11/8: Bay RoY; Starling GG; Greg Goes; HBD Wally, Rex & Bill

• 1870 - RHP Bill Hoffer was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Bill started out on fire, winning 78 games for the Orioles from 1895-97 before the bottom fell out. He worked for Pittsburgh from 1889-90, going 11-10, 3.33, but was near the end of his career, pitching MLB ball again in 1901 as his swan song. He also played some outfield, but put up a measly .186 BA. Bill retired back to Iowa and became an engineer/conductor on the interurban railway between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and was later named to the Des Moines Register Iowa Sports Hall of Fame. 

Wally Westlake 1949 Bowman

• 1920 - OF Wally Westlake was born in Gridley, California. He played 4-1/2 seasons for the Pirates (1947-51) and hit .281 with 97 HR in that span as an everyday player. Wally was an All-Star in 1951, the season he split between the Pirates and Cardinals, and played through the 1956 season. Wally retired and returned to the coast as a labor foreman and dedicated fisherman/hunter. 
• 1937 - PH Rex Johnston was born in Colton, California. Rex was signed for $40K but only played briefly for the Bucs, going hitless in seven at-bats in 1964. In 1960, the former two-sport Southern Cal star played as a kick returner for the Steelers (he was behind John Henry Johnson & Tom “The Bomb” Tracy in the backfield) during the minor league off-season and thus became the only athlete to date who suited up for both the Bucs and the Steelers. Rex retired after the 1966 season and went back home to California to run the family painting business. Johnston factoid: he was teammates with the Phil’s Hall of Fame GM Pat Gillick, who was a lefty pitcher when USC won the 1958 College World Series. 
• 2004 - Jason Bay, who hit .282 with 26 HRs and 82 RBI, became the first Pirate (and Canadian) player to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award. Although he didn't begin his year until May while recovering from shoulder surgery, Jay led all NL rookies with a .550 slugging percentage, 54 extra base hits and 226 total bases. (Johnny Ray won The Sporting News ROY award in 1982). He had a pretty good week; he married his college sweetie Kristen two days before winning the award. 

Jason Bay 2004 Sports Collectibles

• 2016 - Starling Marte became the ninth Pirate to win multiple Golden Gloves as he was selected for his second straight Rawlings GG award. Starling threw out 17 runners - 16 without a relay man - topping his previous best of 16 assists. He’s the first Pirate since Andy Van Slyke (1988-92) and Barry Bonds (1990-92) to win consecutive honors. 
• 2016 - Greg Schiltz, who began his scouting career at Pittsburgh in 2004 and worked his way from amateur bird dog to Northern Regional Supervisor, was hired away by the Phils to become their National Scouting Coordinator; he’s now their Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting.

11/7: No to Cuban; Cordova Deal; '83 FAs; HBD Kris, Todd, Dave, Andy, Stu, Fred, Ed & Only

• 1857 - RHP Ed “The Only” Nolan was born in either Canada or Patterson, New Jersey; no one is quite sure. Nolan was a two fisted drinker who made a brief stop with the Alleghenys in 1883. The following is per the Baseball Reference Bullpen page: He lost the seven games he pitched, and then, after he was fined $10 for something, went on a drinking spree and put it on the team's tab. He was fined $100 and suspended for the rest of the season. One fan even sold a line of shirts featuring Nolan, Buttercup Dickerson and the 1883 Alleghenies as "The Hardest Drinking Team of All Time." There are several theories regarding his nickname. One says it was because he would demand to be the only pitcher employed by the teams on which he played. Others claim it was taken from a burlesque actor named "The Only Leon." The KISS explanation is that "The Only" was a commonly used term during Nolan's time, applied to anyone who excelled at something, and so Nolan took the moniker to feed his ego. In an “all the sinners are saints” twist, bad boy Nolan became a cop after he retired. 

Ed Mensor 1913 (photo Bain News Service/Library of Congress)

• 1885 - SS/OF Ed Mensor was born in Woodville, Oregon. He played three years for Pittsburgh (1912-14) and hit .221 from the bench. Baseball players weren’t exactly noted for politically correctness back in the day; the 5’6” Mensor’s nickname was “The Midget.” Mensor factoid: Ed was the first Jewish switch-hitter in major league history per the Jewish Baseball Museum.
• 1904 - C Fred Carroll died in San Rafael, California at the age of 40 after a heart attack. He was one of the top hitting catchers of his era, with a .284 BA, and had his hand in all the Pittsburgh franchises, playing for the Alleghenys, Burghers and Pirates for seven (1885-91) of his eight big-league years. He was a complete player - he also spent some time in the OF, corner IF and short while stealing 137 bases during his career and even umped a game in ‘87. Fred had nine hits during an 1886 twinbill and was the first Pittsburgh player to hit for the cycle (both as an Allegheny) in 1887. He’ll always be a part of local baseball lore for burying his pet monkey and team mascot under home plate at old Recreation Park before a game. He left baseball early, at age 26, partly because of a sub-par year with the Pirates (he hit .218) and partly because the Sacramento native wanted to return to the west coast. 
• 1910 - 3B Bill Brubaker was born in Cleveland. He played nine years for the Bucs, from 1932-40, and batted .264 as a Pirate, earning most of his starts in 1936-37.(he was super in ‘36, hitting .289 w/101 RBI) After a couple of years in the service, he ended his career in 1943 with the Boston Braves. His grandson, Dennis Rasmussen, also played in the major leagues, putting together a 12-year career as a starting pitcher in the early 80s-to-mid 90s. 

