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Game Recap: Futility Times Ten
June 16, 2021
No Quarter / Pirates Recaps
One odd feature of a season as sorry as the one the Pirates are having is that every little, random thing that happens somehow seems to illustrate just how inept they are, both their play and their decision making. Today’s 3-1 loss to Washington, giving the Nationals a sweep and the Pirates their tenth straight loss, fit the pattern. Take Derek Shelton’s decision to bat for Chase De Jong in the top of the fifth. De Jong was having a fine game, giving up just a run — another homer by Yan Gomes — on four hits. He even pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the bottom of the fourth. The score was just 1-0, but Shelton seems to go by a tenure-based rule: If you’ve been around the majors a few years, like Chad Kuhl or Tyler Anderson, you get to stay in. If you haven’t, like De Jong or J.T. Brubaker, you have to come out as soon as somebody sneezes. Performance and game situations don’t matter. Taking the best shot at winning doesn’t matter. What was especially comical was that, his first time up, De Jong doubled off Nationals’ spot starter, Paolo Espino. That was the Pirates’ first baserunner, as Espino dominated them through their first eight batters and continued to do so through five innings. By contrast, Ka’ai Tom, batting .071 in June, came up and dribbled one back to the mound for an easy out. A simpler example of the team’s comical futility: Cleanup hitter Gregory Polanco tried to bunt his way on in the second. Unsuccessfully, of course. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Pirates game without a glaring failure to get a run home. They got runners to the corners with one out in the fourth when Bryan Reynolds doubled and took third on a single by Polanco. Phillip Evans, who’s more and more looking like one of the team’s many problems, whiffed and Ben Gamel grounded out. The Pirates have a good bullpen, but far from a great one. That means that, if you have to run through 4-5 relievers, somebody isn’t going to be at his best. Of course, that’s why you don’t take out a starter who’s pitching very well in a close game and has thrown only 71 pitches. Shelton went with Chasen Shreve and Chris Stratton in the fifth and sixth. They both got through their innings, although Stratton had to escape a bases-loaded, one-out jam. In the seventh, though, David Bednar gave up a two-run homer to Josh Bell. Naturally, the Pirates got a run in the eighth. Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled and scored on a single by Reynolds. In the ninth, they got two on with two out, but that just gave Adam Frazier a chance to add to the team’s miserable record with runners in scoring position. He grounded out to end the game. The Pirates are now 21 games under .500. They’ve lost 33 of their last 44. They do, however, have a new backup catcher at Indianapolis, so maybe they can turn things around....
Prospect Watch: Santiago Florez Wins Rain-Shortened Contest
June 16, 2021
No Quarter / Prospect Watch
Your daily Pittsburgh Pirates Prospect Watch article for recaps of all of today’s games. Be sure to pick up your copy of the latest Prospect Guide in our store, available as an ebook or a limited edition paperback. INDIANAPOLIS Season preview Boxscore Starting Pitcher: Beau Sulser 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO Notable Performances: Anthony Alford 1-for-3, HR, RBI, BB Kevin Kramer 0-for-4 Will Craig 2-for-4, 2B Game Recap: Beau Sulser started for Indianapolis on Wednesday night and had his best outing of the season, throwing six shutout innings on four hits, two walks and five strikeouts. He has a 3.82 ERA in 35.1 innings, with 39 strikeouts. Mitch Keller was out next in his first appearance since being sent to Indianapolis last week. He threw one scoreless inning, needing just eight pitches to retire the side in order. All eight pitches went for strikes and he struck out two batters. Blake Weiman allowed a run in the eighth and Shea Spitzbarth tossed a scoreless ninth. Indianapolis won 6-1 behind three home runs. Anthony Alford led off the bottom of the first with a homer, his sixth of the season. Chris Sharpe followed with his third homer, a three-run shot in the fifth inning. Jason Delay hit his first homer in the seventh inning. TJ Rivera added an insurance run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Will Craig had two hits, including his fifth double of the season. ALTOONA Season Preview Boxscore Starting Pitcher: Travis MacGregor 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO Notable Performances: Oneil Cruz 1-for-5 Canaan Smith-Njigba 2-for-4, 2B, BB Rodolfo Castro 2-for-4 Mason Martin 1-for-5, 2 RBI Cal Mitchell 1-for-4 Game Recap: Travis MacGregor got the start on Wednesday against Erie, going 5.1 innings, with one earned run on five hits and one walk, striking out three batters. He left with a runner on base and reliever Brad Case got out of the inning with no further damage. MacGregor went longer that five innings for the first time all season. He now has a 4.21 ERA in 25.2 innings, with 32 strikeouts. Case picked up the win with a scoreless seventh inning, before giving way to Will Gardner who threw one shutout inning. Hunter Stratton picked up his fourth save with a scoreless ninth that included three strikeouts. He now has a 1.13 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 16 innings this season. The Curve had all cylinders going on offense, although they were limited to just four runs. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit. Canaan Smith-Njigba, Rodolfo Castro, Brendt Citta and Arden Pabst each had two hits. They were limited to four runs because they went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Mason Martin broke the 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh with a two-run single. Citta has a .342 average and a .921 OPS, both tops on the team. GREENSBORO Season Preview Boxscore Starting Pitcher: Michael Burrows 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO Notable Performances: Matt Fraizer 1-for-4 Liover Peguero 0-for-3, RBI, BB Lolo Sanchez 1-for-4 Jared Triolo 1-for-4 Matt Gorski 0-for-3 Game Recap: Michael Burrows made his seventh start of the season on Wednesday night. He gave up two runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out five batters. He ran his pitch count up to 82 pitches on the night, throwing 55 for strikes. Burrows now has a 2.12 ERA in 29.2 innings, with 43 strikeouts. Grant Ford followed with one run over four innings on one hit, one walk and five strikeouts. He needed 51 pitches to get through his four frames. Greensboro scored their first run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Aaron Shackelford, which scored Francisco Acuna. In the eighth, a ground out by Liover Peguero scored Acuna with the second run. Greensboro had five singles in the game from five different players, and Peguero drew their only walk. The loss drops them to 21-17 on the season. BRADENTON Season Preview Boxscore Starting Pitcher: Santiago Florez 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO Notable Performances: Hudson Head 0-for-2, BB Endy Rodriguez 0-for-2 Sammy Siani 0-for-1, BB, SB Sergio Campana 0-for-2 Alexander Mojica 0-for-2 Eli Wilson 1-for-2, 2B Game Recap: Bradenton won a rain-shortened game 3-2 over Tampa in five innings. Santiago Florez had three straight scoreless outings coming into this game. He wasn’t able to continue that streak, but he still had a strong outing. He allowed one earned run on five hits and no walks in five innings, with six strikeouts. He got credit for a complete game, the third of his career and the second one this year. He now has a 1.26 ERA in 35.2 innings, with 51 strikeouts and an 0.81 WHIP. The Marauders had just two hits in the game. One was the fourth double of the year from Eli Wilson. The other was a three-run homer from Ernny Ordonez, who brought in all of their runs. Sammy Siani and Hudson Head each drew walks and scored on the homer. Siani stole his fifth base of the season....
Injury Updates on Ji-Hwan Bae, Jose Soriano, Steven Brault and More
June 16, 2021
News
The Pittsburgh Pirates gave injury updates to the media on Wednesday through their Director of Sports Medicine, Todd Tomczyk. Here are the players covered: The big news is that Jose Soriano, who was already recovering from Tommy John surgery and pitching in games, had a second TJ surgery and his timeline for recovery is now 16 months, which puts him out for all of next season. Jose Soriano did have TJ revision surgery yesterday in L.A. Will miss 16 months. Tough blow for Pirates prospects. — Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) June 16, 2021 Ji-Hwan Bae has a sprained knee from an on-field collision and will be out 4-6 weeks. He’s already missed a full week of action. On the good news side for prospects, Nick Gonzales is expected back later this month. He’s been out for four weeks already and was expected to miss 4-6 weeks total. On the big league side, Steven Brault is throwing on the side, but not close to returning according to this quote. Todd Tomczyk says "he would envision possibly late July" for a Steven Brault return to action. — Mike Persak (@MikeDPersak) June 16, 2021 Luis Oviedo is throwing, so expect a long rehab stint once he’s ready to pitch. Trevor Cahill is not throwing yet and has no timetable for return....
Pirates Game Discussion: Pirates at Nationals, 4:05 PM
June 16, 2021
Pirates Game Discussion
The Pittsburgh Pirates (23-43) are on the road for three games against the Washington Nationals (29-35), with game three today at 4:05 PM. The Pirates are sending out Chase De Jong, who is making his fourth start of the season. He has a 4.80 ERA in 15 innings, with 12 strikeouts and a 1.40 WHIP. The Nationals are countering with right-handed pitcher Paolo Espino, who will be making his second start, to go along with 13 relief appearances. He has a 2.78 ERA in 22.2 innings, with 19 strikeouts and an 0.84 WHIP. Here are the lineups: Pirates #Pirates Lineup 06/16/21 1. Adam Frazier 2B2. Ke'Bryan Hayes 3B3. Bryan Reynolds CF4. Gregory Polanco RF5. Phillip Evans 1B6. Ben Gamel LF7. Kevin Newman SS8. Michael Perez C9. Chase De Jong P Starting Pitcher : Chase De Jong — Daily MLB Lineups (@DailyMLBLineup) June 16, 2021 Nationals #Nationals Lineup 06/16/21 1. Kyle Schwarber LF2. Trea Turner SS3. Juan Soto RF4. Josh Bell 1B5. Yan Gomes C6. Luis Garcia 2B7. Jordy Mercer 3B8. Victor Robles CF9. Paolo Espino P Starting Pitcher : Paolo Espino — Daily MLB Lineups (@DailyMLBLineup) June 16, 2021 Umpire Scorecard from yesterday. If it feels like I just said yesterday that these always seem to favor the opponents, then your feelings are correct. It was yesterday, and now again today Umpire: Alex TosiFinal: Nationals 8, Pirates 1#NATITUDE // #LetsGoBucs#WSHvsPIT // #PITvsWSH pic.twitter.com/yZ9At5GaYK — Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) June 16, 2021...
Tracking the Pirates’ Rule 5 Candidates — The Hitters
June 16, 2021
Pirates Prospects / Prospect Analysis
On to the hitters . . . . The Pirates don’t have as many hitters who could credibly be in the Rule 5 conversation as they do pitchers, but in some ways there’s more urgency. Unlike the situation with pitchers, they don’t have many guys who are still in class A. That’s good, because a disturbing percentage of the position players on the current active roster — if you include trade candidates, it’s most of the roster — probably don’t have a future role in Pittsburgh. On the other hand, none of the hitting prospects in the system are major-league-ready right now and probably most won’t be at the start of the 2022 season. That makes things tough, because you have to build an active roster of 26 out of the 40-man roster and you also have to have depth. So the Pirates are facing crunch time in their rebuild. They’re going to have to show some real urgency, something that hasn’t happened since . . . forever. And they’re going to have to start showing it literally within weeks, or their efforts to build all this impressive minor league depth will be wasted. Some of these prospects — particularly players already on the 40-man, like Rodolfo Castro and Oneil Cruz — have to get to AAA soon so they’ll be in a position to compete for major league jobs next spring. All this means the Pirates are going to have to start showing the courage of their convictions. All of the team’s three previous GMs failed in part because they repeatedly chickened out when it came to committing to their prospects. This front office has reached the point where it can’t continue to waste time with veteran, dead end flotsam any more. We’ll start seeing in the coming weeks, not months, whether they have the fortitude for it, because they have to start getting prospects ready to step into major league roles in the short term. Considering how awful the major league roster is, that shouldn’t be so hard. Travis Swaggerty, OF — Shoulder injury and all, this one is easy. One of the worst developments this season has been Swaggerty being deprived of a chance to earn a promotion and get himself established in the Pirates’ disaster of an outfield. Chris Sharpe, OF — Sharpe got off to a good start this year but he’s tailed off a lot. He’s not really a R5 candidate. His chance would be getting in a groove and getting a shot due to injuries and/or bad performances. Or, I should say, performances bad enough to be unacceptable to this front office, if there is such a thing. Bligh Madris, OF — Same situation as Sharpe, except he’s left-handed. Madris got hot after he was promoted, but he’s hitting .143 in June. Sharpe would have the advantage between the two because he’s right-handed and he has a better track record overall than Madris. Mason Martin, 1B — Martin has done OK but hasn’t gotten into a groove. Still, he’s in AA having turned 22 just two weeks ago, even with the canceled season. There’s no way a team with the Pirates’ massive hitting problems can afford to risk losing him. Cal Mitchell, OF — Mitchell’s also in AA despite being just over 22. He’s having a good season, with major improvements in his walk and K rates. Again, the Pirates can’t afford to lose anybody who may be able to hit, considering that all but a handful of players on the active roster have proven they can’t. Canaan Smith-Njigba, OF — Almost exactly the same age as Martin and Mitchell, Smith-Njigba isn’t having as good a season as Mitchell. He’s doing OK, though, and he’s skipping High-A. Another guy the team can’t spare. Jonah Davis, OF — Not really a R5 candidate, Davis’ all-or-nothing approach isn’t playing so well in AA. He’s also nearly two years older than the three preceding players. And he’s striking out in well over half his at-bats. Still, he’s skipping a level and he has a history of getting very hot all of a sudden. Brendt Citta, OF — After coming into this season looking like an organizational player, Citta has a .906 OPS despite making a huge jump, all the way from short-season ball to AA. The sample size is much too small to think he’s become a prospect, but it’ll be interesting to see, if he keeps hitting, whether the Pirates give him a shot at AAA. Liover Peguero, SS — He’s scuffling a bit now, but this is a no-brainer. Jesus Valdez, IF — The Pirates got Valdez for David Freese. He’s played short and third, but doesn’t seem to have a real position. He started this year sharing first base with Aaron Shackelford in High-A, which was a big jump from Bristol. Valdez hit four home runs in 13 games, then got promoted to Altoona when Ji-Hwan Bae got hurt. Since then he’s been sitting on the bench. Basically, Valdez seems to have a good bat, including some power, but the Pirates have handled him like an organizational player, so he probably isn’t going to be a R5 candidate. Fabricio Macias, OF — Macias has always hit just pretty well, with no particular outstanding ability. Lately, he’s been very hot, with an .898 OPS in June. It could be a legitimate breakout, but he’ll have to sustain it. Lolo Sanchez, OF — Seems like he’s been around for ages and he was passed over in R5 twice, but Sanchez only turned 22 in April. He’s been too much of a slap hitter, despite his great speed. Yet he’s suddenly slugging .529 (.595 in June) and he doesn’t have a H/R split, so it’s not the park in Greensboro. If they think this is real, you’d expect the Pirates to move him up soon....
