11/15: Ben & Clint Hired, Redus Signed, Rene Axed, '22 Shake & Bake, PA-HOF Trio, Branch Makes His Mark, Rigas Bid; HBD Craig, Randy, Gus, MVR & Joe

• 1893 - IF Joe Leonard was born in West Chicago, Illinois (some sources have his b-day on the 14th, sera, sera). Leonard got parts of five MLB seasons in, starting with the Pirates in 1914, batting just .198 that year. He was highly rated as a youngster, although his bat never proved big-league consistent. When Pittsburgh purchased the 19-year-old from the Des Moines Boosters of the Western League for $3,080 in 1913, he became the highest priced minor league player sold to the majors at the time. Joe died while still an active player in May, 1920, at the age of 26 of appendicitis/pneumonia while a member of the Senators; Washington owner Clark Griffith and several teammates were at his bedside when he passed away. 
• 1914 - OF Maurice Van Robays was born in Detroit. Van Robays replaced RF Lloyd Waner late in 1939 and finished third in the NL with 116 RBI and received a smattering of MVP votes the next season. "Bomber" (his nickname after he hit 11 HR in 1940) also had a strong 1941. MVR developed vision problems the following year that required him to wear glasses, and it took him another season to rediscover his batting stroke. Then he missed the war years of 1944-45 while serving with the 1st Infantry Division, and played one last season in Pittsburgh in 1946. Van Robays is credited with naming teammate Truett "Rip" Sewell's famous "eephus" pitch. After seeing it delivered, Van Robays commented that the pitch was eephus, using the Hebrew term for "nothing." 
• 1928 - OF David “Gus” Bell was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He came up with the Pirates, and between 1950-52 hit .270 with 40 homers. He was traded to the Reds after getting into Branch Rickey’s doghouse - Bell wanted his wife and kids with him on road trips and Rickey apparently didn’t like the precedent; he went on to win four All-Star berths with Cincy. He was called "Gus" by a cousin whose favorite player was a catcher, Gus Mancuso, and the name stuck. Family Ties: Gus is Buddy’s father and the grandpa of David and Michael. David Bell hit for the cycle in 2004, joining Gus, who cycled in '51 for the Bucs, to become the only grampa & grandkid duo in MLB history to accomplish that batting feat. 

• 1950 - Branch Rickey was featured in a Willard Mullin cartoon on the front page of The Sporting News for the story “Treasure Island,” shown plotting future Pirate moves on an X-marks-the-spot map. Unfortunately, the Bucs ran aground rebuilding during the Mahatma’s 1950-55 reign, although he is often credited with the minor-league spadework that fed the strong sixties clubs. 
• 1955 - LHP Randy Niemann was born in Scotia, California. Drafted by the Yankees in 1975, the southpaw middle man tossed parts of eight big league seasons. Randy was in Pittsburgh briefly from 1982-83, getting into 28 games and going 1-2-1/6.24. He retired and immediately joined the coaching circuit with the NY Mets, Boston Red Sox and currently the Saint Louis Cardinals, primarily as a pitching mentor who’s taught at every level from Class A to the majors. 
• 1970 - Josh Gibson, Ralph Kiner and Elroy Face were inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, with the presentation ceremonies held at the Penn-Sheraton in Philadelphia. The Museum is based in Franklin Park.
• 1972 - Roberto Clemente won his 12th straight Rawlings Golden Glove award, a string of recognition dating back to 1961. He and “Say Hey” Willie Mays are tied for the most GG’s earned by an outfielder with a dozen apiece. In his 2,433 games career, Roberto handled 5,102 chances with a .973 fielding %, threw out 266 runners and put fear of the Lord into countless others. He was such a versatile fielder that in 1956 he actually subbed at third base for a game and at second for two more. Clemente also played center field 63 times. 
• 1983 - RHP Craig Hansen was born in Glen Cove, New York. A first round draft pick of Boston from St. John’s U, the closer prospect was traded to Pittsburgh as part of the Jason Bay package. He only appeared in five games for the Pirates before being diagnosed with Parsonage-Turner Syndrome, a condition that disrupts nerve signals between muscles. As a result, he lost his fastball and was released by Pittsburgh in 2011. He last tossed MLB briefly in 2012 while in the Mets system; now he’s a trader and real estate developer in New York. 

