3/15: 9-Man '77 Oakland Trade; Vogey, Heath, Snell, Bibby Sign; Easler, Cookie Deals; '23 Pre-Arbs; Cobra Rumors; HBD Sean, Greg, Steve, Nellie, Whitey, Jimmie, Red & Bill

• 1876 - OF Bill Hallman was born in Philadelphia. He played four MLB seasons, spending two campaigns with the Pirates (1906-07). Bill hit .233 and those years ended his big league days, though he had a long minor league career that spanned from 1894-1914 before he hung up the spikes. Be careful not to confuse him with his uncle Bill Hallman, an infielder who was born in Pittsburgh and played for 14 seasons, mostly with Philadelphia clubs. 
• 1902 - OF Fred “Red” Bennett was born in Atkins, Arkansas. He played in 39 MLB games, 32 of them with the Pirates in 1931, batting .281 for the Buccos. He was part of a lawsuit after the Pirates had offered Wichita Falls, his minor league club, $10,000 for his contract in 1929 only to see it sold to the Cardinals for half the price with Bennett reassigned to the minors. Commissioner Landis voided the deal, his radar set off because St. Louis’ owner, Phil Ball, also owned the Wichita Falls club. The Cards sued Kenesaw Mountain and in April of 1931, lost their case. Red became a Pirate and Landis’ unilateral but foggily defined power granted under “the best interests of the game” clause, cited in the decision, became a powerful weapon in the Commissioner’s Office arsenal. 
• 1910 - OF Jimmie Crutchfield was born in Ardmore, Missouri. He played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1931-36 w/a brief stay with the Homestead Grays in 1932 before returning to the Crawfords, earning three All-Star berths. Per BR Bullpen, James Riley, author and director of the Negro League Museum, wrote that Crutchfield was often compared to Lloyd Waner in skill set for being a small ball expert with speed and defensive skills but not much power. Additionally, they both played center field in Pittsburgh in the same era. He retired in 1945. 
• 1919 - IF Bill “Whitey” Wietelmann was born in Zanesville, Ohio. He played for Boston for eight years before closing out his career with the Bucs in 1947, batting .234, just about his MLB norm, and playing all four spots in the dirt. He came over as part of the lopsided Bob Elliott trade. His post-playing days were spent managing San Diego in the PCL and coaching with the Cincy Reds & San Diego Padres. His nickname was dubbed by his first skipper, Casey Stengel. 

Nellie King - 1957 Topps

• 1928 - Nellie King was born in Shenandoah, near Pottsville. As a righty, he had a four-year (1954-57) MLB career, all spent in Pittsburgh, going 7-5-6/3.58. He later was Bob Prince’s announcing sidekick from 1967-75 on KDKA and moved on to work at Duquesne University as their long-time Sports Information Director. For his last hurrah, Nellie returned to the Pirates' broadcast booth as a guest commentator for the final game at TRS on October 1st, 2000. 
• 1934 - The Pirates sent minor league OF Stan Keyes to the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League to complete a PTBNL/cash deal agreed to in September for IF Cookie Lavagetto. The 21-year-old Lavagetto hit .249 in three Pirates campaigns, never being able to wrestle the starting role from Pep Young. He was sent to Brooklyn in 1937, where he started for five straight seasons and earned four All Star berths before losing four years to the Navy during WW2. He came back to play two final years, finishing with a Dodger BA of .275, and then embarked on a long coaching/managing career. 
• 1977 - IF Phil Garner, P Chris Batton and IF Tommy Helms were traded to the Bucs by Oakland in exchange for Ps Doug Bair, Dave Giusti, Rick Langford & Doc Medich, OF Tony Armas and 1B Mitchell Page with the deal consummated 15 minutes before the inter-league trading deadline closed. "Scrap Iron," a moniker earned because of his hard-nosed approach to the game, was a mainstay of the 1979 World Series infield. But he came at a high price - Armas, Bair, Langford and Medich had solid post-Pirate careers, with just Giusti at the end of his string. And it wasn’t entirely embraced by the players involved - Garner preferred to play second, not third, while Bill Robinson, who wasn’t part of the trade, was miffed at losing his chance to earn an everyday position as he was the default hot corner man in camp while Medich and Giusti both pondered not reporting to the A’s. In the end, everyone came around and life in the big leagues went on. 
• 1978 - The Pirates signed free agent RHP Jim Bibby after he was released from his Indians contract thanks to a Cleveland payment snafu 10 days earlier. Terms weren’t disclosed, but it was believed to be a multi-year deal worth $700 K. The big media debate was whether he’d start or go to the pen; he did both (he spent two years strictly in the rotation and the other three as a swingman) and in his five years, the big righty slashed 50-32-3/3.53. Bibby went 12-4 as part of the 1979 World Series rotation and was an All-Star in 1980. He missed all of 1982 with a shoulder injury that in effect ended his career. He put up a 6.69 ERA in 1983 and was let go; he pitched just eight more times for Texas during the following campaign before hanging up the spikes. 

