12/20 Through the 1960’s: Kitty Dealt; HBD Jimmy, Branch, Jose, Spud, Joe & Paul

• 1876 - 2B Jimmy Williams was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He only played two years in Pittsburgh, but made quite a splash. In his first year, 1899, Williams hit in 27 straight games, setting an MLB rookie record that wasn’t broken until 1987, and his mark is still a Pirates team standard. His 27 triples are also an MLB rookie record, and he ended the campaign with a .354 BA. But the next year he returned to reality, hitting .264, and then jumped leagues in 1901, joining the AL Baltimore Orioles and opening the door for Tommy Leach to take control of the hot corner. 

Jimmy Williams 1902 - photo via Sporting Life

• 1881 - Branch Rickey was born in Stockdale, Ohio. An innovator of things as diverse as the breaking the color line, a feeder minor league system and batting helmets, Rickey was the Pirate GM from 1950-55. His Pittsburgh teams were notoriously poor (“The Rickey-Dinks”), but his player development pipeline helped to form the core of the 1960 World Championship club. New York sportswriter Tom Meany gave him the nickname “Mahatma,” per Lee Lowenfish in “Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman,” because he reminded him of Gandhi with his combination of almost religious fervor combined with Tammany Hall backroom tactics. He was also called “The Brain” for his innovative work & eye for players, and “El Cheapo”by some players for his tight-fisted contract dealings. 
• 1885 - OF Joe Wilhoit was born in Hiawatha, Kansas (although SABR’s Bob Rives notes that “Wilhoit's age appears to have been more closely guarded than the Coca-Cola formula In various publications, his date of birth ranges from 1885 to 1891 and his birthplace varies from Los Angeles to Illinois to Kansas.” Our place and DOB are consensus but uncertain.) He played for four MLB seasons, and made three separate stops in 1917 with the middle stay in Pittsburgh where he went 2-for-10 before joining the NY Giants. Joe’s claim to fame: As a member of the Western League’s Wichita Jobbers’, he put together pro baseball’s longest hit streak of 69 games and ended the season with a .422 average. Per baseball lore, he was given a gift hit to reach 63 games when a third baseman ate his bunt rather than make a play (thought to be due to Wilhoit’s popularity among the players). When his streak ended at home, the fans passed a hat and filled it with $600 to reward Joe’s feat. 
• 1904 - The Pirates traded 1B Kitty Bransfield, IF Otto Krueger and OF Moose McCormick to the Phillies for 1B Del Howard and RF Otis Clymer. In his first MLB season, Howard hit .292 for the Pirates and was then part of the deal for P Vic Willis the following year. Clymer was a reserve for three years, hitting .284, before he was sold to the Senators in 1907. Kitty, a member of the Pirates first World Series club, stayed on for seven campaigns in Philadelphia, with a .269 BA. Moose, one of baseball’s earliest full-time pinch-hitters, didn’t play again until 1908 after leaving the game to become a salesman. Krueger hung around for one more year before leaving baseball. 
• 1904 - C Virgil “Spud” Davis (his uncle gave him the nickname as a youth because Virgil loved potatoes) was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He spent his last four seasons (1940-41, 1944-45) as a back-up catcher who hit .301 as a Bucco. From 1943-44 he coached before returning for a couple of seasons during the war years. He continued as a coach and a scout for the Pirates and briefly managed the team when manager Frankie Frisch resigned in September of 1946. Spud left baseball for good in 1950. Davis hit over .300 ten times in 16 MLB seasons, and as of his retirement, his .308 career BA was second only to Mickey Cochrane all-time among major league catchers. At last peek, it’s still in the Top Five. Per Andy Sturgill of SABR: The nickname was given to Davis by an uncle in his childhood. “I liked potatoes so much early in life that I was nicknamed Spud,” Davis explained. “But I loved baseball more than potatoes, so I cut them out.” 

Paul Moskau 1983 - photo via Mainline Autographs

• 1953 - RHP Paul Moskau was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. After five years with the Reds, he joined the Bucs in 1983, getting into 13 games (five starts). Paul went 1-3/4.37 and finished his MLB tour the following year as a Cub. 
• 1960 - RHP Jose DeLeon was born in Rancho Viejo, Dominican Republic. After being taken in the third round of the 1979 draft, he reached Pittsburgh in 1983. He went 17-38 with a 4.02 ERA as a Buc before being traded to the White Sox in 1986. DeLeon lasted 13 seasons in the MLB, winning 86 games behind a workmanlike 3.76 ERA.

12/20 From 1980: Kemp, Silva & Herges Deals; Rick, Chris, Jeff, Ryota & Arbs Inked; Back in Black

• 1984 - SS Tim Foli, OF Steve Kemp and cash were sent to the Pirates by the NY Yankees in exchange for SS Dale Berra, OF Jay Buhner and LHP Alfonso Pulido. The deal was held up by the Commissioners Office until a work-around for the cash sent to Pittsburgh was struck, with Pulido tossed into the pot as a cash transaction. Buhner went on to have a 15-year career with 310 homers, mostly with Seattle, while not much else was gotten out of the other guys involved in the deal. 

