2/21: HBD Ted & Joel, JR's Contract Renewed, Groat to Hoops HoF, First CBA

• 1936 - OF Ted Savage was born in Venice, Illinois. Ted played for eight teams in a nine-year major league career, including a stop in Pittsburgh in 1963, batting just .195. He only ended up with a .233 lifetime BA, but made the most of his post-baseball days. Savage earned a Ph.D. in urban studies from St. Louis University, worked there and then for the Cards as a community relations admin before retiring. He kept his hand in the game afterward as a promoter and fundraiser for baseball’s RBI program.

Ted Savage 1964 Topps

• 1961 - C Joel Skinner was born in La Jolla, California. Joel was Pirates OF Bob Skinner’s son, and the Bucs drafted him in the later rounds of the 1979 draft. Though he only played two years in the Bucco system, he was part of a pair of landmarks. The Pirates lost him in the short-lived free agent compensation draft to the Yankees as the first player ever claimed under that system (oddly enough, it was because the Phillies had signed NY’s Ed Farmer, but the compensation pool was formed by the entire league, not just the team involved.) He also was an interim manager for Cleveland, so he and his dad, a former Phil’s skipper, formed just the second father-son manager team in MLB history (George and Dick Sisler are the other).
• 1968 - Marvin Miller negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in history with the team owners. The agreement ran from January 1st‚ 1968 to December 31st‚ 1969. The minimum MLB player's salary was raised to $10‚000, meal money during the season went up to $15 a day‚ and players got $40 a week for training-camp expenses.
• 2009 - The Pirates picked up manager John Russell’s contract option for the season. The sophomore skipper went 67-95 after taking Jim Tracy’s spot. "JR met or exceeded expectations in his first year as the Pirates' manager," GM Neal Huntington explained in a statement. JR skippered through the 2010 campaign, suffering through a dismal 105 loss year, and was replaced by Clint Hurdle.

John Russell 2010 Topps Heritage

• 2011 - Seven new members of the College Baseball Hall of Fame were announced, including Duke’s Dick Groat, who became the first player ever inducted into both the college basketball (he was a two-time All-America who considered hoops to be his best sport) and baseball halls. Groat won a World Series and MVP while with the Pirates, and in his 26 game NBA career with the Fort Wayne Pistons, he averaged 11.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists before joining the Bucs full-time.

2/21: Bucs Back JR; First CBA; Groat in Hoops HoF

• 1968 - Marvin Miller negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in history with the team owners. The agreement ran from January 1st‚ 1968 to December 31st‚ 1969. The minimum MLB player's salary was raised to $10‚000, meal money during the season went up to $15 a day‚ and players got $40 a week for training-camp expenses.
• 2009 - The Pirates picked up manager John Russell’s contract option for the season. The sophomore skipper went 67-95 after taking Jim Tracy’s spot. "JR met or exceeded expectations in his first year as the Pirates' manager," GM Neal Huntington explained in a statement. JR skippered through the 2010 campaign, suffering through a dismal 105 loss year, and was replaced by Clint Hurdle.

John Russell (photo from Associated Press)

• 2011 - Seven new members of the College Baseball Hall of Fame were announced, including Duke’s Dick Groat, who became the first player ever inducted into both the college basketball (he was a two-time All-America who considered hoops to be his best sport) and baseball halls. Groat won a World Series and MVP while with the Pirates, and in his 26 game NBA career with the Fort Wayne Pistons, he averaged 11.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists before joining the Bucs full-time.

2/21: First CBA signed; Groat Enters HoF - for Hoops!

1968 - Marvin Miller negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in history with the team owners. The agreement runs from January 1‚ 1968 to December 31‚ 1969. The minimum ML player's salary was raised to $10‚000. Meal money during the season went up to $15 a day‚ and players got $40 a week for training-camp expenses.

Marvin Miller - strikes , lockouts, the end of the reserve clause and a fifteen fold increase in player salaries (undated photo Associated Press)

• 2011 - Seven new members of the College Baseball Hall of Fame were announced, including Duke’s Dick Groat, who became the first player ever inducted into both the college basketball (he was a two-time All-America who considered hoops to be his best sport) and baseball halls. Groat won a World Series and MVP while with the Pirates, so imagine what he may have done in the NBA!

