1/23 From 1950: Kiner HoF; Milner Signs; TRS Lease; '99 Fest; HBD Victor, Benny & Alfonso

• 1957 - LHP Alfonso Pulido was born in Tierra Blanco, Mexico. His Pirates career is easy to miss; he pitched two innings in 1983 and two more in 1984, giving up seven hits and four earned runs before being traded to NY as part of the Steve Kemp deal. He did pitch a bit more credibly with the Yankees in 1986, but that would mark the end of his big league time. Even if El Norte was a step too far for a guy considered a hot prospect, Alfonso did carve out a solid 14-year career in the Mexican Leagues, winning 104 games. The Pirates had originally purchased his contract from the Mexico City Reds in 1983 (he stayed w/the Reds on option until after their playoffs) where Pulido had gone 17-3, with Chuck Tanner commenting that he had “Valenzuela-type stuff.” 

Alfonso Pulido 1985 Donruss Rookie

• 1962 - 1B/OF Benny Distefano was born in Brooklyn. He played for the Bucs in 1984, 1986, and 1988-89, hitting .227 in 300 PA. Distefano was the last lefty to catch a major league game, going behind the dish three times for the Pirates in 1989. He played some in Venezuela after his last MLB game in 1992 and has been a Mets farm coach since 2010. 
• 1968 - RHP Victor Cole was born in Leningrad, Russia (his student father married a Russian girl). Cole’s MLB/Pirates resume consists of eight games with an 0-2/5.48 slash in 1992, but that was enough to make him the first Soviet-born major leaguer since the thirties. He later went on to play in Korea and part-time for the Russian national team (he suited up when they played in the US) in 2003 and 2007. 
• 1975 - OF Ralph Kiner was elected to the Hall of Fame and was inducted on August 18th. Kiner played only 10 years in MLB, but led the NL in home runs for seven consecutive seasons. He received 273 votes on the 362 ballots cast by the writers, exactly enough to be selected. Good thing, too - it was his 15th and final year on the ballot; his name would have been kicked to the Veterans Committee if he hadn’t gotten in. Kiner Quotes: One, attributed to Kiner himself was "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs and singles hitters drive Fords." The other was some shade thrown by Bucco GM Branch Rickey, who told Kiner after he had traded him to the Cubs: "We finished last with you, we can finish last without you."
• 1981- The Pirates officially announced a multi-year deal (terms not disclosed) with 1B/OF John Milner, who was testing free agency after four Bucco campaigns. He signed the contract on January 15th, the last day that he could rejoin the Pirates per the FA rules of the day. Milner was expected to platoon in left field and help ease Willie Stargell’s load, but that plan was foiled by the acquisition of Jason Thompson when camp broke. Milner hit just .237 in the strike-shortened year and was traded in a deadline deal to the Expos for Willie Montanez. In turn, he was released by Montreal in the middle of 1982 and was re-signed by Pittsburgh to close out his final season. 

John Milner 1981 Fleer

• 1992 - In a seemingly never-ending battle, the Pirates sued the City to break the lease at Three Rivers Stadium. They cited general lack of maintenance, but the issue went deeper - the City had promised the team $25M back in 1986 to capitalize the Pirates, based on the premise that TRS would be sold to a private investor. That never happened, and a consequent City bond fell $4.3M short of meeting the promised sum, leading to an exchange of slings and arrows between the two parties. The ballclub also chafed at the TRS rental fee and amusement tax. It was a perilous time for the Pirates and Pittsburgh; the team was skating on thin ice financially and the City was reeling from the loss of the steel industry and was in no position to bankroll the Bucs, as it was on a slope leading to the state finally declaring it “financially distressed” and taking over the municipal pursestrings. Spoiler alert: both were bloodied and battered but survived. 
• 1999 - The two-day Piratefest ‘99 featured 11 current Buccos at the Carnegie Science Center to draw the fans, but the team had a pretty sturdy fallback by showcasing 10 members of the 1979 World Series club, who were signing autographs and cheesin’ with the WS trophy. The Pirates doubled down by having Sister Sledge perform a concert. Maybe they had an inkling even back then that the ballclub was going to have to live on its past glories for a spell...

1/22: Leyland & Sixto Sign; Pink Shade; HBD Jimmy, Fred, Diomedes, Huck & Warren

• 1876 - LHP Warren McLaughlin was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. He had an 11-game MLB career over three seasons; the middle one (1902) spent briefly with the Pirates. The Bucs took him from New Haven in the Connecticut League, where he had tossed a no-hitter, for an audition as they were evaluating pitching to build a B List of arms during the days of inter-league raids. He did well, going 3-0/2.76 with three starts in 11 days, all complete games, and Pittsburgh inked him to a deal. The club did lose a couple of guys to American League marauders, but still had nine pitchers under contract for 1903 and so sold McLaughlin to Philadelphia. He had back woes there and fizzled, ending his big league days. He worked in the minors until 1908 and semi-pro leagues for a while longer before returning home to become a tin knocker.  
• 1895 - In a little blowback from the Red Ehret-Pink Hawley pitcher swap made the week before, a newspaper article claimed that Pirates hurler Ad Gumbert was taking bets that Ehret would win two games for St. Louis to every one that Hawley won for Pittsburgh. But Gumbert cried foul and claimed that he wasn’t throwing shade at his club but was instead the victim of a frame-up. He contacted to the Pittsburgh Press the next day and asked to “Kindly deny the statement...the story was originated by a mischief-maker to hurt me with all Pittsburgh people…” Even after the denial, he was traded to Brooklyn four days later for reserve C Tom Kinslow. Pink, btw, won 31 games in 1895; Red won six. 

