1/13: Cole Train - Big Joe; Dickson Dump; Cutch, Craig M, Craig W, Teke, Terry, Arky Sign; '23 Arbs; Kendall Lure; Combine Formed; HBD Heath, Elmer, Kevin, Odell, Jim, Ron, Ben, Spades, Fred, Goat, Hud & Al

• 1865 - RHP Al Krumm was born in Pittsburgh. Al, who had a rep as a pot-stirrer, was ousted from his Lima squad by his teammates in 1888 and came home to work in J&L’s rolling mills. In ‘89, he tossed a game for McKeesport (it was his only outing with them; he couldn’t pitch much as the day games clashed with his steelworker schedule) but he still caught the Alleghenys eye. With Cannonball Morris and Pete Conway injured, they needed pitchers and gave Krumm a shot. He worked his mill shift, took a catnap, and caught a train to NY, getting there three hours before game time. It wasn’t auspicious - the tired hurler walked 10 and gave up two big innings in an 11-7 loss to the Giants. But the contest didn’t nick his confidence any - he vowed to buy a hat for any batter who could work him for a free pass in his next outing. That redemptive game never came, though, as he didn’t get a second start and he went back to his day job at the mill. 
• 1869 - 3B Grant “Jud” (his middle name was Judson) Smith was born in Green Oaks, Michigan. He played off-and-on in the show for four seasons, spending 1896 and 1901 with the Pirates. He hit .268 but only got into 16 games over those two campaigns, though he was a part of the Pirates 1901 championship roster. It was Jud’s destiny to be a minor league depth player; he toiled for 15 years on various farm clubs, batting over .300 several times. 
• 1880 - OF John “Goat” Anderson was born in Cleveland. He only played one MLB year, hitting .206 for the Pirates in 1908. But he was the regular right fielder and led off, with a .343 OBP and good base running skills. It wasn’t the lack of reaching base that did in the 27-year-old rookie; Goat developed arm problems and played his remaining ball in the minors through 1913. His nickname’s origin we can only speculate on, although based on his career line, we can safely eliminate Greatest Of All Time as a suspect. We’d guess it was because Anderson was small (his vitals aren’t listed, but he was compared to 5'4'' Wee Willie Keeler), aggressive both on the bases & in the field, and stubborn to the point of argument with anyone on the field from umpires to his own manager. 
• 1901 - OF Fred Schulte was born in Belvidere, Illinois. He was an 11-year MLB vet, and spent his last two campaigns in Pittsburgh in 1936-37, batting .248 (his lifetime BA was .291) before being released by the club at the age of 36. He managed and coached afterward in the minor leagues until 1946. Fred was also a scout for the Reds, White Sox, Indians, and Braves from 1947-64. 

Fred Schulte - 1936 photo/Conlan Collection

• 1909 - Charles “Spades” Wood was born in Spartanburg SC. The lefty twirled for two years in Pittsburgh, from 1930-31, mostly as a starter, and went 6-9/5.61. He had a little problem with the strike zone, walking 78 in 122 IP while fanning just 56. JC Bradbury of SABR explained his moniker: “Wood earned his nickname from a 13 spades bridge hand he was dealt on a Sunday, which resulted in his expulsion (from his school, Wofford College) - playing bridge on Sunday was not allowed.” 
• 1920 - OF Ben Guintini was born in Los Banos, California. It took him a spell to get to the majors (two years of minor league ball, two years in the Army and two more years on the farm) but in 1946 the Bucs gave him a shot, picking him up in the Rule 5 draft from the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. He went 0-for-3 in two games and was sent back to the bushes, resurfacing for four at-bats with the A’s in 1950. He spent 10 years in the minors, mainly as a PCL player, and was considered quite an entertainer by the fans and even Joe E Brown, who tried to talk him into the movies. Fun fact: In one game when several hometown fans came to see him play, he did handstands on his way to center field to start the game. He was quickly benched by no-fun skipper Lefty O'Doul, per Baseball Reference. Alas, neither baseball nor show biz saved him from an eventual day job - he became a Cadillac salesman after he retired. 
• 1939 - The Pirates announced that SS Arky Vaughan had agreed to a one-year contract worth an estimated $15,000, putting him in the same pay class as Paul Waner. Vaughan, who was two months shy of turning 28, turned in his fifth straight All-Star season (he would run his streak to nine in a row) while batting .322 in 1938 with a .433 OBP; he was also second in fielding percentage. 
• 1940 - C Ron Brand was born in Los Angeles. Brand signed with the Pirates in 1958 as an 18-year-old high school kid and began his big league journey with the Bucs in 1963, hitting .288. After spending all of 1964 in AAA Columbus, Ron was plucked by the Houston Colt .45s in the 1964 Rule 5 draft and put together an off-and-on eight-year run in the show. He managed for three years after putting away the mask, and then took a long hiatus to raise his family. Brand came back in 1994 as a scout for the New York Yankees after tending to the home fires. 