Steve Kemp - 1986 Donruss

• 1988 - Big day for the Bucco bank account - the team announced that the Pirates posted an operating profit of $2,850,660 during the 1988 season, the first time since 1971 the Bucs ended the year in the black. The team set a club home attendance record of 1,866,713, an increase of more than 700,000 over the previous year. Pittsburgh had an operating loss of $1,756,838 in 1987. 
• 1999 - The Pirates signed RHP Rich Loiselle and LHP Chris Peters to one year deals; both were arb-eligible and had missed the previous season with arm woes. Loiselle agreed to $400K while Peters took home $550K. Rich got into 40 games and went 2-3/5.10; he would pitch 18 big league games in 2001, which would be his last of six campaigns in the show. Peters worked 18 games, going 1-0/2.18, then closed out his MLB stay in Montreal the following season after six years of service. They also added a couple of depth catchers via minor league contracts, Tim Laker and Randy Knorr. 
• 2001 - In a minor deal, the Bucs sent RHP Jose Silva (one day after his birthday) to the Reds for minor league RHP Ben Shaffar. Silva pitched one more year in the big leagues while Shaffar never made it to the show. 
• 2002 - RHP Chris Young and minor leaguer Jon Searles were traded to the Montreal Expos for RHP Matt Herges. The 6’10” Young, a third round pick of the Bucs in 2000 who was given a $1.65M bonus to lure him from basketball, went on to win 32 games between 2005-07 and landed an All-Star berth before injuries threw a series of speed bumps at his career, while the Pirates cut Herges in spring training and was lost to the Padres. He went on to make over 350 more appearances in the next six years as a journeyman middle reliever. 
• 2004 - The Pirates tendered all seven of their arb-eligible players: SS Jack Wilson, OF/1B Craig Wilson, 1B Daryle Ward, UT Rob Mackowiak, and P’s Josh Fogg, Kip Wells and Brian Meadows. All seven played for the Bucs throughout 2005. They had signed RHP Salomon Torres earlier in the off season to a two year/$2.6M deal to avoid arbitration. 

Ryota Igarashi 2011 - photo Jay Abcolon/US Presswire

• 2011 - The Bucs took a chance with RHP Ryota Igarashi, the fastest pitcher in Japan featuring a 98-MPH heater and with two years as a Met under his belt, by signing him to a minor league deal with an invite to camp. He was sent to the minors in March and told the media he was “shocked” by the demotion (even though he had surrendered nine runs in 9-⅓ spring innings). The Bucs sold their disgruntled reliever to the Toronto Blue Jays the next day; he eventually returned to Japan. The Pirates also inked Jeff Clements to the non-roster invitee list. He started at Indy and made it to Pittsburgh in late August, but hit just .136 to end his Buccaneer days.

12/19 Through the 1960’s: Callery Kid Signs; Bummer of the Year; Russ Gets His Call; HBD Mike, Obie, Ray, Eddie, Artie & Lou

• 1887 - IF Artie Butler (Bouthillier) was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. Art hit .277 in two Bucco seasons (1912-13) before moving along to the Cards. His claim to fame is a bit on the macabre side - he was the last living teammate of legendary pitcher Cy Young before passing on in 1984. 
• 1898 - RHP Lou Koupal was born in San Gabriel, California. He began his MLB odyssey with the Pirates in 1925-26 and slashed 0-2/5.02. He was shipped back to the farm, came back and worked three more years in the league, then took a seven year hiatus before closing out his career in 1937. Fun fact from Baseball Junk Drawer: He was one of six 1929 Brooklyn Robins who had been members of the championship 1925 Pirates team, along with Max Carey, Johnny Gooch, Eddie Moore, Johnny Morrison and Glenn Wright. 

Lou Koupal - photo Conlon/The Sporting News

• 1915 - OF Eddie Yount was born in Newton, North Carolina. Eddie was a Wake Forest grad and minor league lifer, starting in 1937 and hanging in there until 1951 when he was 35. He got seven at-bats with the Philadelphia A’s in 1937 with two knocks and two more cuts for the Pirates in 1939 (he struck out both times). He then spent the rest of his time on the farm with a three-year break during WW2, serving with the 12th Armored Division Hellcats. 
• 1917 - RHP Ray Poat was born in Chicago. Mainly a reliever, Ray spent six campaigns in the show around a couple of years in the military during the war. He finished his career in 1949 at Pittsburgh, making 11 appearances with a line of 0-1/6.25, after arriving in June as part of the Kirby Higbe deal. He was pitching with a bum wing and had surgery after the season, but it was a recurring woe and he retired to the life of a chemist (he was an Illinois grad). Fun fact: In 1947, Poat became the first MLB player to swat a season cycle, which is collecting just four hits in a year but with one of each flavor - single, double, triple and home run. 
• 1918 - OF/3B Tommy “Obie” O’Brien was born in Anniston, Alabama. O’Brien was a three-time All State football player and enrolled at the University of Tennessee, but opted for baseball. He started his MLB career as a Pirate, hitting .301 between 1942-45, toiled in the minors from 1946-48 and returned to the show in 1949-50 with Boston and Washington. His shining moment came in 1943 when he had seven consecutive hits in a doubleheader against the NY Giants. 
• 1938 - In a poll of writers by the Associated Press, the Pirates were selected as the biggest disappointment in sports for the year, edging out the Rice Owls football team. The Pirates had a seven game edge on September 1st and were up 3-½ games after September 22nd, but dropped six of their final seven games to finish the season two games behind the Cubs after losing the famous “homer in the gloaming” game. The Bucs went 28-26 in the final two months of the season while the Cubs rampaged through September, winning 21 of their last 26 games. 
• 1957 - RHP Ron Kline became the first Pirate to sign for the ‘58 campaign when he was inked for an undisclosed amount. He had a Jekyll and Hyde 1957 season - he was 2-15/4.82 through July, then ditched his knuckleball and went 7-1/1.44 from August onward. He went on to have a workmanlike 1958, going 13-16/3.53. 

