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2/10: Ramon Trade; Melky, Lloyd Sign; Judy HoF; Dapper JK; Bagbys; Homecoming; Hill Seer; Kaat Walk; No Wet One; HBD Jeanmar, Duke, Justin, Itzy, Ruben, Larry, Digger; Jake, Cotton, Bill & Jim

Saturday, February 10, 2024 6:59

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1857 – UT Jim Keenan was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He spent 10 years in the show playing for five teams with an 1882 stop with the Alleghenys, hitting .219 as a catcher and outfielder (he played every position but 2B during his career). Jim was one of the better catchers of the 1880s, spent mostly with Cincinnati. He caught barehanded (ouch!) and is also noted as being one of the few players of that rambunctious era to kick the booze habit during his playing days. Keenan caught the first Pittsburgh Alleghenys game (by extension, the first game in Pirates franchise history), a 10-9 win over his future mates, the Red Stockings, played on May 2nd, 1882 at Cincinnati’s Bank Street Grounds.
1893 – RHP Bill Evans was born in Reidsville, NC. He spent his three-year MLB stint with the Bucs (1916-17, 1919) as a fringe hurler, going 2-13 with a 3.85 ERA. Evans went into the military and missed all of the 1918 campaign. He worked seven games for Pittsburgh in 1919, then spent the next decade in the minors. Evans died in Burlington, North Carolina at age 53.
1894 – 2B James “Cotton” (because of his light blond hair) Tierney was born in Kansas City, KS. He started his pro career in Pittsburgh (1920-23), mainly as a second baseman but also seeing time in the outfield and at the hot corner. He hit .315 for Pittsburgh and was the main piece in the 1923 trade for P Lee Meadows. Cotton was remembered when in 2005, his great-great-nephew Jeff Euston created the website Cot’s Baseball Contracts, named after his MLB uncle.
1900 – SS “Country Jake” Stephens was born in Pleasantville (or nearby York), Pennsylvania. Jake played in the Negro leagues for 17 years, with stops with the Homestead Grays (1929-31) and Pittsburgh Crawfords (1932). The SS wasn’t much of a batsman with a .240 career BA – the curve befuddled him – but he was a fast and acrobatic fielder with a rifle arm. As loaded with bats as the legendary local clubs were, carrying a glove at shortstop was a natural fit. His leather earned him spots in Pittsburgh and York Sports Halls of Fame.

Greenfield Jimmy – 1917 Chicago Daily News photo

1916 – Local boys Otto Knabe from Carrick and Greenfield Jimmy Smith had their contracts purchased from the Baltimore Terrapins of the Federal League. Otto was on the downside of his career, suiting up as mainly a player/manager, and after a couple of dozen games, he was traded to the Cubs. Greenfield Jimmy was a utility guy; the colorful infielder got into 33 games for the Pirates in 1916. Smith finished out his MLB days in 1922, playing for seven teams during an eight-year big league run, before returning home to Greenfield.
1920 – The spitball, shineball, and emeryball were outlawed by the AL/NL Joint Rules Committee. Seventeen pitchers who were known to use the pitch, including off-and-on Pirate Burleigh Grimes, were grandfathered out of the ban so they could continue to toss a wet one. Grimes, who finished in 1934 with Pittsburgh, was the last man to legally throw a spitter.
1932 – RHP Billy “Digger” O’Dell was born in Whitmire, South Carolina. He closed out his 13-year career (twice an All-Star) with the Pirates in 1966-67, going 8-8-4/4.44. Digger retired and left baseball, coaching Legion ball and earning a spot in the South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. He got his nickname from the radio/TV show “The Life of Riley” that featured a character named Digby “Digger” O’Dell.
1939 – RHP Bob Klinger exhibited his flipper to Pittsburgh Press beat writer Les Biederman and told him that “You are now looking at the arm that belongs to the fellow who is going to win 20 games…this year.” Klinger had gone 12-5/2.99 in 1938 with a gimpy arm, then underwent off season treatment for neuritis. He did get 33 starts, but finished 14-17/4.36 and 0-1 as a prognosticator. Apparently his arm remained chronically cranky. The Pirates switched him to spot starter/reliever in 1940, and he didn’t rejoin the rotation full-time again until 1943. He was in the Navy from 1944-45, then went to the Boston Red Sox at age 38 and was their closer from 1946-47 as part of the Bosox 1946 World Series club.

Bob Klinger – 1940 Press/Jack Berger

1940 – CF Lloyd Waner signed his 14th Pittsburgh contract (his first minor-league agreement was inked back in 1926), coming off what was oddly the Hall-of-Famers only All-Star season when he hit .313. The amount of the deal wasn’t disclosed, though his 1938 Luis, salary was estimated to be $12,500 and this payday likely fell into the same range. The soon-to-be 34-year-old was nearing the end of the road; he lasted until the end of WW2 (1945 was his last campaign) but never was an everyday outfielder again, averaging 70 games per year in his last six seasons, playing for five different clubs, including a swan song with the Pirates.
1947 – RHP Jim Bagby Jr. was purchased from the Boston Red Sox for a little more than the $10,000 waiver fee. Bagby had been a two-time All-Star for Cleveland in 1942-43, but the 30-year-old was on his last legs in Pittsburgh, going 5-4/4.67 in ‘47 in 38 games (six starts), which proved to be his final season after 10 years in MLB. His father blazed a similar path, ending his big league days as a Bucco in 1923 after a nine-year tour of duty.
1954 – LHP Larry McWilliams was born in Wichita, Kansas. The sixth overall pick of the 1974 draft by the Braves, he worked for the Pirates from 1982-86. Larry had three strong years as a starter, then faded and was shipped back to his original club, the Braves. His line with the Bucs was 43-44-2 with a 3.86 ERA. Per Wikipedia, he was nicknamed Spaghetti by Tony Pena. “That’s what I call him. Take a look at his legs. They look like spaghetti…” his battery mate said.
1971 – The Pirates made one of their better deals when they sent minor league lefty Danilo Rivas to the Mexico City Reds for LHP Ramon Hernandez, who was recommended by Jose Pagan after playing winter ball against him. The southpaw was a bullpen anchor from 1971-76, going 23-12-39 with a 2.51 ERA before being sold to the Red Sox in 1976. The trade was a homecoming of sorts; the Pirates’ super scout Howie Haak had originally signed Hernandez as an 18-year-old out of Ponce De Leon, Puerto Rico, in 1959 to launch his MLB journey.