Ron Brand - 1964 Topps

• 1949 - LHP Jim Foor was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Foor was a first round pick of the Tigers (15th overall) in 1967 out of high school. In 1972, he was traded to Pittsburgh by Detroit in a minor deal; the Bucs were looking for some back-end competitors for the rotation. Foor pitched in three games for the Pirates, walking one, striking out one and giving up no earned runs while spending most of the year at AAA Charleston in 1973. After the season, the Bucs shipped him to the Royals for Wayne Simpson. That was the end of his MLB career; after three more years in the minors, he hung up the spikes. 
• 1953 - RHP Odell Jones was born in Tulare, California. Jones had several stints with the Bucs, starting out in 1975, spending a year in the minors and returning from 1977-78, then coming back via trade in 1981. He went 9-12/4.28, splitting his time between the pen and starting. The fastballer last pitched in the show in 1988; his final hurrah was in 1992 when he finished in the Mexican League. 
• 1954 - The Pirates traded workhorse RHP Murry Dickson, a 1953 NL All-Star, to the Phils for RHP Andy “Swede” Hansen, IF Jack "Lucky" Lohrke and $80K. Dickson slashed 52-53-5/3.70 until he retired in 1959, while neither Hansen or Lohre ever suited up for Pittsburgh (or any other MLB club) as both were assigned to the top Bucco farm team, the Hollywood Stars. Dickson was a victim of a Branch Rickey payroll dump; both he and Ralph Kiner (in June, 1953) were traded, trimming $115,000 of Bucco salary. Swede’s moniker was because of his Scandinavian heritage (he was actually a Dane). Lucky came by his nickname honestly; by the time he was 22, he had several close brushes with the Reaper between WW2 combat and a couple of crashes. 
• 1963 - Kevin McClatchy was born in Sacramento, California. McClatchy headed the group that purchased the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996 for $95M and pushed through the construction of PNC Park, keeping the team in Pittsburgh. Bob Nutting replaced him as principal owner after 10 years, and in July of 2007, McClatchy stepped down as CEO of the Pirates, replaced by Frank Coonelly. He’s a director of The McClatchy Company, a newspaper publishing group owned by his family, and stayed local, living in Ligonier. 

Kevin McClatchy - 2001 photo/AP

• 1965 - The Pirates entered into a mutual scouting community with the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers. It was the first time that an MLB-combined scouting collective was formed. 
• 1971 - RHP Elmer Dessens was born in Hermosillo, Mexico. He started out with the Bucs by signing with them in 1993 and then pitching from the bullpen from 1996-98 with a 2-8/6.12 slash. He went to Japan the following year, then came back to toss in the major leagues through the 2010 season, wearing eight different uniforms during a 14-year career. 
• 1977 - The Bucs signed RHP Kent Tekulve and LHP Terry Forster to contracts. Teke’s salary wasn’t disclosed; he was coming off a breakout year with 64 outings (102 IP) and a line of 5-3-9/2.45 while Forster had been held back by injuries in the past two years with the White Sox and would pitch just one year for the Pirates. He signed for $50,000 while going 6-4-1/4.43. 
• 1989 - RHP Heath Hembree was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The righty was a nine-year bullpen vet, mostly with the BoSox, with an 18-12-11/4.19 slash in 331 outings, averaging 10 K per nine innings but also susceptible to the long ball. The Bucs signed him as a FA in mid-March of 2022 to a one year/$2.125M deal to help bolster the relief corps. He didn’t show much, tossing to a 7.19 ERA, was released in June and claimed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hembree spent ‘23 in the Tampa Bay/Detroit systems and is now a free agent. 
• 2004 - Per the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the Padres and Bucs were cooking up a deal that would send C Jason Kendall to San Diego for C Ramon Hernandez and 3B Jeff Cirillo. While SD GM Kevin Towers was a big Kendall fan (this was the fourth different proposal he offered during the off season to get him in the Padre fold), Friar ownership had a late change of heart and killed the proposed swap, leery of taking on the $42M still owed to Kendall over the next four years. Jason was moved to the west coast after the season, but to the Oakland A’s. 