Updated Draft Prospect Rankings from Baseball America
June 16, 2021
2021 Draft / No Quarter
Baseball America posted their updated draft prospect rankings on Tuesday, expanding their list to 500 spots. The Pittsburgh Pirates are now about four weeks away from making the first overall pick in the draft. They also have the 37th overall spot for their second round pick, 64th overall for the competitive balance pick and 72nd overall for their third round pick, giving them four of the top 72 picks in the draft. BA ranks prep shortstop Jordan Lawlar as the top overall player in this draft class now. He previously ranked second, before taking over the top spot from Vanderbilt’s Jack Leiter. Another prep shortstop is in the second spot, with Marcelo Mayer also moving ahead of Leiter. Mayer is a popular mock draft pick for the Pirates these days. After Leiter in third, BA has Louisville catcher Henry Davis. He’s another name that has been connected to the Pirates recently. Kumar Rocker drops from third to fifth, still making him one of the top players in the draft, but his name hasn’t been connected to the Pirates anytime recently. There’s a nice jump in the next spot, with prep shortstop Khalil Watson moving from tenth to sixth. He has been mentioned once as a possibility for the Pirates, though it seems like the Mayer/Lawlar/Davis grouping makes up the heavy favorites. As a quick side note with the Pirates picking 37th. The 38th ranked player here is Missippi State starter Will Bednar, who is the brother of current Pirates reliever David Bednar....
Game Recap: Pirates Lose Ninth Straight, But if Derek Shelton Doesn’t Care, Why Should You?
June 15, 2021
No Quarter / Pirates Recaps
This one was mercifully over before it began. Washington blasted Tyler Anderson for five runs in the first inning on the way to an 8-1 cakewalk against the Pirates. The loss was the Pirates’ ninth straight. The Nationals started blistering Anderson’s pitches from the start, loading the bases with three line drive singles. After a strikeout, Josh Harrison looped a ball to right that slipped through Gregory Polanco’s glove. Then Yan Gomes belted a grand slam to make it 5-0. But there’s always something to take comfort in. Anderson was able to complete six innings and save the Pirates’ bullpen, which is limited to nine relievers. He only gave up one more run so, success! Of course, Anderson lasted that long because Derek Shelton let him bat in the fifth with the team six runs down. Not that it mattered to the outcome, especially not with the Pirates’ bench. It was just a chance for Shelton to show the white flag, which is rapidly becoming the team’s coat of arms. The Pirates supposedly want to show their fans that management wants to win, but if so, they’re doing it wrong. Meanwhile, the Pirates’ hitters were facing Patrick Corbin, who’s having an awful season. And they were just what Corbin needed. He went eight and a third, allowing seven singles and a double. The Pirates helped out with an 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Their only run came in the seventh, when Phillip Evans doubled in Gregory Polanco. Duane Underwood, Jr., threw the last two innings. He gave up two runs. Trea Turner had four hits for the Nationals and Jordy Mercer, playing third, had three. No Pirate shortstop has had a three-hit game all year....
Pirates Trade for Minor League Catcher Taylor Davis
June 15, 2021
News
The Pittsburgh Pirates have traded minor league outfielder Jose Berroa to the Baltimore Orioles for veteran catcher Taylor Davis, who has been assigned to Indianapolis. Davis has played parts of three seasons in the majors, getting into 20 games for the 2017-19 Chicago Cubs. He was in Triple-A at the time of the deal, hitting .289/.372/.368 in 12 games. He has a .746 OPS in ten minor league seasons. Berroa signed a six-figure deal in 2018 at 16 years old with the Pirates and so far has only played one season, hitting .254/.360/.317 during the 2019 DSL season. Outfield is obviously a position of strength at the lower levels and the Pirates loaded up on outfielders during the last two international signing periods. That makes a player like Berroa expendable, though it’s a nice lottery ticket attempt for the Orioles, who are in last place and they’re not giving up anything of value in the deal....
Pirates Game Discussion: Pirates at Nationals, 7:05 PM
June 15, 2021
Pirates Game Discussion
The Pittsburgh Pirates (23-42) are on the road for three games against the Washington Nationals (28-35), with game two tonight at 7:05 PM. The Pirates are sending out Tyler Anderson, who is making his 13th start of the season. He has a 4.52 ERA in 67.2 innings, with 61 strikeouts and a 1.21 WHIP. The Nationals are countering with veteran lefty Patrick Corbin, who will be making his 13th start. He has a 6.21 ERA in 62.1 innings, with 48 strikeouts and a 1.51 WHIP. Here are the lineups: Pirates #Pirates Lineup 06/15/21 1. Kevin Newman 2B2. Ke'Bryan Hayes 3B3. Bryan Reynolds CF4. Jacob Stallings C5. Gregory Polanco RF6. Erik Gonzalez SS7. Ben Gamel LF8. Phillip Evans 1B9. Tyler Anderson P Starting Pitcher : Tyler Anderson — Daily MLB Lineups (@DailyMLBLineup) June 15, 2021 Nationals #Nationals Lineup 06/15/21 1. Kyle Schwarber LF2. Trea Turner SS3. Juan Soto RF4. Ryan Zimmerman 1B5. Josh Harrison 2B6. Yan Gomes C7. Jordy Mercer 3B8. Victor Robles CF9. Patrick Corbin P Starting Pitcher : Patrick Corbin — Daily MLB Lineups (@DailyMLBLineup) June 15, 2021 Here’s the Umpire Scorecard for yesterday. It’s not just you, a majority of these favor the opposition. Umpire: Alan PorterFinal: Nationals 3, Pirates 2#NATITUDE // #LetsGoBucs#WSHvsPIT // #PITvsWSH pic.twitter.com/k4lmw35qXT — Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) June 15, 2021...
Prospect Watch: Roansy Contreras Fans Ten
June 15, 2021
Prospect Watch
Your daily Pittsburgh Pirates Prospect Watch article for recaps of all of today’s games. Be sure to pick up your copy of the latest Prospect Guide in our store, available as an ebook or a limited edition paperback. The Grasshoppers finally join the Information Age, as their game tonight is slated to be on MiLB TV. Well, actually, Winston-Salem is doing the broadcast, so it’s a guest appearance for Greensboro. But at least it’s an appearance. It’s not even supposed to rain! INDIANAPOLIS (7:05pm) Season preview Boxscore Starting Pitcher: Steven Wright 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K Notable Performances: Anthony Alford 1-2, 2 BB, SB Jared Oliva 2-4, BB Will Craig 2-4, 2B Nick Mears 1 IP, 3 K Braeden Ogle 1 IP, 2 K Game Recap: Indianapolis (19-17) got a combined three-hitter from Steven Wright and four relievers in a 6-1 win over Memphis. Wright gave up two hits and the relievers — Joe Jacques, Nick Mears, Braeden Ogle and Kyle Keller — each threw a scoreless inning. Mears fanned the side in his inning and Ogle struck out two. The Indians got all they needed early, with a run on a bases-loaded walk in the first and a two-run single by Will Craig in the second. Craig finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs and is now batting 304/353/587 in AAA. Anthony Alford reached base and scored three times. Jared Oliva also reached three times. T.J. Rivera hit his second home run. ALTOONA (7:05pm) Season Preview Boxscore Starting Pitcher: Roansy Contreras 7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K Notable Performances: Oneil Cruz 1-5, 2B Canaan Smith-Njigba 1-5, 2B Rodolfo Castro 2-4, HR (7) Mason Martin 2-4, 2B Cal Mitchell 1-4 Cristofer Melendez 0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K Game Recap: Roansy Contreras fanned ten batters over seven innings, but a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth cost Altoona (22-14) in a 4-3 loss to Erie. Contreras wasn’t phased by top Tigers prospects Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Dillon Dingler. He held the three to a single in nine at-bats, with four strikeouts. Contreras gave up one run on a solo homer. A pair of errors cost him a second run. Altoona took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth when Brendt Citta doubled in Mason Martin. Rodolfo Castro drove in their other two runs with his seventh home run of the year and an RBI single that drove in Canaan Njigba-Smith, who’d doubled. Oneil Cruz had a double and made a grab that literally no other shortstop who ever played could have made. After Contreras left, Cam Vieaux threw a scoreless inning. Cristofer Melendez came on for the ninth and saw the first batter reach on an error by Josh Bissonette. Melendez got the next two hitters, but a double and two singles brought in two unearned runs to cost Altoona the game. GREENSBORO (7:00pm) Season Preview Boxscore Starting Pitcher: Quinn Priester 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K Notable Performances: Matt Fraizer 1-4, HR (7), BB Liover Peguero 2-3, SB Aaron Shackelford 0-4 Lolo Sanchez 0-4 Fabricio Macias 1-3, HR (3) Matt Gorski 0-4 Game Recap: Greensboro (20-16) began its new internet era with a 3-2 win over Winston-Salem. The Grasshoppers’ runs all came on dingers by their two hottest hitters. Matt Fraizer hit his seventh to put them on the board, and Fabricio Macias added a two-run shot, his third homer of the year. Quinn Priester had a strong start. He had to leave the bases loaded in the fourth, due to two weakly hit singles and a bunt hit, but he got a strikeout to end the inning. Priester appeared to tire some in the fifth, falling behind the first two hitters and allowing a home run and a single, but he recovered to get two strikeouts and a fly out. Colin Selby followed Priester with one scoreless inning and Will Kobos with two. Oliver Garcia gave up a run in the ninth, but stranded two runners to end the game. BRADENTON (6:30pm) Season Preview Boxscore Starting Pitcher: Luis Ortiz 1.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 K Notable Performances: Hudson Head 1-4, 2B, BB Endy Rodriguez 0-2, BB Eli Wilson 0-2 Jase Bowen 0-3 Blake Sabol 1-3, 2 BB Sergio Campana 0-4 Maikol Escotto 0-3 Dariel Lopez 1-4, 2B Game Recap: Bradenton (23-14) had a rough time in its first encounter with Tampa’s powerhouse, and much older, team. Luis Ortiz got knocked out in the second and the Marauders lost, 10-5. Parker Brahms and Ryan Troutman also had trouble, allowing two and three runs, respectively, although two of Troutman’s were unearned. It could have been worse, as center fielder Sergio Campana and Yoyner Fajardo, normally an infielder but playing left, each threw a runner out at the plate. The difficulties extended to the plate, as Bradenton hitters fanned 19 times. They did get some offense, as Blake Sabol singled in one run, Dariel Lopez and Hudson Head each doubled one in, and Ernny Ordonez had a two-run double....
Card of the Day: 1959 Topps Bennie Daniels
June 17, 2021
Card of the Day
Today’s Card of the Day is from a subset of the 1959 Topps set and it features Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bennie Daniels. I have used 1959 Topps cards for this series three times, but this is the first one I’ve used in ten months. Even with three other examples, this one is completely different than the others. Daniels was named as one of the Sporting News Rookie Stars of 1959. There were 31 cards in that subset and Topps put them in alphabetical order, using card numbers 116 through 146. Daniels was one of two Pirates in the subset, alongside outfielder Jim McDaniel, who never played in the majors. Daniels already had two cups of coffee with the Pirates, pitching 34.2 innings over the 1957-58 seasons. He was still considered to be a rookie though, so here’s a look at his 1959 Topps card, #122 in the set. Here’s the front of the card: The 1959 Topps set used a circle for the photos of the players, with a solid background of various different colors around the photo (all cards used just one color, but many colors were used in the set). They also had a small white border around the photo, similar to what you see here in size. The names were printed in big letters at the top. That’s quite different looking than what you see here. The subset of rookies are all posted in a shield with red, white and blue backgrounds. If you didn’t know ahead of time, you could think that a common 1959 Topps and one of these Sporting News rookies were from different years if you saw them side-by-side. Here’s the back of the card: The back has a nice Christmas feel to it with the red and green colors. I’m surprised that Daniels isn’t more well remembered judging by the drawing of him in the cartoon above. He had such a strong upper body build, which you can’t tell from the portrait type photo on front. His legs were so short though and his feet were flat, giving him an odd look as he went into the windup for his delivery. I like that they included his full minor league stats here, including the note that he served in the military during the 1953-54 seasons. As you can see by the stats, he had three pretty good seasons in a row in the minors, the last two at the upper levels of the farm system. The only downside here as far as being a potential rookie star is that he was a bit old for a prospect at that time. He turned 27 early in the 1959 season. Daniels struggled with the Pirates during that 1959 season, posting a 5.45 ERA in 100.2 innings. The next year didn’t get any better, with a 7.81 ERA in limited work. The Pirates traded him to the expansion Washington Senators for 1961, where he saw plenty of work over the next five seasons, throwing 821.1 innings total. He didn’t wind up becoming a star, but he put together a decent career in the majors. This card is a good example of supply and demand. The 1959 Topps set is somewhat popular with collectors. Not one of the best from the era, not the worst either, and even the worst Topps set from that time is still considered to be somewhat popular. There are a lot of people selling these cards though and not as many buying. There are 30 sales in the last three months for this particular card, which is a decent amount compared to most cards shown here. However, there are over 150 active auctions for this card. That keeps the price down and gives you plenty of choices no matter what condition you desire. There are numerous auctions under $3 delivered. On the other end of the spectrum, there are two graded PSA 8.5, which are selling for $128 and $120. If you want a high grade, I’d suggest the PSA 8 for $34 delivered. That’s quite a price bump for a 1/2 grade. There are also seven autographed examples available and you can get a nice one in the $20 range....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: June 17th, The Louisville Slugger, Pete Browning