Mike Fetters - 2002 Topps Total

• 1964 - RHP Mike Fetters was born in Van Nuys, California. The veteran reliever tossed 16 major league seasons for eight clubs, spending 2001-02 with the Pirates and slashing 2-1-8/3.75. He’s often remembered for his odd motion; before he delivered the ball, he took a deep breath and turned his head 90 degrees, a move he came up with to counter the stress of pitching. 
• 1967 - Russ Goetz got his call to the bigs. The McKeesport native’s dream wasn’t to play but umpire MLB games, and at age 37, he finally got his chance. He took full advantage, too - he wore the blue for the AL from 1968 to 1983, arbitrating 2,384 games in a 16-year career. Russ worked two World Series (1973, 1979), two All-Star Games (1970, 1975) and four ALCS (1970, 1974, 1977, 1981). He was one of the last handful of umps still using the old school exterior chest protector when he retired.

12/19 From 1970: Sluggo, Kevin, Huddy, Brian, St. Mary's Joe, Corey & Otis Sign; RIP Dock; HBD Jose

• 1973 - RHP Jose Silva was born in Tijuana, Mexico. Jose worked five years (1997-2001) for the Bucs, starting 53 of his 140 Pirate games. He finished 25-28-4 with a 5.41 ERA in his Pittsburgh years. He worked one more MLB campaign, and moved on to the Mexican League. 
• 1983 - The Pirates signed 37-year-old OF Amos Otis. A five-time All-Star with the Kansas City Royals, Otis hit .165 in 40 games for the Bucs. He was released in August and never played in the majors again. Ironically, the Royals had agreed to a deal sending him and Cookie Rojas to the Pirates for Al Oliver after the 1976 season, but Rojas voided the transaction by exercising his 10-and-5 year veto rights; Pittsburgh was that close to landing Otis in his heyday.

Amos Otis - 1984 Topps

• 1990 - 32-year-old C Don Slaught signed a three-year/$3M contract with the Pirates after coming over the year before from the New York Yankees and hitting .300 in a platoon role. Sluggo played six seasons in Pittsburgh and batted .305 between 1990-95 in 475 games as a platoon guy - he played in over 87 games in a season just once as a Buc.
• 1996 - Pittsburgh signed 32-year-old free agent SS Kevin Elster to a one-year/$1.65M deal. The veteran infielder was coming off a career season in Texas, hitting .252 with 24 HR and 99 RBI. But he never got a chance to carry that mojo forward. Elster hit .225 for the Bucs with seven homers, getting into just 39 games after breaking his wrist in mid-May. He never returned to duty and was released at the end of the campaign. His injury put a big dent in the “Freak Show” attack, with the 1997 club still managing to compete into September before finishing five games off the pace.
• 2002 - RHP Brian Meadows avoided arbitration by signing a one year/$800K deal, with a split time provision paying him $150K if he was in the minors. And that’s where he started, but after going 7-0 at Nashville, he was called up to collect his big league fee and stayed on the active roster through 2005.
• 2003 - LHP Joe Beimel signed a one-year/$535K contract after appearing in 69 games in 2003, although a second half meltdown left his slash at 1-3/5.05. He didn’t make it to the opener, being one of the last cuts in camp and then signing with the Twins. The Bucs had John Grabow, Mike Gonzalez and Mike Johnston coming up from the minors, and the youngsters all got showtime in 2004 to make St. Mary Joe expendable. In other contract action, LHP Mike Lincoln was non-tendered (he signed w/the Cards but was injured in May, missing the rest of 2004 and all of 2005, then came back in 2008 to toss parts of three years with the Reds). P Kip Wells, SS Jack Wilson and UT Craig Wilson were tendered, leaving the Pirates with four 40-man openings for FA’s.
• 2008 - One of the most colorful guys to put on a Bucco uniform, Dock Ellis, passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 63 of cirrhosis. Ellis tossed the first eight and then the final season of his 12-year big league career with Pittsburgh. His Pirates line was 96-80/3.16 with a no-hitter (while on LSD, per his retelling), All-Star appearance and World Series ring to his credit. The Docktor also left behind enough stories to fill a 2014 movie, “No No: A Dockumentary” and collaborated with Donald Hall on a 1976 book, “Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball.” Ellis cleaned himself up after he left baseball following the 1979 campaign and became a drug counselor, working with prisoners and minor leaguers among others who were struggling with his old demons.

Dock Ellis - 1979 Topps Update

• 2014 - The Pirates signed free agent 1B/OF Corey Hart to a one year, $2.5M contract with another $2.5M available in bonuses based on at-bats. Hart had microfracture knee surgery in 2013, missing that year, and hit just .203 with Seattle in 2014, but prior to that was a career .271 hitter and two-time All-Star playing for Milwaukee, swatting 30 homers twice. Hart got just 57 at bats with the Bucs before his knees gave out again, and he retired after the 2015 campaign.
• 2016 - Free agent RHP Daniel Hudson, 29, signed a two-year/$11M (w/$1.5M more possible in annual bonuses based on games finished) deal with the Pirates, adding to a bullpen in transition. The flamethrower (96 MPH fastball) came from Arizona, where his days as a starter ended after a pair of TJ surgeries. Pittsburgh planned to plug him into the back end of the bullpen, which was in need of a righty arm. The deal was made official two days later when Brady Dragmire was DFA’ed to clear a roster spot for Hudson. After a 2-7/4.38 showing in 71 outings in his first campaign, he became more valuable as a trade piece when after the year he was sent to Tampa Bay as part of the Corey Dickerson deal. Since then, he’s been a Dodger, Blue Jay and Nat; Huddy’s a free agent right now.

