Notes: Hall Comes, Cabbage Goes; Ex-Bucs Find New Nests

More like the cold stove season:

Pirates Stuff:

• 1B Darick Hall, 29, signed a minor league deal including a spring invite with the Pirates. He's slashed .226/.258/.442 over 60 big league games with the Phils between 2022-23, hitting 10 homers and fanning 62 times in 198 PAs. Hall hit .236 with 16 dingers and 72 RBI for AAA Lehigh Valley last year.
• OF Trey Cabbage, claimed by the Bucs from Baltimore early last month, was released so that he could join the Japanese League's Yomiuri Giants.

Other Stuff: 

• LHP Brandon Waddell, 30, a 2015 Bucco draft pick who has tossed for the Pirates, Twins, Orioles, Cards and in the Chinese & Korean Leagues, signed a minor-league deal with the Mets.

Brandon Waddell - 2018 photo/MLB Pipeline

• The D-Backs & IF Ildemaro Vargas agreed on a minor league contract. He got into seven 2021 games with Pittsburgh, with one hit.
• RHP Colten Brewer, who the Pirates lost to the Yankees via Rule 5 in 2016, just signed a minor league deal with NY; it's his third stop in the Big Apple.
• The Chicago White Sox and RHP Bryse Wilson, 27, agreed on a one-year deal valued at $1.05M with $250K of bonus money available. Bryse pitched for the Bucs between 2021-22, posting a 4-13/5.37 slash mainly as a starter.
• 1B Carlos Santana signed with the Guardians for one-year/$12M. It's the third time Santana has been with Cleveland.
• The Reds claimed RHP Roansy Contreras, waived last week, from the Rangers.
• LHP Josh Walker was signed by Toronto to a one-year/$760K contract. The 30-year-old was a Bucco briefly last year. He was obtained in a minor league deal with the Mets (0-1/6.45 in two years/24 outings) in late July, DFA'ed 10 days later, re-signed and then let go again after in November after being ineffective at Indy. Walker is a big K guy but profiles as a AAAA player.

12/23: JJ Signed, Glenn & Don Hired, Bad Bucs, Free Agency, Cap & Tax; HBD Roberto, Shawn, Rick, Dave, Cozy, Sam & Goshen 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 more games covering 16 frames 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 Pirates

• 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 in the league through 2007. 
• 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 - 2007 Topps Heritage

• 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 over-spenders 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 amount sounds about right; the Associated Press had the Bucs Opening Day payroll pegged at just $9,071,667. 

John Jaso - image via 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 jaunt around the globe rather than around 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 was also tasked with game prep and in-game management. He had worked with the Yankees, D-Backs and Mets, serving as a minor league manager/coach, bullpen coach, bench coach, catching coach, 1B coach and 3B coach during his 30-year career. Glenn returned to the Mets as a bench coach in 2022.

12/22: Dewey, Todd, Teke & Friend Sign, JHK Rights, King Arky, Prez Dan, Ti-grrr, FL & Rebs Fold; HBD Jake, Jaku, Glenn, Skates, Tommy, Matty, Bob & Connie

• 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, slugging % at .607 and WAR at 9.2 for position players. 

Matty Alou - 1970 Topps All-Star (reverse)

• 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. In 2007, the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame inducted him, and in 2015 a Manhattan streetway was named after him. Matty passed away in 2011 in Santo Domingo at age 72 from complications due to diabetes. 
• 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. He went on to enter Indiana’s Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 and Pirates HoF in 2023. 
• 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 Oregon 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 wearing hockey skates rather than baseball spikes. 

Lonnie Smith - 1993 Pinnacle

• 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 fortunately for them 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. 
• 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 to the show with the Baltimore Orioles in 2011, but then spent AAA time with four organizations, retiring in 2014. 

Jaku - 2010 photo Bob Levey/Getty

• 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. After two years with the Fish, he signed with the Colorado Rockies as a free agent. 
• 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.

12/21: Holland - Mazzilli, Hughey - Hart, Anderson Deal, Frankie & Jose Signed, '05 Arbs, '59 Hot Stove, Staff Shuffle; HBD Slick, Josh, Freddy, John, Danny, Bugs, Pete & Doc

• 1878 - 1B Warren “Doc” Gill was born in Ladoga, Indiana. He played in the majors for one year as a 30-year-old on the powerful 1908 Bucco club, hitting .224 in 27 games during a month’s audition. Although he played 12 seasons of pro ball, Gill is best known for failing to touch second base in a game against the Chicago Cubs on September 4th, 1908. With the score tied in the bottom of the 10th, the Bucs’ Chief Wilson’s single plated the winning run. But Johnny Evers saw that Gill, who was on first, didn’t run the play out to second and stepped on the sack for a force-out; it was somewhat commonplace if careless for the players to head straight to the clubhouse after the game ended. Doc got away with the gaffe because Ump Hank O'Day, back in the day of one-man crews, didn’t see it. Three weeks later, the New York Giants Fred Merkle duplicated Gill's bit of lazy-bones running during a game against the Cubs; Chicago again completed the force play and this time, O’Day did see the action. Known to this day as “Merkle’s boner,” the call overturned a Giant victory and helped the Cubs to the 1908 title. Gill was nicknamed "Doc” as he was working on his dentistry degree at Washington University (St. Louis). After he retired, Gill lived up to his moniker by operating a dental practice for the next 35 years. 
• 1897 - RHP Jim Hughey was traded by the Pirates with $1,800 to the St. Louis Browns for RHP Bill Hart. Hughey had three not very good years with two terrible teams, St. Louis and Cleveland, posting a line of 16-61/4.76 that included a 4-30 slate in 1898, still the record for most losses in a season. Hart went 5-9-1/4.82 for the Bucs in his penultimate campaign. The club knew him well; Bill had won a personal best 14 games for the Pirates in 1895 during his first City stop. 
• 1897 - OF Floyd “Pete” Scott was born in Woodland, California. Pete spent three years in the majors as a good stick guy (.303 lifetime BA) off the bench who could play corner OF/IF; his final campaign was in 1928 when he hit .311 in 60 games for the Pirates. During a 14-year pro career, he hit under .300 just twice with .286 being his lowest single-season BA. 
• 1911 - Hall of Fame catcher Josh Gibson was born in Buena Vista, Georgia. Considered the top HR hitter (the “Black Babe Ruth”) of the Negro Leagues, he played for the Grays and Crawfords. His power was legendary; he hit moonshots in Forbes Field and Yankee Stadium that are still considered among the longest blasts ever launched. Gibson was the second ballplayer, behind Satchel Paige, to be elected to the Hall of Fame because of their exceptional Negro League careers though Josh never got a chance to prove himself in MLB. 