Huck Geary (photo Jan. 11 1943 Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

• 1917 - SS Eugene “Huck” Geary was born in Buffalo. His MLB career was spent as a Pirate reserve from 1942-43, as Huck could only muster a .160 BA in 55 games. A takeout slide may have had more to do with his short career than his stick, though. The Cubs’ Eddie Stanky made a hard slide at second and cut Geary down, breaking his leg. There was some doubt that Geary would ever play again, and that was the last season that he spent in the majors. Mike Buczkowski, Huck’s grandson & minor league executive, says Geary got his nickname as a kid because of his Huck Finn-like habit of hanging his glove from a bat propped on his shoulder as he walked to the Buffalo ball fields.
• 1919 - LHP Diomedes Olivo was born in Guayubin, Dominican Republic. He was the second oldest rookie to pitch MLB when in 1960 he got a September call-up at age 41 after being plucked from the Mexican League (Satchel Paige made his debut as a 42-year-old). He spent the following season in AAA, then all of 1962 in Pittsburgh, going 5-1-7/2.78 in his 66 big league games with Pittsburgh. He was traded to St. Louis in 1963 and retired after the season at age 44. He scouted for the Cardinals afterward and later held a position in the Dominican Ministry of Sports until his death from a heart attack at age 58. 
• 1948 - RHP Fred Cambria was born in Queens, New York. A Pirates third-round pick in 1969 out of St. Leo College, he tossed a perfect game for the AA York Pirates in 1969 and debuted with the Bucs in 1970. Fred was 1-2/3.51 during his five-start audition, but that would be his only MLB line. Bursitis ended his career after the 1973 campaign; even an altered submarine delivery didn’t help. Since he’s retired, he’s coached for San Diego and college while also serving as the executive director of a couple of indie leagues. 

Jimmy Anderson 2000 Fleer Tradition

• 1976 - LHP Jimmy Anderson was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. After being drafted in the ninth round of the 1994 draft, he pitched the first four years (1999-2002) of his six-season career in Pittsburgh, going 24-42 with a 5.17 ERA, working later for the Reds, Cubs and Red Sox. The southpaw then made minor league stops with the Twins, Astros, Cubs, Devil Rays and Marlins before he retired in 2006. Now he runs the Jimmy Anderson Baseball Training Academy and coaches a traveling team, the Mid Atlantic Pirates, that play out of his facility. 
• 1984 - The Pirates signed free agent OF Sixto Lezcano to a two-year/$925K contract. Lezcano hit .207 in 1985 and was released at the start of the 1986 season, ending his MLB career after 12 seasons. The Bucs ate $500K of his deal, part of $3M in dead money spent that year for players no longer with the club. Lezcano then played a bit in Japan and in the Senior League before beginning a run as a Braves minor league coach. 
• 1992 - Jim Leyland agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $3.1M (it included restructuring of his remaining two years) that tied him to Pittsburgh through 1996. The deal was his last in the Steel City - he jumped to the Marlins in 1997 after the Bucco ship had been effectively scuttled by the losses of Barry Bonds, Doug Drabek, Bobby Bonilla and company.

Two Feet Shy of a Blizzard Notes: Rumor Season, Player News; Three Weeks to Camp, Yay

While u were scrapin' and shiverin':

• Michael Duarte of NBC Sports - LA throws a big log into the hot stove: "Sources: Dodgers having ‘active and ongoing discussions’ with Pirates for Starling Marte. They’ve discussed a deal in previous weeks as well. Not known what other players are involved, or if teams are close to a deal." LA has been rumored to be shopping Joc Pederson, so speculate away, although the Pirates have no replacement on tap for Marte, so rate this rumor as a shot in the dark.

Pirates fans and MM rumors... (image via The Talisman)

• Even more of a long shot: Latino sportswriter Hector Gomez tweeted that "Several reports suggest that the Pirates could be the mystery team that would be interested in Manny Machado." Be still, my heart. Alas, we suspect both rumors are based on thin air; one sounds like a floated balloon and the other doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.
• Jeffrey Cupp from Rumbunter takes a look at SS Erik Gonzalez; he finds him to be a pretty solid add, especially if he embraces the launch angle revolution.
• John Dreker of Pirates Prospects lists the Pirates non-roster invitees to camp and evaluates their chances of coming north with the club.
• Per Jon Heyman of Fancred, the Dodgers, Giants, Angels, Phillies and Rays are among teams in on Josh Harrison. MLB Trade Rumors has more on J-Hay's suitors.
• RHP Dario Agrazal, 24, cleared waivers after being DFA'ed last week when Aaron Slegers was claimed, and has been outrighted to Indy. Though he's now off the 40-man, he still will be an NRI in camp. Once a hot prospect, he's been an injury magnet the past two seasons.
• The Cubs signed once-upon-a-time Bucco RHP Rob Scahill to a minor league deal.
• The versatility thing is catching on in the Central - the Reds RHP Michael Lorenzen, who tossed it pretty well last year (4-2-1/3.11), wants to play some OF, too. Why? 'Cause he went 9-for-31 at the dish (.290 BA) with four homers last year and would like to get a few more AB's.
• Pitchers and catchers report to Bradenton on February 12th; position players on the 17th. It's almost time...