12/18: Javier, Ryan, Yoslan, Masumi Sign; Neverett Joins Booth; HBD Joker, Gino, Josh & Jack

• 1915 - OF Jack Barrett was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He played from 1942-46 and hit .251. His best seasons were 1944-45, when he stole 53 bases (he led the NL in steals in 1944 with 28) and scored 196 runs. But when WW2 ended and the players returned, Barrett’s career came to an end; he hit .193 in 1946, his last big league campaign. 
• 1929 - OF Gino Cimoli was born in San Francisco. He only played a season and some change (1960-61) for the Bucs, but was their fourth outfielder for the 1960 Series champs, hitting .267 as a Pirate and .250 in the series. He scored the first tally in Pittsburgh’s five-run eighth inning in the deciding game seven and started several games in place of the injured Bob Skinner. He was one of Bob Prince’s favorites - everytime Cimoli came through on the field, The Gunner would, in his best faux Italian accent, gush “Thatsa my boy, Gino!” 

Gino Cimoli - 2002 Topps Refractor

• 1969 - IF Joe “The Joker” Randa was born in Milwaukee. Joe played early and late with the Pirates - he spent his third big league season, 1997, and his MLB finale in 2006 in Pittsburgh, hitting a solid .291. Tony Muser, Joe’s skipper in KC, gave him his nickname because he reminded him of “The Joker” character, always with a smile on his face. 
• 1984 - IF Josh Rodriguez was born in Houston, Texas. His MLB career was short; he went 1-for-12 in six games for the Bucs in 2011. The Pirates took him from the Indians as a Rule 5 selection and he beat out Pedro Ciriaco for the middle infield bench spot in camp. It was a short-lived victory; the Bucs returned him to the Tribe in late April as he was replaced on the roster by Brandon Wood. Josh returned in June in a cash deal with Cleveland and he played for Indy & Altoona. He’s been in the minor league systems of the Mets (three times), Oakland and Miami since then and is currently a FA. 
• 2006 - Cuban RHP Yoslan Herrera, 25, agreed to a three-year/$1.92M contract with the Pirates. He defected in July of 2005 and was signed by scouts Rene Gayo and Louie Eljaua after posting a combined record of 18-7/3.27 during his Island career as a member of the Youth Cuban National Team for two years (1999-2000) and four seasons with the big boy Cuban National Team (2001-2004). His numbers didn’t translate in the US, and he won just one game for the Bucs. In a nice bounce-back tale, Herrera was signed to a minor league deal by the LA Angels in 2013 after last pitching in the majors in 2008, put together a nice run at the end of 2014 (1-1/2.70 in 20 outings) for the Halos, then moved across the Pacific to toss in the Nippon League in 2015. He was the Pirates first Cuban signing of the Castro era. 
• 2006 - On the same day they signed Herrera, the Bucs announced another dip into the international market by inking 38-year-old Japanese RHP Masumi Kuwata to a one year/$500K minor-league contract. He chose the Pirates over the Red Sox and Dodgers because he thought he had a better shot at making the club, but an ankle injury in the spring delayed his MLB call until June. He was 39 then, the oldest rookie to appear since Diomedes Olivo and Satchel Paige and the first Japanese player to suit up for the Bucs. After 19 games, his ERA was 9.43. He was sent down, signed again for camp in 2008, but returned to Japan after failing to make the final roster cut and rejecting an offer by the Bucs to remain as a coach. 

Masumi Kuwata - 2008 Topps Year In Review

• 2008 - Tim Neverett was hired as the Pirate play-by-play man, replacing Lanny Frattare. Prior to joining the Pirates, Neverett spent four years working for FSN Rocky Mountain, where he spent the 2008 campaign serving as both the pre and post-game studio host for Colorado Rockies games along with calling many other sports. Neverett began his baseball on-air career in 1985 at the age of 19 with Pittsburgh's Class AA affiliate in the Eastern League, the Nashua Pirates. The New England native left to man the booth in Boston after the 2015 campaign, leaving that post after the 2018 Sox season in a beef with management. He rebounded quickly and is now part of the LA Dodgers’ broadcast squad. 
• 2009 - The Pirates signed LHP Javier Lopez to a one-year/$775K contract. The LOOGY reestablished his credentials in Pittsburgh and then was traded to the Giants at the deadline for OF John Bowker & P Joe Martinez. The southpaw was the only active player to have played on four or more World Series championship teams, winning three times with the G-Men and once with Boston. He retired after the 2016 campaign and caught on as part of the SF broadcast team. 
• 2015 - The Pirates and RHP Ryan Vogelsong agreed to a one-year/$2M contract, bringing him back home after he had been gone for a decade following stints in Japan and San Francisco. In what would prove to be his final MLB season, he went 3-7/4.81 as a starter/long man, with the season shortened when he broke an orbital bone after being beaned by then-Rockie Jordan Lyles. At the end of the 2017 campaign, after he had been released from AAA by the Twins, the Giants signed him to a one-day contract in September and held a tribute for him at AT&T Park.

