1/8: Goose HoF; Jose, Frankie Signed; RIP Kitten; HBD Bo, Gene, Ray, Twitch, John & Walker

• 1864 - SS John Gilbert was born in Pottstown, PA. His big league career lasted a day. John played both ends of a doubleheader for the Alleghenys against the Phils on June 23rd, 1890, going 0-for-8 but playing a clean game in the field during the split. His brother Harry was his teammate up the middle, and that twin bill was his only major league time, too. They did make club history as the first bro teammates of the Alleghenys/Pirates franchise. 
• 1915 - C Walker Cooper was born in Atherton, Missouri. Walker had a long and strong 18-year MLB career, starting off with and finishing as a Card with five other clubs in between, and spent 14 games as a Bucco in 1954, going 3-for-15 at age 39. He was released and went to the Cubs. After retiring after the 1957 campaign (he hit .285 as a reserve after leaving Pittsburgh), he explained "it's time to quit when you've got a daughter old enough to marry a teammate" after his girl Sara was wed to 2B Don Blasingame. He spent four years as a minor league skipper and big league coach before he got baseball out of his system. Sibs of a feather: His brother Mort pitched for 11 MLB seasons and won 20+ games for three years in a row before arm injuries befell him. He and Walker were Cardinal teammates; both held out for bigger contracts in 1945 and both were gone before the next season. 
• 1921 - OF Marv “Twitch” Rickert was born in Longbranch, Washington. Marv put together a six-year MLB run (mostly as a fourth outfielder-type, getting into 100+ games three times) with three years lost to the service. He came over to the Pirates in 1950 after being bought from the Boston Braves, went 3-for-20 and was sold to the Chicago White Sox in late May, where he finished out the year and his career. Twitch earned his nickname because he was always full of energy and loved pulling clubhouse and off-the-field shenanigans. Fun fact: Rickert was one of the earliest, if not the first, major-leaguer to use a batting glove when as a Brave he began wearing a golf glove while batting. 

Gene Freese - 1958 Topps

• 1934 - IF Gene Freese was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. Augie went to Wheeling Central HS and West Liberty State College, spending two stints (1955-58, 64-65) and six years with the Bucs. Mostly a reserve with Pittsburgh, he hit .247 as a Pirate, though while between Bucco rosters, he started at third for three years at Cincinnati, hitting 26 homers in 1961 and helping the Reds to their first NL flag in years. After he retired, Freese settled near New Orleans where he ran a sports bar. Freese had a history of issuing nicknames; he claimed to have given Pete Rose his “Charlie Hustle” moniker. Gene had his own alias hung on him in 1955 thanks to Ebbets’ Field PA announcer Tex Ricard, who was noted for confusing names and introduced him in his first MLB game as Augie. Tex had been mischievously misinformed by the Pirates players, inspired by plate umpire Augie Donatelli, that Gene’s name was Augie. 
• 1939 - C Ray Mueller, for whom the Pirates had sent Johnny Dickshot, Al Todd and $30,000 to Boston in December, signed his contract for an undisclosed amount. He was supposed to take over the backstop position for the Pirates, but instead became part of a three-headed platoon with Ray Berres and George Susce. Spud Davis and Al Lopez donned the tools in 1940, and Mueller was optioned to Rochester of the International League after hitting .235 as a Pirate. He would return with a vengeance, though, taking off in 1943 as an ironman catcher for the Reds for the next few campaigns. He did return to Pittsburgh in 1950 as a 38-year-old bench piece for a season. 
• 1968 - Pirates Latino scout Howie Haak signed 19-year-old Dominican SS Frank Taveras to a Pittsburgh contract, sealed by a $3,500 bonus. Frank debuted in 1971, but mostly tread water in the minors through 1973. In 1974, he took over the shortstop job full time from Dal Maxvill & Gene Alley, and started at the position until 1979, when he was traded to the Mets for Tim Foli. Taveras hit .253 as a Bucco and stole 206 sacks, with a league-leading 70 swipes in 1977. 
• 1969 - RHP Brian Boehringer was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The reliever closed out his 10 year MLB career in Pittsburgh between 2002-04, with a Bucco record of 10-9-1, 4.36 ERA. He had a sharp 2002 season, making 70 appearances and pitching to a 3.39 ERA, but couldn’t keep up the pace during his final two campaigns. 

Harvey Haddix - 2014 Panini Golden Age

• 1994 - LHP Harvey “The Kitten” Haddix passed away in Springfield, Ohio, at the age of 68 from emphysema; he had been a heavy smoker. The Kitten - he was Harry “The Cat” Brecheen’s protege at St Louis - tossed from 1958-63 for the Pirates, winning two WS games in 1960 and tossing what many consider the best game ever, going 12 perfect innings in 1959 against the Braves before losing 1-0 in the 13th. He helped himself on the field with his mitt, earning three Golden Gloves. After retiring following the 1965 campaign, Harvey served as the major league pitching coach of the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Pirates. 
• 2007 - The Pirates brought back utility man Jose Hernandez, who they had sold to the Phillies late in the 2006 campaign after he had hit .267 for the Buccos. Jose’s homecoming didn’t have a storybook ending as he was a late cut in camp and played for Indy, marking the end of his MLB career. 
• 2008 - In his ninth year on the BBWAA's ballot, Rich “Goose” Gossage was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame. During Goose's 22-year career, he compiled a 124-107 record, saved 310 games, and posted a 3.01 ERA. He spent 1977 as a Pirate, going 11-9-26 with a 1.62 ERA and 151 K in 133 IP. Goose was inducted on July 27th.

News & Notes: Guys Find New Landing Spots, ZiPS et al, De Jong Signed

 The happenings:

• Dan Szymborski of Fangraphs has released his Bucco ZiPS projections; Ke'Bryan, Big Joe and Fraze are pretty much it by his reckoning. And the latter two are rumored to be on the block...

ZiPS 2021 Fangraphs graphic

• The Pirates signed free agent RHP Chase De Jong, 27, to a minor league deal. He tossed 15 MLB games (10 starts) in four years for the Mariners, Twins and 'Stros with a 1-5/7.12 slash, and is seen as a depth acquisition for the Bucs.
• Guess what team is ranked #30 in MLB.com's first Power Ratings for 2021? On the brighter side, MLB Pipeline expects LHP Cody Bolton to debut this season.
• The Minnesota Twins have signed utilityman JT Riddle to a minor league deal with an invitation to camp. JT hit .149 in 23 games for the Bucs last year.
• The Brewers signed INF/OF Pablo Reyes to a minor league contract with an invitation to camp. The utility guy hit .229 as a Buc from 2018-19 while plating six different positions. He played in the Dominican League last year.

