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2/20: Smiley Wins Arb; Matt, Meares, Big Bob Sign; Battlin' Bucs; SRO Camp; Price Cuts; UA, IA Formed; RIP Joe, Possum, Bill; HBD Tony, ElRoy, Frankie, Jack, Tom & Harry

Tuesday, February 20, 2024 6:58

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1862 – 3B Harry Raymond was born in Utica. After four seasons with the Louisville Colonels, Raymond came to Pittsburgh briefly in 1892, getting into 12 games and batting .082. He finished the year and his big league career with Washington, going 1-for-18. He did soldier on, playing seven more minor league campaigns before calling it quits in 1899 at age 37. Raymond was a league jumper who hopped from Louisville to Lincoln in 1891 and was given a lifetime suspension by the American Association and National League for the flip, as both had an agreement limiting player movement. But the punishment was withdrawn later in the year and he played out his final MLB season.
1873 – Utilityman Tom O’Brien was born in Verona. O’Brien played just two seasons and four positions for his hometown club (1898, 1900), hitting .274 for Pittsburgh before his untimely death during a Cuban barnstorming tour in 1901. The lore around his death is that it was brought on by drinking a bucket of seawater during the voyage as a seasickness cure, but he actually had typhoid that developed into pneumonia, and he passed away at age 27.
1875 – C Jack Rafter was born in Troy, New York. Jack’s big league line was 0-for-3 in one game for the 1904 Pirates but he had a career-long New York baseball connection. Jack played at Fordham and spent 13 years in the minors, staying near his Empire State home base with tours of duty at Troy, Syracuse and Albany forming the bulk of his pro baseball resume.
1877 – The International Association (international because it included a pair of Canadian clubs) was formed in Pittsburgh with the Alleghenys as one of the charter teams. Some baseball historians consider it to be the first minor league; others think the league had higher aspirations and was conceived to rival the major National League. It was fairly short-lived, folding after the 1880 season. It really didn’t have much of a schedule; Alleghenys’ ace Pud Galvin tossed 18 of the 19 IA games played that first year. Pittsburgh finished second at 13-6, 1-1/2 games behind the London (Ontario) Tecumsehs.

Pud Galvin – Helmar Piedmont

1884 – The now you see it, now you don’t, Union Association was organized. It only lasted a season and had two local reps: the Pittsburgh Stogies, which absorbed the Chicago Browns before folding (they were resurrected in 1913 as a Federal League team, the Rebels) and the mid-state Altoona Mountain City nine. Whether it was major league or not depends on your baseball historian of choice; some archivists accept it as big time, but most say nay.
1920 – All-Star infielder and restaurant owner Frankie Gustine was born in Hoopeston, Illinois. He played 10 years (1939-48) for the Bucs, hitting .268 as a Pirate and earning three All-Star slots. Gustine later became the head coach at Point Park College from 1968-74 and operated a popular, photo-packed bar/restaurant on Forbes Avenue in Oakland a few steps away from Forbes Field that became Hemingway’s Cafe in 1982.
1928 – The Baron of the Bullpen, ElRoy Face, was born in Stephentown, NY. He pitched fifteen years (1953, 1955-68) for the Bucs, posting a 100-93-188/3.36 slash. Face was the first major leaguer to save 20 games more than once, leading the league three times and finishing second three times; in 1959 he set the still-standing major league record for winning percentage (.947) at 18-1, winning 22 games in a row over two seasons (1958-59). He held the National League record for career games pitched (846) from 1967-86, and the league record for career saves (193) for two decades, from 1962-82. Face still holds the NL record for career wins in relief (96), and he held the league mark for career innings pitched in relief (1,211-1/3) until 1983. His nickname was bestowed by Post Gazette beat writer Jack Hernon in 1959, borrowing it from Joe Reichler of the Associated Press who wrote in his 1950 preseason profile of the St. Louis Cardinals: “For relief they have Ted Wilks, the league’s bullpen baron…”
1963 – Bill Hinchman passed away in Columbus at the age of 79. He finished his 10-year MLB career with the Bucs from 1915-20 (he hit .284/129 OPS+ in that span), was a Pirates coach in 1923 and scouted for Pittsburgh from 1921-58. As a bird dog, he signed Rip Sewell, Clyde Barnhart, Claude Passeau, Cookie Lavagetto & Billy Cox and was involved in the player evaluation chain of Hall-of-Famers Arky Vaughan & Lloyd Waner.