12/17 Through the 1950’s: Pirate Pelicans; AA Ends; HBD Marvell, Charlie, Rebel, Cy & Jim

• 1879 - RHP Fred “Cy” Falkenberg was born in Chicago. He worked his 1903 rookie campaign for the Pirates, going 1-5 with a 3.86 ERA. It would be the fewest wins and highest ERA compiled in a single season for ol’ Cy, who tossed 12 big league years, winning 130 games (20+ victories twice) with a 2.68 lifetime ERA. Those 20-win tallies in 1913-14 were sparked by a new pitch that he came up with - a scuffed “emery” ball. The delivery was declared illegal after the 1914 season, and Cy was out of MLB two years later (in justice, hitting the age of 38 probably had as much with his descent as did the rulebook). So far as the Cy moniker, SABR’s Eric Enders speculates that it was another Cy Young knock-off, the old-timey ace whom many promising youngsters were likened to. 

Rebel Oakes - 1915 Cracker Jack

• 1883 - CF Ennis “Rebel” Oakes was born in Lisbon, Louisiana. He played five years for the Reds and Cards, then jumped to the Federal League when it was established in 1914. After two seasons as the player-manager for the Pittsburgh Rebels, perhaps named in his honor, the league folded and Oakes never returned to MLB despite his .295 BA. SABR writer Phil Williams believes “Rebel Oakes was effectively blacklisted” after the Federal League’s demise. Btw, he didn’t earn his nickname by being particularly iconoclastic. When he was in the minors, an Iowa sportswriter dubbed him Rebel because of his Deep South birthplace. 
• 1891 - The American Association, the home of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys through 1886, ceased as a major league after a 10-year run when a settlement was reached with the National League for a semi-merger. Four AA clubs (St. Louis, Louisville, Washington, and Baltimore) joined the NL to form a twelve-club league. The other four AA clubs were bought out for about $130,000. 
• 1896 - C Jim Mattox was born in Leesville, Virginia. Jim was a back-up in 1922-23 for the Pirates, hitting .253 off the bench. He was released after the year and retired rather than report to the minors again. Jim may have missed his true calling - in 1919, he was an All-Conference quarterback at Washington and Lee. 
• 1947 - C/PH Charlie Sands was born in Newport News, Virginia. Charlie played for the Bucs in 1971-72, going 5-for-33 (.192) and was on the ‘71 WS roster. He hung around the league for three more seasons, but only got into 63 more games. Fun fact: Sands caught all 29 innings of what at the time was the longest game in professional baseball. Playing for the Class A, Florida State League Miami Marlins on June 15th, 1966, Sands held the fort as Miami beat the St. Petersburg Cardinals (coached by Sparky Anderson), 4-3. 

Charlie Sands - 1972 Topps

• 1947 - The Pirates bought the AA New Orleans Pelicans, including 37 players (none of which ever made the Bucco roster), for an estimated $200K. In an era when farm systems were deep, The Big Easy became the Pirates 19th farm club in 1948. Oddly, in 1947 the club didn't field a AA team, so NOLA was a needed addition to fill the gap between AAA Indy (which was replaced by Hollywood in 1951) and Single A Albany (which moved to Charlestown in 1950). 
• 1959 - CF Marvell Wynne was born in Chicago. He started his career with the Pirates, playing from 1983-85. Projected as a leadoff hitter, he stole 46 sacks but batted just .245 with an OBP of .297 before being traded to San Diego for Bob Patterson, and there he put together a solid four-year run. Marvell’s last season was 1991, played in Japan. His son, also named Marvell, became a pro jock, too, but as an MLS soccer player.

12/17 From 1960: Brew Crew Swap; Correia, Schourek, Ward & King Sign; HBD Steve & Larry

• 1967 - RHP Steve Parris was born in Joliet, Illinois. Steve started his eight-year MLB run in Pittsburgh between 1995-96 with a 6-9/5.82 slash as a starter. After a year in the minors, he tossed three solid seasons with the Reds and three not-so-solid seasons with Toronto and Tampa Bay. 

Steve Parris - 1996 Fleer

• 1980 - Scout & suit Larry Broadway was born in Miami. The Montréal Expos chose him from Duke in the 3rd round (77th overall) of the 2002 draft. Larry got to AAA and had a couple of good years but was up-and-down after a 2005 knee injury. He never got a chance in the show, and Broadway signed with the Pirates for 2009 to play at Indy. He lost his batting eye and even tried pitching but retired and became a scout with the Bucs in 2010. In 2014, he became Pittsburgh's Senior Director of Minor League Operations.
• 1993 - 3B Jeff King avoided arbitration by signing a one year/$2.4M contract. He lost an arbitration hearing the previous year, asking for $2M but being awarded $675K. He hit cleanup during the season, batting .295 with 9 HR and 98 RBI to earn the pay bump. 
• 1997 - OF Turner Ward was signed to a two-year/$1.6M contract after hitting .353 off the bench during the season. Ward earned the money when he turned in a highlight-reel play in the ‘98 campaign when he crashed through the wall at TRS. He batted .262 in 1998 and was released in August of 1999 after posting a .209 BA. He rebounded to have a great season with Arizona to help them win the NL West, then played two more years before retiring after 2001. In all, he had 12 big league years with a .251 career BA. 
• 1998 - The Pirates signed free agent LHP Pete Schourek to a two-year/$4M contract after he went 8-9/4.43 for Houston and Boston. He was the Cy Young runner-up to Greg Maddux in 1995 after going 18-7 for the Reds, but various injuries limited his effectiveness, and he never won more than eight games after that breakout ‘95 season. It didn’t get better; he went 4-7/5.34 for the Bucs and was released at the start of the 2000 season, with Pittsburgh eating $2M of his deal. He went on to win four more games for Boston over the next two years, ending his 11-year MLB career after the 2001 season.
• 2010 - RHP Kevin Correia signed as a FA with Pittsburgh, agreeing to a two year/$8M deal. In those two seasons, he would post a line of 24-22/4.49 before joining the Twins after losing his spot in the rotation to Wandy Rodriguez. He started 54 games, appeared 59 times, represented the Pirates at the 2011 All-Star Game and was the Opening Day pitcher that same season. KC worked for three more teams afterward, retiring after the 2015 season. 