Bill Werle - 1950 Bowman

• 1920 - LHP Bill “Whirling Willie” Werle was born in Oakland, California. Werle also earned the nickname “Bugs” honestly as he was an amateur entomologist (a bug collector). He spent from 1949-1952 with the Bucs, going 28-35-14/4.76 while working every pitching role from starts to closing. Bugs got into deep hot water with the Bucco suits in 1952 after breaking curfew by coming during spring training, and then trying to tap dance his way out of his jam with a set of ever-shifting stories. He was fined, suspended, and then was traded to the St. Louis Cards in May. 
• 1930 - C Danny Kravitz was born in Lopez, near Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The reserve catcher played five years (1956-60) for Pittsburgh, hitting .236, but missed out on the ‘60 Series when he was traded in June to KC for Hank Foiles. His first homer was a story for the grandkids: he launched his bomb May 11th, 1956, in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and the Pirates trailing the Phillies, 5-2, to give the Pirates a 6-5 win. Kravitz only hit 10 long balls in his career and that was the only Danny granny. 
• 1959 - Deals dangled: After Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh nixed an A's offer to deal Roger Maris for SS Dick Groat earlier in the month (GM Joe Brown was shopping for an outfielder with some punch), Pittsburgh instead took OF Gino Cimoli along with RHP Tom Cheney from the Cardinals for RHP Ronnie Kline. Maris was then dealt to the Yankees and had the first of his two consecutive MVP years in New York, while Groat was named the NL MVP in 1960. As for the deal that did happen, Kline, who had beefed about not being used enough in ‘59, pitched 11 more seasons in the show, including a 1968-69 return to the Bucs. Cheney worked 22 games for the Pirates before being traded, winning 17 games for the Senators over the next five years. Cimoli hit .272 in a pair of Pirates seasons before being shipped to Milwaukee. In other derailed deals, Frank Lane of Cleveland told Les Biederman of the Pittsburgh Press that the Pirates asked about OF Minnie Minoso during the winter meetings, denying newspaper reports that OF Rocky Colavito was a Pittsburgh target. Lane said he asked for either 3B Don Hoak or RF Roberto Clemente and the Bucs countered with C Hank Foiles; needless to say, that trade talk quickly shut down. Joe Brown told Biederman that he also made unspecified player offers to Detroit for OF Al Kaline and to Washington for 3B Harmon Killebrew, but both remained with their clubs in ‘60. 
• 1960 - OF Andy Van Slyke was born in Utica, New York. AVS played eight years (1987-94) for the Bucs, hitting .283, while earning three All-Star spots, winning five Gold Gloves and claiming two Silver Sluggers during his tour. He was a mainstay of the Jimmy Leyland teams of the early nineties after coming over from the Cards in the Tony Pena deal. Known as “Slick,” his nickname was bestowed on him by his St. Louis skipper, Whitey Herzog. 

John Hope - 1994 Fleer (reverse)

• 1970 - RHP John Hope was born in Fort Lauderdale. The high schooler was a second round draft pick in 1989, signing for an $85K bonus. He went through elbow and shoulder surgery, and in part of four seasons (1993-96) with the Pirates, the righty went 1-5 with a 5.99 ERA. Hope, who had suffered through a litany of arms woes, became hooked on painkillers after his career, but later came clean through the help of the Baseball Assistance Team and Sam McDowell. 
• 1977 - 2B Freddy Sanchez was born in Hollywood. In six years (2004-09) as a Pirate, he hit .301, winning the batting crown in 2006 with a .344 BA and appearing in three All-Star games. It was a dark day in the City when fan favorite Steady Freddy was traded to the Giants, where injuries derailed his career. He hit .292 for the G-Men in the 2010 World Series season, but shoulder and back surgeries followed, making 2011 his final campaign. 
• 1979 - RHP Larry Anderson was traded to Pittsburgh by the Cleveland Indians for minor league players RHP John Burden and OF Larry Littleton. Burden never made it to the show while Littleton got a cup of coffee with the Indians in 1981 and earned a share of the MLB record for the most at-bats (23) without a hit by a non-pitcher. Anderson went 5-7-15/1.74 with AAA Portland, but the Bucs never called him up (the ‘80 bullpen was strong w/Teke, Grant Jackson, Enrique Romo, Buddy Solomon, Rod Scurry, and gang) and he was dealt to Seattle as the PTBNL in the Odell Jones deal. Jones ended up a nine-year MLB career with a line of 24-35-14/4.42 while Anderson appeared in nearly 700 games during 17 campaigns (none as a Bucco) and slashed 40-39-49/3.15. 
• 1982 - OF Lee Mazzilli was traded to the Pirates by the New York Yankees for minor leaguers Don Aubin, John Holland & Jose Rivera along w/RHP Tim Burke; the swap became official the following day. The key figures were Burke, who had an eight-year career as a reliever with 100+ saves, and Mazzilli, who spent 3-1/2 years (1982-85) with Pittsburgh, playing outfield and first base while putting up a .244 Bucco BA. The Buccos hoped that he would replace Omar Moreno in center, but Mazzilli lost the job to Marvell Wynne. He was released in ‘86 and returned to his first club, the New York Mets. 

Lee Mazzilli - 1993 Topps Traded

• 2000 - The Pirates re-signed 27-year-old RHP Jose Silva to a one-year/$795K contract. 2001 was his fifth and final year as a Bucco; he got into 26 games, with a 3-3/6.75 slash and was shipped to the Reds in the offseason. He got into a dozen games with them in 2002 to end his MLB run. In his Pirates stint (1997-2001), his line was 24-28-4/5.44 after 140 outings (53 starts). 
• 2005 - The Pirates extended tenders to arb-eligible LHP Ollie Perez, RHPs Kip Wells & Ryan Vogelsong, OF Jody Gerut and SS Jack Wilson while passing on RHP Josh Fogg. He signed with the Rockies; GM Dave Littlefield said his spot in the rotation would be taken by one of Ian Snell, Sean Burnett or Victor Santos as the Bucs were going young to retool their staff. Earlier in the offseason, they traded away hurlers Dave Williams and Mark Redman. 
• 2012 - LHP Francisco Liriano reached an agreement to sign with the Bucs for two years/$14M, pending his physical. He broke his right arm over the holidays, but he and the Pirates worked out an alternate deal that was worth $7M over two years with performance bonuses that would allow him to recapture much of the lost money. The Cisco Kid won 16 games in 2013 and was the “Comeback Player of the Year.” After the 2014 season, he returned after testing the free agent market, inking a three-year contract worth $39M. He didn’t get to finish out the contract in Pittsburgh, being shipped to Toronto at the 2016 deadline. 
• 2022 - A day of minor moves: Kieran Mattison, Altoona's manager, was promoted to the Pirates’ 2023 outfield, baserunning and run game coordinator. Callix Crabbe was named Curve skipper after leading Hi-A Greensboro last year and Robby Hammock, who spent last season as bench coach for the El Paso Chihuahuas (the San Diego Padres AAA club) took his place. Miggy Perez returned as AAA Indy manager while Jonathan Johnston remained the pilot at Lo-A Bradenton. Crabbe is now the Texas Rangers ass't hitting coach and Hammock is the Altoona skipper.

12/20: Young - Herges, Berra/Buhner - Foli/Kemp, Kitty - Clymer, Silva Dealt, Ryota, Jeff, Chris & Rich Sign, '04 Arbs Kept, Bucs In The Black; HBD Bryse, Jose, Paul, Spud, Joe, Branch & Jimmy

