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3/31: Vince-Lefty; Bielecki Deal; Torres, KY Sign; Gene, Rob Released; Opening Days; PNC Exhibited; 1st Mexican Visit; New CBA Rules; RIP Billy; HBD Ryan, Frank, Skeeter, Tom, Chick & Fred

Sunday, March 31, 2024 7:01

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1886 – OF Fred Kommers was born in Chicago. He debuted with the Bucs in 1913, hitting .233 in 40 games. He jumped to the Federal League the following season, and though he hit better as a Fed than he did in the NL, it didn’t do much to advance his baseball career – it would be his last major league campaign.
1887 – RHP Chester “Chick” Brandom was born in Coldwater, Kansas. Chick tossed from 1908-09 for the Bucs, getting into 16 games and going 2-0-3 with a 0.94 ERA. The Bucs were loaded back then, and he was sent back to the minors despite that shiny albeit small performance sample. But he may have a greater claim than his Bucco stint. A 1908 picture of Chick shows him delivering a knuckleball and if the date is right, that would make him the first known practitioner of that pitch, predating guys like Eddie Cicotte (caveat emptor; the original knuckleballer is still being debated).
1894 – RHP Tom Sheehan was born in Grand Ridge, Illinois. Tom pitched the final two years of a MLB career that began in 1915 with the Pirates between 1925-26, posting a slash of 1-3-2/4.08. He embarked on a long march as a baseball lifer after his playing days. Sheehan coached for the Reds and Braves, then spent many years as a minor league manager/scout in the Giants system. In 1960, at age 66, he succeeded the fired Bill Rigney as the Giants skipper, becoming the oldest person to make his debut as a big-league manager. That gig didn’t work out, and after the campaign he was once again assigned to scouting.
1895 – OF Carson “Skeeter” Bigbee was born in Lebanon, Oregon. He played 11 years for Pittsburgh, his only MLB club, from 1916-26, and hit .287 lifetime. His best seasons were 1921-22, when he batted .323 and .350. He banged out 419 hits over that span, scored 213 runs and led the NL in singles both years. Bigbee stole 182 bases in his career, which earned him his “Skeeter” nickname. Bigbee was part of the 1926 “ABC Affair” when he, Babe Adams and Max Carey beefed about team suit Fred Clarke being in the dugout during games and overruling manager Bill McKechnie. All three players were on the downside of their careers and got their walking papers as a result.

Sheeter Bigbee – Helmar Oasis

1940 – The Pirates and Philadelphia Athletics played the first MLB exhibition game south of the border when they met in Hermosilla, Mexico at Casa del Pueblo Stadium. The A’s won by an 8-7 count at a match that featured soldiers stationed at the gates & on the rooftops, bands playing throughout the game, and fans on the field. After a little post-game shopping, the two teams hopped a train and rode the rails to their next match in Phoenix.
1945 – The Pirates traded OF Vince DiMaggio, a two-time All-Star, to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Al “Lefty” Gerheauser. Both players were nearing the end of their big league days; DiMaggio hung up the spikes after the ‘46 season and Gerheauser won just seven more games in three years as the Pirates converted him from a starter to the pen.
1957 – Ex-manager Billy Meyer died at age 64 of kidney and heart problems in Knoxville, having never fully recovered from a stroke suffered two years earlier. He had a long minor league playing career with a brief taste of the bigs and was a long time farm skipper before he got the call to manage the Bucs in 1948. He piloted the team to fourth place finish that season (Meyer won The Sporting News Manager of the Year award for that 83-win feat), but was stuck with a roster of Ralph Kiner and the Rickey-Dinks, compiling a 317-452 record over five years. He resigned as field general after the 112-loss 1952 campaign and spent the next three campaigns as a minor league rover/scout for Pittsburgh before his stroke. His #1 was retired by the Pirates in 1954, more as a matter of respect and affection for Billy than for his actual accomplishments.
1960 – Former Pirates President Frank Coonelly was born in Philadelphia. The Penn State grad was hired in 2007 as CEO to replace Kevin McClatchy and helped engineer the Bucs into respectability with three straight playoff appearances. But he couldn’t keep the train rollin’ and was let go at the end of the 2019 season, replaced by Travis Williams. Coonelly previously had served as senior VP in the commissioner’s office, where he was in charge of arbitration hearings and draft bonuses, among other items. He was a lawyer in private practice before that, and is now on several boards and the speakers circuit.