Kevin Correia - 2012 Topps

• 2015 - The Pirates sent CF Keon Broxton and RHP Trey Supak to the Milwaukee Brewers for 1B Jason Rogers. The speedy Broxton is an on-again, off-again major leaguer with a great glove, some power and a huge K rate while Supak is on the Brew Crew’s 40-man roster. Roger’s 2016 MLB path was effectively blocked when the Bucs later signed David Freese; Jason got just 33 PAs and hit .080 for the Bucs in 2016, went to Japan for two years, and played indie ball starting last season as a 30-year-old.

12/16: Iron Man, Benito & Shantz Deals; Buc Bucks; Candy Returns; Rule 5; Niagara Falls; HBD Jeff, Rick, Fred & Steamboat Bill

• 1876 - OF Fred Crolius was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He went straight from college to Boston in 1902 and got into nine games as a Pirate in 1902, batting .263. His professional career was short-lived; the Bucs sent him back down and Fred was banned from the majors in 1906 after a messy contract dispute with Toronto. But he had a Plan B. Fred was also a star halfback for Dartmouth, and in 1901 he played football for the Homestead Library & Athletic Club, then the following season was a halfback on the Pittsburgh Stars, a member of the first National Football League (and suspected of being financed by baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates). Fred also coached clubs - in 1899, he was the head coach for the Bowdoin College gridders. In 1902, Crolius was the boss man of the WUP (Western University of Pennsylvania, now Pitt) eleven. He then went east and coached Villanova from 1904-11, managing the Wildcat baseball team during the same period (1905-11).

Bill Otey - 1909 T206

• 1886 - LHP William "Steamboat Bill" Otey was born in Dayton, Ohio. He was the ace of the Norfolk Tars of the Virginia League, winning 69 games from 1906-09, but it didn’t carry over to the big leagues. Otey hurled for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1907 (0-1/4.41 in three games) and the Washington Senators in 1910-11, going a combined 1-5 with a 5.01 ERA in 24 games. He finished his career with the hometown Dayton Veterans of the Central League, retiring at age 27 following the 1914 season.
• 1938 - The Boston Bees traded catcher Ray Mueller to the Pirates for C Al Todd and OF Johnny Dickshot. Todd had a couple of good seasons left, while Dickshot wouldn’t hit his prime until his last two seasons in 1944-45 during the war for the White Sox. “Iron Man” Mueller (he picked up his nickname in the early forties after catching 233 consecutive games for the Reds) played 90 games in two years with Pittsburgh as a reserve catcher, hitting .269. Factoid: Mueller was from Pittsburg - Pittsburg, Kansas, a coal mining hub that was named after our fair town.
• 1956 - Coach Rick Sofield was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He was a #1 draft pick and outfielder for the Twins, worked in the minors (he was the Pirates' minor league field coordinator in 2002) and managed in college. Sofield was brought back to the Pirate fold by long-time bud Clint Hurdle, managing at West Virginia for a season before joining the big league staff in 2013. After a barrage of ill-advised windmills at third base (he also coached the runners), he was released after the 2016 campaign. Rick, at last check, was the skipper of the Hilton Head Prep School nine in South Carolina. 
• 1960 - The Bucs sent UT Harry Bright, 1B RC Stevens and RHP Bennie Daniels to the expansion Washington Senators (now the Texas Rangers) for veteran curveballer LHP Bobby Shantz. Daniels was a useful starter in DC for several seasons, while Shantz lasted a year in Pittsburgh before being lost to the Houston Colt .45s in the 1961 expansion draft. He went 6-3-2/3.22 in 43 games with the Pirates, and pitched fairly effectively afterward, his career lasting until the end of the 1964 season. Schantz won 24 games in 1952 as a starter for the Philadelphia Athletics and was voted the AL MVP, but arm injuries drove him from the rotation to the bullpen.

Bobby Shantz - 1962 Topps

• 1969 - The Niagara Falls Pirates were granted a franchise in the New York-Penn League. The short season club remained a Bucco farm until 1977, with guys like Dale Berra, Miguel Dilone, Mike Edwards, Al Holland, Omar Moreno, Ed Ott and Rod Scurry passing through. It lasted until 1988 as a Tigers & White Sox affiliate before the team moved to Jamestown.
• 1971 - LHP Jeff Granger was born in San Pedro, California. Granger was a quarterback for Texas A&M and was also a pretty fair pitcher, breaking Roger Clemens Southwest Conference strikeout record. The first-round pick of KC in 1993 had four fairly quick stops in the majors, spending three years with the Royals (18 appearances) and getting his final nine calls as a Bucco in 1997 (0-1/18.00), walking eight and giving up three long balls in five frames. The Pirates sent him down and he spent the next three seasons struggling in the minor leagues for five clubs in four organizations, retiring after a stint with the indie Long Island Ducks.
• 1986 - It was good news, bad news for Bucco finances after its first year under the private-public partnership owner model. The good news is that they cut their $9.3M losses in 1985 by a quarter; the bad news was that they still leaked $7M, of which $3M was dead money lost via trades and player releases. Pittsburgh Associates president Mac Prine said “The general consensus is that they (the board members) were very satisfied with the progress made...”
• 1992 - After burning his bridges with the Bucs in 1985 and being sent to California via trade, John Candelaria signed a free agent deal worth $760K with the team he started with as a 21-year-old. The reunion didn’t work out very well. It started poorly when he was busted for a DUI while in camp and then was ineffective from the pen during the campaign, slashing 0-3-1/8.24. Candy Man was released in August, ending his 19-year MLB career. Still, he finished his 12 years as a Bucco with a line of 124-87-16/3.17, posting a no-hitter, 20-win campaign and winning an All-Star nod.

