This day in Pirate history--May 27, 1960.

[Bobster21]

The Pirates sent minor leaguers Julian Javier (2B) and Ed Bauta (P) to St.L. for Vinegar Bend Mizell and infielder Dick Gray. Javier was a top prospect but was blocked by Mazeroski and immediately became the starting 2Bman for St.L. The Cards assigned Bauta to AAA and the Pirates did the same with Gray.



This trade had it's origins in the winter of 1959 when longtime workhorse starter Ron Kline was traded to the Cardinals in the deal that brought Gino Cimoli and Tom Cheney to the Bucs. Bennie Daniels replaced Kine in the starting rotation in 1960 but struggled badly from the start. Joe Brown attempted to obtain Don Cardwell from the Cubs but the Cubs dealt him instead to the Phillies on May 13th. Cardwell made the struggling Curt Simmons expendable and the Phillies released Simmons on May 17th. Joe Brown thought Simmons might be able to replace Daniels in the rotation but offered him only a minor league contract, wanting to see Simmons pitch some AAA games before making a decision on the rotation. The Cardinals were willing to take a chance on Simmons by signing him on May 20 and immediately putting him on their major league roster. St.L. also recalled 19 year old Ray Sadecki from AAA and put him in their rotation. Simmons and Sadecki were both LHPs which made Mizell expendable. Joe Brown was still looking for a replacement for Daniels, who had not been an adequate replacement for Kline. So on May 27th, the deal was made for Mizell.



At the time of the trade Mizell was 1-3 with a 4.55 ERA for St.L. But for the Pirates, he went 13-5 with a 3.12 ERA for the rest of 1960 including 3 shutouts. It was the best season of his career and along with Vern Law, Bob Friend and Harvey Haddix, gave the Pirates a formidable starting rotation that took them to the championship.