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11/30: Jerry Drafted, Kevin, Roberto, Russ & Pete Signed, Mooney Returns, '21 Arb Class, Sharon Dealt, Wicky Lost; RIP Les, HBD Kyle, Craig, Matt, Joe, Clyde, Tacks & Lefty

Saturday, November 30, 2024 7:06

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1870 – LHP Frank “Lefty” Killen was born in the North Side, then still Allegheny City. He spent six seasons with the Bucs (1893-98) and twice led the NL in wins, with 36 (a team record) in ‘93 and 30 in ‘96. Lefty’s line with Pittsburgh was 112-82/3.97. The team released him during the 1898 campaign, and he closed out his 10th MLB season in 1900. Killen trivia: he ended Wee Willie Keeler’s 44-game hitting streak on June 19th, 1897 when Lefty and the Bucs stopped the Orioles, 7-1. He went 30-18 in 1896 and was the last 30-game winner in team history.
1877 – C Clifford “Tacks” Latimer was born in Loveland, Ohio. Tacks played 13 years of pro ball with five whistle stops in the show, including a four-game visit with the Bucs in 1900, as part of maneuvering that moved most of Louisville’s roster to Pittsburgh. Latimer’s Pirates audition was short-circuited by a bout of malaria caught during spring camp though he went 4-for-12. He got his nickname in the minors: though he was a quiet man, one of his teammates dubbed him Tacks, a name usually reserved for guys who play to (and sometimes over) the line using the same reverse logic that names a 6’6” player Shorty. He did get tacky after he retired. He got a job as a railroad cop, and his boss got into a brawl with Tacks, ending badly when Latimer shot his knife-wielding foe four times, killing him. Unfortunately, the slugs were in the back and the judge sentenced him to life in prison. But Tacks was a model con, sheltering the warden & guards during a violent gang escape, then helping douse a prison fire to eventually earn a parole. He kept his nose clean after that, passing away in Loveland in 1936. Tacks’ trivia: Ex-Pittsburgh catcher Doggy Miller managed him at minor-league Minnesota and converted Tacks from the outfield to catcher.
1901 – Pirate coach and scout Clyde Sukeforth was born in Washington, Maine. A longtime member of the Brooklyn Dodger organization (he was the scout on Jackie Robinson), he followed Branch Rickey and came to Pittsburgh as a coach/scout in 1952. Sukeforth was one of the key FO voices heard pushing the selection of Roberto Clemente in the 1954 Rule 5 draft. He turned down the chance to succeed skipper Bobby Bragan in 1957 and retired as a coach after the season, but remained with the Pirates as a scout and minor league manager through 1962.

George “Mooney” Gibson – 1932 Press cartoon by Berger

1931 – George “Mooney” Gibson (he earned the nickname either through his moon-shaped face or because one of his early teams was called the Mooneys; take your pick) returned for his second spin as Bucco manager, replacing Jewel Ens. He lasted until early in 1934, posting a 200-159 record and two second place finishes. Overall, the Canadian Gibson (he was from Ontario) had a 401-330/.549 record with Pittsburgh. He got his start as a long-time Bucco catcher, playing from 1905-1916 in Pittsburgh, hitting .238 but leading the NL in fielding three times with a toss-out rate of 46% against would-be base stealers. Mooney was the Pirates everyday catcher in 1909 when they won the World Series against the Tigers.
1950 – Pittsburgh signed the Boston Braves’ OF Harold “Pete/Pistol Pete” Reiser, who had been a three-time all-star for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early-to-mid 40s, as a FA. Reiser hit .271 in 74 games as a Bucco bench player and was released following the season. Per Mark Stewart of SABR “As a boy, his friends and family called him Pete, after the cowboy movie hero Two-Gun Pete. He loved westerns, and as a child often walked around the neighborhood with a pair of toy six-shooters holstered to his belt. Eventually his nickname became Pistol Pete.”
1953 – The Pirates selected OF Jerry Lynch from the New York Yankees in the Rule 5 draft. Lynch spent the first and final three campaigns of his 13-year career as a Pirate (he spent the middle seven seasons with the Reds), batting .263. He was one of baseball’s great bats off the bench, collecting 116 pinch hits during his career, joining ex-Bucs Manny Mota, Matt Stairs and Smoky Burgess on the all-time roster. Lynch is also high on the career pinch hit home run list (he was first when he retired) with 18. He kept his local roots watered when he teamed up with Dick Groat to own and operate the Champion Lakes Golf Course in Ligonier.
1954 – Coach Joe Kerrigan was born in Philadelphia. A first round draft pick of the Expos in 1974, Joe tossed for five seasons before coaching. He was John Russell’s pitching coach in Pittsburgh from 2008-10 after serving as PC for Montreal, Boston (briefly as manager in 2001) and Philly with a bullpen coaching gig for the Yankees. Kerrigan was a volatile guy and also known for his “Pitchers Pal,” a mannequin he had his pitchers throw against instead of a live batter. The Pirates bullpen nicknamed the dummy “Oyez,” one of Joe’s favorite terms.

