- 1867 - C Morgan Murphy was born in East Providence, Rhode Island. Murphy lasted for 11 seasons in the show, mostly as a reserve catcher. He spent five games of that career with Pittsburgh, going 2-for-16 after a trade with the Browns and was released after a month, with Philadelphia claiming him. Murphy was best known as a sign-stealer supreme, and was busted with the Phils in 1900 for running a telegraph wire underground from the third base box to the outfield wall, where he sat with binoculars to watch the catcher. He would then buzz a simple code to the coach who would feel the vibes through his feet. Tricky, but not tricky enough; it was found out during a game when an opponent tripped over a bit of exposed wire while rounding third. Prior to that, Murphy would sit behind an ad sign and reposition one of its letters to tip the batter.
- 1873 - P Harry Jordan was born in Titusville (or maybe Pittsburgh; there’s some disagreement among biographers). Pirates manager Connie Mack pulled him out of the New England League to help his short-handed staff finish the 1894 season and then from the Iron and Oil League the following year, again to plug a pitching gap as the campaign neared the tape. Harry went 1-2/4.15 in his three career MLB starts, not a bad slash for a semi-pro hurler.
- 1880 - C Claude “Admiral” Berry was born in Losantville, Indiana. He had a fairly undistinguished MLB career from 1904-07, playing three years and getting into 21 games. But when the Federal League started in 1914, the 35-year-old was apparently well rested - he signed on with the Pittsburgh Rebels and caught 221 games in the league’s two seasons, batting just .219 but throwing out 214-of-445 would-be base stealers, a 48% CS rate. In 1904, while playing for the Chicago White Sox, Claude became the first major league catcher to wear a protective cup. He also caught Frank Allen’s no-hitter against St. Louis in 1915. The Admiral closed out his career with a couple of years of AA ball. His family said that Berry got his nickname because he was a flashy dresser, with his outfits sporting enough bling to compete with an admiral’s dress uniform.
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| The Admiral - 2010 Tri-Star Obak |
- 1884 - Utilityman Jack Lewis was born in Pittsburgh’s South Side. He had an 18 game audition with the Red Sox in 1911, then got back in the groove with the Filipinos/Rebels of the Federal League, playing five positions and batting .245 from 1913-15 to earn a spot on the Fed All-Star team in 1913 when it was still an indie league. Jack did play a lot of ball in his day; his career in the bushes began in 1901 and he didn’t quit playing until after the 1921 season. He didn’t retire voluntarily, either - he hung ‘em up after being banged up in a car accident.
- 1884 - In the first transaction in franchise history, the Alleghenys sold RHP Bob Barr to the Washington Nationals for $100 after he slashed 6-18/4.38 in his rookie campaign. Bob would pitch four more scattered seasons and win 43 more games, notching 28 of those victories for Rochester in 1890, its only season in the American Association (they were a replacement team during the Player’s League era and were relegated back to minor league status when the PL folded).
- 1887 - Per Wikipedia, the National Colored Base Ball League, the first attempt at a professional Negro League, was organized at a meeting in Baltimore. Eight clubs were represented, including the original Pittsburgh Keystones. The league quickly folded (the Keystones finished 3-4), but set a foundation that would eventually allow the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays to enter the baseball scene. The Keystones went semi-pro, then were revived professionally from 1921-22 to play in the Negro National League. Their home field was Central Park (also known as Keystone Park or Chauncey Street Park), located in the Hill at the corner of Chauncey Street and Humber Way. The park was planned by black architect Louis Bellinger, who would later design Greenlee Field for the Pittsburgh Crawfords.
- 1897 - C Earl Smith was born in Sheridan, Arizona. Smith spent five of his 12 big league years in Pittsburgh from 1924-28, hitting .315 over that span. He was a member of the 1925 World Series-winning club (he hit .350 v Washington) and the 1927 Series team that lost to the Yankees. Smith was suspended briefly in 1925 for brawling with a fan in Boston; not only did it cost him time, but he was laid up briefly afterwards when a second fan clunked him with a chair!
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| Earl Smith - 1928 Exhibits |
- 1901 - C Frank Duncan was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He played for 19 years in the Negro and Latin leagues, mostly with the KC Monarchs. He spent 1932 with both the Homestead Grays (they used seven catchers that year) and Pittsburgh Crawfords (they went through five w/Duncan serving as Josh Gibson’s main backup), batting a combined .242. He retired in 1943 after a stretch of semi-pro ball, lost some time to WW2, then managed for three years, umpired a bit and then settled in to run a Kansas City tavern.
- 1952 - LHP Will McEnaney was born in Springfield, Ohio. After some strong work for the Reds, he failed to impress at his next stop in Montreal and was sent to the Bucs in 1978 for RHP Tim Jones. McEnaney lasted until June, but gave up 11 runs in 8-2/3 IP for a 10.38 ERA and was sent to AAA Columbus. After compiling a 6.24 ERA there, he was released. He was bedeviled by drinking and drug problems after a divorce, the death of his mother, and a serious car wreck at the end of the year. The crash was his final straw; Will straightened up after that and tossed solidly one more year for St. Louis in ‘79 before bowing out of baseball.