Dick Stuart 1961 Topps

• 1932 - 1B Dick Stuart was born in San Francisco. “Dr. Strangeglove” (the nickname was given to him by Henry Aaron; he also went by “Big Stu”) played in Pittsburgh from 1958-62, hitting .273 with 117 bombs as a Bucco, and was a 1961 All-Star after losing 35 baseballs. The slugger’s inability to field was legendary; he was once hit in the back when Roberto Clemente threw behind a runner, and received an ovation for spearing a hot dog wrapper as it blew past him at Forbes Field. He led the league in errors a record seven years in a row (1958-64), drove a car with the license plate "E3" and his 29 muffs at first base in 1963 remain the MLB record for the position. He said “As long as you drive in more than you let in, you get to play.” Oddly enough, he was the first 1B to record three assists in one inning; go figure. Stu also mashed 66 home runs for the Lincoln club of the Class A Western League in 1956, proving that his glove wasn’t the main reason he got a paycheck. 
• 1966 - OF Andy Tomberlin was born in Monroe, North Carolina. The strong-armed and fleet Tomberlin spent parts of six seasons as a big league bench outfielder after being converted from a pitcher, beginning in Pittsburgh in 1993, where he hit .286. Tomberlin played most of his games in the minor leagues from 1986 through 2000 for eight different organizations. After his playing days, Andy scouted and coached in the minors for the Brewers and White Sox. 
• 1967 - RHP Dave Wainhouse was born in Toronto, Ontario. The Montreal Expos selected Wainhouse with their first-round pick of the 1988 draft, making him the first Canadian-born player picked the first round. He put in seven years as a middle reliever, spending 1996-97 with the Bucs, going 1-1, 6.97 in 42 outings. He now operates a baseball academy and is an assistant baseball coach for Seattle University. 

Todd Ritchie 2000 Upper Deck Victory

• 1971 - RHP Todd Ritchie was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. Ritchie went 35-32/4.29 for the Bucs from 1999-2001, winning 15 games in ‘99. In 2001’s off season, he was traded to the White Sox for Kip Wells, Josh Fogg and Sean Lowe. He signed again with Pittsburgh in 2005, but retired during camp. Todd’s final comeback effort was in 2008 with the Rockies; he lasted through five minor-league starts before leaving the slab for good. 
• 1974 - RHP Kris Benson was born in Kennesaw, Georgia. The first overall selection of the 1996 draft, the Clemson grad pitched for the Pirates from 1999-2004 (missing 2001 after TJ surgery) with a line of 43-49/4.26. His “parking lot sex” and other such antics with wife Anna were sports page fodder throughout his career, culminating in a 2013 divorce. On the other side of the pillow, he and Anna also fronted many charitable causes and raised an estimated $750K in donations during his big league days. 
• 1983 - Dave Parker, Jim Bibby, Kent Tekulve, Richie Hebner, Miguel Dilone and Dave Tomlin became free agents and entered the free agent re-entry draft; only Teke (three years + option/$1M per year) and Tomlin (who spent two years at AAA Hawaii) returned to the Pirates. Parker went to Cincinnati, Bibby to Texas, Hebner to the Cubs and Dilone to Montreal. 

Francisco Cordova 1998 Circa Thunder

• 1997 - The Pirates reached agreement with RHP Francisco Cordova on a three year, $4.1M contract with an option year. Cordova went 11-8. 3.63 with a nine-inning no-hitter during the season. He went 27-32 over the three guaranteed seasons of the deal, but his ERA zoomed each year, from 3.31 to 4.43 to 5.21 as arm troubles limited his effectiveness. After his MLB days, the lefty tossed in his native Mexico from 2002 through 2011. 
• 2005 - Owner Kevin McClatchy denied rumors that the Pirates had been sold to Dallas Maverick owner/Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban. McClatchy told Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette bluntly that “..the team was not for sale.” But the deck was being shuffled: by January 2007, Bob Nutting had taken over as the principal owner of the club.

11/6: Thevenow Deal; Branch Signs; Cobra Talks; Cutch Silver Slugger; HBD Adam, Matt, Don & Candy

• 1930 - SS Dick Bartell was traded by the Pirates to the Philadelphia Phillies for SS Tommy Thevenow and P Claude Willoughby. Thevenow spent six season with the Bucs and hit .251 while Willoughby went 0-2 for Pittsburgh in his final MLB season. Bartell played 14 more seasons and ended up with a .281 lifetime BA. But the seemingly one-sided swap of SS’s worked out OK - Thevenow hurt his leg in 1931, and in 1932 was replaced in the lineup by Hall-of-Famer Arky Vaughan. Tommy Thevenow factoid: he didn't homer in his final 3,347 at-bats, the most consecutive at bats without a home run in MLB history. 

Tommy Thevenow 1933 Goudey

• 1950 - Branch Rickey signed a five-year contract with the Pirates to become the team executive vice president/GM, replacing Roy Hamey. His son, Branch Jr., assumed the post of Pittsburgh's VP and farm system director. Branch laid the groundwork for future success, but the Bucs put together just a 269-501 record (.349) during his tenure as GM. 
• 1953 - LHP John Candelaria was born in New York. The Bucs selected the LaSalle Academy (Brooklyn) star in the second round of the 1972 draft. In 12 years (1975-85, 1993) with the Pirates, his line was 124-87-16/3.17, with a 1-1, 3.91 ERA slash in his four post-season starts. The Candy Man earned one All-Star nod in his 19 year MLB career. 
• 1969 - RHP Don Wengert was born in Sioux City, Iowa. Don had spent 1996-97 full-time with Oakland but had been bouncing back and forth since when the Pirates signed him as a FA in 2001. The 32-year-old got four starts in May, went 0-2, 12.38, and spent the rest of the year back on the farm. That ended his MLB days; he tossed one more year for the Boston system before retiring and returning to Iowa. 