• 1876 - 2B Jimmy Williams was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He only played two years in Pittsburgh, but made quite a splash. In his first year, 1899, Williams hit in 27 straight games, setting an MLB rookie record that wasn’t broken until 1987, and his mark is still a Pirates team standard. His 27 triples are also an MLB rookie record, and he ended the campaign with a .354 BA. But the next year he returned to reality, hitting .264, and then jumped leagues in 1901, joining the AL Baltimore Orioles and opening the door for Tommy Leach to take control of the hot corner. 
• 1881 - Branch Rickey was born in Stockdale, Ohio. An innovator of things as diverse as the breaking the color line, a feeder minor league system and batting helmets, Rickey was the Pirate GM from 1950-55. His Pittsburgh teams were notoriously poor (“The Rickey-Dinks”), but his player development pipeline helped to form a nucleus for the 1960 World Championship club. New York sportswriter Tom Meany gave him the nickname “Mahatma,” per Lee Lowenfish in “Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman,” because he reminded him of Gandhi with his combination of almost religious fervor combined with Tammany Hall backroom tactics. He was also called “The Brain” for his innovative work & eye for players, and “El Cheapo” by some players for his tight-fisted contract dealings. 
• 1885 - OF Joe Wilhoit was born in Hiawatha, Kansas (although SABR’s Bob Rives notes that “Wilhoit's age appears to have been more closely guarded than the Coca-Cola formula. In various publications, his date of birth ranges from 1885 to 1891 and his birthplace varies from Los Angeles to Illinois to Kansas.” Our place and DOB are consensus but uncertain.) He played for four MLB seasons, and called three teams home in 1917, one being Pittsburgh where he went 2-for-10 before joining the NY Giants. Joe’s claim to fame: Playing for the Western League’s Wichita Jobbers’, he put together pro baseball’s longest hit streak of 69 games and ended the season with a .422 average. Per baseball lore, he was given a gift hit to reach 63 games when a third baseman ate his bunt rather than make a play (a credit to Wilhoit’s popularity among the players). When his streak ended at home, the fans passed a hat and filled it with $600 to reward Joe’s feat. 

Otis Clymer - 2005 Chicago Daily News/Chicago History Museum

• 1904 - The Pirates traded 1B Kitty Bransfield, IF Otto Krueger and OF Moose McCormick to the Phillies for 1B Del Howard and RF Otis Clymer. In his first MLB season, Howard hit .292 for the Pirates and was then part of the deal for P Vic Willis the following year. Clymer was a reserve for three years, hitting .284, before he was sold to the Senators in 1907. Kitty, a member of the Pirates first World Series club, stayed on for seven campaigns in Philadelphia, with a .269 BA. Moose, one of baseball’s earliest full-time pinch-hitters, didn’t play again until 1908 after leaving the game to become a salesman. Krueger hung around for one more year before leaving baseball. 
• 1904 - C Virgil “Spud” Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He spent his last four seasons (1940-41, 1944-45) as a back-up catcher who hit .301 as a Bucco. From 1943-44 he coached before returning for a couple of seasons during the war years. He continued as a coach and a scout for the Pirates and briefly managed the team when manager Frankie Frisch resigned in September of 1946. Spud left baseball for good in 1950. Davis hit over .300 ten times in 16 MLB seasons, and as of his retirement, his .308 career BA was second only to Mickey Cochrane all-time among major league catchers. At last peek, it’s still in the Top Five. Per Andy Sturgill of SABR: The nickname was given to Davis by an uncle in his childhood. “I liked potatoes so much early in life that I was nicknamed Spud,” Davis explained. “But I loved baseball more than potatoes, so I cut them out.” 
• 1953 - RHP Paul Moskau was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. After climbing the hill for five years with the Reds, he joined the Bucs in 1983, getting into 13 games (five starts). Paul’s Pittsburgh line was 1-3/4.37 and he finished his MLB tour the following year as a Chicago Cub. 
• 1960 - RHP Jose DeLeon was born in Rancho Viejo, Dominican Republic. After being taken in the third round of the 1979 draft, he reached Pittsburgh in 1983. He went 17-38 with a 4.02 ERA as a Buc before being traded to the White Sox in 1986. DeLeon lasted 13 seasons in the MLB, winning 86 games while tossing for five teams and posting a workmanlike 3.76 ERA. 

Jose DeLeon - 1985 O-Pee-Chee

• 1984 - In a deal that was in the makings for a couple of weeks, SS Tim Foli, OF Steve Kemp and $800K were sent to the Pirates by the NY Yankees in exchange for SS Dale Berra, OF Jay Buhner and LHP Alfonso Pulido. The move freed Berra from the Bucco doghouse, and did the same for Kemp who was in George Steinbrenner’s bad graces. The deal was held up by the Commissioners Office until a work-around for the cash sent to Pittsburgh was struck, with Pulido tossed into the pot as a separate cash transaction. Kemp hit .246 w/2 HRs & was released in May of 1986; Foli was released in June ‘85 w/.189 BA. Buhner went on to have a 15-year career with 310 homers, mostly with Seattle, while Berra spent two years in NY, batting .230 before ending his MLB days in Houston the next season. 
• 1988 - Big day for the Bucco bank account: the team announced that the Pirates posted an operating profit of $2,850,660 during the 1988 season, the first time since 1971 the Bucs ended the year in the black. The team set a club home attendance record of 1,866,713, an increase of more than 700,000 over the previous year when Pittsburgh had an operating loss of $1,756,838. 
• 1997 - RHP Bryse Wilson was born in Durham, North Carolina. He was a fourth round pick of the Braves in 2016 out of Orange HS and debuted for Atlanta in 2018. Wilson got into 22 games (14 starts) over four years with a 5-4/5.45 slash. At the 2021 deadline, he was traded to Pittsburgh as part of the Richard Rodriguez deal and joined the rotation, starting four days later. His combined line for the year was 3-7/5.35, with the long ball giving him fits. He’s now with his fourth club, Chicago White Sox, having just signed on as a free agent. Fun fact: His first start was against the Pirates. Wilson pitched five innings and earned the victory in the Braves' 1–0 win to become the youngest pitcher to win his debut by that score. Bryse was part of the rotation in ‘22, starting 20 games and slashing 3-9/5.52, crossing the 100+ IP threshold for the first time in the MLB. 
• 1999 - The Pirates signed RHP Rich Loiselle and LHP Chris Peters to one-year deals; both were arb-eligible and had missed the previous season with arm woes. Loiselle agreed to $400K while Peters took home $550K. Rich got into 40 games and went 2-3/5.10; he would pitch 18 big league games in 2001, which would be his last of six campaigns in the show. Peters worked 18 games, going 1-0/2.18, then closed out his MLB stay in Montreal the following season after six years of service. They also bulked up by adding a pair of depth catchers via minor league deals, Tim Laker and Randy Knorr.

Jose Silva - 1998 Donruss Rookie

• 2001 - In a minor deal, the Bucs sent RHP Jose Silva, one day after his birthday, to the Reds for minor league RHP Ben Shaffar. Silva spent the season with Cincy to finish out his MLB at seven campaigns (all but his first and last with the Pirates) while Shaffar never made it to the show. 
• 2002 - RHP Chris Young and minor leaguer Jon Searles were traded to the Montreal Expos for RHP Matt Herges. The 6’10” Young, a third round pick of the Bucs in 2000 who was given a $1.65M bonus to lure him from basketball, went on to win 32 games between 2005-07 and landed an All-Star berth before injuries threw a series of speed bumps at his career, while the Pirates cut Herges in spring training and lost him to the Padres. He went on to make over 350 more appearances in the next six years as a journeyman middle reliever. 
• 2004 - The Pirates tendered all seven of their arb-eligible players: SS Jack Wilson, OF/1B Craig Wilson, 1B Daryle Ward, UT Rob Mackowiak, and P’s Josh Fogg, Kip Wells and Brian Meadows, and the gang stayed together to play for the Bucs throughout the 2005 campaign. They had signed RHP Salomon Torres earlier in the off season to a two year/$2.6M deal to avoid arbitration. 
• 2011 - The Bucs took a chance with RHP Ryota Igarashi, the fastest pitcher in Japan featuring a 98-MPH heater who had two years as a Met under his belt, by signing him to a minor league deal with an invite to camp. He was sent to the minors in March and told the media he was “shocked” by the demotion, even though he had surrendered nine runs in 9-1/3 spring innings. The Bucs sold their disgruntled reliever to the Toronto Blue Jays the next day; he eventually returned to Japan in 2013 after tossing just four more MLB outings between the Jays and Yankees in ‘12. The Pirates also inked Jeff Clements onto the non-roster invitee list. He started at Indy and made it to Pittsburgh in late August, but hit just .136 to end his four-year/152-game major league stay.

