1/16: JHK, Ollie, Jose, Kip Sign; Lamb Yo-Yo; Interleague OK; AS-WS Home Field; Pgh Hoops; Cali Camp; HBD Alfredo, Ron, Dave, Art & Erskine

• 1858 - IF Art Whitney was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. Known for his glove, he played for the Alleghenys from 1884-87, hitting .248 while in Pittsburgh. His lifetime BA was a paltry .223, but the slick gloveman led the league four times in fielding percentage, three times as a third baseman (1886, 1887, and 1891) and once as a shortstop (1885). 
• 1890 - RHP Erskine Mayer was born in Atlanta. He worked two seasons for Pittsburgh from 1918-19, going 14-6 with a 3.19 ERA. In 1919, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox, becoming part of the infamous "Black Sox" team. His only appearance in the scandal-tainted 1919 World Series was a one-inning relief stint, his last in a MLB uniform. He ended his eight-year career with a slash of 91-70-6/2.96. Over that time, he had several notable moments. His best as a Bucco was going 15-⅓ shutout innings, starting the longest scoreless game in Pirate history (the Pirates eventually beat the Boston Braves 2-0 in 20 innings). He had a couple of lowlights, too. As a rookie for the Phils in 1912, Mayer set the MLB record for consecutive hits allowed with nine (since broken), and also was the pitcher who surrendered Honus Wagner’s 3,000th hit in 1914 while wearing the same Philadelphia uniform.

Erskine Mayer as a Philly Nat (Phils) - 1916 Sporting News

• 1930 - Before the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues, teams traveled all over the country for camp. The Pirates took 30 players to the 1930 spring training site, California’s Paso Robles, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The club announced nine late-March final tune-up games after breaking camp at nearby LA, SF and Oakland, then trips to Fort Worth, Dallas, Tucson, Mobile, New Orleans and Cincinnati before returning to Pittsburgh and Forbes Field. The pre-season warm-up trip covered 6,500 miles of railroad track and countless hands of gin rummy. 
• 1957 - Coach Dave Jauss was born in Chicago. Dave was named to the Pirates scouting staff in 2011 and became a coach for Clint Hurdle next season. He’s been managing, coaching and scouting since 1982, managing college, Dominican & minor league nines while coaching and scouting for Montreal, Baltimore, Boston, the Dodgers and Mets prior to landing in Pittsburgh, where he’s a coach without portfolio. He was let go when the new regime took over in 2019 and has moved back to the Mets as bench coach. 
• 1960 - The Pirates and Steelers picked a neutral sport - basketball - to go mano-a-mano for charity, with the gridders taking a 22-20 sudden-death overtime win at Fitzgerald Field House despite 14 points from Dick Groat. The 15-minute match, set up by The Gunner, was part of a tripleheader played for the benefit of Children's Hospital with Pitt whipping Westminster and Carnegie Tech upsetting Duquesne in front of 5,308 fans. Prince got into the action - he and the “Voice of the Steelers” Joe Tucker were the refs for the Bucco/Black & Gold game. 
• 1970 - LHP Ron Villone was born in Englewood, New Jersey. Villone played for 12 teams in his 15-year career, tied for second all-time with P Mike Morgan and OF Matt Stairs, trailing only P Octavio Dotel, who played for 13 teams. All but Morgan wore Bucco uniforms. Villone tossed for the Pirates in 2002, going 4–6/5.81 in 45 games with seven starts after signing a $900K, one-year FA deal in February. 
• 1974 - In a bit of a shell game, the Pirates sold RHP John Lamb to the White Sox, only to buy him back two months later. Lamb had three years with Pittsburgh (1970-71, 1973), going 0-2-5/4.07 in 47 appearances. They would be his last in MLB; the Bucs stashed him away at AAA Charleston as insurance and 1974 ended up his last pro season. 

John Lamb - 1971 photo via Lizzy's Locker

• 1978 - IF Alfredo Amezaga was born in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. He was claimed off waivers in April (Chris Duffy was sent down to clear a space for Alfredo), and then was released two weeks later with just four PA’s and four innings in the field after Jose Castillo came off the DL. Amegaza went on to play fairly regularly for Florida from 2006-08 and lasted nine MLB seasons in all, retiring after the 2011 campaign and closing out his playing days in Mexico in 2018 at age 39. 
• 1991 - LHP Bob Kipper avoided arbitration by signing a one-year/$825K deal with the Bucs, upping his take-home pay by $300K. His line was 5-2-3/3.02 in 1990, but he slashed 2-2-4/4.65 in 1991 and left as a FA to join the Twins in the off season. That was the end of his road; he was released by Minnesota in July after eight MLB campaigns and began coaching in the indie and minor leagues. 
• 1996 - Interleague play was approved by MLB for the next season and was later given an imprimatur from the MLBPA. It was meant to showcase rivalry games; three decades in, the Pirates are still looking for their natural rival; Detroit is their MLB-designated blood foe. 
• 2003 - To add some skin to the All-Star game, the owners voted unanimously to give the winner home field advantage for the World Series, later approved by the MLBPA. It was eventually scrapped; 2016 was the last Mid-Summer Classic to determine the World Series home field. Good thing, too, for the NL - the Junior Circuit had won 11 of the 14 games played under that format. 
• 2006 - LHP Ollie Perez signed a $1.9M contract in his first arbitration year after coming off a 7-5/5.85 campaign. The Bucs had high hopes for a bounce back from the southpaw who had gone 12-10/2.98 with 239K in 2004, but the 24-year-old posted a 2-10/6.55 line during the season and the Pirates sent him to the Mets at the 2006 deadline as part of the Xavier Nady package. 

Jose Veras - 2011 photo Justin Aller/Getty

• 2011 - The Pirates signed RHP Jose Veras to a minor league deal worth $1M if he made the big club. He did, going 2-4-1/3.80 with 79K in 71 IP. Jose was one-and-done with the Bucs; in the off season, he was flipped to the Brewers for 3B Casey McGehee. Veras had three seasons left in the tank, slashing 9-10-23/3.64 and averaging almost 10 whiffs per game. McGehee hit .230 with eight homers for the Bucs while playing on a gimpy knee and was sent to the Yankees at the deadline for RHP Chad Qualls. 
• 2015 - The Pirates officially signed Korean SS Jung-Ho Kang to a four-year, $11M contract ($2.5M, $2.5M, $2.75M & $3M with a $250K/$5.5M option for 2019). He could earn up to $750K/year in at-bat bonuses, with a guaranteed annual stipend for family travel and an interpreter. Pittsburgh also paid his club a posting fee of $5,002,015 for negotiating rights, making the deal the most expensive the Pirates ever paid out for an international signee. Kang, 27, hit .356 with 40 home runs and 117 RBIs in 501 PAs for the Nexen Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization in 2014. His slash was .287/.355/.461 in his first MLB campaign, cut short by a late-season leg injury. He was strong again in 2016 but suffered through another injury-shortened year. That was followed by a missed campaign in 2017 due to legal issues in Korea that cost him his US work permit after a DUI conviction. JHK finally got back in good graces in 2018, but missed considerable time with a wrist injury. Kang was non-tendered, then re-signed by Pittsburgh for the 2019 wars before being released at the end of the campaign.

1/15 Through the 1950s: Chesnes, Hawley, Sunday Deals; Ginzel Goes; Possum Joins Gunner; FDR OK's War Ball; HBD Ed, Mike & Jock

• 1858 - OF Mike Mansell was born in Auburn, New York. He played three seasons (1882-84) for the Alleghenys, posting a .251 BA. His final big league year was 1884 when he played for three teams. Mansell did have a knack for scoring - in 202 games for the Alleghenys, he touched home 164 times. His two brothers also played in the MLB, and the trio even played the outfield together, albeit for minor league Albany. 
• 1868 - RHP John “Jock” (the Scottish version of Jack) Menefee was born in Rowlesburg, West Virginia. Jock tossed three not very successful campaigns for Pittsburgh (1892, 1894-95), going 5-9/5.75. But he did have a shining MLB moment: Menefee became the first NL pitcher to pull off a successful steal of home while with the Cubs against Brooklyn on July 15th, 1902. 
• 1880 - RHP Ed Kinsella was born in Bloomington, Illinois. He got his first taste of the show in September, 1905, going 0-1/2.65, with the Pirates in three outings (two complete game starts) and made a final MLB stop in 1910 with St. Louis. Kinsella was an early example of a good AAAA player who finished his career with 144 minor league victories - he had four 20> win MiLB campaigns - in 10 seasons. 

