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NEW ARTICLES DAILY
First Pitch: Can the Pirates Contend in 2022?
November 28, 2021
First Pitch
I’ve been recapping the 2021 Pittsburgh Pirates season over the last month, and the common theme expressed is that the Pirates have very little chance of contending in 2022. The Pirates were one of the worst teams in the majors in 2021. They had some highlights on their roster, led by Bryan Reynolds and Jacob Stallings. They have money to spend, with a payroll that is still low after the signings of Jose Quintana and Yoshi Tsutsugo. They also have a lot of young players who are either on the roster, or set to join the roster. I think the 2022 season will be far more entertaining than the 2021 season. That’s not saying a lot in terms of records, but the 2021 season was entertaining at times, despite following a bad team. There were signs of hope for the future, most notably with Reynolds and Stallings, and I think 2022 will give more signs of hope. That’s not to say that the Pirates absolutely can’t contend in 2022. They just need to do a lot of work, both with internal improvements, and with outside additions. If I were building a contender, I would want to aim for average or better production at every position. Right now, the Pirates can count on that at two positions, with very few pitchers who they can rely on to even be average. The chances of the Pirates contending are low. If it were to happen, here’s what I think the Pirates would need at each position. Catcher Jacob Stallings is already there as an above-average player at his position. Most of his production is fueled by defense that should be expected to be repeated, along with offense that looks sustainable. The fact that the Pirates have Stallings at catcher gives them a key building block if they want to contend in the next year. First Base Yoshi Tsutsugo would be my choice here. His defensive work at first base in the majors is limited, but he’s shown better defensive numbers than Colin Moran. His offense could slot into the middle of the lineup if he repeats what he showed in Pittsburgh last year. I think he could be an average overall starter, or better, depending on the offense. Second Base This position is open, although the Pirates have a lot of good candidates who could produce average or better production. The immediate candidates for the job will be Rodolfo Castro, Michael Chavis, and Hoy Park. They could be joined by Kevin Newman, Cole Tucker, and Tucupita Marcano from the shortstop battle. I also wouldn’t rule out Diego Castillo factoring into the 2022 mix. Shortstop I’d expect Kevin Newman to get a final chance, and Cole Tucker to actually get a chance at shortstop in the majors. I also think we’ll see Tucupita Marcano getting an opportunity. The best chance for average or better production would come from the bat of Oneil Cruz at this position. I think that could be seen in 2022. Third Base Ke’Bryan Hayes was below-average in 2021, needing improvements to his offense to move up the third base ranks. I think he can improve enough in 2022 to be an average starter. I have his upside higher than that, and I don’t think we’ve come close to seeing the best from Hayes. I think the Pirates are more likely to get average or better production from this spot than second or shortstop. Left Field Ben Gamel was below-average in 2021, which isn’t bad for a waiver claim. The question is whether he can add another win in value and be an average starter in 2022, his final year of control. The alternative is Anthony Alford, who had a strong finish to the end of the 2021 season. I’d expect below-average starting quality from either of these guys, but wouldn’t rule out average production. Center Field The good thing about having Bryan Reynolds on the team is that you know he will be above-average, and likely to a point where his production will make up for at least one position that fell short. Reynolds had a 5.5 WAR in 2021, which was among the best in the majors. The Pirates will need him to be a 5+ WAR player again if they want to contend in 2022. Right Field You could split this position with left field and bank on Ben Gamel and Anthony Alford to both be starters. I think you could get two 1+ WAR outfielders from that plan, but the odds of two average-or-better starters declines. If the Pirates want to contend, they’d be better off adding an outfielder. They do have a lot of outfield candidates in the minors — led by Travis Swaggerty, Matt Fraizer, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Jack Suwinski, and Cal Mitchell in the upper levels. Any one of these guys could join the Pirates in 2022 to give them at least average production. I wouldn’t bank on that happening. A free agent would be a key addition at one of the corner outfield spots. Rotation I’d expect Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker, and Steven Brault to get rotation spots to open the 2022 season. I think we can also expect Jose Quintana to be in the rotation. Outside of hopes that Quintana returns to his former 3-4 WAR production levels, there’s not much hope here for a contending rotation. If the Pirates are going to spend money, adding a more established starter to boost this group would be the best area. They would also need Quintana to regain some of his value, and at least one of Keller/Brubaker/Brault to establish themselves in the rotation. The Pirates do have some starters in the upper levels who can help immediately. Miguel Yajure, Bryse Wilson, Wil Crowe, and Max Kranick can all be back-of-the-rotation starters, with a chance for middle-of-the-rotation production. I wouldn’t bank on that in 2022. The same goes for any production from Roansy Contreras, which I feel could be closer to middle-of-the-rotation. Any production from these guys should be viewed as a bonus from the pitching depth, rather than part of a plan to contend. Bullpen The big reliever that stands out right now is David Bednar. The Pirates have Chris Stratton, who has been a solid reliever. I think that Chad Kuhl could do well returning to a relief role. Blake Cederlind and Nick Mears are two prospects who could pitch in the bullpen in 2022. I’d treat those two like the prospects above and wouldn’t expect anything from them in terms of planning a contender. The Pirates would definitely need a boost or two in the bullpen, as right now their group is heavily relying on Bednar. Overall, the pitching is why I don’t think this team will contend in 2022. That’s not saying they can’t contend in 2022. The Pirates would just need to invest more in this part of the game this offseason to enter that conversation in a more serious way. Daily Links **Winter Leagues: A Recap of Friday Night’s Action Happy GAHD DAMN Thanksgiving folks. I’m very thankful for you guys and the interactions we’ve had. Without further ado I give you guys our Thanksgiving episode featuring Tim the Tool Man Williams! Listen to it while the 🦃 cooks! https://t.co/MCfG7FN4aa pic.twitter.com/3z3NparrTw — The Murphanko Experience (@Murphanko) November 25, 2021 **Thoughts on the Pirates’ Free Agent Signings **This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 27th, Dave Giusti Leads a Busy Day **Card of the Day: 1914 Cracker Jack Marty O’Toole PBN Updates PBN Black Friday: New Book Releases and Discounts on Pirates Prospects Books and Merchandise Song of the Day...
Thoughts on the Pirates’ Free Agent Signings
November 27, 2021
Analysis
I started off writing a comment on Tim’s article this morning, but got carried away, so now here’s a whole article. Anyway, I think the signings of Yoshi Tsutsugo and Jose Quintana were probably pretty good moves, but it’s hard to see them as triumphs or anything. That’s especially true considering that they’ll almost certainly be the Pirates’ biggest moves of the offseason, which is pathetic when you look at the free agent pool this year. They’re more on the order of minor, short-term moves for a rebuilding team that’s just marking time until the prospects start collecting their major league minimum salaries. The addition of Quintana has been compared to Tyler Anderson. I’m sure the basic intention is the same: shore up a dismal starting rotation for a while and hopefully have a nice trade piece at the deadline. The similarity ends there, though. Anderson had always been a very solid starter when he was healthy, but he’d been plagued by injuries from the time he turned pro. It wasn’t the usual arm problems. Instead, he lost a lot of time to knee injuries and to a stress fracture in his elbow, along with an oblique strain. The plus side was that his arm had very little mileage. The Pirates gambled on him staying healthy and they won, which is perfectly fair. He pitched about the way his history suggested he’d pitch. Quintana’s situation is very different. In the five seasons from 2013-17, he threw just over 1,000 innings. His effectiveness was tailing off toward the end of that time and continued to do so in 2018 and 2019. He mostly missed the pandemic season. In 2021, he was healthy but was just terrible. His velocity, for one thing, was down a notch from his prime. So the Pirates aren’t just gambling on Quintana staying healthy, they’re gambling on him turning around a five-year trend. I also think it’s questionable whether he offers a higher ceiling than Anderson did. The better comparison here is Trevor Cahill, not Anderson. But not much of Bob Nutting’s money is at stake, so . . . . Tsutsugo I see more as a way of transitioning away from Colin Moran, who threatens to remain a millstone around the team’s offense for another couple of years. Of course, there’s still a risk the Pirates will hang onto Moran in the expectation of having the DH next year. But then, they could end up paying $8M for what turned out to be a first-base platoon. This is a team that once released its second-best reliever just to save half a million, so it’s very hard to envision them taking a risk like that. The upside, then, is that Tsutsugo replaces Moran and gives the Pirates a first baseman who actually has some power, making the 2022 team a bit less of a laughingstock than it was in 2021. That’s far from a sure thing. Alex Stumpf ran a piece a little while ago looking at Tsutsugo’s success in hitting good velocity, which has been his primary problem in MLB. Turns out, while Tsutsugo’s overall numbers against mid-90s or better fastballs improved from Ivan Nova-like to just poor, it was because a lot of bloops fell in. The power wasn’t there. This is definitely a very risky move, but either Moran or Tsutsugo would be just a short-term measure. The long-term answer lies in the farm system. For the short term, Tsutsugo makes more sense than Moran, assuming that’s how it plays out. QUICK NEWS NOTE: Super two status has been set at 2.116 years of service. As expected, that’ll include Bryan Reynolds, who’s at 2.163....
First Pitch: The Pirates Got a Great Deal With Yoshi Tsutsugo
November 27, 2021
First Pitch
I like the signing of Yoshi Tsutsugo by the Pittsburgh Pirates. I thought adding Tsutsugo was a good, low-risk move during the season, before he had his mini-breakout with the Pirates. During his first tour with the team, Tsutsugo hit for a .268/.347/.535 line with eight homers in 144 plate appearances. Prior to that, he had a pretty abysmal start to his MLB career. Tsutsugo had a lot of success in Japan for ten seasons, hitting 255 home runs during that time, with an .885 OPS. He came to the Rays on a two-year deal in 2020, but didn’t carry his offense over with him. The debut with the Rays in 2020 saw Tsutsugo bat .197/.314/.395 with eight homers in 185 plate appearances. He had a stretch where he looked strong, which combined with his contract provided another opportunity in 2021. The Rays brought him back, but he struggled again over 87 plate appearances. They sent him to the Dodgers, who tried him in the majors for 31 plate appearances, before sending him to Triple-A. It was in Triple-A that Tsutsugo had his first run of success at the plate in America, batting .257/.361/.507 with 10 homers in 180 plate appearances. The Pirates added him via waivers, and he continued the success in the big leagues, before hitting free agency at the end of his two-year deal. The Pirates got Tsutsugo back on a one-year, $4 million deal. Obviously there are some long-term questions about the 30-year-old slugger, otherwise he would have received a bigger deal. But, those questions may have been answered in his time in 2021. Tsutsugo was signed by the Rays with the hopes that his production from Japan would carry over to the majors. It did. It just took a season and a half and a few teams, plus a demotion to Triple-A, for that to happen. There’s a question of sample size with his success. The run of success lasted 144 plate appearances in the majors with the Pirates, and 180 plate appearances in Triple-A with the Dodgers. By comparison, the struggles in the majors lasted for 303 plate appearances. In the span of a regular season, Tsutsugo essentially struggled for half a year, then was sent down to Triple-A and righted the ship, before returning for the final quarter of the season and catching on in the big leagues. You could make an argument that the Pirates just added a potential impact player at a huge discount. Tsutsugo rates better defensively at first base than Colin Moran, and if his offense from the end of 2021 returns, the Pirates will have a middle of the order slugger. The deal is only for one year, similar to the deal for Jose Quintana to help boost the pitching staff. That means the impact of this deal will probably only be felt during a losing season. That said, Quintana is a former 3-4 WAR pitcher and Tsutsugo has briefly shown an impact bat. If these moves go well, they might help boost the Pirates into the stratosphere of contending. That’s not bad for a combined $6 million dollars. Daily Links **Two Pirates Among Top 25 Arizona Fall League Prospects **Winter Leagues: Nice Nights for Brayan Roman and Jared Oliva in Mexico **Pirates, Yoshi Tsutsugo Reportedly Agree to a One-Year Deal **Williams: Pirates Pitching Youth Movement **PBN Black Friday: New Book Releases and Discounts on Pirates Prospects Books and Merchandise **Card of the Day: 1939 Exhibits Salutations Bob Elliott **This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 26th, Richie Hebner, Bob Elliott and Bob Walk PBN Updates PBN Black Friday: New Book Releases and Discounts on Pirates Prospects Books and Merchandise Song of the Day...
Williams: Pirates Pitching Youth Movement
November 26, 2021
Analysis
Last week I wrote about the youth movement the Pittsburgh Pirates have taking place on the position player side. The same thing is happening on the pitching side. The Pirates have plenty of candidates for their 2022 pitching staff, but very few of them have extensive MLB experience, and none of them have extensive success in an MLB rotation or bullpen. What this means is that the 2022 season will be huge for those younger pitchers to step up and claim long-term roles. I broke down those pitchers into sections below, to give you an idea of what to expect from the upcoming season. Current Pitchers Who Could Start For a Contender The Pirates don’t really have any established starters for the long-term at the moment. They have plenty of guys who could be long-term MLB starters, but very few guys who have seen success in the majors. If I were picking players from the current rotation to eventually pitch for a contender, I’d narrow in on Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker, and Steven Brault. The guy with the most success from that group is Brault. He’s largely been a below-average starter, and has had some good stretches derailed by injury the last few years. He’s also only under control for two more seasons, which means if he’s going to pitch for a contender, it probably won’t be the Pirates. I’m still high on Mitch Keller, even though his fastball is entirely too hittable. Keller only has 170.1 innings in the majors over three seasons. He’s been far from consistent, but isn’t a guy who I’d write off just yet. I feel like he could be another former Pirates pitching prospect who could go elsewhere and find a solution. The hope would be that the Pirates find the solution before that happens. JT Brubaker had a rough sophomore year on the surface, but his xFIP has been consistently in the low-4.00 range during his first two seasons. He’s got the stuff to be an average starter, or a power reliever capable of going multiple innings. I could see him pitching for the next Pirates contender in either role. Candidates For the 2022 Pirates Rotation Right now the Pirates have added Jose Quintana as a free agent for 2022. They’ll likely be giving rotation spots to the three guys above. That means the Opening Day rotation will probably feature a battle between Wil Crowe, Max Kranick, Bryse Wilson, and Miguel Yajure. The Pirates added Crowe, Wilson, and Yajure in trades over the last year. All three have the potential to be starters, likely back-of-the-rotation arms. Max Kranick has been in the system since being taken out of high school in the 11th round in 2016. He made his big league debut in 2021, and should at least serve as rotation depth in 2022. All four of these guys have a chance to pitch in a contending rotation long-term as a back-of-the-rotation arm. The Pirates will hope that at least one or two eventually makes it in that role in Pittsburgh. Top Prospects For 2022-23 The biggest potential upside for the future rotation comes from the farm system. The Pirates already gave a taste at the end of 2021 when they gave Roansy Contreras a look in the big leagues. I’d expect Contreras to get the call to the majors at some point in 2022. He’s got top of the rotation stuff, and is a good bet to end up the best pitcher in the system out of the guys I’ve mentioned so far. You could debate between Contreras and Quinn Priester for the top prospect in the farm system. Priester is behind Contreras, but could make it to the majors for a look in 2022, with a full-time look in 2023. Like Contreras, Priester has top of the rotation upside. Carmen Mlodzinski and Michael Burrows are two guys to watch from High-A this year. Both are capable of getting a look in 2022, after some time in Altoona. They’re also candidates to arrive full-time in 2023. Cody Bolton will be returning from the knee injury that put him out for the entire 2021 season. He last pitched in 2019, reaching the Double-A level, and will probably start back there upon his return in 2023. The final guy to highlight is Luis Oviedo, who was a Rule 5 pick this past year, and will now get to go to the minors to develop his stuff as a starter. Don’t let the MLB experience alter your perception of Oviedo. He’s the same age as the guys who were in High-A this year, and likely would have been at the same level without the Rule 5 status. Top Prospects For Beyond 2023 My prediction is that the Pirates will start contending in 2023. The pitchers listed above will be essential to that happening. The Pirates don’t need to build an entire rotation from their farm system, but getting at least three spots filled with average or better starters will be necessary. They have some prospects in A-ball or lower who can arrive while they are contending, and who can help extend their window. Recent high-priced draft picks Jared Jones and Anthony Solometo lead this group. Jones is a right-hander who put up incredible strikeout rates in Low-A at age 19. Solometo is a lefty with a funky delivery who was drafted out of high school this year and could make that same jump to Low-A next year. The Pirates also have a big bonus pitcher from the international ranks in Po-Yu Chen. He showed outstanding control in rookie ball and was promoted to Low-A by the end of his pro debut season. Chen should join Solometo next year in the Bradenton rotation. Finally, there are a few hard-throwing right-handers who have dealt with control issues. The Pirates added two of them since Ben Cherington took over, bringing in Brennan Malone and Eddy Yean via trade. They already had Tahnaj Thomas, who was acquired by trade in 2018, and impressed in 2019. All three are risky, due to their control issues, but all three have the stuff to pitch in the majors. Relief Options Any of the above pitchers could be candidates for a future bullpen role, and it’s likely that a future contender will include at least one of the previous guys in relief. I won’t go through the fool’s errand of trying to predict which of the current starters will make it as relievers. The Pirates have David Bednar in the majors, looking like an impact reliever who can pitch in high-pressure situations. They have two more candidates for similar roles in Blake Cederlind and Nick Mears. Cederlind missed the 2021 season with Tommy John and is currently rehabbing as a starter, though I expect him to return as a reliever. Mears is a hard-thrower who hasn’t done well in his brief MLB appearances, but has the stuff to keep getting chances....
PBN Black Friday: New Book Releases and Discounts on Pirates Prospects Books and Merchandise
November 26, 2021
Site Updates
We’ve got a few Black Friday deals that we’re running this week at Pittsburgh Baseball Network and Pirates Prospects. About 13 years ago, I started Pirates Prospects to provide a resource to follow the Pittsburgh Pirates and their farm system, at a time when information on the prospects was sparse. A year later, the first Prospect Guide was published, and that and every book since have been essential to Pirates Prospects growing and providing independent coverage. Pirates Prospects is now part of Pittsburgh Baseball Network, allowing us to focus on more than just the farm system. This year on PBN we’ve got our latest Prospect Guide for sale, along with a new history book from John Dreker. We’ve also got some Black Friday deals. More information below. Upcoming Releases We’ve got two book releases coming up in the next few months, both independently written and produced by the writers at Pirates Prospects and Pittsburgh Baseball Network. The first book to be released is the first history book by John Dreker, “The 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys: The Worst Team in Pittsburgh Pirates History”. The book offers a look at this infamous team in Pirates history, with stories on every player from that year. All proceeds from the book go to John Dreker, who is invaluable to the efforts at Pirates Prospects, while also still finding time to compile his amazing Pittsburgh Baseball History site here on PBN. The other book that is currently in the works is The 2022 Guide, which is our annual book release at Pirates Prospects. This year’s Guide will feature the latest updates and prospects reports heading into the 2022 season. It will also continue a deeper look at player development from an individual standpoint, which started in last year’s release. The 2022 Guide will be released in March 2022. The 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys will be released next month. You can pre-order both at the PBN Shop. Black Friday Sale The 10th Anniversary Prospect Guide is on sale for just $10. The book is the first of a series that digs deeper into player development from an individual standpoint, while also containing reports on every prospect in the system heading into the 2021 season. We also have discounted merchandise, including Pirates Prospects beer glasses and t-shirts. These are limited and won’t be re-produced in the future. PURCHASE THESE ITEMS AT THE PBN SHOP! NO DISCOUNT CODE REQUIRED! Back Issues We’ve been producing Prospect Guides for over a decade, providing the best source online for historical scouting reports of the Pirates and their player development system. Every single copy of the older Prospect Guides is available at the PBN Shop in digital form. There’s no fee required to download these resources, though you do have the option of “Pay What You Want” if you want to support our work....
First Pitch: Pittsburgh Baseball Now Podcast Appearance
November 26, 2021
First Pitch
I was on the Pittsburgh Baseball Now podcast this week with Cody Potanko and Anthony Murphy. The episode was recorded Wednesday night, released yesterday, and you can find all of the links to download it below: Other links: iHeart: https://t.co/07mFFJRpGa Deezer: https://t.co/nWDWNfzbNG Amazon Music: https://t.co/yRxmUUhyh2 PlayerFM: https://t.co/lF2iLv3kv4 Google: https://t.co/FoSolvsx3X Pocket Casts: https://t.co/ZU690YGH2Z Website: https://t.co/2gzO3p5rnU — The Murphanko Experience (@Murphanko) November 25, 2021 We discussed some prospects, some MLB players, and what got us into writing about the Pirates. Today’s comments are for open discussion on this week’s busy events, including the Yoshi Tsutsugo signing (I’ll have some thoughts on that, though they’ll probably be similar to my recent article on the first base position), the Wander Franco extension with the Rays, and the new Pirates hitting coach. Reminder: The 2022 Guide and John Dreker’s first history book are both for pre-sale at the PBN Shop. Daily Links **Winter Leagues: Jared Oliva Homers on a Busy Night for Pirates Prospects **PBN Around the Horn: Well, Franco Got A Big Deal, What Now? **Tender/Non-Tender Deadline Moved Up to Nov. 30 **A Life Well Spent: Honoring the Late Pirate Bill Virdon **Reactions to the Wander Franco Extension **This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 25th, Big Jim Weaver **Card of the Day: 1936 R313 Fine Pen Jim Weaver/Paul Waner/Lloyd Waner PBN Updates First Pitch: PRE-SALE for The 2022 Guide and The 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys Books Song of the Day...
