1/28: Jeff, Julian, Baron Signed; Highpockets, Kiki, Deacon HoF; DD Parker; RIP Chet; HBD Key, Lyle, Chris, Comet, Alf, Bob, Spittin' Bill & Emil

• 1900 - LHP Emil Yde was born in Great Lakes, Illinois. As a rookie in 1924, Yde led the NL in shutouts with four, in winning percentage (.842) with a record of 16–3 and he was a member of the Pirates 1925 World Series championship team, going 17-9 during the season. His career was brief; he pitched four years for the Pirates with a 44-22/3.84 line before the bottom fell out in 1927 (1-3/9.71). He spent 1928 in the minors and was out of MLB after a stint with the Tigers in 1929. Emil tossed in the minors briefly and in 1933 retired to Florida, where he and his family lived, and became a successful realtor. 
• 1908 - RHP “Spittin’ Bill” (guess what his bread and butter pitch was) Doak was born in Pittsburgh. He never pitched for the hometown nine, which was their bad - in 1919, he pitched the Cards to victory over the Pirates at Forbes Field on “Doak Day” before hometown family and friends. The Bucs and MLB can thank Bill for an innovation still in use, the first modern glove. He proposed to Rawlings that a web should be placed between the first finger and thumb to create a natural pocket, and his model was introduced when he pitched against the Pirates in 1920. The Bill Doak glove soon replaced all other mitts and is still considered a classic design. Spittin’ Bill also was key in lobbying MLB to grandfather old spitballers when the leagues decided to ban the wet one. After he retired, he became an amateur coach for HS/Legion ball and a golf pro. 
• 1914 - SS Alf Anderson was born in Gainesville, Georgia, where he was an all-state HS baseball player and a two-sport (baseball/football) athlete for the Georgia Bulldogs. He saw some action in 1941-42 for the Bucs, but lost the next three years to wartime service. He returned for a cup of coffee in 1946, but that was it; he retired after the season. Alf hit .238 as a Bucco. After baseball, Anderson worked for Jefferson Mills HS in Georgia as athletic director/baseball coach and was inducted in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. 

Bob Muncrief - 1948 Post Gazette photo

• 1918 - RHP Bob Muncrief was born in Madill, Oklahoma. He tossed 288 games in the bigs over 12 years, mostly as a St. Louis Brown, with 13 of them tossed for the Pirates during the early part of the 1949 campaign. He went 1-5-2/6.31, and was waived in June to the Cubs. Bob finished the year with them and ended his MLB stint with two appearances in 1951 with the NY Giants. 
• 1927 - OF Carlos “Comet” (the speedster led his MiLB league in stolen bases three times) Bernier was born in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico. He only played one MLB season, hitting .213 for the Pirates in 1953, but he was a minor league dynamo. Carlos played for 16 MiLB seasons, appearing in 2,200 games (mostly in AAA and the PCL, then independent), batting .298 with 2,291 hits and 200 home runs in the bushes with a great eye, whiffing and walking at the same pace. Carlos is de facto the first Pirates black player, beating Curt Roberts to the show by a season. Oddly, he’s not recognized as such by Major League Baseball, likely because he was Puerto Rican rather than American. His tale has a tragic ending: In 1989, at age 62 and homeless, Bernier committed suicide. 
• 1960 - Elroy Face became the Pirates highest paid player when he signed a contract thought to approach $40,000 after an 18-1-10/2.80 All-Star campaign that saw him win 22 straight games. He was worth the geld; he worked 114 IP in 1960 with a 10-8-24/2.90 slash, was an All-Star selection and saved three games in the World Series. As an added bonus, he was a week away from being honored as the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year at the group’s annual ceremony. 
• 1962 - Local boy Bill “Deacon” (he was a quiet soul who even sang in his church choir) McKechnie was selected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. He was inducted on July 22nd. The Wilkinsburg native played for and managed the Pirates, winning the 1925 World Series. McKechnie was the first manager to win World Series titles with two different teams (1925 Pirates and the 1940 Cincinnati Reds; he’s one of 15 to pull off that feat), and is one of only two managers (Dick Williams is the other) to win pennants with three teams, also capturing the NL title in 1928 with the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Bill McKechnie - 1912 Conlon Collection/Detroit Public Library