12/19: Cutch, Huddy, Corey, Joe, Brian, Kevin, Sluggo & Ron Sign, Bummer Bucs, Yay DH, Russ Debut; RIP Dock, HBD Jose, Mike, Obie, Ray, Eddie, Lou & Artie

• 1887 - IF Artie Butler (Bouthillier) was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. Art hit .277 in two Bucco seasons (1912-13) before moving along to the Cards. His claim to fame is a bit on the macabre side - he was the last living teammate of legendary pitcher Cy Young before passing on in 1984. 
• 1891 - It may be a surprise to the dyed-in-the-wool NL fans of the Steel City, but a Pirates honcho, William Temple (president and part-owner) was the first documented proponent of the DH. The Sporting Life wrote that “President Temple, of the Pittsburgs, brought up the question as to what disposition should be made of the pitcher in the batting order. (He) favored the substitution of another man to take the pitcher’s place at the bat when it came his turn to go there.” The magazine added that “Every patron of the game is conversant with the utter worthlessness of the average pitcher when he goes up to try and hit the ball. It is most invariably a trial, and an unsuccessful one at that.” Temple brought the matter up during the 1892 preseason gathering of the National League nabobs, but it lost in a close vote. (S/O to John Thorn’s “Our Game” blog) 
• 1898 - RHP Lou Koupal was born in San Gabriel, California. He began his MLB odyssey with the Pirates in 1925-26 and slashed 0-2/5.02. He was shipped back to the farm, came back and worked three more years in the league, then took a seven year hiatus before closing out his career in 1937. Fun fact from the Baseball Junk Drawer: He was one of six 1929 Brooklyn Robins who had been members of the championship 1925 Pirates team, along with Max Carey, Johnny Gooch, Eddie Moore, Johnny Morrison and Glenn Wright. 
• 1915 - OF Eddie Yount was born in Newton, North Carolina. Eddie was a Wake Forest grad and minor league lifer, starting in 1937 and hanging in there until 1951 when he was 35. He got seven at-bats with the Philadelphia A’s in 1937 with two knocks and two more cuts for the Pirates in 1939 (he struck out both times). He then spent the rest of his time on the farm with a three-year break during WW2, serving with the 12th Armored Division Hellcats. 

Ray Poat - undated photo Giants Sports Collection

• 1917 - RHP Ray Poat was born in Chicago. Mainly a reliever, Ray spent six campaigns in the show around a couple of years in the military during the war. He finished his career in 1949 at Pittsburgh, making 11 appearances with a line of 0-1/6.25, after arriving in June as part of the Kirby Higbe deal. He was pitching with a bum wing and had surgery after the season, but it was a recurring woe and he retired to the life of a chemist (he was an Illinois grad). Fun fact: In 1947, Poat became the first MLB player to swat a season cycle, which is collecting just four hits in a year but with one of each flavor - single, double, triple and home run. 
• 1918 - OF/3B Tommy “Obie” O’Brien was born in Anniston, Alabama. O’Brien was a three-time All State football player and enrolled at the University of Tennessee, but opted for baseball. He started his MLB career as a Pirate, hitting .301 between 1942-45, toiled in the minors from 1946-48 and returned to the show in 1949-50 with Boston and Washington. His shining moment came in 1943 when he had seven consecutive hits in a doubleheader against the NY Giants. 
• 1938 - In a poll of writers by the Associated Press, the Pirates were selected as the biggest disappointment in sports for the year, edging out the Rice Owls football team. The Pirates had a seven game edge on September 1st and were up 3-1/2 games after September 22nd, but dropped six of their final seven games to finish the season two games behind the Cubs after losing the famous “homer in the gloaming” game. The Bucs went 28-26 in the final two months of the season while the Cubs rampaged through September, winning 21 of their last 26 games. 
• 1957 - RHP Ron Kline became the first Pirate to sign for the ‘58 campaign when he was inked for an undisclosed amount. He had a Jekyll and Hyde 1957 season - he was 2-15/4.82 through July, then ditched his knuckleball and went 7-1/1.44 from August onward. He went on to have a workmanlike 1958, going 13-16/3.53. The Callery Kid (Callery in Butler County was where he was born) was traded to the Cards after the 1959 campaign, returning to the fold as a reliever in 1968-69 near the end of his 17-year career. He became Callery’s mayor after his retirement. 

Mike Fetters - 2002 Topps Total

• 1964 - RHP Mike Fetters was born in Van Nuys, California. The veteran reliever tossed 16 major league seasons for eight clubs, spending 2001-02 with the Pirates and slashing 2-1-8/3.75. He’s often remembered for his odd motion; before he delivered the ball, he took a deep breath and turned his head 90 degrees, a move he came up with to counter the stress of pitching. He’s been on the Arizona Diamondbacks staff since 2012 and is now the D-Backs bullpen coach. 
• 1967 - Russ Goetz got his call to the bigs. The McKeesport native’s dream wasn’t to play but umpire MLB games, and at age 37, his dream came true. He took full advantage, too - he wore the blue for the AL from 1968 to 1983, arbitrating 2,384 games in a 16-year career. Russ worked two World Series (1973, 1979), two All-Star Games (1970, 1975) and four ALCS (1970, 1974, 1977, 1981). He was one of the last umps to still use the old school exterior chest protector when he retired. 
• 1973 - RHP Jose Silva was born in Tijuana, Mexico. Jose worked five years (1997-2001) for the Bucs, starting 53 of his 140 Pirate games. He finished 25-28-4 with a 5.41 ERA in his Pittsburgh years. He worked one more major league campaign before moving on to the Mexican League. 
• 1990 - 32-year-old C Don Slaught signed a three-year/$3M contract with the Pirates after coming over the year before from the New York Yankees and hitting .300 in a platoon role. Sluggo played six seasons in Pittsburgh and batted .305 between 1990-95 in 475 games as a platoon guy - he played in 87+ games in a season just one time as a Buc backstop. 
• 1996 - Pittsburgh signed 32-year-old free agent SS Kevin Elster to a one-year/$1.65M deal. The veteran infielder was coming off a career season in Texas, hitting .252 with 24 HR and 99 RBI. But he never got into a groove, hitting .225 for the Bucs with seven homers while getting into just 39 games before breaking his wrist in mid-May. He never returned to duty and was released at the end of the campaign. His injury put a big dent in the “Freak Show” attack, with the 1997 club still managing to compete into September before finishing five games back. 