First Pitch: Reactions to the Wander Franco Extension
November 25, 2021
First Pitch
The Wander Franco deal is incomparable. There’s not really precedent for a 20-year-old player with less than a year of service time getting an extension that covers more than a decade, while guaranteeing $182 million. According to MLBTR’s extension tracker, it’s the 13th biggest extension in the game. It’s the biggest extension, by far, by a player with less than two years of service time. Considering that Fernando Tatis just received a 14-year, $340 million deal with two years of service time, the Rays were probably smart to move so aggressively on a talented young player. Franco, meanwhile, has nothing to worry about now other than baseball, and can still hit free agency again in his early-30s, already as one of the highest paid players in the game. The reaction in Pittsburgh to these moves is always “When will we see that from the Pirates?” I’m sure that’s the reaction from certain other MLB cities as well. It’s a fair question. The biggest deal the Pirates have is still Jason Kendall’s $60 million deal. They’ve had extensions that have been worth more after all options have been picked up. This isn’t new territory for the Rays. They’ve aggressively spent for franchise-level players before, shattering the perception of what you’d expect from a small-market team. That’s the sense of frustration I get from Pirates fans. It never feels like they’re shattering small-market perceptions. Who would they sign right now? A Bryan Reynolds extension would be very expensive, with the risk that he wouldn’t repeat his 2021 season. A Ke’Bryan Hayes extension would be less expensive, with the risk that he won’t improve on his offense. An Oneil Cruz extension would be highly aggressive with all sorts of risks. Then there’s the age factor. Franco is 20 years old. Cruz is 23. Hayes and Reynolds will be 25 and 27 by the start of the 2022 season. Who do the Pirates have who could be that decade-long extension? That’s the issue that draws my interest. When was the last time the Pirates had someone in the majors before their 22nd birthday? What needs to change in the player development system to even have a chance at a 20-year-old in Pittsburgh? The Pirates did have some of the youngest teams in the lower levels this year, to their credit. But it would take that, plus an aggressive promoting schedule that we haven’t fully seen, to get a player that young in Pittsburgh. As usual, when the Rays do something like this, it makes me think of what trends we’re going to see from the game. With the rumblings of team control possibly extending to age 29.5, this type of deal seems more likely. I don’t know if the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will make that type of drastic change to free agency. If it does, then this deal for Franco would give the Rays cost-certainty and one or two extra years of Franco under a new type of system. That’s much different from the current breakdown of the deal, which buys out six of Franco’s free agent years. Under either system, the Rays win by getting Franco under control for the next decade. Franco wins by setting himself and his future generations up for life. Leave your thoughts on the deal in the comments below. Daily Links **Pittsburgh Pirates Second Base Prospects: The Free-For-All is Ready to Begin **Winter Leagues: Young Shortstop Prospect Debuts in Colombia **New Pittsburgh Pirates Top Ten Prospects List from Just Baseball **PBN Around the Horn: Well, Franco Got A Big Deal, What Now? **Tender/Non-Tender Deadline Moved Up to Nov. 30 **A Life Well Spent: Honoring the Late Pirate Bill Virdon **Pirates 2021 Seasons: The Adam Frazier Trade Left a Hole at Second Base **This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 24th, Bob Friend, Al Martin and Ed Doheny **Card of the Day: 1953 Bowman Bob Friend PBN Updates First Pitch: PRE-SALE for The 2022 Guide and The 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys Books Song of the Day...
Pirates Have a Deal in Place with Yoshi Tsutsugo
November 24, 2021
News
According to Jason Mackey, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a deal in place with 1B/OF Yoshi Tsutsugo for one year at $4M. The deal is pending a physical. Per sources: Pirates have an agreement in place with Yoshi Tsutsugo for 2022, pending physical. One year, $4 million. — Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) November 25, 2021 The 30-year-old Tsutsugo joined the Pirates mid-season in 2021 as a free agent signing. He originally came to the U.S. with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020, but he struggled both last year and this year, while spending part of the 2021 season in Triple-A. He also saw time in the majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He did much better after joining the Pirates, though his numbers dropped off over the final three weeks. He had a 1.117 OPS in his first 22 games with the Pirates and a .698 OPS in his final 21 games. His overall slash line in two seasons stands at .209/.309/.388 in 132 games, with a -0.3 WAR during that time. Adding a universal DH in 2022 would help his case because his defense is well below average. Jason Mackey was also on top of news earlier, as the Pirates plan to use Mike Rabelo as the third base coach in 2022. He was already on the coaching staff as an assistant hitting coach. More coaching staff news for the Pirates, per sources: Mike Rabelo will take over for Joey Cora at third base. Rabelo joined Derek Shelton's staff as an assistant hitting coach in 2020. Field coordinator in '21. — Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) November 25, 2021...
Pirates 2021 Seasons: The Adam Frazier Trade Left a Hole at Second Base
November 24, 2021
Analysis
The Pirates have had a nice run of starters at second base over the last decade. Neil Walker, Josh Harrison, and Adam Frazier have combined to give the team consistent production at the position, with Frazier being the most recent to hold the job. The 2021 season was the best that we’ve seen from Frazier in his MLB career, and one of the best seasons that any of those three second basemen above have put up with the Pirates. Frazier hit for a .324/.388/.448 line in 428 plate appearances with the Pirates, resulting in a 3.0 fWAR. That also resulted in him getting traded to the San Diego Padres at the deadline. The Pirates got infielder Tucupita Marcano, right-handed pitcher Michell Miliano, and outfielder Jack Suwinski in return. The two position players are likely to spend time in Pittsburgh in 2022. With Frazier gone, the Pirates will look to replace him and continue the strong run of production at the second base position. They’ve already given time to a few candidates. Rodolfo Castro, Hoy Park, and Michael Chavis received the bulk of the time after Frazier was traded. Castro came up from Double-A this year. He hit .198/.258/.395 with five homers in 93 plate appearances. Castro clearly wasn’t ready for the big leagues, but his power production leaves hope for when he’s eventually ready. That could be in 2022. Hoy Park was acquired from the Yankees the same day as the Frazier trade. He hit .197/.299/.339 in 149 plate appearances with the Pirates, while playing second, third, shortstop, and all three outfield positions. Frazier and Harrison previously broke into the majors as super utility players who worked their way into a full-time second base job. The same could be possible for Park. The Pirates also acquired Michael Chavis at the deadline, giving a former top prospect as a third candidate for the position. Chavis only saw 42 plate appearances with the Pirates, which wasn’t a strong sample to get excited about his .857 OPS. He does have good power potential, and should be a leading candidate over Castro and Park for the Opening Day job. In addition to those three players, the Pirates have additional prospects in the minors, who I broke down today over at Pirates Prospects. That group includes Tucupita Marcano from the Frazier deal. The Pirates could also see the shortstop position impact second base. Guys like Kevin Newman and Cole Tucker could add second base with Oneil Cruz challenging to take over the shortstop position at some point in 2022. The second base position is currently open with no obvious solution for the first time in years. The Pirates do have plenty of candidates to replace the production from Frazier. The 2022 season will be a big year for those candidates to step up and try to take the long-term starting role....
First Pitch: Who Does New Pirates Hitting Coach Andy Haines Have to Work With?
November 24, 2021
First Pitch
The Pirates are adding Andy Haines as a hitting coach, according to Jason Mackey. Haines was formerly with the Brewers, until he and assistant hitting coach Jacob Cruz (who was a former assistant with the Pirates) were dismissed last month. It’s difficult to evaluate these types of moves. How do you judge the value of a hitting coach? Is it by the overall results of the team? That typically is what gets them fired in the end, and Haines was dismissed by the Brewers for a bottom-third offense. We could point out players who did well and players who didn’t, but the same could be done for any coach. There will always be success stories and there will always be down years. The Pirates have nowhere to go but up. They had one of the worst offenses in the majors last year, so even the lower expectation results by the Brewers would be an improvement. Haines will be the leader of the hitting approach throughout the system, and likely will get a few years to implement his system. Here is a look at who he has to work with immediately, beyond the more established players like Bryan Reynolds and Jacob Stallings. Ke’Bryan Hayes Hayes has shown he can be an MLB starter at third base, with a decent enough bat and solid defense at the corner. He was a top ten defender this year, but ranked bottom-third overall. A boost to his offense could make him an average or better starter. There are many levels that Hayes is capable of on that “or better” portion of the scale. A new hitting coach should get him to at least average, aiming for an overall above-average floor. Again, the defense is already driving Hayes’ value. New hitting coach Andy Haines will be the biggest impact on the potential cornerstone of the Pirates. The Post Prospects The Pirates have a wave of prospects set to arrive in 2022, with a lot of options set to fill the middle infield spots, as well as the corner outfield spots. Until those prospects arrive, the Pirates will likely take one last cycle through a group of post-prospects. They would include Kevin Newman, Cole Tucker, Anthony Alford, and Michael Chavis. The Pirates added Greg Allen on waivers, and you can be sure they’ll be active on waivers all offseason with similar moves. The Pirates will hope that at least one of these guys can break through and become an average or better starter. Newman would be a prime candidate. Like Hayes, he already has the defense. He’s seen his plate patience and ability to take a walk disappear in the upper levels. He has good contact ability, but doesn’t have a lot of strength, so power isn’t part of his game. He needs to either add power, or become more selective with the pitches he chooses to attempt contact with. The New Prospects I would expect the 2022 season to feature a lot of prospects in the majors for the Pirates. We’ve already seen Oneil Cruz for a short time and Rodolfo Castro for an extended look. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Canaan Smith-Njigba, Travis Swaggerty, Jack Suwinski, Diego Castillo, Tucapita Marcano, and others getting the call by the end of 2022. The Pirates haven’t had a great track record of their hitters translating their bats over to the big leagues. Haines will have a lot of prospects to work with in 2022, and even more in the following years, with top guys that include Henry Davis, Nick Gonzales, and Liover Peguero. Daily Links **New Pittsburgh Pirates Top Ten Prospects List from Just Baseball **The Final Hoorah: Barry Bonds On HoF Ballot One Last Time **PBN Around the Horn: A Patient Pirate Earns the Treasure **Report: Pirates to Hire Andy Haines as Hitting Coach **Baseball America Takes First Look at Rule 5 Draft **Pirates Set to Hire Andy Haines as New Hitting Coach **Pirates Announce the Passing of Bill Virdon **Card of the Day: 1992 Donruss Barry Bonds **This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 23rd, Luis Tiant PBN Updates First Pitch: PRE-SALE for The 2022 Guide and The 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys Books Song of the Day...
Card of the Day: 1963 JELL-O Don Hoak
November 28, 2021
Card of the Day
Today’s Card of the Day is a new set in this series. Don Hoak has been featured here once and it was one year ago today. That “coincidence” is due to the fact that the Pittsburgh Pirates traded him away on this date in 1962. Since it’s been a year since he’s been here, now’s a good time to look at one of his other cards, and why not make it a new set while we are at it. In 1962, JELL-O released a baseball card set consisting of 200 cards, which came with their products. In 1963, they made a second set and it too had 200 cards. Card #140 in the set featured Pirates third baseman Don Hoak. Here’s the front of the card (the back is blank): These cards look a lot like the Post cards that we have featured here a few times, and the differences are really subtle. Those Post cards were printed on the backs of Post cereal boxes, while the JELLO-O cards were printed on the back of JELL-O boxes, which were much smaller. That means that any of these cards that you see now were hand-cut UNLESS they are still part of a complete box. Very few of the boxes still exist, so most cards that you find from the set look like what you see above, which rough edges and uneven borders. One way to tell them apart is that the sizes of the cards are different, with Post cards being slightly bigger, but that’s something that is hard to tell without a comparison card. Also, the size of these cards really depends on the butcher who cut them off of the box and how much border they left. The JELL-O cards are supposed to be 2 1/2″ x 3 3/8″ in size, but that’s just wishful thinking in most cases. No one was cutting them with a razor and a ruler, so if you measured across the top and across the bottom, you’ll probably get different measurements. Another difference is that the line in the middle of the stats that goes from left-to-right on the card is smaller on JELL-O cards, but once again, you need a Post card for comparison to really see the difference. Unless you really know the sets well, then you’re probably not going to be able to identify them without comparison cards. I don’t usually look into the off-field life of players, but that note at the end of this card caught my eye about Hoak being married to singer Jill Corey. As most of you know, Hoak passed away suddenly at a young age, while in pursuit of a stolen car. That happened in 1969, so because of how long it has been, I was somewhat surprised to read that his wife just passed away this year in Pittsburgh. I like these cards. They are colorful cards with a nice photo of each player, a bio section and a good selection of stats. Usually I’d rather see year-by-year stats, but I’m okay with the the one-year/career layout if they’re using the extra space for good purposes. The price of the cards is also a nice highlight here, which leads us to the pricing section… These cards are rare, but that doesn’t necessarily make them expensive. There are only three Hoak cards on Ebay right now and they range in price from $9.50 to $14.99, which includes delivery cost. Only one has sold over the last three months and that one went for $4 total BUT some careless individual wrote “Phillies” on that card, no doubt after the trade that sent Hoak across the state. Writing on the back of cards takes away value, but writing on the front really kills the value. There was one 1962 Hoak JELL-O card on Ebay in the last three months and that went for $72, so that’s quite a difference in price from one year to the next....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 28th, The Kiki Cuyler and Don Hoak Trades
November 28, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Eight former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date. We start with two trades of note. Before we get into the former players, a 2021 player was born on this date. Catcher Taylor Davis went 2-for-5 in two games for the 2021 Pirates. He has also appeared in the majors with 2017-19 Chicago Cubs. He turns 32 years old. Davis will get a full bio next year unless he rejoins the Pirates for 2022. The Transactions On this date in 1927 the Pittsburgh Pirates traded star outfielder Kiki Cuyler to the Chicago Cubs for infielder Sparky Adams and outfielder Pete Scott. Cuyler at the time of the trade had been benched by manager Donie Bush, who refused to use him in the World Series despite being swept in four games. The Cubs easily got the best of the deal as Cuyler was a Hall of Fame caliber player in the prime of his career and both players they received in return did very little for the Pirates. Cuyler had been with the Pirates since September of 1921 although he had played just four full seasons and three partial years, totaling 525 games. Cuyler accumulated a .336 average while with the Pirates, he scored 415 runs, including a league leading 144 in 1925 when the Pirates won their second World Series title. That run total is the third highest in team history and most since 1894. He also drove in 92 runs in 1924 and 102 in 1925. Adams had led the National League in at-bats three seasons in a row from 1925-27 and in each of those years he scored between 95-100 runs. In 672 games with the Cubs he batted .292 with 401 runs scored and 201 RBIs. He played most of his games during that stretch at second base, although in 1927 he played at least 40 games at the three infielder spots (not first base). The big problem with acquiring him as the main piece for a star player was the age difference. Adams turned 33 years old three months before the deal, while Cuyler was four years younger. Scott made the majors in 1926 as a 28-year-old. He played just 144 games in his two years in Chicago, but he batted .299 in those games, including a .314 average in 1927. Cuyler would go on to play eight years in Chicago batting .325 during that time, including a .355 average in 1930 and a career high .360 in 1929. He led the NL in stolen bases for three straight seasons from 1928-30, and during the 1930 season he set career highs in hits with 228, runs with 155, doubles with 50 and RBIs with 134. He helped the Cubs get to the World Series in both 1929 and 1932. Adams hit .276 in 1928 for the Pirates in 135 games. He scored 91 runs that year, but the following year he lost his starting job and was sold to the St Louis Cardinals following the season. He lasted five more years in the majors. Scott hit .311 in 60 games in 1928, but he was injured for a large part of the year and never played in the majors again after 1928. In my opinion, this rates as the worst trade in Pirates history. That’s taking everything into account, including benching a star player, then selling low. The fact that he wasn’t getting paid a lot and there was no such thing as free agency, so they were just giving away a star in his prime with an unknown amount of success ahead of him. Their main return piece was an aging veteran who wasn’t a star player, more of a solid performer on the downside. The other player was a fourth outfielder. So not only wasn’t there a chance for this deal to work out right from the start, it ended up going worse than you would expect. The Pirates got a total of 1.8 WAR over three seasons for one of the best hitters in the game at the time, who was in his prime, and Cuyler was making just a little bit more in salary than Adams at the time. Two years after the deal was made, all the Pirates got from their two pieces was a minimal amount of cash, as Scott was sold to the minors and Adams was sold to the St Louis Cardinals after serving as a utility player in 1929. On this date in 1962 the Pirates traded third baseman Don Hoak to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for infielder Pancho Herrera and outfielder Ted Savage. Hoak had spent four seasons in Pittsburgh. He struggled in 1962 on offense and he was 34 years old at the time of the deal. He was just two years removed from finishing second to teammate Dick Groat for the 1960 MVP. Herrera hit .281 with 17 homers and 71 RBIs in his rookie season in 1960. He hit .258 in 1961 with 13 homers, but he also struck out a lot both seasons. He spent the entire 1962 season in the minors, hitting 32 homers with 108 RBIs. Savage hit .266 with seven homers in 127 games as a 25-year-old during his rookie season in 1962. Herrera would spend three full seasons in the minors with the Pirates and a small part of 1966 before going to the Detroit Tigers organization, but he never played in the majors again. Savage was a backup outfielder used often as a pinch-hitter, and he was not successful in the role for the Pirates. He hit .195 with five homers in 149 at-bats in 1963, then spent the entire 1964 season in the minors before being traded to the St Louis Cardinals in late 1964. Hoak hit just .231/.282/.324 in 115 games in 1963 as the Phillies third baseman. He lost his job going into 1964, and lasted just six more games, all as a pinch-hitter. That was his last season in baseball. While the Pirates received almost nothing from their return, they picked the right time to move on from Hoak. The Players Yefry Ramirez, pitcher for the 2019 Pirates. He was originally signed out of the Dominican at 17 years old by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011. He debuted in pro ball in 2012 and pitched his first two seasons in the Dominican Summer League. Ramirez had a 3.28 ERA in 24.2 innings as a reliever in 2012, then went 0-6, 3.00 in 60 innings as a starter in 2013, with 62 strikeouts. In 2014, he split the year between the Arizona Summer League and Missoula of the Pioneer League, going 6-3, 3.06 in 67.2 innings for the two short-season teams. He pitched in Missoula in 2015 and had a 5.35 ERA in 69 innings, with 61 strikeouts. The New York Yankees selected him in the minor league portion of the 2015 Rule 5 draft. In 2016, he made 11 starts each for Charleston of the Low-A South Atlantic League and Tampa of the High-A Florida State League, with nearly identical results at both levels. He combined to go 7-9, 2.82 in 124.1 innings, with 132 strikeouts. In 2017, he pitched most of the year with Trenton of the Double-A Eastern League, before being sold to the Baltimore Orioles at the 2017 trading deadline. Ramirez remained in the Eastern League with Bowie after the deal and finished the year with a 15-3, 3.47 record in 24 starts, with 117 strikeouts in 124.1 innings. Ramirez started the 2018 season with Norfolk of the Triple-A International League, but he spent slightly more time that year with the Orioles, where he went 1-8, 5.92 in 65.1 innings, with most of that work coming as a starter. In the early part of 2019, he made four starts with Norfolk and four appearances (one start) with the Orioles. He allowed nine runs in 10.1 innings with Baltimore that year. The Pirates acquired him on May 27, 2019 in a trade for a player to be named later, which turned out to be minor league infielder Pat Dorrian. Ramirez went to the minors before joining the Pirates on July 30th for a week. He pitched once in long relief, allowing five runs in 3.2 innings. He returned on August 27th, went on the injured list after one appearance, then returned for seven games in September. He made nine relief appearances for the Pirates during his one season, posting a 7.71 ERA in 14 innings. He became a minor league free agent at the end of the year and pitched well in the Dominican winter league, allowing two runs in 8.2 innings of relief work. He signed with the New York Mets for 2020, though he didn’t pitch in the majors during that shortened season, and he became a free agent after the season.. He appeared in one big league game for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 and tossed two shutout innings, then became a free agent after the season. He spent the rest of 2021 in Triple-A, where he had a 5.02 ERA in 113 innings, with 115 strikeouts for Oklahoma City. In his brief big league time, he is 1-10, 6.19 in 91.2 innings over 13 starts and 18 relief appearances. Angel Sanchez, pitcher for the 2017 Pirates.He was originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010 at 20 years old. They skipped him right up to Low-A ball in 2011 for his first season of pro ball. Sanchez went 8-4, 2.82 in 99 innings for Great Lakes of the Midwest League that season. In 2012, he played for Rancho Cucamonga of the High-A California League, where he went 6-12, 6.58 in 130 innings over 23 starts and four relief outings. That ERA seems ridiculously high, but the league average ERA was 4.73 and Rancho Cucamonga had the highest team ERA in the league. Sanchez returned to Great Lakes in 2013 and had a 4.88 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 70 innings over 14 starts. On July 6th, he was traded to the Miami Marlins as part of a three-player package to acquire Ricky Nolasco. The Marlins sent Sanchez to Jupiter of the High-A Florida State League, where he went 4-3, 3.22 in ten starts. The 2014 season started off rough with Jacksonville of the Double-A Southern League, where he went 0-8, 6.88 in 12 starts. Sanchez was selected off waivers by the Tampa Bay Rays on June 13, 2014 and gave up eight runs over nine innings in two starts at Double-A. On July 2nd, the Chicago White Sox picked him up off of waivers. He had a 6.60 ERA in 15 innings over three starts with Chicago in Double-A, after first going to High-A for two starts. On July 31st, the Pirates picked him up off of waivers. So over a seven week period, he was property of four different MLB organizations, and three of those teams had him pitching in the Southern League. Sanchez finished the 2014 season with Double-A Altoona of the Eastern League, where he went 0-2, 4.32 in 33.1 innings over five starts and a relief appearance. Over the full season, he went 2-14, 5.96 in 122.1 innings. He went to the Arizona Fall League after the season and pitched well, posting a 2.25 ERA in eight relief appearances. Sanchez returned to Altoona in 2015 and his AFL success carried over to the next season. He went 8-1, 2.79 in 77.1 innings over 13 starts, which led to a promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis of the International League. In ten starts there, he had a 5-1, 2.55 record in 60 innings. In one season, his record went from 2-14 to 13-2. It looked like he was well on his way to making the majors with the Pirates late in 2015, but an elbow injury turned into Tommy John surgery, which cost him the entire 2016 season. When he returned to action in 2017, the Pirates switched him to a relief role and he went right to Indianapolis. In 39 games, he had a 3.74 ERA in 55.1 innings, with 65 strikeouts. Sanchez debuted in the majors on August 24, 2017, pitching against the team that first signed him (Dodgers). In his only big league season, he made eight relief appearances for the Pirates, posting an 8.76 ERA in 12.1 innings. Sanchez was released after the 2017 season so he could sign to play in Korea. He played in Korea in 2018-19, then spent the 2020-21 seasons playing Japan. During the 2019 season, he had a 17-5, 2.62 record in 165 innings. He was second in the league in wins that year, trailing only Josh Lindblom, who was his teammate in Indianapolis in 2017 and also pitched briefly for the Pirates that year. Jose Parra, pitcher for the 2000 Pirates. He played five years in the majors for five teams from 1995 until 2004. Parra was originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1989, one week after his 17th birthday, though he’s credited with time in the Dominican Summer League during that 1989 season before signing. Parra was in the U.S. in 1990, pitching for the Gulf Coast League Dodgers, where he went 5-3, 2.67 in 57.1 innings. That next year he moved up to Great Falls of the short-season Pioneer League, where he went 4-6, 6.16 in 64.1 innings. In 1992, he jumped to High-A, spending a majority of the season with Bakersfield of the California League, while also seeing time with San Antonio of the Texas League (Double-A). He combined to go 9-8, 3.82 in 157.2 innings. His 114 strikeouts that year were a season high during his 16-year career in pro ball. In 1993, Parra spent the season with San Antonio, going 1-8, 3.15 in 111.1 innings over 17 starts. He moved up to Albuquerque of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1994, where he had a 10-10, 4.78 record in 145 innings over 27 starts. He spent time back with Albuquerque in 1995, but a majority of the season was spent in the majors. Parra made his Major League debut on May 7, 1995 for the Dodgers, shortly after the season started late due to the strike that wiped away the end of the 1994 season. He pitched one game, then went back to the minors until the early part of July when he returned for four weeks and seven more relief appearances. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins on July 31st in a six-player deal at the trade deadline. In Minnesota, he moved to the starting rotation and had his issues, going 1-5, 7.59 in 12 starts to finish out the season. In 1996, he pitched in more of a relief role and had a 6.04 ERA in 70 innings over 27 appearances (five starts). Parra spent 1997 at Triple-A Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League, where he had a 6.03 ERA in 94 appearances for the Twins affiliate. He then spent 1998 in Korea and had some success (3.67 ERA in 95.2 innings), then moved to Japan in 1999, where he had a 5.32 ERA in 47.1 innings. He then returned to the U.S. with the Pirates in 2000. He mostly pitched in Triple-A (Nashville of the PCL) that season, going 6-5, 5.22 in 101.2 innings. He spent just over three weeks with the Pirates, making his two starts at the end of April, then four relief appearances in the beginning of May, before being sent back to the minors for the rest of the season. He had a 6.94 ERA in 11.2 innings during his time with the Pirates. He became a free agent in October and re-signed with the Pirates in February of 2001, but he was released in July without a big league appearance. He ended up pitching in Mexico and China that season. Parra saw time in the majors with the 2002 Arizona Diamondbacks and 2004 New York Mets, posting an identical 3.21 ERA over 14 innings in both seasons. Just like in 2001, he split the 2003 season between Mexico and China. He finished his 16-year pro career in Japan in 2005. His big league time resulted in a 7-12, 6.09 record in 189.2 innings, with 19 starts and 63 relief appearances. Sixto Lezcano, outfielder for the 1985 Pirates. Lezcano spent 12 years in the majors, mostly with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was originally signed as a international free agent out of Puerto Rico at 16 years old in 1970, years before Puerto Rico became part of the amateur draft. He debuted in pro ball with Newark of the short-season New York-Penn League in 1971, where he hit .289 with seven homers, 23 RBIs and 24 runs scored in 53 games. He moved up to Danville of the Class-A Midwest League in 1972 and batted .270 in 114 games, with 67 runs scored, 35 extra-base hits, 56 RBIs and 21 steals in 24 attempts. In 1973, Lezcano moved up to Double-A, playing for Shreveport of the Texas League. He hit .293 in 134 games, with 35 doubles, 18 homers and 90 RBIs. He had no stolen bases in 1973, yet he was caught stealing three times, just like in 1972. He played for Sacramento of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1974, where he batted .325 in 131 games, with 100 runs scored, 23 doubles, 34 homers and 99 RBIs. Lezcano made it to the majors by age 20 in September of 1974 and hit .241 in 15 games. He was Milwaukee’s everyday right fielder by 1975. During his first full season in the majors, he batted .247 in 134 games, with 55 runs scored, 33 extra-base hits, 43 RBIs and 46 walks. After a decent rookie season, he put together a four-year stretch (1976-79) in which he compiled most of his career value. He had a 3.2 WAR in 1976 thanks in part to a .285 average in 145 games. He had 53 runs scored, 31 extra-base hits, 56 RBIs, 51 walks and 14 stolen bases, which represented more than 1/3 of his career stolen base total. His WAR went up to 3.7 in 1977 when he hit .273 with 21 doubles, 21 homers, 50 runs and 52 walks in 109 games. Lezcano had a .292 average with 62 runs, 21 doubles, 15 homers, 61 RBIs and 64 walks in 1978. In 1979, he hit .321 with 84 runs, 29 doubles, 28 homers and 101 RBIs, while winning the Gold Glove award and finishing 15th in the MVP voting. He set career highs in all five of those offensive categories in 1979. Despite winning the Gold Glove that year, it actually rated as his worst defensive season of his career, with a -1.1 dWAR. He had a total of 9.6 WAR during the 1978-79 seasons combined. Lezcano saw a huge slide in his stats in 1980, batting .229 in 112 games, with 18 homers and 55 RBIs. On December 12, 1980, he was part of a seven-player trade with the St Louis Cardinals that saw Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons both go to Milwaukee. In his lone season with the Cardinals, Lezcano hit .266 with five homers, 28 RBIs and 40 walks in 76 games, with time lost due to the mid-season strike that limited teams to approximately 110 games each. In December of 1981, Lezcano was once again part of another trade involving a Hall of Famer, with Ozzie Smith going to St Louis in the deal. In his first season with the Padres in 1982, Lezcano had his best season by WAR (5.9), hitting .289 with 73 runs, 26 doubles, 16 homers, 84 RBIs and a career high 78 walks. His numbers dropped off the following season, which was split between the Padres and Philadelphia Phillies. He hit .239 with 49 runs scored, 22 extra-base hits, 56 RBIs and 52 walks in 1983. He rebounded for a year, finishing with 14 homers, 40 RBIs and an .851 OPS in 109 games for the 1984 Phillies. The Pirates signed him as a free agent in January of 1985 and he hit .207 over 72 games in his final big league season in 1985. He competed for a job during Spring Training in 1986 before being released on April 4th, which ended his big league career. He made a brief comeback attempt in Japan in 1987 before calling it quits. Lezcano was a .271 hitter in 1,291 big league games over 12 seasons, with 560 runs, 184 doubles, 148 homers, 591 RBIs and 576 walks. His cousin Carlos Lezcano played outfield for the 1980-81 Chicago Cubs. Dave Augustine, outfielder for the 1973-74 Pirates. He was drafted out of college in the 33rd round in 1968 by the Cleveland Indians, but he didn’t sign. The Pirates signed him as a free agent in 1969 at 19 years old and he struggled at the lower levels in his first year, hitting .227 with a .589 OPS in 110 games for Gastonia of the Class-A Western Carolinas League. He had a breakout of sorts in 1970 with a .309 average in 86 games with Gastonia, adding 175 points to his OPS. Augustine saw his average drop to .247 for Salem of the Carolina League in 1971, and his OPS dropped 120 points to a .644 mark. He didn’t show much power at that point, but he managed to steal 36 bases that season, which was more than double any other single season output during his 15-year pro career. Augustine moved up to Double-A Sherbrooke of the Eastern League in 1972 and he hit .301 with 88 runs scored, 27 doubles and 12 homers in 140 games. He had a .276 average, 34 extra-base hits and a .712 OPS in 125 games in Triple-A Charleston of the International League in 1973, which earned him a September look in the majors that year. He went 2-for-7 in 11 games for the Pirates. Augustine had two stints with the Pirates in 1974, spending most of July with the team, then returning in September, when he saw very little use and failed to record an at-bat. The rest of the year was spent in Charleston, where he managed just a .217 average in 86 games. He made a total of four starts in the majors during his two seasons in Pittsburgh. He batted 29 times over 29 games in his big league career, all spent with the Pirates. He went 6-for-29 at the plate with four runs scored, a double, no walks and no RBIs, though he almost had a big RBI on his double in the 13th inning of a game, but Richie Zisk got thrown out at the plate on the play to end the inning. Augustine played all three outfield spots during his brief big league career. Augustine spent nine seasons in the minors after his final big league game. He was with the Pirates organization from 1969-77 and then again from 1981-83. While he was an outfielder when he came up to the Pirates, he switched positions a lot in the minors and eventually took a utility role hoping to get back to the majors. He was signed as a catcher, but put at shortstop. According to a 1978 article, a knee injury caused him to move to third base, before he finally ended up in the outfield, which then turned into a utility role. He struggled with Charleston in 1975, hitting .236 with one homer and a .570 OPS in 75 games. He did a bit better in 100 games with Charleston in 1976, hitting .259 with 40 runs scored and 17 extra-base hits, while going 10-for-11 in steal attempts. In 1977, Augustine played 127 games in Triple-A (Pirates affiliate moved to Columbus of the International League), where he hit .229 with 52 runs scored, 29 extra-base hits and ten steals. Just prior to the 1978 season, he was traded to the Houston Astros for outfielder Jim Fuller, who had slightly more MLB time than Augustine, but Fuller never played in the majors again. The Astros affiliate in Triple-A was in Charleston, so he returned to the team after a one-year absence. In 1978, Augustine hit .264 in 99 games, with a .637 OPS. He improved to a .702 OPS in 121 games in 1979, thanks in part to a .291 average, along with 33 extra-base hits. He split the 1980 season between Triple-A with the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers, struggling in both spots, finishing with a .579 OPS in 111 games. He just happened to be back in Charleston during his time with the Rangers, after the affiliate switched teams again. By the time he rejoined the Pirates in 1981, their Triple-A affiliate was Portland of the Pacific Coast League. He had a solid first season, batting .282 in 92 games, with 45 runs scored and 28 extra-base hits, but he took up a part-time role during his final two seasons of pro ball and batted just 166 times during his final two season combined. When he was traded to the Astros, Augustine blamed the Pirates mindset of being a power hitting team for his lack of chances in 1974 and beyond, saying that it was frustrating to watch players pass by him in the system while he thought he provided bench value as a solid defender who could play multiple positions. Max West, 1B/OF for the 1948 Pirates. His began his pro career at 18 years old in 1935 in the Double-A Pacific Coast League with Sacramento, where he hit .266 with 21 extra-base hits in 105 games. West hit .307 with Mission in the PCL in 1936, with 22 doubles and 11 triples in 158 games. He remained with Mission in 1937, where he batted .330 with 61 extra-base hits in 151 games. That performance earned him a trip to the majors. West played for the Boston Braves (also called “Bees” at that time) from 1938-42, then missed three years due to WWII. As a rookie in 1938, he saw the majority of the team’s games in left field. He batted .234 in 123 games, with 47 runs scored, 31 extra-base hits and 63 RBIs. In 1939, West played all three outfield spots, though he saw more time in right field than anyone else on Boston. He hit .285 in 130 games, with 67 runs scored, 26 doubles, six triples, 19 homers, 82 RBIs and 51 walks. That performance earned him mild MVP support. In 1940, he hit .261 in 139 games, with 72 runs scored, 27 doubles, 72 RBIs and 65 walks. He made the All-Star team for the only time in his career and he once again received mild MVP support. Most of his playing time was in center field, but he also saw some action at first base. In 1941, he hit .277 in 138 games, with 63 runs scored, 28 doubles, 12 homers, 68 RBIs and 72 walks. In his final season before leaving for WWII, West hit .254 with 54 runs, 22 doubles, 16 homers, 56 RBIs and 68 walks in 134 games. He was out of action for the entire 1943-45 seasons. West was with Boston for one game after he returned in 1946, then moved on to Cincinnati to finish his season. He played 73 games in 1946, hitting .212 with 13 doubles, five homers and 32 walks. He then spent the 1947 season in the minors before joining the Pirates for his final big league season. Playing for San Diego of the PCL in 1947, he hit .306 with 43 homers, 124 RBIs, 120 walks and a 1.037 OPS. West was acquired by the Pirates as a Rule 5 pick in November of 1947. In 87 games in Pittsburgh in 1948, he batted .178 with eight homers, while seeing most of his time off of the bench. He made 22 starts at first base and six between both corner outfield spots. He was with the team until January 28, 1949, when the Pirates gave him his unconditional release. West spent the next six seasons in the PCL. Returning to San Diego again in 1949, he hit .291 with 48 homers and 166 RBIs, while drawing 201 walks (that’s no misprint). The league played an extended schedule, but that’s still extremely impressive for 189 games. He finished the year with a 1.052 OPS. The next year he hit 30 doubles and 30 homers in 162 games, with 109 RBIs and 91 walks. He spent his final four seasons with Los Angeles, where he hit 35 homers in both 1951 and 1952, before taking a part-time role during his final two seasons. He is credited with hitting 307 homers during his pro career. In the majors over seven seasons, West hit .254 in 824 games, with 338 runs, 136 doubles, 77 homers, 380 RBIs and 353 walks. Lee Fohl, catcher for the 1902 Pirates. He lasted one game in Pittsburgh, going 0-for-3 on August 29, 1902. The rest of his big league career consisted of four games with the 1903 Cincinnati Reds. He played 12 seasons in the minors and managed for 22 seasons total, including 11 years in the majors. During his last five years in the minors, he was a player/manager. He had almost no pro experience before his first big league game, but the 25-year-old Fohl had plenty of baseball experience going into that day. His only minor league time came four years earlier for Warren of the Class-F Iron and Oil League, which was as far as you could get from the majors at that point. Before joining the Pirates, he was playing for a local amateur team called the Pittsburgh Junctions in 1902, where he was a teammate of Harvey Cushman, who was the starting pitcher during Fohl’s only game with the Pirates. The August 29th game was called a tryout by manager Fred Clarke, who already had the Pirates well on the way to their second National League title in a row at that point. While Fohl played well behind the plate, he was back with the Junctions days later. Cushman was given three more starts and he lost them all. After the season, it was announced that the Junctions battery received “flattering” offers to play for Des Moines of the Class-A Western League in 1903, which is where they both ended up playing. Fohl ended up hitting .296 in 103 games, which earned him his late-season look with the Reds, who paid $1,000 for his services. In Cincinnati, he was the backup to Heinie Peitz, who was also born on November 28th and played for the Pirates. Fohl started three games and came off of the bench in another. All four games came during game one of doubleheaders. He went 5-for-14 (.357 average). In 1904, he was sent to play with the Detroit Tigers in early April after the Reds signed another catcher to take his place, but he jumped his contract when he wasn’t getting paid as early as he thought the pay would start. He ended up playing semi-pro ball near Pittsburgh that year instead for a team called Homestead, which joined the Class-C Ohio-Pennsylvania League in 1905, bringing him back to the minors. He also played for Youngstown in that same league in 1905, which is where he stayed in 1906 and hit .285 in 131 games. Fohl must have liked the Ohio area, because that’s where he played from 1905 through part of the 1913 season, seeing time with Columbus of the Class-A American Association (1907-08), Lima of the Class-D Ohio-State League (1909), Akron of the Ohio-Pennsylvania League (1910-11), then stayed in Akron in the Class-B Central League in 1912, before playing back in Columbus in 1913 in the Class-B Interstate League. He finished his playing career in 1914 with Waterbury of the Class-B Eastern Association. He had an impressive 1912 season at 35 years old, hitting .329 in 122 games, with 44 extra-base hits. That was after hitting .317 with 44 extra-base hits in 126 games in 1911, except the team moved up a level of play during that 1912 season, making it even more impressive. During his last six seasons in the minors, he was a player-manager, which led to a Major League managerial job over the next five seasons with the Cleveland Indians. He took over during the 1915 season and lost the job during the 1919 season. His best full season finish was second place. In 1921, he took the helm of the St Louis Browns and stayed there through late in 1923. He had a 226-183 record there and another second place finish. In 1924, he took over the cellar-dwelling Boston Red Sox and didn’t finish higher than seventh (out of eight teams) in any of his three seasons. Heinie Peitz, catcher for the 1905-06 Pirates. He had a 16-year career in the majors, spending two years with the Pirates, while also playing nine seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and five years for the St Louis Cardinals. Peitz’s pro career began in 1892 at 21 years old. He played one game for the Cardinals (then called the Browns) that season, after spending the year with the Montgomery Lambs of the Class-B Southern Association, where he hit .226 with 27 extra-base hits and 64 runs scored in 113 games. He wouldn’t play another minor league game until 15 years later. Peitz has one of the latest in the year big league debuts, playing his lone game in 1892 on October 15th. He remained with St Louis in 1893, where he batted .254 in 96 games, with 53 runs scored, 45 RBIs and a career high 54 walks. In 1894, he hit .263 in 99 games, with 52 runs scored, 31 extra-base hits, 49 RBIs and a career high of 14 steals. The next year he improved to a .284 average in 90 games, with 44 runs scored, 14 doubles and a career best 12 triples. His 65 RBIs were also a career high. In November of 1895, he was traded to the Reds along with pitcher Red Ehret (he played for the 1892-94 Pirates), for four players and cash. Peitz hit .299 in 1896, though his 68 games played were a low during his first 13 full seasons in the majors. His .817 OPS that year was a career best. In 1897, Peitz hit .293 in 77 games, with 35 runs scored and 44 RBIs. He led all catchers in fielding percentage for the only time in his career. The next year he played 105 games, hitting .273 with 49 runs scored and 43 RBIs. In 1899, he batted .270 in 94 games, with 45 runs scored, 43 RBIs and a 46:11 BB/SO ratio. He led all catchers in putouts that season. During the 1900 season, Peitz hit .270 with 34 runs and 34 RBIs in 91 games. His .648 OPS was the lowest of his first 11 full seasons in the majors. He bounced back a little in 1901, batting .305 in 83 games, with 24 runs, 24 RBIs and a .765 OPS. He followed that up by playing a career high of 112 games in 1902, while posting his best average (.315). He also set personal bests with 54 runs scored and 22 doubles, while adding 60 RBIs. He split that season between second base (48 starts) and catcher (46 starts). Peitz played 105 games in 1903, but saw a major dip in production, with a .649 OPS, and most of his work was behind the plate (77 starts). In his final season in Cincinnati, he batted .243 in 84 games, with 32 runs and 30 RBIs. Peitz joined the Pirates on December 14, 1904 in a straight up trade with the Reds for catcher Eddie Phelps. In his first season in Pittsburgh, he hit .223 in 88 games, while throwing out 47% of runners attempting to steal. His .548 OPS that season was the lowest of his career. He saw limited time in 1906, as newcomer George Gibson began to see regular time behind the plate. Peitz batted .240 in 40 games that year, with 13 runs and 20 RBIs. He was purchased from the Pirates on January 7, 1907 by Louisville of the American Association, along with pitcher Doc Moskiman, who never got a chance to play for the Pirates. Peitz spent the next four seasons in Louisville. He would end his big league career in 1913, playing three games for the Cardinals at 42 years old. He was a coach for the Cardinals at the time, getting called into duty twice off the bench and once as a starter. During his time in Pittsburgh, he failed to collect a triple or a homer, then he tripled for his only hit when he came back seven years later. His brother Joe Peitz was his teammate in the middle of 1894 and hit .423/.531/.731 in six games, yet never played in the majors again. Heinie Peitz was a .271 career hitter in the majors over 1,235 games. He had 532 runs scored, 190 doubles, 66 triples, 560 RBIs and 410 walks. During his two seasons in Pittsburgh, he hit .228 over 128 games. Peitz averaged exactly one home run per season in the majors and his career high was three in 1894, which was a huge year for offense around all of baseball. His last home run came in 1904 against the great Christy Mathewson....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 27th, Dave Giusti Leads a Busy Day
November 27, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Nine former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date, including a key member of a World Series winning club. Before I get into those, current outfielder Jared Oliva turns 26 today. He debuted with the 2020 Pirates and hit .188 in six games. He batted .175 in 20 games for the 2021 Pirates. Dave Giusti, pitcher for the 1970-76 Pirates. The Pirates made the playoffs in five of his seven seasons with the team. He played a total of 15 years in the majors, winning exactly 100 games. Giusti signed with the expansion Houston Colt .45s in June of 1961 out of Syracuse University. That was ten months before they played their first official game. He mostly pitched that season with Jacksonville of the Class-A South Atlantic League, where he went 7-7, 2.29 in 118 innings. He was with Houston on Opening Day in 1962 and made five starts and 17 relief appearances during his rookie season, posting a 5.62 ERA in 73.2 innings. He spent a small part of that 1962 season in Triple-A with Oklahoma City of the American Association, then spent all of 1963 and most of 1964 in Oklahoma City, which transferred to the Pacific Coast League in 1963. Giusti went 13-11, 2.72 in 202 innings in 1963, then had a 10-6, 3.87 record in 149 innings in 1964. He made eight relief appearances for the Colt .45s in 1964, and had a 3.16 ERA in 25.2 innings. Houston changed their name to the Astros in 1965 and Giusti had his big break that season, making 13 starts and 25 relief appearances. He went 8-7, 4.32 in 131.1 innings that year. The next three years he was in their starting rotation and pitched 200+ innings each year. In 1966, Giusti went 15-14, 4.20 in 210 innings. He set a career high in wins that year, playing for a club that finished 18 games under the .500 mark. In 1967, he had an 11-15, 4.18 record in 221.2 innings. That was followed up by an 11-14, 3.19 record in 1968, when he set career highs with 251 innings and 186 strikeouts. After the 1968 season, Giusti was traded to the St Louis Cardinals on October 11th in a four-player deal. Just three days later, he was drafted by the expansion San Diego Padres, but in December the Padres traded him back to the Cardinals. Giusti went 3-7, 3.61 in 99.2 innings over 12 starts and ten relief appearances in 1969. He spent just one year in St Louis before joining the Pirates on October 21, 1969 in a four-player deal, with two players going each way. The Pirates put him in the closer role, though at that time it involved multi-inning work. He averaged 62 appearances and 93 innings per season during his first six years in Pittsburgh. In 1970, Giusti went 9-3, 3.06 in 103 innings, with 26 saves in 66 appearances. He finished fourth in the Cy Young voting that year and he ended up sixth in the MVP voting. In 1971, he had a 2.93 ERA in 86 innings over 58 games, and he led the league with 30 saves. During the 1971 playoffs, Giusti pitched a total of 10.2 shutout innings, with 5.1 each in the NLCS and World Series. He received mild MVP support that season, finishing 14th in the voting. His best year for ERA was 1972 when he put up a 7-4, 1.93 record in 74.2 innings over 54 games. His best overall year by WAR was 1973, when he had a 2.37 ERA and threw 98.2 innings.He had a 9-2 record, with 20 saves and 67 appearances. He was an All-Star that season and finished seventh in the Cy Young voting. In 1974, he went 7-5, 3.32 in 105.2 innings, which was his high for a season after 1968 when he set his career high for workload. Giusti had 12 saves in 64 appearances and he finished ninth in the Cy Young voting. In five of his six playoff years, he combined for just three runs over 17 innings. In 1974, he allowed eight runs in 3.1 innings. In 1975, he went 5-4, 2.95 in 91.2 innings over 61 outings, with 17 saves. In 1976, he had a 5-4, 4.32 record in 58.1 innings, making 40 appearances, while picking up six saves. Giusti saw a slide in his results during his final season in Pittsburgh and then he was traded to the Oakland A’s on March 15, 1977 in a nine-player deal that brought Phil Garner to Pittsburgh. He split the 1977 season between the A’s and Chicago Cubs, who purchased his contract on August 5th, then he was released at the end of the year, which ended his career. He had a 3.89 ERA in 60 appearances that year, but he moved on from baseball after the season. Giusti had a 100-93, 3.60 record in 1,716.2 innings in the majors. He made 133 starts and 535 relief appearances. In seven seasons in Pittsburgh, he had a 2.94 ERA in 618 innings, with a 47-28 record and 133 saves. He turns 82 today. Tim Laker, catcher for the 1998-99 Pirates. He was originally drafted in the 49th round by Kansas City Royals in 1987 out of high school, but didn’t sign. He attended Oxnard College and was eligible for the 1988 draft. He moved up 43 rounds in one year, with the Montreal Expos taking him in the sixth round. It took him four years to make the majors, debuting with the Expos in 1992. Laker began his pro career at 18 years old in 1988 with Jamestown of the New York-Penn League, where he hit .224 with no homers and a .544 OPS in 47 games. In 1989, he remained in Jamestown, though he also had a brief stint in A-Ball. He combined to hit .223 with 14 extra-base hits in 72 games. The 1990 season was spent with Rockford of the Class-A Midwest League, where he batted .221 with 18 doubles, seven homers and 57 RBIs in 120 games. In 1991, he spent most of the year with West Palm Beach of the High-A Florida State League, while also seeing an 11-game stint with Harrisburg of the Double-A Eastern League. Laker hit .236 in 111 games, with 16 doubles, six homers and a .625 OPS. He spent most of 1992 in Harrisburg, where he hit .242 with 19 doubles, 15 homers and 68 RBIs in 117 games. The Expos jumped him to the majors in mid-August and he played 28 games over the rest of the season, hitting .217 with a .533 OPS. Laker made the Opening Day roster in 1993 and ended up spending half of the season in the majors, batting .198 in 43 games. A majority of his big league time called from mid-May through early July that season. He spent the entire 1994 season in the minors, despite batting .309 with 12 homers in Triple-A. That was followed by spending the entire 1995 season in the majors, where he batted .234 in 64 games, with three homers, 20 RBIs and a .675 OPS. Laker missed the entire 1996 season due to elbow surgery. The Baltimore Orioles picked him up on waivers in March of 1997 and he played just seven big league games that season, failing to collect a hit in 18 plate appearances. The rest of the season was spent in Triple-A, with Rochester of the International League. He signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998, but he played just three big league games before being released in June. The Pirates signed him two weeks later and he played 14 more games in the majors that year, hitting .375 in 24 at-bats. Laker was actually released by Pittsburgh after the season and he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers on January 11, 1999. Before he could play a game with the Dodgers, they traded him to the Pirates on March 26, 1999 for a minor league player. He played 112 games for Triple-A Nashville of the Pacific Coast League in 1999, hitting .269 with 29 doubles and 12 homers. He saw just six big league games that season, all in September, and he went 3-for-9 at the plate. The 2000 season was spent entirely in Nashville, where Laker hit .247 with 28 doubles, 19 homers and 75 RBIs. After leaving the Pirates via free agency after the season, he signed with the Cleveland Indians, where he remained for four seasons. Most of 2001 and all of 2002 were spent in the minors. He hit .182 in 16 games for the 2001 Indians. In 2003, Laker spent the entire season in the majors. That year he hit .241 with 11 doubles, three homers and 21 RBIs in 52 games. The 2004 season was also spent entirely in the big leagues. Laker hit .214 with three homers and 17 RBIs in 44 games that year. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, where he appeared in just one big league game. He finished his big league time back with the Indians in 2006, getting into four big league games before being released in June, which ended his career. He played a total of 1,341 minor league games and he hit 147 homers during that time. Laker saw parts of 11 seasons in the majors, hitting .226 in 281 games, with 66 runs scored, 11 homers and 79 RBIs. Randy Milligan, first baseman for the 1988 Pirates. Back when the draft had a January phase, Milligan was the third overall pick by the New York Mets in 1981 out of San Diego Mesa College, shortly after his 19th birthday. It took him seven seasons in the minors to make it to New York and he played just three September games off of the bench for the Mets after he finally arrived. Milligan debuted in Low-A ball in 1981 with Shelby of the South Atlantic League, where he hit .283 in 130 games, with 29 extra-base hits, 98 walks and 49 steals. In 1982, he moved to Lynchburg of the Class-A Carolina League for the first of two full seasons. He hit .269 in 118 games, with 21 extra-base hits and 25 steals in 28 attempts. In 1983, he batted .292 in 106 games, with 23 extra-base hits, 41 steals and 85 walks. He played mostly in the outfield during his first two seasons, but he saw a majority of his time in 1983 at first base, then took over the position permanently in 1984 with Jackson of the Double-A Texas League. He was limited to 62 games that year, but his .877 OPS was his best mark in the minors up to that point. Milligan repeated Jackson in 1985 and hit .309 with 22 doubles and 13 homers in 119 games. The 1986 season was split between Jackson and Tidewater of the Triple-A International League, where he really struggled. He had a .900 OPS in 78 games with Jackson that year, but in 21 games with Tidewater, he went 5-for-60 with all singles and nine walks, leading to a .286 OPS. Milligan had an incredible season with Tidewater in 1987, which led to his brief time with the Mets. He batted .326 with 99 runs scored, 28 doubles, 29 homers, 103 RBIs and 91 walks in 136 games. In his three games in New York, he batted twice, with a walk and a strikeout to his credit. The Pirates acquired Milligan late in Spring Training of 1988 in a deal that sent Mackey Sasser to New York. He stuck around until late June before he was sent to the minors for the rest of the season. He batted .220 with three homers in 40 games, though his 20 walks in 103 plate appearances helped him to a solid .769 OPS. The Pirates went 14-9 in games that he started. Shortly after the 1988 season ended, he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for minor league pitcher Pete Blohm. Milligan had an immediate impact with the bat in Baltimore, putting up an .852 OPS in his first season with the Orioles. He hit .268 in 124 games, with 23 doubles, 12 homers and 74 walks. He then put up a .900 OPS in 1990, hitting 20 doubles and 20 homers while drawing 88 walks in 109 games. He scored 64 runs and had 60 RBIs. He saw an 86-point dip in his slugging the next year, but still had decent overall results thanks to a .263 average, with 16 homers, 70 RBIs and 84 walks. In 1992, Milligan saw the power drop even more, but still managed to draw 106 walks and score 71 runs in 137 games. He batted .240 that season, with 21 doubles, 11 homers and 53 RBIs. The Orioles let him go after the season and he split the 1993 season between the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians. The Reds signed him as a free agent, then traded him to the Indians in August. He combined to hit .299 with 25 extra-base hits and 60 walks in 102 games. Milligan had a 1.132 OPS in Cleveland after the trade. The Indians traded Milligan to the Montreal Expos in December of 1993 and his big league career ended with the strike that wiped away the World Series that year. He was seeing limited work that season, getting 98 plate appearances in 47 games. He became a free agent after the season and didn’t play in 1995. In 1996, he attempted a brief comeback in Mexico. In 703 big league games, he had an .810 OPS and more walks (447) than strikeouts (431). He batted .261 with 305 runs scored, 106 doubles, 70 homers and 284 RBIs. Despite going 115-for-130 in steals during his first three seasons in the minors, Milligan had just 16 steals in 34 attempts in the majors. Bill Short, lefty pitcher for the 1967 Pirates. He was signed by the New York Yankees prior to the 1955 season out of high school in New York. At 17 years old that season, he pitched for Bristol of the Class-D Appalachian League, where he went 2-3, 3.92 in 62 innings. In 1956, he spent the year with Monroe of the Class-C Evangeline League, posting a 9-11, 3.40 record in 167 innings, with 178 strikeouts. The 1957 season was spent mostly with Peoria of the Class-B Three-I League, while also making a brief stop with Binghamton of the Class-A Eastern League. He 7-5, 3.22 in 123 innings with 115 strikeouts for Peoria that year. Short stayed in Binghamton in 1958, going 7-6, 3.44 in 124 innings, with 110 strikeouts. The 1959 season was spent with Richmond of the International League, where he went 17-6, 2.48 in 178 innings, with 133 strikeouts. Short made 12 starts for Richmond in 1960, but the majority of the season was spent in the majors. His best season in the majors as far as workload was that rookie year for the 1960 Yankees, when he made ten of his 16 career big league starts. He went 3-5, 4.79 in 47 innings for the Yankees. Despite the time he put in during the 1960 season with the Yankees, he didn’t pitch in the World Series that year and he also didn’t pitch in the majors in 1961. After spending the season in Richmond, he was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1961 Rule 5 draft. Short made five relief appearances in 1962 and allowed seven runs in four innings. He wouldn’t appear in the majors again until 1966. Most of that time between big league shots was spent with Rochester of the International League, the Triple-A affiliate of the Orioles. Short had some success in the minors between big league appearances. He went 13-8, 3.38 in 189 innings in 1963. Despite an 8-11 record in 1964, his ERA was .01 higher than the previous year, as he threw 154 innings during the 1964 season. In 1965, he went 13-4, 2.92 and he tossed 189 innings. Short split the 1966 season between two clubs and two roles, serving as a starter for the Orioles and a reliever for the Boston Red Sox. He went 2-3, 3.13 in 46 innings between the two stops. The Pirates purchased his contract from Boston just a few days after the 1966 season ended. Short pitched in six of the first 20 games of the 1967 season for the Pirates, then was sent to the minors, where he won 14 games and threw 173 innings in a starter role. He made six relief appearances in his brief time in Pittsburgh, throwing a total of just 2.1 innings. He allowed one run on one hit and one walk. After the season, he was sold to the New York Mets. He tossed 34 games for the 1968 Mets, and had a 4.85 ERA in 29.2 innings. He then finished his career with the 1969 Cincinnati Reds, spending most of his time with Indianapolis of the Triple-A American Association, where he had a 3.86 ERA in 161 innings. During his big league time that year, he gave up four runs over 2.1 innings in four appearances. As a 5’9″ pitcher, he lived up (or is it down?) to his last name. He went 5-11, 4.73 in 131.1 innings over 16 starts and 57 relief appearances. Bob Schultz, pitcher for the 1953 Pirates. He served in WWII before signing his first pro deal at 22 years old in 1946. He spent most of that 1946 season with Fulton of the Class-D Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League, where he went 19-10, 3.62 in 221 innings, with an incredible total of 361 strikeouts, though he also had 148 walks. In 1947, he moved up to Class-C with Greenville of the Cotton States League. He went 15-11, 2.02 in 232 innings, with 274 strikeouts. In 1948, Schultz pitched for Memphis of the Double-A Southern Association, where he had an 11-11, 5.09 record in 161 innings, with 118 walks and 95 strikeouts. He struggled for part of the 1949 season in Memphis, but spent the majority of the year one level lower with Muskegon of the Central League. He combined to go 9-15, 3.83 in 181 innings. The Cubs picked him up in the minors from the Chicago White Sox system just prior to the 1950 season, then watched him go 25-6, 2.68 in 222 innings for Nashville of the Southern Association. He debuted in the majors with the Cubs in 1951 and made ten starts and seven relief appearances, posting a 3-6, 5.24 record in 77.1 innings. Schultz pitched in more of a relief role in 1952, making five starts and 24 relief appearances. He had a 4.01 ERA in 74 innings. He had a 5.40 ERA through early June of 1953 when the Pirates acquired him as part of the large return in the Ralph Kiner trade. Schultz lasted 11 appearances in Pittsburgh, and they came between June 7th and July 6th in 1953. He went 0-2, 8.20 in two starts and nine relief appearances with the Pirates. Schultz spent the rest of 1953 in the minors, then stayed there for the entire 1954 season when he threw 261 innings for New Orleans of the Southern Association. He had an 18-11, 3.52 record that year. After the 1954 season, he was sold to the Detroit Tigers. He played just one more big league game after leaving the Pirates, giving up three runs over 1.1 innings for the 1955 Tigers. He remained in baseball through the end of the 1956, pitching for three different minor league teams during his final season. He was hampered by control issues during his career, with a 125:67 BB/SO ratio in 183 big league innings. He had a 9-13, 5.16 record in 19 starts and 46 relief outings during his four seasons in the majors. In 1,891 innings as a pro, he walked a total of 1,059 batters. Joe Bush, pitcher for the 1926-27 Pirates. His time with the Pirates lasted just under a full year, but Bullet Joe had a long career in the majors. He won 196 games over 17 seasons and once led the league with 24 losses, despite a 2.57 ERA. He had a total of nine seasons with 15+ wins. He was on a World Series winner with three different teams and played in a total of five World Series. Bush debuted in pro ball with Missoula of the Class-D Union Association, where he went 26-16, 3.49 in 350.1 innings. By the end of the year, the 19-year-old was in the majors with the Philadelphia A’s, where he made his debut on September 30th, exactly 16 years before he played his final big league game. Bush made 16 starts and 23 relief appearances for the A’s in 1913, going 15-6, 3.82 in 200.1 innings. He won his lone World Series start and the A’s won the series. In 1914, he made 23 starts and 15 relief appearances, posting a 17-13, 3.06 record in 206 innings. He lost his only World Series start this season, though not due to poor pitching. He took a 5-4 complete game loss in the 12th inning of game three, with the winning run coming as a result of an error. He slumped a bit in 1915, putting together a 5-15, 4.14 record in 145.2 innings. That ERA doesn’t sound too high now, but that was part of the deadball era, and the league had a 2.93 ERA. Bush rebounded in 1916 to go 15-24, 2.57 in 286.2 innings, with 157 strikeouts. The A’s finished 36-117 that year, so he had nearly half of their wins. He was sixth in the league in innings and fourth in strikeouts. In 1917, Bush went 11-17, 2.47 in 233.1 innings, and he finished sixth with 121 strikeouts. The A’s traded him to the Boston Red Sox in December of 1917 in a deal that included six players and a large amount of cash. Bush went 15-15, 2.11 in 272.2 innings in 1918. He was fifth in innings pitched, fifth in ERA, and third with 125 strikeouts. He took the loss in his World Series start, allowing three runs over eight innings, but the Red Sox won the series, and he picked up a save in game four. An arm injury limited him to two games in 1919, but he was healthy again in 1920 and pitched 243.2 innings. He went 15-15, 4.25 that season. In 1921, Bush went 16-9, 3.50 in 254.1 innings. After the season, the Red Sox sent three players to the New York Yankees for four players and $100,000. Bush helped the Yankees to the World Series in 1922 by going 26-7, 3.31 in 255.1 innings. He finished fourth in the MVP voting, but he lost both of his World Series starts and the Yankees lost the series to the New York Giants. In 1923, they went back to the postseason and Bush helped them to their first championship by allowing just two runs over 16.2 innings in the World Series. During the regular season, he went 19-15, 3.43 in 275.2 innings. In 1924, he went 17-16, 3.57 in 252 innings. In December of 1924, he was one of two players sent to the St Louis Browns for pitcher Urban Shocker. In his only season with St Louis, Bush went 14-14, 5.09 in 208.2 innings. He was traded to the Washington Senators in February of 1926 in a two-for-two deal. Bush was signed by the Pirates from the Senators, who released him days earlier, after he went 1-8, 6.69 in 71.1 innings. He had 15 years in the majors at the time, which allowed him to become a free agent and negotiate his own transfer from Washington to the Pirates. Players with less time back then would have had a waiver fee attached to them, or had to accept a minor league assignment, unless they were unconditionally released. Bush went 6-6, 3.01 in 110.2 innings over the rest of 1926 with the Pirates. In 1927, he made three starts and two relief appearances before being released unconditionally on June 15th. In his three starts, he lasted a total of 1.2 innings. Bush joined the New York Giants and struggled there as well, though he allowed one run in a complete game victory in his debut. He gave up 24 runs in 18.2 innings that season between both stops. He finished his big league career with a 5.09 ERA in 35.1 innings for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928, but he stayed around for three more seasons in the minors, though the last two years were as a player-manager, with much more time spent on the bench. Bush was an outstanding hitter for a pitcher, batting .253 with seven homers and 140 RBIs in 1,239 at-bats. He was used as a pinch-hitter occasionally and also took some turns in the outfield during his career, playing a total of nine games spread over the three positions. As you may have guessed from his nickname, he threw very hard, and he was recognized as having one of the best fastballs of his day. He had 1,318 career strikeouts, which was a decent career total for his era. His final career stats show a 196-184, 3.51 record in 3,085.1 innings, with 488 games pitcher, 370 starts, 225 complete games and 35 shutouts. Marty O’Toole, pitcher for the 1911-14 Pirates. Despite a 3.17 ERA in 550.1 innings with the Pirates, he was considered to be a major disappointment to the team. They paid $22,500 to purchase his contract during the 1911 season, which was a huge sum of money at the time. At the time, the reported second highest paid price for a player was $11,000 for Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Marquard in 1908. Despite that hefty price tag, O’Toole was out of the majors by age 25, finishing his career with four years in the minors following his last big league game. O’Toole debuted in pro ball in 1906 at 17 years old, pitching for Manchester of the New England League, where he went 19-14 in 38 games (full stats from that league are unavailable). He remained in the same league with Brockton in 1907, where he put together a 20-11 record. He stayed with Brockton for 1908 and he’s credited with a 31-11 record, though his online stats also say that he pitched just 38 games. Newspaper clippings from when he was already with the Cincinnati Reds late in the season show him with a 30-9 record. O’Toole briefly made the majors in 1908 with the Reds at 19 years old and he finished his career with the 1914 New York Giants, but the bulk of his career came with the Pirates. He had a 2.40 ERA in 15 late-season innings for the Reds, but they returned him to his Brockton team, where he spent the 1909 season. In 1910, O’Toole moved up to Class-A ball to play for Sioux City of the Western League, where he posted a 19-5 record and took part in 30 games. He then joined St Paul of the American Association, which was also a Class-A team. It was there that he got a ton of attention. O’Toole was built up in the newspapers before joining the Pirates. He was purchased on July 22nd for that record price, but didn’t report to the team until a month later. The papers presented a game-by-game breakdown of his 1911 minor league season right before his arrival, which included a 15-10 record and 202 strikeouts in 204 innings. The Pirates also purchased his catcher Billy Kelly, who stayed around for three seasons in Pittsburgh. At the time, Kelly was actually being sought by more teams than O’Toole, but both were getting a lot of notice in St Paul. Things went south quickly in Pittsburgh for O’Toole. After his third big league start (he won and completed all three games) he saw a doctor about an arm injury and believed his season was over. However, he ended up making two more starts after a short time off and pitched poorly in both games, so it was likely a bad decision to return. He brief first season in Pittsburgh showed a 2.30 ERA in 38 innings. While the record didn’t show it in 1912, he had a strong season for the Pirates, going 15-17, 2.71 in 275.1 innings over 36 starts (and one relief outing). He led the league with six shutouts that year, but also led the league with 159 walks, compared to 150 strikeouts. That work seemed to take a toll on him and O’Toole dropped down to a 3.30 ERA in 144.2 innings in 1913. He made 16 starts and ten relief appearances that year. He then had a 4.68 ERA in 94.1 innings in 1914 before he was sold to the New York Giants in August. He lasted just 34 innings in New York, before finishing his career in the minors. O’Toole still had plenty left in the tank, but if never led to another big league opportunity. He had a 14-15, 3.71 record in 235.1 innings for Columbus of the Double-A American Association in 1915. He dropped down a level, returning to the Class- A Western League, where he pitched his final three seasons with Omaha. In 1916, he went 15-7, 3.04 in 219 innings. He was a workhorse in 1917, going 19-17, while throwing 318 innings. O’Toole pitched just 69 innings during his final season and had a 5-2 record. He still played some baseball after 1919, but only for semi-pro teams. He finished with a 25-35, 3.17 record in 550.1 innings with the Pirates over 66 starts and 21 relief appearances. His purchase price was still getting occasional mentions in the local Pittsburgh papers into the 1960s. Jim Kane, first baseman for the 1908 Pirates. He debuted in pro ball in 1907 with the Utica Pent-Ups of the New York State League at age 25. He was playing amateur ball in his early years and then was in independent ball before joining Utica in late August of 1907 to finish out the season. Kane, a Scranton, PA native, played basketball before and after the 1908 season, and his winter team in 1908-09 was in Pittsburgh. Despite barely having a month of pro ball to his name, he was drafted from Utica on October 19, 1907 under the recommendation of a trusted source of Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss. The Pirates had almost no information on him and none of their scouts saw him play before Spring Training in 1908. The Pirates were weak at first base, so they had four players compete for the job in Spring Training that year. Kane saw most of his time with the Pirates in June and early July, then played just 11 games after July 8th, with only one start during that stretch. In his only big league season, he batted .241 with 22 RBIs in 55 games. He was with the Pirates for the first seven games of the 1909 season without appearing in a game, before being sent to Omaha of the Class-A Western League on April 23rd. The Pirates retained his rights at that time, though he never returned to the majors. On August 23rd, he was sold to the Boston Doves of the National League. He was supposed to join the Doves at the conclusion of his minor league season, but Omaha played into October and he hit a walk-off homer in the final game of the season, which decided the pennant race (the team Omaha beat lost the pennant by .002 in the winning percentage column). Kane played a total of seven seasons in the Western League after his season with the Pirates, batting .318 in 1,097 games, but he never got another big league shot. He hit .315 with 27 doubles and 16 triples in 153 games in 1909. In 1910, he hit .283 in 158 games, with 21 doubles and 15 triples. In 1911, he had a .340 average in 171 games, with 36 doubles, 16 triples and eight homers. Kane was just as good the next season, hitting .332 with 37 doubles and a career best 14 homers in 152 games. In his final season with Omaha in 1913, he batted .298 in 165 games, with 48 extra-base hits. He moved on to Sioux City of the Western League in 1914 and batted .336 in 167 games, with 118 runs scored, 39 doubles, ten triples, 11 homers and 61 walks. In his final season of pro ball in 1915 for Sioux City, he hit .318 with 43 extra-base hits in 131 games. He went to Spring Training with Sioux City in 1916, but they released him just before Opening Day, then watched his replacement at first base, Art Mueller, break his leg in the first inning of the season. Kane sued the Western League after being released and won his case, then played out his career in semi-pro ball. Jack Kading, first baseman for the 1910 Pirates. He played eight games with Pittsburgh and hit .304 with four RBIs. His only other big league experience was three pinch-hit appearances in the Federal League for Chicago in 1914. Kading debuted in pro ball with Eau Claire of the Class-D Minnesota-Wisconsin League in 1909. He hit .251 with no homers in 121 games as a 24-year-old that year. The next season he batted .271 with four homers and 21 doubles in 126 games. Pirates scout Howard Earl purchased Kading on July 11th for $1,500, though they allowed him to stay with his Eau Claire team until the end of the season. He joined the Pirates on September 11, 1910 and was in the starting lineup the next day. He didn’t play again until September 22nd, then started seven games in a row. Kading was left behind to train at Forbes Field during a team road trip east, but a minor injury to Honus Wagner caused the Pirates to send for Kading to join the team in Philadelphia. Wagner played first base when he returned, moving Kading to the bench. During his first day with the Pirates on that road trip, Kading went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a walk. He didn’t play in any of the final ten games of the season. On February 18, 1911, the Pirates released him to Seattle of the Class-B Northwestern League. Kading hit .207 in 30 games with Seattle, but he spent the majority of the 1911 season back in Eau Claire (which was reclassified to Class-C that season), where he hit .243 with 19 extra-base hits in 92 games. In 1912, he played for Wausau of the Class-C Wisconsin-Illinois League, where he started his baseball career back in 1908 before it was considered to be a minor league. He was then the starting first baseman for Chicago of the Federal League in 1913, which was an independent league that season. Kading hit .339 in 119 games, with 67 runs scored, 36 extra-base hits and 15 steals. The Federal League gained Major League status in 1914, but he lasted just three early season games with the team. He finished that year in the minors with St Thomas of the Class-B Canadian League. Kading played briefly for South Bend of the Class-B Central League in 1916, but he lost his job to first baseman George Beall, who played 134 games that year. Kading ended up playing semi-pro ball that year in Indiana, then took over that team’s managerial spot and played/managed through at least 1920. At 6’3″, he was tall for the era and had the nickname “Big John” in the minors....
