Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in 1965, the Pirates traded away long time ace, Bob Friend who won 191 games for the Bucs from 1951-1965 (For more on Friend's Pirates career see Nov 24th history). In return the Pirates received from the Yankees, pitcher Pete Mikkelsen. Pete would have a good year out of the bullpen going 9-8 3.07 with 14 saves in 71 appearances. He would finish 2nd in the league in games pitched and 6th in saves.

Posted: Monday, December 9, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Well, if you read yesterdays article you'll remember that the Bucs traded for Bert Blyleven on Dec. 8th,1977. Three years and one day later on this date in Bucs history, the Pirates traded Bert Blyleven along with Manny Sanguillen to the Cleveland Indians for Bob Owchinko, Victor Cruz, Gary Alexander and Rafael Vasquez. Vasquez never appeared for the Pirates in the majors.

Posted: Sunday, December 8, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in 1977, the Pirates and Rangers pulled off a blockbuster trade as the Bucs sent Al Oliver and Nelson Norman to the Rangers for Bert Blyleven and John Milner. Bert, coming off a 14-12 season, went 14-10 for the 1978 Bucs team and finished 4th in the NL in strikeouts with 182.

During the 1979 season, Blyleven went 12-5 with 172 SO's, getting just those 17 decisions despite having 37 starts. In the playoffs that year he would win game 3 of the NLCS, throwing a complete game in a 7-1 series clinching win. During the World Series, Bert would get a no decision in game 2, but win game 5 in relief of Jim Rooker. In his last season with the Bucs, Bert would go just 8-13 3.82, but finish 5th in the league in K's. It would be the 10th straight season Bert would finish 7th or better in the league in strikeouts.

Posted: Saturday, December 7, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history there's no trades or signings, but lots of former Bucs born on this date, so I'll give a brief description of all of them.

First, one of the more colorful players in baseball history appeared briefly for the Bucs in 1969. Bo Belinsky, born in 1936, pitched 8 games for the Bucs that season, starting 3 and going 0-3 4.58. Belinsky was traded after the season to the Reds for pitcher Dennis Ribant. Ribant was a former Bucs player who did not pitch in the majors after the trade. Belinsky was known more for his off-field antics, appearing in tv shows and dating many famous actresses at the time. He did, however, get off to a great start in the majors going 5-0 and throwing a no-hitter just a month into his career in 1962, but it pretty much went downhill from there.

Posted: Friday, December 6, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in 1983, the Pirates traded outfielder Mike Easler (see Nov. 29th history) to the Red Sox for pitcher John Tudor. It was an unpopular trade at the time, according to me at least, because I was just a little kid and Mike Easler was one of my favorite players on the team.

It became worse for me when Easler went on to hit .313 with career highs in homers (27) and RBI's (91) in his first year in Boston. John Tudor played just one year for the Bucs and went 12-11 3.27 before moving to the Cardinals where he had his best season 21-8 1.93 with 10 shutouts. The 1984 Bucs staff had some good arms in its first four starters, Rick Rhoden, John Candelaria, Tudor and Larry McWilliams who went a combined 50-42. Unfortunately, the rest of the staff went just 25-45 and the Bucs finished last in the NL east that year.

Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Born on this date in Pirates history, in 1963, was former shortstop Sammy Khalifa, who played for the Bucs from 1985-1987. Sammy was the everyday shortstop for the 1985 season after getting called up to the majors for the first time on June 25th of that year. As a rookie he would bat .238, with 31 RBI's, in 95 games for a team that finished just 57-104.

The 1986 season Khalifa split time with Rafael Belliard who finally stuck in the majors after playing small parts of the previous 4 years. In the end Belliard got most of the playing time as Sammy struggled with the bat, hitting just .185 with 4 RBI's in 151 at-bats. Sammy also filled in at 2nd base for a few games, while playing 60 games at short and making 10 errors.

Posted: Thursday, December 5, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in 1927, Pirates outfielder Paul Waner was named NL MVP. He became the first Pirates player to win and only winner until Dick Groat won in 1960. Waner would receive 72 votes, 6 more than the Cardinals Frankie Frisch.

Waner was just 24 at the time and only in his 2nd season. He batted a career high .380 and also set career highs in rbi's (131) and hits (237) while striking out just 14 times in 623 at-bats. He also led the NL in RBI's, hits, triples, total bases and average, while finishing 2nd in doubles and 4th in runs. His hits and rbi totals that year are still team records to this day.

Posted: Monday, December 2, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

Only 3 players born on this date appeared in uniform for the Pirates and none had much of a career with them. No major trades either so Dec 3rd is historically a slow day for the Bucs, maybe they will do something today, so I can write about it next year.

Players born on this date include lefty reliever Lou Marone who pitched for the Bucs during the 1969 season and appeared in one game in 1970. Born in 1945, Marone made his major league debut at age 23 on May 30, 1969 vs the Astros. Lou would go 1-1, 2.55 with 25 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings over 29 games. The '69 Pirates would finish in 3rd place with a 88-74 record.

Posted: Monday, December 2, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history in 1967, the Bucs traded Bob Oliver to the Twins for pitcher Ron Kline. Ron was coming off a season where he went 7-1 with 5 saves in 54 relief appearances. Kline, who was 36 at the time, would have a great year in 1968 as he went 12-5 with 7 saves in 56 appearances and post an ERA of just 1.68. He would struggle, however, the next season as he played in just 20 games for the Bucs before moving on to the Giants then Red Sox and then the Braves in 1970. He would end his career appearing in just 5 games that year. Kline posted a 1-3, 5.81 record in 1969 with the Bucs.

Posted: Sunday, December 1, 2002

By 81omar_moreno

On this date in Pirates history in 1965 and 1966, the Pirates made 2 major trades.

First in 1965 the Bucs traded Ozzie Virgil and Joe Gibbon to the Giants for outfielder Matty Alou. Matty, who was coming off a season where he hit just .231, would lead the league in average hitting a career high .342. He would also finish top-10 in the league in hits, triples and stolen bases that year while patrolling center field for the Bucs. More on Alou in a future article (I promise).