Billy Sunday - 1888 W51 Game Card

• 1888 - OF Billy Sunday was purchased by the Pittsburgh Alleghenys from the Chicago White Stockings for $2,000. Billy spent his last three years with Pittsburgh, hitting .243, with the final few weeks of his career played as a Philly after a late August trade. But the aptly named Sunday was transitioning from fly chaser to preacher; he became a famed tent revivalist in the early 20th century, and in a rarity (for both road-tripping evangelists and old-timey baseball players), one who never had a scent of scandal following him. 
• 1895 - The Pirates traded P Red Ehret and $3,000 (“a large bundle of dollars” per the Pittsburgh Press) to the St. Louis Browns for P Emerson “Pink” Hawley, becoming official a couple of days later. Hawley spent three years in Pittsburgh as a workhorse, tossing 1,133-2/3 IP with a slash of 71-61-1/3.76 and becoming one of only three Bucs to win 30 games in a single season when he notched 31 victories in 1895. Pink was deservedly well compensated for his era - the Pirates paid him $2,400 a year (he asked for $3,000). Ehret had won 53 games for the Bucs over the previous three years, but in his remaining four seasons could only put up one more double-digit win campaign when he went 18-14 for the 1896 Reds; he would claim just 35 more victories total during the remainder of his MLB career. As for Hawley’s “Pink” moniker, Dale Voiss of SABR wrote “Emerson was born one of two twins, the other being named Elmer. People had trouble telling the twins apart so the nurse who assisted in their birth pinned a blue ribbon to one and a pink one to the other. This resulted in Emerson being given the middle name Pink, and the brothers were known as Pink and Blue.” He was a hit with the local fans, too. “Hawley earned the nickname ‘Duke of Pittsburgh’ because of his stylish dress and good looks. He was known to wear diamonds and other items of high fashion and developed a reputation similar to that of a matinee idol in Pittsburgh. Later a cigar was named Duke of Pittsburgh after Hawley. Boxes of these cigars featured his picture.” 
• 1898 - The Detroit Tigers (then of the Western League, shortly become the major league AL in 1901) were short at 1B and the Pirates had an overload at the spot, so owner George Vanderbeck stopped by Pittsburgh for a couple of hours of chat with Prez Bill Watkins to try to pry one of three redundant players - John Ganzel, Harry Davis or Jack Roth - loose for Motown. The Bucs refused to yield, admitting they weren’t going to carry all three but wanting to see them compete in camp. The patient Tigers eventually got their man when they bought Ganzel in late May. As for the other pair, neither made it through the year in the Steel City: Roth was sold to the KC Blues before the season and Davis, who had won the job early on, was sent to Louisville in July as Willie Davis claimed the 1B position. 
• 1942 - Baseball in wartime, per BR Bullpen: “US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sends his famed ‘Green Light Letter’ to Commissioner Judge Landis, encouraging MLB to continue playing during World War II. President Roosevelt states that he believes playing the sport would be good for Americans and encourages the owners to have more games at night to give war workers an opportunity to attend games. Despite a loss of many star players to military service, all 16 teams will continue to play regular schedules for the duration of the war.” 

Bob Chesnes - 1950 Bowman

• 1948 - The Bucs paid a steep price to land RHP Bob Chesnes, shipping OF Gene Woodling, C Dixie Howell and minor league pitchers Ken Gables & Manny Perez, along with $100,000, to the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League for Chesnes’ services to complete a deal that began back in September. Chesnes had just finished up with a 22-8/2.32 slash in the PCL and looked like the real deal as a rookie, going 14-6/3.57 with 15 complete games. But the next two campaigns were plagued by arm soreness and he posted a 10-16/5.81 line. In June of 1950, he was assigned to the minors and never tossed another big league game. The Bucs did have a pretty good replacement in the system, though - after Chesnes was sent down, Vern Law was called up. 
• 1958 - Jim “The Possum” Woods joined Bob Prince in the broadcast booth from NY, replacing Dick Bingham, who was axed. Woods and The Gunner were a team through the 1969 season. In 1970, after battling KDKA over pay, The Possum moved to the second chair in St. Louis supporting Jack Buck. He later manned the mic for Oakland, Boston and the USA Network. Bingham’s three-year run with Prince (the two didn’t have a smooth relationship) ended his radio work that had begun in 1946. He was a realtor during the offseason and gave up announcing to form his own real estate firm.

1/15 From 1960: Cutch To G-Men; Hartenstein Trade; Arbs Settled & Not; Cattle Call; Starg On Stage; Hans Museum; WBC; RIP Gus; HBD Banny

• 1960 - The Pirates invited 22 rookies to join the club for spring training in Fort Myers. Out of the group were three who would end up pretty good ballplayers - LHPs Bob Veale & Joe Gibbon along with 1B Donn Clendenon. Gibbon made the club out of camp and saw action in the World Series, with Clendenon claiming a spot on the big team the following season and Veale becoming a member of the squad in 1962. 
• 1965 - Jeff “Banny” Banister was born in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Drafted in 1986, he got one at-bat with the Bucs in 1991 and singled. After going through the minor league system, he then served as a coach or manager for the franchise beginning in 1993. He flew the coop in 2014 when he was hired as the skipper of the Texas Rangers and quickly earned the AL Manager of the Year award in 2015. He came back to the Bucs briefly before being let go in 2020. His nickname, btw, isn’t based on his surname, but is short for “bantam rooster” because of his scrappy style of play. 
• 1969 - The Pirates traded OF Manny Jimenez to the Cubs for minor league IF Ron Campbell and RHP Chuck Hartenstein. Jimenez played briefly for Chicago before fading into the minors, while Campbell never did make it to the show. Hartenstein made 56 appearances for the Bucs in 1969, with 10 saves and a 3.95 ERA, but slipped in 1970 and was traded to St. Louis. Chuck coached and scouted afterward, spending some time with the Bucs as a minor league pitching coach during his travels.

Chuck Hartenstein - 1970 Topps

• 1983 - Willie Stargell narrated the premiere of Robert Schwanter's "New Morning for the World," played at the Kennedy Center in DC by the Eastman Philharmonic, before a crowd of Washington politicos during an MLK birthday anniversary performance. Pops met President Ronald Reagan earlier in the day at a White House reception prior to the concert. 
• 1991 - The Pirates had nine arb-eligible players - Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Doug Drabek, Mike Lavalliere, Jose Lind, John Smiley, Bob Kipper, Bill Landrum & Lloyd McClelland - and all filed for arbitration, with four going the distance to a hearing. Bonds, Bonilla and Lind lost their cases while Drabek beat the club and won a $3.35M salary with $2.3M being the club's offer. Among the losers, Bobby Bo settled with $2.4M (he asked for $3.475M), BB got $2.3M (asked - $3.25M) and Chico took home $575K (asked - $950K, although he won the next year’s challenge for a cool $2M). 
• 2004 - Gus Suhr, who played 10 seasons for the Bucs (1930-39) passed away in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the ripe old age of 98. Gus was more dependable than spectacular - he hit .278 as a Pirate, drove in 100+ runs three times and made the 1936 All-Star squad. Suhr walked 250 times more than he whiffed as a Corsair and compiled a .368 OBP to offset just average power. He played a then-record 822 consecutive games, with the streak halted not by injury or slump but by his mom’s funeral. The San Francisco native liked his home by the bay - he spent from 1925-29 with the SF Seals of the PCL before joining Pittsburgh and came out of retirement to play for them during the war years of 1943-45. 
• 2005 - Mayor Jim Pascoe of Carnegie announced plans for the Honus Wagner Museum which opened later in the year. The little-known attraction, filled with photos, news clips, and other Flying Dutchman mementos (with many culled from the local Elks Club that he belonged to) is on 1 West Main Street in the Carnegie Historical Society Building. It’s easy to spot with Honus’ famous baseball card replicated on a mural on the outside and is open M-F. 
• 2006 - Canada’s first WBC team had a distinct Pittsburgh look to it, as current Bucco Jason Bay, past Pirate Matt Stairs, and future Corsairs Justin Morneau & Erik Bedard were named to the squad. 