Card of the Day: 1914 Cracker Jack Marty O’Toole
November 27, 2021
Card of the Day
Today’s Card of the Day comes from the 1914 Cracker Jack set and it features Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Marty O’Toole. His name is probably only familiar to die-hard fans, but he was one of the biggest prospect deals in team history and things didn’t go exactly as planned, which gained him more negative publicity than him probably hoped for from his big league career. He ended up with a 25-35 record in Pittsburgh, despite looking strong when he first arrived to the team. When these cards were released, he was already fading out, going 1-8 in his last season with the team before being sold to the New York Giants near the end of the 1914 season. This 1914 Cracker Jack set is an iconic set in the baseball card game. It’s still extremely popular, and even players like O’Toole go for a big price, as you will see in the price section below. Marty O’Toole was born on this date in 1888 in William Penn, Pa., so let’s put those disappointed feelings aside and praise the man who was good enough to make it to the majors for five seasons. Here’s card #54 from the 1914 Cracker Jack set, featuring 25-year-old right-hander Martin James O’Toole. Here’s the front of the card: You have probably seen this card design somewhere, either with the original cards, which were printed in 1915 as well, or the multiple replica/reprint cards produced, or the more recent sets that have borrowed this design. It’s an iconic set, partially due to the Shoeless Joe Jackson card included, but there’s a lot of star power in this set. They showed the card of Joe Jackson (actually showing Ray Liotta) in the movie Field of Dreams. We also looked at the Max Carey card back in the early days of this series. All of the cards have that bright red background, along with some decent artwork, though some like this O’Toole have the players with more of a generic look, but it’s still a great design. He’s pictured here wearing the 1912 uniforms, which is the first year that the word “Pirates” shows up on the uniform. They did a good job of getting the uniform colors correct, which didn’t always happen back in the day when cards were artwork. Here’s the back of the card: The back has a nice bio section on O’Toole and lets you know that when the Pirates purchased his contract, it was the highest price ever paid for a ball player. He was highly sought after at the time and Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss had to outbid other teams for his services. Not only that, they also purchased his catcher, William Kelly, who wasn’t cheap either. The pair was supposed to help the Pirates regain their glory from the previous decade, but neither lived up to the billing. The title of this article tells you that this is a 1914 card, but you can’t tell that from the front of the card. It’s the back that gives it away. The 1914 set tells you that there are 144 cards in the complete set. The 1915 cards tells you that there are 176 cards. There’s one easier way to tell them apart, but you wouldn’t know it if I just shared the scan. You’d have to see it in person. I have to explain this because I don’t want to assume people flip cards over the same way. Some of you are animals. Picture this card in a graded holder with a PSA sticker up top telling you the grade. You flip the holder to look at the back and the grading sticker is still at the top, you’re just looking at the back of that sticker now. Got it pictured? If the card is from 1914, then the back will be right side up and easy to read. If it’s a 1915 card, the back will now be upside down. The cards are also printed on different stock, but to tell them apart that way, you would need to see one from each year and then know which is which. I mentioned above that this card isn’t cheap, whether you want the 1914 version or the 1915. I would say don’t worry about the year if you wanted it, no reason to limit your choices for subtle changes unless you’re collecting a specific set. The lowest priced one on Ebay right now is $200 and it is low grade. There are seven listed right now between the two years and the highest priced one is $880 for a PSA 4. These aren’t for the average collectors, so you could always get a reprint for a few bucks. It looks somewhat similar, but you won’t be fooled side-by-side....
Card of the Day: 1939 Exhibits Salutations Bob Elliott
November 26, 2021
Card of the Day
Today’s history article has some firepower with former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date. You have Richie Hebner, a member of the Lumber Company, who rejoined the Pirates later in his career. You also have Bob Walk, long-time pitcher, who has been an announcer even longer. Then there’s Bob Elliott, a slugger for the Pirates during the early 1940s, who was a three-time All-Star during his eight seasons with the Pirates. I went with Elliott from that group, simply because the other two have been featured in this series before. This also gives me a chance to feature a set here for the first time, mostly because there aren’t many options available for Elliott. He played most of his career during the war years and there’s almost nothing available for baseball cards during that time period. So here’s a first look at the 1939 Exhibitions Salutations set, along with a first look here at Bob Elliott. Here’s the front of the card (the back is blank): Sometimes with old cards, it pays to know your uniform history. I’ve mentioned plenty of cards here where the photo was much older than the card. With Bob Elliott here, you just need to know Bob Elliott history, though I’ll show how the uniform history helps. He debuted in 1939, and this set was put out in 1939, so that’s a 1939 photo. The 22-year-old debuted in September that year, so that photo was taken right before these cards showed up. This set is actually labeled as being from 1939-46 because that’s when it was being distributed. Due to that reason, I wanted to make sure that Elliott was actually printed that first year when he barely played. The front of the jersey usually has some telltale signs to help with uniform recognition, but you don’t need that with this card. As a quick side note, that follow-through swing pose you see above was extremely popular for cards back in the day. Now back to the year identification. See the stirrups there and how it has a large lighter color band near the top? That is red (the rest is a dark blue) and the only year that Elliott was with the team when they wore those colors is 1939. They used them before then, but not afterwards. So you have two ways to tell that this is a 1939 photo. This set is called “Salutations” simply because they wrote salutations on the front of the card along with the facsimile autograph. Bob Elliot says “truly yours” here. There are other greetings available, such as “sincerely yours”, or the Arky Vaughan card in the set says “best wishes”. The “Exhibit” part of the card title is the name of the company that distributed these cards, which are bigger than standard cards. They’re often referred to as being postcard size. The actual dimensions are 3 5/16″ x 5 5/16″. Despite the age of these cards, being produced over multiple years makes them a bit easier to find, and that keeps the price down. There are actually nine of these for sale on Ebay right now and the highest priced one, which is graded SGC 60, is just under $50. They can be found for as little as $7 delivered from a reliable seller, with another major selling having it for $9, with a best offer option. Elliott was a very good player for the Pirates, so he’s one you should add to your collection....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 26th, Richie Hebner, Bob Elliott and Bob Walk
November 26, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Seven former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date, including a pair of strong third basemen and a current broadcaster for the team. We also have a 2021 Pirates player who looks like he is returning as a free agent in 2022. In 2021, the 30-year-old Yoski Tsutsugo played for three different teams in his second year in the majors, after playing ten years in Japan. He hit .268 with eight homers and 25 RBIs in 43 games for the Pirates. He also played for the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Richie Hebner, third baseman for the 1968-76 and 1982-83 Pirates. The Pirates signed him as a first round draft pick out of high school in 1966, selected 15th overall. He debuted with Salem of the short-season Appalachian League, where he batted .259 in 26 games, with 17 runs, 20 RBIs and a 1.059 OPS. In 1967, he moved up to Raleigh of the Class-A Carolina League, where he hit .336 in 78 games, with an .867 OPS. Back when the Fall Instructional League was an actual league that kept stats, Hebner reported there after the 1967 season and hit .333 in 40 games. He jumped up to Columbus of the Triple-A International League in 1968 and batted .276 with 31 extra-base hits in 104 games. He made the majors by 20 years old in 1968 as a September call-up, though he had just one at-bat in two games during that first cup of coffee. Hebner stuck in the majors on Opening Day in 1969 and never returned to the minors. He hit .301 in 129 games as a rookie, with eight homers, 47 RBIs and 72 runs scored. His average dropped slightly to .290 in 1970, while playing 120 games. However, he showed more power, improving his slugging percentage by 44 points. That trend continued the next season, with a .271 average in 112 games, but his slugging went up another 23 points and he finished with 17 homers. In the NLCS that season, he homered twice and drove in five runs. He then homered again in the World Series, while driving in three runs. The Pirates won the World Series that year, but it was actually his worst season (by WAR) during the 1969-74 run, most due to a -0.6 mark for defensive WAR. The 1972 season was his best year during that stretch, with a .300 average and a career best .886 OPS. He had 24 doubles, 19 homers, 72 RBIs and 52 walks in 124 games. In 1973, Hebner hit .271 in 144 games, with 73 runs scored, 74 RBIs and 56 walks. That season he set career highs with both 28 doubles and 25 homers. In 1974, he batted .291 in a career high 146 games, with 21 doubles, 18 homers, 68 RBIs and 60 walks. He set a career high with 97 runs scored. He received mild MVP support that season for the only time in his career, finishing 21st in the voting. Hebner homered and drove in four runs in the postseason. In 1975, he hit .246 in 128 games, with 65 runs, 16 doubles, 15 homers and 57 RBIs. He batted .333 that postseason. In 1976, he saw his stats slide to a .249 average with eight homers and 51 RBIs in 132 games. After down years in 1975-76, Hebner left the Pirates via free agency after the 1976 season. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1977, where he batted .285 in 118 games, with 67 runs scored, 18 homers, 62 RBIs and a career high 61 walks. In 1978, he hit .283 in 137 games, with 61 runs scored, 22 doubles, 17 homers and 71 RBIs. Hebner moved on to the New York Mets in a trade near the end of Spring Training in 1979. He wasn’t happy about the move and it showed in his defense, which was still getting criticized years later by fans of the Mets. He had a decent season at the plate though, hitting .268 in 136 games, with 54 runs scored, 25 doubles, ten homers, 79 RBIs and 58 walks. He never approached that amount of playing time during his final six seasons in the majors. Hebner was traded right after the 1979 season finished, getting sent to the Detroit Tigers. He played 104 games in 1980, which was the last season that he played 100+ games. He hit .290 with 12 homers and drove in a career high 82 runs. During the strike-shortened 1981 season, he batted .226 with five homers in 78 games. His OPS dropped 170 points versus the previous season. The Pirates purchased him from the Tigers during the 1982 season, after he started off by hitting .274 with eight homers and 18 RBIs in 68 games with Detroit. After joining the Pirates, he hit .300 in 25 games that season. Hebner batted .265 with five homers and 26 RBIs in 78 games for the Pirates in 1983. He started just 29 games that year. He left via free agency after the 1983 season and signed with the Chicago Cubs, where he spent his final two seasons. Hebner saw limited work as a bench player in 1984, though he batted .333 in 44 games. He dropped down to a .217 average in 1985, while starting just 16 of the 83 games that he played. In 18 seasons in the majors, he finished with a .276 average, 865 runs scored, 273 doubles, 208 homers and 890 RBIs in 1,908 games. In 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, he hit .277 with 128 homers and 520 RBIs in 1,140 games. He wore #20 when he started with the Pirates, but changed to #3 in 1972 when the number was retired in honor of the great Pie Traynor. Bob Elliott, third baseman/outfielder for the 1939-46 Pirates. He debuted in pro ball in 1936 as a 20-year-old outfielder with Savannah of the Class-B South Atlantic League, where he played his first two seasons and most of his third year. Elliott hit .292 with 19 doubles and 12 homers in 144 games. He played 139 games in 1937, and hit .292 with 21 doubles, 16 triples and nine homers. In 1938, he spent a majority of the season with Savannah, while also seeing brief time with Knoxville of the Class-A Southern Association. He combined to hit .318 that season in 143 games, with 32 doubles, 12 triples and 12 homers. Most of the 1939 season was spent with Toronto of the International League (Triple-A), where he hit .328 with 42 extra-base hits in 115 games. He joined the Pirates in September and played full-time to finish out the season, hitting .333 with 16 extra-base hits in 32 games. As the starting right fielder in 1940, Elliott hit .292 in 148 games, with 88 runs scored, 34 doubles, 11 triples, 64 RBIs and 13 steals, which was the only time he reached double digits in steals. He was an All-Star for the first time in 1941 when he hit .273 in 141 games, with 74 runs scored, 37 extra-base hits, 76 RBIs and 64 walks. Elliott moved to third base in 1942 and had a big season, with his second All-Star appearance and a ninth place finish in the MVP voting. That year he hit .296 in 143 games, with 75 runs scored, 42 extra-base hits and 89 RBIs. He was even batter in 1943, when he finished eighth in the MVP voting. Elliott hit .315 in 156 games that season, with 82 runs scored, 30 doubles, 12 triples, 101 RBIs and a 56:24 BB/SO ratio. He was an All-Star again in 1944 when he had his third straight top ten finish in the MVP voting. That season saw him hit .297 in 143 games, with 85 runs scored, 28 doubles, a career high 16 triples, ten homers, 108 RBIs and 75 walks. In 1945, Elliott finished 16th in the MVP voting after batting .290 with 80 runs scored, a career high 36 doubles, 108 RBIs and 64 walks in 144 games. He saw more time back in center field in 1946 when he batted .263 in 140 games, with 50 runs scored, 33 extra-base hits and 64 walks. On September 30, 1946, the Pirates sold low on him and it came back to bite them in a big way. The trade of Elliott to the Boston Braves was a huge one at the time. The Pirates were acquiring Hall of Fame second baseman Billy Herman to be a player-manager. The also picked up three other players, while Elliott and Dolph Camelli went to Boston. It did not go well for Pittsburgh. While they were trading the big player in the deal, Elliott was even better after he left. He had 23.4 WAR in eight seasons with Pittsburgh and 25.8 WAR in five seasons with the Braves. Boston moved on from him at the right time, as he lasted just two more seasons in the majors and posted 1.4 WAR over that time. The move out of spacious Forbes Field improved his power numbers. Elliott had 50 homers with the Pirates, topping out at ten in 1944. With the Braves, he hit 101 homers, with three 20+ home run seasons. The trade went bad immediately, as Elliott won the MVP award in 1947 by hitting .317 in 150 games, with 93 runs scored, 35 doubles, 22 homers, a career high 113 RBIs and 87 walks. He made his fourth All-Star appearance that year. In 1948, he hit .283 in 151 games and led the league with a career high of 131 walks, the only year that he topped 100 walks. Elliott also set a career high with 99 runs scored that season, while adding 24 doubles, 23 homers and 100 RBIs. He was an All-Star again and finished 13th in the MVP voting. In 1949, Elliott hit .280 in 139 games, with 77 runs scored, 29 doubles, 17 homers, 76 RBIs and 90 walks. He followed that up with .305 average in 142 games in 1950, with 94 runs scored, 28 doubles, a career high 24 homers and 107 RBIs. He received mild MVP support that season. In his final year in Boston in 1951, he batted .285 in 136 games, with 73 runs scored, 29 doubles, 15 homers, 70 RBIs and 65 walks. He made the All-Star team for the sixth and final time in his career. He was voted to the 1945 All-Star team, but there was no game that year due to wartime travel restrictions. He was traded to the New York Giants after the season for one player and $50,000, which worked out great for the Braves. Elliott hit .228 with ten homers in 98 games that season, then got released by the Giants. His final season in the majors (1953) started with the St Louis Browns, who traded him in June to the Chicago White Sox. He batted .255 with 29 extra-base hits and 61 RBIs in 115 games that year. He finished his career in the minors in 1954 with San Diego of the Pacific Coast League, where he then managed for the next three seasons. Elliott got a chance to manage in the majors in 1960 with the Kansas City A’s, where he had a 58-96 record. Elliott had a strange career stat line with his batting average. He batted .292 during each of his first two seasons in the minors. He hit .292 in his first full year with the Pirates, and he hit .292 during his time with the Pirates. As a pro (minors/majors combined) he hit .292 in 2,614 games. During his time in Pittsburgh, he had a .783 OPS in 1,047 games, with 552 runs scored and 663 RBIs. In his 15-year career in the majors, he hit .289 with 1,064 runs scored, 382 doubles, 94 triples, 170 homers, 1,195 RBIs and a 967:604 BB/SO ratio. If you could insert one more big season into his career, he would probably be a strong Hall of Fame candidate. As it is, he has a higher career WAR than 43 Hall of Fame position players (not including Negro League players due to incomplete stats). Bob Walk, pitcher for the 1984-93 Pirates. He picked up double digit victories in six of his 14 seasons in the majors and he was an All-Star in 1988 with the Pirates. He was drafted three times out of College of the Canyons in California before he signed as a third round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in June of 1976. He was selected the first time in January of 1975 by the California Angels in the fifth round. One year later, the Phillies took him in the fifth round, five months before selecting him again two rounds higher. He debuted in pro ball in 1977, making starts for two A-Ball clubs of the Phillies. Walk combined to go 6-11, 3.80 in 135 innings during his first season. In 1978, he made a return trip to Peninsula of the Class-A Carolina League, where he went 13-8, 2.12 in 187 innings over 26 starts, with 150 strikeouts. In 1979, he moved up to Reading of the Double-A Eastern League, where he had a 12-7, 2.24 record in 185 innings, with 135 strikeouts. Walk started 1980 in Triple-A, but he made the majors in late May and was a big part of the Phillies World Series winning team, going 11-7, 4.57 in 27 starts and 151.2 innings. He won a World Series start, despite allowing six runs in seven innings. Just before Opening Day in 1981, Walk was traded to the Atlanta Braves even up for veteran outfielder Gary Mathews. Walk spent part of the strike-shortened 1981 season in the minors, while putting up a 1-4, 4.57 record in 43.1 innings with the Braves. He spent the entire 1982 season in the majors, where he posted an 11-9, 4.87 record in 164.1 innings. Due to struggles in Triple-A in 1983, his big league time that year was limited to one starts in the majors in which he allowed three runs in 3.2 innings. He had a 5.21 ERA in 28 starts with Triple-A Richmond of the International League that season. Walk had a 4.85 ERA in 211.1 innings over three seasons in Atlanta before being released during Spring Training in 1984. The Pirates signed him as a free agent eight days later and he remained there for ten seasons, twice re-signing with the club as a free agent. Walk made 42 starts in Triple-A during his first two seasons with Pittsburgh. He saw just 11 appearances (all starts) total during