Pablo Reyes - 2018 photo Pirates

• Hey, he found a job: The Detroit Tigers have signed LHP Miguel Del Pozo to a minor league contract. He gave up seven runs in 3-2/3 IP for the Bucs last year.
• OF Socrates Brito, who signed with the Bucs last year and then opted out of the season from Altoona in September when his brother died of Covid, agreed to a minor league deal with the Yankees.
  

1/7: Jack Signs; Kevin Cashes Out; Bucs Yuk At Pens; Pitching Camp; TV Tuning; HBD Ducky, Ted, Jim, Al, Bud, Kitty & Red

• 1875 - 1B William “Kitty” Bransfield was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He played four seasons for Pittsburgh (1901-04), batting .271, and started for the 1903 Pirate team that played in the first recognized World Series, losing to the Boston Americans. He was active through the 1911 season and then spent time as a minor league umpire, Cubs scout and briefly as a farm team manager. Per David Anderson of the SABR Biography Project, “His original nickname was "Kid," but a reporter with bad hearing (mis)heard it as "Kitty" and the name stuck.” 
• 1889 - C Leo “Red” Murphy was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. Leo only spent one year in the majors when he was George Gibson’s 1915 back-up in Pittsburgh. He batted .098 and spent the next five years in the minors. But it did lead him on to bigger and better things - Red managed the Racine Belles of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (the inspiration for the “A League of Their Own” movie) for five years, winning the AAGPBL title in 1946. 

Al Todd - 1938 Conlon Collection/TSN/Getty

• 1902 - C Al Todd was born in Troy, NY. Todd spent from 1936-38 as a Pirate after coming over in a deal with the Phillies. He started the last two seasons, compiling a .282 BA during that span before being traded to the Boston Bees. He hung up the spikes at age 39 after the 1943 season and worked as a minor league manager and scout for several years after his playing career ended. 
• 1902 - C Cliff “Bud” Knox was born in Coalville, Iowa. The 22-year-old broke in in 1924, catching six games for the Bucs, going 4-for-18, and that was his MLB career. Bud played 16 minor league seasons, batting .302, and was a farm manager from 1935-38. He coached semi-pro ball and college hoops/football when called upon. Knox stayed in sports for a long time - the four-sport star from Des Moines College officiated football and baseball games at the prep/college level for over 30 years, calling NAIA championship games in hoops and being on Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl ref crews. Nickname note: He was also known as “Hard Knox” in the minors after he broke bones in consecutive seasons. 
• 1921 - OF Ted Beard was born in Woodsboro, Maryland. He played for the Pirates as a reserve outfielder from 1948-52, batting .203, after losing three years to WW2 as a medic. A top prospect, Ted had speed and showed some occasional flashes of power (he became the second player, after Babe Ruth, to clear the RF roof at Forbes Field), but was fated to become a AAAA player. He had great success playing for the Hollywood Stars & San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League and later Indianapolis through the fifties and into the early sixties. 
• 1924 - OF Jim Pendleton was born in St. Charles, Missouri. The utility man played sparingly for Pittsburgh from 1957-58, batting .306 in 49 games. He was one of the early Negro League players to reach the majors, having gotten his pro baseball start in 1948 with the Chicago American Giants. Sent to the minors in ‘58, he came back with the Reds and later the Colt .45s to carve out an eight-year career in the show. 

Jim Pendleton - 1957 Topps

• 1935 - IF Dick “Ducky” (it was actually his dad’s nickname that followed Dickie around) Schofield was born in Springfield, Illinois. He played eight (1958-65) of his 19 big league years with the Pirates and took over for an injured Dick Groat during the 1960 title stretch run, hitting .333 to help the Bucs take the NL pennant without missing a beat. Schofield was a regular infielder from 1963-65, but his BA (.248 as a Pirate, .227 overall) limited him to a backup role through most of his career. His son Dick continued the legacy, playing for 14 big league seasons while grandson Jayson Werth has put in 15 campaigns. 
• 1997 - Fox Sports and the Pirates reworked their TV deal to extend through 2000. Over the course of the agreement, games televised would increase from 85/season to 100 and payments from $3.8M up to $4.5M in 2000; the 1996 deal had covered 75 games and $2.75M in payments. Some booth shuffling was also involved - Greg Brown became the TV play-by-play man while Lanny Frattare was relegated to radio only, with Bob Walk and Steve Blass alternating between radio and TV as color/analytic sidekicks. All four were inked to multi-year deals. 
• 2001 - Under the regime of manager Lloyd McClendon and pitching coach Spin Williams, the Pirates held a voluntary week-long pitching mini-camp in Bradenton for the first time in club history. The staff had put together a 4.94 ERA in 2000, the clubs’ highest since 1953, and Williams said he wanted to get a jump on evaluating his charges’ physical shape, working on the fundamentals before training camp and pounding his philosophy of “Get quick outs.” Only three hurlers of the 20 invited didn’t attend - Kris Benson and Jason Schmidt (who was rehabbing an arm injury and wouldn’t get into a game until mid-May) were about to become fathers and vet Terry Mulholland begged off because of personal business. Their absence and the camp in general didn’t matter much; the team posted a 5.05 ERA in 2001. 
• 2004 - Pittsburgh pro teams usually get along well, but the Bucs were being a little bit catty (OK, mean) when they ran a season-ticket spot that had Lanny Frattare say something to the effect of “Cheer up, Penguin fans - baseball season is just three months away.” The Pens were not amused by the shade, even though they were going through a miserable season that featured a 17-game losing streak; after all, the Buccos had racked up an 11-season losing spell themselves. The Pirates pulled the radio ad on this date, apologized to the Penguins and both teams have played nicely in their community sandbox ever since. 

Jack Wilson - 2005 Fleer Showcase

• 2005 - SS Jack Wilson inked a two-year/$8M contract ($3.5M - 2005, $4.5M - 2007; $200K in potential awards bonus money both years) to avoid arbitration. He was coming off an All-Star year when he hit .308. Jack would go on to sign a three-year extension w/an option in the following off-season, putting him under team control up until 2010. 
• 2009 - Cashing in his last shares in the Pirates, Kevin McClatchy ended his 13-year relationship with the team. Always undercapitalized, he still managed to keep the financially floundering Buccos in Pittsburgh by coming up with investors to cover the $90-95M needed to buy the franchise. Bob Nutting became the majority stockholder in 2007 and ushered in the Frank Coonelly/Neal Huntington era when the season ended. They were replaced by Ben Cherington and company in 2019.