Matt Skrmetta 2000 (Jeff Gross/Getty)

• 1972 - RHP Matt Skrmetta was born in Biloxi, Mississippi. Matt got to toss briefly in the bigs during 2000, first getting into a half-dozen games with the Expos and finishing with eight outings and an 0-2, 9.26 line with Pittsburgh. Matt was a determined hurler: he played for 25 teams, believed to be a record, and 13 organizations, including a couple of seasons in Japan and an indie campaign. He’s now a scout for Softbank in the Japanese League, 
• 1979 - 1B Adam LaRoche was born in Orange County, California. He played for the Bucs from 2007-09, hitting .265 with 58 HR. During his last Pirate season, he got to play with his brother Andy and also became the first player in major league history to lose a home run to video review. 
• 1981 - Dave Anderson of the NY Times wrote that the Bucs and Yankees were discussing a deal for RF Dave Parker with the departure of Reggie Jackson on the horizon. The Pirates originally wanted five pitchers; the Yankees countered with an offer of hurlers Ron Davis and Gene Nelson along with SS Andre Rodgers. There were two sticking points: Pittsburgh wanted lefty Dave Righetti, whom New York considered an untouchable, and the Gotham gang wanted Parker to agree to a playing weight of 210 pounds. No match was made and The Cobra played as a Pirate for two more seasons, then signed as a free agent with the Reds. 

Dave Parker 1981 Topps - No Deal, New York.

• 2014 - CF Andrew McCutchen won his third consecutive NL Silver Slugger award and 2B Neil Walker took home his first. Cutch became the first Pittsburgh outfielder to earn three consecutive Silver Sluggers since Barry Bonds in 1990-92 while Walker was the first Pirate second baseman to earn a Silver Slugger since Johnny Ray in 1983. Cutch and SS Ian Desmond were the only NL repeat winners.

11/5 TRS-PNC Park Era: Manny-for-Chuck, Syd Hired, JR Named, Hot Rod Dies, A-Ram Retires, RRA Fails, Russ, Frankie Honors

• 1976 - The Pirates sent catcher Manny Sanguillen and $100,000 to Oakland to land manager Chuck Tanner. It was the second player-for-skipper deal in MLB history (excluding player/managers), the first being in 1967 when the Mets sent RHP Bill Denehy and cash to the Washington Senators in exchange for manager Gil Hodges. Chuck had a good run in Pittsburgh. During his nine-year tenure, he posted a 711-685 (.509) record and won a World Championship in 1979. 

Manny 1975 SSPC

• 1985 - The Pirates hired Syd Thrift as their GM, replacing Harding Peterson. Syd only lasted until 1988 after a contentious relationship with the owners, but laid the groundwork for the powerhouse early-ninety clubs. Thrift traded for Doug Drabek, Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke and Mike LaValliere, then hired Jim Leyland to stir the pot. 
• 1992 - Rod Scurry, one of the main figures of the infamous Coke trials in Pittsburgh during the eighties, died of a heart attack in Reno, Nevada. He was 36 years old. Scurry pitched for the Bucs from 1980-85, going 17-28-34 with a 3.15 ERA. 
• 1997 - The Regional Renaissance Initiative was soundly defeated at the polls. A funding mechanism for a new stadium, its defeat cast doubts as to whether Kevin McClatchy’s Pirates team could remain in Pittsburgh. Some later political twists and turns eventually led to the selling of the team and the building of PNC Park to save the franchise for the City. 

• 2007 - The Pirates named third base coach John Russell as manager, replacing Jim Tracy. The Bucs' new skipper was the 2006 International League Manager of the Year at Scranton. He never was given much to work with, and in 2010 was fired as the Pirates manager after a 105 loss season and an overall record of 186-299, replaced by Clint Hurdle. 
• 2013 - LHP Francisco Liriano was named the Baseball Writer’s “Comeback Player of the Year,” the second time he took the honor, having earlier won the same recognition from The Sporting News after a 16-8, 3.02 ERA, 9.1K/game campaign. 
• 2014 - C Russ Martin was named the Wilson Major League Defensive Catcher of the Year after losing the Golden Glove award to Yadier Molina the day before. 

A-Ram 2015 (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

• 2015 - 3B Aramis Ramirez retired after 18 years in the show. A-Ram Ramirez, 37, hit .283/.341/.492 with 386 home runs. He made his debut with the Pirates in 1998 and played here for parts of six years before being traded to the Chicago Cubs in a salary dump that still rankles. He returned as a stretch run rental from the Brewers in 2015, hitting .245 with six long balls. Ramirez played his first 17 seasons as a third baseman, never taking the field at another position other than DH, until September; he manned 1B for the Bucs five times in his final go-round.

11/5 Expo Park-Forbes Field Era: Prince Parade; Bagby Joins Up; HBD Gunboat, Lefty, Big Jack, John & Tommy

• 1877 - 3B Tommy Sheehan was born in Sacramento. Tommy played for Pittsburgh from 1906-07 and hit .255. He also spent a year with the New York Giants and Brooklyn Superbas before and after his Bucco stint. He did get to play a lot of ball near home, though - he earned his daily bread with 11 years of minor league ball at Sacramento, Portland, Tacoma, Oakland and Stockton. 