1/21: Schoolboy Signed; Frankie HoF; Bucs Beamed to NYC; RIP Clyde; HBD Chase, Wil, Jeff, Danny, Fern & Jimmy

• 1895 - RHP Jimmy Zinn was born in Benton, Arkansas. Zinn worked three years for the Bucs (1920-22; 8-7-4/3.54), with the last year being his only full season with the club. But he was a minor league legend, tossing for nine different farm clubs over 25 campaigns (mostly San Francisco and Kansas City), collecting 279 wins and compiling a 3.49 ERA. 

Fern Bell 1939-40 (photo George Burke)

• 1913 - OF Fernando “Fern” Bell was born in Ada, Oklahoma. He spent his brief MLB career in Pittsburgh from 1939-40, batting .283. Fern was a long-time minor leaguer (he started in organized ball as an 18-year-old) when he got the call to Pittsburgh, and after cooling off from a red-hot start in ‘39, he was sold early in the 1940 season to the minor league Toronto Maple Leafs club. Fore: After baseball, Fern continued swinging a stick at balls - he became a golf pro in California. 
• 1927 - IF Danny O’Connell was born in Paterson, New Jersey. As a Buc rookie in 1950 he hit .292 and finished third in the NL ROY voting. He spent the next two years in the Army during the Korean War but came back strong for Pittsburgh in 1953, hitting .294. The Pirates traded him in the off season to the Milwaukee Braves in one of MLB’s biggest deals, netting six players (Sid Gordon, Sam Jethroe, Curt Raydon, Max Surkont, Fred Waters & Larry Lassalle) along with $100,000. O’Connell hit .279 for the Braves in ‘54, then never had an average above .266 during the rest of his career, finishing with a lifetime BA of .260 over 10 years. 
• 1933 - Future Hall of Fame RHP Waite Hoyt was signed by the Pirates after being waived by the New York Giants. Working mostly out of the bullpen, he went 35-31-18/3.08 in his five-year Bucco career before being sold to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1937. Hoyt was called “Schoolboy” because he signed with the Yankees as a 15-year-old. Waite was also known as "The Merry Mortician" because in the off season he was a funeral director by day and a vaudevillian by night, sharing the stage with the likes of Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, and George Burns. 
• 1947 - The Baseball Writers selected Frankie Frisch to the Hall of Fame. Although the Fordham Flash spent his playing career with the Giants and Cardinals, he managed the Buccos from 1940-46. Five of his seven Pittsburgh clubs had winning records but finished higher than fourth just once when the team went 90-63 in 1944, coming in second to St. Louis, which won 105 games. 3B Pie Traynor fell short by two votes; he would be elected into the Hall the following year. 

Frankie Frisch 1945 Play Ball

• 1958 - The Pirates agreed to broadcast games to New York City to provide a NL presence after the departure of the Giants and Dodgers to the west coast (it was the first time the NL didn’t have a NY team since 1876; the hole was filled by the Mets in 1962) when they played the two former New York Senior Circuit clubs. St Louis reached the same deal while the Phils one-upped both squads by airing 78 games in the Big Apple. 
• 1970 - RHP Jeff McCurry was born in Tokyo. His dad was a serviceman stationed there before the family moved to Texas a few months later. A Pirate draft pick in 1990, Jeff worked his 1995 rookie campaign in Pittsburgh, then returned for the 1998 season. McCurry was a big ‘un at 6’7”, but it didn’t help his hurling noticeably as the reliever was 2-2-1/5.38 in 71 Bucco outings. At last check, he’s a high school coach in Houston now. 
• 1980 - 3B/OF Clyde Barnhart died in Hagerstown, Maryland at age 84. Clyde spent his entire nine-year career as a Pirate, starting out as a third baseman and then moving to the outfield thanks to Pie Traynor’s arrival at the hot corner. Clyde was a dependable rather than flashy hitter, with a lifetime BA of .295 and 12 hits in 11 World Series games played in 1925 and ‘27. His most famous feat was being the last player credited with hits in three games - on the same day! The 24-year-old rookie, 10 days past his debut, got a knock in each of the three contests played against the Reds in 1920 in the last MLB tripleheader and had hits in 14-of-15 games in his first go-around. His son, Vic, also played for the Pirates from 1944-46. 
• 1981 - LHP Wil Ledezma was born in Valle de la Pascua, Venezuela. Ledezma was entering his 11th campaign in organized ball with a spotty eight-year record in MLB when the Pirates signed him in the 2009-10 offseason. He looked like a steal when he tossed to a 0.94 ERA at Indianapolis w/1.017 WHIP, but the tables turned when he got the call back up - he went 0-3/6.86, in 27 Bucco outings. He was DFA’ed and claimed by Toronto where he pitched five times in 2011 to end his MLB days. 