June 17, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including one of the best hitters ever. There is also a trade, which involved a player the Pirates had acquired just two days earlier. The Trade On this date in 1892, the Pirates traded second baseman Cub Stricker to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Adonis Terry. The Pirates had acquired Stricker just two days earlier for Hall of Fame pitcher James “Pud” Galvin. Cub (first name was John) never actually played for the Pirates. Terry was a 27-year-old right-handed pitcher, in his ninth season in the majors. He had a career record of 126-140 at the time of the trade and he had pitched just one game in 1892. Adonis (first name was William) gave up seven runs in his only start that year. He too had just joined the team trading him, signing with the Orioles three days prior. He began the year with Brooklyn, where had spent his first eight seasons in the majors, but he never made a start, getting released on June 10th. After the trade, Terry pitched well for the Pirates, going 18-7, 2.51 in 240 innings. He went 12-8 in 1893 for Pittsburgh, then made one start for them in 1894, giving up five runs in 2/3 of an inning, before being pulled. After being let go by the Pirates, Terry signed with the Chicago Colts, going 41-40 in four seasons. Stricker hit .264 for the Orioles in 75 games. He then signed with the Washington Senators for 1893, hitting .179 in 59 games, in what would be his last season in the majors. The Players Bennie Daniels, pitcher for the 1957-60 Pirates. He was signed by the Pirates at 19 years old as an amateur free agent in 1951. He spent two years in the minors, prior to missing two seasons due to military service. Daniels pitched in Class-C ball in 1951-52 and had rough results. He posted a 2-4, 4.24 record in 68 innings in his pro debut, then came back with a 9-14, 4.83 record in 175 innings. He returned from the military in 1955, winning 14 games and pitched 218 innings in the minors during his first year back. Playing for Lincoln of the Western League in 1956, Daniels went 15-3 with a 4.08 ERA in 183 innings. He moved up to Hollywood of the Pacific Coast League the following year, going 17-8, 2.95 in 31 starts and 229 innings pitched. He had major control problems in the minors, walking 356 batters combined during the 1955-57 seasons. The Pirates gave him one late season start in 1957 and he pitched well, giving up two runs in seven innings, though he took the loss. He began the 1958 season with Pittsburgh, posting an 0-2, 9.95 mark in seven appearances before being sent to the minors, where he had a 14-6, 2.31 record for Columbus of the International League. Daniels returned to the Pirates in September to make two strong starts (15 IP/3 ER), but again emerged without a victory. He finally spent a full season in the majors in 1959, making 22 relief appearances and 12 starts for a total of 100.2 innings. He went 7-9 with a 5.45 ERA. He was with the 1960 Pirates through the end of June, going 1-3, 7.81 in 40.1 innings before being sent to the minors. Daniels was one of three players traded to the expansion Washington Senators on December 16, 1960 for All-Star pitcher Bobby Shantz. Pitching for an expansion team opened up full-time work for Daniels and he averaged 164 innings per season for the Senators. He went 12-11, 3.44 in 212 innings in 1961, posting a winning record for a team that finished 61-100. The next year he 7-16, 4.85 in 161.1 innings, making 21 starts and 23 relief appearances. Daniels went 5-10, 4.38 in 168.2 innings in 1963, then had an 8-10, 3.70 record in 163 innings in 1964. He split his final season in the majors between starting and relief, compiling a 5-13, 4.72 record in 116.1 innings. He finished his pro career in the minors in 1966. Daniels was 8-16, 5.84 in 175.2 innings with the Pirates. In his nine-year career, he had a 45-76, 4.44 record in 997 innings over 139 starts and 91 relief appearances. Joe Bowman, pitcher for the 1937-41 Pirates. He debuted in pro ball at 19 years old in 1929, playing briefly for Pueblo of the Class-A Western League. He stayed in the same league in 1930, going 6-4, 4.34 in 85 innings for Omaha. Bowman moved up to Portland of the Pacific Coast League in 1931, where he had an 18-11, 3.80 record in 246 innings. He got his first big league shot with the Philadelphia Athletics at the start of 1932, but he was back in Portland after seven appearances and an 8.18 ERA. In 1933, he went 23-11, 4.17 in 283 innings for Portland, which led to his second big league chance, one that went much better than the first. Bowman went 5-4, 3.61 in 107.1 innings for the 1934 New York Giants. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after the season. Bowman went 7-10, 4.25 in 148.1 innings in 1935, with 17 starts and 16 relief appearances. He had a rough 1936 season playing for a Philadelphia team that finished with a 54-100 record. He went 9-20, 5.04 in 203.2 innings over 28 starts and 12 relief outings. He was acquired by the Pirates from the Phillies on April 16, 1937 in exchange for OF/1B Earl Browne. Bowman made 19 starts and 11 relief appearances for the Pirates in 1937, going 8-8, 4.57 in 128 innings. The next year he pitched out of the bullpen, although during an eight appearance stretch in July/August, he pitched at least four innings in every outing. He had a 3-4, 4.65 record in 60 innings. He returned to the rotation for 1939, where he put together a 10-14, 4.48 record in 184.2 innings. Bowman had a very similar season in 1940 when he had a 9-10 record. He had a 4.46 ERA in 187.2 innings. He was seldom used in 1941, making eight starts and nine relief appearances through early August, when the Pirates tried to trade him to the minors. He was actually pitching well at the time, with a 2.99 ERA in 69.1 innings. The trade was voided and Bowman didn’t pitch the rest of the season. He would spend the next two years in the minors, returning to the big leagues in 1944 with the Boston Red Sox. He was used often in 1944 when MLB was short on quality players due to many players serving in WWII. Bowman went 12-8, 4.81 in 168.1 innings that season. He pitched three games for the Red Sox in 1945 before they lost him on waivers to the Cincinnati Reds. He went 11-13, 3.59 in 185.2 innings in four months with the Reds, who ended up releasing him during Spring Training in 1946. Bowman went to the minors that season, where he spent his final four years of pro ball playing for four different teams. He had a 77-96, 4.40 record in 1,465.2 innings over 298 Major League games, with 184 starts and 114 relief appearances. With the Pirates, he went 33-38, 4.35 in 629.2 innings over 134 games, 78 as a starter. Zeb Terry, shortstop for the 1919 Pirates. He was a star at Stanford University for four years before making his pro debut in 1914, playing in the Pacific Coast League. Terry spent two seasons with Los Angeles, hitting .271 in 35 games his first year, then batting .264 in 191 games (they played over 200 that year in the PCL) in 1915. Terry wasn’t a great hitter, but he was strong defensively, which earned him a long look with the 1916 Chicago White Sox despite batting just .190 with 17 RBIs in 94 games. Modern metrics credit him with 1.1 dWAR for that season. He played briefly for the White Sox in 1917, then returned to the PCL with Los Angeles until the league shutdown early in 1918 due to the war. Terry signed on with the Boston Braves to finish the 1918 season, hitting .305 in 28 games. He joined the war effort after the season, but before his training was over, the war had ended. The Braves and Pirates had both put in claims for Terry for the 1919 season, with Pittsburgh coming out on top in the dispute. He was on the bench to start the year, quickly taking over the starting shortstop spot from Howdy Caton. Terry played 129 games in 1919, hitting .227 with no homers, 46 runs scored and 27 RBIs. He led all National League shortstops with his .960 fielding percentage. His 2.0 dWAR that season was the fourth best total for all players in the NL. The Pirates sold him to the Chicago Cubs in January of 1920. He batted .280 with 52 RBIs and 56 runs scored in 133 games in 1920, while putting up 1.3 dWAR, seventh best in the NL. The next year he hit .275 with 59 runs scored in 123 games. His final big league season was 1922, when he batted .286 in 131 games, with a career best 67 RBIs. He retired after the season, finishing with a .260 average in 640 big league games, with 254 runs scored and 216 RBIs. Terry hit two big league homers, both at the Polo Grounds in 1921, the second one being an inside-the-park home run. His full first name was Zebulon, one of two big league players with that name. Pete Browning, outfielder for the 1891 Pirates. One of the best hitters to ever play for the Pirates, wasn’t exactly at his best while with the team. He played 50 games for the 1891 Pirates, hitting .291 with 28 RBIs. The numbers don’t sound bad, but for Browning, it was well off his standards. The official word from the Pirates was that he was released due to indifferent play in the field and at the plate. He had played all but one game on the year, and in his last game he collected two hits and scored two runs. He was scheduled to return to Louisville to play, but he went on the play for the Cincinnati Reds in the second half of that 1891 season, batting .343 in 55 games. The year before joining the Pirates, Browning won the only batting title in Player’s League history with his .373 mark. He also had 75 walks, a league leading 40 doubles, 93 RBIs, and 112 runs scored in 118 games for the Cleveland Infants that year, so needless to say, the expectations were high for the 30-year-old Browning. He began his career playing for the Louisville Colonels of the American Association in 1882. He didn’t play his first minor league game until 1894 when his career was basically done in the majors. Browning was a 21-year-old infielder during his first year in the majors and he was a hitting star from the start. He led the American Association with a .378 average, .430 OBP and .510 slugging percentage. He moved around on defense in 1883, adding outfield to the mix. He batted .338 with 95 runs scored in 84 games (98-game schedule). He played 103 games in 1884 and hit .336 with 45 extra-base hits and 101 runs scored. Browning won his second batting title in 1885 with a .362 mark and a league leading 174 hits in 112 games. He scored 98 runs, drove in 73, and he had 53 extra-base hits. He continued to chug along with a .340 average in 1886, then had his best season in 1887. Browning batted .402 that year, yet he didn’t win the batting title. In 134 games, he had 137 runs scored, 35 doubles, 16 triples, 118 RBIs and 103 stolen bases. He missed time during the 1888 season and his numbers fell off greatly, then dropped even more in 1889. He batted .313 in 1888, for by a .256 average in 83 games in 1889. After his third batting title in 1890 and he split season with the Pirates, Browning batted .292 in 104 games in 1892, seeing time with the Reds and Colonels. He rebounded briefly with a .355 average in 57 games for Louisville in 1893, but his 1894 season was limited to three games, two for the St Louis Browns and one for the Brooklyn Grooms. He went 2-for-2 with a walk in his final big league game. Disease and alcoholism wreaked havoc with Browning’s body, forcing him out of the majors by 1894 at 33 years old. He played briefly in the minors in 1896, but his career was basically over at that point. He batted .341 in his career over 1,183 games, collecting 1,646 hits and scoring 954 runs. His batting average is the 13th highest in baseball history. He was the original Louisville Slugger for whom the current day bat company is named....
Card of the Day: 1995 Donruss Kevin Young
June 16, 2021
Card of the Day
Kevin Young played first base for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1992 through 1995, then again from 1997 through 2003. He is with the Pirates still to this day, serving as a special assistant in the front office and he’s part of the broadcast team, serving his first year in that role in 2021. Young also turns 52 years old today, so it’s a good day to feature him here for the first time. I’m still surprised that I’ve been doing this for 15 months and I’ve missed some key players…remember yesterday’s article and the recent reference in that article? This is also another first. I haven’t featured a card from 1995 here yet. That’s the main reason I picked this 1995 Donruss card to highlight today, though I still had to narrow it down from some other cards released that year. Here’s the front of the card: I like that the front here has two nice action shots of Young, that at first glance look like they were possibly taken seconds apart, until you see the background/undershirt differences. Donruss went with a borderless design, which became popular around this time and I’m a fan of that look. I like the home plate frame for the smaller photo. You know there is a dislike coming up, I always let those be known. I’m not a fan of the name in gold foil. It’s a bit hard to read here with the big scans, but it’s much tougher to read in person. It’s just raised letters, nothing more. Look at the Donruss logo up top, remember that it’s smaller in person as well. Would you be able to tell that said Donruss if you didn’t know the card company name ahead of time? Probably not. Overall it’s a good front, I’ve just never been a fan of the gold foil idea for those reasons. Here’s the back of the card: The back adds a great action photo, both Young and the catcher, as they both stand out in front of a blurry background for effect. The back could be better and I think you know one reason why I say that already, especially the regular readers. I hand out bonus points like Halloween candy whenever the cards include the team logo. It’s never not added to the visual grade of a card…until right now. Why would you do that with such a great logo? Just move Young forward a little, move the logo up a little, boom, everything works out great! If they did that, then maybe I would overlook the stats section only having three years and seven categories. At least those are his entire big league stats, which you wouldn’t know for sure with the inclusion of the word “recent” at the top. Most cards would include some minor league stats for players this early in their career. I’m okay with that, but they got rid of a bunch of statistical categories here too. This card started off so well with the great photo, but that logo cover up breaks my card collecting heart. My overall front/back grade is probably a B-. They won my heart with including three quality photos, but don’t mess with the Pirates logo! This is a common card, though not easy to find on Ebay, relatively speaking. You will have no trouble finding it if you have any computer skills whatsoever, but I’m talking about the available number of them. There are only six of these being sold on Ebay right now and every one of those sellers has a higher shipping cost than card cost. That being said, then the low one selling for $2.68 won’t bother you if you really want the card. Whatever you do, happy collecting!...