Tommy Sheehan 1925 (Photo Conlon Collection/TSN/Getty)

• 1888 - Umpire John Mullin was born in Pittsburgh. John umped in the NL in 1909, the AL in 1911-12 and the Federal league in 1915, spending most of his arbitrating time in the Western League. John was just as rowdy as the early baseball players he joined on the field. In one of his first major league gigs, two days after he had been called up from the bushes in 1909, he threw out three players during an argument and after they refused to leave, he waited the allotted one-minute of grace time they had and forfeited the game. 
• 1899 - RHP “Big Jack” (he was 6’-3”) Wisner was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jack’s first two major league campaigns consisted of 21 outings for the Bucs from 1919-20 and was solid, going 2-3, 2.70. He got fours years off after that, tossing for Rochester, before getting the call to serve 1925-26 as a NY Giant. Big Jack was sent down during the ‘26 season, worked in the minors through 1929 and hung ‘em up to work as a minor league coach. 
• 1908 - LHP Ralph “Lefty” Birkofer was born in Cincinnati. Lefty worked for the Bucs from 1933-36 and slashed 31-26-2/4.04, splitting time between starting & the pen, then finishing his career in 1937 as a Dodger. 

Lefty Birkofer (photo Harwell Collection/Detroit Public Library)

• 1909 - RHP Harry “Gunboat” Gumbert was born in Elizabeth. Harry tossed for 15 big league seasons (and that’s with missing a year, 1945, in the service), closing out his run in his hometown in 1949-50 (1-4-3, 5.83) before retiring at age 40. Gunboat joined his great-uncles Ad and Billy Gumbert (also pitchers) as Pittsburgh hurlers. During his career, he slashed 143-113/3.68 with 235 starts (94 CGs), 13 shutouts and 48 saves, working 200+ IP in a season five times before transitioning into a reliever. His nickname doesn’t have much of a story behind it; Harry says it came about because a sportswriter thought ”Gunboat Gumbert” sounded good together. 
• 1922 - RHP Jim Bagby Sr. was claimed by the Pirates after being waived by the Indians. Bagby won 31 games for Cleveland in 1920 and 122 games for the Tribe over the last six years, but at age 33 was done. He finished 3-2, 5.24 in 23 appearances for Pittsburgh and retired at the end of the campaign. His son, RHP Jim Bagby Jr., also played for the Pirates in 1947. 

Bob Prince & Nellie King Parade Day 1975 (photo Harry Coughanour/Post-Gazette)

• 1975 - After KDKA fired Pirate announcers Bob Prince and Nellie King days earlier, rival station WEEP organized a downtown parade in their honor that drew thousands of fans and featured both Pirates & City politicos as supporters. While the parade was a success, it didn’t move the station or team off their position. The Gunner wouldn’t broadcast a Bucco game again until 1985, after he had been diagnosed with throat cancer; he died a few days later.

Pirates Notes: Five Weeks Of Stuff

OK, some stuff has happened since the Bucs rocked the Nats on October 1st. Most of it is housecleaning and administrative, but now that the World Series is over - nice job, 'Stros - it's time to team-build for 2018.

People Stuff:

• Pittsburgh free agency: The Pirates held team options with Andrew McCutchen ($14.5M), Chris Stewart ($1.5M) and Wade LeBlanc ($1.25M). The Pirates exercised the option on Cutch and declined those on Stew (backup catcher Elias Diaz is out of minor league options) and Frenchy, who was outrighted to Indy. John Jaso & Joaquin Benoit are also FA's.

The 2018 clock is tickin' on Andrew... (Donruss 2017)

• RHP Drew Hutchison, the return for the Liariano/Reese/Ramirez trade with Toronto, has elected to go the free agent route for 2018. He was joined by a small army of once-upon-a-time Buccos: LHP Tony Watson, Frankie Liriano, Jeff Locke, Zach Duke, Ollie Perez, RHPs Juan Nicasio, Jhan Marinez, Jason Grilli, Joe Blanton, Rob Scahill, Jesse Chavez, Chris Volstad, Bronson Arroyo, Ernesto Frieri, OF Jaff Decker, Rajai Davis C Erik Kratz, 1B Michael Morse, IFs Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez, Steve Lombardozzi, Chase D'Arnaud & Phil Gosselin. Former farmhand Pirates on the market include LHP Joely Rodriguez, RHP Jean Machi and OF Diego Moreno.
• MLB Trade Rumors hot take on who the Pirates may be after: OF'er Jarrod Dyson, thought to be available for two years/$12M. The speedy Dyson served as a part-time center fielder for the Royals for seven seasons before they traded him to the Mariners for Nate Karns in January this year. Just with baserunning and defense, Dyson can be a two-win player, as he was in 111 games for the Mariners this year. He’ll require a platoon partner (career .215/.293/.259 against lefties) but can bring plenty of value to a team as a fourth outfielder or a platoon option at any outfield spot. Let the rumor mills begin...
• Jose Osuna, who got a little work but no game time at third, is supposed to get serious about the position during the offseason. 
• MLB granted RHP Nick Kingham a fourth minor league option, which means the 26-year-old could open the 2018 season at Indy instead of looking at making the club straight out of camp or face clearing waivers.