The Shark - 2016 Stadium Club

• 2016 - RHP Mark Melancon was the last of six arbitration-eligible players to agree to a contract. C Chris Stewart had earlier reached a two-year deal with the club. The others avoiding arbitration by inking one-year deals were C Francisco Cervelli, who then signed a three-year extension in May, LHP Tony Watson, RHP Jared Hughes, SS Jordy Mercer and LHP Jeff Locke. The FO trimmed five others off the list by non-tendering 1B Pedro Alvarez, 1B Travis Ishikawa, RHP Vance Worley and OF Travis Snider while trading 2B Neil Walker to the Mets. 
• 2018 - Two days following the Gerrit Cole trade, the Pirates sent Andrew McCutchen, in the walk year of a $14.5M contract, and $2.5M to the San Francisco Giants for OF prospect Bryan Reynolds, RHP Kyle Crick and $500K international pool money. Reynolds was a 22-year-old switch-hitter who slashed .312/.364/.462 for the Class A San Jose Giants. Crick, a 25-year-old flamethrower with questionable control, was called up from AAA by the G-Men in June to make his MLB debut. Crick became Felipe Rivero’s eighth-inning bridge man during the season (3-2-2/2.39 w/65 K in 60-1/3 IP) while Reynolds had a solid year in AA (.302 BA) and should start 2019 at Indy. The FO had reportedly passed on a 2017 deadline deal with the Washington Nats that would have netted Gio Gonzalez, Lucas Giolito and a third lower-level player for Cutch’s services.

1/14: '17 Arbs, Adam, Dock Signed; Moises Drafted; RIP Pep; Heap O' HBD's: Dovy, Steve, Joe, Gary, Terry, Chet, Hank, Billy, Brod, John & Art

• 1868 - 3B John Newell was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He got an MLB cup of coffee with the Pirates in 1891, going 2-for-18 in five games during a 10-day audition. John spent a decade toiling in the minors for teams in the Western, Southern and Atlantic leagues, playing his last pro game in 1898 as a 30-year-old. 1871 - IF Art Madison was born in Clarksburg, Massachusetts. Art was a minor league lifer, spending a dozen years on the farm, mainly in the Eastern and New York leagues. He did pay a couple of brief visits to the show, getting into 11 games for the 1895 Phillies and coming back four years later to make his major league swan song with Pittsburgh, entering 42 games and batting .271 while playing second, short and third. Madison was part of the big trade with Louisville in 1899; the Bucs later got his contract back and sent him to the minors, where he finished out his playing days. 
• 1891 - 2B John “Brode” Shovlin was born in Drifton, Pennsylvania, in Luzerne county in the Pocono Mountains area. He got a wham-bam look with Pittsburgh in 1911, getting into two games and going 0-for-1 and scoring a run; he got into another 16 games in 1919-20 with the St. Louis Browns. He had a split career; he spent from 1910-20 mostly in the minors before going dark, then pops up again in the record books from 1928-31 with the Binghamton Triplets of the NY-PA League before going to work in the coalfields at the age of 40. 
• 1893 - Manager Billy Meyer was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. After his playing days and a long minor-league managing career, he became the Bucco skipper from 1948-52, with a dismal 317-452 record after a promising fourth place finish in his first year. But the Yankees thought so highly of him that they asked if they could hire him after that season to replace Bucky Harris. NY was rebuffed and had to settle for Casey Stengel instead. After managing, Meyer scouted for the Bucs until 1955, and later had his jersey #1 retired. 

Billy Meyer - 1951 Bowman

• 1907- RHP Chet Brewer was born in Leavenworth, Kansas. While he pitched for a couple of dozen teams in the black leagues and Central America, the pitcher never earned a check from Pittsburgh until his playing days were done. Brewer was a Pirates scout based in LA from 1957 to 1974 (he signed Dock Ellis) and later worked for the Major League Scouting Bureau, discovering players like Willie Crawford, George Hendrick, Eddie Murray, Reggie Smith and Roy White. His Chet Brewer Rookies program was the forerunner of MLB’s RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) project. 
• 1911 - RHP Hank Gornicki was born in Niagara Falls, NY. He pitched his final three seasons (1943-44, 1946) for the Bucs, with a two-year break when he served during WW2. His slate as a Pirate was 14-19/3.38, and he was used primarily as a spot starter. He had a notable week in August of 1943. Gornicki won both ends of a doubleheader against Boston on the 17th, then lost both games of a twinbill on the 22nd against Brooklyn. 
• 1952 - LHP Terry Forster was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He came over in the Richie Zisk deal and like his trademate, Goose Gossage, worked one season in Pittsburgh and was released after slashing 6-4-1/4.43. The FO may have given up on him too soon; the 25-year-old never became a closer like Goose, but did pitch nine more seasons and put up a lifetime ERA of 3.70, mainly as a set-up guy. And you didn’t have to worry about replacing him with a pinch hitter; he posted a .397 career BA.
• 1961 - 3B Joe Redfield was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Joe played 10 minor league campaigns after being drafted by the Mets in 1982; he got into a couple of games for the Angels in 1988 and got a month’s stay with Pittsburgh in 1991, called up from AAA Buffalo to replace an injured Jeff King. He went 2-for-18 in 11 games, spent the next season with the Bisons and retired at age 31. 
• 1962 - IF/coach Gary Green was born in Pittsburgh and played at Allderdice HS. He went on to play college ball at Oklahoma State University, and was the starting shortstop for Team USA in the 1984 Olympics. He was a first-round pick (27th overall) of the San Diego Padres in the 1984 draft, playing parts of five seasons in the majors. Green then was a coach/manager in the Detroit organization until 2004. He came home to the Pirates organization, managing Class A teams from 2006 to 2010, and in 2011 he became the Pirates minor league infield coordinator. He has good MLB bloodlines as the son of former pitcher Fred Green, who spent four of his five MLB years with the Bucs. 

Pep Young - 1939 Play Ball

• 1962 - IF Pep (real name: Floyd Lemuel) Young passed away in his hometown of Jamestown, New York, at age 54. Pep spent the first eight years (1933-40) of his 10-season MLB run with the Pirates, playing regularly from 1935-38 while compiling a .262 BA. Young was regarded as among the elite glovemen at second base, leading the National League in assists in 1938. Pep, nicknamed for his energizer-bunny style of play, stayed involved by playing in his hometown semi-pro leagues after leaving pro ball in 1946 at age 38, and is a member of the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame. 
• 1964 - The Pirates signed RHP Dock Ellis (it was a year before the amateur draft began) shortly before he turned 19. He played on a sandlot team managed by Chet Brewer, a black baseball ace and mentor turned Pirates scout, and after several minor brushes with the law, agreed to a deal ($500/monthly salary and a $2,500 bonus) while pitching for Los Angeles CC. He made his MLB debut in 1968, slashing 96-80/3.16 in his nine-year Bucco career while adding several colorful chapters to the Pirates history book. 
• 1970 - LHP Steve Cooke was born in Lihue-Kauai, Hawaii. A 35th round draft pick in 1989, he spent five years with the Pirates (1992-97), going 26-36/4.31. 1993 looked like a breakout year when he went 10-10 with a 3.89 ERA and he was named to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team. But he had shoulder problems that surfaced in 1994, missed the 1995 season, and never again matched his rookie performance. 
• 1986 - The Pirates selected OF Moises Alou as the second overall pick in the January draft, behind pitcher Jeff Shaw. He played two games for the Pirates in 1990 before being shipped to Montreal for Zane Smith. Moises went on to have a 17-year-career, with six All-Star berths and a lifetime .303 BA. He’s the nephew of former Pirate Matty Alou and the cousin of former Bucco farmhand Mel Rojas, Jr. 

