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2/9: Ohlie, Kip Arb Winners; Spanky, Josias, Coop Signed; Masi Dealt; Oscar, Satch HoF; Cobra Conundrum; Dapper Jim; Roe Woe; HBD Aki, Buddy, Jim, Lee Roy, Wally, Hi, Harry & Sumner

Friday, February 9, 2024 6:59

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1867 – LHP Sumner Bowman was born in Millersburg, Pennsylvania. His big league career was brief, with 18 outings from 1890-91, spending part of the ‘90 campaign with the Alleghenys while posting a 2-5/6.62 line in nine appearances (seven starts, six complete games). Bowman was also an outfielder who hit .278 for Pittsburgh. But the Penn grad’s true calling was the law (and no, not as an umpire!). Bowman’s baseball career ended following his law school graduation from Dickinson in 1892, and he went on to practice law for seventeen years in New York City. Sumner also served as a government mouthpiece as a Deputy Attorney General for the state of New York for four years and during World War I, he held a position in the Judge Advocate General’s Department.
1869 – Harry Pulliam, early Pirate exec, was born in Scottsburg, Kentucky. Originally a newspaper writer covering the Cubs for the Louisville Commercial, he was considered one of the leading authorities on the game. Pulliam met the owner of the Louisville Colonels, Barney Dreyfuss, who hired him away from the Commercial. Barney appointed him to the position of club secretary, then quickly moved him to club president while Pulliam adroitly negotiated an ownership position in the team. He followed Dreyfuss when he purchased the Pittsburgh Pirates, remaining the team president, and convinced Hans Wagner to join the club, later talking him and his teammates from bolting to the American League during the 1900 player raids. Pulliam was unanimously elected president of the National League in 1902. He acted as president, secretary and treasurer of the league from 1902 until 1907, when the stress, workload, and occasional head bumping with owners who thought he favored Pittsburgh in his decisions caught up to him; he committed suicide. Harry was buried in Louisville on August 2nd, and for the first time in history, both NL and AL games were postponed in tribute.

Harry Pulliam – Helmar Cabinet II

1870 – OF Arthur “Hi” Ladd was born in Willimantic, Connecticut. He spent two games as a big leaguer, going 0-for-1 in 1898 for the Alleghenys with another outing for the Boston Beaneaters. Those games were the highlight of a 20-year pro career, with Ladd spending a decade playing for Bridgeport, 60 miles southwest of his hometown, before retiring at age 41. Hi may have picked the wrong sport – he’s the great-great-grandfather of long-time NHL winger Andrew Ladd.
1895 – OF Wally Hood was born in Whittier, California. Hood spent parts of three seasons in MLB, getting two games and two PAs with the Pirates in 1920. Hood had an interesting career, serving in WW1 before playing ball, then appearing in the baseball film Warming Up, the first sound feature released by Paramount Pictures, with further uncredited roles in Rhubarb, The Stratton Story and Alibi Ike. He also umpired for a decade in the PCL while his son, Wally Hood Jr, suited up with the Yankees in 1949, albeit for just two games. Hood passed on in Hollywood at the age of 70 from emphysema.
1904 – RHP Lee Roy Mahaffey was born in Belton, South Carolina. He got his start as a Pirate, getting into six games (1-0/5.14) in 1926-27 before being dealt as part of the Larry French swap. After some seasoning, he came back with the Philly Athletics in 1930 and put in seven more MLB seasons. Per SABR, Roy had a passel of nicknames – “Workhorse” because he was willing to take the ball at any time, “Speed” due to the velocity of his heater and hard curve, and most commonly, “Popeye,” as he was a strapping lad who had developed muscular pipes as a bricklayer in the offseason.
1944 – C Jim Campanis was born in New York. Jim spent bits of six seasons in the show (he got into just 113 games in that time) making his final appearances with the Pirates in 1973, going 1-for-6 in six games. He was Dodger GM Al Campanis’ son, and dad traded him to KC in 1968; from there, Jim joined the Bucs as part of the 1970 deal that included Bob Johnson and Jackie Hernandez for Freddie Patek, Bruce Dal Canton and Jerry May. Jim’s son, Junior, played in the minors and wrote the book “Born Into Baseball” describing the family ties.