Brian Meadows - 2005 Fleer

• 2002 - RHP Brian Meadows avoided arbitration by signing a one-year/$800K deal, with a split time provision paying him $150K if he was in the minors. And that’s where he started, but after going 7-0 at Nashville, he was called up to earn his big league fee and stayed on the Bucs’ active roster through 2005. He tossed for one more year with the Tampa Bay Rays before the 30-year-old called it quits after MLB stints with five teams over nine years. 
• 2003 - LHP Joe Beimel signed a one-year/$535K contract after appearing in 69 games in 2003, although a second half meltdown left his slash at 1-3/5.05. He didn’t make it to the opener, being one of the last cuts in camp and then signing with the Twins. The Bucs had John Grabow, Mike Gonzalez and Mike Johnston coming up from the minors, and the youngsters all got showtime in 2004 to make St. Mary’s Joe expendable. In other contract action, LHP Mike Lincoln was non-tendered (he signed w/the Cards but was injured in May, missing the rest of 2004 and all of 2005, then came back in 2008 to toss parts of three years with the Reds). RHP Kip Wells, SS Jack Wilson and UT Craig Wilson were tendered, leaving the Pirates with four 40-man openings for FA’s. 
• 2008 - One of the most colorful guys to put on a Bucco uniform, Dock Ellis, passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 63 of cirrhosis. Ellis tossed the first eight and then the final season of his 12-year big league career with Pittsburgh. His Pirates line was 96-80/3.16 with a no-hitter (while on LSD, per his retelling), All-Star appearance and World Series ring to his credit. The Docktor also left behind enough stories to fill a 2014 movie, “No No: A Dockumentary” and collaborated with Donald Hall on a 1976 book, “Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball.” Ellis cleaned himself up after he left baseball following the 1979 campaign and became a drug counselor, working with prisoners and minor leaguers among others who were struggling with his familiar old demons. 
• 2014 - The Pirates signed free agent 1B/OF Corey Hart to a one- year/$2.5M contract with another $2.5M available in bonuses based on at-bats. Hart had microfracture knee surgery in 2013, missing that year, and hit just .203 with Seattle in 2014, but prior to that was a career .271 hitter and two-time All-Star playing for Milwaukee, swatting 30 homers twice. Hart got just 57 at bats with the Bucs before his knees gave out again, and he retired after the 2015 campaign. 

Corey Hart - 2015 Topps

• 2016 - Free agent RHP Daniel Hudson, 29, signed a two-year/$11M (w/$1.5M more possible based on games finished) deal with the Pirates. The flamethrower (96 MPH fastball) came from Arizona, where his days as a starter ended after a pair of TJ surgeries. Pittsburgh planned to plug him into the back end of the bullpen, which was in need of a righty arm. The deal was made official two days later when Brady Dragmire was DFA’ed to clear a roster spot for Hudson. After a 2-7/4.38 showing in 71 outings in his first campaign, he became more valuable as a trade piece and after the year he was sent to Tampa Bay as part of the Corey Dickerson deal. Since then, he’s been a Dodger, Blue Jay, Nat and Padre. Huddy returned to the Big Blue in 2022, retiring after LA won the 2024 World Series. 
• 2023 - The Pirates re-signed Andrew McCutchen, 37, to a one-year/$5M deal, the same one as they agreed to in 2023. Cutch slashed .256/.378/.397 w/12 home runs in 112 games and 473 PAs in ‘23 while mostly DH’ing. His season ended prematurely on September 4th, when he sustained a partial Achilles tear legging out a double, leaving him one long ball short of the 300-homer club. The signing dragged out longer than originally anticipated as the Pirates apparently were waiting to see how Andrew recovered, but he healed up and was in spring camp for his 16th MLB campaign and 11th Bucco season.

12/18: Joe - Garcia, Martin, Ryan, Javier, Masumi, Yoslan & Amos Sign, Tim In The Booth; HBD Josh, Joker, Gino & Johnny

• 1915 - OF Johnny Barrett was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He played from 1942-46, with all but 24 games as a Pirate, and hit .251. His best years were 1944-45, when he swiped 53 bases (he led the NL in steals in 1944 with 28) and scored 196 runs. But when WW2 ended and the players returned from the service, Barrett’s career came to an end. He hit .193 in 1946, his last big league campaign that was split between the Buccos and the Boston Braves. 
• 1929 - OF Gino Cimoli was born in San Francisco. He only played a season and some change (1960-61) for the Bucs, but was their fourth outfielder for the 1960 Series champs, hitting .267 as a Pirate and .250 in the series. He scored the first tally in Pittsburgh’s five-run eighth inning in the deciding game seven and started several games in place of the injured Bob Skinner. After retiring from baseball, Cimoli worked as a delivery driver for UPS. 
• 1969 - IF Joe “The Joker” Randa was born in Milwaukee. Joe played early and late with the Pirates - he spent his third big league season, 1997, and his MLB finale in 2006 in Pittsburgh, hitting a solid .291. Tony Muser, Joe’s skipper in Kansas City, gave him his nickname because he reminded him of Batman’s “The Joker” character, always with a smile on his face. 
• 1983 - The Pirates signed 37-year-old free agent OF Amos Otis. A five-time All-Star with the Kansas City Royals, Otis was at the end of his road and hit .165 in 40 games for the Bucs. He was released in August and never played in the majors again. Ironically, the Royals had agreed to a deal sending him and Cookie Rojas to the Pirates for Al Oliver/Art Howe after the 1975 season per Charley Feeney of the Post Gazette, but Rojas killed the transaction by exercising his 5-and-10 year veto rights; Pittsburgh was that close to landing Otis in his heyday. 

Amos Otis - 1984 Fleer Update

• 1984 - IF Josh Rodriguez was born in Houston, Texas. His MLB career was short-lived; he went 1-for-12 in six games for the Bucs in 2011 and that was it for showtime. The Pirates took him from the Cleveland Indians as a Rule 5 selection and he beat out Pedro Ciriaco for the middle infield bench spot in camp. But Rodriguez couldn’t take advantage of sticking his foot in the door and the Bucs returned him to the Tribe in late April, replacing him on the roster with Brandon Wood. Josh returned to Pittsburgh in June in a cash deal with Cleveland and provided depth at Indy and Altoona. He then bounced around several minor league systems and has played in the Mexican League since 2018. Josh was released last season and is now a free agent. 
• 2006 - Cuban RHP Yoslan Herrera, 25, agreed to a three-year/$1.92M contract with the Pirates, Pittsburgh’s first Cuban signing of the Castro era. He had defected in July of 2005 and was signed by scouts Rene Gayo and Louie Eljaua after posting a combined record of 18-7/3.27 between the Cuban Youth Team (1999-2000) and the Cuban National Team (2001-2004). His numbers didn’t translate in the US, and he won just one game for the Bucs. In a nice bounce-back tale, Herrera was signed to a minor league deal by the LA Angels in 2013 after last pitching in the majors in 2008, put together a nice run at the end of 2014 (1-1/2.70 in 20 outings) for the Halos, then moved across the Pacific to toss in the Nippon League for the final two years of his career. 
• 2006 - The Bucs announced another dip into the international market by inking 38-year-old Japanese RHP Masumi Kuwata to a one year/$500K minor-league contract. He chose the Pirates over the Red Sox and Dodgers because he thought he had a better shot at making the club, but an ankle injury in the spring delayed his MLB call until June. He was 39 then, the oldest rookie to appear since Diomedes Olivo and the first Japanese player to suit up for the Bucs. After 19 games, his ERA was 9.43 and he was sent down. He was invited to camp in 2008, failed to make the final roster, and after rejecting a coaching offer by the Bucs, returned home. He became a TV commentator and later coached the U of Tokyo. 