Candy Man - 2004 Topps Fan Favorite

• 2002 - The Rule 5 Draft took RHP DJ Carrasco, C Ronny Paulino and RHP Chris Spurling from the Pirates. Carrasco tossed for eight MLB seasons (including 2010 as a Bucco), Spurling for four and Paulino was returned to the club in the spring, going on to catch for eight years in the show, the first four with Pittsburgh (2005-08/.278). They also released LHP Jimmy Anderson after failing to trade him. Anderson got 20 more appearances with three different teams in 2003-04 to finish his career.
• 2004 - The Pirates acquired C Benito Santiago and cash (KC paid all but $750K of the $2.2M due Santiago) from the Royals for RHP Leo Nunez (Juan Oviedo). The 30-year-old Oviedo served a 2012 suspension after pitching for seven seasons because of name fraud; he went by Nunez to make it appear he was younger. Santiago, 40, got in six games before his release and never played in the majors again.

12/15 Through the 1940’s: Willis, Rizzo Deals; HBD Leyland, Art, Bucky, Jay & Jim

• 1882 - C Jay “Nig” Clarke was born in Anderdon Township (now Amherstburg) Ontario. Jay had a long career, starting in organized ball in 1902 and retiring in 1927, with some time off for duty in the Marine Corps during WW1. He played parts of nine years in the big leagues, making his last MLB stop in Pittsburgh in 1920. He got into three games, went 0-for-7 and was sent to the farm in late April. His moment in the sun came in 1908 when he caught a perfect game tossed by Addie Joss of the Cleveland Naps. Nig got his nickname from a newspaper article that noted he was dark complected, joining about a dozen pre-integration players with the same crude moniker. Fun fact: According to lore, Clarke hit eight homers in eight at-bats in a 51-3 romp for the Texas League Corsicana Oil Citys over the Texarkana Casketmakers. Spoiler alert: the field he played on wasn’t meant for pro games but was used as a Sunday blue-law work-around, and the fence in right was estimated to be just 150-200’ from home, a lefty’s delight. Jay died on June 15th, 1949, 47 years to the day that he hit his eight home runs. Finally, Clarke was inducted into the Canadian Baseball HoF in 1996. 

Jim Nealon 1907 - photo Chicago Daily News

• 1884 - 1B Jim Nealon was born in Sacramento. He’s one of the sadder Buccos “coulda-been” stories. Nealon played from 1906-07 for the Pirates, and in his rookie season tied for the NL RBI lead (83) while hitting .255. Jim hit .257 the next season, then contracted tuberculosis. He went back home to California, played a couple of years of minor league ball and died of typhoid pneumonia in San Francisco in 1910 at the age of 25. 
• 1905 - In one of their better deals, the Bucs picked up Hall-of-Famer RHP Vic Willis from the Boston Beaneaters for journeymen UT Dave Brain, IF/OF Del Howard, and RHP Vive Lindaman. Willis won 20+ games in each of his four years (1906-09) in Pittsburgh, with a slash of 88–46/2.08, and was part of the 1909 World Series championship club. The “Delaware Peach” (he went to Delaware College) was a workhorse throughout his career, completing 388 of his 471 starts. 
• 1906 - IF Wallace “Bucky” (a childhood nickname) Williams was born in Baltimore and moved to Pittsburgh at the age of six months. After stints with the Pittsburgh Keystone Juniors and Monarchs, he played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1927–32; 1937-39) and the Homestead Grays in 1936. Bucky also played for his employer as part of the Edgar Thomson Steel team after his pro career; his sandlot squad once defeated the Grays in an exhibition game. He went to Holy Rosary and Crescent Elementary before leaving school for work, and rests now in Calvary Cemetery. He was named an honorary member of the Negro League Hall of Fame in Kansas City. 
• 1937 - The Bucs sent OF Bud Hafey, 1B Bernard Cobb, C Tom Padden and cash to the St. Louis Cards for OF Johnny Rizzo. Hafey and Padden each spent time in the minors before getting one last MLB campaign while Cobb never advanced from the farm. Rizzo had a great year in ‘38, swatting 23 HR and batting .301. He hit .283 in his two years and change with the Bucs and then was sent to Philly in exchange for Vince DiMaggio.