Moises Alou - 1990 Score Rookie

• 1993 - RHP Dovydas Neverauskas was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. Dovy is a neat little story. He was signed out of the European Academy in 2009 by the Pirates as the first Lithuanian born-and-raised player to sign a pro baseball deal. The only other Lithuanian to play in the majors was OF Joe Zapustas, who was raised in Boston and played just two games for the Philadelphia A's back in 1933. In 2015, the Bucs converted the hard thrower into a reliever, and he played for the All-World Futures team in 2016. He made his debut in the show in 2017, and in four seasons slashed 1-4/6.81, with the long ball his nemesis (20 in 80-2/3 IP). He was released after the 2020 season and signed on with the Hiroshima Carp of the Japanese League. 
• 2008 - The Pirates re-signed 1B Adam LaRoche to a 1-year/$5M contract. He hit .270 with 25 homers, and was sent to Boston the following year. Baseball runs in his blood - literally. He’s the son of former MLB pitcher Dave and older brother of Andy, who is still bumping around in the minors. 
• 2017 - The Bucs settled with all their arb-eligible players but LHP Tony Watson (he asked for $6M & the Bucs countered with $5.6M; the team won the hearing). Reaching one-year deals before the filing deadline were SS Jordy Mercer ($4.325M), RHP Gerrit Cole ($3.75M), RHP Juan Nicasio ($3.65M), RHP Jared Hughes ($2.825M), RHP Drew Hutchison ($2.3M) and LHP Wade LeBlanc ($800K), who agreed to his contract earlier in the off season. LHP Jeff Locke was non-tendered and signed off on a $3M agreement with Miami in December.

1/13 Through the 1940s: Arky Inked; HBD Jim, Ron, Ben, Goat, Fred, Spades, Jud & Al

• 1865 - RHP Al Krumm was born in Pittsburgh. Al, who had a rep as a pot-stirrer, was ousted from his Lima squad by his teammates in 1888 and came home to work in J&L’s rolling mills. In ‘89, he tossed a game for McKeesport (his only outing with them; he couldn’t pitch much as the day games clashed with his steelworkers schedule) but caught the Alleghenys eye. With Cannonball Morris and Pete Conway injured, they needed pitchers and gave Krumm a shot. He worked his mill shift, took a catnap, and caught a train to NY, getting there three hours before game time. It wasn’t auspicious - the tired hurler walked 10 and gave up two big innings in an 11-7 loss to the Giants. But the contest didn’t nick his confidence any - he vowed to buy a hat for any batter who could work him for a free pass in his next outing. That redemptive game never came, though, and he went back to his day job, retiring eventually to San Diego. 
• 1869 - 3B Grant “Jud” (his middle name was Judson) Smith was born in Green Oaks, Michigan. He played off-and-on in the show for four seasons, spending 1896 and 1901 with the Pirates. He hit .268 but only got into 16 games over those two campaigns, though he was a part of the Pirates 1901 championship squad. It was Jud’s destiny to be a minor league depth player; he toiled for 15 years on farm clubs, batting over .300 several times. 

Jud Smith (circled) - 1896 Team Photo

• 1880 - OF John “Goat” Anderson was born in Cleveland. He only played one year, 1908, in MLB, hitting .206 for the Pirates. But he was the regular RF’er and led off, with a .343 OBP and good base running skills. It wasn’t the lack of reaching base that did in the 27-year-old rookie; Goat developed arm problems and played his remaining ball in the minors through 1913. His nickname’s origin we can only speculate on, although based on his career line, we can safely eliminate Greatest Of All Time as a suspect. We’d guess it was because Anderson was small, (his vitals aren’t listed, but he was compared to 5'4'' Wee Willie Keeler) aggressive both on the bases & in the field, stubborn and argumentative with anyone on the field from umpires to his own manager. 
• 1901 - OF Fred Schulte was born in Belvidere, Illinois. He was an 11-year MLB vet, and spent his last two campaigns in Pittsburgh in 1936-37, batting .248 (his lifetime BA was .291) before being released by the club at the age of 36. He managed and coached afterward in the minor leagues until 1946. Fred was also a scout for the Reds, White Sox, Indians, and Braves from 1947-64. 
• 1909 - Charles “Spades” Wood was born in Spartanburg SC. The lefty twirled for two years in Pittsburgh, from 1930-31, mostly as a starter, and went 6-9/5.61. He had a little problem with the strike zone, walking 78 in 122 IP while fanning just 56. JC Bradbury of SABR explained his moniker: “Wood earned his nickname from a 13 spades bridge hand he was dealt on a Sunday, which resulted in his expulsion (from his school, Wofford College) - playing bridge on Sunday was not allowed.” 
• 1920 - OF Ben Guintini was born in Los Banos, California. It took him a spell to get to the majors (two years of minor league ball, two years in the Army and two more years on the farm) but in 1946 the Bucs gave him a shot,picking him up in the Rule 5 draft from the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. He went 0-for-3 in two games and was sent back to the bushes, resurfacing for four at-bats with the A’s in 1950. He spent 10 years in the minors, mainly as a PCL player, and was considered quite an entertainer by the fans and even Joe E Brown, who tried to talk him into the movies. Fun fact: In one game when several hometown fans came to see him play, he did handstands on his way to center field to start the game. He was quickly benched by no-fun skipper Lefty O'Doul, per Baseball Reference. Alas, neither baseball nor show biz saved him from an eventual day job - he became a Cadillac salesman after he retired. 
• 1939 - The Pirates announced that SS Arky Vaughan had agreed to a one-year contract worth an estimated $15,000, putting him in the same pay class as Paul Waner. Vaughan, who was two months shy of turning 28, turned in his fifth straight All-Star season (he would run his streak to nine in a row) while batting .322 in 1938 with a .433 OBP; he was also second in fielding percentage. 

Ron Brand - 1964 Topps

• 1940 - C Ron Brand was born in Los Angeles. Brand signed with the Pirates in 1958 as an 18-year-old high school kid and began his MLB journey with the Bucs in 1963, hitting .288. After spending all of 1964 in AAA Columbus, Ron was plucked by the Houston Colt .45s in the 1964 Rule 5 draft and put together an off-and-on eight-year run in the show. He managed for three years after putting away the mask, but then took a long hiatus to raise his family. Brand came back in 1994 as a scout for the Yankees after tending to the home fires. 
• 1949 - LHP Jim Foor was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Foor was a first round pick of the Tigers (15th overall) in 1967 out of high school. In 1972, he was traded to Pittsburgh by Detroit in a minor deal; the Bucs were looking for some back-end competitors for the rotation. Foor pitched in three games for the Pirates, walking one, striking out one and giving up no earned runs while spending most of the year at AAA Charleston in 1973. After the season, the Bucs shipped him to the Royals for Wayne Simpson. That was the end of his MLB career; wildness cursed him and he got into just 12 big league games in three years, tossing six frames while walking 11 batters.