1/6: Batter's Eye Opens; Jack, Neftali, Chris, Rocky Sign; HBD Jimmy, Brian, Doe, Lee, Phil, George & Chuck

• 1903 - RHP George Grant was born in East Tallahassee, Georgia. He tossed for seven big league seasons, closing out his career in 1931 as a Pirate with a 0-0/7.41 line in 11 games. He was sent to Buffalo and then closed out his 10-year pro ball stint when he was 29 after spending the 1932 campaign with Fort Worth. 
• 1914 - The first version of the “batter’s eye” in ballparks was mandated by baseball. Every park was required to have a plain, dark green center field wall (early ballyards had their fences plastered with colorful ads) so the hitters could pick up the ball out of the pitcher’s hand per Today In Baseball History. 
• 1915 - OF/3B Chuck Workman was born in Leeton, Missouri. Chuck had a six-year career, starting in 1944-45 with the Braves. The Pirates traded OF Johnny Barrett for him in June of 1946 and Workman finished his showtime with the Pirates that summer, hitting .221 in 58 games. Chuck soldiered on in the minors afterward, retiring after 15 pro seasons in 1951 with Atlanta of the Southern Association. 
• 1916 - C Phil Masi was born in Chicago. He spent 48 games of his 14-year career in Pittsburgh, arriving via a June 1949 deal with the Braves. Phil hit .278, then was sold to the White Sox, where he closed his career in his hometown after three more campaigns. Masi began his MLB career with Boston, where he spent the first 11 years of his stint while earning four All-Star spots as a steady hitter and strong defensive player. 

Phil Masi getting some tips from coach Goldie Holt - 1949 photo UPI Teleport

• 1933 - OF Lee Walls was born in San Diego. He played three years and all three outfield positions for Pittsburgh (1952, 1956-57) while putting up a .259 BA before being traded to the Cubs in May of 1957. Walls was a Cub starter for three years, earning an All-Star berth in 1958, then spent the back end of his career as a bench player. He later coached for Oakland and the NYY while also spending time as a minor league manager. 
• 1955 - 1B Dorian “Doe” Boyland was born in Chicago. Boyland was drafted in the second round of the 1976 draft but would play in just 21 games with the Pirates in parts of 1978, 1979, & 1981, batting .105 and blocked at first base by Willie Stargell. Boyland was traded to the San Francisco Giants and never resurfaced in the show. He still made it big, though, in a different endeavor - at last look, his Dorian Boyland Auto Group had dealerships thriving in several western states. 
• 1960 - After a good year in 1959 (he hit .291, and he and his wife adopted a son), 1B Rocky Nelson added the cherry on top by signing his Pirates contract for 1960. The salary was undisclosed, although the media guesstimated it was in the $15,000 range. Platooning with Dick Stuart, as he did in 1959, he had an even better campaign, batting .300 and winning a World Series ring. But old man time caught up to the Rock in 1961. That year was his swan song as the 36-year-old batted just .197 and was released. He played one more year in the minors, then retired to become a painter (homes, not canvases) to pay the bills. 
• 1982 - RHP Brian Bass was born in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Bass spent parts of three seasons in the show, closing out with four 2010 appearances with the Pirates. He was a wild child, giving up 10 walks to go with nine hits in 7-1/3 IP, allowing 11 runs (10 earned), and was DFA’ed in mid-September. Brian signed on with the Phils and Astros after that campaign (he had gone 4-4/3.26 as a starter in AAA) and ended his baseball days with a season in Korea and another in the indie leagues. 

Jimmy Barthmaier - camp photo Rob Tringali/Getty

• 1984 - RHP Jimmy Barthmaier was born in Atlanta. A waiver claim from Houston, Jimmy got his only taste of MLB in 2008 for the Bucs, going 0-2/10.45 in three starts. Still, he opened the next year as the Pirates #12 prospect, but required TJ surgery in 2009 and never came back; he last played in the 2012 season as a member of the Nats system. 
• 2004 - The Pirates signed 31-year-old, eight-year vet Chris Stynes to a $750K deal. The Bucs were trying to plug a hole at third base, and Stynes unfortunately wasn’t the answer. He hit .216 in 74 games and was released in August. It was his last major league gig. 
• 2005 - SS Jack Wilson avoided arbitration and signed a two-year/$8M contract ($3.4M - 2005; $4.6M - 2006), a nice jump over the $1.85M salary he had pocketed in 2004. He earned it by breaking out in ‘04: Wilson was an All Star after he sailed past his offensive doldrums (.246 BA from 2001-03) with a .308 campaign and was one of eight MLB players to collect over 200 hits. He remained with the Bucs until the FO broke up the club during the Neal Huntington takeover and Jack was moved to Seattle in a 2009 deadline deal. 
• 2016 - Free agent RHP Neftali Feliz signed a one year/$3.9M deal plus incentives with the Bucs. He had suffered through a terrible 2015 season, but the Pirates bet on past performance as a closer and recovery from a variety of injuries, including TJ surgery, by adding Feliz to the pen. Neftali bounced back and put up a solid 4-2-2/3.52 slash with 61 K in 53-⅔ IP and 1.137 WHIP. He split 2017 between the Brewers and Royals, spent 2018 as a D-Back farmhand and then was with the Seattle organization. Neftali just signed a minor league contract with the Phils for 2021.

1/5 Through the 1960’s: Brown Bought; Can We Agree On A Ball...; HBD JR, Danny, Roger, Jack, Newt & Bobs

• 1880 - 1B Fred “Newt” Hunter was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. Hunter spent from 1903-18 in the minors, getting his MLB call in 1911 when he was one of six players who spent time at first base in 1911 along with John Flynn, Honus Wagner, Bill McKechnie, Mickey Keliher and Bill Keen. He did OK, hitting .254 in 65 games, but was let go and replaced by Doggie Miller in 1912. After retiring (he played 17 years on the farm for 17 teams), he spent time as a Cardinal coach in 1920, and except for a brief 1924 minor-league comeback that lasted six games, was done with baseball. 
• 1894 - LHP Bob Steele was born in Cassburn, Ontario. Steele worked parts of four campaigns in the show, suiting up for Pittsburgh in the second half of 1917 after a deal with the Cards for 3B Doug Baird continuing through the first half of 1918. He did fairly well without flashy results, going 7-14-2/2.87 as a starter who occasionally worked from the pen. Bob was sold to the Giants later in the 1918 campaign and tossed his last MLB season for them in 1919, retiring after finishing out the year with Indianapolis of the American Association. 