Nick Kingham gets some breathing room (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

• 3B Coach Joey Cora will not be joining his brother Alex, the new Red Sox skipper, at Boston. However, Indy skipper Andy Barkett will. The Red Sox named Barkett assistant hitting coach on the club's major league staff.
• Tom Prince (bench), Kimera Bartee (1B/OF/running), Cora (3B/infield), Jeff Branson (hitting), Jeff Livesey (ass't hitting), Ray Searage (pitching) & Euclides Rojas (bullpen) all had their contracts extended through 2019 and keep their same roles, as are bullpen catchers Humberto Andrade and Jordan Comadena.
• Cutch is the Pirates nominee for the Hank Aaron Award for offensive excellence. Each league has a winner based on the votes of fans and an ex-player panel. 
• David Freese was nominated for the Rawlings Golden Glove award, as are Nolan Arenado and Anthony Rendon. Arenado, of course, is the prohibitive fav to take the GG.
• OF Jordan Luplow and LHP Steven Brault were chosen as MLB Pipeline's Pirates Prospects of the Year.

It's been a breakout year for J-Lup (photo Positively Pittsburgh)

• The Sporting News announced its All-Star team; not only did no Pirate make the squad, but none even received a vote.
• SS Cole Tucker was removed from the Arizona Fall League roster; his broken hand, tho progressing well, didn't knit together quickly enough to meet the schedule.  He was replaced by Bradenton 2B Mitch Tolman. The team also sent RHPs JT Brubaker & Mitch Keller, LHPs Brandon Waddell & Taylor Hearn, IF Kevin Kramer and OF Logan Hill to Glendale. Keller (2-0, 1.72, 0.77 WHIP) and Kramer (.314, 2 HR) were named to the All-Star team.
• Charlie Morton is the first MLB pitcher to earn wins in seventh games in the LCS & WS in the same year, per @EliasSports. Tony Watson also earned two of LA's three WS wins, tossing six shutout innings in the NLCS & WS after being nicked by Arizona in the NLDS.

Charlie did good (2014 Topps Mini-Gold)

Dates:

• PirateFest will shift from the Convention Center to PNC Park this year. It will be a one-day affair held on Saturday, December 9th. Season-ticket holders get in first, from 9-to-noon with general public entry from noon-6 pm. Good news in one way, though - it's free admission!
•  Teams have to set their 40-man rosters (or reserve lists) for the Rule 5 draft by 11/20. Tenders for all 40-man roster players who are arbitration eligible or still in their pre-arb years must be offered by 12/1. The hot stove league kicks off with the Winter Meetings starting on 12/10 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and concluding with the Rule 5 draft on 12/14.
• The Bucs have announced their camp and regular-season schedules. Spring games begin 2/24 v the Yankees, the Opener is 3/29 at Detroit and the Home Opener will be 4/2 v the Twins.
• Pittsburgh will pick 10th in the amateur draft, which will be held from June 4-6th, 2018. 

Random Stuff:

• The Bucs collected 460,000 pounds of supplies (generators, bottled water, health & hygiene products, etc) and $225K to send to Puerto Rico; they had to get a second plane to get all the stuff there. Bob Nutting, Frank Coonelly, Joey Cora, Francisco Cervelli, Sean Rodriguez, John Candelaria, Omar Moreno and Mike Gonzalez (Cultural Initiatives ass't to GM, not the former LHP) flew along to help distribute the items. In another relief drive, the Clemente Museum, backed by Mayor Bill Peduto, Manny Sanguillen (he also helped in the Pirates effort) and Cervy, also raised $76K and two trailers of goods. The Steelers and Pens each sent $25K to the relief fund.
• The Pirates TV ratings on AT&T SportsNet were down 27% compared to last year, the fifth largest drop in MLB according to Forbes Magazine. This is on top of a drop of 579,449 (23%) in attendance from 2015 (2,498,596) to 2017 (1,919,447). Note to FO - the on-field product matters.

11/4: Russ, Frankie QOs; Vern on Staff; HBD Dick, Chris, John, Logan, Spook, Fiddler & Wee Tommy; More...

• 1877 - 3B/OF “Wee Tommy” Leach was born in French Creek, NY. The 5'6" Leach hit 63 career homers; 49 were inside-the-park, which is still a NL record. Leach joins Willie Stargell, Ralph Kiner and Pedro Alvarez as the only Pirates to lead the league in long balls. During Leach's years in Pittsburgh (1900-12), the Pirates won the NL flag four times and World Series champions once. His 1903 Fall Classic triple is the first World Series hit. Leach is still in the top 100 all-time in stolen bases (361) and runs scored (1,355), and for the Pirates, he's ninth in games played (1,548), at-bats (5,909), runs (1,007) & singles (1,229), sixth in stolen bases (246) and seventh in triples (137). 