1/13 From 1950: Cole, Dickson Deals; Wilson, Monroe, Teke, Forster Signed; Kendall No Go; HBD Kevin, Elmer & Odell

• 1953 - RHP Odell Jones was born in Tulare, California. Jones had several stints with the Bucs, starting out in 1975, spending a year in the minors and returning from 1977-78, then coming back via trade in 1981. He went 9-12/4.28, splitting his time between the pen and starting. The fastballer last pitched in the show in 1988; his final hurrah was in 1992 when he finished in the Mexican League. 
• 1954 - The Pirates traded workhorse RHP Murry Dickson, a 1953 NL All-Star, to the Phils for RHP Andy “Swede” Hansen, IF Jack "Lucky" Lohrke and $70K. Dickson won 62 more games until he retired in 1959, while neither Hansen or Lohre ever suited up for Pittsburgh (or any other MLB club) as both were assigned to the top Bucco farm team, the Hollywood Stars. Dickson was a victim of a Branch Rickey payroll dump; both he and Ralph Kiner (in June, 1953) were traded, trimming $115,000 of Bucco salary. Swede’s moniker was because of his Scandinavian heritage (he was actually a Dane). Lucky came by his nickname honestly; by the time he was 22, he had at least six close calls with the Reaper. Several were in WW2 combat, another in a plane wreck and yet another in a bus crash. 

Murry Dickson - 1951 Bowman

• 1963 - Kevin McClatchy was born in Sacramento, California. McClatchy headed the group that purchased the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996 for $95M and pushed through the construction of PNC Park, keeping the team in Pittsburgh. Bob Nutting replaced him as principal owner after 10 years, and in July of 2007, McClatchy stepped down as CEO of the Pirates, replaced by Frank Coonelly. He’s a director of The McClatchy Company, a newspaper publishing group owned by his family, and stayed local, living in Ligonier. 
• 1971 - RHP Elmer Dessens was born in Hermosillo, Mexico. He started out with the Bucs by signing with them in 1993 and then pitching from the bullpen from 1996-98 with a 2-8/6.12 slash. He went to Japan the following year, then came back to toss in the MLB through the 2010 season, wearing eight different uniforms, including two stops with the Mets, during a 14-year career. 
• 1977 - The Bucs signed RHP Kent Tekulve and LHP Terry Forster to contracts. Teke’s salary wasn’t disclosed; he was coming off a breakout year with 64 outings (102 IP) and a line of 5-3-9/2.45 while Forster had been held back by injuries in the past two years with the White Sox and would pitch just one year for the Pirates. He signed for $50,000 while going 6-4-1/4.43. 
• 2004 - Per the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the Padres and Bucs were cooking up a deal that would send C Jason Kendall to San Diego for C Ramon Hernandez and 3B Jeff Cirillo. While SD GM Kevin Towers was a big Kendall fan (this was the fourth different proposal he offered during the off season to get him in the Padre fold), Friar ownership had a late change of heart and killed the proposed swap, leery of taking on the $42M still owed to Kendall over the next four seasons. Jason was moved after the season to the Oakland A’s. 
• 2006 - OF Craig Wilson avoided arbitration by signing a $3.3M contract in what would be his last Bucco season, as he was dealt to the Yankees at the 2006 deadline. He played for the Pirates from 2001-06, hitting .268 with 94 HR. He faded with the Yankees, went to Atlanta the following season and was sent to the White Sox, playing AAA ball for the remainder of 2007 and all of 2008 for the Bucs and Mariners before retiring. 

Craig Monroe -  2010 Fox Sports

• 2010 - OF Craig Monroe inked a one-year/$750K deal with the Bucs. Another in a collection of guys of that era who were on the way out but were given a paid farewell tour by the Bucs FO, Monroe hit .215 with three homers and was released in July, ending his nine-year MLB career. 
• 2018 - The Pirates sent RHP Gerrit Cole to the Astros for a gaggle of youngsters: RHP Joe Musgrove, 3B/1B Colin Moran, RHP Michael Feliz and minor-league OF Jason Martin a day or two after a “fake news” report of a consummated deal between the clubs. The two teams had discussed a Cole deal starting from the 2017 deadline and got back to brass tacks during the winter meetings. Cole had a great couple of seasons for the ‘Stros before jumping to the Yankees, while Moran became an infield Swiss Army knife and Musgrove joined the rotation. Feliz has been a yo-yo, spinning between Indy and Pittsburgh, while Martin reached AAA ball and got a taste of the show in 2019 before his 2020 release. The Yankees were considered the early frontrunners in the Cole sweepstakes, and reportedly offered either Clint Frazier or Chance Adams as the featured return. Bronx prospects Gleyber Torres, Justus Sheffield, Estevan Florial and Miguel Andujar were all off the table, thwarting the Pirates FO, which had reputedly targeted Andujar or Sheffield.

1/12: Gerrit, Jordy, George, Brian, Tony, Pops, Manny Sign; Mo, Larry Drafted; Willie HoF, MoY; Bike League; HBD Ivan, Mad Dog, Bobby, Rich, Eds & Tom

• 1859 - C/1B Ed Swartwood was born in Rockford, Illinois. Swartwood played for the Alleghenys from 1882-84 (in fact, he was the first batter in franchise history, as the ‘82 Alleghenys were the Pirates predecessor) and then spent his last big league season as a Pirate in 1892. He put up some good numbers, including a career .322 BA in Pittsburgh. In 1882 he led the American Association with 86 runs, 18 doubles, and 159 total bases, then went on to become the league batting champion in 1883 (the first Pittsburgh player to take the crown) with a .357 average. Swartwood married a Pittsburgh gal in 1883 while with the Alleghenys and became an Allegheny County sheriff when he was done with baseball (he also umped for a spell after his playing career). He was buried in North Side’s Union Dale cemetery after he passed on in 1924. 
• 1866 - C Tom Kinslow was born in Washington, DC. Tom spent 10 years in the show, squeezing in 19 games with the 1895 Pirates and batting .226 after being traded by the Brooklyn Bridegrooms for Ad Gumbert. The hard-drinking Kinslow (who owned a Washington bar) was released in May for overindulgence, expressing shock at the penance - in Brooklyn, they had punished his binges with fines. He was by all accounts a friendly galoot, but the drinking led to discipline and conditioning (his weight would yo-yo) issues, and he only played 380 games during his decade in MLB. Tom died young, at 35, from “consumption” (tuberculosis).

Tom Kinslow - 1895 Mayo Plug Tobacco

• 1893 - Several National League owners, led by Pirates manager Al Buckenberger and Washington owner J. Earl Wagner, formed the National Cycling Association, hoping to build bicycle tracks in their baseball stadiums to help increase both their exposure and profit; bike racing was a big-time sport at the turn of the 20th century. But not all of the teams were interested in the venture, and many big-name cyclists opted to stay with their current organizations, scuttling the idea. 
• 1925 - 1B Big Ed Stevens (actually, a modest 6’1”, 190 lbs, but that was king-sized in the forties) was born in Galveston, Texas. The Pirates got him from Brooklyn when he was bumped off the bag by a rookie named Jackie Robinson. He replaced Hank Greenberg at first for a season in Pittsburgh, then spent his final two campaigns on the bench, putting up a .253 BA in his three Pirates years. Big Ed didn’t hit it big in the MLB, but was da bomb in the minors. In 16 farm seasons spanning 1941-61, Stevens belted 257 home runs and drove in 1,013 runs on his way to being named to the International League Hall of Fame. After his retirement, he scouted for the Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s. 
• 1951 - 3B Bill “Mad Dog” Madlock was born in Memphis. The third baseman played seven seasons for the Bucs (1979-85) with a line of .297/.357/.428 while leading the league in hitting in 1981 (.341) and 1983 (.323). He was a key part of the 1979 Championship team, batting .333 in the playoffs and World Series after coming from San Francisco in a June trade for Ed Whitson. The nickname? Madlock had a fiery temper and was ejected from 18 games during his career. BTW, his birthday is reported as being on 1/2/1951 on some baseball sites, but Bill himself posted the correct date on his Twitter account. And after all, he was there. 
• 1965 - Willie Stargell and Manny Mota returned signed contracts. Pops, who had missed 45 games in ‘64, still led the club with 21 HR and made his first All-Star team while Mota hit .277 off the bench. Willie would repeat as an AS by hitting 27 HR w/107 RBI in 1965; Manny remained a steady fixture off the bench with a .279 BA. 
• 1972 - RH reliever Rich Loiselle was born in Neenah, Wisconsin. He tossed his entire career of six seasons (1996-2001) for the Bucs, and went 9-18-49/4.38 during that span. Loiselle was the Bucco closer in 1997-98 when he picked up 48 of his 49 career saves. He struggled after that, having both control and elbow problems.