Chase d'Arnaud 2012 Topps

• 1987 - IF Chase d’Arnaud was born in Torrance, California. A fourth round pick of the Pirates in 2008 out of Pepperdine, he debuted for the Bucs in 2011. He got a good look but hit just .217 with some questionable leatherwork, afterward being given a couple of courtesy calls in 2012 and ‘14 before being DFA’ed and claimed by the Phils. Chase has bounced around as a depth guy since with Atlanta, Boston, San Diego and San Francisco; he’s now w/Texas.

1/20 Through the 1950’s: Roberto on the Radar; Lifer Hans; RIP Josh; HBD Carl, Jesse, Jet & Denny

• 1904 - OF Denny Sothern was born in Washington. Originally, his last name was Southern, but it changed, along with his age, so he could enlist in the Marines while underage. Sothern had been a fairly effective leadoff hitter for Philadelphia going into his fourth season (.289 BA) and the Bucs sent OF Fred Brickell to the Phils in August of 1930 for him. Denny’s bat went cold (he hit .176) and the Pirates sold him to Baltimore, who flipped him to Brooklyn. He played 17 games for the Robins in 1931, ending his MLB career at age 27. Brickell didn’t set the world afire, but he did last three plus seasons with the Phillies, hitting .258. 

Sam Jethroe (photo Teenie Harris collection)

• 1908 - Sam “The Jet” Jethroe was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. Jethroe got his nickname due to his speed; he led the Negro League in stolen bases three times as a Cleveland Buckeye. He was on the cusp of major league integration. The Boston Braves gave him his debut in 1950, and he won the AL RoY award hitting .273 w/18 HR when he was 32-years-old (although he claimed to be 28, having fudged his age). He had one more good season left in him for the Braves. After a subpar 1952 campaign, he was sent to the minors and made his last appearances in two games with Pittsburgh in 1954 (he came over in the multi-player Danny O’Connell deal), going 0-for-1. The Jet had one more contribution to black baseball - he was part of the lawsuit to get Negro League players who played MLB a pension. The case was dismissed, but led to baseball awarding the players a pension beginning in 1997. 
• 1936 - C Jesse Gonder was born in Monticello, Arkansas. Jesse caught the final two seasons (1966-67) of his eight-year career in Pittsburgh, batting .209 while backstopping 60 games. He came to Pittsburgh hoping to win the starting spot from Jim Pagliaroni, and although he didn’t, Jesse did see a lot of action in 1966. Relegated as the third man the following year, his performance faltered and the curtain dropped on his stint in MLB. 
• 1940 - Honus Wagner, 65-years-old, signed his 29th Bucco contract as he joined Frankie Frisch’s coaching staff for his eighth season on the Pirates staff. He had played until 1917, took some time off from baseball and then returned to the coaching ranks in 1933. 

Hans Signs 1-20-1940 Pittsburgh Press

• 1944 - UT Carl Taylor was born in Sarasota, Florida. He caught, played first and pinch hit for the Bucs in 1968-69 and was brought back again in September of 1971 for their pennant drive from KC; he returned to the Royals after the title run to complete the final two years of his career. His best season far and away was 1969, when he slashed .348/.432/.457 in 221 AB. 
• 1947 - Homestead Gray and Pittsburgh Crawfords C Josh Gibson, the “black Babe Ruth,” died of a stroke at the age of 35. The future Hall of Fame catcher was put to rest in an unmarked grave in Allegheny Cemetery. In 1975, Negro League teammate Ted Page and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn paid for a granite marker that read: "Josh Gibson, 1911-1947, Legendary Baseball Player." 
• 1954 - The Sporting News first mentioned Roberto Clemente in a notes column that read “Three major league organizations - the Giants, Braves and Dodgers - are attempting to sign Roberto Clemente, Santurce (Clemente’s Puerto Rican club) outfielder.” The Dodgers may have won that early tussle, but quickly lost The Great One in November’s Rule 5 draft to Pittsburgh.

1/20 From 1960: Adam, Octavio, DJ Inked; Al Martin Takes Over; PC'$; HBD Brian & Cecil

• 1963 - OF Cecil Espy was born in San Diego. He hit .254 in his two Bucco campaigns of 1991-92, part of Jim Leyland’s title clubs’ bench corps. Cecil was a highly touted guy who never quite panned out; the speedster was the eighth overall selection in the 1980 draft. The Pirates had originally landed Espy in 1985 as part of the Bill Madlock deal with LA. He spent the next season in AAA Hawaii, then the Rangers took him in the Rule 5 draft before Cecil reunited with the Pirates as a free agent in early 1991. 