Matsuma Kuwata - 2008 Topps Year In Review

• 2008 - Tim Neverett was hired as the Pirate play-by-play man, replacing Lanny Frattare. Prior to joining the Pirates, Neverett worked four years for FSN Rocky Mountain, where he spent the 2008 campaign serving as both the pre and post-game studio host for Colorado Rockies games, along with calling many other sports. Neverett began his baseball on-air career in 1985 at the age of 19 with Pittsburgh's Class AA affiliate in the Eastern League, the Nashua Pirates. The New England native left here to join Boston after the 2015 campaign, but it was a short stay as he left their booth following the 2018 Sox season after a beef with management. He was out of work for just a week before he was hired by the Los Angeles Dodgers, his current employer. 
• 2009 - The Pirates signed LHP Javier Lopez to a one-year/$775K contract. The LOOGY reestablished his credentials (2-2/2.79) in Pittsburgh and then was traded to the Giants at the deadline for OF John Bowker and RHP Joe Martinez. The southpaw was the only active player to have played on four or more World Series championship teams, winning three times with the G-Men and once with Boston. He retired from the G-Men after the 2016 campaign (he slashed 17-8-10/2.47 during his Bay stint) and joined the SF broadcast team. 
• 2015 - The Pirates and RHP Ryan Vogelsong officially agreed to a one-year/$2M contract, bringing him back to Pittsburgh after he had been gone for a decade following stints in Japan and San Francisco. In what would prove to be his final MLB season, he went 3-7/4.81 as a starter/long man, with his season shortened when he broke an orbital bone after being beaned by then-Rockie Jordan Lyles. At the end of the 2017 campaign, after he had been released from AAA by the Minnesota Twins, the Giants signed him to a one-day contract in September and tossed a retirement tribute at AT&T Park for Vogey. 

Ryan Vogelsong - 2002 Topps Total

• 2022 - The Pirates brought home 1B/OF Connor Joe, 30, from Colorado in exchange for 23-year-old RHP Nick Garcia. Joe was the Pirates 2014 Competitive Balance selection (39th overall pick) who was traded to Atlanta for Sean Rodriguez in August, 2017. He bats from the right side and hit .238 with seven homers for the Rockies in ‘22 with a lifetime .247 BA in three MLB seasons with the Rox and Giants. He’s also pretty handy with the mitt, so he was hoped to be a good-fit platoon piece when a lefty bat is called for. Connor hit .238 in 2023-24 while playing first and the outfield corners and was non-tendered after the ‘24 campaign; he’s now a free agent. Garcia, a third-round pick in 2020, went 4-4/3.66 with 109 whiffs in 113 IP over 25 outings (23 starts) for Hi-A Greensboro in ‘22. He was raw and his ultimate ceiling is TBD as he’s a position player converted to the pen converted to the rotation. He had a rough 2023 (3-9/7.35) tossing in AA and is now in the Giants system. To create roster room, the Pirates DFA’ed RHP Nick Mears. 
• 2023 - The Pirates signed free-agent LHP Martin Perez, 32, agreeing to a one-year/$8M deal. It took awhile to become official, though - he wasn’t placed on the roster until early January when RHP Max Kranick was DFA’ed to clear a spot. Perez, 32, went 10-4/4.45 ERA in 141-2/3 IP over 35 appearances (20 starts) for the Texas Rangers last season. The 12-year vet was an All-Star in 2022, slashing 12-8/2.89 with 196-1/3 innings and 32 starts. Pittsburgh was the fourth team of his 12-year career, with two stops at Texas. He joined LHP Marco Gonzales, obtained by trade with Atlanta, in a rebuild of the starting staff which returned just RHP Mitch Keller as a rotation regular from last season. Perez was 2-5/5.20 and sent to San Diego at the deadline; Gonzales went 1-1/4.54 before injuring his arm, later undergoing surgery, and was non-tendered.

12/17: Broxton/Supak - Rogers, Austin, Kevin, Turner & Jeff Sign, Dapper Baron, Big Easy Bucs, AA Folds Into NL; HBD Vogey, Larry, Steve, Marvell, Charlie, Jim, Rebel & Cy

• 1879 - RHP Fred “Cy” Falkenberg was born in Chicago. He worked his 1903 rookie campaign for the Pirates, going 1-5 with a 3.86 ERA. It would be the fewest wins and highest ERA compiled in a single season for ol’ Cy, who tossed 12 big league years, winning 130 games (20+ victories twice) with a 2.68 lifetime ERA. Those 20-win tallies in 1913-14 were sparked by a new pitch that he came up with - a scuffed “emery” ball. The delivery was declared illegal after the 1914 season, and Cy was out of MLB two years later (in justice, hitting the age of 38 probably had as much with his descent as did the rulebook). So far as Falkenberg’s “Cy” moniker, SABR’s Eric Enders speculates that it was another Cy (as in Cyclone) Young knock-off, the old-timey ace whom many promising youngsters were likened to when they were coming up through the ranks. 
• 1883 - CF Ennis “Rebel” Oakes was born in Lisbon, Louisiana. He played five years for the Reds and Cards, then jumped to the Federal League when it was established in 1914. After two seasons as the player-manager for the Pittsburgh Rebels, perhaps named in his honor, the league folded and Oakes never returned to MLB despite his .295 BA. SABR writer Phil Williams believes “Rebel Oakes was effectively blacklisted” after the Federal League’s demise. Btw, he didn’t earn his nickname by being particularly iconoclastic. When he was in the minors, an Iowa sportswriter dubbed him Rebel because of his Deep South birthplace. 
• 1891 - The American Association, the home of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys through 1886, ceased as a major league after a 10-year run when a settlement was reached with the National League for a semi-merger. Four AA clubs (St. Louis, Louisville, Washington, and Baltimore) joined the NL to form a twelve-club league. The other four AA clubs were bought out for about $130,000. 
• 1896 - C Jim Mattox was born in Leesville, Virginia. Jim was a back-up in 1922-23 for the Pirates, hitting .253 off the bench. He was released after the year and retired rather than report to the minors again as his contract was sold to Wichita Falls. Jim was an early two-sport star - in 1919, he was an All-Conference quarterback at Washington and Lee. 

Charlie Sands - 1972 Topps

• 1947 - C/PH Charlie Sands was born in Newport News, Virginia. Charlie played for the Bucs in 1971-72, going 5-for-33 (.192) and was on the ‘71 WS roster. He hung around the league for three more seasons, but only got into 63 more games. Fun fact: Sands caught all 29 innings of what at the time was the longest game ever to occur in professional baseball. Playing for the Class A, Florida State League Miami Marlins on June 15th, 1966, Sands held the fort as Miami beat the St. Petersburg Cardinals (coached by Sparky Anderson), 4-3. 
• 1947 - The Pirates bought the AA New Orleans Pelicans, including 37 players (none of which ever made the Bucco roster), for an estimated $200K. In an era when farm systems were deep, The Big Easy became the Pirates 19th farm club in 1948. Oddly, in 1947 the club didn't field a AA team, so NOLA was a needed addition to fill the gap between AAA Indy (which was replaced by Hollywood in 1951) and Single A Albany (which moved to Charlestown in 1950). 
• 1959 - CF Marvell Wynne was born in Chicago. He started his career with the Pirates, playing from 1983-85. Projected as a leadoff hitter, he stole 46 sacks but batted just .245 with an OBP of .297 before being traded to the San Diego Padres for Bob Patterson, and he put together a solid four-year run on the left coast. Marvell’s last season was 1991, played in Japan. His son, also named Marvell, became a pro jock, too, but as an MLS soccer player. 
• 1959 - ElRoy Face, 31, became the fourth consecutive Pirate, following Dale Long, Dick Groat and Danny Murtaugh to win the Dapper Dan Man of the Year Award as the athlete who did the most to publicize the region through his exploits. All the Baron of the Bullpen did was win 17 straight games to run his streak to 22 before a September loss, slash 18-1-10/2.70 and earn his first All Star selection. His main DD competition shared the clubhouse with him as he eased past runner-up Harvey Haddix, who tossed a 12-inning perfecto that same season. 