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: June 16th, Kevin Young
June 16, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Eight former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note. The Players Kevin Young, first baseman for the 1992-95 and 1997-2003 Pirates. He was a seventh round draft pick of the Pirates in 1990 out of the University of Southern Mississippi. He debuted in the New York-Penn League and put up a .732 OPS in 72 games. Young started his first full season in High-A, batting .313 with 22 extra-base hits in 56 games. He made it to Double-A by the middle of 1991, where he hit .342 in 75 games, then finished the year in Triple-A during the final week of the season. Young hit .314 with 91 runs scored and 43 extra-base hits in 137 games at Triple-A in 1992, earning a ten-game trial with the Pirates. He batted just nine times, but he went 4-for-7 with four RBIs and two walks. He was the Opening Day first baseman in 1993, playing 141 games that year. He had a .236 average, with 24 doubles and 47 RBIs. The 1994 and 1995 seasons were split almost evenly between Triple-A and the majors. For the Pirates, he hit .205 with one homer in 59 games in 1994, then batted .232 with six homers in 56 games in 1995. Young spent 3+ years with the Pirates, but was never able to hit well. His highest OPS during the 1993-95 seasons was a .649 mark during that last year. He had over 800 plate appearances with only 13 homers to show for it. Pittsburgh released him at the end of Spring Training in 1996 and he signed on with the Kansas City Royals six days later. Young hit .242 with eight homers in 55 games for Kansas City in 1996, then was released in the off-season. Pittsburgh re-signed Young at the end of Spring Training in 1997, almost one year to the day they released him. He started the year as a bench player, but began to see regular time in the middle of May. He played first base mainly, although he also saw time at third base and the corner outfield spots. An early August injury cost him six weeks of the season. Young finished with a .300 average, hitting 18 homers and driving in 74 runs in 97 games. The next year he moved into the starting first base role, a spot he would hold for the next five years. He had two strong back-to-back years in 1998-99. That first year he hit .270 with 40 doubles, 27 homers and 108 RBIs. He was even better in 1999, hitting .298 with 41 doubles, 26 homers, 106 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. Young led all National League first baseman in putouts during both of these seasons. Young’s numbers began to slowly decline in 2000, though he still drove in 88 runs in 132 games that season. He had a career best .909 OPS in 1999, then saw it drop to a .744 mark the next season. He hit .232 with 14 homers and 65 RBIs in 2001, then batted .246 with 16 homers and 51 RBIs over 146 games the next year. Young was batting .202 with seven RBIs through the end of June in 2003 when the Pirates released him. He finished his career in Pittsburgh with a .259 average, 136 homers and 583 RBIs in 1,150 games. He ranks 24th in team history in games played, 17th with 229 doubles, 18th in extra-base hits, 11th in homers and 18th in RBIs. He has been a coach/special assistant with the Pirates since 2014 and he took up a broadcasting job with the team in 2021. Arquimedes Caminero, pitcher for the 2015-16 Pirates. He was signed as an international amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic at 17 years old in 2005 by the Florida Marlins. He debuted in 2006 and spent his first two seasons in the Dominican Summer League. Caminero had just four starts during his entire pro career and all of them came in 2007. He moved to the Gulf Coast League in 2008 and worked his way up to A-Ball, playing at three levels that year. He also played at three levels in 2009, topping out in High-A. He had a combined 5.53 ERA in 40.2 innings that season. In 2010, he spent the entire season in Low-A, going 5-2, 3.01 in 74.2 innings over 48 outings. Caminero was injured in 2011 and he was limited to one rehab game that year. In 2012, he posted an 0.44 ERA in 19 appearances in High-A, then had a 3.06 ERA in 12 games at Double-A. The 2013 season started in Double-A and ended in the majors, with just one game at Triple-A in between. He debuted in the majors on August 16th and pitched 13 times, putting up a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings. He was with the Marlins in April of 2014 for five games, then returned in late May for one more game, but he spent the rest of the season in Triple-A, where he had a 4.86 ERA in 63 innings. The Pirates purchased the hard-throwing right-hander from the Marlins prior to the start of the 2015 season. For the Pirates that year, he made 73 relief appearances, going 5-1, 3.62 in 74.2 innings, with 73 strikeouts. In 2016, Caminero had a 3.51 ERA through 39 games and 41 innings, when he was traded to the Seattle Mariners for two minor league pitchers (Jake Brentz and Pedro Vasquez) on August 6th. He put up a 3.66 ERA in 19.2 innings over 18 appearances in Seattle. Caminero pitched the 2017-18 seasons in Japan, then split 2019 between Triple-A for the New York Mets and a stint in Mexico. The last two seasons, he only pitched winter ball in the Dominican, where he has played a total of eight seasons of winter ball. He has a 7-5, 3.83 record in 149 appearances and 155 innings in the majors. Between all of his pro work, he has pitched a total of 588 games. Chris Gomez, infielder for the 2008 Pirates. He was originally drafted out of high school in the 37th round by the California Angels in 1989. He decided to attend Cal State Long Beach, where the Detroit Tigers selected him in the third round in 1992. Gomez flew through the minors, playing 64 games at Double-A in 1992 and 87 games at Triple-A in 1993. He played 46 games for the Tigers, debuting in the majors just 11 months after being drafted. He hit .250 with a .625 OPS that first year, splitting his time between shortstop and second base. He did the same thing defensively the next year when he hit .257 with eight homers and 53 RBIs in 84 games during the strike-shortened season. He finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting. Gomez saw his average drop to .223 in 1995, when he hit 11 homers and drove in 50 runs over 123 games. He played strictly at shortstop in 1996 when he was part of a mid-season deal with the San Diego Padres that included five players. Between both stops, he hit .257 with four homers and 45 RBIs in 137 games. Gomez was the everyday shortstop for the Padres during the 1997-98 seasons, playing a total of 295 games. He hit .253 with 53 walks and 54 RBIs in 1997, then had a .267 average in 1998, when he set a career high with 32 doubles. His .980 fielding percentage that year was the best for all American League shortstops. Injuries limited him to 109 games during the 1999-2000 seasons, then he was released in the middle of 2001, though he signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays just five days later. Gomez batted .259 in 98 games that season, with much better results in Tampa, where he hit .302 in 58 games. He was the starting shortstop for the 2002 Devil Rays, hitting .265 with 31 doubles, ten homers and 46 RBIs in 130 games. Gomez signed a free agent deal with the Minnesota Twins for 2003 and he hit .251 with one homer in 58 games. He signed with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004 and took a utility role, hitting .282 with 37 RBIs and 41 runs scored in 109 games. He moved on to the Baltimore Orioles in 2005 and played there for 2 1/2 seasons, seeing time at all four infield spots each year. He hit .279 in 89 games in 2005, then batted .341 over 55 games and 132 at-bats in 2006. Gomez split the 2007 season between the Orioles and Cleveland Indians, hitting a combined .297 in 92 games. He already had 15 seasons in at the Major League level when the Pirates signed him as a free agent in December of 2007. With the Pirates, he played 90 games, getting multiple starts at all four infield spots. He hit .273 in 200 plate appearances, with a .655 OPS and 26 runs scored. After the season, he was granted free agency and he signed back with the Orioles. Baltimore cut him at the end of Spring Training, ending his 16-year Major League career. Gomez was a .262 career hitter, with 487 RBIs and 517 runs scored in 1,515 games, spending time with eight different teams. Max Surkont, pitcher for the 1954-56 Pirates. He debuted in pro ball in 1938 at 16 years old and he threw 160 innings that year. At age 17 he threw 218 innings at Class-C ball, then upped that to 234 innings the next year, when he went 19-5, 2.50 for Decatur of the Class-B Three-I League. Surkont was in the International League with Rochester, just one step from the majors, during the 1941-42 seasons. He did well in 1941 with a 3.20 ERA in 163 innings, but his ERA rose to 5.04 in 193 innings in 1942. After spending five years in the minors, the next three years were spent serving in the military during WWII. He returned in 1946 for three more years in the minors, all spent with Rochester, where he pitched 606 innings and had a 39-38 record during the 1946-48 seasons. Eleven years after his pro debut, Surkont made the majors with the 1949 Chicago White Sox. He went 3-5, 4.78 in 44 games (two starts), pitching 96 innings. He returned to the minors to start 1950, before getting his big break in August of 1950 when the Boston Braves purchased him from Chicago. He spent four years with the Braves, going 40-36, 3.90 in 105 games, 92 as a starter. He had a 3.23 ERA in 55.2 innings to finish out 1950, then set a career high with 237 innings in 1951, when he had a 12-16, 3.99 record. In 1952 he went 12-13, 3.77 in 215 innings. That was followed by an 11-5, 4.18 record in 170 innings during the team’s first season in Milwaukee. Surkont was acquired by the Pirates on December 26, 1953 as one of six players (and cash) they got in return for infielder Danny O’Connell. He went into the rotation of a team that would lose 195 games over the 1954-55 seasons. Surkont went 9-18, 4.41 in 208.1 innings his first season in Pittsburgh, then followed it up with a 7-14, 5.57 record over 166.1 innings the next year. On May 5, 1956, the Pirates traded him to the Cardinals in exchange for pitcher Luis Arroyo. Surkont had made just one relief appearance for the 1956 Pirates before the trade. He would go on to pitch five games for the Cardinals, who then sold him to the Boston Red Sox a month later. After spending two months in the minors, he was purchased by the New York Giants. He pitched 13 games in New York and had a 9.95 ERA in 6.1 innings, ending his Major League career in May of 1957 when he was sent to the minors. Max (his real name was Matthew) ended up pitching minor league ball until age 41 in 1963, spending his last five years with Buffalo of the International League. He pitched over 2,500 innings in the minors and won 160 games. During his nine seasons in the majors, he went 61-76, 4.38 in 1,194.1 innings. Pete Coscarart, infielder for the 1942-46 Pirates. He debuted in pro ball at 21 years old in 1934, hitting .253 in 58 games for Portland of the Pacific Coast League. That was an advanced placement for a minor league debut and Coscarart dropped down to A-Ball in the Western League in 1935, where he batted .272 in 81 games for St Joseph. He was back with Portland for the entire 1936 season, hitting .233 in 170 games, with 32 doubles. He improved a small amount in 1937, batting .253 while adding 19 points to his slugging percentage. He spent four seasons in the minors before making his debut with the 1938 Brooklyn Dodgers on April 26th, getting into 32 games, while putting up a .152 average. He ended up spending part of the year back in the minors, hitting .315 in 66 games for Nashville of the Southern Association. Coscarart had a strong second season with the Dodgers in 1939, finishing with a .277 average and 59 runs scored in 119 games, while garnering some MVP votes along the way. In 1940, he made his only All-Star appearance, although his batting average was just .237 in 143 games played. He had 53 walks, 58 RBIs and 55 runs scored. The next year his batting really dropped off and he was forced to the bench, getting only nine starts and 71 plate appearances all year. He had just eight hits in 62 at-bats and just one double, giving him a .145 slugging percentage. Coscarart was acquired by the Pirates from the Dodgers on December 12, 1941 as part of the return for Hall of Fame shortstop Arky Vaughan. Coscarart immediately became the starting shortstop, hitting .228 with 57 runs scored in 133 games. He was asked to replace one of the greatest shortstops ever, but he finished that 1942 season with -0.5 WAR according to modern metrics. He moved to second base the next year, playing 133 games again. He batted .242 with 48 RBIs, while scoring 57 runs for a second straight year. The 1944 season was his best in Pittsburgh, but it was also a low point for talent in the game, with many players serving in the military during WWII. He scored a career high 89 runs that year, while putting up a .264 batting average and a season high 30 doubles. Coscarart hit .242 in 123 games 1945 and posted a .699 OPS, his best OPS mark while with the Pirates. After playing just three games over the six weeks of the 1946 season, he was sold to San Diego of the Pacific Coast League on June 1, 1946. He initially balked at playing there, saying he could still play big league ball, but he ended up reporting and staying there through the end of the 1948 season. Coscarart played for three different west coast teams during the 1949-50 seasons before retiring. He was a .243 hitter in 864 big league games, with 28 homers, 269 RBIs and 399 runs scored. His brother Joe was a Major League infielder for two seasons with the Boston Braves. Fritz Mollwitz, first baseman for the 1917-1919 Pirates. He began his pro career in 1910, playing for Green Bay of the Wisconsin-Illinois League, where he stayed up until making his Major League debut in late September of 1913 with the Chicago Cubs. He put up a .311 average in 126 games with Green Bay in 1913 before playing two games for the Cubs. He remained with Chicago for the start of 1914, but it wasn’t a long stay and did not go well. Early in 1914, Mollwitz was traded to the Cincinnati Reds, where he would have his best season after struggling through the rest of 1914. He hit .150 in 13 games for the Cubs, then batted .162 in 32 games for the Reds. In 1915, Mollwitz played a career high 153 games, leading all National League first baseman in fielding percentage and in putouts. He drove in a career high 51 runs, but it was his glove that kept him around. He had an empty .259 batting average, with low walks/power totals leading to a .597 OPS. In the middle of 1916, he was sold back to the Cubs, who in turn sold him to Kansas City of the American Association during the next spring. Between the two big league stops in 1916, he batted .236 in 98 games, with a .562 OPS. Pittsburgh picked him up from Kansas City in August for Ray Miller and a package of players to be determined (the amount depended on the quality of the players chosen), after Mollwitz hit .303 through 123 games. He took over first base from Honus Wagner, who was retiring at season’s end, and batted .257 in 36 games, driving in 12 runs. The 1918 season was his only full year in Pittsburgh. He played 119 games, hitting .269 with 45 RBIs. He finished third in the NL among first baseman in assists, putouts and fielding percentage. He was with the Pirates through the beginning of August in 1919, leading the league in fielding percentage that year, but having a horrible season at the plate. Mollwitz was hitting .173 through 56 games played, when the Pirates sold him to the St Louis Cardinals. His Major League career ended that year, though he played seven more seasons in the minors, the last as a player/manager. He played five of those seasons for Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League, where he averaged 164 games played per season during that stretch. Mollwitz was a .241 career hitter in 534 big league games. In 1,907 Major League plate appearances, he hit just one homer, which was an inside-the-park home run. His real name was Frederick and he often went by Fred, though Fritz is how he is known now. He is one of 42 MLB players who was born in Germany, Ralph Capron, pinch-runner for the Pirates on April 25, 1912. He was a star athlete at the University of Minnesota, the first player from that school to make the majors. When he signed with the Pirates on March 18, 1912, it was said that he played in the Pacific Coast League in 1910, but they were confusing him with a played named George Capron, who retired in 1910 and was his older brother. That’s not surprising because Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss sent George a blank contract in January of 1912 and told him to fill out his terms, but George decided to remain retired, selling real estate in Oregon instead. When George didn’t sign, the Pirates went after his younger brother, who was the quarterback at Minnesota in 1911, along with a track star and a baseball player. Ralph Capron’s one appearance for the Pirates was his Major League debut, coming in with two outs in the ninth to pinch-run for Alex McCarthy. Pittsburgh was down 1-0 at home, when McCarthy singled to keep the game alive. Ham Hyatt came in to hit for George Gibson, and Capron came in to run for McCarthy. Hyatt struck out and Capron never left first base. It was said that the crowd was anxious to see him run because he was known for his great speed. Capron was sent to the minors on May 1st for the rest of the year, where he split the season between two American Association clubs, St Paul and Milwaukee. On February 3, 1913, he was released to St Paul outright as part of a previous deal in which the Pirates acquired pitching phenom Marty O’Toole. He was with the Philadelphia Phillies for Opening Day in 1913 and got into five games, one as a defensive replacement in left field and the other four games as a pinch-runner. He went 0-for-1 at the plate (his only big league at-bat), and he scored two runs. The Phillies purchased his contract because of his speed and strong defense, getting him before the New York Yankees could close a deal. He was sent to the minors right after the game on May 15th and never returned. He hit .258 in 43 games for Baltimore of the American Association that season. Capron played briefly for three different teams (the same three minor league teams he previously played with) in 1914 before retiring from baseball. He was a track star in college who tried out for the Olympics before signing with the Pirates. He also played pro football briefly in 1920. Marr Phillips, shortstop for the 1885 Pittsburgh Alleghenys. He had a minor league career that spanned from the first year of organized minor league ball in 1877, until 1899. Over that 22-year stretch, Phillips played 198 Major League games, with the majority of them coming in 1884 and 1890, which were the two seasons that three separate Major Leagues were all playing at the same time. He hit well for most of his time in the minors and he had a strong hands at shortstop (literally hands, fielders didn’t wear gloves during the early part of his career, except for catchers). Phillips was a Pittsburgh native, born there (in Allegheny) and passed away there at age 70 in 1928. He also rests in Union Dale Cemetery in Pittsburgh. He played just four games for his hometown team. He debuted in the majors with Indianapolis of the American Association in 1884, where he hit .269 in 97 games, with 18 doubles, eight triples and 41 runs scored. He began the 1885 season with Detroit of the National League. After hitting .209 in 33 games, he was let go. He hooked on with the Alleghenys in the American Association and started four games at shortstop, going 4-for-15 at the plate with two RBIs. It was said on July 17th (one day after his debut with Pittsburgh) that he would take over shortstop, while Art Whitney would play third base and Bill Kuehne would be released An arm injury, that was said to have left him nearly disabled, quickly ended Phillips’ time with Pittsburgh, though they gave him some time to rest/heal before finally releasing him. Luckily for Pittsburgh, they got rid of infielder John Richmond instead and held on to Kuehne, who stayed with them through the end of the 1889 season. Phillips next saw Major League time with the 1890 Rochester Broncos of the American Association, in what would end up being his final big league season. In 64 games, he had a .206 average and 34 RBIs, leading all AA shortstops in fielding percentage with a .918 mark, 33 points above the league average. Most of his minor league time was spent playing either in Troy (1891-95) or Hamilton, Ontario, where he played during the 1887-88 and 1896-99 seasons. His obituary says that his career actually started in 1876 with Erie at 19 years old, which was probably true because his pro debut came in 1877 with Erie. It also says that he played in Hamilton until 1901, although no records are credited to him after 1899. The Trade On this date in 1888, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys acquired third baseman Elmer Cleveland from the New York Giants in exchange for third baseman Art Whitney. Cleveland had been in the minors for three seasons, after making his Major League debut in the Union Association in 1884. The 25-year-old had played just nine games with New York prior to the trade. Whitney was 30 years old at the time, a veteran of four seasons with Pittsburgh, dating back to the American Association days. He was holding out at the time, after batting .260 with 51 RBIs in 1887. He led all third baseman in fielding percentage for a second straight season. After the trade, Cleveland played just 30 games for Pittsburgh, hitting .222, with well below average fielding at third base. He would go back to the minors, returning briefly to the big leagues in 1891 with the Columbus Solons of the AA for one last season. The trade didn’t end up hurting the Alleghenys, who had no choice but to move the hold out. Whitney hit just .218 with New York over two seasons and his defense wasn’t up to the standards of his previous two seasons. In the four seasons he played after the trade, his highest average was .220 in 1888....