Rick Loiselle - 1998 Finest

• 1972 - The Pirates picked up two keepers in the January draft. First they drafted 3B Jim Morrison, who didn’t sign and instead went in the 1974 regular June draft to Philadelphia. But Pittsburgh kept track and finally landed him in 1982 in a deal with the White Sox. Mo spent six seasons with the Pirates, playing 92 or more games in five of them and batting .274. In the secondary phase, the Buccos selected RHP Larry Demery, who made his debut in 1974 and over four Pirates campaigns went 29-23-7/3.72 before an arm injury effectively ruined his career. 
• 1980 - Willie Stargell was featured on the cover of The Sporting News after being selected as TSN’s Man of the Year. Pops hit 32 homers in 1979 and added five more in the postseason, winning both the NLCS and World Series MVP awards. 
• 1980 - IF Bobby Crosby was born in Lakewood, California. The Rookie of the Year for Oakland in 2004, he came to the Pirates after eight years with the A’s when the 30-year-old signed on as a free agent in 2010. But a .224/.301/.295 slash in 61 games got him flipped at the deadline to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a five-man swap. The Snakes released him in August, ending his MLB career. 
• 1987 - RHP Ivan Nova was born in Palenque, Dominican Republic. After seven years with the Yankees, he joined Pittsburgh when the Bucs sent minor leaguers OF Tito Polo and LHP Stephen Tarpley to the Bronx Bombers at the 2016 deadline for him. In 11 starts, Nova went 5-2, 3.07 and the FO lured him back again as a free agent with a three year/$26M deal. He returned to earth in 2017 as his line was 11-14/4.14, in 31 games, more in line with his career results, then posted a 9-9/4.19 slash the next season before being sent to the White Sox, where he won 11 games in 2019, for prospects. He’s now a FA. 
• 1988 - Willie Stargell was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA‚ and the 17th player elected in his first year of eligibility. Cap’n Willie was inducted on August 1st. His Pirate slash was .282/.360/.529 with 475 HR and 1,540 RBI, both team records. Ralph Kiner is second on the Bucco list of homers; he hit 301. Hans Wagner is the #2 Pirate for RBI’s with 1,475. 
• 1989 - The Bucs signed RHP Brian Fisher, 26, to a one year/$404K contract to avoid arbitration. Pittsburgh had the fireballer penciled into their rotation for the third straight year after coming over from the Yankees but he broke his knee in 1989 and only made three starts; Brian would pitch just 26 more times before retiring in 1993. They also bought the contract of C Tom Prince from AAA as they began to form their 1989 club. 

Tony Womack - 1999 Pacific

• 1999 - 2B Tony Womack signed a one-year/$1.65M contract in his first year of arb as a Super Two player, zooming past his 1998 salary of $290K. Womack deserved the boost, hitting .282 with 85 runs scored and 58 stolen sacks, becoming the first Bucco since Omar Moreno to lead the league in swipes in back-to-back campaigns. He’d take the title for a third straight time with 72 larcenies in 1999, but not as a Pirate - a few weeks after he signed the papers, he was shipped to Arizona for Jason Boyd and Paul Weichard, with the Bucs looking to clear a spot for Warren Morris. 
• 2018 - The Pirates signed both RHP Gerrit Cole & SS Jordy Mercer to one-year/$6.75M deals, while RHP George Kontos agreed to a one-year/$2.725M contract to settle with three of their four arb-eligible players. The fourth, RHP Felipe Rivero, filed for a hearing. His ask was for $2.9M, while the Bucs countered at $2.4M. Less than a week later, the two sides agreed on a four-year/$22M contract (Rivero was a Super Two with four arb years) with two added team option years potentially worth another $19M. Cole, on the other hand, was traded two days later and Kontos was released in May. Jordy lasted the season before leaving as a FA for Motown.

1/11: Keona, Corey, Orlando, Ryan Signed; Lefty Dealt; Cutch Cover Boy; Brownie Joins The Booth; DH Ok'ed; HBD Warren, Jermaine, Lloyd, Trader Jack, Max, Mickey, Skipper, Bill & Silver

• 1867 - 3B Bill Niles was born in Covington, Kentucky. He only played 11 games in Pittsburgh in 1895, hitting .216, and never landed in the show again, but he did have an interesting journey. He was cut by the Pirates in 1894, and NL clubs Cleveland and Washington put in claims for him while a handful of minor league clubs offered him a deal. Apparently intrigued enough by Niles’ potential to not want to lose him to a league foe, manager Connie Mack removed him from waivers and loaned him to Milwaukee, then in the minor Western League, for the year. Mack brought Bill back to the Bucs for the 1895 campaign, but he lost his luster with a .216 BA. Niles was returned to the farm after the season and toiled in the minors through 1901. 
• 1868 - RHP Silver King was born in St. Louis. King only played one season in Pittsburgh, but it was a big deal when he signed. King won 110 games from 1888-90 and signed with the Pirates for $5,000, becoming the highest paid player in the game. The investment fizzled; the Bucs got a 14-29 record (although he wasn’t all that bad; he made 44 starts and tossed 384 innings to a 3.11 ERA). But problems were looming. The Bucs released him, and the early sidewinder had one more good year with the Giants before the rules committee chopped him down to size. He threw sidearm from the far right of the pitcher’s circle, making the ball appear to be launched from third base. In 1893, the rubber was introduced and he lost his territorial advantage, never posting an ERA south of four afterward. His nom de guerre is combination nickname and writer’s Anglicizing: His real name was Charles Koenig, but his prematurely white hair gave him the nickname of Silver while King is the English translation of Koenig. 

Silver King - photo via SABR

• 1888 - C Clarence “Skipper” Roberts was born in Wardner, Idaho. The backstop got into 52 games for the 1914 Pittsburgh Rebels as Claude Berry’s caddy. He batted .234 in his final big league season after jumping to the Federal League Rebs from the NL Cards. Skipper played briefly for the Chicago Whales after he was bounced from the team for punching an umpire, but Federal League President James Gilmore returned him, after a scolding, to Pittsburgh after four games for the Windy City nine. Roberts returned to his home base, the Northwestern League on the left coast, and 1916 was his last season. He worked as a machinist and passed away in 1963. His nickname appears to be a naval promotion by his ball playing buds; he was called Sailor Roberts after a stint in the Navy and it evolved to Skipper after a couple of seasons. 
• 1890 - Hall of Fame OF Max Carey was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. He played 17 seasons in Pittsburgh, compiling a .287 BA while stealing 688 bases, leading the NL in that category 10 times. He was at his best during the 1925 World Series, hitting .458 as the Pirates dethroned the Washington Senators and Walter “Big Train” Johnson in seven games. 
• 1890 - 1B Mickey Keliher was born in Washington DC. He spent his two-year MLB career in Pittsburgh, striking out five times in seven at-bats. Mickey was a career minor leaguer; he spent 18 years on the farm, where unlike his major league performance, he hit .304 lifetime. He was a player/manager for his last three MiLB campaigns before dying young after a car accident. 
• 1951 - Scout and executive Jack Zduriencik was born in New Castle. His first big league executive position was as the Pirates Scouting Director from 1991-93, following birddog gigs with the Mets and Bucs. He went on to scouting/farm positions with the Mets, Brewers and Mariners before becoming GM of Seattle from 2009-15. Since then, he’s been a pre-and-post game analyst for The Fan (KDKA-FM). 
• 1955 - The Cards sent RHP Ben Wade and cash to Pittsburgh for LHP Paul “Lefty” LaPalme. Wade worked well if not often in ‘55 with a line of 0-1-1/3.21 in 11 outings Lefty was converted full-time to the pen and spent his final three years (1955-57) with three teams, going 10-12-11/3.29, while making 132 appearances. After the former Brooklyn Dodger hung ‘em up, he spent his post-pitching days as an LA scout. 