- 1975 - LHP Damaso Marte was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He pitched for the Bucs in 2001, coming over from the Yankees for Enrique Wilson and then traded to the White Sox for Matt Guerrier after the season. He returned for 2006-08 after spending four years with Chicago in exchange for Rob Mackowiak. Damaso slashed 7-8-5/3.52 and struck out 200 batters in 186-2/3 IP. In 2008, Marte and Xavier Nady were traded to the Yankees for four prospects: OF José Tábata plus P’s Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, and Daniel McCutchen.
- 1979 - Harvey Haddix filled out Chuck Tanner’s staff when he was named pitching coach to replace Don Osborn, who was in poor health. A couple of players also added their John Doe onto contracts on this day, SS Frank Taveras and RHP Ed Whitson. Neither player made it through the season; they became pieces of the deals that brought Tim Foli and Bill Madlock to Pittsburgh.
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| Frank Taveras - 1979 Topps |
- 1980 - Everyone remembers Lanny Frattare taking over for Milo Hamilton, but not many recollect the Dave Martin era following Milo’s departure, which the team announced on this date. That’s understandable as Martin only lasted a year as Lanny’s broadcast partner despite a resume that included stops with the Expos, A‘s, Indians and Red Sox. Lanny told Dave Finoli for The Pirates Encyclopedia “Dave came to Pittsburgh with a number of misconceptions about the team and market and struggled...” Amen to that observation; it was Martin’s last MLB booth gig after he was replaced by John Sanders.
- 1983 - Coming off a .284/31/101 campaign, the Pirates signed 1B Jason Thompson to a five-year/$5.5M deal with a $400K signing bonus, an option and several incentives from weight to MVP. The deal deferred $200K annually, a contract ploy used by the Bucs in the 80’s that eventually led to cash problems in the form of “dead money” for the club. Thompson never had another big year after the deal; he hit .252 with 47 HR from 1983-85, partially due to bad knees and partially due to a power outage against LHP, and was traded to Montreal.
- 1991 - Happy Valentines Day to Doug Drabek, who won his arb case to the tune of $3.335M, leaving Pittsburgh’s $2.3M counteroffer in the dust. DD became the first $3M awardee in baseball arbitration history and the Pirates highest paid player ever in one fell swoop. He had made $1.1M in 1990, but went 22-6/2.76 to win the Cy Young, and that earned him the bump.
- 1996 - Kevin McClatchy and partners (and he needed to hustle to find one more warm body, as a few days before his offer was finalized, an investor bailed on him at the last minute) was approved by MLB and purchased the Pirates from the Pittsburgh Associates for $90M, with the understanding that a baseball-only stadium be built within five years. McClatchy had entered the fray about 10 months prior to the agreement, jumping in after John Rigas’ bid was rejected by MLB. He made a formal bid in September 1995 that twisted, turned and mutated until it finally passed muster. The sale saved the franchise from being moved out of Pittsburgh by other lurking buyers and greased the wheels for a new ballyard, but proved a mixed competitive blessing under the perpetually cash-strapped McClatchy, who eventually gave way to Bob Nutting.
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| Kevin McClatchy - 1996 AP photo |
- 1996 - In further good news, minutes after Kevin McClatchy was approved to buy the Pirates by MLB, LHP Denny Neagle signed a two-year contract extension after coming off an All-Star season in 1995 (13-8/3.43, 205 IP). He gave up his first free agency season in ‘97 for the security of $5.9M over the next two campaigns. The cash-strapped Pirates then traded him to Atlanta in August, where he worked in three postseasons and earned another All-Star berth.
- 1998 - After guiding the Pirates to a second-place finish in the National League Central Division in 1997, manager Gene Lamont had his contract extended for a year, through the 2000 season. The compensation was undisclosed but guesstimated by the press to be $500,000. After the 2000 campaign, Lamont was let go and replaced at the Bucco helm by Lloyd McClendon.
- 2006 - The Pirates, who had gone three seasons without an advance scout, filled that hole by hiring old fireman Kent Tekulve to fill the role. Teke had no formal dealings with his old club since the 1990 campaign when he worked as a community relations guy before leaving to spend seven years as a Phillies’ announcer and then several more seasons working with the indie Washington Wild Things. But manager Jim Tracy wanted the position manned again and knew Tekulve from Ohio, so the deal fell into place. Teke moved to the TV side in 2008 with a break for a heart transplant in 2014, and remained a talking head until 2017, when he retired in September. But Kent wasn’t gone and forgotten; he was inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame in 2023.
- 2018 - Pitt head baseball coach Joe Jordano was named to the staff of the 2018 Collegiate National Team, as announced by USA Baseball. Jordano was in his 21st season as the Pitt skipper and ranked among the top-25 active winnings Division I coaches. It was a big year for JJ - he also coached his 1,500th game and was inducted into the National Italian Hall of Fame. He resigned after the season with a school-high 588 wins and is now with IMG Academy in Bradenton.
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