Bob Steele w/Moose Jaw in 1913

• 1914 - RHP Jack Salveson was born in Fullerton, California. He worked for five MLB campaigns, including five 1935 outings for the Pirates with an 0-1, 9.00 line. Jack was known as a quick worker, once pitching a game in 65 minutes, and was a long-time PCL hurler who tossed for 22 years in the minors. Show biz fact: He got a small part in the movie “Pride of the Yankees” and got to bop Lou Gehrig (played by Gary Cooper) in the noggin as a Tinseltown tosser. 
• 1928 - C Bob Oldis was born in Preston, Iowa. Oldis was a third string catcher for the Bucs between 1960-61, getting into 26 games and batting .160 as a Pirate. Though seldom used, Oldis appeared in Games 4 and 5 of the 1960 World Series as a late-inning defensive replacement. After his seven-year MLB career ended, he was a coach/scout for the Phillies, Twins, and Expos. He’s been with the Marlins organization since 2002. 
• 1934 - The leagues still can’t agree on the DH, didn’t play inter-league games until 1997 and didn’t pool umpires until 2000, but they did agree on a common baseball for the first time on this day. The NL adopted the AL horsehide, which had a thinner cover and less prominent seams. The switch was supposed to both juice up the NL attack and make inter-league performance comparisons more equivalent (the NL was considered more of a pitcher's league because of the less lively ball and the higher, pitcher-friendly seams). Pirates manager George Gibson told Volney Walsh of the Pittsburgh Press that “If the lively ball helps anyone it should help us some for we had the hardest hitting team in the league last year.” It didn't quite work out that way. The Bucs led the NL with a .383 slugging % in '33, and though they came in second in '34, their average fell to .344 as they pounded a paltry 52 homers. Business of baseball trivia: The AJ Reach Company, the AL’s vendor, was contracted to manufacture the balls, but it was bought by Spalding, its chief rival in the business, which then produced the MLB balls until 1977 when Rawlings became the supplier. 
• 1946 - The Pirates forked over $30,000 to the Cards for infielder Jimmy Brown. Brown had been an All-Star in 1942, but played an abbreviated season in ‘43 before joining the Army Air Corp. He came back for the Bucs as a 36-year-old, hit .241 in 79 games and called it a career after spending the following two seasons in the minors. Afterward, he managed in the Pittsburgh system for a couple of years and then coached with the Braves for three more campaigns. 
• 1961 - Manager John Russell was born in Oklahoma City. While with the Rangers, he caught Nolan Ryan's sixth career no-hitter in 1990. He ended his 10-year career with a .225 batting average, 34 home runs and 129 RBI in 448 games. After hanging up the spikes, he made several coaching stops and managed the Bucs from 2008-10 during some dark seasons, with a record of 186-299. It wasn’t his first gig in Pittsburgh; JR had been Lloyd McClendon’s third base coach from 2003-05. He was the Baltimore Orioles bench coach from 2011-18 and is now an IMG Sports Academy director in Bradenton. 

John Russell - photo Associated Press

• 1961 - LHP Roger Samuels was born in San Jose, California. He had a 20-game MLB career, tossing five of those contests in 1989 as a Bucco with no decisions and a 9.82 ERA. The 28-year-old started 1990 at AAA Buffalo, then the Pirates sent him to the Mets, where he pitched for AAA Tidewater and then retired. 
• 1962 - LHP Danny Jackson was born in San Diego. The Pirates got him in mid-July for the stretch run of the 1992 division race, and the lefty went 4-4/3.36 ERA as the club won the NL East but lost the NL playoff to Atlanta in seven games. After the season, he was lost in the expansion draft. Jackson had a 15-year career with seven teams, appearing in three World Series and two All-Star games.

1/5 From 1970: Bert HoF; Esteban, Ravello, Varsho Sign; Staff Adds; Gravedigger Goes; RIP Phil; HBD Mark & Danny

• 1974 - LHP Mark Redman was born in San Diego. He was part of the return from the Jason Kendall trade with Oakland, but in his one year (2005) with the Pirates, he went 5-15/4.90, the worst counting numbers season of his career. That prompted an off season deal with the Royals. He rallied there, earning a spot on the 2006 All-Star team, but that was his last hurrah. He made 17 more starts over two campaigns post-AS and retired after the 2008 season, after playing for 10 years and eight teams in MLB. 

Mark Redman - 2005 Topps

• 1984 - Richie Hebner signed a two-year deal with the Cubs which was made official on the 17th, marking the second time he left Pittsburgh via free agency. “I wanted to end my career in Pittsburgh,” claimed the 15-year vet. He said GM Pete Peterson was working on clearing a bench spot for him, but with camp approaching “They never got back to me and the Chicago deal came up.” The Grave Digger hit .264 over his last two years. He lost his job in 1986 when he signed up for one more year with Chicago but was released before the season and never caught on elsewhere. 
• 1990 - OF Danny Ortiz was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico. A fourth-round draftee of the Twins in 2008, he signed a minor league deal with the Pirates during the 2015 off season. Danny got into nine games in 2017, going 1-for-12. He left after the campaign and is now with the Phils’ AAA club. 
• 1994 - The Pirates signed LHP Ravello Manzanillo and OF Gary Varsho to minor league contracts. Manzanillo, who had been on a two-year hiatus from baseball, got into 51 games over the next two seasons, with a line of 4-2-1/4.19, and that was his last MLB slash. For Varsho, it was a return to the Pirates, where he played in 1991-92, and he said “There’s no place else I wanted to go.” He hit .256, used mostly as an extra outfielder and pinch hitter, before moving on to Philly for his final campaign in 1995. Gary did have a Steel City jones; he came back as John Russell’s bench coach from 2008-10, was axed along with JR’s staff, and then was resurrected as a Bucco scout in 2016. 
• 1998 - The Pirates signed RHP Esteban Loaiza to a two-year/$1.9M deal with $500K due the first year and $1.4M in the second. He had earned $200K in 1997 while posting an 11-11/4.13 slash. He went 6-5/4.52 in ‘98 before being flipped to the Texas Rangers in mid-July for 2B Warren Morris and RHP Todd Van Poppel. 
• 2009 - Sportswriter Phil Musick passed away at age 71. The Duquesne grad started locally as sports editor of the Greensburg Tribune-Review. In 1969, he joined the Pittsburgh Press and later wrote for the Post-Gazette during the time the Steelers won four titles in six years and the Pirates prevailed in two World Series. Musick was named Pennsylvania sports writer of the year in 1975 by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. He wrote books on Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron and Tony Dorsett, articles for Sports Illustrated, People, Time and Newsweek magazines and was the first sports columnist for USA Today. Musick later taught journalism at LaRoche College, per Robert Dvorchak of the Post-Gazette. 

Bert on HoF presentation day (July 24th, 2011)

• 2011 - After a 14 year wait, curveball king RHP Bert Blyleven was elected to the Hall of Fame. He won 34 games for Pittsburgh between 1978-80, his stay cut short because the Dutchman publicly disagreed with Chuck Tanner, who went to his bullpen earlier and more often than the righty preferred. Blyleven, who was inducted into the Hall on July 24th, posted 287 victories and 3,701 strikeouts during a 22 year MLB career. 
• 2019 - The Pirates added a little grit to their operations department, hiring former 10-year vet David Eckstein and then bringing back former Bucco lifer Jeff Banister, both as special assistants for baseball operations. Eckstein had prior coaching experience with the Angels, Diamondbacks & USA Baseball, and joined his brother Rick, who had been hired as the batting coach in November. Banny had spent 29 years with the Pirates, wearing several different hats, before taking over the reins at Texas for four years. His reunion didn’t go so well; he was let go in 2020 when the FO reduced its administrative staff.