Lloyd McClendon - 1992 Fleer Ultra

• 1959 - Utilityman and later manager Lloyd McClendon was born in Gary, Indiana. McClendon spent five years (1990-94) as a player in Pittsburgh where he hit .251, mainly off the bench. He was named Buc manager in 2001, and in his five seasons as skipper, McClendon compiled a 336–446 record and famously “stole” a base. Fun fact: In 1971, as a 12-year old, McClendon earned the nickname "Legendary Lloyd" when he hit five home runs in five at bats, all on the first pitch, and walked in his other five plate appearances in the three games he played in the Little League World Series. 
• 1972 - OF Jermaine Allensworth was born in Anderson, Indiana. Allensworth spent the first 2-1/2 years of his four year career as a Bucco, hitting .272 from 1996-98 and seeing considerable time in the pasture; he even was portrayed on Saturday Night Live by Tracy Morgan in 1997. He was traded to KC for a minor leaguer, and they moved him to the Mets. His bat went cold and he was out of MLB after the 1999 season, playing a couple of years on the farm followed by a long stint of indie ball. 
• 1973 - This is a red letter day in baseball history. The owners voted to allow the AL to use a designated hitter, drawing a line in the sand that still exists between the junior and senior circuits. On April 6th, 1973, Ron Blomberg of the Yankees became the first regular season DH in major-league history, drawing a bases-loaded walk off the Red Sox’s Luis Tiant. 
• 1974 - 2B Warren Morris was born in Alexandria, Louisiana. He made his major league debut in 1999, going from non-roster invitee in spring training to starting second baseman early in the season for the Bucs. Morris had a sharp rookie campaign, hitting .288 with 15 home runs, 73 RBI and earning a spot on the 1999 Topps All-Star Rookie team at second base. But he went downhill fast, and the Pirates released him before the 2002 season; his last MLB campaign was in 2003 and he formally retired in 2006. 
• 1994 - 1B/OF Orlando Merced signed a one-year/$1.45M contract after hitting .313 w/seven homers and 70 RBI during the past season, a nice jump from the $325K he had earned in 1993.With his signing, the Pirates had tied up their arb eligibles (there were just four, with Jeff King earlier agreeing to a $2.4M contract the other biggie) without a hearing for the first time since 1988. 
• 1994 - The Pirates hired Greg Brown, the Buffalo Bison broadcaster, as part of the TV/radio announcing team as a replacement following Jim Rooker and Kent Dedivanis’ release (Bob Walk would later get the other spot). Brown had been a jack-of-all-trades for the Pirates before leaving for the Buffalo job in 1989. 

Ryan Church - 2010 Topps Heritage

• 2010 - The Pirates signed OF Ryan Church to a one-year/$1.5M contract with an additional $1.32M available in performance incentives that became official a couple of days later. The 31-year-old outfielder was expected to be the Bucs' fourth outfielder, behind Brandon Moss, Andrew McCutchen, and Lastings Milledge, but instead batted .182 with three homers for Pittsburgh and became part of a deadline package with Arizona. 2010 would be his last MLB season. 
• 2013 - Andrew McCutchen was voted to be the cover athlete on the baseball video game “MLB 13: The Show.” Cutch gathered 108,147 votes from fans via Twitter and Facebook, besting NY Yankees' pitcher CC Sabathia, who came in second place with 89,054 votes. 
• 2019 - The Buccos had two remaining arb contracts to sort out, and got them both done by the deadline when LF Corey Dickerson inked an $8.5M deal and RHP Keone Kela signed for $3.175M. Both posted productive 2018 campaigns and got healthy raises: Dickerson had earned $5.95M and Kela $1.2M. RHP Michael Feliz had agreed to an $850K/$375K split MLB-MiLB contract earlier in the off season.

1/10: '20's 10-Man Arb Class; Todd, Tom Signed; AL, NL Parlay; Negro League Reforms & HoF'ers; Rex Top Birddog; Bing OK'd; HBD Cliff, Bo, Bob & Fats

• 1898 - OF Clarence “Fats” Jenkins was born in New York City. Jenkins was a speedster who played eight games for the Pittsburgh Crawfords at the age of 40 in 1938; he was at the end of his road by that time and hit just .197 before moving on to the New York Black Yankees. He was a force in his day, though, posting a BA of .333 in 17 Negro League seasons. And his best sport may have been roundball. In the early 1920s, he played for Cum Posey's Pittsburgh-based powerhouse five, the Loendi Big Five, and then for the New York Renaissance, the last of the Colored World Champions, starting in 1925. From that season through 1939 he captained the Rens and made the NBA Hall of Fame when the NY team was entered into the hoops Hall of Fame as a unit in 1963. 
• 1903 - The simmering feud between the National and American Leagues was calmed a bit after a meeting of the owners in Cincinnati. The NL asked for a consolidated 12-team league; the AL instead vowed to send Samuel Angus’ Detroit Tiger club to Pittsburgh to go head-to-head with the Pirates. Indeed, Barney Dreyfuss held a lease on Recreation (Union) Park, the only other City ballyard beside Exposition Park, from 1901-04 just to block the AL from claim jumping, using it mainly as a cycling venue he renamed “The Coliseum.” Once that matter was settled, the owners started playing a little more nicely and decided to share baseball’s sandbox. The leagues remained pretty much the same & agreed on common basic rules, the American Association officially became a minor league circuit, and the players who were under conflicting contracts for the season had their rights assigned to one club. However, a working World Series agreement between the leagues wouldn’t be made until 1905, although the league champions, the Pirates and Boston Americans, scheduled a best-of-nine set after the campaign in what’s considered the first modern World Series. 
• 1922 - LHP Cliff Chambers was born in Portland, Oregon. He worked for the Bucs between 1949-51, going 28-28 with a 4.33 ERA. But he had a shining moment: On May 6th, 1951, Chambers pitched a no-hitter (albeit with eight walks) for the Pirates, beating the Boston Braves 3-0 for the second no-no in franchise history (the first was Nick Maddox’s 1907 gem v Brooklyn). 

  

  Cliff Chambers - 1941 Bowman

• 1926 - SS George “Bo” Strickland was born in New Orleans. The Pirates got him from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft, and he played for the Bucs from 1950-52, helping to mentor a young Dick Groat. He hit .199 over that span, and then was traded to the Indians, where he lasted eight more seasons, several as a starting SS and manning the middle for the 1954 AL championship club. Strickland was a solid glove guy and good thing; he hit over .238 just once in his 10 year MLB career. Per Mel Marmer of SABR, Bo got his nickname as a kid; he was always covered with scrapes and cuts, and all those “boo-boos” earned him the moniker Bobo, which was shortened to Bo as he grew up. 
• 1933 - The second Negro National League was established in 1933, two years after the original Negro National League (NNL) folded. It consisted of seven teams: the Baltimore Black Sox, Cole's American Giants, Columbus Blue Birds, Detroit Stars, Homestead Grays, Nashville Elite Giants and the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Homestead was expelled early in the first season for raiding Detroit's roster, but remained an associate club until 1935, when they were reinstated as a full member once again. They held on until the league’s end in 1949, while the Crawfords disbanded after the 1938 season. Each local club claimed two NNL titles. 
• 1956 - Scout Bob Rossi was born in Scranton. He got around, scouting for the Pirates (1986-90), New York Mets (1991-2004) and Chicago Cubs (2005-07) after starting out as a part-timer for the Cards. He signed C Keith Osik, who played seven years for the Bucs. 
• 1957 - Rex Bowen became the Pirates scouting supervisor, replacing George Sisler. Bowen, who started with the Brooklyn Dodgers - he signed Maury Wills - joined the Pirates as a scout in 1950 and inked the 17-year-old Bill Mazeroski in 1954. Rex also signed Dick Groat, Gene Michael, Bruce Dal Canton and Gene Freese before joining the Reds in 1968. He was recognized by Baseball America as one of the top ten baseball scouts of the 20th century. Rex’s brother Joe and grandson Jack also worked in the Bucco scouting department.