The Fiddler 1947 via Mainline Sports

• 1922 - 2B Eddie “The Fiddler” Basinski was born in Buffalo, New York. Eddie was a Mr. Peepers look-alike, thin and with wire-rim glasses, who earned his nickname as a violinist who played for the U of Buffalo Symphony (and he was a good one, becoming concertmaster). He went straight from the sandlots to Brooklyn, mainly as an audition so the Dodgers could determine what minor-league level to start him at, and the sweet-fielding SS ended up in AA after a hot big league start. Eddie put in 13 minor league years mostly in the PCL (he moved to Portland and even, to his later regret, turned down a 1948 call to the Yankees to stay on his beloved West Coast). Aside from parts of two seasons with Brooklyn (Pee Wee Reese blocked him at SS and converted him to 2B) his only other showtime was with Pittsburgh in 1947, where he hit a paltry .199 in 56 games. Eddie’s glove made him a hit - in 1984, he was named to the all-time PCL All-Star team, then inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame in 2006. Beside “The Fiddler,” Basinski was also known as “Bazooka,” a moniker laid on him by Leo Durocher because of his strong arm. 
• 1925 - 2B Forrest “Spook” Jacobs was born in Cheswold, Delaware. Spook spent 17 years in baseball (he wintered in the Cuban, Panamanian and Puerto Rican winter leagues) with three in the majors. His last season in the show was 1956, when the Bucs got him from the KC Athletics and he hit .162 with the Pirates. He was selected into the Cuban and Delaware Sports Hall of Fames, along with a handful of smaller HoFs. His nickname came about because of the “spooky” way he could drop Texas-League bloopers over the infield for hits. 
• 1930 - SS Dick Groat was born in Wilkinsburg. The Swissvale Golden Flash HS star was a two sport ace and was twice named an All-America at Duke in basketball. He was selected as the Helms National Player of the Year in 1952 after averaging 25.2 points per game and played one season in the NBA. But he made a more permanent mark in baseball. As a Bucco bonus baby, he never played in the minors. He was the NL-MVP during the 1960 World Series campaign, and in his Pirate era (1952-62, with two years out for the service), he hit .286 and was a three-time All-Star. A Pitt basketball announcer, in 2011 Groat was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame, becoming the first man ever inducted into both the college basketball and college baseball halls of fame. 

Dick Groat 1957 Topps

• 1959 - Shortly after the highly-rated “$64,000 Question” TV quiz show scandal broke due to the leaking of the quiz answers to the winner, former Pirate Pie Traynor disclosed that he had been asked to participate in the show, but declined because he was told the category for his proposed session would be music. “I don’t know a thing about music. (But) I suppose that wouldn’t have mattered. I would have gotten the answers (from the show),” he explained tongue-in-cheek. 
• 1961 - RHP Logan Easley was born in Salt Lake City. He got into 27 games for the Bucs in 1987 and 1989, posting a 2-1-2, 5.12, line. He came to the Bucs via Gotham: Easley was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 20th round of the 1981 draft and was traded to the Pirates in November of 1986 along with Brian Fisher and Doug Drabek for Pat Clements, Cecilio Guante and Rick Rhoden. Logan, btw, did more than pitch when he went to college. After retiring from baseball, he returned to his alma mater and is part of the geology faculty at the College of Southern Idaho. 
• 1967 - Bucco Cy Young winner Vernon Law was named pitching coach for the Pirates for new manager Larry Shephard. He coached here from 1968-69, then became an assistant at Brigham Young University from 1969 to 1979. Vern also worked in Japan with the Seibu Lions from 1979-81 before managing in the White Sox organization at Denver in the American Association in 1984. 

John Grabow 2009 O-Pee-Chee 

• 1978 - LHP John Grabow was born in Arcadia, California. Grabow, a third round draft pick in 1997, pitched from 2003-09 for the Bucs until traded to the Cubs. In 390 Pirate appearances, he went 20-15-6/4.09. In 2009, Grabow pitched for the US in the World Baseball Classic. His last MLB season was 2011. 
• 1982 - RHP Chris Resop was born in Naples, Florida. Resop tossed for the Pirates from 2010-12 after being claimed off waivers from the Braves and posted a line of 6-8-2, 3.88 in 159 appearances, mainly as the Bucs bullpen bridge guy. He was heavily involved in civic/charity work and was voted the Pirates Roberto Clemente Award honoree in 2012. Chris retired during the 2014 season after eight years of MLB and returned to Naples. 
• 1987 - Padres catcher Benito Santiago was the unanimous selection as the NL Rookie of the Year‚ while Pirate RHP Mike Dunne (13-6, 3.03 ERA) finished second. Santiago closed out his career as a Bucco, playing six games in 2005 before being released. 

Russ Martin Curtis Henderson Sketch Card

• 2014 - C Russell Martin and LHP Francisco Liriano became the first two Pirate free agents ever to be tendered qualifying offers ($15.3M) to retain their services for the upcoming year. Both rejected the offer. Russ signed with Toronto for $82M over five years while Frankie eventually came to terms with the Bucs on a three-year, $39M deal.

11/3: Big Poison; Cy For Law; DC Bets; Aki Arrives; HBD Meow, Homer, Ed, John, Harry & Jim

• 1856 - RHP Jim McCormick was born in Thornliebank, Scotland. He ripped off eight consecutive 20+ win seasons (including years with 45, 40, 36 & 31 wins) before he closed out his career with the Alleghenys in 1887 following a trade with the White Sox that sent George Van Haltren and $2,000 to Chicago. He was sadly over the hill when he got here, posting a 13-23, 4.30 line, the first time in his decade of MLB that his ERA was north of 2.80. He retired after the year at the age of 30. As a rookie for the NL Indianapolis Blues, he became the first native Scot to get into a big league game in 1878. McCormick was one of the forgotten dominators of the deadball era; Baseball Reference compares his career to that of Pittsburgh ace Pud Galvin. 