Bill Hinchman – 1927 Conlon Collection/Getty photo

1965 – RHP Tony Menendez was born in Havana, Cuba. Tony was a first round draft pick of the White Sox out of high school in 1984 and had a three-year MLB career with three teams between 1992-94 that lasted 23 appearances. He got 14 of those outings as a 1993 Bucco. He did pretty well, with no decisions but a 3.00 ERA in 21 IP, mostly as a September call-up from AAA Buffalo. Tony signed with the Giants the following year, got a brief look in the majors and retired as a Bay farmhand after the 1995 campaign. He’s now got his irons in the media fire.
1971 – Bob Veale signed his contract, valued at almost $30,000, and GM Joe Brown immediately deducted $300 from it in $100/day fines for the big lefty being late for camp. Veale had stirred Brown’s ire earlier by calling for an extension and not returning his contract to the Pirates. Veale was penciled to head to the pen after a 10-15/3.92 line in 1970 and went 6-0 as a reliever, but with a sky-high 6.99 ERA at age 36, Father Time was catching up to Big Bob. The following year, he was sold to the Red Sox, where he finished out his career in 1974.
1979 – In a move called “unprecedented” by Buc GM Harding Peterson, the Pirates cut sixth-level reserved seat ticket prices by a buck (from $4.25 to $3.25) and announced Monday through Thursday group discounts in an effort to boost attendance, which had dropped below a million (965,000) in 1978 for the first time since Three Rivers Stadium opened in 1971. It helped some as 1.4M fans spun the turnstiles during the season; of course, performance had a little to do with it, too, as the Bucs won the NL and World Series. In TRS’ 30-year history, the Pirates drew under 1M fans five times and went over the 2M mark twice (1990-91).
1988 – Jim “The Possum” Woods, Bob Prince’s sidekick in the booth from 1958-69, passed away from cancer in Oviedo, Florida. He broadcast MLB from 1953-82, announcing for not only the Pirates but the Yankees, NY Giants, NBC, Cardinals, Athletics, Red Sox and the USA Network.

The Possum – undated photo via SABR

1990 – LHP John Smiley won his arb hearing, cashing in his requested $840K rather than the Bucco offer of $630K. It wasn’t a surprising result; even GM Larry Doughty admitted Smiley had a strong case to increase his $230K pay of 1989, slashing 12-8/2.81 while working 205 innings with eight complete games. Smiley had a so-so 1990 campaign (9-10) after breaking his finger in a cab door accident, but came back in ‘91 to win 20 games and earn an All Star berth in his last Pirates campaign before being traded to the Twins for OF Midre Cummings.
1997 – The Pirates brought 70 players to spring training; the sportswriters thought it may be a record for bodies in an MLB camp. The crowded clubhouse was no problem, said GM Cam Bonifay, who planned to beef up the “B” game schedule to get the boys in action. Probably not quite as content was equipment manager Roger Wilson, who had to get uniforms for all those players. Bonfay explained that he wanted the organization to get a look at some of the youngsters, and also wanted them exposed to the MLB routine. He said after the first cut, expected a week or so into camp, they’d finish up evaluating the prospects and get to work at filling the holes in the roster, eventually cobbling together the Freak Show club.
1999 – The Pirates signed free agent SS Pat Meares to a $1.5M contract. In April, they extended the deal through the 2003 season for $15M. He broke his hand early in 1999, had surgery, and was done playing MLB baseball by 2002 after a prolonged soap opera clash with management over the injury, having gotten into 240 games for the Bucs and hitting just .238.
2007 – SS Jack Wilson and his DP partner, 2B Jose Castillo, locked themselves in manager Jim Tracy’s office while he was out supervising practice to discuss mano-a-mano Wilson’s withering review of Castillo (poorly conditioned, not prepared mentally and overall “lazy” in the field) delivered three weeks prior during the Pirates Fest. They came out of tete-a-tete 20 minutes later none the worse for wear, though without comment other than Castillo saying he was ready to play, physically and mentally. But ultimately the suits agreed with Jumping Jack’s assessment. Freddy Sanchez took over from Castillo at second base and had an All-Star season while hitting .304; Jose found himself relegated to utility duty and was released at the end of the year, getting auditions in four different organizations with his last MLB outing in 2008 with the Astros.

Matt Joyce – 2016 MLBPA image from Faces Of The Game

2016 – The Pirates agreed to a minor league deal with former Angels’ OF Matt Joyce, 31, an eight-year vet with an All Star game under his belt. It was a good signing; Joyce made the club and while he hit just .242, he posted an OBP of .403, a slugging % of .463, swatted 13 homers in 231 at bats and finished with an OPS+ of 132. He earned $1M as a Buc and turned the campaign into a two-year/$11M deal with Oakland in the off season. He appeared with eight clubs, the last being the Phillies, before he announced his retirement before the 2022 campaign.
2019 – LHP Joe Gibbon passed away at the age of 83 in Newton, Mississippi. Joe tossed for the Pirates for eight years (1960-65; 1969-70) and slashed 44-46-16/3.61 in 248 outings (107 starts), beginning his Pirates career as a member of the ‘60 World Series winners and finishing it as part of the ‘70 NLCS team. He was a rookie who went 4-2 for the ‘60 Bucs and whose World Series check for $8,400 was more than his salary of $7,500. He was also an All-American hoopster for Mississippi who finished second in the country in scoring during his senior year and was drafted by the Boston Celtics. Gibbon’s overall athletic chops gained him entry into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1979, the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988, and in 2009, he was honored as a member of the Ole Miss Men’s All-Century Basketball Team. He was also referred to as “Old Hickory” in recognition of his hometown of Hickory, Mississippi.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/02/220-smiley-wins-arb-matt-meares-big-bob.html

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