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2/4: Bo-Dennis; Frankie, Danny Sign; Arquie, Harris Deals; Bronson, Maz, GG Go; Pops Busy; DD Arriba; Hoopin' Hans; All-Timers; HBD Doug, Dennis, Neal, Sacman, Steve, Schoolboy, Possum & Lefty

Sunday, February 4, 2024 6:59

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1875 – OF Alfonzo “Lefty” Davis was born in Nashville. Between 1901-02, he went to the plate 678 times for the Pirates and hit .300 w/.399 OBP, scoring 139 runs in 146 games played while swiping 41 sacks. Despite that production on the bases, he would only play two more big league seasons (.237 BA/.292 OBP with three other teams), spending most of his career toiling in the minors as both a player and manager. Lefty passed away on his birthday in 1919.
1890 – UT George “Possum” Whitted (he picked up his nickname because of his tales of backwoods possum hunting) was born in Durham, North Carolina. Possum played in Pittsburgh from 1919-21, hitting .286 while manning first, third and left field. The vet was at the back end of an 11-year big league career while with the Pirates, and after one game for the Dodgers in 1922, his MLB days were done. His versatility was a big part of his longevity. Possum was the first rookie in history to start at every position except pitcher and catcher during a season, and over the course of his career started at least 39 times at every non-battery position.
1902 – The Hans Wagner basketball team made its debut, defeating a five from McDonald by a 9-5 score. It was common for players to work or tour in some fashion during the off-season to augment their meager pays, wrote Max Bultman of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (per Baseball Reference, The Flying Dutchman made just $138,500 during his 17-year career, topping out at $10K per season). Barnstorming was an especially popular practice for star players, who could trade in on their name for cash to carry them through the winter; the Pittsburgh Press of 2/5/1902 noted that pitcher Deacon Phillippe canceled a trip to Virginia because he was too busy practicing for manager Fred Clarke’s hockey team. Wagner was an all-around athlete – Hans’ hoopsters were an off season tradition and Wagner himself helped coach basketball at Carnegie HS and Carnegie Tech during the off-season and his post-baseball years.
1916 – RHP “Schoolboy” (he was a high school whiz on the mound, once striking out 25 opponents) Johnny Taylor was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Schoolboy began his pro career in the Negro/Latin Leagues in 1935 and joined the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1938, going 11-2. Like many on the team, he jumped to Mexico the following year and played there until 1942 when he entered the Army during WW2. He played ball sporadically after the war, tossing his last game in 1948.

Joe Harris – 1927 photo George Rinhart/Detroit Public Library

1927 – The Bucs claimed veteran 1B/OF Joe Harris for the waiver price from Washington, where he was made expendable by the acquisition of Tris Speaker even though Joe had hit .306. Harris, an Allegheny County native from Coulter on the Yough, was happy with the deal, and the Bucs were, too. He started 116 games in Pittsburgh as a 36-year-old despite a foot injury, hitting .326 and was batting .391 into June of 1928 when he was flipped to the Brooklyn Robins for Charlie Hargreaves in what became Harris’ final stint after 10 MLB seasons.
1932 – The Pirates sold 31-year-old 2B George Grantham to the Reds. Grantham was the Bucco second sacker for the 1925 and 1927 World Series clubs and put up seven straight .300+ seasons for Pittsburgh, with a BA of .315 between 1925-31. The FO must have had a glimmer that his tank was running low; his .300 streak ended at Cincinnati (.294) while his Pirates replacement Tony Piet hit .282 and then .323 the following campaign. George became a sub for the Reds in 1933 and the next campaign was his final MLB tour of duty.
1934 – The Pittsburgh Press announced its all-time Pirates squad (it was a limited edition, with the years bookended from 1900-33) but it was a pretty decent collection of talent – the outfield was RF Paul “Big Poison” Waner, CF Ginger Beaumont & LF Fred Clarke, the infield was made up of 3B Pie Trayner, SS Hans Wagner, 2B Claude Ritchey & 1B Kitty Barnsfield, and the battery consisted of C George “Mooney” Gibson, southpaw Wilbur Cooper & righty Deacon Phillippe.
1949 – OF Steve Brye was born in Alameda, California. Steve was a former first round pick of the Twins out of high school and had eight years in the show when the Pirates signed him as an extra outfielder in 1978. He played all three outfield spots during the campaign and pinch hit, getting into 66 games while batting .235 during the year. He was released after the season, played a year in AAA Hawaii for San Diego and retired at the age of 30.

Steve Brye – 1979 Topps

1962 – LHP Dan “Sacman” Plesac was born in Gary, Indiana. He was a Buc from 1995-96, about in the middle of his 18-year career in the show, and slashed 10-9-14/3.86 while with Pittsburgh. He was a part of the deal swung after the 1996 campaign that brought Jose Silva, Craig Wilson and Abraham Nunez to the Pirates from the Toronto Blue Jays. Dan did some broadcasting work after his playing days and the avid racing fan now trains horses.
1962 – Roberto Clemente was given the Dapper Dan Man of the Year Award after hitting .351 in 1961 to claim the NL batting title, his first of four crowns. Ex-Pittsburgh mayor and then Pennsylvania governor David Lawrence presented Clemente with his plaque to a standing ovation from the 2,000+ fans packed into the room. The Great One was humble, saying that “This award belongs to the fans and my teammates as much as it does to me.” Dick Stuart also was recognized with a DD award after hitting .301 with 35 HR’s and 117 RBI’s.
1969 – Pirates GM Neal Huntington was born in Amherst, New Hampshire. He was named the Pirates GM after the 2007 season, replacing Dave Littlefield. Huntington built a team that broke a twenty-year losing streak and then made the playoffs from 2013-15, but the wheels fell off and he was fired after a 69-win campaign in 2019. Before Pittsburgh, he had been the Assistant Director of Player Development with the Montreal Expos in 1995 before moving on to the Cleveland Indians for 10 years, becoming their Special Assistant to the GM (2006–2007). He was replaced by an old baseball teammate from Amherst, Ben Cherington. Neal currently works in the front office of the Cleveland Guardians as a special assistant to baseball projects.
1970 – The Bucs sent noted bon vivant and so-so hurler Bo Belinsky to the Reds for RHP Dennis Ribant. Belinsky went 0-3 in eight games as a Pirate with a 4.58 ERA, and 1970 was the end of the MLB trail for Ribant (who had previously tossed for Pittsburgh in 1967) as he never pitched in the show again. Belinsky tossed three times for the Reds, and that was it for his big league stay.