Craig Hansen - 2008 Topps

• 1988 - The Pirates signed OF/1B Gary Redus as a free agent for two years at $500K per campaign. Redus spent five seasons with the Buccos as a solid contributor to the nineties pennant-winning clubs. He batted .255 during his Pirates time (.279 in 15 NLCS games) and served as a platoon/pinch hit bench bat who saw time at first base, the corner outfield spots, and center in a pinch. 
• 1994 - Mayor Tom Murphy announced that John Rigas, owner of Adelphia Cable, had reached an $85M agreement to buy the Pirates that would keep the team in Pittsburgh. But MLB rejected Rigas' offer to buy the Bucs in June because the bid didn't include enough up-front cash; the suits felt that too much debt assumption was involved (it was good lookin’ out - Adelphia itself went bankrupt in 2002). So the City went to plan B, and Kevin McClatchy’s group ended up with the club in 1996 for $95M before Bob Nutting became the principal owner in 2007. 
• 2010 - Clint Hurdle, former Colorado manager and current Rangers hitting coach, became the Pirates sixth field boss since 1996, replacing John Russell. Clint became the first skipper to guide the team to a playoff spot since Jim Leyland in 1992 when his club earned a wild card berth in 2013 while also snapping a North American major sports record-setting 20-season losing streak, and was in the playoffs for three straight years until the string was snapped in 2016. He held the skipper’s post until the end of the 2019 campaign. Tom Prince managed the last game, and eventually the Pirates hired Derek Shelton for the post. Hurdle is now a minor league mentor for the Colorado Rockies, teaching young players the fundamentals of the game and how to win in both baseball & life. 
• 2017 - The Pirates informed Rene Gayo, their Latin scouting director, that they would not renew his contract in 2018 after an MLB investigation found that he had taken money from a Mexican team while a Bucco birddog. Rene had been in hot water before as part of the Miguel Sano 2009 age and signing controversy. The Latin coordinator since 2004, he brought in players like Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, Elias Diaz and Edgar Santana for the Pirates. 

Ben Cherington - 2019 image MLB Network

• 2019 - Ben Cherington, 45, accepted the Pirates offer to become the new GM, replacing Neil Huntington, and was introduced formally a couple of days later in Pittsburgh. Cherington had worked for Boston and Toronto, and came with a mixed rep in the FA market but a solid record for developing players. On the same day, the Pirates continued with its housecleaning by announcing that ass’t GM Kyle Stark had been let go; he had held the AGM position since 2007. 
• 2022 - The Pirates continued to reshape the roster at the Rule 5 40-man deadline by adding RHPs Mike Burrows & Colin Selby, C Endy Rodriguez and 3B Jared Triolo. To clear space, the Bucs DFA’ed C Tyler Heineman, RHPs Jeremy Beasley & Junior Fernandez and LHP Manny Banuelos. The move left the Pirates with just Rodriguez and Ali Sanchez as rostered catchers and with no left-handed pitchers at all on the 40-man. Among the riskier omissions were C Blake Sabol and 1B Malcom Nunez (Sabol was claimed by the Giants; Nunez was unclaimed). Pittsburgh had seven arb-eligible players at the tender deadline three days later: DH Miguel Andújar, RHP JT Brubaker, 1B Ji-Man Choi, RHP Mitch Keller, IF Kevin Newman, RHP Robert Stephenson, and RHP Duane Underwood Jr. K-Man was traded to the Reds for bridge reliever Dauri Moreto, Andujar agreed to a $1.525M deal and the others were tendered contract offers.