Dick Groat excelled at any sport with a round ball!

2/21-22: College HOF, Roy Spencer, Bill Baker, Frankie Zak, Pittsburgh Visits the Prez...

College HOF, Roy Spencer, Bill Baker, Frankie Zak, Pittsburgh Visits the Prez...

• February 21, 2011 - Seven new members of the College Baseball Hall of Fame were announced, including Duke’s Dick Groat, who became the first player ever inducted into both the college basketball (he was a two-time All-America who considered hoops to be his best sport) and baseball halls. Groat won a World Series and MVP while with the Pirates, so imagine what he may have done in the NBA!

 Dick Groat, Blue Devil

• February 22, 1900 - C Roy Spencer was born in Scranton, NC. He played from 1925-27 on two World Series clubs, appearing in the ‘27 Classic. In three years, he hit .307 for Pittsburgh.
• February 22, 1911 - C Bill Baker was born in Paw Creek, NC. The backup played four seasons (1941-43, 1946) with Pittsburgh, missing a couple of years while in the Navy during WW2, and hit .247. Baker went into umpiring after his career, and worked his way up to the NL for a season before his knees finally gave out, an almost unavoidable occupational hazard for an old catcher.
• February 22, 1922 - SS Frankie Zak was born in Passaic, New Jersey. He played three years, all in Pittsburgh (1944-46) as a reserve infielder and pinch runner with a .266 lifetime BA. Even tho he only got 160 bats in 1944, he was named a replacement All-Star. The game was held at Forbes Field, and with the game in Pittsburgh and wartime travel restrictions creating logistic problems, it was thought the NL took the easy road by selecting him (and Zak did hit .300 that season).  
• February 22, 1980 - President Jimmy Carter hosted both the Steelers and Pirates in a single ceremony at the White House to celebrate their respective championship wins in Super Bowl XIV and the 1979 World Series.

This Week In Pirate History

Happy birthdays, bad contracts and odd 'n' ends:

February 20 - Happy birthday to a couple of Bucco stalwarts, All-Star third sacker and Oakland restaurateur Frankie Gustine (1920-1991), and the guy who put relievers on the map, the Baron of the Bullpen ElRoy Face (1928).

February 20, 1999 - The Pirates signed free agent SS Pat Meares to a $1.5M contract. In April, they extended the deal through the 2003 season for $15M. He broke his hand early in 1999, had surgery, and was out of baseball by 2002, having played 240 games for the Bucs and hitting .238.

February 21, 2011 - Seven new members of the College Baseball Hall of Fame were announced, including Duke and Bucco SS Dick Groat, who became the first player ever inducted into both the college basketball and college baseball halls.

February 23 - Happy birthday to early Pirate owner Barney Dreyfuss (1865-1932) and OF Bobby “Bo” Bonilla (1963).

February 23, 1888 - RHP James "Pud" Galvin signed with Pittsburgh for $3,000, including $1,000 in advance. The club offered him $3,500 with no front money, but Galvin needed the grand to carry him through the off season. “Gentleman Jeems” ended up in the Hall of Fame; he was a much better pitcher than financial planner.

February 23, 2000 - The Bucs dealt Al Oliver to the San Diego Padres for OF John Vander Wal‚ and pitchers Jim Sak and Geraldo Padua. Oliver spent a decade with the Bucs putting up a slash of .296/.335/.717, and would play eight more years before retiring.

February 23, 2004 - The Pirates signed free agent OF Raul Mondesi to a $1.15M contract. He left the team in May to fight a lawsuit in his native Dominican Republic, didn’t return, and was released for breach of contract. Mondesi suspiciously signed another deal with the Angels a few days later, but was out of baseball in 2005.

February 24 - Two Pirate greats were born on this date: On the short list of elite shortstops, Hall of Famer Honus Wagner (1874-1955) was born in Chartiers, now a part of Carnegie. And maybe the best Bucco pitcher of all time, RHP Wilbur Cooper (1892-1973), was born in Bearsville, WV. Cooper tossed for 13 years in Pittsburgh, winning 202 games, the most in team history, with a 2.74 ERA. They were teammates for several years toward the end of Wagner’s career and the start of Cooper’s.