Ramon Hernandez – 1975 Post-Gazette Album profile

1975 – 3B Judy Johnson was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Negro League Committee. Playing in the 1920s and 1930s, Johnson was a defensive whiz who batted .309 over a 17-year career, including stints with the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords. He was inducted on August 18th. His nickname came from his first Negro league club, the Hilldale Daisies, because he resembled Chicago American Giants’ player Judy Gans.
1978 – OF Ruben Mateo was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. Mateo was highly touted, but after breaking his leg in 2000, he never regained his edge and became a AAAA player, suiting up for four teams in six MLB campaigns. He made a 19-game stop in Pittsburgh, hitting .242 in 2004 before being sold to the Royals; it would be his last big league stop at the tender age of 26. He spent the next dozen years playing in the minors, Korea, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and mainly in the Mexican League before retiring after the 2015 season.
1980 – SS Cesar Izturis was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He spent 13 seasons in the big leagues, with a stop in Pittsburgh in 2007. He hit .276 after the Pirates bought his rights from the Cubs in mid-July but was released after the year (Jack Wilson was the #1 guy with Brian Bixler in the pipeline) and signed with St. Louis. He had three strong seasons left in him with the Cards and Orioles before becoming a bench guy in 2011; 2013 would be his last MLB campaign.
1980 – Coach Justin Meccage was born in Billings, Montana. After a brief minor league career and a couple of college coaching stops, he was hired by the Bucs as the pitching coach for the Bradenton Marauders (2013-2014), was promoted to Altoona (2015-2016), became the minor league pitching coordinator in 2017, was named assistant pitching coach as Ray Searage’s right hand man for the big team for 2018, and is now the bullpen coach under the Derek Shelton regime. An eye for under-the-hood pitching tweaks runs in the family – Meccage’s father Bob was a college pitching coach, as is his brother Jeremy now.

Luis Cruz – 2009 O-Pee-Chee Rookie

1984 – SS Luis Cruz was born in Navojoa, Mexico. He was signed as a minor league free agent by Pittsburgh in 2008 and spent most of his two-year stay in the minors, seeing action in 27 games for the Bucs and hitting .214. He did have an auspicious start to his career, smacking a single in his first MLB at-bat off Aaron Harang. Luis played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees before going international in 2014, playing four seasons in Japan before returning home to suit up in the Mexican League.
1984 – 45-year-old Jim Kaat was given an invitation to camp by the Pirates (and that’s all it was; he’d get a contract if he made the team). He had tossed 24 games for the Cards in ‘83 w/no record but a 3.89 ERA (4.40 FIP) and was released in July. Ironically, the Bucs signed Lee Tunnell and Trench Davis to contracts on the same day; Kaat was tossing in the majors before either was born. But it was the end of the road for the 25-year veteran, who retired when he didn’t make the final cut and then joined Pete Rose’s staff in Cincy as the Reds’ pitching coach. He coached a bit more, wrote a book and had a long broadcasting career that won seven Emmys to go with a couple of foot-in-mouth moments before earning a spot in the Hall of Fame in 2022.
1986 – RHP Duke Welker was born in Kirkland, Washington. A second round pick in the 2007 draft, the 6’7” pitcher was a hot prospect who never panned out. He got into two games with the Bucs in 2013, then was involved in a bizzaro trade. He was sent to the Minnesota Twins as part of the deal that had brought 1B Justin Morneau to Pittsburgh. The two teams changed their minds a few weeks later, and in November, Welker was sent back to the Bucs in return for P Kris Johnson. But fate trumped his return as Duke had TJ surgery in 2014. The Bucs released him, and he was signed and cut by the Giants in 2016. He’s now a medical sales rep.
1988 – RHP Jeanmar Gomez was born in Caracas, Venezuela. The long man went 5-2-1 with a 3.28 ERA in 78 outings for Pittsburgh from 2013-14 after coming over from the Indians. Gomez became a free agent in the 2014 off season and signed with the Phillies. Jeanmar last pitched big league ball for the Texas Rangers in 2019, the last of his five MLB stops.

Jason Kendall – 2000 Upper Deck Black Diamond

2001 – C Jason Kendall was honored as the Dapper Dan 2000 Sportsman of the Year. He rehabbed a gruesome ankle injury and came back to hit .320, score 112 runs and steal 22 bases, then made a long-term commitment to the Pirates by signing a six-year/$60M contract extension. He was the first Pirate to win the award since Jim Leyland in 1990.
2019 – The Pirates signed OF Melky Cabrera, 34, to a minor league NRI deal (he made the team) for $1.15M guaranteed w/$850,000K possible in bonuses. He was recruited to be a platoon mate for Lonnie Chisenhall while regular RF Gregory Polanco was mending, then stepping into a bench role as the fourth ball chaser. But injuries kept him front and center; he got into 133 games, batting a solid .280 before being released at the end of the season. It was his last MLB campaign, and the Melkman retired early in 2022 with 15 years/nine teams on his MLB resume.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/02/210-ramon-trade-melky-lloyd-sign-judy.html

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