Bing - 1948 Photo Dean Loomis/Life

• 1957 - Commissioner Ford Frick ruled that Bing Crosby could keep his 5% share of the Detroit Tigers, even though he was also a minority owner (16%) of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The dual ownership never became an issue (Der Bingle slipped through a minority-interest loophole; his holdings were not deemed “substantial”) as he sold his shares in both teams by the early sixties. Bing liked keeping his hand in baseball; he also owned shares in the minor-league Hollywood Stars until 1957, when the club was sold, while also a Pirates owner. 
• 1962 - RHP Tom Sturdivant, who had been traded for Tom Cheney in August and put up a 5-2/2.48 line in his two months with the Pirates in 13 outings (11 starts), was signed to a contract for an undisclosed amount to return to the fold. The 32-year-old knuckleballer had a workmanlike campaign, going 9-5-2/3.73, taking a turn at everything from starting to closing. It would be his only full Bucco season; he was flipped to the Tigers after three outings in May of 1963. 
• 2005 - Trying to prove that you can go home again, RHP Todd Ritchie, 33, signed a minor league deal ($350K MLB) with the Pirates after a disappointing season with Tampa Bay following rotator cuff surgery. But his arm and the comeback fell short, and he retired in the spring. Todd made one last comeback try in 2008 with the Rockies, but he never advanced past the low minors and he left the hill for good afterward. 
• 2006 - In a special election, seventeen Negro Leagues stars were elected to the Hall of Fame, including Homestead Grays owner Cum Posey & RHP/manager Ray Brown, Grays/Pittsburgh Crawfords 3B Jud Wilson and local lad OF/manager Pete Hill. Their formal induction was on July 30th, 2006. 

Cum Posey Led the Pittsburgh Black HoF Class - ACEO Sketch Card

• 2020 - The Pirates had a huge 10-man arb class, but cleared up everyone’s status before the deadline to file for a hearing. IF Eric Gonzalez signed early ($725K) while C Elias Diaz was non-tendered and signed with Colorado. The eight remaining arb-eligibles and their one-year deals: 1B Josh Bell - $4,800,000; RHP Keone Kela - $3,725,000; RHP Trevor Williams - $2,825,000; RHP Big Joe Musgrove - $2,800,000; 2B Adam Frazier - $2,800,000; RHP Jameson Taillon - $2,250,000; RHP Michael Feliz - $1,100,000 and RHP Chad Kuhl - $840,000.

1/9: Gomez, Burleigh Dealt; Guillermo, Jeromy, Keith, Curtis, Carlos Signed; Forbes Field Filled; RIP Dirt; HBD Lady

• 1868 - LHP Harley “Lady” Payne was born in Windsor, Ohio. He closed out his fourth MLB campaign in 1899 as a Pirate, going 1-3/3.76. Harley had been a workhorse for Brooklyn from 1896-97 (he was their Opening Day pitcher in ‘87), making 74 appearances (66 starts) and going 522 IP but only tossed six games the next two seasons before leaving baseball to work his farm. 
• 1910 - Dreyfuss’ Folly, Forbes Field, drew some raves from the local press after a busy debut season. The Pittsburgh Press noted that “...from its opening to the end of football season, Forbes Field drew nearly one million fans...nothing even approaching this record was ever made at any other athletic venue.” Half the crowd was attracted by baseball; the remainder filled the seats for football, track meets, hippodrome events, police drills, and even a Communion service as the Oakland ballyard quickly became Pittsburgh’s big-event host.
• 1918 - The Pirates traded RHP Burleigh Grimes to the Brooklyn Robins along with RHP Al Mamaux & SS Chuck Ward for 2B George Cutshaw & OF Casey Stengel, who was making his second stop at Pittsburgh. Hall of Famer Grimes went on to win 158 games in nine seasons with Brooklyn. The Bucs top prize was Cutshaw, who manned second for Pittsburgh for four years, hitting .275 and providing solid up-the-middle defense. Stengel battled owner Barney Dreyfuss over salary, joined the Navy for a short stint and then was traded to Philadelphia in August of 1919 after playing 128 games in his return tour with the Buccos. 

Carlos Garcia - 1996 Topps Gamers

• 1987 - 2B Carlos Garcia, 19-years-old, was signed out of Venezuela as an international free agent. He spent the majority of his 10-year MLB career with Pittsburgh after debuting in 1990 for the Bucs as a September call up. Garcia was traded to Toronto after the 1996 season, batting .278 in his seven Bucco campaigns and earning one All-Star nod. After he retired, Carlos coached first base for a season for the Pirates and managed in the Buc system for four more years. 
• 1991 - The Pirates and backup IF Curtis Wilkerson agreed to a one-year/$400K deal w/incentives. He replaced lost FAs Rafe Belliard, who signed with the Braves in December for two-years/$900K and Wally Backman, who inked a contract with the Phillies a day later for two years/$1.3M. Proving you usually get what you pay for, Wilkerson hit .188 in 85 games and moved on to Kansas City following the season. 
• 2001 - C Keith Osik avoided arb by signing a two-year deal worth $1.3M, with $675K due this season and the remainder in 2002. The five-year vet also played first, third and pitched in mop-up roles, and GM Cam Bonifay said of the signing that “He’s proven his flexibility. He’s a very important member of our club.” Eh, maybe not so much...in 111 games over that two-year span, Osik hit .186 with an OPS+ of 38 and was allowed to walk after the contract ended, signing with Milwaukee. 
• 2006 - 37-year-old OF Jeromy Burnitz was officially signed to the Pirates richest free agent contract to date, a $6M deal with a 2007 mutual option also worth $6M w/$700K buyout. Burnitz had been the Pirates top FA target the year before, but he turned down their $4.25M bid after the Cubs offered $5M. They almost missed on this go-around, too - the Orioles offered two-years/$12M, but Jeromy disagreed with some of the contract language and passed on the deal. It was a pyrrhic victory for the Pirates. He hit .258 w/24 HR in the Windy City in 2005 but just .230 w/16 HR for Pittsburgh in 2006, and the Bucs didn’t renew his contract. Burnitz then announced his retirement after 14 seasons during which he logged 315 HR and 981 RBI while playing for seven teams. 
• 2013 - The Indians traded RHP Jeanmar Gomez to Pittsburgh for OF Quincy Latimore. Gomez was effective in a long role for a couple of seasons (5-2-1/3.28 in 78 appearances) before signing with the Phillies in 2015. He went to the White Sox in 2018, played a bit for the Rangers the following campaign and is a free agent now, while Quincy has bounced around the minors and Latin leagues. 

Jeanmar Gomez - 2013 Topps Update

• 2014 - Steve “Dirt” DiNardo, who had been the head groundskeeper at Three Rivers Stadium after starting as a part-timer at Forbes Field in 1961 (he retired in 1994), passed away at the age of 82. Dirt was legendary for his tricks, once alleged to have lowered the bullpen mounds of heated Bucco rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, when they were in town along with similar feats of homerism on behalf of the Steelers. 
• 2020 - The Bucs signed free agent OF Guillermo Heredia, who was soon to turn 29, to a one-year/undisclosed salary deal and released Pablo Reyes to clear a 40-man spot. Speedster Heredia played as a fourth outfielder for Seattle and Tampa, where he was a strong defensive corner player and adequate CF, but not-so-strong batter with a lifetime .240 BA (82 OPS). The Cuban-born OF’er, who was DFA'ed by the Rays, was inked to bolster the Pirates at a thin position, especially after the trade of Starling Marte. Alas, he hit .188, and in August was waived and then claimed by the Mets.