Preacher Roe – 1974 TCMA Nickname series

1946 – Talk about your off season mishaps! Bucco LHP Preacher Roe’s 148 strikeouts in 1945 led the NL and he was selected for the All-Star Game. But while coaching high school basketball after the season, Roe suffered a concussion (some say he actually fractured his skull) in a fight with a referee. His pitching fell off a cliff, dropping from 27 wins in 1944-45 to seven in 1946-47, and his ERA almost doubled. He was traded to Brooklyn, where he lasted seven seasons, winning 93 games while earning four All-Star berths. Some credit the bounceback to his full return to health, while others thought it due to his new pitch – the spitter.
1950 – The Chicago White Sox purchased C Phil Masi from the Pirates. Masi only spent half a year with the Bucs after a swap with Boston for Ed Sauer, then he was sold to his hometown White Sox. Pittsburgh may have thought that at 33, his better days were behind him (vet Clyde McCullough started and 25-year-old Joe Garagiola was next in line, ahead of Masi), but he still showed some life as he hit .276 in 206 games during the next two years while the Sox staff’s ERA went from sixth to second in the AL. Phil broke in a pretty good replacement, Sherm Lollar, in 1953 before retiring, staying in Chicago as a printer until his death in 1990.
1951 – RHP Eddie “Buddy” Solomon Jr. was born in Perry, Georgia. The 10-year vet worked the end of his career (1980-82) in Pittsburgh, splitting time between the pen and the rotation. He went 17-15-1 with a 3.58 ERA for the Pirates before being dealt to the White Sox in 1982, where he concluded his MLB run. He died two years later at age 34 in a car wreck. His nickname was bestowed on him by his family who called him Buddy Jay.
1954 – The Pirates signed C Walker Cooper as a free agent. Walker, 39, was an eight-time All-Star who had a couple of down years. He got into just 14 games with the Bucs (3-for-15, one start) and was released in May. The Bucs were too quick to the trigger as Walker’s tank had more than fumes left – as a backup, he played through 1957 for the Cubs and Cards, hitting .285 over that span with 108 games behind the dish before hanging up the mask.

Walker Cooper – 1954 Dan-Dee

1971 – RHP Satchel Paige became the first Negro League star to be nominated to the Hall of Fame. Satch pitched for both the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and was formally confirmed June 10th, then inducted on August 9th. He finally broke through the MLB color line in 1948 at the age of 41 and tossed six big-league seasons, with a pair of All-Star berths and a World Series title with the 1948 Cleveland Indians, to pad his Negro League resume.
1976 – The Hall of Fame Special Committee on the Negro Leagues selected OF Oscar Charleston for enshrinement. In 1932, Charleston became player-manager of the Pittsburgh Crawfords with a roster that included Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Judy Johnson. The team went 99-36, and Charleston himself batted .363 in what was one of the best Negro League teams ever assembled. He managed the Crawfords through 1937 and was also a player with the Homestead Grays. Oscar was inducted into the Hall on August 9th.
1979 – 2B Akinori Iwamura was born in Uwajima, Japan. He didn’t leave much of a legacy, hitting .182 in 52 games during part of 2010 before being released. Iwamura finished the year with Oakland, played in Japan afterward for four more seasons and is now managing there. But Aki did trigger one move that helped the Pirates for years: his sub-par performance (conditioning and a bad wheel were major factors) opened the door for catcher turned third baseman turned second baseman Neil Walker. Beginning with that season, Walker held down the position for six years, hitting .272 and earning a 2014 Silver Slugger award before being dealt to the Mets in the 2015 off season.
1982 – GM Pete Peterson made it clear that the chasm between the Pirates and Dave Parker was insurmountable and announced that the Pirates were actively looking to trade the right fielder (Pete was careful to emphasize that “we won’t give Parker away”) after a disgruntled employee TV interview. As much as the both sides were willing to divorce, The Cobra remained a Bucco until his contract ran out at the end of the 1983 campaign. He only played 73 games with wrist and thumb injuries in ‘82, making him unmovable, then started off slowly in ‘83 before going on a second half tear that carried him into free agency and a two-year/$2M deal with his hometown Cincinnati Reds.

Bob Kipper – 1991 Fleer

1990 – LHP Bob Kipper won his arbitration hearing, taking home $535K after posting a 3-4-4/2.93 line in 1989 to best the Buc offer of $380K. Then Mike Lavalliere and the Bucs settled on a contract a day before they were slated to have their arb hearing. Spanky wanted $720K, and the Pirates offered $550K: Lavalliere had a good year hitting (.316 BA) but only played in 68 games due to injury. That led to him to concede to the Pirates bid; he signed for $575K.
1991 – Jim Leyland was presented with the Dapper Dan Sportsmen of the Year award. Leyland led the 1990 Pirates to a 95-67 record and its first NL Eastern Division title in 11 years. He was named the NL Manager of the Year by both the Baseball Writers and The Sporting News. Jimmy hung around for 11 years with the Bucs (1986-96), winning 851 games and three division titles before moving on to Florida, Colorado, Detroit and Team USA.
2000 – Pittsburgh signed RHP Josias Manzanillo, 32, as a minor league free agent. He gave the Pirates a pair of credible seasons with a 5-4-2/3.38 line before elbow surgery in 2002 and was released in August. Josias went to Cincy and then Florida, but was never again effective, tossing his last MLB frame in 2004.
2011 – RHP Ross Ohlendorf was an arbitration winner after being awarded a salary of $2.025M by a three-judge panel. He went 1-11/4.07 in 2010 while earning a $439K paycheck. Ohlie had rejected the Pirates $1.4M off-season offer to trigger the hearing, pitching his league-average ERA and stat line for the past two seasons (3.98 ERA/103 ERA+ in 50 starts, with 11 wins in ‘09) to the salary board to balance out his 2010 win-loss record.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/02/29-ohlie-kip-arb-winners-spanky-josias.html

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