Dennis Konuszewski – photo Jeff Schrier/MLB.com

1971 – RHP Dennis Konuszewski was born in Bridgeport, Michigan. Dennis was chosen in the seventh round of the 1992 draft out of the U of Michigan by the Pirates and got called up in August of 1995. He came very close to having an ERA of infinity – he faced five batters, with four of them reaching base (he wasn’t smacked around so much as unlucky – a walk, two ground ball singles through the infield and a flare was the damage against him) and two of the runners scored, leaving him with a 54.00 ERA in 1/3 IP. He was sent back down, with Jim Leyland telling Dennis he’d return (spoiler alert: Leyland fibbed). Konuszewski remained in the Pirates system from 1995-97, mostly for the AA Carolina Mudcats, before leaving baseball to become a sales rep and little league coach.
1972 – It was a busy week for Willie Stargell. He began it with a White House visit with President Dick Nixon as part of the War on Drugs, then returned to Pittsburgh to visit the Black Athlete’s Foundation offices before signing his contract (the amount was undisclosed, but the Pirates called it a “substantial increase” from 1971). Then on the 5th, he joined Danny Murtaugh and Roberto Clemente as one of the co-winners of the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year Award.
1974 – Bill Mazeroski ended a 20-year relationship with the Pirates when he announced he wouldn’t return as Danny Murtaugh’s third-base coach. It was a surprise move, and Maz simply explained he really wasn’t into coaching as much as playing. He also cited family time and traveling as considerations, and the pay ($18,000) wasn’t much of an enticement to stay. The Bucs quickly replaced him with Jose Pagan, who was a Pirates infielder from 1965-72.
1980 – LHP Doug Slaten was born in Venice, California. Slaten had spent four years in Arizona and two more in Washington before joining the Pirates in 2012 as a minor league FA. The 32-year-old spent most of his time at Indianapolis, but was called to work 10 games for the Bucs and acquitted himself well with a 2.77 ERA in 10 outings. Still, he was released at the end of the year, ending his MLB career. He earned an asterisk for Indy in April, serving up the last three outs of a combined no-hitter started by Justin Wilson and Jose Diaz.

Doug Slaten – 2012 photo Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty

1996 – RHP Danny Darwin signed with the Pirates after a couple of dismal seasons at Boston, Toronto and Texas. He went 7-9 with a sparkling 3.02 ERA and was flipped at the deadline to Houston for reliever Rick Loiselle. Darwin was dubbed “Doctor Death” by Houston’s Nolan Ryan because Danny was always ready to rumble. He got into two famous bouts with teammates Orel Hershiser and Barry Bonds, though Bonds was just a raucous verbal altercation.
2003 – The Red Sox claimed Bronson Arroyo off waivers from the Pirates. After three seasons and a 9-14/5.44 ERA for Pittsburgh, he worked an additional 15 years in the show, winning 100+ games while going 10 straight years with 32+ starts and tossing 200 or more IP in nine of those campaigns. After a stint with the Arizona D-Backs in 2014 following an eight-year run with Cincinnati, he returned to the Reds organization in 2017 after taking a nearly three-year big league hiatus due to TJ surgery and elbow issues. He retired in September, was gifted with a guitar and rocking chair before his farewell and then played 40 minutes of Pearl Jam hits with his band after the game.
2015 – The Pirates purchased the contract of RHP Arquimedes Caminero from the Miami Marlins. The hard-throwing righty got into 112 games for the Pirates in 2015-16, slashing 6-3-1 (his only big league save)/3.58 with 23 holds, but his 1.66 WHIP got him shipped to Seattle for a pair of minor leaguers during his second year. He finished out his MLB stay there, keeping on by tossing in the minors, Japanese, and the Dominican Leagues before retiring in 2022 and taking on a minor league pitching coach position with the Houston Astros.
2019 – The Pirates brought back LHP Frankie Liriano on a NRI deal worth $1.8M with an additional $1.5M available in incentives, with opt-out dates. Francisco had posted a 19-32/4.89 line since 2016, his final Bucco campaign, though he had developed as an effective LOOGY, limiting lefties to a .210 BA in 2017-18. He was signed to audition as a swingman who could relieve and fill in as an opener if the Bucs went that route in 2019, and made the team one more time, slashing 5-3/3.47 solely from the pen. He was released at the end of the year, took a Covid opt-out option in 2020, tried to comeback with the Phils in ‘21 unsuccessfully and then announced his retirement in 2022.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/02/24-bo-dennis-frankie-danny-sign-arquie.html

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