Craig Wilson - 2004 Topps

• 2006 - OF Craig Wilson avoided arbitration by signing a $3.3M contract in what would be his last Bucco season, as he was dealt to the NY Yankees at the 2006 deadline. He played for the Pirates from 2001-06, hitting .268 with 94 HR. He faded with the Yankees, went to the Atlanta Braves the following season and finally was sent to the Chicago White Sox, playing AAA ball for the remainder of 2007 and all of 2008 for the Pirates and Seattle Mariners before retiring. 
• 2010 - OF Craig Monroe inked a one-year/$750K deal with the Bucs. Another in a collection of guys of that era who were on the way out but were given a paid farewell tour by the Bucs FO, Monroe hit .215 with three homers and was released in July, ending his nine-year MLB career. 
• 2018 - The Pirates sent RHP Gerrit Cole to the Astros for a gaggle of youngsters: RHP Joe Musgrove, 3B/1B Colin Moran, RHP Michael Feliz and minor-league OF Jason Martin a day or two after a premature report of a consummated deal between the clubs. The two teams had discussed a Cole deal starting from the 2017 deadline and got back to brass tacks during the winter meetings. The Yankees were considered the early frontrunners in the Cole sweepstakes and reportedly offered either Clint Frazier or Chance Adams as the featured return. Bronx prospects Gleyber Torres, Justus Sheffield, Estevan Florial and Miguel Andujar were all off the table, thwarting the Pirates FO, which had reputedly targeted Andujar or Sheffield. Cole had a great couple of seasons for the ‘Stros before the Yankees got their man two years later. Moran eventually moved to first and was non-tendered after the 2021 campaign - he was in the Seattle system in ‘23 and is an FA now - while Musgrove joined the rotation and was later traded to San Diego. Feliz had been a yo-yo, spinning between Indy and Pittsburgh before being released in ‘21 (he’s currently in Japan), while Martin reached AAA ball and got a taste of the show in 2019-20 before his release; he signed a Korean deal for 2023 (he did well, hitting .283 w/17 HRs & 90 RBI) and is now a free agent. 

Cutch - 2023 Topps Chrome

• 2023 - OF Andrew McCutchen was reported to be in agreement to rejoin the Bucs, which he played for from 2009-17, on a one-year/$5M deal, pending his physical. The deal took a week to become official before Andrew was added to the roster and 3B/OF Miguel Andujar was DFA’ed. It was a highlight reunion (and possibly retirement) tour for the 36-year-old after his five-year hiatus as he needed 52 hits to reach 2,000 and 13 dingers to get to 300. It was touted as a highlight reunion (and possible retirement) tour for the 36-year-old after his five-year hiatus as he needed 52 hits to reach 2,000 and 13 dingers to get to 300 (he got knock #2,000 but a September injury kept him at a frustrating #299 for long balls). It was also touted as a step to transition from rebuilding to competitive status, and Cutch signed up for another Bucco go-around in 2024. 
• 2023 - 1B Ji-Man Choi was the only 2023 arb guy unsigned by the deadline (he lost at his hearing, but still took home $4.65M). Beating the clock were RHPs JT Brubaker, who made a deal for $2.275M, Mitch Keller for $2.4375M, Robert Stephenson for $1.75M and Duane Underwood Jr. for $1.025M. IF/OF/DH Michael Andujar settled earlier for $1.525M. CF Bryan Reynolds was under contract, earning $6.75M (he later signed a long-term deal carrying him through 2030 with a club option for ‘31), while 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes inked an eight-year agreement that locked him in through 2029 w/an option. SS Kevin Newman agreed to a $2.85M contract, then was traded to Cincinnati. The club culled the class after the season when it non-tendered/DFA’ed LHP Manny Bañuelos and C Tyler Heineman.