Al Martin 1993 Score Boys of Summer

• 1993 - The Barry Bonds era officially ended with Jim Leyland’s announcement that rookie Al Martin, 25, would man left field this season to replace BB, who took his heart (and bat) to San Francisco in the off season. “I’m not really looking at it as replacing Barry,” Martin said. “Hopefully, I can start a name for myself.” Al had gotten a September cup of coffee in ‘92 and went on to have a solid rookie campaign, batting .289 w/18 HR, coming in fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting. His Achilles heel became apparent though, as the lefty swinger had a big L/R split (.191 v LHP, .302 v RHP), a gap that would prove consistent over his career. Even with that split, he got 113 games/425 PAs or better in six of his eight Bucco campaigns and hit .280. 
• 1971 - RF Brian Giles was born in El Cajon, California. In five years with Pittsburgh (1999-2003), he put up a line of .308/.426/.591 with 165 HR/506 RBI and three All-Star berths. A power guy who hit 35+ homers for four straight Bucco seasons, Giles also had a great eye, walking nearly 350 more times during his career than he whiffed. He retired in 2010 after a couple of rough seasons with San Diego while trying to play through an arthritic knee. 
• 2000 - Big league baseball does occasionally think forward. The team owners voted to cede their digital rights to the Commissioner's office, allowing for the creation of a new cash cow, mlb.com. Commish Bud Selig split the new pot of cyber gold equally among the franchises, tossing the low-revenue markets a life preserver. 
• 2009 - 1B Adam LaRoche, 29, signed a one-year/$7.05M contract to avoid arbitration. Adam then hit .247 with 12 homers, 40 RBIs and 81 strikeouts in 87 games, slumping badly after a hot ‘09 start, and was shipped to the Red Sox on July 22nd for SS Argenis Diaz and RHP Hunter Strickland. 

Octavio Dotel 2010 (photo Jonathan Daniel/Getty)

• 2010: Free agent RHP Octavio Dotel was signed to a one-year/$3.5M deal w/an option by the Bucs, the only team that offered the right-hander the opportunity to save games rather than be a set-up guy (they needed a replacement for Matt Capps). The 36-year-old reliever hadn't been a closer since 2007 with Kansas City, but reclaimed the role, saving 21 games (in 26 opportunities w/4.28 ERA) before being traded at the deadline to the Dodgers for Andrew Lambo and James McDonald. Dotel worked into the 2013 season and appeared in two WS after leaving the ‘Burg. J-Mac showed early promise before flaming out and Lambo couldn’t beat a series of injuries. 
• 2010 - RHP DJ Carrasco was signed to a one-year/$950K contract. The reliever stuck around (2-2/3.88) until the deadline, and was packaged as part of a deal with Arizona. His last MLB gig was in 2012 with the NY Mets. Carrasco was a part of the Pirate organization back in 2002, before KC took him in that year’s Rule 5 draft from Pittsburgh’s High A Carolina League club, Lynchburg.

1/19: LaRoche Trade; Lee, Kip, Craig & Stew Sign; RIP Stan the Man; HBD Nick, Chris, Scott & Ed

• 1872 - SS Ed Spurney was born in Cleveland, Ohio (some sources list his B-Day as the 9th, c’ est la vie). Ed had a brief three-game stand with the Bucs in 1891 as a 19-year-old, and that was the sum of his MLB career. But he had a decent run, albeit for 17 late-June innings, as Spurney went 2-for-7 with two walks and scored twice while making 9-of-10 plays at short. He joined the club after regular SS Tun Berger lost his job, auditioning while the Bucs were in Cleveland after being touted by several Spider players, and beat out fellow try-out dude, Youngstown’s Eddie Bechtold. When they were told afterward that Spurney had won the competition, both claimed to be Spurney; manager Ned Hanlon couldn’t remember one Ed from the other and had to have the Cleveland players identify who was who before the game, per David Nemec’s “MLB Profiles.” Shortstop ended up a problematic position for the Pirates that season; seven guys manned the spot with mid-season acquisition Frank Shugart finally winning the job. Ed, unfortunately, was playing with a bum arm suffered earlier in the year and was released, moving on to Michigan Law School with some occasional ball playing with the Cleveland Athletic Club. Nocturnal trivia: Spurney was a sleepwalker, and his minor league teammates would lay bats around his bed to trip him up before he began on one of his sandman safaris, according to Nemec. 