Joe Kerrigan – photo by Rob Rogers/Getty

1959 – The KC Athletics drafted Dave Wickersham from the Pirates in the minor league Rule 5 draft. The righty went on to have a 10-year MLB career (including 1-0-1/3.48 with Pittsburgh in 1968 though most of the year was spent in AAA Columbus), highlighted by a 19-win season in 1964 with the Detroit Tigers. He finished his career where it started in KC with the Royals in 1969.
1971 – OF Matt Lawton was born in Gulfport, Mississippi. Matt spent a few months of his 12-year career in Pittsburgh in 2005, coming to the Bucs from the Indians for Arthur Rhodes and then getting sent to the Cubs at the 2005 deadline for Jody Gerut. Lawton swung a decent stick while here, batting .273 w/10 HR. But after the 2005 season, he received a 10-game suspension after testing positive for PEDs. He played in 11 games for Seattle in 2006 as his MLB curtain call.
1972 – The Pirates sent OF Dick Sharon, their 1968 first round draft pick, to the Detroit Tigers for LHP Jim Foor and righty Norm McRae. Sharon hadn’t reached the majors yet while Foor and McRae had cups of coffee in the show. It ended up a very minor deal – Sharon played three years in the show and got a chance to show his stuff, but hit .218 in 242 games before spending his last campaign with Boston’s AAA Pawtucket club. Foor got into three games for the Pirates in 1973 and was traded in the spring, ending his MLB days. McRae never pitched again in the majors, working in the Mexican League for five years before retiring.
1976 – OF/1B Craig Wilson was born in Fountain Valley, California. He played as a semi-regular for the Bucs from 2001-06 with a line of .268/.360/.486, 94 HR and 284 RBI, along with a 28% career K rate. Wilson tied the MLB single-season record for pinch-hit home runs with seven in 2001. Hand injuries in 2005 and shoulder surgery in 2007 wound down his career.
1981 – Les Biederman, who covered the Pirates for the Pittsburgh Press for 31 years, passed away at age 74 in Fort Myers, Florida. He joined the Press in 1930 and was on the Bucco beat from 1938-69 (minus his years in the military during WW2), also serving as sports editor from 1966-69. Additionally, Les was the city’s Sporting News correspondent for 20 years, president of the BBWAA, the PA Sportswriter of the Year in 1959 and perhaps most impressively, raised $500K for Children’s Hospital through his Press Old Newsboys Scoreboard Fund.

Kyle Crick – 2020 Pirates image

1992 – RHP Kyle Crick was born in Fort Worth, Texas. A first round pick (49th overall) out of high school in 2011 by the Giants, he got into 30 games with San Francisco in 2017 (0-0/3.06) before joining the Bucs as part of the Andrew McCutchen trade. He didn’t make the team out of camp, but was called up mid-April to join the big club and worked his way into the set-up role for Felipe Vazquez with a 3-2-2/2.39 slash and 65 K in 60-1/3 IP. His ERA doubled in 2019 thanks to a barrage of homers, and his season ended on September 10th when he broke his finger in a clubhouse brawl with Felipe Vazquez. 2020 was little better although injuries put him on the shelf for all but seven outings. He was erratic in ‘21 and the Pirates released him in July; the Chicago White Sox picked him up. Kyle then worked in the Mets system and now is an MLB free agent.
2012 – The Pirates officially signed free agent catcher Russell Martin, a three-time All-Star, to a two-year/$17M deal, the largest free agency contract they had ever negotiated (since surpassed by Frankie Liriano’s three-year/$39M deal in 2014). The catcher got a $2M signing bonus, $6.5M for 2013 and $8.5M for 2014. The deal was a bit of role reversal as the Pirates outbid the Yankees, Martin’s last team, which reportedly offered two-years/$12-14M. Russ was among the league’s top defensive catchers and had a .290/.402/.430 slash in his final Pirate season. He left after the 2014 campaign, signing a five year/$82M deal with Toronto. His contract remains the largest FA deal ever tendered by the Bucs for a player who came from outside the organization.
2021 – The Pirates left a gaping hole behind the plate when they traded Jake Stallings the day before (they actually had no catcher listed on their 40-man roster) and acted quickly, signing two-time Golden Glove Roberto Perez, formerly of the Indians/Guardians, to a one-year/$5M contract (the deal became official the next day). Perez had a lifetime BA of .206 over eight campaigns and was coming off a pair of sub-.200 seasons, albeit struggling through shoulder injuries. The Pirates brass accepted that as the club needed a bridge for young lower-level prospects Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez & company, and Perez fit the need for a vet presence for a young staff. Alas, true to form, he played 21 games before losing the remainder of the year to injury.
2021 – The ‘21 arb class had their day. The FO inked SS Kevin Newman to a $1.95M contract, a nice bump after he had made $598,000 last season. The Bucs also tendered contracts to OF Bryan Reynolds (he signed later for two years/$13M) and RHP Chris Stratton, who was dealt to the Cards at the deadline. The team didn’t make an offer to RHP Chad Kuhl, who was 2021′s Opening Day pitcher. He wanted to start and the Pirates had him pegged as a reliever, resulting in his departure to join the Rox and their rotation. Earlier in the off season, the FO signed OF Ben Gamel, traded C Jake Stallings, and cut ties with 1B Colin Moran, LHP Steven Brault, LHP Chasen Shreve, IF Wilmer Difo, C Michael Perez and IF Erik Gonzalez, the other members of the ‘21 arb class. Out of 12 arb eligible players, Reynolds was the only one left standing in Pittsburgh after the ‘22 season.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/11/1130-jerry-drafted-kevin-roberto-russ.html

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