By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history in 1881 Terry Turner, who played briefly for the first Pirates team to win the NL pennant, was born. Turner's Pirates career didn't amount to much, but he is known for 3 things during his career. First, he is the Indians all-time leader in games played with 1619. He is also known as being one of the first players to use a headfirst slide, a technique he used all the time because feet first slides hurt his ankles. Finally, the last feat he is known for, is probably one he would've rather not had. Terry went almost 3200 at-bats and almost 8 full seasons without hitting a home run. In fact, in his last 13 seasons, Turner hit just 1 home run.

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history in 1948 the greatest 3rd baseman in team history was elected to the Hall of Fame. Pie Traynor received 93 votes, 2 more than what was needed for election, just 1 year after losing out by 2 votes. Also elected was Herb Pennock, who had passed away just a month prior to election. All-time great players, Al Simmons, Bill Terry and Charlie Gehringer all narrowly missed out on getting elected, but all 3 would eventually make it with Terry taking the longest, finally making it in 1954.

By 81omar_moreno

Preacher Roe, who was born in 1915, was a member of the Pirates for 4 seasons before gaining fame as a Dodger. He made his debut in 1938 with the Cardinals, pitching one game and then didn't appear in the majors again till 1944 with the Bucs. He would go 13-11 3.11 for a Pirates team that would finish in 2nd place. The next season Preacher had his best year in Pittsburgh, going 14-13 2.87 while leading the NL in strikeouts with 148. He also made his 1st of 5 career all-star appearances.

By Wilbur Miller

As we all know, the real villains in the Pirates’ seventeen-year losing streak are the Nutting family. Oh, we probably can’t hold them accountable for the first three years, before they had any stake in the team, but they probably should be blamed for it anyway. We just don’t know exactly how they did it yet, thanks to all the Pittsburgh journalists being in cahoots with the Nuttings and not asking them any questions. But we can definitely blame them for the last fourteen years, since we know that the Nuttings have been hiding behind the curtains and calling all the shots throughout that time.

Here’s a timeline that shows how the Nuttings have exercised their iron control over the Pirates:

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in 1999 the Pirates traded Tony Womack to the Diamondbacks in exchange for outfielder Paul Weichard and a player to be named later (that player turned out to be Jason Boyd who was covered briefly in the Feb. 23rd article). Tony Womack was a 7th round draft pick by the Bucs in the 1991 amateur draft. He made his ML debut on September 10, 1993 at the age of 23. From 1993-1996 Tony played parts of 3 seasons for the Bucs, but appeared in just 37 games total.

By 81omar_moreno

Born on this date in Pirates history in 1874 was the greatest player in team history, the greatest shortstop ever and and one of the greatest players in ML history. John "Honus" Wagner began his career with the Louisville Colonels in 1897 as a center fielder and hit .338 his rookie year. After just missing .300 in 1898 (.299) Honus would not hit under .300 for the next 15 seasons. He drove in 105 runs that year, but would top that the next season driving in 113 runs while hitting .336 with 43 doubles (2nd most in the NL).

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history in 2000 the Bucs traded outfielder Al Martin to the Padres for John VanderWal and 2 minor league pitchers, neither of whom still play for the Bucs. Martin had been with the Bucs since 1992, playing his first full season the next year. He had 7 seasons with double digits in homers and steals missing 8 straight by just one homer in the strike shortened 1994 season. He had his best season in 1996 when he hit .300 with 101 runs scored,38 steals, 18 HR's,and 72 RBI's, all career highs. In VanderWal's first season with the Bucs he hit .299 with 94 RBI's in just 384 at-bats. In 2001 he hit .278 in 97 games before being traded to the Giants along with Jason Schmidt for Ryan Vogelsong and Armando Rios.

By Richard A. Mathews

Contrary to common belief, I really do listen to the men and women who cover MLB for a living.

Contrary to common belief, I don't pretend to be the personal friend let alone peer of these individuals who have spent their lives either playing, coaching, scouting or covering the game.

Maybe just maybe Mr. Bob Walk might recognize me if we met on a busy street. While I have heard Mr. Walk speak at fund raisers and Pirate public events, Bob Walk doesn't know me any more than he knows any other Pirate fan.

But if you want to hear Mr. Walk's thoughts on this 2010 Pirate season shared with a common fan during our time spent together on a snowy Saturday while our wives shopped, please consider reading on.

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history in 1922 Frankie Zak was born. He spent his entire career with the Bucs during the war years from 1944-46. During his rookie year he was the opening day shortstop and he was named to the all-star team. The game was played at Forbes Field that year on July 11th and the Pirates had 4 players on the team, Vince Dimaggio, Rip Sewell and Bob Elliot along with Zak. Frankie was named to the team as a replacement for injured Reds shortstop Eddie Miller.

By 81omar_moreno

Only 2 former Pirates players born on this date, and each played just one year so I'll give a brief history of the team one of them played on. First, born in 1936 was Ted Savage, who was an outfielder for the 1963 Pirates. He made he ML debut the previous season with the Phillies and hit .266 with 39 RBI's and 16 stolen bases in 127 games. The next season Savage joined the Bucs and struggled as the Pirates 4th outfielder. In 85 games, he hit .195 with 14 RBI's while spending most of his playing time in left field, but also appeared in right and center. Ted played 7 more seasons for 6 teams and finished with a .233 average over 642 games.