Posted: Tuesday, November 12, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

You know, I figured one day while I would be looking for a subject for a certain day, especially during the offseason, I would come up blank. Well today seems to be the day. The only player who ever appeared in the majors, in a Pirates uniform, that was born on this date is Dave Otto who pitched for this team in the forgettable year of 1993.

Posted: Sunday, November 10, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born on this date in 1899 was the greatest 3rd baseman in Pirates history, Harold "Pie" Traynor. Pie would make his ML debut on Sept.15,1920. He would play for the Pirates his whole career straight thru till 1937.

Starting as a shortstop, he was moved to 3rd base to start the 1922 season. He would be the Bucs everyday 3rd baseman till 1934, then playing sporadically his last 2 seasons (he didn't appear in any games during the '36 season). He would continue after his playing days to manage the Bucs till the end of the 1939 season.

Posted: Saturday, November 9, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born on this date, in 1867, was Fred Roat who played for the Pirates before they were known as the Pirates. Way back in 1890, they were called the Alleghenys (also known as the Innocents because of the lack of experienced players on the team that year).

Since not much is known about Fred, I thought I would give a brief look at the team he played for that year and show everyone that things aren't as bad now as they have been in the past.

Posted: Saturday, November 9, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born today in Pirates history, back in 1886, was star pitcher Nick Maddox, who had a Mark Fidrych type career. Making his debut as a 20 year old rookie with the Bucs in 1907, Nick would play his first game on September 13th. He would go on to pitch a no-hitter before the end of the season, finishing with a 5-1 record and an ERA of 0.83.

By the next year, he would establish himself as an ace for the staff. He finished tied with future HOF'er Vic Willis in wins with 23. He helped keep the Bucs in the pennant race until the last day of the season. He would win 8 games in a row at one point. At the time, he was the quickest to win 20 games doing it in his 30th appearance.

Posted: Friday, November 8, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born on this date in 1920 was former Pirates outfielder Wally Westlake. He played for the team from 1947-1951. His first season he finished 3rd on the team in homers and rbi's behind future Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg and Ralph Kiner.

Starting 97 games in right field and playing sporadically in centerfield, he would lead the team in assists and fielding percentage that same season.

Posted: Thursday, November 7, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born on this date in 1932 was the man referred to as Dr Strangeglove, Dick Stuart. Stuart made his Pirates debut at the age of 25 in the middle of the 1958 season. He was known throughout his career for his lack of fielding skills, but it was his bat that made Ted Kluszewski expendable for the Bucs.

After an impressive rookie debut (16HR 46 RBI's in 254 at-bats), Stuart continued to improve his second season. He hit .297 with 27 HR and 78 RBI's, all 3 team leading numbers and he did all this in just 397 at-bats.

Posted: Wednesday, November 6, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in 1930, the Pirates trade Dick Bartell to the Phillies for shortstop Tommy Thevenow and pitcher Claude Willoughby. Bartell had 3 seasons of hitting over .300 with the Bucs by the age of 22.

He would go on to bat .284 over his 18 year career, amassing over 2100 hits, 1130 runs scored and 442 doubles. He would annually be among the league leaders in sac. hits and hit by pitches.

Posted: Monday, November 4, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history in 1976, the Bucs traded away starting catcher Manny Sanguillen and $100,000 to the A's for their manager Chuck Tanner.

Tanner, who had led the A's to a second place finish in 1976, would go on to lead the team to a 96 win season his first year, finishing in 2nd place just 5 games behind the Phillies.

Posted: Sunday, November 3, 2002

by 81omar_moreno

Born on this date in Pirates history, two great players who starred for World Championship teams. Dick Groat (1930) who was the NL MVP during the Pirates 1960 W.S. season and Tommy Leach (1877) who was a star OF/3B for the 1909 W.S. winning team.

Dick Groat made his Pirates debut at the age of 21 in 1952, having never played minor league ball. He hit .284 as a rookie shortstop. The next year, however, he would serve in the military and would not be back withthe Bucs till the 1955 season.

Posted: Saturday, November 2, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this day in 1960, Vern Law was announced as the winner of the NL Cy Young award, beating out Warren Spahn for top honors. Vern, the father of future Bucs player Vance Law, went 20-9 on the season with a 3.08 ERA. He set career highs in wins, strikeouts (120) and innings(271) and led the league in complete games (18).

Vern was the winning pitcher in the 1960 All-Star game, his only all-star appearance in his career. He went 2-0 in 3 starts in the 1960 World Series, winning games 1 and 4 and started, but got no decision in game 7.