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2/6 Koehler, Comeback Kid, Spanky Sign; Bucs Dapper In '72, Cutch In '13, Clint In '14; Jose On Staff; RIP Rosey, Ralph; HBD Zack, Luke, Petey, Richie, T-Bone, Smoky, Dale & Buckshot

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 6:59

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1901 – SS Glenn “Buckshot” Wright was born in Archie, Missouri. He played five years (1924-28) for Pittsburgh, hitting .294, and was considered one of the league’s elite shortstops until he suffered a shoulder injury in 1929. Wright was a member of the 1925 and 1927 World Series clubs and was named to The Sporting News All-Star team in ‘25 while finishing fourth in the NL-MVP vote. He got his nickname due to his strong but sometimes scattered tosses.
1926 – 1B Dale Long was born in Springfield, Missouri. Long played four seasons for the Pirates (1951, 1955-57), hitting 27 homers in 1956 during an All-Star season. He put his name in the record books that year by hitting eight home runs in eight straight games between May 19th-28th, still the MLB standard, tied but never topped (Ken Griffey Jr & Don Mattingly co-share the mark). In 1958, Long became the last lefty to catch (though not much, just two games for 1-2/3 innings, and with a first baseman’s mitt) in the majors until Benny DiStefano backstopped in 1989. The big guy had a choice of careers; he turned down an audition with the Green Bay Packers as an 18-year-old to focus on baseball.
1927 – C Smoky Burgess was born in Caroleen, NC. He spent six years (1959-64) as a Pirates platoon catcher, hitting .296 as a Buc, and was a key part of the 1960 World Series club. People sometimes forget what a strong player Smoky was. Burgess was a six-time All-Star who led NL catchers in fielding percentage three times, while his MLB record of 145 career pinch hits (a late career specialty) wasn’t broken until 1979 by Manny Mota. Smoky also called every pitch during Harvey Haddix’s legendary 12-inning perfecto against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959.
1932 – RHP Bill “T-Bone” Koski was born in Modesto, California. The Bucs signed him as a 19-year-old fastballer out of high school and he debuted that year, going 0-1/6.67, with a remarkably consistent line: 27 IP, 23 R (20 ER), 26 hits and 28 walks, lagging only in strikeouts with six. The Pirates still thought highly of him, but Uncle Sam moved first. Bill was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and after his 1954 return, he never got above Class B ball. Jeff Jardine of the Modesto Bee explained his nickname: while on a train trip with the Pirates, the teenaged Koski ate a T-bone steak for dinner. Later that night, he got hungry and ate another. A sports writer on the trip dared him to eat a third steak. He did, and so that night his teammates dubbed the growing youngster “T-Bone.”

Richie Zisk – 1973 Towne Club

1949 – LF Richie Zisk was born in Brooklyn. A third round pick in the 1966 draft, he spent six years in Pittsburgh (1971-76), hitting .299 as a Buc before being traded to the Chicago White Sox in the Goose Gossage deal. He made post-season appearances with the 1974-75 Pirates, batting .400 in the playoffs, and hit for the cycle against the Giants in 1974. Since his playing days, Zisk has managed, coached and scouted for the Cubs organization.
1955 – While in the midst of preparing to go to Florida with the team, announcer Rosey Rowswell was struck with uremic poisoning and passed away in Pittsburgh at the age of 71. He was the Pirates announcer from 1936 until his death, beginning back when the road games were recreated from telegraphed wire reports. Rosey was a mentor to his booth partner, Bob Prince, and came up with plenty of unique phraseology – “Open the window, aunt Minnie” for homers, the “doozie marooney” for an extra base hit, the “old dipsy doodle” for a curveball, and even coined the phrase “Buccos” among his thesaurus of colorfully fractured English. Rowswell was also an author who wrote four books of humor and poetry.
1972 – The Dapper Dans couldn’t make up their mind, so the annual Man of the Year honor was split three ways, with Danny Murtaugh, Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente sharing in the glory at the annual awards dinner. And just to make sure there were no hard feelings, six other Buccos received recognition for their contributions during the season – Manny Sanguillen, Richie Hebner, Al Oliver, Bob Robertson, Nellie Briles and Steve Blass. The emcee was, of course, the Gunner, Bob Prince and the dinner’s chairman was retired Bucco hurler and current Allegheny County Controller Bob Friend. And to make it a better day for the Bucs, GM Joe Brown and Clemente had agreed on a $150,000 contract earlier in the day; Dock Ellis also inked his deal.
1974 – Recently retired Pirate vet Jose Pagan replaced Bill Mazeroski as coach after Maz resigned from Danny Murtaugh’s staff a day earlier. Bill cited a preference to playing over mentoring and the desire to spend the summer with his family; the media also speculated the difference in pay and the loss of Maz’s long-time Bucco bud, Bill Virdon (he was fired and replaced by Murtaugh), may have also played into the decision. Jose ended up staying on for five years as a Bucco assistant before jumping ship to coach in the minors and Puerto Rico.