1/4: Starling, Skates, Lance Sign; Shane Reclaimed; Barkley Battle; Buffalo Re-ups; HBD Blake, John, Brian, Cork & Jay

• 1869 - SS Tommy “The Cork” Corcoran was born in New Haven, Connecticut. The Cork started his 18-year big league career, spent mostly with the NY Bridegrooms and Cincinnati Reds, as a 21-year-old rookie starting for the Players League Pittsburgh Burghers in 1890, batting .233 while playing 123 games. Corcoran featured a sweet glove - he set a still-current MLB record for shortstops with 14 assists in a nine-inning game (he started out fielding barehanded and eventually adapted to a mitt later in his career) - and as a leadoff man hit .256 with 387 stolen bases and 1,184 runs scored over his big league lifetime. Fun fact - he was involved in one of the odder sign-stealing scenes of early baseball. While in the field as a Red, he noticed the home third base coach tapping his leg before every pitch. Adding two and two, he went to the coaches’ box and started digging with his spikes. He found a shallowly-buried electronic box that was signaling pitches stolen from an outfield perch to the coach through a gentle shock system and then sent from the coach to the batter. 

Sam Barkley - 1886 Allegheny

• 1886 - St. Louis owner Chris Von Der Ahe sold the contract rights of IF Sam Barkley to the Alleghenys despite the fact that the infielder had already signed a deal with the Orioles. Because the O’s were late in sending Von Der Ahe their check to buy Barkley’s rights, he unilaterally voided the contract and shipped him to Pittsburgh instead, triggering a brouhaha that wouldn’t be settled for weeks. The American Association eventually resolved the controversial case by allowing Barkley to play for the Alleghenys and sending 1B Milt Scott from Pittsburgh to Baltimore as compensation. Additionally, the Browns were allowed to keep the $1,000 they received from Pittsburgh for Barkley's reserve rights. For all that, Barkley hit .248 in his two years with the club, splitting time between first and second base. 
• 1962 - RHP Jay Tibbs was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Jay tossed for parts of seven seasons in the show and spent his last five big league games as a Pirate in 1990, going 1-0/2.57. The Pirates sent RHP Dorn Taylor to the Orioles for him in June, and a month later Tibbs, who was coming off shoulder surgery, was done. Fun fact: Tibbs had a small role in the 1994 Tommy Lee Jones flick “Cobb,” playing one of Georgia Peach’s teammates. 
• 1977 - LHP Brian O’Connor was born in Cincinnati. Brian’s MLB career consisted of six relief outings for the Pirates in 2000 as a September call-up, picking up no decisions with a 5.11 ERA. Brian was an 11th round pick of the Pirates in the 1995 draft and pitched 12 pro seasons in the Pirates, Rays and Braves systems before retiring after being cut by his hometown Reds in 2007. 
• 1984 - OF John Raynor was born in Memphis, Tennessee. The Pirates plucked the outfielder from the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft for the 2010 campaign. He made it through the spring and got into 11 games as a PH/sub, going 2-for-10. When Jeff Karstens came off the DL in early May, Raynor was returned to the Fish after the two teams failed to reach an agreement for the Bucs to keep him in their system. Florida stashed him away, then released him in 2011 as a late camp cut. The 27-year-old Raynor retired and returned to UNC-Wilmington, his alma mater, as a student/coach. 

John Raynor - 2010 Bowman

• 1991 - Buffalo, the minor-league leader in attendance and on the short list of possible expansion cities at the time, signed on with the Pirates for two more years as the AAA affiliate despite misgivings caused by executive churn in Pittsburgh and the erratic movement of players between levels that affected their competitiveness. The Bisons, Pittsburgh’s top farm club since 1988, stayed in the fold until 1995 when it joined with Cleveland and the Pirates moved to Calgary; the Buffs are now part of the Toronto system. 
• 1993 - The Pirates signed OF Lonnie “Skates” (due to his somewhat awkward footwork and quirky routes while playing the outfield) Smith to a one year/$1M deal. He put up a line of .286/6/24, with a .422 OBP and nine stolen bases before he was flipped to the Orioles in September for two career minor leaguers, Terry Farrar and Stanton Cameron. The Pirates were Smith’s fifth team; he had reached the World Series with the first four (and was on the winning side for three of them) but his championship streak bottomed out as a Bucco. 
• 1996 - Pittsburgh purchased the contract of free agent and eight-time All-Star catcher Lance Parrish from the Tigers. He had caught for the Bucs in 1994, hitting .270 in a backup role before Father Time caught up to him. The catcher was entering his age 40 season in 1996 and didn’t make it out of camp with the Pirates, marking the end of his career. Since then, he’s been an announcer, minor league manager, and MLB coach. Lance was a local boy, born in Clairton though raised in California. Parrish had a scholarship offer to play football at UCLA but made what proved to be a wise choice by focusing on baseball. 
• 1996 - RHP Blake Cederlind was born in Turlock, California, where he was a HS teammate of Kevin Kramer. “Baby Thor” (he’s a big, long-haired blond guy) was originally drafted by Minnesota as a college freshman, but stayed in Merced College and was picked in the 5th round by the Pirates the following year, signing for $285K. The power pitcher (he’s touched 100 MPH) broke out in 2019, moving from Hi A to AAA Ball and then getting a shot in the Arizona Fall League. Cederlind had a bout of Covid in 2020, but recovered to become a September 15th callup and pitched a clean inning on the same day. Blake worked five MLB outings, posting a 4.50 ERA and punching out a batter per inning.

Baby Thor - 2020 Photo Cay Brian Blanco/Getty

• 2007 - Rene Gayo signed Dominican OF Starling Marte for $85,000 in one of the top Latin signings of Dave Littlefield’s watch. Marte was sought by several teams, and his stock took off after he switched from SS to CF. The deciding factor was said to be that Gayo had a good working relationship with Marte’s buscon (agent), tilting the field toward the Buccos. 
• 2018 - The Pirates claimed RHP Shane Carle from Colorado, where the Bucs had sent him in the 2014 off season in exchange for RHP Rob Scahill. The Bucs flipped him to Atlanta two weeks later for a PTBNL/cash after the team faced a 40-man roster jam following the Gerrit Cole trade, and Carle went 4-1-1/2.86 for the Bravos in 53 outings. He went from the Bravos to the Rox organization, and Colorado released him in 2020.

