4/1 From 1980: Openers & Walker Grannie, Pena - AVS, Ott - Thompson, JVM & Odell Deals, SS Search, '06 Top Pups; RIP Jerry & Frankie, HBD Axman
- 1980 – RHP Odell Jones was traded back to the Pirates by the Seattle Mariners for a PTBNL and cash after spending a season in the Great Northwest. Jones had pitched in Pittsburgh from 1975 & 77-78, then went to Seattle as part of the Enrique Romo swap. Pittsburgh eventually sent Larry Andersen to the M’s in October to complete the trade. Anderson, who was lights out in AAA Portland after coming over from Cleveland, pitched through 1994 in the show. Jones yo-yo’ed between the minors and majors, appearing in 137 MLB games and 168 MiLB games through 1989; he pitched in Mexico after that except for a brief 1992 stop in the Angel’s organization to cap his 21-year pro career.
- 1981 – 1B Jason Thompson was traded by the California Angels to the Bucs for LHP Mickey Mahler and C Ed Ott. Thompson took control of a muddled first base situation in Pittsburgh, which was transitioning from Pops Stargell (Doe Boyland and Eddie Vargas, the organizational heir apparents, never panned out), and held the starting job through 1985 until Sid Bream replaced him. The 29-year-old Ott was taken by surprise by the swap – he and the Pirates had been close to finalizing (at least in Ott’s mind) a six-year/$275K per season deal. Steve Nicosia and rookie Tony Pena shared the load after Otter’s departure eased the catching logjam. The deal was originally structured to be a three-teamer. The Yankees were set to send the Pirates 1B Jim Spencer, two minor league pitchers and $850,000 for Thompson, with $450,000 earmarked to pay Spencer’s salary, but Commissioner Bowie Kuhn nixed that part of the swap because of the money involved; at the time, $400K was the max amount allowed to switch hands. That no-go decision worked out bigly to the Pirates advantage – the 33-year-old Spencer hit .182 over 1981-82 and then retired while JT lasted five seasons with the Pirate, posting a .259 BA with 93 HR and a 125+ OPS during that span.
- 1983 – RHP John “The Axman” Axford was born in Simcoe, Ontario. Axford has 10 MLB campaigns on his resume, with two months spent as a Pirate in 2014. He was claimed off waivers from the Indians in August, where he had a workmanlike campaign, to strengthen the Bucco mid-inning pen during its playoff run. He slashed 0-1/4.14 and after the season signed with the Rockies; he was called up by Milwaukee very briefly in 2021 to end his MLB days.
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| John Axford – 2015 Topps |
- 1985 – The Pittsburgh Press speculated that the Pirates were in the market for a shortstop with a void in the lineup following Dale Berra’s trade to NY. The hot stove league stoked trade rumors featuring Johnny Lemaster as Tim Foli was on his last legs and Rafael Belliard was considered to be no more than a good glove backup. The Giants, though, wanted an arm and leg for Lemaster, so the Bucs wisely passed. He ended up with the Indians, and Pittsburgh did grab him on May 30th in exchange for a career minor leaguer (Lemaster had three hits in 23 games between the Bay and Tribe, which dropped his price considerably). A change of scenery didn’t help as he hit .155 here and the Pirates ended up with Sammy Khalifa taking the job. There were six SS’s who started that year – Khalifa, Lemaster, Foley, Belliard, Bill Almon and Jerry Dybzinski. Pittsburgh didn’t fill that particular infield hole until 1989 when they added Jay Bell to the lineup.
- 1987 – St. Louis sent OF Andy Van Slyke‚ C Mike LaValliere and RHP Mike Dunne (reports said the Pirates had their choice between him and another 20-something pitching prospect, LHP Joe McGrane) to Pittsburgh in exchange for All-Star C Tony Pena. Van Slyke and Dunne both thought it was an April’s Fool joke when first told of the trade, and Pena cried at the press conference when the deal was announced. AVS was one of the core players during the Pirates early nineties resurgence, Spanky formed a solid catching combo with Don Slaught and Dunne started strong (TSN named him the NL Pitching RoY for ‘87) before injuries derailed his career. Pena remained solid behind the dish but only hit above .263 once in his remaining 12 big league campaigns.
