Posted: Friday, November 1, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history in 1955, the Pirates hired manager Bobby Bragan. He replaced Fred Haney, who "led" the Bucs to three last place finishes from 1953-55. They racked up 299 loses and has just a .353 winning percentage.

Bragan, who had no major league managerial experience before joing the Bucs, was a player for 7 seasons as an infielder and catcher for the Phillies and Dodgers.

Posted: Thursday, October 31, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born today in 1956 was Gary Redus, a member of each of the last 3 Pirates pennant winning clubs(90-92). Gary came over from the White Sox in the summer of 1988 with Dave LaPoint for Mike Diaz and Barry Jones.

Despite batting just .197 in 88, Gary came back to prove to be a nice platoon player at 1st base throughout his Pirates career. He split time with Sid Bream, although Sid played more often. He also played in the outfield when needed.

Posted: Wednesday, October 30, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born on this day in 1874 in Yorkshire, England was a man named Harold Smith. He was a member of the Pirates first World Series team (and 1st ML W.S. overall) in 1903.

Smith, a catcher, had an injury plagued career. Twice he played just 1 game in a season before missing a significant amount of time with an arm injury in 1905. In 1906 he was ill all but 1 game and even in 1903 he missed time with a hand injury

Posted: Tuesday, October 29, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born today in 1960 was a player who some Pirate fans might want to forget. Today is his birthday, so we will remember Lee Tunnell. He made his debut as a September call up in 1982 at the age of just 21.

Lee looked at least promising from the beginning, going 1-1 with a sub 4.00 era. During his rookie year, he helped the 83 team along with veteran starters John Candeleria, Rick Rhoden and Larry McWilliams, to a 2nd place finish. Tunnell finished with an 11-6 record and a 3.65 era. He also finished tied for 5th in the league in shutouts.

Posted: Monday, October 28, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born on this day in 1944 was Jim Bibby, a key member of the last Pirates team to win the World Series. Bibby went 12-4 that year during the regular season, pitched 10+ innings in the world series and started game 4 and 7 without a decision.

Bibby made his only all-star appearance the next season going 19-6. He finished 3rd in wins and in the NL Cy Young voting that year. Bibby finished his Pirates career in 1983 with a 50-32 overall record over 5 seasons.

Posted: Sunday, October 27, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Happy 67th birthday to Pirates great Bob Veale, who from 1964-1970 had double digits for wins every year, including a 67-44 record during a 4-year stretch.

Originally published, March 30, 2005

By Stephen Zielinski

This will be a short essay which takes player bashing and a few related issues as its topics. I wrote it, I must admit, because I find puzzling the frequency of and the intensity which some display when tearing into ball players. ‘Why bother?’ is a question I occasionally ask myself when I read someone’s harangue. That is, why trouble oneself with the game if… Yet, many do trouble themselves!

Originally published, August 24 2007

By Wilbur Miller

Here we go again.

The Pirates’ season is taking on a familiar look. Like every other season under Dave Littlefield’s maladministration, this one ended in June. The epitaph is the same every year: “When do the Steelers open camp?” Apathy and disinterest set in among the fans. And like most other years under Littlefield, one other thing happens once the season becomes pointless: Then, and only then, do the Pirates start to look something like a major league team.

Originally published, August 25 2007

By Wilbur Miller

Dave Littlefield has spent much of his tenure as GM of the Pirates evading the consequences of failure. For somebody who’s produced nothing but failure in over six years, he’s been surprisingly successful at it. It’s really only in the past year or so that the last vestiges of support for Littlefield have dried up among the more dedicated fans. For a long time, Littlefield was able to blame everything on Cam Bonifay. When that excuse got old, the spin shifted to, "We're young and improving." At long last, we’re reaching the fruition of Littlefield’s radical, never-been-tried-before plan of building through the farm system. He must be doing a good job, we're supposed to think, because players are graduating to the majors.

Editor's note:
Originally published, Monday, August 26, 2002

By Richard A. Mathews

Never in the history of this site have I seen so many of you obviously deeply upset at what may or may not happen come this Friday. As I have stated many times, I am keenly aware that few fans have a greater love of the game than the folks who honor me by visiting this home for Bucco Baseball. I also know many of you are confused as to why I have repeatedly refused to take sides in the current battle between the union and ownership.