Mike Easler - 1980 Topps

• 1979 - The Pirates sent minor leaguers George Hill and Martin Rivas along with cash to the Red Sox to get back OF Mike Easler, who had been sold to Boston during the off season. Good thing the FO had a change of heart as Easler ended up a .302 hitter with the Bucs between 1979-83 and was a key bench/platoon player for the 1979 World Series club, also earning an All-Star bid in the shortened 1981 season. The “Hit Man” (so named because of his sweet swing and .293 lifetime BA) went back to Boston after the ‘83 season for pitcher John Tudor. 
• 1982 - RHP Steve Jackson was born in Sumter, South Carolina. The Yankee product via Clemson tossed two MLB seasons, both for the Bucs, in 2009-10 with a 2-4/4.31 slash. In 2011, he tossed in the minors for the LA Dodgers, Cincy Reds and Bucs in his last professional season. 
• 1982 - Charley Feeney of the Post Gazette reported that the Yankees and Expos were talking to the Pirates about a Dave Parker swap. Pittsburgh’s ask from the Bronx Bombers was some front line pitching, and they worked the Expos for a package that featured Terry Francona. Nothing came of the palaver, unfortunately for the Buccos - they held onto The Cobra through 1983, couldn’t re-sign him and lost him for nada to the Reds when he hit free agency. 
• 1993 - OF Greg Allen was born in San Diego. A fifth year player, mostly with Cleveland, he posted a .241 BA over that time. The Yankees DFA’ed him before the 2021-22 lockout began and the Bucs claimed him. He won a starting spot in left field - he played all three outfield positions - then injured his hammy in the week leading up to Opening Day and ended up on the 60-day IL, not returning to action until late July. Allen played some and was waived at the end of the season, rejoining the Yankees.  He was DFA’ed to the Brew Crew in August and is now once again part of the Bronx Bombers' organization.

Greg Allen - 2022 photo Pirates/Bradenton

• 1994 - RHP Sean Poppen was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Harvard product (he graduated with honors with a double Chemistry & Physics/Engineering major) pitched in parts of two seasons for the Twins before being DFA’ed in 2020 and claimed by the Bucs. He started the 2021 campaign in the alternate training camp and was called up in mid-April to replace Michael Feliz, who went on the IL. He was sold mid-season to the Tampa Bay Rays, then joined the Arizona D-Backs and is now in the Seattle Mariners' system. 
• 2008 - Five days after unilaterally renewing his pre-arb contract, the Pirates signed RHP Ian Snell to a three-year deal worth $8M with options for 2011-12. The 26-year old, who was arbitration eligible after the 2009 season, had a 24-26 record after two years in the show. He was dismal in 2008 and was sent to Class AAA at his request. Snell was traded to Seattle in 2009 at the deadline for a boatload of prospects, the best being Ronny Cedeno. Afterward, he pitched for two other organizations (Seattle and LA) in the minors, signed with an indie team, tossed in the Puerto Rican league and retired in 2017. 
• 2022 - The Pirates announced the signing of 1B/DH Daniel Vogelbach, 29, a 2019 All-Star, for one year/$800K and bonuses with a $1.5M option/$200K buyout, and 33-year-old RHP Heath Hembree (one year/$2.125M). Vogey was a low average, power lefty hitter with six years in the show while Hembree had several good years with Boston before hitting a rough patch with Cincinnati and Philadelphia. He couldn’t keep the ball in the park in those hitter-friendly yards, but rallied with the Mets in 2021 to earn a seat in the Bucco bullpen. Vogey kept true to form, hitting .228 with 12 HR before being dealt to the Mets for Colin Holderman. Hembree reverted to form, went to LA in June, to Tampa/Detroit in ‘23 and is now in the Seattle system.The club also placed RHPs Blake Cederlind and Nick Mears on the 60-day IL. Cederlind underwent 2021 Tommy John surgery on his right elbow while Mears’ right elbow was scoped in February to clean out scar tissue. 
• 2023 - The team agreed to 2023 contract terms with the 27 players on their 40-man roster who were pre-arb, with one dissenter: SS Oneil Cruz had his contract renewed for $720 K, the league minimum. Among the Buccos included in this group were P’s Dave Bednar, Roansy Contreras, Wil Crowe & Chase De Jong, OF Jack Suwinski, C Endy Rodriguez and IF Rudolfo Castro.