- 1991 – Frankie Gustine died at the age of 71. The versatile infielder was a three-time All-Star who played a decade for the Pirates (1939-48) after signing as a 16-year-old, compiling a .268 BA. After his MLB career, Gustine coached at Point Park College from 1968-74 (he’s in the school’s Hall of Fame). He became a successful local business owner, too, operating a popular namesake Oakland restaurant on Forbes Avenue located just a Texas League bloop away from the ballyard (now Hemingway’s); he also held part ownership of the Sheraton Inn at Station Square.
- 1996 – The Pirates Paul Wagner beat Kevin Brown (who was the ‘96 Cy Young runner up with 17 wins and an ERA of 1.89) and the Florida Marlins in the Season Opener at Joe Robbie Stadium, 4-0, before a crowd of 41,815. C Jason Kendall made his MLB debut, not only calling a shutout but going 3-for-4 at the plate with 2 RBI; the 22-year-old would go on to the All Star Game in his rookie campaign while batting .300 during the year. Jay Bell doubled home the other pair of runs. Wagner went 6-2/3 innings for the win with Jon Lieber and Dan Plesac finishing up.
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| Paul Wagner – 1996 Fleer |
- 2006 – The Pirates Top Ten prospects going into the year were IF Neil Walker, 1B Brad Eldred, CF Andrew McCutchen, 3B Jose Bautista, LHP Tom Gorzelanny, IF Yurendell DeCaster, C Ronny Paulino, RHP Josh Sharpless, CF Rajai Davis and OF Adam Bouve, a collection of youngsters who covered the full spectrum of baseball achievement. Another riser with a bullet, RHP Matt Capps, who was expected to start the year with AA Altoona, instead went north with the big team.
- 2011 – Neil Walker hit his first career grand slam on Opening Day at Wrigley Field off Ryan Dempster. He became the second player in team history to swat a grand salami on Opening Day, joining Roberto Clemente, who drilled one to start the 1962 season. It was the key blow in a 6-3 win over the Cubs, supplying enough offense to carry Kevin Correia and four relievers to victory.
- 2012 – One of the games great pinch-hitters, Jerry Lynch, died at the age of 82. He started and ended his career as a Pirate, spending seven seasons with the Bucs. He came off the bench to collect 116 pinch hits during his career, 18 of which were homers. Lynch lived in Allison Park when he passed away and was part owner of Champion Lakes GC, along with Dick Groat.
- 2021 – The Pirates got just three innings from their starter, Chad Kuhl, gifted the Cubs a run, ran themselves out of an inning, stranded 15 runners during a 3-for-20 w/RISP afternoon and still beat the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Opening Day by a 5-3 score. Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a two-run homer (he became the second Pirates rookie to go long on Opening Day, joining Johnny Ray who first did the deed in 1987) while Adam Frazier, Kevin Newman and Jake Stallings had two hits each, with the Cub pitchers helping by walking 11 Buccos. But the key to the win was a shutdown bullpen. In its six innings, six Pittsburgh relievers (Duane Underwood Jr., Clay Holmes, Sam Howard, David Bednar, Chris Stratton and Richard Rodriguez) gave up a run on a hit and walk with 11 whiffs to help the Pirates overcome their own shoot-myself-in-the-foot antics to start the season on a winning note. Howard claimed the victory and Ric Rod earned the save.
- 2022 – The Pirates traded 20-year old RHP Listher Sosa to Arizona for IF Josh VanMeter. The infielder had four years in the show, split between Cincinnati and the D-Backs with a .210 career BA. The move, though minor, was widely panned when JVM was added to the active roster as the Bucs were already knee-deep in upper level infield prospects jousting for attention. Josh played in 67 games, filling six positions and DH’ing while batting .187. He was DFA’ed in early September, spent a couple of years in the minors and retired in 2025.
Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/04/41-from-1980-openers-walker-grannie.html
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