Big Red – 1976 Topps

1977 – After nine years as a Bucco, the Pirates released 1B Bob Robertson, who had been reduced to part-time status following 1974 knee surgery and then hurt his back in camp. He filed a grievance with the MLBPA to get his full year’s salary because he was let go while injured; it was settled when the Bucs paid him the entire $50K due for 1977. In 1971, the Mount Savage Strongboy became the first player to hit TRS’s upper deck in left center, then enjoyed a monster postseason, but he slumped badly after that campaign before his knees gave out. He retired after being released by Toronto in June of 1979.
1984 – C Gene Tenace ended his 15-year career when he was released by the Pirates in spring training after batting .177 for the Bucs in 1983 as a 36-year old. Tenace featured a great eye at the dish – his career BA was just .241, but he had a .388 OBP and drew nearly 1,000 walks. Even in his last season with Pittsburgh, the patient batsman drew more walks than hits.
1988 – The Chicago Cubs traded minor league LHP Mike Curtis to the Pirates for RHP Mike Bielecki. Bielecki turned into a workmanlike journeyman pitcher, working 14 years in MLB (he had one big season for the Cubs, going 18-7/3.14 in 1989) while Curtis never got out of AAA, ending his career in the indie leagues.
1994 – LHP Ryan Borucki was born in Highland Park, Illinois. Ryan was a 15th round pick in the 2012 draft from Mundelein HS by the Blue Jays. He made his debut with Toronto in 2018, was released after the ‘21 campaign and was picked up by Seattle. After a year with them (MLB line: 10-9/4.45 in 96 outings), Borucki was let go again, claimed by the Cubs, and released by them in May 2023 after a rough AA stint, with the Pirates taking him. He pitched scoreless ball at Indy, albeit in 8-1/3 IP, and was called up to the show in June after an avalanche of bullpen injuries. Bo slashed 4-2-1/4.04 and broke camp with the team in 2024.

Ryan Borucki – 2024 photo/Pirates

1997 – The Pirates lured FA 1B Kevin Young back to Pittsburgh from KC with a $400K contract. He would sign two more deals with the Bucs worth $28M covering the following six seasons before retiring after the 2003 campaign. The 1B hit .259 over 11 years with the Pirates and is back with the club as a special instructor. The team also signed undrafted Puerto Rican middle infielder Luis Figeroa, who got a cup of coffee with the Bucs in 2001, Toronto in 2006 and San Francisco in 2007. He played in 18 MLB games overall, batting .125.
2001 – PNC Park hosted its first MLB game when the Pirates and Mets opened it up with an exhibition match. The game was a sellout that NY won, 4-3. The Mets won the next day’s spring game too, 3-2, notable mainly because Aramis Ramirez hit the first home run in the park’s history.
2003 – Pittsburgh helped the Reds christen Great American Ballpark. President George Bush tossed out the first ball in front of 42,000+ fans, but Cincy played second banana during the yard’s opening act. The Bucs spoiled the inauguration, winning 10-1 behind homers from Reggie Sanders, Kenny Lofton and Jason Kendall, all launched during a six-run second inning. Kris Benson got the win.
2006 – RHP Salomon Torres agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $6.5M pending a physical, extending his current deal through 2008. He worked in 94 games in 2006 (3-6-12/3.28), but after a subpar 2007 campaign, he was shipped to Milwaukee for Marino Salas and minor leaguer Kevin Roberts. Torres considered retirement over relocation, but decided to join the Brewers for the season before hanging up his mitt after posting a final 7-5-28/3.49 slash. Salas’ only MLB work came in 2008 for the Bucs (13 games, 1-0/8.47) while Roberts never climbed past Class AA Altoona.

Xavier Nady – 2008 Upper Deck Documentary

2008 – In an Opening Day shootout at Turner Field, the Bucs beat the Braves, 12-11, in 12 innings before 45,269 tomahawk choppers. Damaso Marte and Matt Capps blew a 9-4 ninth inning lead, capped by a fly ball dropping between LF Jason Bay and CF Nate McLouth with two outs that tied the score. Pittsburgh reclaimed the lead in the top of the 12th on a Xavier Nady three-run bomb, but Atlanta almost tied it again with two runs in their half before Franquelis Osario nailed down the win, his first MLB victory. The X-Man had four hits while McLouth, Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Doumit had three to prime a 17-hit attack.
2014 – Neil Walker blasted a 10th-inning, 3-2 changeup from Carlos Villanueva deep over the Clemente Wall to give the Bucs and Bryan Morris a 1-0 Opening Day win over the Cubs at PNC Park. The Kid’s longball was only the fourth 1-0 walk off homer in Bucco history: Bob Bailey (1965) Bill Virdon (1958), and 1958 Ted Kluszweski (1958) had the others. Francisco Liriano and Jeff Samardzija started the game, leaving it for the bullpens to decide. It also marked the first use of expanded replay, which had been rolled out in the Arizona Fall League, when Cubs manager Rick Renteria challenged a double play in the top of the fifth inning. It was to no avail as the original call on the field of out at first was confirmed.
2022 – MLB and the MLBPA formally announced the rule changes they had agreed upon in principle a week earlier as adjuncts to the new CBA. A current pace-of-play rule, the ghost runner on second base in extra innings, was retained. Unpopular as a concept, the auto runner did shorten games and preserve pitchers to serve its purpose. Changes included the “Shohei Ohtani” rule, allowing a P/DH to remain in the lineup as the designated hitter even if removed as a hurler, a return to nine-inning doubleheader games, and an active roster expansion to 28 players through May 1st to make up for short spring training camps.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/03/331-vince-lefty-bielecki-deal-torres-ky.html

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