Scott Little 1989 Topps Debut

• 1963 - OF Scott Little was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. Scott came to Bucs in 1987 from the Mets as part of the Bill Almon-Al Pedrique deal. He spent most of the time in the minors, going 1-for-4 in three games for the Bucs in 1989. In 1991, after three injury-nagged farm campaigns, the Bucs transitioned the 28-year-old into mentoring and he’s been a minor league skipper/coach for the Pirates, Dodgers, Nats, Rangers and Rockies since. 
• 1979 - OF Lee Lacy signed on as a free agent with the Pirates, agreeing to a six-year/$1.02M contract. Lacy averaged over 100 games per season in his half-dozen Bucco campaigns, hitting .304 over that span, but was also implicated in the Pittsburgh coke trials. When his deal ended, he went off to Baltimore, playing three more years in his last MLB tour of duty. 
• 1973 - Utilityman Chris Stynes was born in Queens. He joined the Bucs in 2004 as a $750K free agent to plug a hole at the hot corner, but hit just .219 and was released in August, ending his MLB days. Stynes had a pretty good run, tho, playing 10 years with a career .275 BA while filling in at every position but pitcher, catcher and first base. 
• 1993 - RHP Nick Burdi was born in Downers Grove, Illinois. He could touch 100 MPH at Louisville and was drafted in the second round (#46 overall) by the Twins in 2014. In 2017, he had TJ surgery and Minnesota hoped to sneak him through the Rule 5 draft. They couldn’t, with the Phils taking him and then selling his rights to the Pirates for $500 K in international pool money. He pitched 11 minor league rehab innings after recovery and was rostered by the Bucs in September to begin his Rule 5 residency clock, making a bumpy MLB debut on September 11th against the Cards that was followed with a scoreless frame against the Brewers.

Nick Burdi 2018 Camp (photo via MLB Pipeline)

• 2004 - P Kip Wells and 1B/OF Craig Wilson avoided arb by signing contracts with big pay raises - Wilson jumped from $327K in 2003 to $1.15M in 2004, while Wells leapfrogged his previous $375K salary and inked a $2.575M deal. Both remained Pirates until 2006 when they were dealt at the deadline - Wells went to Texas for Jesse Chavez and Wilson to the Yankees for Shawn Chacon. 
• 2007 - The Bucs traded LHP Mike Gonzalez and SS Brent Lillibridge to the Atlanta Braves for 1B Adam LaRoche and minor league 1B/OF Jamie Romak. Gonzo ended up injury-bitten, Lillibridge became a utility player for six seasons, Romak had a couple of cups of coffee in the show and LaRoche held a starting job at first for several clubs after putting up a slash of .265/58/213 in three Bucco seasons. He retired in 2016 after a White Sox edict limited his teenage son’s access to the clubhouse, walking away from $13M due him for the campaign. 
• 2013 - Hall of Famer “Stan the Man” Musial of the Cards, who was born in Donora and is on the short list of all-time local stars, died at the age of 92. His 24 All-Star Game selections are more than anyone except Hank Aaron. When he retired after the 1963 season, Musial had an NL record 3,630 hits – 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road – and a .331 batting average. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969 on his first appearance on the ballot. Ben Cosgrove of Sports Illustrated noted that his nickname was dubbed by not St. Louis, but Brooklyn, fans. “The story goes that at Ebbets Field on June 23, 1946, Dodgers fans took to chanting "Here comes the man" when Musial, who routinely destroyed Dodger pitching, stepped to the plate. Longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Bob Broeg heard the chant, stuck it (Stan the Man) into his next column, and the most fitting nickname in baseball history was born.” 

Stewie 2016 Topps

• 2016 - C Chris Stewart’s two-year/$3M contract extension became official. Stew’s deal was for $1.35M in 2016 and $1.4M in 2017, with a $1.5M option/$250K buyout for 2018, making a guaranteed $3M deal for the veteran catcher. Stew made it through the first two campaigns and then was bought out in 2018 after an injury-filled 2017 season. The Pirates also claimed RHP AJ Schugel off waivers from Seattle. He slashed 6-2-1/3.00 from 2016-17 in 68 outings, but missed 2018 due to injury and became a free agent after the campaign.

Notes: Bye Steve & Ty; Hot Stove Update; Minors News, Coaches Named; Odds and Ends

Snow is this week's big news...

• Steve Blass, 76, who has been associated with the Bucs for 60 seasons, announced that this year will be his farewell tour; he'll retire when it's done. Actually, he said he'd "semi-retire" - Steverino plans to continue on as a Bucco gladhander and perhaps as a special assignment guy for AT&T SportsNet.

Steverino bids adieu (photo via AT&T SportsNet)

• Adam Berry of MLB.com posted that sources told him that Jung Ho Kang's visa was extended and he received work authorization to play this season, so that's one less worry as camp approaches.
• The Yankees have decided to to unload Sonny Gray in this winter's off-again, on-again dance. FWIW, the Pirates had early interest in him, but are not currently among the known suitors. There is, of course, always a "mystery" team involved, if for nothing but dramatic effect, so...
• IMHO, the Bucs still have one more move up their sleeve; they will have to address shortstop sooner or later, with camp around the bend. Nick Ahmed and Freddy Galvis are still the most often mentioned names, but it's been a close-to-the-vest search. The odds of anything else developing other than filling in around the fringes seem slim, with the best chance of a known quality joining up being in the bullpen. 
• Bill Brink of the Post-Gazette has a snapshot of the recent Pirates payrolls. It's about what you'd expect.
• RHP Tyler Eppler, who was a depth guy with a shot to make the big leagues this year, took his game to Japan. The 26-year-old will make a reported $600K with the Orix Buffaloes after going 13-6/3.59 at Indy last year.
• MLB Pipeline has started its prospects-by-positions Top Ten lists; Mitch Keller was ranked as the #4 RHP, up a couple of spots from last season. But alas, no lefties cracked the list.