Johnny Rizzo 1938-39 - photo The Sporting News

• 1944 - Pirate manager Jim Leyland was born in Perrysburg, Ohio. Leyland was the fiery, chain-smoking manager of the Bucs from 1986 to 1996. He won two Manager of the Year awards (1990 and 1992) and finished as runner-up in 1988 and 1991. Under Leyland, the Pirates went to the NLCS three straight seasons (1990-92) but lost all three, with the latter two going the full seven games against the Atlanta Braves. He did win a title in 1997 as the skipper of the Florida Marlins and also managed the Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers. Leyland became a Pittsburgh boy; he still lives in Mt. Lebanon. 
• 1946 - IF Art Howe was born in Pittsburgh. A star pitcher and QB at Shaler HS, he went to Wyoming to play football and became a full-time baseballer after an injury. He went undrafted, returned home to Pittsburgh, got a job with Westinghouse and played semi-pro baseball on weekends in the Federation League. But Art had a good day at a Pirates tryout camp and the hometown club inked him the next day. He began his big league career with Pittsburgh in 1974-75 as a utility infielder, batting .195, before being traded to the Astros, where he became a regular for six seasons beginning in 1977. He played for 11 years in all with a .260 BA, managed for 11 more years after his playing days, winning a pair of AL West titles with the Oakland A’s (he also skippered the Astros and Mets) while also scouting/coaching for several clubs before retiring for good in 2008.

12/15 From 1950: Bunning, Janowicz, Honeycutt & Francis Deals; King & Stairs Sign; Rule 5 Massacre; Virdon Staff; TV $$$

• 1952 - Vic Janowicz was signed to a $75,000 contract by the Pirates a bonus baby. Janowicz was a Heisman-winning running back at Ohio State in 1950, but Pittsburgh saw his future in baseball. As a bonus baby, he had to be carried on the MLB roster for two years. Vic hit .252 as a C in 1953, but dropped to .151 as a 3B’man the following year, for a two year line of .214 with two HR and 10 RBI in 215 PA. He left the team after that season and jumped to the NFL Washington Redskins, where he played two years before a car accident ended his sports career. 

Vic Janowicz - 1954-56 Topps Two Sports

• 1962 - The Pirates shipped 30-year-old backup C Don Leppert to Washington for minor league righty Ron Honeycutt. It ended up a pretty minor deal; Leppert got into 123 games over two years for the Senators but hit only .207 while Honeycutt lasted two seasons longer in pro ball, never advancing past Class AA. 
• 1964 - The Bucs sent P Earl Francis and OF Ted Savage to the St. Louis Cardinals in return for OF’s Ron Cox and Jack Damaska (from Beaver Falls HS). Francis sputtered through his last big league season while Savage was the only player that had any MLB impact, serving as a bench bat through the 1971 season. Neither of the players the Pirates received made it to the majors. 
• 1964 - Rolls in, rolls in... ABC and MLB announced a two-year, $12M package for the rights to the Saturday Afternoon Game of the Week, with the pot being evenly divided among the clubs. The network loosened the blackout rule; it had previously been anywhere within a 50-mile radius of a big league city, but now would be limited to the hometowns of the two teams playing. Most teams were at least publicly ho-hum about competing with the televised games; the Pirates announced that they wouldn’t change any Saturday TV conflicts. It also marked the first time that TV money had been split even-steven, a boon to the lower-revenue franchises. 
• 1967 - Pittsburgh traded for RHP Jim Bunning, sending the Phillies pitchers Woodie Fryman‚ Bill Laxton and Harold Clem along with IF Don Money, who would be the Phils regular 3B until Mike Schmidt arrived and then become an All-Star with Milwaukee. Money had also been targeted by the White Sox, but the Pirates wanted RHP Joel Horlen in exchange, who Chi-town wasn’t about to surrender. Fryman lasted 18 years in the show, many as a solid mid-level starter and twice an All-Star. Bunning, who the Pirates hoped would be the veteran rotation piece to put them over the top in 1968, stayed in Pittsburgh for 1-½ seasons, slashing at 14-23/3.84. 
• 1971 - Bill Virdon made his only new hire as Bucco manager by promoting Charleston Charlies skipper Joe Morgan to his staff as an infield/batting coach. He had kept on board four of retired Danny Murtaugh’s assistants - Frank Oceak, Don Leppert, Don Osborn and Dave Ricketts - as members of his coaching gang. 

Jeff King - 1995 Flair

• 1994 - 3B Jeff King turned down a chance to become a restricted free agent and instead opted to sign a one-year guaranteed deal with the Bucs for $2.16M, a 10% pay cut. He was coming off a sub-par year (.263/5 HR/42 RBI) and told Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette that “I was happy they (the Pirates) wanted me...I like it here and I wanted to stay.” 
• 2002 - Well-traveled Matt Stairs (he played for three teams just in 2002) signed a one year/$900K contract with the Bucs, pending a physical (the official signing date was 12/18), and was penciled in as Craig Wilson’s platoon mate in right field. He had a strong season, hitting .292 with 20 HR despite just 305 AB, earning himself a three year/$3.55M contract with KC the following campaign. He retired after the 2011 season and joined another ex-Buc in the record books: Stairs played for more major-league teams (12) than any position player in big league history (technically, he was rostered on 13 teams but for just 12 franchises, as he played for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals). Octavio Dotel holds the record for pitchers and all players at 13 clubs. 
• 2003 - The Pirates lost five players in the Rule 5 draft, 1B Chris Shelton, OF Rich Thompson, LHP Frank Brooks, RHP Jeff Bennett and 3B/OF Jose Bautista, for whom they traded RHP Kris Benson to get back in July, 2004. Oddly, the Pirates had three openings on the 40-man roster, but GM Dave Littlefield told local media that the need to add free agents to the lineup for next season was more important than keeping players the club believes would not make an immediate impact. The rest of baseball thought a bit differently as the five Pirate farmhands went in the first six picks of the draft. Littlefield also removed pitchers Duaner Sanchez and Matt Guerrier from the 40-man roster (and lost them to the Dodgers and Twins, respectively) to protect Mike Gonzalez and John Grabow, so he had more future talent on hand than he suspected.