Card of the Day: 1977 Topps Bill Robinson
June 15, 2021
Card of the Day
I’m going to apologize in advance if you’re one of the two fans of the 1977 Topps set. Out of all of their front designs ever, this is one of my least favorite ones. I hesitate to commit to least favorite only because I haven’t looked through all of them just to be sure. Also, the 1990 set is just awful, and deserves careful consideration for the worst. The 1977 set just extremely boring and with the mediocre photo quality of the day, there’s almost nothing appealing about the set. However, this series isn’t about just showing my favorite cards. If it was, you would have already seen every Old Judge card, every T206 card and every Dots Miller card. I also need to apologize to Bill Robinson fans, who I’m sure far outnumber 1977 Topps fans. I noticed the other day that he has never been used in this series, which is a massive oversight on my part. I only noticed because I was searching to see if I ever used Don Robinson and my search term “Robinson” turned up just one previous article, the one where I help explain the differences between Jeff Robinson and Jeff Robinson. So I did a Don Robinson article that day and today we do a Bill Robinson article, exactly 39 years to the day that the Pirates traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies. So what we have here is a combo of a beloved player and an unimaginative set. Today’s Card of the Day is #335 from the 1977 Topps set, featuring Bill Robinson of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Here’s the front of the card: As you can see on front, Topps didn’t put a lot of thought into these cards. They used a white border, which was fairly standard except the first half of the 1970s. Then they had a plain frame around the photo, followed by more white and another blah frame around the photo. The photo quality in this set is really low too, which hurts the set. I like that the Pirates name had yellow/gold writing up top, but that’s about it. Topps used action photos in the 70’s for the first time and then this set had absolutely zero real action photos for the Pirates, though maybe Dave Parker qualifies. For some reason their photo of him is in the batting circle during a game, while everyone else has a staged photo. Here’s the back of the card: I love the cartoon here, though the jersey styles don’t match up too well. You have an 1880’s player tagging out an early 1900’s player. That most certainly doesn’t resemble Joe Tinker even remotely, nor does it look like a uniform style that he wore during his career. The base runner would be more correct, but the cartoon references a defensive play from the great Hall of Fame shortstop. This card is about the halfway point of Robinson’s big league career. He had a nice 1976 season as you can see from the stats, but his best season was happening right when most collectors were opening up packs of these cards. He set career highs in all three Triple Crown categories in 1977, hitting .304 with 26 homers and 104 RBIs. If you’re interested in this card despite the front design, then you’ll be happy to know that you have plenty of options on this new website called Ebay, where you can buy things such as baseball cards, and other baseball cards. There are currently 45 auctions for this card. The most expensive one is $40 plus shipping (has a make an offer option) and that one is signed by Robinson and authenticated. He passed away 14 years ago, so that was a somewhat limited time to get autographs out there for the collectors. He’s not a rare autograph though. In fact, there are seven other options for his autograph on this card and they go as low as $10. Assuming you want a plain ole card, the best price for a decent condition card that you’ll find is $1.75 delivered, from two different sellers. That’s a great price considering that many of the commons from more recent sets we talk about on here don’t have any listings under $2....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: June 15th, Peek-A-Boo and Plenty of Trades
June 15, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
The trade deadline used to be June 15th, so the Pittsburgh Pirates have completed a lot of trades on this date. We have nine of those deals here, as well as ten former players born on this date. So strap in, this is a long article. The Trades 1982: Pirates traded Bill Robinson to the Philadelphia Phillies for Wayne Nordhagen. Robinson was 39 years old and in his 15th season in the majors, eighth with Pittsburgh. He was hitting .239 with four homers and 12 RBIs over 31 games with the Pirates at the time of the trade. For the Phillies, he hit .261 with 19 RBIs in 69 at-bats in 1982, then went 1-for-7 in ten games the following season before being released. Robinson hit .276 with 109 homers and 412 RBIs in 805 games for the Pirates. Nordhagen was with the Pirates for ten days, playing one game in which he went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. He was picked up by the Phillies from the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the day on June 15th, then traded to the Pirates, who sent him back to Toronto on June 25th as the player to be named later from an earlier deal. Nordhagen had a back injury that was undisclosed and led to another deal for outfielder Dick Davis, so this trade was basically Robinson for Davis. 1977: Pirates traded Ed Kirkpatrick to the Texas Rangers for Jim Fregosi. Kirkpatrick was a 32-year-old utility player, who had seen time at catcher, both corner infield spots and all three outfield positions during his career. In four seasons in Pittsburgh, he hit .236 with 12 homers and 74 RBIs in 309 games. He was hitting just .143 in 21 games at the time of the deal. After the deal, he hit .188 in 20 games for the Rangers, who traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he finished his career later that season. Fregosi was a 35-year-old corner infielder at the time of the deal. He was in his 16th season in the majors, hitting .250 in 13 games for Texas. He was a six time All-Star shortstop for the California Angels in the 1960’s, who is famous for getting traded to the New York Mets for Nolan Ryan. Fregosi was with Pittsburgh through the end of May 1978, playing 56 games with a .263 average in 97 plate appearances. 1966: Pirates traded Don Schwall to Atlanta Braves for Billy O’Dell. Schwall was an All-Star and Rookie of the Year for the Boston Red Sox in 1961, winning 15 games. In the 4 1/2 seasons that followed, the 30-year-old righty went 33-38, with 22 of those wins coming over four seasons with the Pirates. After the deal, he went 3-3, 4.37 in 45.1 innings for the 1966 Braves, then pitched one game for Atlanta in 1967, his last big league game. O’Dell was a 33-year-old left reliever in his 12th season in the majors. He had a 2-3, 2.40 record in 24 games for the 1966 Braves, pitching a total of 41.1 innings. He pitched for the Pirates until the end of 1967, going 8-8, 4.44 in 64 games. His last win during the 1966 season was the 100th of his career. He was released by the Pirates after the 1967 season, ending his Major League career. 1961: Pirates traded Gino Cimoli to Milwaukee Braves for Johnny Logan. Cimoli was a 31-year-old outfielder in his sixth season in the majors, second with the Pirates. He was hitting .299 at the time of the deal. He played all seven games of the 1960 World Series, hitting .250 with four runs scored. Cimoli was an All-Star in 1957 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. After the deal, he hit .197 in 37 games for the Braves. He then went to the Kansas City A’s, where he played full-time for two years. He ended his career by playing 46 games (spread between three teams) over the 1964-65 seasons. Logan was a 34-year-old shortstop, in his 11th season in the majors, all spent with the Braves. He was a four time All-Star, who received MVP votes every season from 1952 until 1957. Logan was hitting .105 (2-for-19) in 18 games for the Braves in 1961. With the Pirates, he lasted until the end of the 1963 season, batting .249 with 26 RBIs in 152 games. He played 30 games at third base for the Pirates, the only games in his career spent somewhere else besides shortstop. 1958: Pirates traded Gene Freese and Johnny O’Brien to St Louis Cardinals for Dick Schofield and cash. Freese was a 24-year-old infielder, playing in his fourth season in the majors, all with the Pirates. He was hitting .167 (3-for-18) in 17 games for the 1958 Pirates. After the deal, he played just 62 games for St Louis before they dealt him to the Philadelphia Phillies. He eventually ended back with the Pirates in 1964, playing in Pittsburgh until an August 1965 sale to the Chicago White Sox. O’Brien played middle infield and pitched for the Pirates over parts of five seasons. He had a .260 average in 283 games and a 5.03 ERA in 24 games. After the deal, he played 12 games for the Cardinals, batting three times and pitching two innings. In the off-season, he was taken by the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft. He would be traded to the Milwaukee Braves, where he would finish his career in 1959. Schofield was 23 years old at the time, already in his sixth season in the majors. He had played just 208 games, and his .213 average in 1958 was his highest single season mark at that point. He played eight years in Pittsburgh, playing 2B/SS/3B regularly at various points during that time. He batted .248 in 576 games with the Pirates, driving in 107 runs and scoring 186 times. Schofield was traded for Jose Pagan during the 1965 season and played in the majors until 1971. 1951: The Pirates traded Cliff Chambers and Wally Westlake to the St Louis Cardinals for Joe Garagiola, Dick Cole, Howie Pollet, Ted Wilks and Bill Howerton. Westlake was 30 years old, in his fifth season with the Pirates. He played all three outfield positions and had a .281 average with 97 homers and 378 RBIs in 580 games for Pittsburgh. He played 408 games after the deal, hitting just 30 homers and driving in 161 runs. Chambers was a 29-year-old lefty, in his third season with the Pirates. He pitched a no-hitter just a month earlier. He was 28-28, 4.33 in 81 games for the Pirates. Chambers pitched for the Cardinals until 1953, his last year in the majors, going 18-16, 4.19 in 79 games. Garagiola was a 25-year-old catcher, in his sixth season, all spent with St Louis. He was a .244 hitter in 317 games. With the Pirates, he played 217 games, hitting .262 with 103 RBIs, before being included in the 1953 trade that sent Ralph Kiner to the Chicago Cubs. Cole was a 25-year-old rookie second baseman, hitting .194 in 15 games for the 1951 Cardinals. He played all around the infield for five seasons in Pittsburgh, batting .253 with 104 RBIs in 426 games. Pollet was a 30-year-old lefty pitcher, who had twice won 20 games in a season for the Cardinals. He was 0-3, 4.38 in six games for the Cardinals in 1951. After the deal, he went 14-31, 4.59 in 76 games over four seasons with Pittsburgh. He was also included in the Kiner deal, returning to the Pirates to finish his career in 1956. Wilks went 17-4 as a rookie in 1944, then won 42 games the rest of his ten-year career. The 35-year-old went 8-10, 3.19 in 92 games over two seasons in Pittsburgh. Howerton was a 29-year-old outfielder, who played three seasons with the Cardinals, hitting .279 in 143 games. He played two seasons in Pittsburgh, playing a total of 93 games, matching the .279 average and 11 homers that he hit with St Louis. He finished his career with 11 games for the 1952 New York Giants. 1949: The Pirates traded Ed Sauer to the Boston Braves for Phil Masi. The Pirates had just purchased Sauer from the St Louis Cardinals the same day that this deal went down. A native of Pittsburgh, PA., he never got to play for his home team. He played three seasons in the majors for the Chicago Cubs from 1943-45, then spent the next three years in the minors, returning with the 1949 Cardinals. The 30-year-old outfielder hit .266 with 31 RBIs in 79 games for the Braves, in what would be his last season in the majors. Masi was a 33-year-old catcher, in his 11th season in the majors, all spent with the Braves. He was a .262 hitter with 34 homers and 314 RBIs in 945 games. He made the All-Star team each season from 1946-48, and in 1947 he led all National League catchers in fielding percentage. For the 1949 Pirates he batted .274 in 48 games, driving in 13 runs. He again led the league in fielding, making just one error while with the Pirates. He was sold to the Chicago White Sox prior to the 1950 season. 1943: The Pirates traded Dutch Dietz to the Philadelphia Phillies for Johnny Podgajny. Dietz was 31 years old, with four seasons of Major League experience, all for the Pirates. He had a 13-15, 3.51 record in 85 games with Pittsburgh. After the deal, he went 1-1, 6.50 in 21 relief appearances for Philadelphia, in what would be his last season in the majors. Podgajny was in his fourth season in the majors, owner of a 20-33, 4.14 record in 94 games for the Phillies. He was 4-4, 4.22 in 64 innings at the time of the deal. The 24-year-old righty went 0-4, 4.72 in 34.1 innings for the Pirates in 1943, then was traded in the off-season, as part of the deal that returned Preacher Roe to the Pirates. 1939: Pirates traded Bill Schuster and cash to the Boston Bees for Elbie Fletcher. Schuster was a 26-year-old infielder, with three games of Major League experience, coming in 1937 for the Pirates. With Boston he played two September games, going 0-for-3 at the plate. He went back to the minors, before returning in 1943 for three seasons with the Chicago Cubs. Fletcher was 23 years old at the time, in his fifth season in the majors with the Braves, and his third year as their starting first baseman. He batted .272 with 48 RBIs and 71 runs scored in 1938, and through 35 games in 1939, he was hitting .245 with just six RBIs and a .264 slugging percentage. For the Pirates, he was their starting first baseman through 1943, before leaving for wartime duty. He returned for two more seasons, beginning in 1946. In 916 games in Pittsburgh, he hit .279 with 509 runs scored and 464 RBIs. He had a .403 on base percentage thanks to 625 walks. He was an All-Star in 1943, led the league in walks twice and on base percentage three times in a row from 1940-42. In 1940, Fletcher drove in 104 runs. We featured that 1940 season here. The Players Jake Elmore, infielder for the 2019 Pirates. He was a 48th round draft pick of the Florida Marlins in 2007 out of Wallace State Community College. The next year he was taken in the 34th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of Arizona State. He reported to short-season ball in the Pioneer League, where he hit .296 with 21 extra-base hits in 53 games. He went to A-Ball the next season, where he batted .258 with 61 walks, 62 runs scored and 13 steals. Elmore jumped up to Double-A in 2010, hitting .278 with 55 walks and 25 steals in 127 games. He repeated the level in 2011 and fell short of those numbers, batting .270 with 54 walks and 15 steals in 121 games. He went to Triple-A and had a big season playing in a very hitter-friendly park in Reno, where he put up a .344 average and a .908 OPS in 108 games. That led to his first taste of the majors, where he batted .191 in 30 games. Elmore was lost on waivers to the Houston Astros after the season. He batted .242 with two homers in 52 games in 2013. He mostly played middle infield, but he actually saw time at all nine positions that year. Once again he changed places via waivers, going to the Chicago White Sox for 2014. Before the season started, he was purchased by the Oakland A’s. Before getting into a big league game that season, Elmore was taken off of waivers by the Cincinnati Reds, where he played just five games that season. He was lost on waivers to the Pirates in November of 2014, but he was let go just three months later. He signed with the Tampa Bay Rays for 2015, where he hit .206 with two homers in 51 games. Elmore signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016 and he batted .218 in 59 games, though he had just 99 plate appearances. He split the 2017 season in the minors between the Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins. The 2018 season was spent back in the minors with the White Sox, where he stayed until the Pirates acquired him for cash on March 28, 2019. Elmore played 20 games for the Pirates, hitting .213 in 47 at-bats. He re-signed with the Pirates for 2020, but he was released prior to the season. He also spent time with the Cleveland Indians, but never got into a game. Elmore hit .215 with four homers and 37 RBIs in 217 big league games. He batted .286 in 1,099 minor league games. Josh Lindblom, pitcher for the 2017 Pirates. He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the third round in 2005, but decided to attend Purdue University, where the Los Angeles Dodgers selected him in the second round in 2008. Lindblom had a 2.12 ERA in 34 innings during his first season of pro ball, making it up to Double-A for one start. He had a 4.71 ERA in Double-A in 2009, then