Jim McCormick 1887 Buchner Gold Coin

• 1866 - RHP Harry Staley was born in Jacksonville, Illinois. Staley pitched in Pittsburgh from 1888-91, tossing for the Alleghenys, Burghers and Pirates. His overall Steel City record was 51-58 with a 3.21 ERA. He was a workmanlike pitcher, and one who knew his way around the batter’s box. On June 1st, 1893, Staley (then a Boston Beaneater) had nine runs batted in, hitting two three-run homers off Louisville’s Billy Rhines. It set a record for most RBIs in a game by a pitcher that stood for over 70 years until equalled by Atlanta Braves pitcher Tony Cloninger in 1966. 
• 1871 - P (no one noted which hand he used) Fred “John” Hayner was born in Janesville, Wisconsin. As a Chicago prepster in 1890, 18-year-old Fred had an in-game tryout with the floundering Pittsburgh Alleghenys, in town to play the Colts at West Side Park. Fred fizzled as he tossed four innings and was lit up for nine runs (six earned) and that was the extent of his big league career. He eventually ended up a sports writer for the Chicago Daily News, and in 1901, along with George Rice, began using the name “Cubs” for the Chicago ball club, supposedly because of the team’s youth. It was officially adopted a few years later and still is the banner. So if you ever want to win a free beer by betting that a Pittsburgh pitcher named the Cubs... 
• 1883 - 3B James “Ed” (middle name Edgar) Lennox was born in Camden, New Jersey. After a four year MLB career, Ed played for the Pittsburgh Rebels from 1914-15, batting .311. While a Rebel in 1914, Lennox hit for the cycle to become the only Federal League player to pull off that feat. He also swatted pinch-hit home runs in consecutive games the same season, a deed that was unmatched until Victor Martinez of the Detroit Tigers repeated it in 2016. 

Homer Summa 1966 James Elder Post Card

• 1898 - OF Homer Summa was born in Gentry, Missouri. He began a 10-year MLB career in 1920 with the Pirates, going 7-for-22 (.318) in 10 games. He later served as a platoon outfielder with a lifetime BA of .302, playing for the Indians before closing out his run with two years in Philadelphia. His parents were a little over optimistic when they named him Homer; he only hit 18 round-trippers during his big league decade. 
• 1917 - RHP Len “Meow” Gilmore was born in Fairview Park, Indiana. Gilmore pitched 11 minor league seasons between 1938-52 for nine teams, going 128–94, 3.66, in 332 pitching outings after starting out at Indiana State Teachers College, now IUP. The Bucs gave him his reward when he got to start the second game of a twinbill against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park on the last day of the 1944 season. Gilmore allowed seven earned runs on 13 hits, with no walks or strikeouts, in eight innings of work, but more importantly, got to add the title of major league pitcher to his resume. Following his days on the slab, Gilmore worked for the Oklahoma City Fire Department, retiring as a captain. Per “Indiana-born MLB Players,” Len got his nickname from a West Coast service station franchise named Gilmore that had a lion as its logo. Somehow its tagline “Roar with Gilmore” morphed into a meow. 
• 1934 - Dizzy Dean‚ with a 30-7 record‚ was selected as the NL MVP, with the Pirates Paul Waner finishing a distant second despite a .362/14/90 slash. It would start a string of three top-eight MVP finishes in four years for Big Poison. 

Vern Law 1960 Fleer

• 1960 - The Deacon, Vern Law, who finished 20-9 with 18 complete games and a 3.08 ERA, was voted the Cy Young Award winner, easily outdistancing runner-up Warren Spahn. 
• 1971 - PA senators Hugh Scott and Richard Schweiker, winners of a bet made on the 1971 Fall Classic between them and Maryland senators Charles Mathias Jr. and J. Glenn Beall, Jr., rode elephants in front of the Capitol as the losers led the pachyderms while toting peanuts for snacks and shovels to clean the street. 
• 2009 - The Pirates sent RHP Jesse Chavez to Tampa Bay for 2B Akinori Iwamura, who at $4.85M became the Pirates highest paid player. Iwamura was gimpy, out of shape and benched in June with a .172 average. Aki was replaced rather handily by Neil Walker, a converted minor league 3B, then released in mid-September. After 10 games with Oakland, he was out of MLB.

11/2: AA Born; Bossman Bobby, Redman Reups, FAs, HBD Frenchy, Scott & Orlando

• 1866 - Utilityman Frank “Frenchy” Genins was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Frank’s biggest workload in a three-year big league career came with the 1895 Pirates. He played all the infield & outfield spots (in fact, he was the only other Bucco to play the OF that year other than the starting trio of Patsy Donovan, Jake Starzel and Mike Smith), hitting .250 in 73 games. Genins may not have dented very many major league lineups, but he played his way through much of the midwest in the minors from 1887-1909, with his latter years spent as a player/manager. 

Frenchy at Sioux City Ars Longa Art Card

• 1881 - The American Association was founded. The initial members were the Brooklyn Atlantics (replaced by the Baltimore Orioles), Cincinnati Red Stockings, Louisville Cardinals, Philadelphia Athletics, Pittsburgh Alleghenys, and St. Louis Brown Stockings. The AA was considered a major league organization, though the Alleghenys bolted to the NL after the 1886 campaign and the league folded after the 1891 season. Denny McKnight, the Alleghenys owner, was elected its first president, with his term running from 1882-85. 
• 1952 - He never played in the Pirate organization, but he sure has some pull in the FO: agent Scott Boras was born in Sacramento. Boras is the rep of Gerrit Cole and Josh Bell among others and was Pedro Alvarez’s man. Fun fact: Boras played four years in the minors as an infielder and was a pretty good slap hitter and OBP guy, even earning a spot on the Florida State League All-Star team before hanging up the spikes due to injury, leading him to law school. 
• 1955 - Bobby Bragan was named the new Bucco field manager‚ replacing Fred Haney. The fiery Bragan didn’t last long, getting the ax in early August of 1957 after compiling a 102-155 record. His spot was taken by Danny Murtaugh, making the first of four Pirates managerial stints. Bobby went on to manage the Cleveland Indians (1958) and Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves (1963-66), compiling an overall 443-478 record. 