1/3: Joker, Spanky, JoJo, Sure Shot, Maul Sign; Deacon Heathy; Rajah On Radar; Pirates Pay-Off; White House Help; HBD AJ, Mark, Luis, Mike, Gus, Dick, Red & Harry

• 1888 - 2B Fred “Sure Shot” Dunlap signed with the Alleghenys following the sale of his contract by the Detroit Wolverines. He agreed to a $5‚000 salary and a $2‚000 bonus‚ making him the highest-paid player of the time. The rangy defensive whiz played three years for the team, hitting just .240 (his lifetime BA was .292) at the backside of his career. Sure Shot is credited with earning his nickname from King Kelly, who was duly impressed with his fielding acrobatics and sure, strong arm. There is an alternate tale, per Wikipedia. In his book “The Complete History of the Home Run,” Mark Ribowsky claimed the nickname was won when Dunlap, then with the Cleveland Blues, hit a two-run, walk-off homer in the ninth to snap a 21-game Chicago White Stocking victory streak. One the local papers called the blast the "...Shot Heard 'Round Cleveland," leading to the Sure Shot dub. Dunlap was also known as “The King of the Second Basemen.” Fun facts: Alfred Spink in “The National Game” wrote that Dunlap was ambidextrous and could catch/throw a baseball equally well with either hand. Moreover, Sure Shot reportedly never wore a glove. Continuing his dealing, club President William Nimick purchased RHP/1B/OF Albert Maul from Philly for $1,000 and immediately signed him to a $2,800 contract. Al played three years for the Pirates, batting .230 over that time while going 2-8/6.24 in 17 outings off the hill; he also spent 1890 with the Burghers of the short-lived Players League. 

Al Maul -1888-90 Goodwin

• 1894 - RHP Kirby “Red” White was born in Hillsboro, Ohio. Kirby tossed most of 1910 and a bit in 1911 for the Bucs. He was traded to the Pirates by the Boston Doves early in 1910 and went 10–9 with a 3.46 ERA in 30 games. In 1911, he was used for just three innings, going 0-1/9.00, and was released, spending the next four seasons in the minors. We assume he was red-haired; Kirby also went by “Buck.” 
• 1906 - 1B Gus Suhr was born in San Francisco. He spent 9-1/2 seasons (1930-39) with the Pirates, hitting .279 with a .386 OPB and driving in 818 runs, earning an All-Star berth in 1936. Suhr started 1,389 games at first base for Pittsburgh, a team record, and once held the NL standard of 822 consecutive games played, which lasted until 1957. The record-snapping game he missed wasn’t due to injury; he took off to attend his mother’s funeral. Gus retired after the 1940 season as a Phil and ran a liquor store, which was probably a better cash generator than his contract. 
• 1920 - Ralph Davis of the Pittsburgh Press wrote “...it is generally believed that the Pirates have been casting longing eyes in the direction of Rogers Hornsby and Milton Stock of the St. Louis Cardinals...but (St Louis) President Branch Rickey is apparently determined to demand a ‘pound of flesh’ if he relinquishes his hold…” No wonder; 2B Hornsby went on a six-year batting title streak beginning during the 1920 campaign to go with a 13-year .300+ skein (including three .400+ years) on his way to the Hall of Fame. It would have been a sweet sight indeed to see Hornsby and Pirates SS Rabbit Maranville together in the middle for five years had the deal been consummated. The lesser-known 3B Stock started for the next six years while batting .299 for the Cards and Dodgers, but the Pirates had an in-house replacement in the pipeline. After a 1920 apprenticeship, Clyde Barnhart kept the hot corner warm for the Bucs before moving to the OF when Pie Traynor arrived for good in 1922.
• 1926 - PH/RHP Harry Fisher was born in Waterloo, Ontario. He was a two-way guy and appeared in 18 MLB games with the 1951–52 Pirates, ten as a pinch hitter and eight as a pitcher. Harry hit .278 for the Bucs, and went 1-2, 6.87 on the hill. He made his last appearance in August of 1952 before returning to minor league baseball, where he played through 1959 and split time between the mound and the pasture. 

Dick Colpaert - 1971 Topps

• 1944 - RHP Dick Colpaert was born in Fraser, Michigan. Dick toiled in the minors for 13 years, 10 as a member of the Pirates system. He got his taste of the bigs in the late summer of 1970 after a hot start at AAA Columbus, getting into eight games and going 0-1/5.91, not as bad a line as it looks at first blush. He had seven effective outings (2.89 ERA), including his win over Atlanta when he blew through Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda and Clete Boyer, until the Mets beat him up in an August appearance, blowing up his ERA and sending him packing back to the farm. He retired in 1974 at age 30 and did some scouting for San Diego and the MLB combine. 
• 1961 - The Pittsburgh Press reported that the Pirate owners collected their first dividend check since buying the club from the Dreyfuss family in 1946, citing the increased attendance thanks to the 1960 World Series championship. They got $4/share. The Galbreath family held majority team ownership from 1946-85. 
• 1962 - Vern Law, who had suffered for years with muscle tears in his shoulder, was given a clean bill of health by the team doctors in Pittsburgh whose opinions were seconded by a Columbus specialist a couple of days later. Law agreed that he felt no pain in his wing, but by August his record was 4-5/4.93 in just 12 starts. Danny Murtaugh suggested it was time for Law to retire and he did. But a cure did exist - in the off season, he was blessed by a High Priest (Law was a devout Mormon) while in Salt Lake City, and came back to post a 12-13/3.61 line in ‘64, followed by a 17-9/2.15 slash in ‘65, winning the Comeback Player of the Year award. 
• 1965 - RHP Mark Dewey was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mark went 3-3-8/3.23 for the Bucs out of the pen from 1993-94, with ‘93 being a particularly strong campaign as he converted seven saves with a 2.36 ERA. After six years in the show, he retired and since has coached for the Washington Wild Things and is now with the Brewers organization. 
• 1965 - IF Luis Sojo was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He spent 13 years in the show, the last eight with the Yankees except for a 61-game spell in 2000 when he was briefly a Bucco. He hit .284 here after signing as a FA, and in August the Yankees got him back by sending RHP Chris Spurling to the Pirates. He retired from the Pinstripe Mob in 2003 and has coached in their system since then except for a break as the manager of the Venezuelan national/WBC squad. 