• 1968 - OF Kiki Cuyler was elected into the Hall of Fame by a unanimous vote of the Special Veterans Committee and was inducted on July 22nd. Kiki spent his first seven MLB seasons (1921-27) in Pittsburgh, hitting .336. Cuyler was traded for a couple of journeymen by the Bucs when he bumped heads with management over a new contract and feuded with manager Donie Bush over batting position and hustle, or lack thereof. Kiki went on to play 11 more post-Pirates years, batting .315 with a 121 OPS+ and playing in two more World Series. 
• 1972 - LHP Chris Peters was born in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. He graduated from Peters Township HS in McMurray, was drafted by the Pirates in 1993 and toiled five years (1996-2000) for the Bucs, going 17-21/4.57 as a long man/spot starter. His career was short circuited by shoulder surgery in 1999, and 2001 was his last season in MLB, with the Expos. Chris still lives and works in the area, coached at Point Park for a spell and has tossed BP for the Bucs at PNC. 
• 1973 - The Hall of Fame Special Veterans Committee selected 1B George Kelly to the Hall of Fame. Highpockets had a very brief stint in Pittsburgh - as a young player in 1917, the NY Giants waived him because of a weak stick. The Bucs picked him up to back up Honus Wagner, who by that time was playing first, but in eight games, Kelly went 2-for-24 and was released; the Giants took him back. Highpockets was a slick fielder who played 16 MLB seasons (11 with NY) who put up a lifetime .297 BA. He was inducted on August 6th. He got his nickname (he was also called Long George) because of his stork-legged 6’4” frame. 
• 1973 - Press sports editor Chet Smith passed away at the age of 74. He attended Dartmouth and moved from their sports staff to the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1916 and later to the Gazette Times. He jumped to the Cleveland Press as a college beat guy, returning to Pittsburgh as the Press’ sports editor in 1931, a post he held until he retired in 1966. He was best known for his “Village Smithy” column. Chet was president of the BBWAA in 1950 and won several awards, including being named the Pennsylvania Sports Writer of the Year. 

Lyle Overbay - 2011 photo Jared Wickerham/Getty

• 1977 - 1B Lyle Overbay was born in Centralia, Washington. Overbay was a 34-year-old, 10-year vet when he signed with the Pirates in late 2010 for $5M, with the team hoping that it had added a little more punch to the lineup. It ended up a forlorn hope - after batting .227 with eight home runs and 37 RBIs in 103 games, he was DFA’ed in August. He played through 2014 before retiring. 
• 1979 - Dave “The Cobra” Parker, a couple of days removed from signing his $5M contract, was feted as the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year at the Hilton ballroom. He was the first Pirate to take home the award since 1971 when Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente and Danny Murtaugh were named co-winners, breaking a football awardee streak of six seasons. The Cobra had a monster year, with a .334/30/117 slash despite breaking his jaw. 
• 1997 - 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes was born in Tomball, Texas. The son of MLB vet Charlie, he was the 32nd pick of the Pirates in 2015. He was picked as the best hot corner gloveman in the minors for three years in a row while steadily improving his batwork. Ke’Bryan, then considered to be the top prospect in the Pirates organization, got the call on August, 2020. He had quite an debut, with a homer double, three runs scored and an RBI, and broke camp as the starter in 2021. Key battled injuries and hit just .257 in 96 games while showing off a spectacular glove. Key played through hip/back injuries in 2022, hitting just .244 but was a Golden Glove finalist. He rallied in ‘23, batting .271 and earning his Golden Glove, ending Nolan Arenado's streak of 10 straight GGs. 
• 2003 - The Pirates began addressing their pitching by signing RHP’s Jeff D'Amico and Julian Tavarez as free agents. D’Amico’s MLB deal was for $750K when he broke camp as the Bucs #5 starter, slashing 9-16/4.77 in 29 starts, leading the NL in losses. He moved on to Cleveland in 2004, got into seven more games and that dropped the curtain on his MLB career. Tavarez signed a minor league deal after shoulder issues as a Marlin. Converted to bullpen duty, he posted a streak of 14-1/3 consecutive scoreless innings and rang up a career-high 11 saves, with a line of 3-3-11/3.66 for the big club. Julian made $750K in the show, and the Pirates gambled that they could hang on to him for the following campaign. They couldn’t - he signed with the Cards and made $4.2M over the next two years. JT pitched well there as St. Louis won back-to-back flags.