Orlando Merced 1993 Stadium Club

• 1966 - OF/1B Orlando Merced was born in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. Merced played from 1990-96 for the Bucs with a .283 BA, coming in second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1991. After a 13-year MLB career, he now he operates the Orlando Merced Baseball Training Center in Kissimmee, FL. 
• 2005 - LHP Mark Redman exercised his $4.95M player option for the 2006 season. Acquired as part of the Jason Kendall deal, he went 5-15/4.90 in 2005 for the Bucs. He didn’t make it to camp, though, as the Bucs swapped him to KC for RHP Jonah Bayliss a month later. 
• 2015 - The Pirate had eight free agents after the season: P Antonio Bastardo, P Joe Blanton, P AJ Burnett, P JA Happ, 1B Corey Hart, UT Sean Rodriguez, 3B Aramis Ramirez and P Joakim Soria. S-Rod was the only one the team re-signed as AJ and A-Rod retired while the others found new homes during the winter. Bastardo had a homecoming when the Pirates traded to get him back at the 2016 deadline. S-Rod left the flock after 2016, but not for long; the Pirates got him back later in the campaign.

11/1: Golden Gloves & HBD to Eddie, Gary, Miguel, Howie, Larry, Ham and Mike

• 1872 - C Mike Hopkins was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He’s one of only eight native Scotsmen to play MLB, and for him it was just for one game. His family crossed the pond and took up residence in Chartiers (now Carnegie); his dad was a miner and Mike became a railroader. He also played semi-pro ball for Chartiers and his neighbor, Honus Wagner, took notice and talked the team into taking him on a road trip in 1902, a year when the Pirates were waltzing away with the pennant. He got into a blowout game at Cincinnati’s Palace of the Fans and went 2-for-2. That was his career; he was married with a child on the way and had a regular day job, so a baseball gig didn’t ring his bell. Mike worked on the RR until the forties, played a little sandlot ball, and raised nine children who gave him and the missus 18 grandchildren and two great-grandkids before he passed away at the age of 79. 

Ham Hyatt 1910 American Caramel

• 1884 - PH Robert Hamilton “Ham” Hyatt was born in Buncombe County, NC. Nominally a 1B/OF but used mainly as a pinch-hitter, Hyatt played for the Bucs from 1910-11, went to the minors for a year and returned from 1912-14, hitting .267 for Pittsburgh. Ham spent a couple of more years in the show and finished off his career with a PCL stint, as he and his wife made their home in her native Washington state. 
• 1907 - LHP Larry French was born in Visalia, California. He started his 14-year career in Pittsburgh (1929-34) and had a line of 87-83/3.50, winning 15 or more games four times as a Pirate. French won 197 games before he hung ‘em up and was an All-Star for the Cubs in 1940. He’s still noted for his 1933 “Soap Game.” With the Bucs up 8-0 in the ninth, French ducked out of the bullpen to get to the hot water first. The pesky Boston Braves tied the game, and French was summoned to the mound with soap still dripping down his face. It didn’t hurt; he tossed 1-⅔ clean innings and got the win in 10 frames. 
• 1934 - OF Howie Goss was born in Wewoka, Oklahoma. Howie spent nine years in the minors before the Bucs called him up in 1962 after he put up a .299/27/100 line in the PCL. In 89 games (25 starts) Goss hit .243. As 1963 camp broke, Goss was traded to the Colt .45s for OF Manny Mota. Goss became Houston's regular CF’er, but hit only .209 in what was his last MLB year. Manny spent six seasons as a Pirate with a .297 BA and went on to become an all-timer as a pinch hitter with LA. 

Howie Goss 1963 Topps

• 1954 - OF Miguel Dilone was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic. He played parts of five seasons for Pittsburgh, from 1974-77 and again in 1983, but mustered just 75 PA and a .145 BA over that span and was used primarily as a pinch runner, finishing with 23 swipes as a Bucco and 267 lifetime steals. Dilone carved out a 12-year MLB career and had a .265 lifetime BA while playing for seven teams. The speedster was know in the Dominican as the "Saeta Cibaeña" (the Cibao Dart; Cibao is the region where Santiago is located) because of his baserunning chops. Sadly, he lost an eye in 2009 after being clipped by a foul ball while he was on the field helping coach young players. 
• 1956 - 1B/OF Gary Redus was born in Tanner, Alabama. He was a minor league phenom who hit .462 while playing 68 games for the Pioneer League Billings Mustangs’ in 1978, setting a record for pro baseball that still stands, across all levels and all leagues. Redus played off the bench for five years (1988-92) with three division winning teams as a Pirate, hitting .255 in 398 Buc games. His biggest day as a Buc was on August 25th, 1989 when he hit for the cycle in a 12–3 victory over the Reds. Redus retired from playing in 1994, coached baseball for six years at Calhoun Community College in Tanner, Alabama, and was an outfield instructor for Pittsburgh and Houston before retiring for good. 
• 1964 - 1B Eddie Williams was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. Williams had put in eight MLB years (and another in Japan) playing baseball’s corners when the Pirates added him to their bench in 1997 in a minor league deal with the Dodgers, and the former first-rounder (1983; fourth overall) hit .247. He got a cup of coffee with San Diego after that and finished his career in Mexico, Korea and the indie leagues. 

Maz & Alley in 1966 (photo via Viellemarde.com)

• 1967 - 2B Bill Mazeroski, RF Roberto Clemente and SS Gene Alley were named to The Sporting News’ 1967 NL Gold Glove Team. It was Maz’s eight GG, Roberto’s seventh and Alley’s second. It would be the last one for the infielders while Clemente still had four more to collect.