Steve Parris - 1996 Upper Deck Collectors Choice

• 1967 - RHP Steve Parris was born in Joliet, Illinois. Steve started his eight-year MLB run in Pittsburgh between 1995-96 with a 6-9/5.82 slash as a starter. After a year in the minors, he tossed three solid seasons with the Reds and three not-so-solid seasons with Toronto and Tampa Bay. 
• 1980 - Scout & suit Larry Broadway was born in Miami. The Montréal Expos chose him from Duke in the 3rd round (77th overall) of the 2002 draft. Larry got to AAA and had a couple of good years but was up-and-down after a 2005 knee injury. He never got a chance in the show, and Broadway signed with the Pirates for 2009 to play at Indy. He lost his batting eye and even tried pitching but retired and became a scout with the Bucs in 2010. In 2014, he became Pittsburgh's Senior Director of Minor League Operations. He held that post until 2020, when the new Cherington regime moved him to player evaluation. 
• 1992 - 1B/DH Daniel Vogelbach was born in Orlando, Florida. The six-year vet was an All-Star with Seattle in 2019 when he slammed 30 homers, but he’d only topped 100 at bats in a season three times and carried a .209 lifetime BA. The Pirates signed him in March of 2022 to a deal for one year/$800K plus bonuses with a $1.5M option/$200K buyout in 2023, looking to add some pop after the newly approved rule change adding a designated hitter to NL lineups took effect. After banging 12 homers in 75 games for the Bucs, he was traded to the New York Mets for reliever Colin Holderman. The Mets non-tendered him after the 2023 campaign and Vogey moved on to Toronto; now he’s a free agent. 
• 1993 - 3B Jeff King avoided arbitration by signing a one year/$2.4M contract after losing an arbitration hearing the previous year, when he asked for $2M but was awarded $675K. He hit cleanup during the ‘93 season, batting .295 with nine HR and 98 RBI to earn the pay bump. 

Turner Ward - 1988 MLB.com photo

• 1997 - OF Turner Ward was signed to a two-year/$1.6M contract after hitting .353 off the bench during the season. Ward earned the money when he turned in a highlight-reel play in the ‘98 campaign when he crashed through the wall at TRS. He batted .262 in 1998 and was released in August of 1999 after posting a .209 BA. He rebounded to have a great season with Arizona to help them win the NL West, then played two more years before retiring after 2001. In all, he had 12 big league years (although only two with 200+ PAs) with a .251 career BA. 
• 2010 - Free agent RHP Kevin Correia officially signed with Pittsburgh, agreeing to a two-year/$8M deal with another $1M available in bonuses, which had been hammered out 10 days earlier during the Winter Meeting. In those two seasons, he posted a line of 24-22/4.49 before joining the Twins after losing his rotation spot to Wandy Rodriguez. He started 54 games, appeared 59 times, represented the Pirates at the 2011 All-Star Game and was the Opening Day pitcher that same season. KC worked for three more teams and retired after the 2015 season. 
• 2015 - The Pirates sent CF Keon Broxton and RHP Trey Supak to the Milwaukee Brewers for 1B Jason Rogers. The speedy Broxton was an on-again, off-again major leaguer who finished his playing days in the Mexican League in ‘23. Supak made the Brew Crew’s 40-man roster, then was released after the 2020 season from the Brewers’ alternate camp and joined the Oakland A's organization, then the Cubs. He’s now a free agent. Roger’s path was blocked when the Pirates brought in David Freese. Jason got just 33 PAs and hit .080 for the Bucs that year before being sent to Indy and later released. He played in Japan, Mexico, Australia, Puerto Rico and the indie/affiliated leagues through 2023. 
• 2022 - The Pirates signed C Austin Hedges, 30, to a one-year/$5M contract. He was a second-round draft pick of San Diego in 2011 and a consensus Top 100 Prospect who is now an eight-year vet who's played with the Padres and Indians/Guardians. He has an elite glove with a 75 DRS in the majors but on the other side of the pillow, he owns a lifetime .189 BA/58 OPS+ and hasn't hit .200+ in a season since 2018. He continued the trend, hitting .180 and was traded for future considerations to Texas at the deadline, claiming a ring by joining a club that went on to win the World Series. Hedges became a free agent after the season and signed on for another stint with Cleveland.

12/16: Daniels - Shantz, Todd - Mueller, Santiago Deal, Luke, GI Jones, Pete & Candy Sign, Hot Stove, '02 Rule 5 Losses, Shelty's Staff, Club News; HBD BDLC, Jeff, Rick, Steamboat Bill & Fred

• 1876 - OF Fred Crolius was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He went straight from college to the Boston Beaneaters in 1902 and got into nine games as a Pirate in 1902, batting .263. His pro career was short-lived; the Bucs sent him back down and Fred was banned from the majors in 1906 after a messy contract dispute with Toronto. But he had a Plan B. Fred was also a star halfback for Dartmouth, and in 1901 he played football for the Homestead Library & Athletic Club (the Carnegie Steel squad), then the following season was a halfback on the Pittsburgh Stars, a member of the first National Football League (and suspected of being financed by baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates). Fred also coached college football clubs - in 1899, he was the head coach for the Bowdoin College gridders and in 1902, Crolius was the boss man of the WUP (Western University of Pennsylvania, now Pitt) eleven. He then headed east toward Philly and coached Villanova football from 1904-11 and the Wildcat baseball team from 1905-11. 
• 1886 - LHP William "Steamboat Bill" Otey was born in Dayton, Ohio. He was the ace of the Norfolk Tars of the Virginia League, winning 69 games from 1906-09, but the results didn’t carry over to the bigs. Otey hurled for the Pirates in 1907 (0-1/4.41 in three games) and the Washington Senators in 1910-11, going a combined 1-5/5.01 in 24 games. He finished his career with the Dayton Veterans of the Central League, retiring at age 27 following the 1914 season. We’re uncertain as to the origin of his nickname, but we are willing to venture a guess it was associated with the 1911 hit tune “Steamboat Bill,” later to become a movie. 
• 1938 - The Boston Bees traded catcher Ray Mueller to the Pirates for C Al Todd and OF Johnny Dickshot. Todd had a couple of good seasons left, while Dickshot wouldn’t hit his prime until his last two campaigns in 1944-45 for the White Sox. “Iron Man” Mueller (he picked up his nickname in the early forties after catching 233 consecutive games for the Reds) played 90 games in two years with Pittsburgh as a reserve catcher, hitting .269. Factoid: Mueller was from Pittsburg - Pittsburg, Kansas, a coal mining hub that was named after our fair town. 