those two seasons with the Pirates, before becoming a regular during the 1986 season. He made two starts in 1984 for the Pirates, then he went 2-3, 3.68 in nine starts in 1985. He made 15 starts and 29 relief appearances in 1986, going 7-8, 3.75 in 141.2 innings. He had a similar split role in 1987 and improved his ERA, going 8-2, 3.31 in 117 innings. Walk had his best year in 1988, throwing a career high 212.2 innings, going 12-10, 2.71 in 32 starts. He had a 13-10 record in 1989 and threw 196 innings, but it was quite different from the previous year. He had a 4.41 ERA that season, easily his highest mark during his first nine seasons in Pittsburgh. Walk saw a dip in his work during the 1990-92 playoff run for the Pirates, but he was a solid pitcher each year. He went 7-5, 3.75 in 129.2 innings in 1990, then went 1-1 in two playoff starts. He had a 9-2, 3.60 record in 115 innings over 20 starts and five relief appearances in 1991, then threw in relief three times in the playoffs and allowed two runs in 9.1 innings. In 1992, he went 10-6, 3.20 in 135 innings over 19 starts and 17 relief appearances. He threw a complete game victory in game five of the NLCS, allowing just one run. Walk made 32 starts in 1993 and won 13 games, but he had 14 losses and a 5.68 ERA in 187 innings. He has been announcing for the Pirates since he retired following the 1993 season. In ten seasons in Pittsburgh, he went 82-61, 3.83 in 1,303 innings over 196 starts and 82 relief appearances. In his 14 years, he finished with a 105-81, 4.03 record in 1,666 innings. Josh Smoker, lefty reliever for the 2018 Pirates. He pitched seven games with Pittsburgh during his brief stay with the team, and he also made 74 appearances with the 2016-17 New York Mets and one appearance for the 2018 Detroit Tigers during his three seasons in the majors. He was a first round draft pick of the Washington Nationals out of high school in 2007, selected 31st overall. He debuted in pro ball at 18 years old with Vermont of the New York-Penn League, getting into just two games during his first season due to signing late. He went to Low-A Hagerstown of the South Atlantic League in 2008 and really struggled, posting an 11.50 ERA in 18 innings over five starts. He spent the rest of the year in the Gulf Coast League, posting a 1.37 ERA in six starts. In 2009, Smoker spent the entire year back in the GCL, where he went 4-2, 3.38 in 42.2 innings. The next season he returned to Hagerstown, where he 3-10, 6.50 in 91.1 innings, with 92 strikeouts. Smoker was a starter in the minors through 2010, then switched to full-time relief in 2011 in High-A. The move paid off with a 2.31 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 50.2 innings during that first season with Potomac of the High-A Carolina League, though it still took him another five years to make it to the majors. That’s partially due to the fact that he suffered a torn labrum during the early part of 2012 and missed the entire 2013 season as well. He pitched just 9.2 innings during those seasons combined. Smoker played independent ball in 2014 for Rockford of the Frontier League, where he had a 4.03 ERA in 29 innings over 28 appearances, with 23 walks and 28 strikeouts. He then signed with the New York Mets in 2015, and saw time at three different levels. He actually struggled during a brief time in Low-A, then had a 1.69 ERA in 14 appearances for St Lucie of the High-A Florida State League, followed by a 3.00 ERA for Binghamton of the Double-A Eastern League. He began 2016 in the high-offense environment of Las Vegas in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, where his 4.11 ERA was above average. He also had 81 strikeouts in 57 innings. Smoker debuted in the majors with the Mets in August of 2016 and pitched 20 games that year, going 3-0, 4.70 in 15.1 innings, with 25 strikeouts.. He spent nearly the entire 2017 season in the majors, posting a 5.11 ERA in 54 appearances, with 64 strikeouts in 56.1 innings. The Pirates acquired him in a trade for minor league pitcher Daniel Zamora on January 31, 2018. Smoker was in the majors at the start of the season for two weeks, then again for a shorter stay at the beginning of July. He was lost via waivers to the Detroit Tigers on July 28th. He pitched once a month later, then got released in early September. During his time with the Pirates, he gave up seven runs over 5.2 innings and allowed 16 base runners. Smoker split 2019 between Triple-A (Dodgers) and independent ball, then didn’t play during the 2020 season. He had a 9.00 ERA with the Dodgers that year, and a 6.05 ERA in 19.1 innings for York of the Atlantic League. In his brief big league career, he finished with a 4-2, 5.35 record in 82 appearances, with 97 strikeouts in 79 innings. Joe Muir, pitcher for the 1951-52 Pirates. He was a lefty pitcher, who signed at 23 years old in 1946 after serving two years in the Marine Corps. It took him four years to make the majors, though he put up some impressive stats in the lower levels during his first two seasons. A Pirates scout named Poke Whalen saw him pitching semi-pro ball in Maryland in August of 1946 and signed him to a contract for the 1947 season, saying that he was impressed with Muir’s curveball, as well as his potential to become an outfielder. Muir debuted in 1947 in the Class-D Eastern Shore League for a team called the Rehoboth Beach Pirates, where he went 13-5, 2.83 in 162 innings, with 134 strikeouts, which would end up being his career high for a season. In 1948, he pitched for York of the Class-B Interstate League, where he went 12-6, 2.54 in 163 innings, with 122 strikeouts. He moved up three levels to Triple-A Indianapolis of the American Association in 1949 and struggled during his first time through the league, posting a 4.92 ERA in 139 innings. He improved to 10-10, 3.91 in 205 innings in 1950, though he never approached that innings total in a season during the rest of his brief career. Muir made the Pirates Opening Day roster in both 1951 and 1952, though he didn’t last the whole year either season. He was with the team through mid-May of 1951, posting a 2.76 ERA in 16.1 innings over one start and eight relief appearances. The Pirates recalled him in September after the season ended in Indianapolis, but he didn’t make any appearances. In 1952, Muir lasted with the Pirates until June, though he had a 6.31 ERA in 36.2 innings. He wasn’t much better with Hollywood that season, posting a 5.19 ERA in 52 innings. On October 11, 1952, he was part of a five-player trade with Hollywood of the Pacific Coast League, which brought both Mike Sandlock and Dick Cole to the Pirates. Muir pitched for Hollywood in 1953, putting up a 2.31 ERA in 70 innings, then he retired from baseball. He was contemplating retirement before the 1953 season because he was at the age limit to join the Maryland State Troopers, so if he didn’t pass the exam then, he would have never made it in that line of work. Hollywood convinced him to show up and even upped his salary from $1,000 per month to $1,250 per month, but he left the club in June and became a state trooper. In two seasons with the Pirates, he went 2-5, 5.19 in 52 innings over six starts and 15 relief appearances. He complied a 59-40, 3.79 record in seven minor league seasons. Bill Warwick, catcher for the 1921 Pirates. He made his big league debut on July 18, 1921 with the Pirates and caught two innings, while going 0-for-1 at the plate. It was also his first game of pro ball. That ended up being his only game for the Pirates. He also played 22 games for the 1925-26 St Louis Cardinals and finished with a .304 average. Warwick’s baseball career lasted from 1921 until 1929. His father-in-law was his manager with the Pirates, George Gibson. Warwick’s real first name was Firman, the only MLB player ever with that name. His baseball career has an interesting twist early on. He was a catcher in high school, who decided to give up the game when he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. However, the team needed a catcher and the head coach remembered that Warwick played well in high school, so he was asked to play. He didn’t want to play at first, but once he did, he didn’t regret the decision. Warwick put up big numbers in college, yet still turned down offers to go pro after he graduated. He was playing for a local independent team in 1921 when the club folded, opening the door for an offer from Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss that was too good to turn down, so he signed on July 12th. In Warwick’s only game with the Pirates, the New York Giants faked a steal attempt and he bit, sailing a throw into center field for an error. The runner (George Burns, the baseball player) then stole third base. That day, Warwick caught pitcher Drew Radar, who came in at the same time, with New York up 12-1 in the seventh. Rader was a highly touted college pitcher, but that game ended up being his only big league contest. Warwick actually caught a Pirates exhibition game on September 9th, getting the bulk of the work in that contest. He was briefly sent to Birmingham of the Southern Association for two games, but the Pirates recalled him on September 15th for the rest of the season. Warwick was sent to Columbia of the South Atlantic League in in May of 1922, then recalled by the Pirates on September 14th, though he didn’t play for the Pirates during either stint that season. He was with the Pirates in 1923 after Opening Day, then sent to Flint of the Michigan-Ontario League for the season, which eventually ended his time with the Pirates. So he was actually on the active roster during three seasons (and five stints total), but he played just one game. With Columbia in 1922, Warwick batted .283 with 20 extra-base hits in 80 games. In 1923, he batted .328 with 21 doubles, six triples and 13 homers for Flint. Both of those teams/leagues were considered to be Class-B, so he was making quite a jump (and demotion as well) from the majors. In 1924, he spent his first of two full seasons with San Antonio of the Class-A Texas League. He hit .244 with 29 extra-base hits in 112 games in 1924, then followed it up with a .306 average, 31 doubles, five triples and 20 homers in 122 games in 1925. That performance earned him a September look with the St Louis Cardinals, where he hit .293 with an .857 OPS in 13 games. He went 5-for-14 in nine games for the Cardinals in 1926, seeing action in May, June, July and September. The Cardinals won the World Series that season and he was with the team during the postseason, but he was limited to warming up the pitchers. Warwick spent the 1927 season with Houston of the Texas League, where he hit .259 with 26 doubles and seven homers in 129 games. He split the 1928 season between Minneapolis of the American Association (Double-A) and Chattanooga of the Class-A Southern Association. He combined to hit .212 with six extra-base hits in 67 games. He was back in the Texas League for his final season, splitting time between San Antonio and Waco. He had a contract with Waco for 1930, but decided to retire because he had a job that paid well and didn’t want to give it up. Warwick ended up as a .304 hitter in his 23 big league games. Gussie Gannon, lefty pitcher for the 1895 Pirates. He had a six-year minor league career in which he went 55-55, but his MLB career consisted of just one relief appearance. On June 15, 1895, Bill Hart started for the Pirates and got hit hard. The Pirates called upon Gannon to make his Major League debut and the rookie ended up going the last five innings. He allowed four runs (though just one was earned), gave up seven hits, two walks and he failed to strikeout a batter. Gannon struck out both times he batted. He lived until 1966, making him one of the last surviving 19th century major league players. The Pirates signed him on June 5, 1895, ten days before his debut. At the time, he was pitching for a team from Sharon, PA, where he allowed a total of eight hits in his last three starts combined. He was said to be a tall pitcher, who was 19 years old, but he turned out to be 21 years old and 5’11”. Gannon had a strong fastball and some deceiving curves. His signing announcement included the interesting fact that he was a plumber in the off-season. Gannon lasted exactly two weeks with Pittsburgh. His pay was said to be $200 per month and expenses were covered. He finished the 1895 season pitching for Syracuse of the International League on loan from the Pirates. He ended up pitching until 1900 before retiring. Gannon debuted in pro ball in 1893, playing for three different teams that year in the Eastern League. Despite jumping around, his stats show a total of four games pitched and 38 runs allowed over 27 innings, though he’s credited with a 4.33 ERA. He played semi-pro ball for Erie and Oil City during the 1894 season, before his time with Sharon/Pittsburgh/Syracuse in 1895. He went 9-10, 3.66 in 157.1 innings with Syracuse after leaving the Pirates. In 1896, Gannon played for Buffalo of the Eastern League. In 1897, he had a 7-20, 2.20 record in 237.1 innings for the Rochester/Montreal franchise in the Eastern League. He was in the same league over the next two seasons as well, with two different teams, while also seeing time with Newport of the New England League during the 1898-99 seasons. He finished his pro career in the Class-B Interstate League in 1900 with a team that played out of Youngstown/Marion, Ohio. His actual name was James Edward Gannon and the “Gussie” nickname can be found just a few times in print during his playing days (it was mostly James or Gus), and more so afterwards....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 25th, Big Jim Weaver
November 25, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Seven former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date Octavio Dotel, relief pitcher for the 2010 Pirates. He played 15 seasons in the majors, making 758 appearances and picking up 109 saves. Dotel played for 13 different teams, although he spent five seasons with the Houston Astros. He was originally signed as an international amateur free agent by the New York Mets at 19 years old in 1993. Despite signing late for an international player, he spent his first two seasons in the Dominican Summer League. He came to the U.S. in 1995 and had a 2.18 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 74.1 innings for the Gulf Coast League Mets. He also pitched eight innings in the High-A Florida State League, though the 1996 season was spent in the Low-A South Atlantic League with Capital City, where he went 11-3, 3.59 in 115.1 innings, with 142 strikeouts. In 1997, Dotel played in both High-A and Double-A, getting 12 starts at the latter level with Binghamton of the Eastern League. He combined to go 8-6, 4.07 in 115 innings, seeing a huge drop in his strikeout rate, going from 142 to 86 strikeouts in the same amount of work. The strikeouts returned in a big way in 1998, with 200 in 167.2 innings spread over ten starts at Binghamton and 16 starts with Norfolk of the Triple-A International League, where he went 8-6, 3.45 in 99 innings. Dotel made 13 starts for Norfolk in 1999, but spent more time in the majors with the Mets, where he went 8-3, 5.38 in 85.1 innings, with 85 strikeouts. After one season in the majors as a starting pitcher, Dotel was traded to the Houston Astros in a five-player deal on December 23, 1999. He was a starter for part of his first season in Houston, then moved to relief for good in July of 2000. By his second relief appearance, he was put in the closer role. He had his best career run during the 2001-03 seasons as a long reliever, average 96 innings per year. Dotel went 3-7, 5.40 in 125 innings in 2000, with 142 strikeouts, 16 starts and 16 saves. He had a strong season in 2001, going 7-5, 2.66 in 105 innings over 61 games, with a career high 145 strikeouts. In 2002, he went 6-4, 1.85 in 97.1 innings, with a career high 83 appearances. He was 6-4 again in 2003, this time with a 2.48 ERA in 87 innings over 76 games. The 2004 season saw him move to a closer role and it started his constant moving around, with his longest stay being the 2008-09 seasons with the Chicago White Sox. In 2004, Dotel was traded to the Oakland A’s in late June in a three-team deal that included five players. He combined to go 6-6, 3.69 in 85.1 innings over 77 games, with 36 saves and 122 strikeouts. He was limited to just 15 early season games in 2005 due to a strained elbow. He became a free agent and signed with the New York Yankees in 2006, but he didn’t return to the majors until mid-August, then had a 10.80 ERA in 14 games. He had a long rehab, making appearances over five different levels in the minors before getting to the Yankees. He signed with the Kansas City Royals for the 2007 season, then got traded to the Atlanta Braves on July 31st. He had a combined 4.11 ERA in 30.2 innings over 33 appearances, with 11 saves. Dotel signed with the White Sox on January 22, 2008 and had a 4-4, 3.76 record in 67 innings over 72 games. The Pirates signed Dotel as a 36-year-old free agent after he had a 3.32 ERA in 62.1 innings over 62 appearances for the 2009 White Sox. He remained with the Pirates until July 31, 2010, when he was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers for James McDonald and Andrew Lambo. Dotel would get traded again later that season, finishing the year with the Colorado Rockies. He had a 3.38 ERA in 18.1 innings with the Dodgers, then a 5.06 ERA in eight games with the Rockies. During his one season with the Pirates, he went 2-2, 4.28 in 41 appearances, with 21 saves. In 2011, he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as a free agent, then got traded to the St Louis Cardinals in late July. He combined to go 5-4, 3.50 in 54 innings over 65 games, with three saves. Dotel picked up a World Series ring with the Cardinals that year, while making five appearances during the World Series and 12 total appearances in the playoffs. During the regular season in 2012 with the Detroit Tigers, he went 5-3, 3.57 in 58 innings over 57 games. In the playoffs with the Tigers, he had six appearances without a hit or run. Dotel retired after the 2013 season. That year he pitched just six games before missing time with an elbow injury. During his rehab work in late August, he was injured when he got hit by a line drive and never returned. In 15 seasons, he went 59-50, 3.78 in 951 innings, with 1,143 strikeouts, 109 saves and 758 appearances. Mike Ryan, catcher for the 1974 Pirates. He originally signed as amateur with the Boston Red Sox at 18 years old in 1960. He debuted in 1961 with Olean of the Class-D New York-Penn League, where he hit .185 with three homers in 45 games. In 1962, he hit .215 with ten homers in 117 games for Waterloo of the Class-D Midwest League. Ryan jumped up four levels in 1963 to Double-A Reading of the Eastern League, where he played for two seasons. In 1963, he hit .229 in 121 games, with ten homers, 45 RBIs and 52 walks. In 1964, he improved to a .248 average in 110 games, while drawing 50 walks. His OPS didn’t improve though, as the power numbers slipped to five homers. He made the majors in 1964 for one game on October 3rd, and remained in Boston through the end of the 1967 season, though part of 1965 was spent in Triple-A. With the 1965 Red Sox, Ryan hit .159 with three homers in 33 games. He saw regular time in 1966, hitting .214 with 27 runs scored, 20 extra-base hits and 32 RBIs in 116 games. During his final season in Boston, he batted .199 with two homers and a .543 OPS in 79 games. Ryan was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies on December 15, 1967, where he played until his trade to the Pirates. During the 1968 season, he hit .179 with one homer in 96 games. His .434 OPS was his career low for a full seasons, so what happened next was unexpected. Ryan set career highs in nearly every offensive category in 1969 when he batted .204 with 41 runs scored, 17 doubles, 12 homers, 44 RBIs and 30 walks in 133 games. Despite the improvements, he still finished with a .588 OPS, then saw a drop in both production and playing time in 1970 and beyond. During that 1970 season, Ryan hit .179 with two homers in 46 games. The next year he hit just .164 in 43 games. He connected on three homers, but finished with six RBIs. In 1972, he hit .179 with two homers and ten RBIs in 46 games. Ryan saw his playing time diminish down to just 28 games during the 1973 season. The Pirates acquired him from the Phillies in an even up trade for Jackie Hernandez on January 31, 1974. He hit .100 over 15 games with the Pirates, in what ended up being his last big league season. Ryan was with the Pirates for the entire season, though he started just ten games all year. Manny