12/27: Rich & Ivan Sign, Joe L & Billy Recognized, Hoak Hitched; HBD Brady, Jeff, Craig, Jim T, Bill, Jim D & Ducky

• 1862 - OF William “Ducky” Hemp was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Hemp played a game for Louisville in 1887 and had one more MLB visit in 1890, getting into 29 contests with Pittsburgh and Syracuse. He hit .235 for the National League Alleghenys before finishing out the campaign with the American Association Stars. He got his nickname as a 19-year-old playing for the Wichita Braves, where he was a fan favorite and presumably everything he did was just ducky. 
• 1864 - SS Jim Dee was born in Safe Harbor, a small Lancaster County community in Conestoga Township in the southeastern, Dutch Country part of the state. Not much is known about Jim other than he got a brief 12-game audition with the Alleghenys as a 19-year old in 1884, hitting .125 with more errors (6) than hits (5), and that showing ended his MLB stint. 
• 1864 (or maybe 1869) - RHP Bill Bishop was born in Adamsburg, located in neighboring Westmoreland County near Jeannette. He pitched two seasons (1886-87) for the Alleghenys, going 0-4 in five starts with a 9.21 ERA. There are two different years given for his birthday. We went with 1864 as his DOB; he would have been a peach-fuzzy 16-year-old rookie if he was actually born in 1869, although that age would provide some cover for his pedestrian pitching results. 
• 1912 - RHP Jim Tobin was born in Oakland, California. Tobin spent his first three seasons (1937-39) as a Pirate with a line of 29-24/3.71 before being traded to Boston, where he would spend the majority of his nine-year career. He was double trouble, wielding a strong stick, too; Tobin pinch-hit over 100 times in his major league career with a batting line of .230/.303/.345 in the majors. He totaled 35 doubles, 17 homers and 102 RBI in 796 at-bats in the show. Tobin is the only pitcher in the modern era to hit three home runs in the same game, against the Cubs when he pitched for the Braves in 1942. 

Jim Tobin - 1938 photo/Original News Service

• 1948 - Pirates skipper Billy Meyer was named the winner of the Dapper Dan Club Award, recognizing him as the outstanding local sports figure of the year. He made it a Bucco back-to-back honor, following 1947 winner Ralph Kiner, as he swamped runner-up Danny Murtaugh by a 56-3 tally. Billy was the second Pirate pilot to win the award, behind Frankie Frisch who took home the DD in 1944. He had earlier been named the NL Manager of the Year after steering the Corsairs to an 83-71 mark and a fourth place finish after going 62-92 the previous year. 
• 1952 - SS Craig Reynolds was born in Houston. The Bucs selected him in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1971 draft, signing the Houston HS Player-of-the-Year to a $2M bonus. He played sparingly for the Pirates, hitting .225 in 38 games over 1975-76 and was traded to Seattle for Grant Jackson after Craig was unable to oust Frankie Taveras from the SS job. Craig went on to have a pretty solid career, playing 15 seasons (11 with his hometown Astros) with a .256 BA and earning a pair of All-Star berths while a league-average gloveman at short. 
• 1958 - In his third year on the job, Buc GM Joe L Brown was named The Sporting News’ “Executive of the Year.” Under his hand, the Pirates finished second in the NL after a long run of second division play (the teams’ 84 wins were the most since the 90 victories of 1944) and drew 1,311,000 fans to Forbes Field in 1958, the first time the team cracked the million-fan mark since 1950. 
• 1961 - 3B Don Hoak married Avonmore’s Norma Jean Speranza, better known as pop singer and TV starlet Jill Corey, in a civil ceremony in Common Plea judge Frederick Weir’s chambers, with Mayor Joe Barr as a guest. The Tiger met the singer at a promotional event at Forbes Field and the pair hit it off from there, exchanging “I do’s” 16 months later. 

The Newlyweds - 12/28/1961 Post-Gazette photo

• 1975 - RHP Jeff D’Amico was born in St. Petersburg, Florida. D’Amico was a 1993 first rounder of the Brewers, but after 40 MLB starts missed 1998-99 following shoulder surgery. The Pirates plugged him into the rotation in 2003; he went 9-16/4.77, and his 16 defeats were the most in the majors. His career ended the next season when the Indians released him in June. 
• 1990 - LHP Brady Feigl was born in Severn, Maryland. He was an undrafted FA signed by Atlanta in 2013, then had TJ surgery, pitched in the Texas and San Diego systems before losing a couple of seasons to the Covid shutdown and injury. He spent 2022-23 in Mexico and the affiliated Atlantic League before signing with the Pirates in January, 2024. After a workmanlike job at Indy (7-2-2/3.84), he was called up as an injury replacement in late August. He returned to the Indians and declared for free agency after the season ended. He has the same name as another pitcher (a minor-league guy also with glasses, a red beard, 6’4” & TJ surgery - they‘re almost twins). They’re not related although their career paths have followed similar twists and turns. 
• 2016 - Ivan Nova, 29, officially re-upped with the Pirates. The deal was for three years/$26M (including a $2M signing bonus) with another $2M in performance bonus money available annually. Nova slashed 5-2/3.06 ERA in 11 starts as a Bucco while holding down a back end rotation spot after coming over at the deadline in exchange for minor league OF Tito Polo and LHP Stephen Tarpley, who were sent to the New York Yankees. He didn’t outlast his contract in Pittsburgh, being traded to the White Sox before the 2019 campaign. 
• 2022 - LHP Rich Hill agreed to a one-year/$8M deal with the Bucs, pending his physical (he was officially added to the roster on January 5th; RHP Zach Thompson was DFA’ed). The 18-year vet, who turned 43 in March, posted an 8-7/4.27 slash with Boston in 2022, starting 26 times. He checked off the offseason box for an experienced (he was the oldest MLB player on Opening Day), preferably southpaw hurler to add to the staff, to both fill a hole in the rotation and provide a guy who could drop some knowledge on the youngsters on the current staff. He went 7-10/4.76 in 22 starts as a five-inning starter and was spun off to San Diego in a deadline deal, then was sent to Boston. Dubbed Dick Mountain, Hill is currently on the market as a free agent.