• Minor moves: The Pirates announced that Manager Wyatt Toregas moves up from the WV Power (now Greensboro Grasshoppers) to Hi-A Bradenton while Miguel Perez jumps from the DSL Pirates to the Grasshoppers. Assistant coach Stephen Morales will replace Perez.Drew Saylor, BA's MiLB Manager of the Year for the Dodger's Rancho Cucamonga club, takes command of the NY-Penn League WV Bears. Kieran Mattison goes from the Bears to the Appy League Bristol Bucs. Brian Esposito (Indy) and Michael Ryan (Altoona) return. Some chairs changed in the pitching ranks: Bryan Hickerson moved up to Indy after serving as Altoona’s pitching coach over the previous two seasons while Joel Hanrahan will replace him on the Curve. Stan Kyles, last year's Indy pitching coach, was flipped to Greensboro of the Sally League. Jon Nunnally (ex-Cleveland hitting coach and most recently Red Sox minor league hitting coach) replaced Keoni De Renne, who joined the Cubs' AAA coaching staff, as Altoona's hitting coach.
• Chris Stewart signed a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres.
• The Bucs announced their spring schedule; it begins February 23rd against the Phils in Clearwater, with the first Bradenton home game the next day against the Marlins.

1/18: Greenberg Deal; Felipe, Francisco, Bobby Bo Sign; Kiner MoY; Bix Traded; HBD Gift, Wandy, Laurin, Eddie & Charlie

• 1855 - OF Charlie Eden was born in Lexington, Kentucky. He joined the Alleghenys for two seasons, 1884-85, hitting .258 after a five-year minor league stint. Charlie played a little corner infield and also pitched some, going 1-3/5.53 with Pittsburgh. Those campaigns ended the 30-year old Charlie’s four-year MLB career; it appears that he went back to barnstorming through the minors. 

Eddie Moore (photo Harwell Collection/Detroit Public Library)

• 1899 - Utilityman Eddie Moore was born in Barlow, Kentucky. Moore hit .301 as a Bucco from 1923-26 and was a starter on the 1925 WS club, but he clashed a couple of times with management and was sold to the Boston Braves after getting into a shouting match with Fred Clarke, who was not only a club exec at the time but also a bench coach. 
• 1931 - RHP Laurin Pepper was born in Vaughan, Mississippi. A football star drafted by the Steelers (he was an All-America halfback at Mississippi Southern), Pepper was inked for $35K by the Bucs in 1954 as a bonus baby, as the Pirates easily topped the Steelers’ $15K bid. Probably should have stuck with the pigskin, though: in four MLB seasons (1954-57), he worked just 109-⅔ IP, going 2-8/7.09 with 98 walks. He then spent some time in the minors, finally becoming a long-time HS football coach and AD back home in Mississippi. 
• 1947 - The Pirates purchased Hank Greenberg, the original “Hammerin’ Hank,” from the Tigers for $75,000 after he had a spat with Detroit owner Walter Briggs. It didn’t come easy; the Bucs had to talk the 36-year-old out of retirement, even after a 44-homer campaign in ‘46. To celebrate the move, team co-owner Bing Crosby recorded a song, "Goodbye, Mr. Ball, Goodbye" with Groucho Marx and Hank after the Bucs signed him to a reported $90,000 deal, the biggest in history at that time. In his one season with Pittsburgh, he hit .249 with 25 HR/74 RBI to become the first player with a 25-homer season in both leagues, walked a league-high 104 times and served as a mentor to a young Ralph Kiner. He inspired “Greenberg Gardens” when the Bucs shortened Forbes Field’s left field wall by 30’ for him and when he retired after the season, his nook was renamed “Kiner’s Korner.”
• 1948 - Ralph Kiner was awarded the Dapper Dan “Athlete of the Year” award at the DD’s annual dinner at the William Penn Hotel. Newly retired Hank Greenberg made the trip to Pittsburgh as a honored guest of Kiner’s. Ralph also set aside some face time to talk contract with the Bucco brass, and made out pretty well by more than doubling his 1947 salary, upping his paycheck from $15,000 to $35,000.

