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1/29: Alou/Brunet - Briles/Davalillo, Clark, Murry & Swift Deals, Jose & Bobs Sign, Lloyd, Branch, Maxie & Hans HoF, Lloyd Lurks, Haak & Simon Skip, '39 Rooks, Roberto Honors, Ian Who; RIP Lee, HBD Jason, Frank & Denny

Thursday, January 30, 2025 19:31

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1848 – Harmar Denny McKnight, son of local politico Robert McKnight, was born on Western Avenue in Allegheny City. He founded the Allegheny Baseball Club of Pittsburgh on October 15th, 1881, making him the father of the Pirates. McKnight managed the club during the 1884 season and was also the first president of the American Association. The Alleghenys bolted to the NL in 1887 following a flap over signing Sam Barkley, after which McKnight sold the club to William Nimick.
1882 – OF Frank Delahanty was born in Cleveland to a baseball family – his brothers, Ed, Jim, Joe and Tom all played in the show. After a four-year run in MLB as a bench player, Frank jumped to the Federal League in 1914, starting briefly with Buffalo and closing out his big league time with the Pittsburgh Rebels in 1914-15, batting .239. He went on to a life of turmoil after baseball, becoming a politician who retired after a bribery scandal and then turned to bootlegging. He saw the light at age 50, found a legit job and became a regular fan of his hometown nine, the Indians, before passing away after a serious fall at the age of 82.
1914 – C Mike Simon jumped from the Pirates to the St. Louis Terriers of the Federal League. He was a light-hitting (.244 BA) backup caddy for five years to George “Mooney” Gibson and joined the grass is greener exodus to the upstart league in search of PT. He spent two seasons in the FL, moved to the Brooklyn Tip-Tops in 1915, and hit just .196 over three-years to end his big league career.
1928 – The Pittsburgh Press’ sports page lede was “Lloyd Waner: Can He Continue Dazzling Pace?” A couple of column inches beneath the banner, the article pondered “Fans Wonder if Youth Will Lose Luster After Year of Brilliance” following a rookie campaign that saw Little Poison finish third in batting with a .354 BA and lead the league in runs, plating 133 times. They needn’t have fretted during the winter – Lloyd patrolled center field for 17 seasons in Pittsburgh with a .319 BA while laying the groundwork for his entry into the Hall of Fame.

Bill Swift – 1934 Goudey

1932 – RHP Billy Swift was traded by the Kansas City Blues of the American Association to the Pirates for RHP Bob Osborn and C Eddie Phillips. It was a good deal: Osborne never pitched in the majors again and Phillips played for three more seasons while Swift worked eight years for the Bucs, posting 91 wins. Swift was a pitch-to-contact guy; he didn’t walk many hitters (1.9/9 innings) and struck out almost no one (3.4/9 innings) to post a solid 3.57 ERA in Pittsburgh.
1936 – Honus Wagner, along with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson, was selected by the BBWAA to become the first Hall of Fame class. They had to wait until July 12th, 1939, for the enshrinement, though, until the museum in Cooperstown was opened and first four inductee classes were installed en masse in a legendary who’s who debut for the HoF.
1939 – Before the Pirates headed for camp, UPI published an article on six rookies to watch. Three ended up pretty good ballplayers – Bob Elliott was a six-time All Star, Frankie Gustine played in the Midsummer Classic three times and Ken Heintzelman pitched for 13 years in the show. Alas, the other three players – Fern Bell, Mel Preibisch and Jack Juelich – managed parts of just five major league seasons among them, none lasting past 1940.
1949 – The Pirates purchased RHP Murry “Dick” Dickson from the Cardinals for $125,000. During his five-year stay in Pittsburgh, he went 66-85 with a 3.83 ERA and had a 20-win season in 1951 while the Pirates won only 64 games that year. In fact, during his Pittsburgh years, he accounted for nearly 25% of the Pirates wins (66-of-274) before being traded to the Phillies. Known as a soft thrower with a variety of pitches and a rubber arm, he worked more than 200 innings in 10 straight seasons, beginning when he turned 31 in 1947.
1959 – RHP Bob Friend signed a contract for $30,000, making him the highest paid Pirates pitcher to date, surpassing Rip Sewell’s $21,500 salary during the 1940s. Friend certainly earned the deal, with a 22-14/3.68 slash, his second All-Star bid and a third place finish in the Cy Young balloting in 1958.