Cutch & El Toro – 2011 Topps Diamond Duos

1987 – 3B Pedro Alvarez was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. El Toro, who played at Vanderbilt, was drafted in the first round (second overall) of the 2008 MLB draft. A last minute signing, complicated by some posturing by both the FO and Scott Boras along with a suit filed by the MLBPA, was accomplished and he joined the club, ultimately receiving a $6.4M bonus. Pedro took his big league bow in 2010 and tied for the National League lead in homers in 2013 with 36 while netting an All-Star berth, but spent 2014 with a bad case of the yips at the hot corner that triggered a switch to first base in 2015. The corner flip didn’t work out, and he was non-tendered in the off season. El Toro played with the O’s for three years, then went briefly to the Miami organization, where was released during the 2019 camp. He retired and took a player development position with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2022 while completing his Vandy BA.
1991 – Mike Lavalliere avoided an arb hearing by agreeing to a $950K deal with the Bucs, with at-bat incentives that could push the value to $1M+. He asked for $1.14M and Pittsburgh countered with $750K, with the Pirates eventually moving their package toward Spanky’s numbers, conceding their safety cushion if his grumpy knee acted up during the season.
1991 – C Luke Maile was born in Edgewood, Kentucky. Luke signed with the catching-thin club in December, 2019, for one-year/$900K ($325K minor league) after stints with the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays. He came to Pittsburgh with a rep as a glove first backstop, a Pirates priority, with a DRS of +21 and a 33% throw-out rate but also with a BA of .198. He didn’t make it out of camp; a broken finger landed him on the IL shortly before the season started and didn’t appear in a game. The Bucs let him go after the season and he signed with the Brewers. Luke later stayed in the division and is now the Reds backup backstop.
1995 – C/1B Zack Collins was born in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Drafted by the White Sox in the first round of the 2016 draft out of the U of Miami, he made his big league debut in 2019. In 2022, he was traded to Toronto for ex-Buc prospect C Reese McGuire. He saw little time there and was waived in September, when he was claimed by the Pirates despite his .194 career BA. Collins went 1-for-25 in 10 games for the Bucs, playing 1B and a couple of games behind the dish. Zack moved on to the Cleveland Guardians and is a free agent for this campaign.

Zach Collins – 2022 MLB.com

2013 – Two-time All-Star Andrew McCutchen was honored with the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year Award. He hit .327/.400/.533 with 31 home runs in a breakout 2012 season. A total of 18 Pirates have received the Dapper Dan SOY honor, but McCutchen was only the second to be recognized in the past 20 years, and the first since Jason Kendall in 2000.
2013 – The Pirates signed free agent LHP Jonathan Sanchez to a minor league deal. He broke camp as the fifth starter, but was released on May 8th after posting an 0-3/11.85 line in five outings (four starts), giving up seven homers in 13-2/3 IP. Known as “The Comeback Kid,” he was one cat who ran out of lives. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since, although he had inked minor league contracts w/the Cubs, Reds & Royals, and worked in the Latino and the indie leagues until 2019.
2014 – Manager of the Year Clint Hurdle was honored as the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year. Hurdle joined Andrew McCutchen, Ralph Kiner, Danny Murtaugh, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Dave Parker as winners of the award. Cutch was the 2013 winner, and it was the first time Pirates had won back-to-back Dapper Dans since The Cobra in 1978 and Cap’n Willie in 1979.
2014 – Pirate Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner passed away at the age of 91. He was the game’s greatest home run hitter following World War II, was elected to six All-Star Games, led or tied for the NL lead in home runs in his first seven seasons in baseball and helped keep interest in Pirates baseball alive during a dismal stretch. Kiner hit .280 w/301 homers and 801 RBI in 7-1/2 Bucco campaigns (1946-53). He finished with a career line of .279 BA, 369 HRs, 1,015 RBIs and 1,451 hits while walking 100 or more times in six of his 10 MLB seasons. After his playing days, Ralph closed out his career with a 52-year gig calling New York Mets’ games.
2019 – The Pirates agreed on a minor league deal, including a 2020 option, with RHP Tom Koehler, 32, who spent most of the season rehabbing after having shoulder surgery last summer. The payday was $150K/$850K(MLB) w/$250K in incentives for the ‘19 season; the 2020 club option was for $1.25M + $1.25M in incentives with a $50K buyout. Koehler was a six-year vet with a 36-55/4.39 line, mostly as a starter, and last tossed in anger in 2017; he had his surgery in July of 2018 after being shut down for the season by the Dodgers. He returned to the hill in August of 2019, working four innings with five whiffs but giving up six runs while pitching the minors. Koehler came back on an NRI deal but didn’t make it out of camp, retiring in March of 2020.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/02/26-koehler-comeback-kid-spanky-sign.html

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