Sanguillen made 147 starts that season, leaving little time for the three other players who took turns behind the plate in 1974. Ryan was released after the season and spent the next two years as the manager of the Pirates affiliate in the Class-A Western Carolinas League, where he even got into a handful of games each season. He moved onto the Phillies organization as a manager for the 1977-78 seasons. He was a .193 hitter over 636 games and 11 seasons in the majors. Known for his strong arm, he threw out 44% of base runners in his career. Cholly Naranjo, pitcher for the 1956 Pirates. He played a total of ten seasons in the minors and had a very brief big league career. He was originally signed by the Washington Senators in 1952 at 17 years old, then joined the Pirates two years later in the 1954 minor league draft. That first season saw him pitch mainly for Richmond of the Piedmont League, where he had a 6-6, 3.49 record in 98 innings. He also pitched seven innings that season with Chattanooga of the Double-A Southern Association. In 1953 he got to play in Cuba for the Havana Cubans of the Florida International League (Class-B). He had an 8-6, 3.77 record in 148 innings that year. Naranjo went to Spring Training with the Senators in 1954 and was with the team on Opening Day, with stories saying that he sat next to President Dwight Eisenhower to protect him from any possible foul balls. His 1954 stats are limited, but he still must have impressed the Pirates scouts. He pitched 23 games total between Chattanooga and Charlotte of the Class-A South Atlantic League. Technically, he was picked up by Hollywood of the Pacific Coast League on November 30, 1954 from Charlotte for a $6,000 price tag. Hollywood was an affiliate of the Pirates at the time, and Naranjo went to Spring Training with the Pirates in 1955. Naranjo split the 1955 season between Lincoln of the Western League and Hollywood, posting a combined 7-14, 4.06 record in 177.1 innings. He began 1956 back in Hollywood, where he went 8-6, 3.05 in 118 innings over 16 starts and three relief appearances. The Pirates called him up on July 4th and he debuted four days later. He was one of three players who joined the Pirates that day from Hollywood. Fred Waters also brought pitching help, while a 19-year-old infielder named Bill Mazeroski also got his call to the majors that day. Naranjo remained with the team through the end of the season, though he didn’t pitch during any of the final 14 games. After the season ended, he played winter ball in his home country of Cuba, along with 11 other players from the Pirates. Naranjo put up solid stats in Triple-A Columbus over the next two seasons, but never pitched for the Pirates again. He went 1-2, 4.46 in three starts and 14 relief appearances at 21 years old for the 1956 Pirates, in what turned out to be his only big league time. On April 21, 1959, he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds, who sent him to their farm team in Nashville (Double-A Southern Association), where he pitched the next two seasons. Naranjo finished his pro career in 1961, spending part of the year down in Class-A ball for Jacksonville of the South Atlantic League. He turns 87 years old today. His full name is Lazaro Ramon Gonzalo Naranjo. Jim Waugh, pitcher for the 1952-53 Pirates. He’s one of the youngest players in team history, debuting five months after his 18th birthday. His big league career was done before he turned 20 years old. He pitched a total of six seasons in the minors for the Pirates and was out of pro ball by age 22. The Pirates signed Waugh to a $30,000 bonus on June 20, 1951 after he had tryouts with four different teams. Waugh reportedly chose the Pirates because he and his parents were impressed with Branch Rickey’s plan for him, which included arrangements for a college education. He pitched 137 innings over two levels of the minors in 1951 at 17 years old. He did well at Class-D ball, going 10-8. 3.40 in 119 innings for Brunswick of the Georgia-Florida League, but he did even better in his short stint with New Orleans of the Double-A Southern Association (four levels higher), posting a 1.00 ERA in 18 innings. Waugh did well during the early part of Spring Training in 1952, impressing manager Billy Meyer with his velocity, which got him an extended look and he made the Opening Day roster in 1952. While he ended up spending about half of that first season in the minors, he still managed to get in seven starts and ten relief appearances with the Pirates, with most of that time coming in August/September when he returned from three months in the minors. The big league stats weren’t pretty, with a 1-6, 6.36 record in 52.1 innings, but he was the youngest player in the majors that season. Waugh had a similar split in 1953, pitching five games early in the season before headed to the minors, except this time he returned in early July and remained in Pittsburgh for the rest of the season. Waugh went 4-5, 6.48 in 90.1 innings in 1953, with a 56:23 BB/SO ratio. He finished with a 5-11, 6.43 record in 142.2 innings for the Pirates, making 18 starts and 28 relief appearances. He began to suffer from arm soreness in 1953 and it never went away fully, so he retired in early 1957, though he still pitched for a team near his hometown of Lancaster, OH. while he attended college. During the 1954-56 seasons, he pitched with two Pirates affiliates each year, playing at all five levels from Class-D to Double-A (New Orleans). His final season shows a 1-8, 6.37 record for Kinston of the Class-B Carolina League. Ben Wade, pitcher for the 1955 Pirates. He began his pro career in 1940 at 17 years old. He played three seasons in the minors before spending the next three years serving during WWII. In 1940, he pitched just 29 innings total, seeing time with two different teams and two different levels. Despite mostly playing Class-D ball in 1940, he jumped up four levels to Double-A in 1941, where he went 4-5, 2.83 in 127 innings over 32 games (nine starts) for Indianapolis of the American Association. He pitched for Syracuse of the Double-A International League in 1942 and struggled with a 2-11, 5.86 record in 86 innings. He joined the Army shortly before Spring Training in 1943 and missed three full season. He returned to pro ball in 1946 and dropped down to Class-B, playing for Anniston of the Southeastern League, where he went 15-4, 2.48 in 160 innings, with 151 strikeouts. He also saw time that year with Birmingham of the Double-A Southern Association, where he went 1-7, 6.32 in 47 innings. He stayed in the Southern Association with Nashville in 1947 and had a 17-11, 4.33 record in 239 innings. He debuted in the majors early in 1948 for the Chicago Cubs, but he lasted just five innings over two games. Wade’s next big league appearance came in 1952 for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Wade finished out the 1948 season back with Nashville, going 14-10, 4.92 in 194 innings. With Nashville in 1949, he had an 8-8, 3.86 record in 217 innings. He moved on to Hollywood of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1950 and remained there through the end of the 1951 season. Wade went 14-13, 3.67 in 248 innings in 1950. He then had a 16-6, 2.61 record in 200 innings in 1951, which got him his second shot at the majors, this time with the Dodgers. He spent the entire 1952 season in the majors, where he went 11-9, 3.60 in 24 starts and 13 relief appearances, throwing a total of 180 innings. In 1953, he was pitching in relief all season for the Dodgers, going 7-5, 3.79 in 90.1 innings over 32 appearances. Wade struggled in 1954 and split the season between the Dodgers and St Louis Cardinals, posting a 7.28 ERA in 68 innings. He did better with St Louis after they claimed him off of waivers in August. He had an 8.20 ERA at the time, then posted a 5.48 ERA in 13 appearances to finish out the season. The Pirates acquired Wade and cash from the Cardinals on January 11, 1955 in a trade for pitcher Paul LaPalme. Wade was with the Pirates through June 15th when he was sent to Hollywood of the Pacific Coast League. He had an odd salary during his time in Pittsburgh. He got paid $3,500 in 1954, then the Pirates cut his salary 25% in 1955, but if he remained with the club after May 15th, his old salary would kick in again. So for one month, he got the pro-rated $3,500 salary before being sent to the minors. He pitched until 1961 in the Pacific Coast League, seeing time with five different teams, without returning to the majors. He made one start and ten relief appearances for the Pirates, posting a 3.20 ERA in 28 innings. He had a 19-17, 4.38 record over five seasons in the majors, with 371.1 innings pitched in 25 starts and 93 relief appearances. His brother Jake Wade pitched eight seasons in the majors, playing with six different American League clubs back when there were only eight teams in each league. They had a brother named Charlie Wade who played minor league ball. Jim Weaver, pitcher for the 1935-37 Pirates. He spent a total of eight years in the majors, seeing time with six different teams. He debuted in pro ball at 24 years old in 1928 with Chattanooga of the Class-A Southern Association, and he was in the majors by the end of the season, pitching three games for the Washington Senators. One news article said that he already had seven years of pro experience at the time, while another mentioned that he did his pitching in college at Bowling Green, which turned out to be true. His time with the Senators was brief and he didn’t pitch in the majors again until 1931, returning with the 1931 New York Yankees for 17 games. He had another three year stretch before he got his third chance in the majors, splitting the 1934 season between the St Louis Browns and Chicago Cubs. Weaver started off tough, so it’s no surprise that he saw more minor league time. He went 3-12, 4.48 in 191 innings over 49 games with Chattanooga. He gave up just one earned run in six innings with the Senators, though he walked six batters. At that time they called him “Bullet Jim Weaver” and said that he was the best fastball pitcher for the Senators since Walter Johnson came along. In 1929, he went 14-5, 3.28 in 203 innings for New Haven of the Class-A Eastern League. In 1930, he joined Baltimore of the Double-A International League, where he had a 19-11, 3.36 record in 236 innings. Weaver pitched briefly for Baltimore in 1931, but most of the year was spent with the New York Yankees, where he had a 5.31 ERA in 57.2 innings. The next two years were spent with Newark of the International League, where he had plenty of success. Weaver went 15-6, 3.83 in 160 innings in 1932, then followed with a 25-11, 2.72 record in 268 innings in 1933, which led to a shot with the Browns, who selected him off of waivers. His stay in St Louis was short, before going back to the Yankees, who in turn sent him to the Cubs on waivers. Weaver had a 6.41 ERA in 19.2 innings with the Browns, then did much better with the Cubs that year, going 11-9, 3.91 in 159 innings. In November of 1934, the Pirates acquired him in a five-player deal that included a lot of big names at the time, with Weaver being the clear fifth player in the deal as far as recognition. The Pirates sent Hall of Famer Freddie Lindstrom and starter Larry French to Chicago for Weaver, Guy Bush and Babe Herman. It was Weaver who ended up providing the most value for the Pirates with three solid seasons. Weaver made 22 starts and 11 relief appearances for the 1935 Pirates. He went 14-8, 3.42 in 176.1 innings, while leading the league with four shutouts. He repeated that 14-8 record in 1936 when he saw more mound time. He had a 4.31 ERA that season in 225.2 innings over 31 starts and seven relief appearances. He moved into more of a relief role in 1937, going 8-5, 3.20 in 109.2 innings over nine starts and 23 relief outings. He was shipped to the St Louis Browns in January of 1938 in a cash deal when the Pirates decided to go for more of a youth movement with their pitching staff and the 34-year-old Weaver was the old man on the staff. They got rid of him one year too soon. The Browns parted ways with him after just one start in which he allowed seven runs, but the Cincinnati Reds purchased him in late April and got some good results. He had a 3.43 ERA in 136.1 innings in 1938 (he went 6-4, 3.13 with the Reds). Despite the solid results, he was basically done at that point, at least in the majors. Weaver played just three games with the 1939 Reds, before finishing his career in the minors, playing two seasons for Louisville of the American Association. He finished his big league career with a 57-36, 3.88 record in 893.1 innings, with 108 starts and 81 relief opportunities. He threw a total of 511.2 innings with Pittsburgh, going 36-21, 3.76 in 62 starts and 47 relief appearances. Weaver was known as “Big Jim” during his career because he was 6’6″, 230 pounds (at least), which is large by today’s standards, but even bigger by 1930 standards. On the 1937 Pirates, the next tallest player was 6’3″, and no one else weighed over 200 pounds, so he earned that nickname. He was an excellent football player and did coaching in a few sports during his time. While his early success was credited to his fastball, later papers called him a forkball pitcher. Jimmy Woulfe, outfielder for the 1884 Pittsburgh Alleghenys. When he signed with the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1884, it was said that he was sought after by Cincinnati third baseman Hick Carpenter for quite some time, and Woulfe received a “handsome salary” to sign. Carpenter played with Woulfe in an exhibition game against Cincinnati in February of 1883 and the 23-year-old Woulfe got some big attention for easily beating Ned Williamson in a 100-yard race. While Williamson is unknown to most baseball fans now, he was considered to be among the best players in the game for a time in the 1880s. The article regarding Woulfe’s signing expected good things from his during his rookie year in the majors, but he was released after hitting .147 in eight games. He was their extra fielder on a 14-man team that included three pitchers and three catchers. The Alleghenys signed him soon after and he batted .113 in 15 games, scoring seven runs, despite collecting six hits and no walks. He debuted with Pittsburgh on July 2nd and made 14 starts in center field and one game in right field. He was taking the place of George “Live Oak” Taylor, who was out due to illness. The local papers praised Woulfe’s defense often, though they never got his name right, spelling it Woulffe. In a sign of the times, he made three errors in 28 chances, so even that strong defense well below average compared to modern standards (the lack of gloves back then had a lot to do with that). He would play his final game in Pittsburgh on July 23rd, then get released eight days later under his own request, when he wasn’t playing anymore. The interesting part is that Taylor returned from his illness, but he played his final big league game on July 30th, so the Alleghenys lost both of their outfielders. Woulfe had no other big league experience and his time in minor league ball was brief, with only one other known team in 1886, though he played plenty of baseball with amateur teams prior to his big league stint. After being release by Cincinnati, a Philadelphia paper predicted that he would sign with either Washington or Indianapolis. He played for a team from New Orleans (his hometown) in 1886 called the Robert E. Lee’s of the Gulf League. He was playing with that team in 1885 as well, but it wasn’t considered to be a minor league team at the time. A 1913 article from New Orleans called him New Orleans most famous player from the 1880s, and said that he was a product of the vacant lots and a star of amateur clubs. They go on to note that he played for the Robert E. Lee’s in 1883, where he earned a reputation as the best hitter and he was a fast outfielder, with a “deadly accurate” throwing arm that cut down plenty of runners. It was that performance that earned him spot with the Cincinnati Red Stockings. That story claimed that he went home in 1884 after playing with the Alleghenys and played a game for the Robert E Lee’s in which he collected a triple in his first at-bat, then struck out in each of his next four at-bats and decided to quit the game that day. While he is listed as playing in 1886 (no stats are available), it helps explain why his career basically ended in the majors. There is a bit of a tall tale in his performance in the majors in this article, which noted that he put up a good record with both the Red Stockings and Alleghenys, and so that helped draw a large crowd to the 1884 game, as he was basically a baseball hero returning home....
Card of the Day: 1936 R313 Fine Pen Jim Weaver/Paul Waner/Lloyd Waner
November 25, 2021
Card of the Day
Today’s Card of the Day is one that I thought about immediately when I came up with the idea of making this series a regular feature on our history site. It is one of the most interesting cards out there, and I’m not limiting that to Pittsburgh Pirates cards. This is one you’ll just have to see for yourself before I talk about it, but there’s a reason why I put Jim Weaver in the title ahead of two Hall of Famers and it’s not because he was born on this date in 1903. Let’s get right into the card photo… Here’s the front of the card (the back is blank): As you can see in the photo, Jim Weaver was a large human. He’s not just 1930’s large, he’s large for right now. He’s listed as being 6’6″, 230 pounds, though all pictures with the Pirates that I’ve seen show that he was stocky/strong, so that weight might be a little light. Funny thing about baseball weight listings is that you only get one and not many players stay the same weight throughout. Babe Ruth for example is listed forever as 215 pounds. He was lighter than that when he came up, heavier than that at times for sure, but at some point he was 215 pounds during his career. At some point, the man who they called Big Jim was 230 pounds, and he was also the heaviest player in the majors for a time. He’s pictured on this popular card from 1936 carrying two Hall of Famers like they are little children. Paul and Lloyd Waner were not large humans. They were barely medium humans, even for the time. Paul Waner’s forever weight is 153 pounds, while his brother Lloyd checked in at 150 pounds. That’s about 303 pounds of humans (in full uniforms) being held up by Big Jim Weaver while waiting for someone to take a photo. Weaver wasn’t just a sideshow. He played eight years in the majors and had back-to-back 14-win seasons with the Pirates, who apparently moved on from him due to his age and not due to performance. They had a loaded pitching staff going into 1938 and they were said to be going for more of a youth movement. At least that’s what the papers said, so the 34-year-old Weaver was sold to the St Louis Browns, and the average age of the pitching staff that season was 28.4 years old. As for the card themselves, it was a 120-card set that got the name “Fine Pen” only because of the style of signature on the front, and how it compared to a similar set during that time. The writing on this set was thinner, hence the name Fine Pen. These are often card premium photos due to their size (3 1/4″ x 5 3/8″) but if you’re looking for information on them or trying to buy them, they are part of a large group of items called “cards” even though many don’t fit the standard idea of a card image in your head. The R313 is just a catalog number given after the fact. The “R” tells you that it was in the candy/gum group of cards from this time period. There are card set names that start with the letter “E”, which are classified as early candy cards, and we covered a number of those sets here. This particular card can also be found in a colorized version from 1936 (more on that below), which looks like this… There is only one example of this card selling on Ebay in the last three months, and there is just one active auction that is going for $75, which is high compared to the sale price we know. I wrote this about a week before it posted, so you might want to double check if you’re interested. The only closed auction for this card is the one shown above and it went for $39 delivered. I would have paid that price if I saw it, so if you do want to grab this card, you might be bidding against me next time it comes up. If I win, I’ll forgive you for your transgression. You may be more interested in the colorized version (search R312 Weaver), which is tougher to find and more expensive. There’s one on Ebay right now that is lower grade and the price is $89. The one pictured above is $145. Happy collecting and Happy Thanksgiving!...