Ray Mueller - undated George Burke photo

• 1956 - Coach Rick Sofield was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He was a #1 draft pick and outfielder for the Twins, worked in the minors (he was the Pirates' minor league field coordinator in 2002) and managed in college. Sofield was brought back to the Pirate fold by long-time bud Clint Hurdle, managing at West Virginia for a season before joining the big league staff in 2013. After a barrage of ill-advised windmills at third base and several team basepath gaffes - he also coached the runners - Sofield was released after the 2016 campaign. Rick, at last check, was the skipper of the Hilton Head Prep School nine in South Carolina. 
• 1959 - Joe Brown told Jack Herndon of the Post Gazette that he had tried to swing a deal for a power-hitting outfielder with no luck after making offers for Roger Maris, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew and Rocky Colavito. Brown said all the proposals were straight player deals (the players offered were unnamed), and that the Bucs didn’t sweeten the pot with cash. Of the big boppers he coveted, two were moved - Colavito went from Cleveland to Detroit and Maris from KC to the NYY, while Killebrew and Kaline stayed at home. 
• 1960 - The Bucs sent UT Harry Bright, 1B RC Stevens and RHP Bennie Daniels to the expansion Washington Senators (now the Texas Rangers) for veteran curveballer LHP Bobby Shantz. GM Joe Brown told Post Gazette writer Jack Hernon that “Shantz gives the Pirates the finest bullpen in baseball...along with Roy Face, Clem Labine and Fred Green.” Shantz, 35, lasted a year in Pittsburgh before being lost to the Houston Colt .45s in the 1961 expansion draft. He slashed 6-3-2/3.22 in 43 games with the Pirates and continued to toss fairly effectively afterward, lasting until the end of the 1964 season. Shantz won 24 games in 1952 as a starter for the Philadelphia Athletics and was voted the AL MVP, but arm injuries drove him from the rotation to the bullpen. Daniels was a useful swingman in Washington for several seasons, Bright had one strong campaign in 1962 for the Sens (.273, 17 HR, 67 RBI) before retiring in 1965, while Stevens hit .129 and was released in June, marking the end of his MLB career. 
• 1969 - The Niagara Falls Pirates were granted a franchise in the New York-Penn League. The short season club remained a Bucco farm until 1977, with guys like Dale Berra, Miguel Dilone, Mike Edwards, Al Holland, Omar Moreno, Ed Ott and Rod Scurry passing through. It lasted until 1988 as a Tigers and White Sox affiliate before the team moved to Jamestown. 

Jeff Granger - 1997 Fleer

• 1971 - LHP Jeff Granger was born in San Pedro, California. Granger had a powerful two-sport arm: he was a quarterback for Texas A&M and was also a pretty fair pitcher, breaking Roger Clemens Southwest Conference strikeout record. The first-round pick of KC in 1993 had four fairly quick stops in the majors, spending three years with the Royals (18 appearances) and getting his final nine calls as a Bucco in 1997 (0-1/18.00), walking eight and giving up three long balls in five frames. The Pirates sent him down and he spent the next three seasons struggling in the minor leagues, pitching for five clubs in four organizations and retiring after a stint playing with the indie Long Island Ducks. 
• 1986 - It was good news, bad news for Bucco finances after its first year under the private-public partnership owner model. The good news is that they cut their $9.3M losses in 1985 by a quarter; the bad news was that they still leaked $7M, of which $3M was dead money lost via trades and player releases. Pittsburgh Associates president Mac Prine said “The general consensus is that they (the board members) were very satisfied with the progress made...” 
• 1992 - After burning his bridges with the Bucs in 1985 and being sent to California, John Candelaria signed a free agent deal worth $760K with the team he started out with as a 21-year-old. The reunion didn’t work out very well. It started poorly when he was busted for a DUI while in camp and continued along that path as he was ineffective from the pen during the campaign, slashing 0-3-1/8.24. Candy Man was finally released in July, ending his 19-year MLB career. The lefty finished his 12 years as a Bucco with a line of 124-87-16/3.17/117 ERA+, posting a no-hitter, a 20-win campaign and earning one All-Star berth in Pittsburgh. 
• 1996 - OF Byran De La Cruz was born in Santo Domingo Este, Dominican Republic. He was signed as an international FA in 2013 by Houston, was traded to Miami in 2021 and then dealt to the Pirates in 2024 for Bradenton UT Garrett Forrester and DSL RHP Jun-Seok Shim. In his time in Florida, DLC produced at a .250 BA/20 HR rate as a corner outfielder and although his defensive skills weren’t Golden Glove stuff, he checked the box for a middle-of-the-order bat for the Pirates. He joined the team the day after the trade and was slotted into right field. His audition didn't go well; he hit .200 with three HRs in 44 games and was let go, signing a split contract with the Atlanta Braves.

Pete Schourek - Vincent Laforet/Getty

• 1998 - The Pirates signed free agent LHP Pete Schourek to a two-year/$4M contract after he went 8-9/4.43 for Houston and Boston in hopes that he would replace Jon Lieber in the rotation. He was the Cy Young runner-up to Greg Maddux in 1995 after going 18-7 for the Reds, but various injuries limited his effectiveness, and he never won more than eight games after that breakout ‘95 season. It didn’t get better; he went 4-7/5.34 for the Bucs and was released at the start of the 2000 season, with Pittsburgh eating $2M of his deal. He won four more games for Boston and ended his 11-year MLB career after the 2001 season. 
• 2002 - The Rule 5 Draft took RHP DJ Carrasco (KC), C Ronny Paulino (also by the Royals) and RHP Chris Spurling (Atlanta) from the Pirates, who claimed RHP Matt Roney from the Rox and sold him to the Detroit Tigers on the same day. Carrasco tossed for eight MLB seasons (including a 2010 reunion with the Buccos), Spurling for four campaigns and Paulino was returned to the club in the spring, going on to catch for eight years in the show, the first four with Pittsburgh (2005-08/.278). They also released LHP Jimmy Anderson after failing to trade him. Anderson got 20 more appearances with three different teams in 2003-04 to finish his career. 
• 2004 - The Pirates acquired C Benito Santiago and cash (KC paid all but $750K of the $2.2M due Santiago) from the Royals for RHP Leo Nunez (Juan Oviedo). The 30-year-old Oviedo served a 2012 suspension after pitching for seven seasons because of name fraud; he went by Nunez to make it appear he was younger. Santiago, 40, got in six games before his release and never played again. 
• 2008 - The Pirates signed 1B/OF Garrett Jones as a minor league free agent. The Bucs picked up the 27-year-old after his release from Rochester, Minnesota’s AAA team, and he spent the first half of 2009 at Indy before bursting on the scene. After his July 1st call up, he hit .293 with 21 HR, 10 in the month of July alone, and became the first Buc to hit seven home runs in his first 12 games since Dino Restelli in 1949. Then he finished his Corsair stay with flair in 2013 when he became the second player and first Pirate to hit a homer into the Allegheny River on the fly. Jones was with Pittsburgh for five years (2009-13), batting .256 and whacking exactly 100 long balls before leaving for Miami, then closing out his career in 2015 with the New York Yankees. 

Luke Maile - 2020 photo Archie Campbell/UPI

• 2019 - The Pirates and C Luke Maile agreed to a split, one-year contract worth $900K at the MLB level and $325K for time spent in the minors. Maile was a good glove, bad bat (.198 career BA) backstop who played with both the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays. A frontrunner to break camp with the club, he never got to show his stuff here; finger surgery cost him the 2020 campaign and then he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers as a FA. He spent ‘22 with the Cleveland Guardians, signed with the Cincinnati Reds, and is now again a free agent. 
• 2021 - Derek Shelton officially named his revamped coaching staff: Andy Haines was hired as the hitting coach; he had served in the same capacity for Milwaukee. Mike Rabelo, who had been with the club since 2020, took over as the 3B coach while also serving as the major league field coordinator. Radley Haddad joined the gang as the game planning/strategy coach after spending the last five seasons with the New York Yankees. First base coach Tarrik Brock, bench coach Don Kelly, pitching coach Oscar Marin, assistant hitting coach Christian Marrero, bullpen coach Justin Meccage, coach Glenn Sherlock, bullpen catcher/coaching assistant Jordan Comadena and major league assistants Jeremy Bleich and Tim McKeithan all returned, seeming to leave Shelty with as many aides as players.