Houston Astros for Billy Hatcher, returning to the Pirates as a free agent in 1993, his last season. He played 147 games over those three Pittsburgh campaigns, posting a .274 BA as part of a 10-year MLB tour of duty. Wilson’s Bucco claim to fame: he banged two homers off Randy Johnson in a September, 1988, game. They were the first two long balls ever surrendered by the Big Unit. 
• 1961 - Ex-marine and Bucco third sacker Don Hoak lived up to his “Tiger” nickname on this night. Three young smack-talkers cornered him in town and taunted him regarding the Pirates' fade from glory, leading to an exchange of some heated words. Allegedly, one member of the group waved a knife as the other pair began to shove Hoak. They picked the wrong guy to bully; the Post-Gazette wrote that “After a short tussle, the trio broke and ran...He (Hoak) tracked two of them down…” and turned them over to the police after making what he termed a “citizen’s arrest.” They were booked on a disorderly conduct complaint, as stupidity wasn’t a chargeable offense. 
• 1969 - 41-year-old Dan Galbreath took over as team president for his father, John, who at 71 had run the club for 23 seasons. Dan would christen Three Rivers Stadium and told the press that his theme would be “Win In the Seventies,” which he did, bracketing the decade with World Series titles in 1971 and ‘79. He remained prez until 1985, fending off relocation offers from other towns before the Pittsburgh Associates bought the ball club and anchored it here. 

Chris Jakubauskas - 2010 photo Bob Levey/Getty

• 1978 - RHP Chris Jakubauskas was born in Upland, California. Chris had a hard start; after college, he missed two seasons with TJ surgery and had to work through the indie leagues to earn his big-league bow with Seattle. From there, he ended up with the Pirates and he was called up by Pittsburgh in late April of 2010, making his Bucco debut the following night at Minute Maid Park. With two outs in the first, a Lance Berkman liner drilled him above the ear in one of the Pirates' scarier moments. Jaku never lost consciousness and escaped with a concussion & contusion, but it did end his Pirates stay when he was released in the offseason. He made it back with Baltimore in 2011, but then spent AAA time with four organizations, retiring in 2014. 
• 1983 - Free agent RHP Kent Tekulve re-signed with the Pirates for three years/$900K per season. In 1983, Teke recorded 18 saves and a 1.64 ERA after 76 outings for the Corsairs and the inking was a big deal for the Bucs. Tekulve had been a bullpen fixture since 1975 in Pittsburgh, and the Pirates had to fend off the deep pockets of California Angel owner Gene Autry to seal the deal. Tekulve picked a good year to hit the market so far as value was concerned; after the Yankees’ Goose Gossage, the sidewinder was the top reliever available. 
• 1989 - C Jacob Stallings was born in Lawrence, Kansas. Drafted in the seventh round of the 2012 draft out of North Carolina with a rep as a good glove, bad bat catcher, he’s picked it up with the stick, hitting .268 over parts of four seasons and has outlasted Elias Diaz on the roster. His dad Kevin was Pitt’s basketball coach for a short spell. Jake claimed the starting job in 2020, and after a Golden Glove year in 2021, the backstop was traded to Miami in the off season. 

Jake Stallings - 2020 Topps

• 1998 - Third-year man RHP Todd Ritchie, 27, signed as a free agent with the Pirates for $225K. Ritchie won a career-high 15 games in 1999 with a 3.49 ERA in 26 starts and was the Pirates’ Opening Day starter in 2001, but it was downhill after the opening act. In his three Pirate seasons, he went 35-32/4.29 for the Bucs before he was dealt to the Chicago White Sox for Kip Wells, Josh Fogg and Sean Lowe after the 2001 campaign. He struggled in ‘02, was hurt in ‘03, and his ERA never dipped below five for any of his remaining campaigns for the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.
• 2008 - C Ryan Doumit signed a three year/$11.5M extension that bought out his arbitration years, with a team option for 2012/13 worth $15.5M. Doumit hit .271 during his time as a Pirate, but he was often injured and not very strong defensively. The Pirates didn’t pick up the option seasons, and Dewey signed with the Minnesota Twins in 2012, and retired from Atlanta after the 2014 season. 
• 2014 - The Nexen Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization accepted the Pirates’ posting offer of $5,002,015 in exchange for negotiating rights for SS Jung-Ho Kang, giving the Bucs a 30-day window to sign him. It was a red letter signing. JHK was a five-time KBO All-Star and the league’s 2014 MVP after posting a .356/40/117 slash and Asian free-agency was a new market for Pittsburgh; it was the first time the Pirates had ever won a bid for an international player through the posting system. He was officially inked by the Pirates to a deal three weeks later.