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: November 24th, Bob Friend, Al Martin and Ed Doheny
November 24, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Nine former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date, including one of the best pitchers in franchise history. We also have one early transaction of note. Bob Friend, pitcher for the 1951-65 Pirates. He won 191 games in Pittsburgh, including 22 in 1958, and he holds the team records for innings pitched (3,480.1), strikeouts (1,682) and games started (477). Unfortunately for Friend, he also suffered through the early 1950s with some of the worst Pirates teams ever, so despite a 3.55 ERA during his time with the team, he lost 218 games. He won 18 games during the 1960 World Series winning season. The Pirates signed Friend at 18 years old in 1949 and it took him just two years to make it to the majors. His entire minor league career consisted of 246 innings in 1950. He didn’t even dominate as you would expect from someone who made that quick jump to the majors. He went 12-9, 3.08 in 190 innings for Waco of the Class-B Big State League. He also pitched three levels higher for Indianapolis of the American Association, where he went 2-4, 5.46 in 56 innings. His first four seasons were very similar while playing for those bad 1950s teams. He had a losing record, with an ERA over 4.00, while putting in an average of 170 innings. As a rookie at age 20 in 1951, he made 22 starts and 12 relief appearances, posting a 6-10, 4.27 record in 149.2 innings. The Pirates went 42-112 in 1952 and he had a 7-17, 4.18 record in 185 innings over 23 starts and 12 relief appearances. The Pirates went 50-104 in 1953 and Friend had an 8-11, 4.90 record, with 24 starts, eight relief appearances and 170.2 innings pitched. The Pirates suffered through a 53-101 season in 1954 and he had another drop in performance, going 7-12, 5.07 in 170.1 innings, with 20 starts and 15 relief outings. Things turned around in a big way in 1955 when he led the National League with a 2.83 ERA, while going 14-9 in 200.1 innings. He got mild MVP support, finishing 16th in the voting. In 1956, he went 17-17, 3.46, leading the NL with 42 games started and 314.1 innings. He was an All-Star for the first time that season and he finished 12th in the MVP voting. He also set a career high with 19 complete games. The next year was somewhat similar, with a 14-18, 3.38, once again leading the league in starts (38) and innings (277). The Pirates were 62-92 that season, which helps explain his won/loss record. Friend set his career high in wins in 1958, though he also led the league in both hits and earned runs allowed. For a third straight year, he led the NL in games started (38). He finished the year with a 22-14, 3.68 record in 274 innings, helping the Pirates to an incredible improvement of 22 games to an 84-70 record. He ended up placing third in the Cy Young voting and sixth in the MVP voting that year. The Pirates and Friend had a tough year in 1959 when there were high expectations for the team. He led the NL with 19 losses (with just eight victories), and his 4.03 ERA in 234.2 innings was his highest during the 1955-65 time-frame. That ERA dropped to 3.00 in 1960, as he went 18-12 in 275.2 innings. He was an All-Star for the third (and final) year during his career, back when they played two All-Star games each year. While the Pirates took home the World Series title that year over the New York Yankees, Friend struggled in the postseason, giving up ten runs in six innings over two starts and a relief appearance. In 1961, he went 14-19, 3.85 in 236 innings, leading the league in losses for a second time in his career. In 1962, he had an 18-14, 3.06 record in 261.2 innings. He led the league with a career high of five shutouts. He was even better in 1963, though it didn’t show in the record. He went 17-16, 2.34 in 268.2 innings. Friend went 13-18, 3.33 in 240.1 innings in 1964. In his final season in Pittsburgh in 1965, he had an 8-12, 3.24 record in 222 innings. That was the last of 11 straight seasons with 200+ innings. After the 1965 season, Friend was traded to the New York Yankees for pitcher Pete Mikkelsen and cash. While it was tough for Pirates fans seeing him end his career elsewhere, Friend was traded at the right time. He had a 4.55 ERA in 130.2 innings in what ended up being his final season. He went 1-4, 4.84 in 44.2 innings for the Yankees, who sold him to the New York Mets on June 15th. Back in the NL, he went 5-8, 4.40 in 86 innings with the Mets, who released him shortly after the season ended. Friend finished up 197-230, 3.58 in 3,611 innings. He pitched 602 games, had 497 starts and he completed 163 games, with 36 shutouts.,He holds many Pirates all-time record, both good and bad, due to his longevity. He’s the franchise leader in innings, games started and innings, along with the leader in hits allowed, runs allowed, walks allowed, home runs allowed and losses. Al Martin, outfielder for the 1992-99 Pirates. He was an eighth round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves out of high school in 1985. He debuted in the Gulf Coast League, where he hit .232 with no homers and one steal in 40 games. In 1986, he began the year in Low-A, playing for Sumter of the South Atlantic League. He hit .244 with one homer in 44 games. When short-season ball began, he reported to Idaho Falls of the Pioneer League, where he hit .331 in 63 games, with 27 extra-base hits and 11 steals. The entire 1987 season was spent in Sumter. He batted .253 in 117 games that year, with 59 runs, 18 doubles, 12 homers, 64 RBIs and 27 steals. In 1988 he was with Burlington of the Class-A Midwest League, where he batted .279 in 123 games, with 69 runs, 31 extra-base hits and 40 steals. Martin played for Durham of the Carolina League in 1989. He hit .271 in 128 games, with 84 runs scored, 38 extra-base hits and 27 steals. He moved up to Double-A in 1990, where he hit .242 in 133 games for Greenville of the Southern League. He had 64 runs scored, 32 extra-base hits and 20 steals. In 1991, he split the season between Greenville (86 games) and Richmond of the Triple-A International League. He combined to hit .254 with 24 doubles, 12 homers and 30 steals in 130 games. Martin became a minor league free agent in October of 1991 and signed with the Pirates one month later. He played 125 games for Triple-A Buffalo of the American Association, where he hit .305 with 85 runs scored, 16 doubles, 15 triples, 20 homers and 20 steals. He debuted in the majors briefly in late July in 1992, then returned to the majors in September, playing a total of 12 games with 13 plate appearances. He was a regular for the Pirates during the 1993 season, hitting .281 with 85 runs, 26 doubles, 18 homers, 64 RBIs and 16 stolen bases, which earned him a fifth place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting. He was putting up similar numbers in 1994 before the strike shortened the season, finishing with a .286 average in 82 games, with 48 runs, nine homers and 15 steals. When play resumed in 1995, he put up a .282 average, with 70 runs scored, 25 doubles, 13 homers and 20 steals in 124 games. The 1996 campaign was his best career year, setting highs with 101 runs scored, a .300 average, 38 steals, 40 doubles, 54 walks and 72 RBIs. When the Pirates were making their unlikely playoff run in 1997, Martin helped out by hitting .291 with 64 runs, 13 homers, 59 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. His .832 OPS was a career best at that point, though he would soon top that mark. The 1998 season was a rough one, with a career worst .239 average and .660 OPS in 125 games. His only highlight was 20 steals in 23 attempts. Martin bounced back in a big way the next year, setting career highs with 24 homers and an .844 OPS, while scoring 97 runs. For the second straight season, he went 20-for-23 in steals. He also collected 36 doubles. He was dealt away during the 2000 off-season in a deal to the San Diego Padres for three players that brought back John Vander Wal, who had a huge first season with the Pirates. Martin faded quickly after leaving the Pirates, playing three more seasons, spending time with the Padres, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He actually did well with San Diego in 2000, hitting .306 with 11 homers, before they traded him on July 31st to the Mariners. After the deal, he hit just .231 with four homers in 42 homers over the final two months. In 2001, he hit .240 with 41 runs scored, seven homers and 42 RBIs in 100 games. He didn’t play in 2002, then returned as a member of the Devil Rays in 2003, where he batted .252 with three homers and 26 RBIs in 100 games. Martin’s career finished in 2004 after playing the season in Korea. He was a .280 hitter with 523 runs scored, 178 doubles, 107 homers, 381 RBIs and 152 stolen bases in 897 games over eight seasons with the Pirates. He ranks 21st in Pirates history in home runs and 18th in stolen bases. Kelvin Marte, pitcher for the 2016 Pirates. His big league career consisted of two September relief appearances for the Pirates in 2016. He threw 3.1 innings, allowing five runs, though they were all unearned. He signed with the San Francisco Giants at age 19 in 2007 as an international free agent out of the Dominican. He remained in the Giants minor league system for nine seasons until becoming a free agent after 2015. His career started off outstanding, posting a 1.62 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 61 innings in the Dominican Summer League. In 2008, Marte pitched 42.2 innings of short-season ball, putting up a 2.53 ERA and 41 strikeouts. In 2009, he pitched for Augusta of the Low-A South Atlantic League, where he was limited to just five starts due to an elbow injury that resulted in Tommy John surgery. In 2010, he saw limited action as he rehabbed from the injury, throwing a total of 37.2 innings. The next year Marte reported to San Jose of the High-A California League, where he had a 12-6, 3.47 record in 147.2 innings. In 2012, he was out from Spring Training until June, though he made up lost time in winter ball. In 2013, he spent the season with San Jose, making 15 starts and ten relief appearances, going 6-4, 3.67 in 105.1 innings. He moved up to Richmond of the Double-A Eastern League in 2014, where he went 8-3, 3.83 in 87 innings. Marte then posted a 5.45 ERA in six starts with Fresno of the Pacific Coast League. He pitched poorly in Venezuela over the winter, then returned to Double-A for his final year with the Giants in 2015. He spent that last season as a starting pitcher with Richmond, where he had a 2.63 ERA in 130.1 innings. Marte pitched well in Venezuela over the 2015-16 winter, then signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in January of 2016. He spent most of the season in Triple-A Indianapolis, where he had a 3.79 ERA in 73.2 innings over 34 appearances, four as a starter. The Pirates called him up on August 30th and he pitched back-to-back days on September 3rd/4th, recording one out in his debut, then allowing five runs over three innings in his second game. Two days after his final game, he was designated for assignment and sent to the minors, effectively ending his time with the Pirates. He had an outstanding winter season in the Dominican, though the Pirates didn’t bring him back. In 11 starts, he had a 1.84 ERA. Marte signed as a free agent with the Miami Marlins in December of 2016, and spent the entire 2017 season in Triple-A, where he made 32 appearances, getting occasional starts. He made 11 winter starts in the Dominican again, though this time it didn’t go as well, with a 4.05 ERA. He pitched in Mexico during the 2018-19 seasons, then had a rough 2018-19 winter season in the Dominican, allowing seven runs in 1.1 innings. He then played in Venezuela over the 2019-20 winter, which ended up being his final pro experience. Jeff Salazar, outfielder for the 2009 Pirates. He was originally selected in the 35th round of the 2000 draft by the Baltimore Orioles out of Connors State College. He transferred to Oklahoma State, where in 2002 he was drafted in the eighth round by the Colorado Rockies. He debuted in pro ball with Tri-City of the short-season Northwest League, where he hit .235 with four homers, ten steals and 47 walks in 72 games. In 2003, Salazar spent the season with Asheville of the Low-A South Atlantic League, where he batted .284 with 29 homers, 98 RBIs and 28 stolen bases in 129 games. The 2004 season was split between Visalia of the High-A California League and Tulsa of the Double-A Texas League. He had much better results at the lower level, posting a 1.005 OPS vs a .643 OPS with Tulsa. In 2005, he split the year between Tulsa and Colorado Springs of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, with almost identical results in each spot. He combined to hit .271 with 30 doubles, 12 homers, 17 steals and 76 walks. Salazar played in the Arizona Fall League after the season, but he hit just .137 in 21 games. He was at Colorado Springs in 2006, where he batted .265 with 30 extra-base hits and 62 runs scored in 85 games. He made it to the majors as a September call-up that year and hit .283 with one home in 19 games. During Spring Training of 2007, Salazar was selected off of waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he spent the next two seasons. He batted .277 in 38 games in 2007, then hit .211 with two homers and 12 RBIs in 90 games (24 starts) in 2008. The Pirates signed him as a free agent on December 16, 2008, four days after being let go by the Diamondbacks. Salazar spent most of that 2009 season in Triple-A Indianapolis, where he hit .270 with ten homers in 84 games. He saw his final big league time with the 2009 Pirates, going 1-for-23 at the plate in 21 games, while seeing time at all three outfield spots. He started just one game that season. After leaving the Pirates via free agency, he spent time in Triple-A with the Rockies, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays during the regular season, and played two years of winter ball in Mexico, before retiring following the 2012 season. He was a .232 hitter in 168 big league games, with four homers, 31 RBIs, 44 walks and 44 runs scored. Despite stealing 184 bases in the minors, he attempted just seven stolen bases in the majors and was successful five times. Mike Edwards, third baseman for the 2006 Pirates. He was a ninth round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians in 1995 out of Mechanicsburg Area HS (PA.). It took him eight years to make the majors and he did it with his third organization. His first three seasons were spent with Burlington of the short-season Appalachian League. He batted just .169 with two extra-base hits (both doubles) in his first year. In 1996, Edwards improved to a .282 average in 58 games, with a .763 OPS and more walks (37) than strikeouts (26). In his third year with Burlington, he hit .288 in 60 games, with 50 runs scored, 22 extra-base hits and 41 RBIs. He moved up to Columbus of the Low-A South Atlantic League in 1998, where he batted .294 in 124 games, with 82 runs scored, 34 doubles, eight homers, 81 RBIs, 16 steals and 66 walks. He advanced to High-A Kinston of the Carolina League in 1999 and hit .289 in 133 games, with 76 runs scored, 25 doubles, 16 homers, 89 RBIs and 93 walks. His slow climb continued in 2000 with a full season at Double-A, playing for Akron of the Eastern League. Edwards hit .295 in 136 games, with 25 doubles, 11 homers and 68 walks. The next season saw him play 52 games total, missing time due to injury. He batted .340 in his limited time, though he played a lot below Double-A doing rehab. Edwards became a free agent after the 2001 season and spent 2002 with the Cincinnati Reds, mostly in Double-A, with 15 games at Triple-A. He combined to hit .318 in 134 games, with 24 doubles, 13 homers and 68 RBIs. He signed with the Oakland A’s as a free agent for the 2003 season and he hit .298 with 41 extra-base hits, 95 RBIs and 60 walks in 125 games. He debuted in the majors in late September of 2003 and received six plate appearances in four games., He spent 2004 in Triple-A with the A’s, where he hit .287 with 91 runs scored, 41 doubles, 13 homers, 81 RBIs and 76 walks. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in November of 2004. Edwards spent the majority of the 2005 season in the majors, hitting .247 with three homers and 15 RBIs in 258 plate appearances. The Pirates signed him on December 30, 2005 and he saw action with the big league club in late April, late May and late June. He played 14 games in Pittsburgh, going 3-for-16 at the plate, in what would end up being his final big league season. Edwards re-signed with the Pirates for 2007, but he was released in late April without appearing in a Major League game. He finished his pro career with the Reds in Triple-A later that season. He batted .243 with 24 runs scored, three homers and 15 RBIs in 106 big league games. He had an .809 OPS in 13 minor league seasons. The Pirates also had an infielder named Mike Edwards in 1977, who was no relation. Ralph Comstock, pitcher for the 1918 Pirates. He debuted in pro ball at 19 years old on 1907, playing for the Mount Clemens Bathers of the Class-D Southern Michigan League. It took him six years to make it to the majors, no doubt due to a rough start in the minors. There are no stats available for his first season, but we know that he had an 0-7 record in the low levels during the 1908 season, playing for two teams in the Class-D Ohio State League. The 1909 season was spent with two teams in the Class-D Blue Grass League. He pitched semi-pro ball in 1910 and made some noise when he tossed a no-hitter on July 16th with 17 strikeouts. He was back in pro ball in 1911 and he won a total of 25 games while pitching for three teams, with a large majority of his time spent in Class-D ball with Vicksburg of the Cotton States League. He moved all the way up to Minneapolis of the Double-A American Association in 1912. He pitched 125.1 innings over 36 appearances, while posting a 6-5 record. Comstock debuted in the majors late in 1913 after picking up 24 wins over two levels in the minors, playing for Minneapolis teams in both Double-A and Class-C ball. That year he went 2-5, 5.37 in 60.1 innings for the 1913 Detroit Tigers. He spent all of 1914 and part of 1915 pitching for Providence of the International League, combining to go 24-18 with 349.2 innings pitched, while also seeing time with the Boston Red Sox in April of 1915 and the Pittsburgh Rebels of the Federal League (a Major League at the time) for the last seven weeks of the season. He pitched just nine innings with the Red Sox and he had a 3.25 ERA in 52.2 innings for the Rebels. Comstock spent the 1916 season with Milwaukee of the American Association, where he went 15-19 and pitched 244 innings. In 1917, he spent most of the year with Birmingham of the Class-A Southern Association, where he went 14-8 and threw 216 innings. He began the 1918 season back with Birmingham, where he had a 7-5 record and pitched 120 innings. The Pirates purchased his contract on June 17th and he reported to the team on July 2nd, then debuted the next day. Comstock pitched 15 games with the Pirates between July 3rd and September 1st. He went 5-6, 3.00 in 81 innings over eight starts and seven relief appearances with the Pirates. He was released outright by the Pirates on January 31, 1919, getting sent back to his club in Birmingham. Comstock didn’t play pro ball after 1918, but he did play with a semi-pro team near his home in Toledo, Ohio in 1919. His big league numbers show an 11-14, 3.72 record in 203 innings over 22 starts and 18 relief appearances. Harry Wolfe, infielder for the 1917 Pirates. He played just three games with Pittsburgh and 12 games total in his big league career. Wolfe played eight seasons in the minors, debuting at age 23 in 1912. He hit .279 in 62 games that year for Albany of the Class-C South Atlantic League, while also batting .136 in 23 games with Atlanta of the Class-A Southern Association. Wolfe played 60 games in 1913 back in the South Atlantic League, splitting his time between Albany and Jacksonville. In 1914, he moved on to Duluth of the Northern League, which was also Class-C ball. That year he hit .252 in 125 games, with 50 runs scored, 24 extra-base hits and 26 steals. In 1915 with Duluth, he hit .328 in 85 games, with 23 extra-base hits. In 1916, Wolfe batted .302 in 121 games for Duluth, which gained the attention of the big league clubs. He was taken in the minor league draft by the Chicago Cubs, who used him sporadically through early July of 1917, giving him just six plate appearances in his nine games, all off of the bench. He had two hits, an RBI and a walk. The Pirates picked him up on waivers on July 7th and his three games with the team happened between July 13th and the 16th. He played second base and went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in his only Major League start on the 14th in game one of a doubleheader. That lone start came against Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Marquard. When Wolfe was acquired by the Pirates, it was believed that he would get plenty of chances to play because starting shortstop Chuck Ward was slumping at the plate and in the field. On July 24th, Wolfe was released to Richmond of the Central League under an optional agreement. He never played for his new team and instead he went to independent ball, which led to a suspension by Major League Baseball. On April 5, 1918, it was announced that the Pirates sold him to Minneapolis of the American Association. His pro baseball time after that was brief due to his service in WWI, but he continued to play and run into trouble. His final season of pro ball was 1919, when he hit .251 with 18 doubles and three triples in 97 games with Louisville of the American Association. He was said to be signed by Louisville for the 1920 season, but he was playing independent ball instead. He was sold to Kansas City of the American Association in June of 1920, but he didn’t report and the sale was canceled. In April of 1921, his contract was sold to Mobile of the Southern Association, but there’s no record of him playing there and he was suspended from baseball. He played semi-pro ball in 1922-24 for a team from Huntington, Indiana. He was reinstated by baseball in 1925 and reported to Louisville in May, then was transferred to Decatur of the Three-I League, then signed with a semi-pro team in July, but didn’t last long due to a broken leg. There’s no record of him with either Louisville or Decatur that season, but he may have played a handful of games. Some old stats are missing for players who played fewer than ten games for a team. He was back to playing semi-pro ball in 1927, but that appears to be the end. Ed Doheny, pitcher for the 1901-03 Pirates. The Pirates won three consecutive National League titles from 1901-03 and Doheny was there for all of them, posting a 38-14, 2.75 record in 487.2 innings. Unfortunately for the Pirates, he had a mental breakdown and wasn’t available during the 1903 World Series, but things got even worse after that. He had a violent incident in October of 1903 that led to him being put in an insane asylum for the final 13 years of his life. Prior to joining the Pirates, Doheny spent seven seasons with the New York Giants, where he went 37-69, 4.26 in 917.1 innings. He debuted in pro ball with the Giants, where he made three starts during the 1895 season. His ominous 6.66 ERA was a sign of things to come later in life. He played only one game of minor league ball in 1896 with New York of the Atlantic League. The rest of the year was spent with the Giants, where he went 6-7, 4.49 in 108.1 innings. In 1897, he went 4-4, 2.12 in ten starts, completing all ten games (two were ties), with 85 innings pitched. In 1898, Doheny had a 7-19, 3.68 record in 213 innings. He saw his most big league work in 1899 when he went 14-17, 4.41 in 277.2 innings, with 31 complete games in 34 starts. He had a career high 120 strikeouts, but it also came with 158 walks. In 1900, he split the season between the American League and the National League, though the former was a minor league at the time. With Chicago (AL), he went 0-4 and lasted just 33 innings. With the Giants, he was 4-14, 5.45 in 133.2 innings. Doheny was released by the Giants in mid-July of 1901 after they took the loss in eight of his ten appearances. The Pirates signed him on July 25th after releasing veteran shortstop Bones Ely to make roster room. Manager Fred Clarke said that Doheny showed good stuff against them and he figured a change of scenery would help the 27-year-old lefty. Doheny debuted in relief on August 5th in a one-sided game, then he got ten starts over the rest of the season and pitched great, posting a 1.80 ERA in 75 innings. He went 16-4, 2.53 in 188.1 innings for the 1902 Pirates, completing 19 of his 21 starts for the best team in franchise history (103-36 record). He then had a 16-8, 3.19 record in 222.2 innings during his final season, despite it ending early and being marred by a few incidents with the team during the season. His loss during the World Series hurt the Pirates because they were using three starters for most of the year and Sam Leever was nursing a bad arm at the time, so they had just one healthy pitcher, leaving Deacon Phillippe to start five games in the series. Doheny’s final big league stats show a 75-83, 3.73 record in 1,405 innings over 169 starts and 15 relief appearances. He completed 141 of those starts, though he managed to throw just six shutouts, with five of them coming during his time in Pittsburgh. Frank Smith, catcher for the 1884 Pittsburgh Alleghenys. He didn’t make the majors until he was 26 years old and then lasted just ten games, all with the 1884 Alleghenys. He went 9-for-36 at the plate with eight singles and a triple. Smith made seven starts at catcher and played one game at each of the three outfield spots. His time with the Alleghenys lasted from August 6th (debut) until October 3rd (final big league game). He was a Canadian-born player, whose pro career lasted just two seasons, though the surname Smith makes it difficult to fully track his career back when newspapers commonly referred to players by last name only. He was playing for the Saginaw Grays on the Northwestern League in early 1884, but the league disbanded right before he joined the Alleghenys. It was reported on July 26th that he was going to join Toledo of the American Association, along with teammate Jay Faatz, but they both joined Pittsburgh instead. In fact, the Alleghenys also picked up shortstop Tom Forster at Art Whitney from Saginaw as well. About a month after joining the Alleghenys, the local papers realized (or found out) that he once played in Pittsburgh for an amateur team named the C.S. Browns. Smith wasn’t listed among players who were going to be reserved for the 1885 season, but the whole look of the team changed when the Alleghenys purchased the roster of Columbus of the American Association, which left many of the 1884 Alleghenys looking elsewhere for work. Smith’s only other known pro time came in 1885 when he finally joined Toledo, though the team was in the Western League. He also played for Toronto of the Canadian League. A search of Newspapers.com found a catcher named Frank Smith being signed by Memphis of the Southern Association in April of 1886, but there’s no stats associated with him that season. I was also able to find a Frank Smith playing in California in late 1883 and in Newark, NJ (semi-pro ball) in 1887, but couldn’t confirm (or deny) any of those three instances were the same as the catcher for the Alleghenys. The Transaction On this date in 1886, the Alleghenys purchased outfielder Abner Dalrymple from the Chicago White Stockings. He would go on to become the first batter used by the Alleghenys in their first National League game on April 30, 1887 against the White Stockings. Dalrymple won the NL batting title as a rookie in 1878 and he was a reliable player for many years in Chicago, four times leading the league in at-bats. He also led the league in homers in 1885. He had a down year in 1886 and it was a sign of things to come for his time in Pittsburgh. He hit .215 in 149 games over two season with the Alleghenys. He hit just two homers in Pittsburgh and they came in back-to-back at-bats, while playing in Chicago, with the first one tying the score late and the second one ending the game in the tenth....
Card of the Day: 1953 Bowman Bob Friend
November 24, 2021
Card of the Day
Pittsburgh Pirates pitching great Bob Friend was born on this date in 1930, so it makes sense that he shows up in this feature today. I was surprised to realize that Friend has never had a solo article here before. I included him early in the process on a 1959 Topps card called Buc Hill Aces, which also had Vern Law, Elroy Face and Ron Kline on the front. I also tricked myself a bit because we have a scan of a card uploaded for him, but it was used as the main photo for past articles that weren’t card related. Here’s another surprise to me. This is the first 1953 Bowman card that I’ve featured here. That’s partially due to the fact that there just isn’t much to say about the design of these cards, at least not on the front. Let’s get into the front of the card right now, looking at card #16 in the 1953 Bowman set, featuring Bob Friend. Here’s the front of the card: The 1953 Bowman design is as simple as you can get without it just being a photo. Small white border, black box around the photo, and call it a day. Here’s an interesting exercise. Scroll through Bob Friend cards on Ebay and see how many of them are just him in a staged pose, looking like he just released a pitch. Maybe it was just the scans I looked through before I decided which card to use, but the percentage of cards in that pose was about 75%. So this particular photo stood out a bit in that group just because it wasn’t the same as the others. Here’s the back of the card: In 1979, TCMA issued a set of star players from earlier years and it was basically the same exact thing as a 1953 Bowman card, both front and back. The one big difference, really isn’t that big, but it’s noticeable side-by-side. The 1953 Bowman cards are 2-1/2″ by 3-3/4” in size. That’s 1/4 inch taller than modern cards. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you’ve handled a lot of regular sized cards, then look at 1953 Bowman cards, you can see the difference. Friend ended up his career with 197 wins and over 3,600 innings pitched, so you can tell that this is very early in his career, even if you didn’t read the first line of the bio. Poor Bowman had no idea back then how to abbreviate stats. Just look at all of that wasted writing. How strange is it to not see runs and earned runs not next to each other? The 50’s were a wild time. One interesting thing on this card is the last line of the bio section. It says “Bob is attending Purdue University”. I checked to make sure that was still true at the time that these cards were printed and sure enough he was still going there. Friend mentioned in the article that I found from January of 1953 that his pitching record didn’t really match up with the way that he pitched in 1952, but he expected big things in 1953. The Pirates finished 42-112 in 1952, so a 7-17 record means that he was a little better than everyone else combined. He improved to 8-11 in 1953, and the Pirates improved to 50-104…imagine improving to 50-104? He jumped the gun on his big improvements by two years. In 1955 he won the National League ERA crown, or as Bowman would put it, the E. Run Ave. crown. Does anyone else read that as East Run Avenue? This Friend card is easy to find on Ebay, though you have to wade through the reprints. The regular card vs reprints is a fairly easy difference to spot when looking at the front. The reprints have bigger borders/smaller photos. The highest price on Ebay right now is $400 for one that is graded PSA 8.5. If you go one grade down, a PSA 8 card be had for $232, which is the second highest priced card. That’s not a good deal though, because there’s a PSA 8 for $165 delivered. If you want an autographed copy, you can pay $45-$60 for an authenticated one. If you just want a presentable mid/low grade copy (ungraded) you can find a few around $10 delivered. ...
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