Luis Sojo - 2000 Camp Photo/Getty

• 1973 - President Nixon gave a $1,000 check in Roberto Clemente's memory to the Nicaraguan embassy. At the President's request, Dan Galbreath, owner of the Pirates, along with Dave Giusti and Steve Blass, met with him at the White House to discuss setting up a fund in Clemente's honor to aid the survivors of the earthquake. Thus was born the Roberto Clemente Memorial Fund to aid the earthquake victims with Tricky Dicky as the first donor. 
• 1977 - RHP AJ Burnett was born in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The veteran tossed for two years in Pittsburgh (2012-13) after being obtained from the Yankees in a Gotham salary dump, with a line of 26-21 with a 3.41 ERA while averaging a whiff per frame. After a rough season in Philly, he returned for his final year in 2015. He went 9-7/3.18 in 26 starts, coming back in September from an All-Star break elbow inflammation to close out his 17th season, collecting 164 wins and 2,513 whiffs for five teams over that span. AJ was credited with leading the charge to reverse the team’s decades-long losing culture through his mentoring and clubhouse presence. 
• 1979 - OF Michael Restovich was born in Rochester, Minnesota. He spent parts of six seasons in the bigs, with the second half of 2005 in a Bucco jersey. He hit .214 in 52 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter, and moved on to the Cubs in 2006. After playing for seven different organizations (five at the MLB level) and in Japan, Restovich retired after the 2011 season. 
• 1992 - GM Larry Doughty inked C Mike Lavaliere to a three-year/$6.3M contract that included a $600K signing bonus. It wasn’t one of Doughty’s better moves; the Pirates released Spanky in April of 1993 after he played one game, eating over $4M worth of Lavaliere’s salary. He finished out his MLB days in 1995 after a three-year run with the White Sox. 
• 2006 - 3B Joe Randa was officially signed as a free agent for his second go-around with the Pirates. He inked a $4M deal, nearly double his 2005 salary at Cincinnati. The Joker hit .267 in 89 games in what would be his last MLB season, losing his job to Freddy Sanchez and then announcing his retirement in November. 

Joker's return - 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter

• 2012 - LHP Jo Jo Reyes, who became famous when he tied a MLB record for consecutive starts without a win (28) between 2008-2010, signed a minor league deal with the Bucs. The 27-year-old was coming off a 7-11/5.57 AL campaign, but was given a shot to land a back end/long man spot for Pittsburgh. It didn’t happen; he had a lousy spring, was sent to Indy and never took the hill for the Pirates. After his November release, he worked one game for the Angels in 2015 and another for the Marlins in 2016, with most of his slab time spread among Korean, Mexican, and AAA ball.

1/2: Williams, Coleman Sign; HBD Jeff, Darren, Ed, Bill, Jesse, George, Sam & Jack

• 1854 - 2B Sam Crane was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Sam got around, playing for eight big league clubs in seven seasons over an 11-year span, with his last hurrah partially spent as an Allegheny in 1890 when he was 36-years-old. He hit just .195 in 22 games and closed out his career playing four games with the Giants. He signed with the Bucs after he was cleared in a trial that accused him of taking another mans’ wife (and $1,500), though he shouldn’t be confused with the infamous Sam Crane who played 25 years later and was imprisoned for shooting his girlfriend and her companion. (It was apparently a pretty hot-blooded period in America, at least for Sam Cranes.) Our Sam umped a little afterwards, but found his retirement niche as a widely respected sports writer for the New York Evening Journal. Crane covered the beat for 25 years, earning the sobriquet “the dean of baseball writers." 
• 1858 - RHP Jack Neagle was born in Syracuse, New York. Jack tossed for the Alleghenys between 1883-84, going 14-38/4.28 (the Alleghenys were pretty poor during those seasons; they only won 61 games as a team). He also played a few games in the outfield but that was no better than his mound work as he hit just .165. His Pittsburgh tenure marked the last two years of his career after he had worked for Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Baltimore. 

Jack Coleman - 1887 Buchner Gold Coin

• 1888 - John Coleman, who had retired briefly, re-signed with the Alleghenys. He was recovering from a bad arm and an undisclosed illness, plus he was said to be under family pressure to stay retired for health reasons (although this was widely seen as a ploy to bump up his salary, undisclosed for ‘88 but $1,500 in 1887). He played RF and 1B and was up-and-down in his performance, with his bad wing taking him out of contention as a swing pitcher. That led to his release in 1889 (Philly picked him up), though he did return to Pittsburgh for a brief three-game spell in 1890 that closed out his MLB career. Jack played off-and-on in the minors/semi-pro leagues through 1907. 
• 1892 - RHP George Boehler was born in Lawrenceville, Kansas. George spent parts of nine campaigns (he never appeared more than 18 times in any single season) in the majors over a 15-year period. He worked 10 games for the 1923 Pirates, going 1-3/6.04. He had a long, strong minor league career spanning 1911-30. George won 38 games one year, 27 in two others, and topped the 20-win mark seven times with 248 farm victories (and his record is missing a couple of seasons), mostly hurling in the Western & Pacific Coast Leagues. 
• 1893 - OF Jesse Altenburg was born in Ashley, Michigan. His MLB career was comprised of the 19 games he played as a Pirate from 1916-17, with a .290 BA. Jesse had a strong September in his rookie campaign, but faltered in the second go-round. He did have a long run in baseball, spending 10 years in the minors and hitting .300+ in at least five of those seasons. 
• 1894 - C Bill Wagner was born in Jessup, Iowa. The light-hitting reserve (he also played 1B) was a Bucco from 1914-17, putting up a .205 BA in 80 Pittsburgh games. He was then sold to the Boston Braves, and 1918 was his last MLB season. 
• 1929 - RHP Ed Wolfe was born in Los Angeles. Ed served for two years as an Army paratrooper after high school and following his discharge, he played at Fullerton JC before the Pirates' signed him. He spent eight years with the organization, pitching at Indianapolis, Modesto, Bartlesville, Charleston, New Orleans and finally in Hollywood. He got his moment in the sun when he was with the Pirates in April of 1952, going 0-1/7.36 in three outings. 

Ed Wolfe - photo via Find-A-Grave

• 1962 - Bill and Milene Mazeroski’s first son, Darren, was born at West Penn Hospital. He wasn’t a Hall of Famer, but did play in college and the low minors, managed the Gulf Coast CC nine while bird dogging for the Bucs, and became a full-time Pirates scout in 2006, inking Adam Frazier, Kyle McPherson, Clay Holmes, Phil Irwin, and Alex Presley among others. 
• 1975 - RHP Jeff Suppan was born in Oklahoma City. “Sup” spent 17 years in the majors and made 417 starts; 21 of those were for the Pirates in 2003, when he went 10-7/3.57 after signing as a free agent. That performance got him flipped in a package deal to the Red Sox at the deadline, netting the Pirates a gift-wrapped return of IF Freddy Sanchez and LHP Mike Gonzalez. 
• 2002 - The Pirates officially signed a two-year deal with RHP Mike Williams worth $5.5M, getting him back from the Astros after he was swapped at the ‘01 deadline for Tony McKnight. Following an All-Star campaign in 2002 (46 saves/2.93 ERA), Williams faded the next season, collecting another 25 saves but with a 6.27 ERA. He was traded to the Phillies, and 2003 was his last MLB season. His saving grace in Pittsburgh was his swing-and-miss stuff as Williams whiffed 250 batters in 222-⅔ IP as a Buc.