moved to the bullpen in Triple-A and posted a 2.54 ERA in 39 innings. He spent the entire 2010 season in Triple-A, where he struggled along with a 6.54 ERA in 95 innings, making ten starts and 30 relief appearances. In 2011, Lindblom posted a 2.13 ERA while pitching strictly in relief in Double-A. He joined the Dodgers in June and had a 2.73 ERA in 29.2 innings over 27 outings. The 2012 season was split between the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies after a mid-season trade. He had a 3.55 ERA in 71 innings over 74 appearances between the two stops. He was traded to the Texas Rangers in the off-season and split 2013 between the minors and majors. He started five big league games and pitched three times in relief that season, putting up a 5.46 ERA in 31.1 innings. He was traded to the Oakland A’s in the off-season, where he pitched just one big league game in 2014. He was picked up by the Pirates on waivers in December of 2014, only to be released 11 days later. Lindblom played in Korea during the 2015-16 seasons, putting together a 23-24 record in 62 starts. He signed with the Pirates as a free agent on January 15, 2017 and was briefly with the team in the majors in May of 2017, getting into four games, while posting a 7.84 ERA in 10.1 innings. Lindblom was released in July of 2017 so he could return to Korea. He had a 15-4 record in 2018 and a 20-3 record during the 2019 season, then returned to the U.S. for the 2020 season, signing with the Milwaukee Brewers for three years. He went 2-4, 5.16 in 45.1 innings during the shortened 2020 season. He was designated for assignment after posting a 9.72 ERA in 16.2 innings in 2021. He was in Triple-A as of early June. His big league career record through late May of 2021 stands at 7-12, 4.78 in 209 innings over 134 appearances. Erik Kratz, catcher for the 2010 and 2016 Pirates. He was originally drafted by the Blue Jays in 2002, but didn’t make his Major League debut until the 2010 Pirates called him up in July, a month after his 30th birthday. The Blue Jays selected him in the 29th round out of Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, a school that has produced exactly one big league draft pick. It certainly didn’t seem like Kratz would take so long to make the majors after his first full season. He did well in the low-level Pioneer League in 2002, hitting .275 in 44 games. The next year he made it all the way up to Double-A, though most of the year was spent in the New York-Penn League. He ended up batting .306 with 23 extra-base hits in 58 games that season. His 2004 season saw limited playing time, though he played in Double-A for a time again, finishing the year with a .299 average. He got a chance to play regularly in Double-A in 2005, where he hit .205 with 11 homers. That was followed by a stint in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit just .192 in 16 games. The 2006 through 2008 seasons were all split between Double-A and Triple-A, where he hit for a low average each year and a little bit of power. He actually improved slightly each season, but his 2008 numbers showed a .239 average and 16 homers, which was a nice number for 73 games played. Kratz was signed by the Pirates in January 2009 as a minor league free agent, after spending his first seven years in the Toronto system. He hit .273 with 11 homers in 93 games at Triple-A Indianapolis in 2009, then batted .274 with nine homers in 70 games for Indianapolis in 2010. He was a Triple-A All-Star selection both seasons, finally getting his call to the majors during the middle of the second game. With the Pirates, he hit .118 in nine games, going 3-for-34 at the plate. All of that big league time was during a two-week stretch in the second half of July. He left via free agency after the season, signing with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played just two games in the majors in 2011 before finally getting an extended look in 2012, ten years after he was drafted. Kratz hit .248 with nine homers and 26 RBIs in 50 games for the 2012 Phillies. The next year he hit .213 in 68 games, while matching the home run and RBI totals from the previous season. He was traded to the Blue Jays after the 2013 season, then got traded to the Kansas City Royals during the middle of the 2014 season. Between the two stops that season, he hit .218 with five homers in 47 games. He was selected off waivers by the Boston Red Sox in June of 2015, but he was released just eight days later without playing a game, and he signed with the Seattle Mariners. His stay there lasted just 13 days and he ended up back with the Phillies after being released. Kratz played just 16 big league games that season, four with the Royals and 12 with the Phillies. Kratz was a member of six different organizations during the 2016 calendar year. He signed a free agent deal with the San Diego Padres, who traded him to the Houston Astros just before Opening Day. He was released in late May and signed with the Los Angeles Angels. He returned to the Pirates for 18 games after being purchased from the Angels in early June. He was released by the Pirates in late July. He hit .107 in 57 plate appearances. He then signed with the Blue Jays to finish the year, then signed a free agent deal with the Cleveland Indians on December 1st. Kratz hit .094 in 32 games that season, only seeing big league time with the Astros and Pirates. He spent most of 2017 in the minors until the New York Yankees purchased his contract in August and got him into two big league games. He remained with the Yankees as a free agent signing for 2018, but that May he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. Kratz ended up hitting .236 with six homers and 23 RBIs in 67 games that season, with all of that big league time coming in Milwaukee. The Brewers traded him to the San Francisco Giants in late March of 2019. He was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in May, released in June and returned to the Yankees. He hit .102 in 21 games that season. Kratz re-signed with the Yankees for the 2020 season and he hit .321 in 16 games. He decided to retire after the season. In 11 years in the majors, he hit .209 with 31 homers and 105 RBIs. He hit 165 homers over 1,394 games in pro ball. Lance Parrish, catcher for the 1994 Pirates. He had a big league career that deserves Hall of Fame consideration. Parrish was an eight-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger winner and three-time Gold Glove recipient. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers out of high school in the first round in 1974, selected 16th overall. His career didn’t get off to a great start, with a .213 average in 68 games in the Appalachian League in 1974, followed by a .220 average and five homers in 100 games in the Florida State League in 1975. The Tigers still pushed him quickly through the system and he was in Double-A by 20 years old, where he batted .221 with 14 homers in 107 games. Parrish broke out in 1977 in Triple-A, hitting .279 with 25 homers and 90 RBIs in 115 games. He got a September look in the majors and earned a job for the following season. He hit .196 in 12 games in 1977 with Detroit, then played 85 games the next season, hitting .219 with 14 homers. He was the everyday catcher by 1979, when he hit .276 with 19 homers and 65 RBIs in 143 games. He had his first All-Star season in 1980, when he also picked up his first Silver Slugger award. Parrish hit .286 with 34 doubles, 24 homers and 82 RBIs in 144 games. During the strike-shortened 1981 season, he hit .244 with ten homers in 96 games. Parrish started an impressive run of five straight All-Star seasons in 1982. He batted .284 with 32 homers and 87 RBIs, which led to a 13th place finish in the MVP race and his second Silver Slugger award. In 1983, he hit .269 with 27 homers and set career highs with 42 doubles, 80 runs scored and his only 100+ RBI season (114). He had a ninth place MVP finish, his first Gold Glove and third Silver Slugger. In 1984, Parrish batted .237 and set a career high with 33 homers, while picking up 98 RBIs. That was good enough for a 16th place MVP finish, while he added another Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award. Parrish had set the American League record for homers by a catcher in a season in 1982, but he hit just 27 of his homers in 1984 while catching. That record was broken the next season by Carlton Fisk, who hit 33 of his 37 homers while catching. While his home run record was getting beat in 1985, Parrish plugged along with a .273 average, 28 homers and 98 RBIs. He picked up his third straight Gold Glove award. In 1986, he was limited to 91 games due to a back injury. He batted .257 with 22 homers and won his fifth Silver Slugger. In 1987, Parrish signed a free agent deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. He hit .245 with 17 homers and 67 RBIs during his first season, then made the All-Star game in 1988, despite a .215 average in 123 games. Parrish was traded to the California Angels in 1989 and remained there until early in 1992. He hit .238 with 17 homers during his first season back in the American League. That was followed by his final All-Star appearance and sixth Silver Slugger award. He hit .268 with 24 homers and 70 RBIs in 1990. His average dropped to .216 in 1991, though he still hit 19 homers. Parrish was traded to the Seattle Mariners during the early stages of the 1992 season. He hit .233 with 12 homers in 93 games that year. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in 1993, but never played for them. He was released in May and signed with the Cleveland Indians, though they released him after ten games in three weeks and he didn’t play for the rest of the year. He signed a free agent deal for 1994 with the Tigers, who had him in Triple-A when he was purchased by the Pirates on April 30th. Parrish hit .270 with three homers in 40 games for the Pirates that season, which was cut sort by the strike in August. He signed with the Kansas City Royals for 1995, but he was acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays before the season started. In his final big league season, he batted .202 with four homers in 70 games. Parrish signed as a free agent with the Pirates in 1996, but he was released after hitting .190 during Spring Training. He retired as a player to become a catching instructor for the Royals. In his 19-year big league career, Parrish hit .252 with 324 homers and 1,070 RBIs in 1,988 games played. He ranks fifth all-time in home runs by catchers, trailing four Hall of Famers, Fisk, Mike Piazza, Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra. He caught 1,818 games, 13th most all-time. Despite those numbers and his awards, he lasted one year on the Hall of Fame ballot and received just 1.7% of the votes. Bruce Dal Canton, pitcher for the 1967-70 Pirates. He was already 25 years old when he signed his first pro contract in 1966 with the Pirates. It didn’t even take two full seasons for him to work his way to the majors, debuting as a September call-up in 1967. He actually spent half of his first season in pro ball in Triple-A, where he had a 3.82 ERA in 33 innings, pitching mostly in relief. The 1967 minor league season was spent in Double-A as a starter, where he had a 3.10 ERA in 93 innings. Dal Canton pitched 15 games over his first two seasons with the Pirates, posting a 1.98 ERA in 41 innings. He had a 1.88 mark in 24 innings in 1967, yet he still ended up spending half of the 1968 season back in Double-A. The problem was that he went 0-4, 8.25 in Triple-A. His big league time was once again relegated to September, where he had a 2.12 ERA in 17 innings. In 1969, Dal Canton made the Pirates out of Spring Training and was a key member out of the bullpen, making 57 appearances with eight wins, five saves and a 3.34 ERA in 86.1 innings. He struggled a bit in 1970, with a 4.57 ERA in 84.2 innings, although he did have a 9-4 record. After the season, he was part of a six-player deal with the Royals. Dal Canton took up a starting role with the Royals in 1971, going 8-6, 3.44 in 141.1 innings. He was 6-6, 3.40 in 132.1 innings in 1972, making 16 starts and 19 relief appearances. He was almost exclusively a reliever in 1973, going 4-3, 4.81 in 97.1 innings. That was followed by a career high in innings in 1974 when he went 8-10, 3.13 in 175.1 innings. After a very rough start to 1975, giving up 18 runs in 8.2 innings, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves, where he posted a 2-7, 3.36 record in nine starts and 17 relief appearances. Dal Canton made just one start in 1976, going 3-5, 3.56 in 73.1 innings over 42 appearances. He was released in Spring Training of 1977 and signed with the Chicago White Sox, where he pitched his final eight big league games. He finished his 11-year career with a 51-49, 3.67 record in 316 games, 83 as a starter. With the Pirates he went 20-8, 3.57 in 113 games, pitching 212 innings. Gene Baker, infielder for the 1957-58 and 1960-61 Pirates. He began his pro career in 1948, playing in the Negro Leagues. Due to the new ruling by MLB over the designation of the Negro Leagues as a Major League, that season now marks his first season in the majors. He hit .208 in 77 at-bats for the Kansas City Monarchs. Baker spent the 1950 season playing for three different minor league teams, spending the majority of the year with Los Angeles of the Pacific Coast League. Between all three stops, he hit .290 with 33 doubles and 64 runs scored in 152 games. He spent the entire 1951-52 seasons with Los Angeles, where he had a .723 OPS in 168 games in 1951 and a .699 OPS in 174 games in 1952. During the 1953 season, Baker hit .284 with 20 homers, 99 RBIs and 78 walks in 162 games with Los Angeles. The Cubs brought him to the majors that September for seven late-season games. He was the starting second baseman for much of 1954, hitting .275 with 32 doubles and 13 homers in 135 games. Baker played all 154 games in 1955, hitting .268 with 29 doubles and 11 homers. He earned his only All-Star appearance that season and received mild MVP support. In 1956, he hit .258 with 23 doubles, 12 homers and 57 RBIs. Baker hit .250 in 12 games for the 1957 Cubs before coming to the Pirates, along with Dee Fondy on May 1, 1957, in exchange for Dale Long and Lee Walls. Baker hit .268 with 180 RBIs and 220 runs scored in 448 games with the Cubs. He played 111 games for the 1957 Pirates, splitting his time between 2B/SS/3B, hitting .266 with 36 RBIs and 36 runs scored. He played 29 games in 1958 before a knee injury caused him to miss the rest of the year and the entire 1959 season. He returned in 1960, seeing very limited time in a bench role, getting three starts and 33 games total. Baker batted three times in the World Series without a hit. In 1961, he played nine early season games before returning to the minors, where he finished his playing career the next year. He coached in the minors during his last two seasons as a player, then coached with the 1963 Pirates before returning to the minors for one more season as a manager. He batted .265 in 630 big league games, not including his one season in the Negro Leagues. Bud Stewart, outfielder for the 1941-42 Pirates. He was a Rule 5 draft pick of the Pirates in 1940, after spending his first four seasons of pro ball playing in the Pacific Coast League. He appeared briefly for San Diego in 1937 at 21 years old, then hit .270 in 94 games in 1938. Part of the 1939 season was spent in the Western International League, while the rest came with San Diego. Between the two stops, Stewart hit .315 with 46 extra-base hits in 135 games. His last year in San Diego, he hit .320 with 50 extra-base hits in 179 games. Stewart played 73 games as a rookie in 1941 for the Pirates, hitting .267 with no homers and ten RBIs in 187 plate appearances. He saw starts at all three outfield spots. In 1942, he hit .219 with 20 RBIs in 82 games. That season, he played 16 games in the infield (ten at third base and six at second base), which was the only time that he played a position other than outfield in his nine-year Major League career. Stewart spent the 1943-44 seasons serving in the military. He returned to baseball in 1945, playing for the Hollywood Stars of the PCL for two seasons. The Pirates released him to Indianapolis of the American Association on September 28, 1946. He ended up playing for Kansas City of the American Association in 1947, where he was picked up by the New York Yankees. Stewart played just six games for the 1948 Yankees before he was traded to the Washington Senators. He was able to see regular playing time with Washington, getting into exactly 118 games during each of his three seasons with the team. He batted .279 with 37 extra-base hits and a career high 69 RBIs in 1948, the he batted a career best .284 in 1949, while also setting a high with 23 doubles. Stewart hit .267 with 35 RBIs and 46 runs scored in 1950. