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10/31: Milt May-Jerry Reuss, '24 Roster Roll, 2011 Exodus, JR Hired, Jim Leland '90 MOTY, '89 FA Class, Cobra Surgery, Frank Thomas Inked, HBD Yamaico, Dee, Ray, Harry & Hardie

Saturday, October 31, 2026 7:01

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1862 – RHP James “Hardie” (his middle name was Harding) Henderson was born in Philadelphia. He tossed for six MLB campaigns, his last stint being a five-game swan song with the Alleghenys in 1888, posting a 1-3/5.35 line (he did hit .278; Hardie also played some outfield and a smidgen of infield during his career). Hardie had a good arm but forgot the zip code in his final three seasons, issuing 134 walks in 271 IP. He umpired for a while after that before meeting his Maker at age 40 when he was run down by a trolley in Philadelphia.

1874 – C Harry Smith was born in Yorkshire, England. He was a reserve catcher from 1902-07, hitting just .202 as a Bucco after joining the club as a highly touted youngster following his rookie season with the Philadelphia A’s. When the Bucs signed him, the Pittsburgh Press gushed “Clever Harry Smith…is the catcher pronounced by all the writers who are in sympathy with the National League as being the greatest young backstop in the country.” He didn’t blossom quite as advertised: Harry spent nine years in the NL and hit .209 w/-0.6 WAR. Smith was a player and manager for the Boston Doves briefly and went on to become a minor-league skipper after his playing days ended.

1894 – OF Ray O’Brien was born in St. Louis. Ray was a lifetime minor league guy, playing from 1913-32 on various farm clubs, but he did get a taste of the show in 1916 with the Pirates when he hit .211 in 57 AB/16 games. After his Bucco trial, he put together his longest stretch with one club at Denver of the Western League, spending nine seasons with the Bears.

1924 – 1B Dee Fondy was born in Slaton, Texas. Dee joined the Bucs in 1957 from the Cubs after being dealt for Dale Long and Lee Walls, hitting .313 in 95 games. As a Bucco, he was the last player to bat at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn before the Dodgers switched coasts, grounding out. Fondy was a big guy but a contact hitter, and in the off season, the Bucs dealt him to Cincinnati for the more muscular Ted Kluszewski. Following his playing career he worked as a scout and in the FO for the Mets and the Brewers, where he signed Paul Molitor.

1955 – The Pirates signed Frank Thomas to an estimated $18,000 contract after an All-Star season when he belted 25 homers – he had a streak of six straight seasons in Pittsburgh with 23 or more dingers – though batting just .245. It was a good deal; he hit .284 with 83 homers and 278 RBI over the next three campaigns before being traded to Cincy as the centerpiece of a swap that landed Harvey Haddix, Don Hoak and Smoky Burgess for the 1959 Buccos.

Frank Thomas – 1955 Bowman

1973 – The Astros traded LHP Jerry Reuss to the Pirates for 22-year-old C Milt May. Reuss ended up 61-46-2 with a 3.52 ERA as a Buc and was a rotation mainstay for five seasons. The lefty worked six campaigns in Pittsburgh (1974-78, 1990) and spent his last MLB season as a Pirate. He did get around; Reuss was on the roster of eight different clubs at one time or another and won 220 games in a 22-year career. Milt had a quite respectable shelf life too, playing 11 more seasons, with the final two years (1983-84) a reunion gig with the Pirates. In his 15 campaigns, May hit .263 lifetime (.261 in his six Bucco years).

1980 – Dave Parker underwent knee surgery by Michigan Dr. Lanny Johnson to remove loose cartilage. The doc was recommended by Willie Stargell, who was also dealing from knee woes. The Cobra had been hobbled by the injury and a variety of other dings since after the All-Star Game. His knees survived the next season, but he had a series of other injuries (thumb, wrist, Achilles) during the remainder of his contract, exacerbated by weight issues, and signed with his hometown Cincinnati Reds as a free agent in 1984.

1987 – IF Yamaico Navarro was born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. Navarro got into 79 MLB games over four seasons; 29 were with the Pirates in 2012 after the Bucs sent RHP Brooks Pounders to KC for him. He hit .160 with an OPS+ of 27, then got a short look at Baltimore the next season after an off season deal, and that gig that ended his big league stay. Navarro has spent the last decade playing ball in Korea, Japan, the Dominican and Mexico.

1989 – Pitchers Neal Heaton and Jim Gott joined Doug Bair as free agents. Heaton negotiated a solid contract for three years/$2.7M and immediately paid dividends, earning his first All Star berth in ‘90 with a 12-9/3.45 line. The lefty wasn’t as sharp during the next campaign and was sent to KC before camp broke in 1992. Bair also reupped, but at age 40, his tank was empty and 1990 was his last campaign, split between the show and farm. Gott was coming off elbow surgery and the Bucs were unsure how he’d rebound from the injury. He ended up with the Los Angeles Dodgers for four years at the Blue’s back end (14-19-36/2.64 in 235 outings) before ending his career as a Pittsburgh Pirate in 1995.

Jim Leyland – 2020 Topps 1990′s Best Teams

1990 – Jim Leyland was selected as the National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America. He guided the Bucs to 95 wins and a division title, winning the first Pirates flag since 1979 and easily outdistancing the Cincinnati Reds’ Lou Piniella in the field manager polling.

2002 – The Pirates hired John Russell away from the Twins. He was a highly-touted minor league coach in the Minnesota organization but was happy to land a gig in the majors when the Bucs brought him aboard to be the third base/catcher coach. He was let go in 2005 with Lloyd McClendon and his staff and moved on to the Phils system, but returned in 2007 as Jim Tracy’s replacement as Bucco manager. He lasted until a 105-loss season cost him his job in 2010 and then went to work for the Baltimore Orioles until 2018. JR was then an instructor with Florida’s IMG Academy until returning to the managerial ranks as skipper of the PCL Tacoma Rainiers, Seattle’s top farm club, in ‘23.

2011 – The line forms at the right: the Pirates lost C Ryan Doumit, C Chris Snyder, SS Ronny Cedeno and LHP Paul Maholm to free agency the day after deadline rentals OF Ryan Ludwick and 1B Derrek Lee had declared themselves FAs. Dewey went to the Twins, Snyder to the ‘Stros, Cedeno to the Mets, Maholm to the Cubs, Ludwick to the Reds and Lee retired.

2024 – The World Series ended and the roster rumba began. Pirates who opted for free agency were OF Andrew McCutchen, C Yasmani Grandal and pitchers Aroldis Chapman, Ryan Borucki & Jalen Beeks. Also, a couple of minor league infield corner guys were inked as Indy 1B/3B Malcom Nuñez, 23, re-signed and one-time Bucco prospect IF Tristan Gray, 28, was claimed off waivers from the A’s.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2026/10/1031-milt-may-jerry-reuss-24-roster.html

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