HAPPY NEW YEARS! 1/1: Jay, Pops DD-MoY; New Years Baseball; Title Tiff; Josh Breakdown; RIP - Specs; HBD Hank, Gunner, Gary, Bob & Webster

• 1855 - Manager Bill “Gunner” McGunnigle was born in Boston. After his playing career was ended by a beanball that fractured his skull, McGunnigle stayed in the game as a manager. When the 1891 Pittsburgh Pirates (the first to be known as the Pirates) got off to a 31–47 start on the heels of a 23–113 season, the club demoted captain/manager Ned Hanlon and hired McGunnigle, who had a prior stop at Brooklyn. He managed the club to a 24–33-2 record over the remainder of the year and was replaced by Tom Burns. The dapper Gunner was tough to miss on the field. He managed and coached the bases wearing black patent-leather shoes, a cutaway suit coat, lavender trousers, a silk tie and a derby hat. He was street smart despite his foppish attire - he was the first to use signals from the bench and the first to steal opponent’s signs. His nickname, btw, wasn't a play on his surname; he earned it in the minors because of the strength of his arm, per McGunnigle's SABR bio written by Ronald Shafer. 

Bill McGunnigle w/Brooklyn - Ars Longa 

• 1892 - In a spur of the moment promotion that featured two top Pittsburgh semi-pro clubs, the Pittsburgh Keystones (regrouping after a five-year hiatus) and the South Side Standards, a New Year’s game at Exposition Park was slapped together. The game was scheduled on short notice during an uncharacteristic warm spell, and began with a fife-and-drum corp-led parade from town to the park with the players following in carriages. The contest drew 5,000 fans as the Standards won 8-3; the late afternoon game was called after 7-½ innings because of darkness. It had a touch of the big leagues as former Alleghenys’ pitcher turned Allegheny City bar owner Ed “Cannonball” Morris umpired the game. The Keystones avenged the loss in an April rematch at Expo that drew hundreds rather than thousands of followers. 
• 1900 - RHP Webster McDonald was born in Wilmington, Delaware. McDonald was a submariner who played in the Negro Leagues from 1920 through 1940 and then managed; he tossed and won one game for the Homestead Grays in 1928 and would later join them on an All-Star barnstorming tour. Webster's nickname was "56 Varieties” due to his deep toolkit of pitches, with his bread-and-butter being a sinking fastball, rising curveball and changeup. 
• 1911 - Hall of Fame OF Hank Greenberg was born in New York City. He played for the Bucs in 1947, teaming up with Ralph Kiner in the middle of the Pirate order. The original Hammerin’ Hank signed for a reported $90,000, the biggest MLB contract inked to date. Team minority owner Bing Crosby recorded a song, "Goodbye, Mr. Ball, Goodbye" with Groucho Marx and Greenberg to celebrate Greenberg's arrival. The Pirates also brought in the left field fence at Forbes Field for him, calling it "Greenberg Gardens" and keeping it intact during the Kiner era as “Kiner’s Korner.” Though he hit just .249 in Pittsburgh, he had a .408 OBP (he was walked 104 times), launched 25 HR and tutored Kiner in his final MLB season. 
• 1919 - NL President John Heydler washed his hands of the entire NL 1918 batting championship brouhaha by not naming the league’s top hitter. Some writers felt the king should be the Pirates Billy Southworth, who hit .341 but played just 64 games w/275 at bats, while a second school preferred Brooklyn’s Zack Wheat, who hit .335 in 105 games w/436 at bats (and tops most lists as the champ, as 100 games/400 at bats was the rule-of-thumb cut-off line). The Bucs Debs Garms got into the same kind of mud fight in 1940 when he won the title easily (he hit .355, 30 points higher than any other NL’er) while playing 103 games but with only 358 at bats, as he was hurt early in the year. In 1954, the league ended the debates and made 3.1 plate appearances per game over the season (currently 502 PA’s) the official gold standard. 

Did he or didn't he? - 1919 W514 Strip set

• 1943 - C Josh Gibson suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to St. Francis Hospital for rest and treatment. He was released 10 days later, in time to get to spring camp and play for the Homestead Grays. The Pirates reportedly wanted to sign the future Hall of Famer that season as the first black player in baseball, but were reportedly thwarted by the commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The color line wouldn’t be crossed until Landis died in 1944 and Happy Chandler replaced him in 1945. Although he never got a MLB shot, Gibson was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972. 
• 1955 - LHP Bob Owchinko was born in Detroit. The vet made one appearance for Pittsburgh in 1983 after signing as a free agent; he faced two batters against St. Louis, gave up two hits (Andy Van Slyke homered and Darrell Porter doubled)to blow the save in a 7-6 loss and has a Pirates ERA of infinity. He had spent most of the year as a starter in AAA Hawaii (10-6/4.25) and was sold to the Reds after the season. It was his second quick tour as a Bucco: the Pirates had originally gotten him as part of the Bert Blyleven trade with Cleveland in 1980, but sent him to Oakland for RHP Ernie Camacho early in April. 
• 1970 - RHP Gary Wilson was born in Arcata, California. He was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 18th round of the 1992 draft from Cal State (Sacramento) and his MLB career consisted of 10 games tossed for the Bucs in 1995 with a line of 0-1/5.20. His biggest claim to fame was being practically a twin of teammate Esteban Loaiza, with the pair often confused by autograph hounds. Following his playing days, Wilson briefly coached college ball, then became a scout for Colorado and later Kansas City. 
• 1979 - In the first year of fan voting, Willie Stargell ran away with the Dapper Dan Man of the Year award. It was Pop’s second Dapper Dan recognition, and he was presented with the prize the following month at the group’s annual dinner. Willie had already claimed the NL Playoff and World Series MVPs and frustratingly tied with Keith Hernandez for the NL MVP and Terry Bradshaw for the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year honors. 

Specs Hill - 1927 photo Conlon Collection/The Sporting News

• 1990 - RHP Carmen “Specs” Hill passed away in Indianapolis at the ripe ol’ age of 94. Hill tossed eight years for the Pirates (1915-16; 1918-19; 1926-29) and was a late bloomer; in his first five Bucco campaigns, he bounced back and forth between the big club and the farm. He was 47-31/3.26 for Pittsburgh, but his heyday was 1927-28 (he won 21 times at Indy in 1926 to earn a return trip to the majors at age 31) when he won 38 games and was a member of the ‘27 NL championship rotation. Oddly, those were the only seasons - he spent parts of 10 years in the majors - that he won more than three games, although the screwballer claimed 202 victories in the minors. But while mostly a depth pitcher, he was a member of good staffs - he was with the Giants, which won the 1922 World Series; the Pirates, winners of the 1927 National League pennant and the Cards, which claimed the 1930 NL flag. Carmen picked up the “Specs” moniker in 1915; he and Lee Meadows are usually credited with being among the earliest pitchers to sport glasses, and they would become Buc teammates from 1926-29. 
• 1994 - Jay Bell was announced as the Dapper Dan Athlete of the Year, becoming the third Pirate (Syd Thrift, Jim Leyland) in the past seven years to earn the honor. He hit .310, scored 102 runs and earned an All-Star berth after signing a $20M deal in April. Jay’s award soiree was held February 11th.