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox after the season, and played his final four big league seasons there. He was a bench player the entire time, seeing a bit more action during his first two years, before taking a limited role in 1953-54. He had 600 plate appearances over 258 games in Chicago, with a .267 average, 13 homers and 83 RBIs. Stewart had a 74:31 BB/SO ratio during that time. He played his final big league game on June 2, 1954 and finished his pro career in the minors later that year. He was a .268 hitter, with 32 homers, 260 RBIs and 288 runs scored in 773 games over nine seasons in the majors. He has the name “Bud” now, but he was referred to as “Eddie” (first name Edward) during his time in Pittsburgh. There was another sports star during that time with the name/nickname Bud Stewart. Babe Dahlgren, first baseman for the 1944-45 Pirates. He broke into pro ball at 19 years old in 1931, splitting his first season between Mission of the Pacific Coast League and Class-D Tuscon of the Texas-Arizona League. He batted .305 in 156 games that year, though he had much better results at the lower level as you would expect. The next three seasons were spent with Mission, where he showed a solid average and some power. He topped out at a .315 average in 1933, hit 40 doubles in 1932, and he belted 20 homers in 1934. Dahlgren broke into the majors with the Boston Red Sox in 1935 as their everyday first baseman. He hit .263 with nine homers and 63 RBIs in 149 games as a rookie. The next two years were spent most in the minors, where he had a lot of success, but it translated to just 17 big league games. He hit .318 with 68 extra-base hits for Syracuse of the International League in 1936. He then batted .340 with 63 extra-base hits in 125 games in 1937 with Newark of the International League. He joined the New York Yankees that season, though just for one game. In 1938, Dahlgren was a bench player for the Yankees and saw very little time, batting .186 in 27 games. He hit .235 with 15 homers and 89 RBIs in 1939, taking over for Lou Gehrig when he retired. The Yankees won the World Series in four games and he went 3-for-14 with two doubles and a homer. In 1940, he led the American League with 155 games, while hitting .264 with 12 homers and 73 RBIs. The Yankees sold him to the Boston Braves prior to the 1941 season and the Braves sold him to the Chicago Cubs during the season. Dahlgren hit .267 that year, with a career high of 23 homers, while driving in 89 runs. His 1942 season was an odd one, as he started with the Cubs, was sold to the St Louis Browns, only to be returned a week later. That same day he was sold to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He played just 36 games that year, seeing time with all three clubs. The Philadelphia Phillies acquired Dahlgren from the Dodgers in exchange for Lloyd Waner just prior to the start of the 1943 season. Dahlgren was coming off a season in which he hit .287 with 56 RBIs and 55 runs scored, earning his first (and only) All-Star selection, when the Pirates acquired him from the Phillies on December 30, 1943 for catcher Babe Phelps. Dahlgren had his best season of his 12-year major league career in 1944, hitting .289 with a career high 101 RBIs. He started every game of the season at first base, 158 total, thanks in part to five ties throughout the season that were replayed, yet still counted in the final stats. Dahlgren finished 12th in the National League MVP voting, gaining one of the 24 first place votes. In 1945, he hit .250 with 75 RBIs in 144 games. He led NL first baseman in fielding percentage (.996) just one season after leading the league in errors. Just as the 1946 season was starting, the Pirates sold him to the St Louis Browns, where he finished his career later that year. Dahlgren was a .261 career hitter, with 82 homers and 569 RBIs in 1,137 games. His real name was Ellsworth Tenney Dahlgren. Peek-A-Boo Veach, first baseman for the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys. He came up to the majors in 1884, playing 27 games in the short-lived Union Association. The level of player in that league was subpar, as it was considered the third Major League of the time behind the National League and American Association. The league was also filled with minor league players, so most quality players dominated like no other season in their career. Veach did not play well in the league despite the low quality of play, hitting .134 in 27 games and going 3-9 on the mound. He was actually a decent pitcher that season, posting a 2.42 ERA, but his team finished 16-63. Peek-A-Boo (real name was William) next appeared in the majors in 1887, pitching one early season game for the Louisville Colonels of the American Association. He did very little pitching in his career after that season. Three years later, he made his National League debut, playing first base for the Cleveland Spiders. He struggled at the bat, hitting .235 in 64 games, though he had 33 walks and 32 RBIs. Pittsburgh picked him up in mid-July, giving him eight games at first base. He batted .300 with two homers, five RBIs and eight walks. The Alleghenys signed him to allow first baseman/manager Guy Hecker to return to pitching full-time. In a bit of a twist, Hecker and Veach were teammates during his brief time in Louisville, with Hecker pitching two days before and two days after Veach’s lone start. Veach was released by Pittsburgh on July 26th so he could return home to be with his ailing wife. The move drew the ire of the local sportswriters, who felt he was playing too well at the time to let go, despite the circumstances of his departure and the fact that Pittsburgh was already 34.5 games out of first place at the time. Despite the success in his last big league trial, he returned to the minors for good, ending his career in 1897. His big league career consisted of exactly 100 games, with a 2.55 ERA in 113 innings and a .215 average, with three homers, two hit during his brief time in Pittsburgh. Veach hit his last Major League homer off of Phenomenal Smith, another great nickname of the day, and a player who would join the 1890 Alleghenys shortly after the departure of Veach. In a pro career that lasted 11 seasons between 1884 and 1897, Veach moved around a lot. Besides his four big league teams, he also played for 14 minor league teams in seven different leagues. He won 26 games in the minors in 1885, then went 20-19, 1.74 in 352.2 innings for Toronto of the International League in 1886. He started and completed 40 games that season. There have been two explanations of his unique Peek-A-Boo nickname circulating. The first came from his delivery, where he kept his back to the batter until the last second. The other was from his minor league days, when a manager devised a plan to signal him for pick-off throws that eventually involved someone waving a scorecard in the stands. It was said that Veach looked around the park all the time with runners on base, as the person sending the signal would change so the opposing team couldn’t figure out who was giving it to him. The true origin was told by Veach many years after he stopped playing. He won his big league debut 4-2 over Cincinnati, a team that finished 40 games ahead of Kansas City in the standings. His manager gave him the nickname Peek-A-Boo after the game and got it from a very popular ragtime song from the day called “Peek-A-Boo, Come From Behind That Chair”. Veach said that manager Ted Sullivan was impressed by how well he followed his signals, leading to a victory over a much better team. Ed Glenn, left fielder for the 1886 Pittsburgh Alleghenys. His big league career has an odd start to it. Glenn was playing for his hometown team (Richmond of the Eastern League) in 1884, hitting .264 in 61 games through early August. In the American Association that year, the Washington Nationals dropped to a 12-51 record on August 2nd and they disbanded because they were losing too much money. The Richmond Virginians of the Eastern League became a Major League club three days later and they finished out Washington’s schedule. So everyone who was playing for Richmond became MLB players without leaving their minor league team. They were barely any better than Washington (not surprisingly), going 12-30 over the rest of the season. Glenn hit .246 over 43 games in his first shot at the majors. Richmond returned to the EL the next season and he .232 and slugged .304 in 83 games. Somehow that was enough to get his a shot with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, though his defense was considered to be strong out in left field. His signing was announced on November 14, 1885. In 71 games with Pittsburgh, he hit .191, with a .490 OPS, 19 steals, 32 runs scored and 26 RBIs. He was released on August 14th and he went home to Richmond that night. On August 22nd it was announced that he signed with Kansas City of the National League, though his only experience after leaving the Pirates came as a brief stint with Syracuse of the International League. Glenn played for Charleston of the Southern League in 1887, where he hit .373 in 103 games, with 34 steals and 126 runs scored. He was back in the majors for part of 1888, seeing time with the Kansas City Cowboys of the American Association and the Boston Beaneaters of the National League. He batted just .137 in 23 games, in what ended up being his final big league time. Glenn played back in Charleston for part of 1888, then moved on to Sioux City of the Western Association for his final two seasons. He became ill in 1891 and passed away at 31 years old in early 1892. He has the nickname “Mouse” now, but the first mention of that nickname seems to come from a story being told about the Richmond club he played for in the Eastern League about 40 years after he played there....
Card of the Day: 1954 Bowman Hal Rice
June 14, 2021
Card of the Day
On this date in 1953, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded for outfielder Hal Rice. On this date in 1954, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded outfielder Hal Rice. That’s right, he spent exactly one year with the Pirates. Rice got himself on two baseball cards during that time, so the choices here were slim. I like the 1954 Topps card better, but I picked the Bowman card because of something that I saw while scrolling through Ebay. I’m sure you’ll appreciate the added bonus here, so let’s get right into today’s featured card, a 1954 Bowman Hal Rice. Here’s the front of the card: I’m sure at some point I’ll get to the 1954 Topps Rice card. The plan here is to just keep going as long as people are reading them. The Topps card is definitely the better looking of the two sets from 1954. The Bowman is just too basic of a design for me and the box for the name at the bottom is too big for only including the name. It feels like the team name and/or his position should be there too. I’m sure a few people will disagree with that assessment, the Bowman set does have its fans, but the Topps cards have a lot more going on and better quality pictures of the players. However, what the 1954 Topps Hal Rice didn’t have on Ebay is this… That my friends is the original black & white photo used for the 1954 Bowman Hal Rice card. It’s currently for sale on Ebay. What you see on the front of the card is a colorized version of a real photo. Notice that the yellow box for his name on the card blocks out what you can see in the real photo of the word “Pittsburgh” on the jersey. Here’s the back of the card: I really like the back of 1954 Bowman cards, but in a head-to-head competition with 1954 Topps, they are a distant second. The Topps back design from that year is one of my favorite back designs from the post-war years. I like the use of the bat here though for the name, along with the baseball for the number. These cards have a nice little bio for the players. The stats are limited, but you didn’t get any extra on the Topps cards and the fielding stats adds something different. The trivia question here is an interesting note. You can often read that Harry Simpson got the name Suitcase because he moved around a lot during his career, except most of the moving that people quote happened after this card was printed. He played for one team in the Negro Leagues early in his career, then signed with the Cleveland Indians and played for them for three seasons (up to that point), plus two years in the minors. There was nothing odd about his progression in baseball for the time, but after 1954, he played for for five different big league teams in five years, including the 1959 Pirates. The real story is that he wore large shoes and it reminded a sportswriter of a cartoon character of the day named Suitcase. It had nothing to do with him moving around a lot. This card is plentiful on Ebay, with 54 examples currently up (nice number considering it’s a 54 Bowman). You can grab one for as low as $4 delivered, but the grade isn’t that great. There are others in similar condition for slightly more. For just a few dollars more you can get a nice mid-grade example. You can get a PSA 7 for $33.65 (with a make-an-offer option). A PSA 8 will run you $50, while the three highest priced examples currently up are also graded PSA 8. I didn’t look at the scans, but the difference in price is significant with two of the others. Some people think their card is nicer than a certain grade and they will price the card with that in mind. Some people just ask too much, so be sure to check the scans before buying....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: June 14th, Pirates Trade and Acquire Future Hall of Famers
June 14, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Plenty of trades in Pittsburgh Pirates history on this date, including two that involved Hall of Fame players and the same player getting traded in back-to-back years. We also have two former players born on this date. The Trades 1983: Marvell Wynne acquired from the New York Mets for Junior Ortiz. Wynne was a 23-year-old minor leaguer at the time of the deal. He made his debut right after the trade, spending the rest of 1983 and each of the next two seasons manning center field for the Pirates, before he was dealt to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Bob Patterson. Ortiz, the 23-year-old backup catcher for Pittsburgh, had just 12 games of Major League service in at the time. He would hit .236 with no homers and 23 RBIs in 108 games for New York before returning to the Pirates in the 1984 Rule 5 draft. Also included in this deal were two pitchers, one going each way, though neither played in the majors for their new team. The Pirates gave up Arthur Ray, while getting back Steve Senteney. 1982: Eddie Solomon traded to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Morrison. Solomon was a 31-year-old starting pitcher, in his third season with the Pirates. He pitched well the first two years, but he was struggling in 1982 with a 2-6, 6.75 record. He lasted just three weeks and six relief appearances with the White Sox before they released him, ending his big league career. Morrison was a 29-year-old infielder with some pop in his bat. In 1980 he had 15 homers and 40 doubles. At trade time, he was hitting .223 with seven homers in 51 games. He ended up playing six seasons in Pittsburgh, mostly at third base, with a .274 average, 57 homers and 241 RBIs in 552 games. 1954: Hal Rice sent to the Chicago Cubs for Luis Marquez. This was the second straight year that Rice got traded of this date. The 30-year-old corner outfielder was hitting .173 with nine RBIs over 28 games at the time of the trade. Marquez hit .197 with the Boston Braves during his rookie season in 1951, then spent the next two years in the minors. Returning to the majors in 1954, the 28-year-old outfielder had one hit in 14 plate appearances, with three stolen bases. After the deal, he also had one hit in 14 plate appearances with the Pirates, although he did take four walks. Marquez spent the next nine seasons in the minors without a return trip to the big leagues. Rice hit .153 in 51 games for the Cubs, in what ended up being his last season in the majors. 