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1/19: Gonzo - LaRoche; Stewie, Kip, Craig, Lee, Happy Rabbit Sign; '95 Strike; RIP The Man; HBD Nick, Scott, Chris & Ed

Thursday, January 19, 2023 7:01

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1872 – SS Ed Spurney was born in Cleveland, Ohio (some sources list his B-Day as the 9th, c’ est la vie). Ed had a brief three-game stand with the Bucs in 1891 as a 19-year-old, and that was the sum of his MLB career. But he had a decent run, albeit for 17 late-June innings, as Spurney went 2-for-7 with two walks and scored twice while making 9-of-10 plays at short. He joined the club after regular SS Tun Berger lost his job, auditioning while the Bucs were in Cleveland after being touted by several Spider players, and beat out fellow try-out dude, Youngstown’s Eddie Bechtold. When they were told afterward that Spurney had won the competition, both claimed to be Spurney; manager Ned Hanlon couldn’t remember one Ed from the other and had to have the Cleveland players identify who was who before the game, per David Nemec’s “MLB Profiles.” Shortstop ended up a problematic position for the Pirates that season; seven guys manned the spot with mid-season acquisition Frank Shugart finally winning the job. Ed, unfortunately, was playing with a bum arm suffered earlier in the year and was released, moving on to Michigan Law School with some occasional ball playing with the Cleveland Athletic Club. Nocturnal trivia: Spurney was a sleepwalker, and his minor league teammates would lay bats around his bed to trip him up before he began on one of his sandman safaris, according to Nemec.

Stan Rojek – 1949 Bowman

1950 – SS Stan Rojek ended a brief holdout by signing a one-year/$12,500 contract, the mid-point between the $14,000 he had earned in 1949 and the $11,000 offered by the Pirates for 1950. Stan’s cut was due to an anemic .244 BA, and it didn’t get better. The 31-year-old lost his starting job to Danny O’Connell during the season and was traded the following May.
1963 – OF Scott Little was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. Scott came to the Bucs in 1987 from the Mets as part of the Bill Almon-Al Pedrique deal. He spent most of the time in the minors, going 1-for-4 in three games for the Bucs in 1989. In 1991, after three injury-nagged farm campaigns, the Bucs converted the 28-year-old from player to staffer, and he’s been a minor league skipper/coach for the Pirates, Dodgers, Nats, Rangers and Rockies since.
1973 – Utilityman Chris Stynes was born in Queens. He joined the Bucs in 2004 as a $750K free agent to plug a hole at the hot corner, but hit just .219 and was released in August, ending his MLB days. Stynes had a pretty good MLB run, though, playing 10 years with a career .275 BA while filling in at every position but pitcher, catcher and first base.
1979 – OF Lee Lacy signed on as a free agent with the Pirates, agreeing to a six-year/$1.02M contract. Lacy averaged over 100 games per season in his half-dozen Bucco campaigns, hitting .304 over that span, but was also implicated in the Pittsburgh coke trials. When his deal ended, he went off to Baltimore, playing three more years in his last MLB tour of duty.

Nick Burdi – 2019 Topps Chrome

1993 – RHP Nick Burdi was born in Downers Grove, Illinois. He could touch 100 MPH at Louisville and was drafted in the second round (#46 overall) by the Twins in 2014. In 2017, he had TJ surgery and Minnesota hoped to sneak him through the Rule 5 draft. They couldn’t, with the Phils taking him and then selling his rights to the Pirates for $500 K in international pool money. He pitched 11 minor league rehab innings after recovery and was rostered by the Bucs in September to begin his Rule 5 residency clock, making a bumpy MLB debut on September 11th against the Cards that was followed with a scoreless frame against the Brewers. But he was bitten by the injury bug again in 2019 – in June, he underwent thoracic outlet surgery that cost him the rest of the season. He worked some in 2020, had TJ surgery in the off season, was DFA’ed and claimed by San Diego as a free agent after he refused his minor league assignment. He’s now a Cub.
1995 – Reacting to the player’s strike, the Pirates announced that they were building a roster of replacement players. Without naming any names of players already inked, the FO said none of them would be minor league prospects, leaving ex-big-leaguers, undrafted college kids and fringy free agents as fair game. It became moot when the strike ended the day before the season was supposed to open, and the MLB played a short season in ‘95. On another front, the team announced it hired a New York agency to plow the path for the sale of the team as the City was nearing its deadline as a broker. The town fathers weren’t pleased and Mayor Tom Murphy called it saber-rattling.
2004 – RHP Kip Wells and 1B/OF Craig Wilson avoided arb by signing contracts with big pay raises – Wilson jumped from $327K in 2003 to $1.15M in 2004, while Wells leapfrogged his previous $375K salary and inked a $2.575M deal. Both remained Pirates until 2006 when they were dealt at the deadline – Wells went to Texas for Jesse Chavez and Wilson to the Yankees for Shawn Chacon.
2007 – The Bucs traded LHP Mike Gonzalez and SS Brent Lillibridge to the Atlanta Braves for 1B Adam LaRoche and minor league 1B/OF Jamie Romak. Gonzo ended up injury-bitten, Lillibridge became a utility player for six seasons, Romak had a couple of cups of coffee in the show and LaRoche held a starting job at first for several clubs after putting up a slash of .265/58/213 in three Bucco seasons. He retired in 2016 after a White Sox edict limited his teenage son’s access to the clubhouse, walking away from $13M due him for the campaign.

Stan Musial – 1959 Topps Sports Mag All Star

2013 - Hall of Famer “Stan the Man” Musial of the Cards, who was born in Donora and is on the short list of all-time local stars, died at the age of 92. His 24 All-Star Game selections are more than anyone except Hank Aaron. When he retired after the 1963 season, Musial had an NL record 3,630 hits – 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road – and a .331 batting average. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969 on his first appearance on the ballot. Ben Cosgrove of Sports Illustrated wrote that his nickname was dropped on him not by St. Louis fans but by a discerning Brooklyn crowd. “The story goes that at Ebbets Field on June 23, 1946, Dodgers fans took to chanting “Here comes the man” when Musial, who routinely destroyed Dodger pitching, stepped to the plate. Longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Bob Broeg heard the chant, stuck it (Stan the Man) into his next column, and the most fitting nickname in baseball history was born.”
2016 – C Chris Stewart’s two-year/$3M contract extension became official. Stew’s deal was for $1.35M in 2016 and $1.4M in 2017, with a $1.5M option/$250K buyout for 2018, making a guaranteed $3M deal for the veteran catcher. Stew made it through the first two campaigns and then was bought out in 2018 after an injury-filled 2017 season, finishing his career that season between Atlanta and Arizona. The Pirates also claimed RHP AJ Schugel off waivers from Seattle. He slashed 6-2-1/3.00 from 2016-17 in 68 outings, but missed 2018 due to injury and became a free agent after the campaign. He’s bumped around in the minors since and is working with the Milwaukee Milkman of the American Association, an indie “MLB Partner League” farm club.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2023/01/119-gonzo-laroche-stewie-kip-craig-lee.html

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