Ralph Kiner 2016 Topps Throwback

• 1979 - LHP Wandy Rodriguez was born in Santiago Rodriguez, Dominican Republic. Wandy joined the Bucs in 2012 when he was acquired in a deadline deal from the Astros. He didn’t become a major contributor as hoped, as his 2013 season derailed because of arthritis in his pitching arm after a dozen starts, and he contributed just 11 wins in 25 outings with a 3.66 ERA as a Pirate before being released in May of 2014. 
• 1980 - SS Gift Ngoepe was born in Randburg, South Africa. Ngoepe became the first black South African to sign a professional baseball contract when he agreed to a deal with the Pirates in October 2008 and first to play in the majors in 2017. You could say he was born to be a ballplayer. Ngoepe's mom was a clubhouse attendant for the Randburg Mets, and they lived in one of the clubhouse rooms, so he grew up in a ballyard. Gift has proven to be a brilliant fielder but hasn’t been able to hit the ball, with a .222 Pirates BA (.231 career MiLB) and was sold to Toronto in the 2017 offseason; he’s now with the Phils. The Pirates signed his brother Victor, so the legacy continues. 
• 1989 - The Pirates came to a one-year/$730K agreement, adding various award bonuses, with 25-year-old 3B Bobby Bonilla. Bobby Bo was one of seven Buccos who had filed for arbitration after hitting .274 with 24 HR’s & 100 RBI in 1988 to earn a big jump from his $245K paycheck. 
• 1996 - The Bucs signed LHP Francisco Cordova out of the Mexican League. He tossed for five years in Pittsburgh, slashing 42-47/3.97 in that time. Francisco had three good years with the Bucs, throwing the front end of a combined no-hitter finished by Ricardo Rincon and getting the Opening Day call in 1998 and ‘99, before arm troubles caught up to him. He lasted two more years as a Pirate. After he left, he had enough left in the tank to pitch in Mexico from 2002-2011 with the Mexico City Tigres, the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, and the Petroleros de Minatitlán. 

Brian Bixler 2009 Topps

• 2010 - The Buccos traded OF/SS Brian Bixler to the Cleveland Indians, getting young minor league handyman Jesus Brito in return. Bixler was Pittsburgh's second-round pick in the 2004 draft, but in 166 Bucco PA’s between 2008-09, he batted just .178. Bix also got shots with Washington and Houston, but his bat never came around; his lifetime BA was .189, and his best single-season OPS+ was 59. Utilityman Brito never advanced past Class A. 
• 2018 - Felipe Rivero officially signed a four-year/$22M deal to cash in his arb years. He gets $2.5M in 2018, $4M in 2019, $5.25M in 2020, $7.25M in 2021, plus a $2M signing bonus. The deal includes club options in 2022 and 2023 for $10M with buyouts of $1M in 2022/$500K in 2023. Rivero had filed for an arb hearing as a Super Two (he asked for $2.9M & the Pirates countered with $2.4M), but he traded it in for guaranteed money and team-friendly cost certainty for the club.

1/17 Through the 1970’s: Empty Draft; RIP Jewel; HBD Jeff, Jack, Doc & Milt

• 1861 - 1B Milt Scott was born in Chicago. He played in the majors for four seasons, spending part of 1885 with the Alleghenys, joining them in late June after being purchased from the Detroit Wolverines and batting .248. He was then “traded” to Baltimore (actually the American Association settled a contract dispute over Sam Barkley’s rights with his transfer). He hit .190 in 1886 and was out of the majors after that, retiring after spending 1890 with Fort Wayne of the Indiana State League.   
• 1882 - C/1B John “Doc” Kerr was born in Dellroy, Ohio. With eight years in the minors, he played 59 big league games, all in the Federal League, from 1914-15 with his first 42 contests as a Pittsburgh Rebel, batting .239. One and Done: Doc played for 12 teams in 10 years; he spent full back-to-back season with just one, Trenton.

Pink Hawley (via Wiki team photo snip)

• 1922 - 2B Jack Merson was born in Elk Ridge, Maryland. Jack played for the Pirates from 1951-52, regularly during the second season that ended prematurely with a broken wrist. He hit .257 over that span, but he ended up with Boston the next season, where he played one game in 1953, going 0-for-4 to end his MLB days. He started his big league career at 29, and in Boston, the 31-year-old was blocked by bonus baby Billy Consolo. He played for a few more seasons in San Diego (then a minor league club) and then remained there as a businessman and later a prison guard, raising his family. 
• 1950 - Pirates player, coach and manager Jewel (his real first name) Ens died from an aortic aneurysm in Syracuse at age 60. Ens was with the Pirates as a utility infielder (1922–25; .290 career BA), player-coach (1923–25), F/T coach (1926–29; 1935–39) & manager (1929–31). He was a member of the 1925 World Series champs and coach of the 1927 NL titleists. After his Pittsburgh tours of duty, Jewel also coached for the Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, and Boston Braves before spending eight seasons as the field boss of the International League Syracuse Chiefs. He was elected to the IL Hall of Fame posthumously in 1950. 
• 1964 - LHP Jeff Tabaka was born in Barberton, Ohio. Jeff got a cup off coffee with the Pirates in 1994, moved on and returned again in 1998, slashing 2-2/3.02 as a Bucco. Jeff had the usual itinerary of a journeyman lefty - in his six seasons in the majors he pitched for the Pirates, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals. Tabaka’s promising career was short circuited by injuries; he had a pair of TJ surgeries. At last look, he was tutoring at the Strike Zone Academy in North Canton, Ohio.



Jeff Tabaka 1998 (photo David Seelig/Allsports/Getty)

• 1970 - The Pirates selected players through the 28th round of the January player draft, going nine rounds deeper than any other club, and came up with exactly no one who made it to the majors. LHP Alan Jackson of Northeastern State was their top pick (14th overall); he declined to sign and was instead selected by the Red Sox in the June draft. He topped out a Class AA. The January draft was a secondary feeder. Its pool consisted of high school players who graduated early, JC/community college athletes, and players who opted out of four-year colleges.