Bob Friend – !959 Topps

1961 – OF Max Carey was voted into the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee and inducted on July 24th. In 17 seasons with Pittsburgh, he collected 2,400+ hits, batted .287 and stole 688 bases. Carey joined the Bucs with the intention of becoming Pittsburgh’s everyday shortstop, but thanks to Honus Wagner, Max spent the entirety of his long Pirate career as an outfielder.
1963 – RHP Lee Meadows passed away in Daytona Beach, Florida, of heart disease at the age of 68. “Specs” (he was one of the first ball players to wear glasses in MLB) spent the last seven campaigns of his 15-year career as a Pirate, slashing 88-52-1/3.50 after 157 starts (183 outings) with 58 wins from 1925-27 (19-20-19) and tossing for two Bucco World Series clubs. A bad arm and other injuries bit him beginning in 1928, and he retired in 1932 after serving time in the minors, did a little coaching and then settled into the life of an IRS clerk.
1966 – The Bucs had a busy weekend. First they signed LHP Bob Veale, who was coming off a 16-12/3.08/229 Ks All-Star campaign, for an undisclosed amount. Then they drafted OF Del Unser and RHP Frank Brosseau in the January draft of previously selected but unsigned players. Unser deferred and went to Washington in the first round of the June draft, launching a 15-year career, while Brosseau signed and pitched for Pittsburgh, albeit for just three games, his entire MLB workload. The Pirates also picked a couple of guys well outside the box, former Pitt quarterback Fred Mazurek and Duquesne basketball guard Willie Somerset. In his senior season as a Panther, CF Mazurek batted .465 to finish second in the NCAA BA race and he made All-American. Fred gave the proposal some consideration, but decided to stay with the Washington Redskins and continue with law school (he graduated with a JD from Catholic U). Willie had no baseball background and was drafted thanks to the “good athlete” theory. He stuck with hoops and went from the NBA to the ABA to the EBA before retiring to the life of a pharmacist.
1967 – GM Branch Rickey and OF Lloyd Waner were elected to the Hall of Fame by a unanimous vote of the Special Veterans Committee and were inducted on July 24th. Rickey was GM from 1950-55; his teams were terrible but he began the process of building a farm system that paid off in 1960. “Little Poison” spent 17 years with the Pirates, mainly in CF, and hit .319 during that time.

Roberto Clemente – 1967 Topps sticker

1967 – Roberto Clemente was the Dapper Dan Man of the Year and was presented his award in front of a sellout crowd at the Hilton Hotel. He hit .319 with 29 HR, 119 RBI and 105 runs scored in 1966. Shortstop Gene Alley was also recognized by the DD’s at the ceremony for his strong play.
1971 – The Pirates traded OF Matty Alou and LHP George Brunet to the St. Louis Cardinals for OF Vic Davalillo and RHP Nellie Briles. Davalillo spent 2-1/2 years in Pittsburgh as a role player, hitting .290 while Briles spent three full seasons as a Bucco, winning 36 games with a 2.98 ERA, highlighted by a two-hit shutout win over the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. At 33, Alou had three campaigns left in him and hit .294 over that time while Brunet, 36, would make seven appearances for the Cards to close out his 15-year MLB dance card. But he had a second act ready that he played to perfection, pitching in Mexico until he was 54 (where he was called “El Viejo” or “The Old Man”). Brunet tossed a no-hitter, set a league record by authoring 55 shutouts and was selected into the Mexican Hall of Fame to cap a 36-year career in pro ball.
1971 – Roberto Clemente was in Houston to accept the Tris Speaker Award from the local BBWAA chapter. He told the writers and 800 fans gathered at Astroworld that “If you have an opportunity to accomplish something that will make things better for someone coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this earth,” which became perhaps his most widely cited quote.
1973 – RHP Jason Schmidt was born in Lewiston, Idaho. He was drafted by Atlanta and came to the Pirates in 1996 as part of the Denny Neagle deal. In 5-1/2 seasons with Pittsburgh, he went 44-47/4.39 before being traded to San Francisco, where he had three All-Star campaigns. After six years on the Bay, he signed a three-year/$47M deal with the Dodgers in 2007, but it was his last contract – a bad shoulder limited him to just 10 starts in those three seasons and ended his career.

Jason Schmidt – 1997 Circa (reverse)

1988 – Super scout Howie Haak, 76, left the Pirates by agreeing to a buyout of his final contract year. The “King of the Caribbean” (who in truth scouted widely for Pittsburgh, not just among Latino prospects), had worked for the Bucs since 1950. Among Howie’s signees were Tony Pena, Manny Sanguillen, Rennie Stennett, Dick Stuart, Bob Veale, John Candelaria, Omar Moreno, Al McBean, Ramon Hernandez and Orlando Merced along with many others. The reason for his departure wasn’t his age, but like many Pirates in the front office, he had a hard time coexisting with then-GM Syd Thrift and moved on to the Houston Astros before retiring to his rocking chair in 1993.
1992 – OF Dave Clark joined the Bucs as a free agent after being released by Kansas City in the off season, agreeing to a minor league contract. Clark was called up from AAA Buffalo in June and stayed on the big team’s roster until the 1996 deadline when he was traded to the Dodgers. He hit .278 with a 111 OPS+ over that five-year span as a corner OF’er and bench stick.
2004 – The Bucs inked 15-year vet RHP Jose Mesa, 37, to a one-year contract with an option (he would earn $2.8M in two seasons, per Baseball Reference) after a dismal season in Philly. The vet rediscovered his mojo and went 5-2-43/3.25 in 70 appearances during the 2004 campaign, falling three saves shy of Mike Williams’ club record. He faded badly in 2005 (2-8-23/4.76) and was released after the season, catching on with Colorado. He had expressed a desire to close (he wanted to reach 300 career saves and his Pittsburgh stint put him over the top; he finished his career with 321 saves), and the ninth inning slot was wide open for him – Mike Williams had been traded at the 2003 deadline and heir-apparent Julian Tavarez signed with the Cardinals earlier in the month after failing to reach a contract agreement with the Buccos. Mesa hung on until he was 41, toeing the rubber for the last time in 2007 with the Phils.
2004 – Pirates prospect RHP Ian Snell, who went by the name Ian Oquendo (his wife’s surname) since 2000, returned to his original name per press wire reports. He would reshuffle that again in 2009 when he decided to go by Ian Davilo-Snell (Davilo was his stepfather) during the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Ian brought an entirely new meaning to the phrase “player to be named later.”

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/01/129-aloubrunet-brilesdavalillo-clark.html

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