1953: Pete Castiglione traded to the St Louis Cardinals for Hal Rice. Castiglione was a 32-year-old infielder, in his seventh season with the Pirates. He had a .258 average with 24 homers and 147 RBIs in 473 games for Pittsburgh. He was hitting .208 at the time of the deal and he batted .173 afterwards in limited time for St Louis. His career lasted just five more games in 1954, without him getting an at-bat. Rice was in a platoon role in 1952 and he played well, hitting .288 with 45 RBIs in 98 games. However, with the Cardinals in 1953, he batted just eight times, all as a pinch-hitter. After the deal, Rice batted .311 with 42 RBIs in 78 games for the Pirates in 1953. You likely just read how he did with the 1954 Pirates and beyond… 1940: Ray Berres sent to the Boston Bees for Al Lopez. Berres was a 32-year-old catcher, with 288 games of Major League experience, 144 with the Brooklyn Dodgers and 144 with the Pirates. His highest average in five seasons was .240 and he had one career homer. After the deal he hit .197 in 205 games for the Braves, before moving on to the New York Giants for four seasons as a seldom-used backup catcher. Lopez was 31 years old, in his 12th season in the majors. He had caught over 100 games in a season ten times, and during four of those years he got MVP votes for his work behind the plate and solid hitting. With the Pirates he hit .254 with 196 RBIs in 656 games. From 1942-44, he led the National League each year in caught stealing percentage, throwing out a high of 66% in 1942. While he had a very solid Major League career, Lopez made the Hall of Fame as a manager in 1977. The Braves also got $40,000 cash in this deal. 1917: Doug Baird traded to the St Louis Cardinals for Bob Steele. The 23-year-old Steele, had a 6-18 record in two seasons for the Cardinals, despite a decent 3.36 ERA. He was even better with the Pirates, posting a 2.87 ERA, but the Pirates were a bad team and his record stood at 7-14 when he was sold to the New York Giants in July of 1918. He went just 3-6 with the Giants despite an even lower, 2.74 ERA. His final career record stands at 16-38 with a 3.05 ERA. Baird was a 25-year-old third baseman, who batted under .220 in each of his first two seasons, leading the NL in strikeouts as a rookie. In the field, he was slightly below average. At the time of the deal he was hitting .259 in 43 games, and he carried that batting over to St Louis, where he hit .253 in 104 games. He played for four different teams over the next three seasons, with his career ending in 1920 1892: Pud Galvin dealt to the St Louis Browns for Cub Stricker. Before Stricker even played a game for the Pirates, he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Adonis Terry. Galvin was near the end of his Hall of Fame career, winner of 360 games at the time. The 35-year-old pitcher was 5-6, 2.63 in 12 starts. After the deal, he matched his Pirates record, going 5-6 in 12 starts with the Browns, in what would turn out to be his last season in the majors. His 365 wins at the time were a Major League record. Stricker was a tiny (5″3 138, which is why he was nicknamed Cub) light-hitting second baseman with a solid glove. At age 33, he was nearly done as a player, hitting .204 at the time of the deal, and he played just 134 games after being dealt from Pittsburgh to Baltimore. Despite his .239 career average, the speedy Stricker was able to score at least 80 runs a year each season from 1887-1891. The Players Randy Tomlin, pitcher for the 1990-94 Pirates. The Pirates selected him in the 18th round of the 1988 draft out of Liberty University. Randy shot through the Pirates minor league system, winning 30 games, with an ERA well below 3.00, making it to the majors 26 months after being drafted. He spent the entire first season with Watertown of the New York-Penn League, where he pitched 103.1 innings in 15 starts, with a 2.18 ERA, five complete games and two shutouts. He skipped to High-A in 1989, going 12-6, 3.25 in 138.2 innings, before moving up to Double-A Harrisburg for five starts at the end of the year. Tomlin allowed just three earned runs over 32 innings after his promotion. He went 9-6, 2.28 in 126.1 innings in Harrisburg in 1990, followed by just eight innings of work in Triple-A. On August 6, 1990, he made his big league debut. Tomlin went 4-4, 2.55 in 12 starts and 77.2 innings for the Pirates in 1990. The following year he made 27 starts for the National League East champs, going 8-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 175 innings. Tomlin started game four of the NLCS, giving up two first inning runs before shutting down the Atlanta Braves for the next five innings. He won a career high 14 games in 1992, as the Pirates won their third straight division title. Tomlin had a 3.41 ERA that season and he pitched 208.2 innings, making 33 starts. In the playoffs, he pitched twice in relief, allowing two runs in 2.2 innings.He made just 18 starts in 1993, missing all of June and September. He required elbow surgery after the second time he got hurt. His record fell to 4-8, 4.85 in 98.1 innings that season. He spent half of the strike-shortened 1994 season in the minors, and he went 0-3, 3.92 while he was with the Pirates. He made four starts and six relief appearances that year, but got in just 20.2 innings pitched. The Pirates let him go following the 1994 season. He pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and the San Francisco Giants in Spring Training in 1995, but didn’t pitch again in pro ball until 1996. His career ended in 1997 without making it back to the majors. His last two seasons were split between a short stint in Triple-A with the Boston Red Sox, and two independent league teams. With the Pirates in five seasons, Tomlin went 30-31, 3.43 in 580.1 innings, with 94 starts and 12 relief appearances. Mark Lee, pitcher for the 1980-81 Pirates. He was a 13th round draft pick of the San Diego Padres in 1976 out of Pepperdine. It was the third time that he was drafted before signing. The Baltimore Orioles took him twice out of El Camino College, selecting him in the sixth round in 1973 and the ninth round in 1974. After he signed with the Padres, he played for Walla Walla of the Northwest League, where he was 5-3, 3.00 in 54 innings. He moved all the way up to the Texas League (Double-A) in 1977, where he had a 10-8, 3.74 record in 113 innings. He began 1978 in Triple-A, though that stay lasted just four scoreless outings. Lee made it to the majors in just under two years, debuting on April 23, 1978. He went 5-1, 3.28 in 56 appearances as a rookie, while pitching a total of 85 innings. His ERA dropped to 4.29 in 46 games and 65 innings during the next season. He had a rough start to the year and ended up being sent to the minors with a 9.00 ERA in early May, where he stayed for two months. He pitched better during the final three months of the season, posting a 3.23 ERA in 53 innings, but by the start of 1980 he was back in Triple-A. The Pirates acquired him as the player to be named later in an early August trade during that 1980 season. The original deal saw the Pirates get Kurt Bevacqua for Luis Salazar and Rick Lancellotti. Lee would get a September call-up to Pittsburgh, making four appearances out of the bullpen. He allowed three runs over 5.2 innings. He was also a September recall in 1981, posting a 2.75 ERA in 12 games for the Pirates, after putting up a 4.07 ERA in 73 innings. During Spring Training in 1982, he was sold to the Detroit Tigers. He was released by Detroit on June 9th and rejoined the Pirates, heading to their farm club in Portland. He spent that entire 1982 season in Triple-A before retiring from baseball in a peculiar way. He came in to a game in the ninth inning on August 16th and was asked to get the final three outs. He retired the first two batters, then called the manager out and walked off the mound, throwing the ball, then his hat, then his jersey. He later said that he realized he had no chance of making it with the Pirates after he was designated for reassignment, so he wanted to retire on his own terms and he wanted to strike out the final batter he faced in baseball. When the second batter struck out, he decided to end it there. There was another pitcher in the majors in the 1980s-90’s named Mark Lee, though that one was a lefty....
Card of the Day: 1998 Pacific Crown Collection Joe Randa
June 13, 2021
Card of the Day
This one might be a first for me here. I wanted to feature something related to the Pittsburgh Pirates first interleague game, which happened on this date in 1997. The hero of that game was Joe Randa, who drove in three runs for the Pirates in a 5-3 win. Randa wasn’t with the Pirates long, though he played during a time when there were too many sets to choose from, plus he came back to the team at the end of his career. So he has a lot of options when it comes to his first time appearing in our Card of the Day feature. I scrolled through Ebay looking at my choices and came across this card from 1998, called the Pacific Crown Collection set. It featured 450 cards for the base set, plus plenty of inserts and chase cards. This is the first time that I am writing about a set that I knew nothing about ahead of time, as far as I can remember. I picked one of the rare versions of this card mostly because the person had the best front/back scans available. Here’s the front of the card: Note that the front of the card is the back of Randa (wait for it…). This card is called a Platinum Blue edition and there were supposed 67 Platinum Blue cards for each of the 450 cards in the set. The odds of getting one of these cards (not Randa specifically) was one in every 73 packs. These cards were sold 36 packs per box and 12 cards per pack, so you could buy two boxes of them and you wouldn’t be guaranteed to pull a single Platinum Blue card. They also had silver version, which came one per pack and a Red Threatt card, which was one-per-pack, but only at Walmart. If you haven’t realized yet, those are all colors and they reference the color of the writing for the name going bottom-to-top on the side. It’s a strange little design/writing decision from Pacific Trading Cards. I appreciate the Pirates logo on the front, it always makes things better. Here’s the back of the card: The back of the card features the front of Randa (did you wait for it?). One might say that there is a limit to the amount of logos you should have on a card, but I see parts or all of 12 Pirates logos and I would be okay with even more. As you may have noticed here, these cards are in both Spanish and English. The set also has a subset for Latin American players, so it was a theme that year. Notice that this card is supposedly numbers to 67 copies, but they don’t number them individually like cards usually do now with limited print cards. So basically, we have to take their word for it. Finally, I’ll point out the cap that Randa is wearing. I’m not ashamed to admit that I really liked that cap and I have one right by my desk. I know a lot of people didn’t/still don’t like it. I am and was a fan. This specific card is not easy to find, and a regular base version of this card is only slightly easier to find. Just seven Randa cards from this set are listed on Ebay. Four are the regular version, one is the red version and two are the platinum one numbered to 67. Assuming you want that version, you’ll either pay $7.49 or $7.10 delivered. The regular version can be had for just under $3. Happy collecting!...
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: June 13th, First Marte Trade and First Interleague Game
June 13, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
We have one Pittsburgh Pirates trade of note, two former players born on this date, plus a game of note. The Trade On this date in 2001, the Pirates traded infielder Enrique Wilson to the New York Yankees in exchange for relief pitcher Damaso Marte. Wilson was in his second season with the Pirates. He had been acquired the previous year at the trading deadline for Wil Cordero. He was 27 years old at the time, hitting .186 in 46 games, although he had hit much better in prior seasons. Marte was 26 years old at the time, with just five games of Major League experience, which came with the 1999 Seattle Mariners. The lefty reliever was in Double-A for the Yankees, with a 3.50 ERA in 23 appearances. After a brief stop in Triple-A, Marte pitched 23 games for the Pirates in 2001, posting a 4.71 ERA in 36.1 innings. Less than a year after they acquired him, Marte was traded to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for minor league pitcher Matt Guerrier. He would return to the Pirates in 2005, then get dealt back to the Yankees, along with Xavier Nady, at the 2008 trading deadline. Wilson hit .242 in limited action for the Yankees. He remained with the team for three more seasons, serving as their backup infielder. In 264 games for New York, he batted .216 with 69 RBIs. The Players Darrell May, pitcher for the 1996 Pirates. He made it to the majors in 1995 with the Atlanta Braves, despite being drafted in the 46th round just three years earlier. May was originally a 14th round pick of the Oakland A’s in 1991 out of Sacramento City College, but he decided to return to school and he ended up going 32 rounds later the next year. He debuted in the Gulf Coast League, where he had a 1.36 ERA in 53 innings. He jumped up to Low-A at the start of 1993 and ended the year in High-A. May combined to go 15-6, 2.19 in 156 innings that season. He made 23 starts the next year split between High-A and Double-A, going 13-5, 3.06 in 138.1 innings. The 1995 season saw him back 15 starts in Double-A, nine in Triple-A, then he made it to Atlanta in September. He went 6-10, 3.60 in 142.1 innings over his two minor league stops. May had a rough start with the Braves, getting hit hard in his first cup of coffee in the majors. He would be put on waivers at the end of Spring Training in 1996, where he was picked up by the Pirates just after Opening Day. After going to the minors to begin the season, he got a spot start for the Pirates in early May, giving up five runs in five innings during a loss to the San Diego Padres. He returned to the team in late July and made three relief appearances over a five-day stretch, then made another spot start the next day, which also didn’t go well. In September he was put on waivers, where the California Angels picked him up. He finished out the year by allowing three runs in 2.2 innings over five appearances with the Angels, giving him a 9.53 ERA in 11.1 innings that season. He did much better with the Anaheim Angels (name switched that year) in 1997, going 2-1, 5.23 in 29 outings (two starts) and 51.2 innings pitched. May pitched in Japan from 1998 until 2001, before returning to the big leagues with the Kansas City Royals in 2002. He went 4-10, 5.35 in 131.1 innings over 21 starts and nine relief appearances during his first season back in the U.S. He had a strong 2003 season, going 10-8, 3.77 in 210 innings, but the next year he led the American League with 19 losses, while posting a 5.61 ERA in 186 innings over 31 starts. His big league career ended in 2005 with the New York Yankees and Padres, going 1-4, 6.78 in 66.1 innings over nine starts and 15 relief appearances. He spent 2006 in the minors with the Cincinnati Reds before retiring. May went 26-43, 5.16 in 660.2 innings in the majors. He made 97 starts and 64 relief appearances. John O’Connell, catcher for the 1928-29 Pirates. He made his Major League debut for the Pirates on August 16, 1928 after the starting catcher, Charlie Hargreaves, got injured and backup catcher Rollie Hemsley got thrown out of the game. O’Connell was the third-string catcher, and forced into action. While it was said that he did alright, the Pirates didn’t think he was ready for full-time work. They had two straight doubleheaders over the next two days and Hemsley caught all four games. Hemsley also caught the next five games, including another doubleheader, before Hargreaves returned. O’Connell didn’t make another appearance the rest of the season. Prior to playing his first big league game, the 24-year-old O’Connell was mostly playing semi-pro ball. He spent the 1928 season with Canton of the Class-B Central League, where he hit .302 with 16 extra-base hits in 72 games. He joined the Pirates just one day before his debut, in what turned out to be great timing considering how he ended up getting into that first game. The team lucked out because he was playing nearby and was able to get to Pittsburgh, just one day after they purchased his contract. In 1929, O’Connell was sent to the minors one week before Opening Day after he lost the third-string catching spot to Bob Linton in Spring Training. He played briefly for Baltimore of the International League, but spent the majority of the season playing for Columbia of the South Atlantic League (Class-B) where he batted .297 with 31 extra-base hits in 127 games. O’Connell returned to the Pirates on September 23rd and he played his last two Major League games on October 5th/6th, starting the final two games of the season. He was being groomed to be a backup for first baseman Gus Suhr during Spring Training of 1930, though the Pirates ended up unconditionally releasing O’Connell unconditionally to Fort Worth of the Texas League on April 7, 1930. He never made it back to the majors, finishing his career three seasons later, playing for Harrisburg of the New York-Penn League. He went 1-for-8 at the plate in his big league career, with a double and a walk to his credit. He was often referred to as “Johnny” in print during his time in Pittsburgh. Game The Pirates defeated the Kansas City Royals by a 5-3 score on this date in 1997, the first interleague game in franchise history. Jay Bell and Jeff King were in the Royals lineup, while the Pirates had Francisco Cordova on the mound, just one month before he threw nine no-hit innings in a ten-inning no-hitter over the Houston Astros. New Pirates third baseman Joe Randa hurt his old team by driving in three runs on a triple and a homer. Tony Womack also homered for the Pirates. You can view the boxscore and play-by-play here....
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