We have two former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date, plus a major trade.
The Trade
On this date in 1985, the Pirates traded outfielder George Hendrick and pitchers John Candelaria and Al Holland to the California Angels for outfielder Mike Brown and pitchers Bob Kipper and Pat Clements. Brown was 25 years old, in his third season with the Angels, and his first full season in the majors. He was hitting .268 with four homers in 60 games prior to the deal. Kipper had just turned 21, with only two games of Major League experience, both coming that April. He was in the minors at the time, and reported to Triple-A for the Pirates. Clements was a 23-year-old lefty rookie, with a 5-0, 3.34 record in 41 games and 62 innings pitched. Candelaria was in his 11th big league season, all spent with the Pirates, where he went 124-84. He had a high of 20 wins in 1977, but at the time of the trade, he was pitching out of the bullpen all year. The 32-year-old Holland had been acquired earlier in the season for Kent Tekulve. He was a closer for the Phillies in 1983-84. The Pirates used him 38 times, with three saves and a 1-3, 3.38 record to his credit. Hendrick, the veteran outfielder, did not play well in his only season in Pittsburgh, and was not well-liked by the fans for a lack of effort at times.
After the deal, Holland pitched great for the Angels, posting a 1.48 ERA in his 15 appearances. Hendrick played even worse in California, hitting .122 in 16 games. He was also signed for three more years and provided almost no value (-0.5 WAR) during his time with the Angels. Candelaria moved back to a starting role for the Angels and went 7-3 in 13 starts. The next season he was even better, going 10-2, despite missing nearly half the season. For the Pirates, Mike Brown hit .332 in the last 57 games of 1985, looking like a key future piece for the team for many years to come. That success didn’t last into 1986 however, as he hit .218 with four homers in 87 games. He played just 18 more games after that season, all with the 1988 Angels. Clement had a 3.12 ERA in 92 relief appearances over the 1985-86 seasons for the Pirates before being included in the deal that brought Doug Drabek to the Pirates from the Yankees. Kipper was a player to be named later in the deal, not joining the Pirates organization for another two weeks. He stayed around Pittsburgh for seven seasons, compiling a 24-33, 4.22 record in 244 games, 44 as a starter.
The Players
Tim Wakefield, pitcher for the 1992-93 Pirates. He was originally an eighth round draft pick of the Pirates in 1988, taken as a hitter. It was quickly decided that he had a better chance to make it as a pitcher and early in 1989 he made the switch. In his second full season of pitching, Wakefield went 15-8, 2.90 in 183 innings at Double-A. Up to Triple-A the next year, he went 10-3, 3.06 for Buffalo in twenty starts before being called up to the Pirates right before his 26th birthday. Wakefield, with his dancing knuckleball, pitched great for the Pirates down the stretch, as they looked for their third straight NL East pennant. He went 8-1, 2.15 in 13 starts, pitching 92 innings. He was just as good in the NLCS against the Braves, throwing two complete game wins. As good as the 1992 season was for him, the following year was a disaster. His record dropped to 6-11, 5.61 and he spent part of the year at Triple-A. He did so bad in 1994 in the minors, that the Pirates released him by the following April. The move did not work out well for Pittsburgh, but it turned around Wakefield’s career. He ended up spending 17 seasons in Boston, where he went 186-168, 4.43 in 590 games, 430 as a starter. He pitched over 3,000 innings in his career and finished with exactly 200 wins. Wakefield did not pitch well in the playoffs after leaving Pittsburgh, posting an 8.00 ERA in 54 innings, but he picked up two World Series rings.
Bucky Veil, pitcher for the 1903-04 Pirates. His real named was Fred, but the baseball world knew him as Bucky, a nickname he got because he attended Bucknell University. He had played briefly in the low-level of the minors in 1900-01, but after graduating college, Veil joined a strong Pirates team that had won two straight NL pennants. He made six starts and six relief appearances during that 1903 season, as the Pirates easily won their third straight title with a 91-49 record. Veil went 5-3, 3.82 in 70.2 innings. In the first modern day World Series, he came in to relieve Sam Leever in game two, after he gave up two runs in the first inning. The Pirates lost, but Bucky threw the last seven innings of the game, allowing just one run. He pitched just one game for the 1904 Pirates, giving up three runs in 4.2 innings. It was said that he was sick that day, but begged into the start, and after pitching well for two innings, he weakened and lost his control. It ended up being his last Major League game. Veil didn’t pitch at all the rest of the 1904 season. In the minors in 1905, he won 21 games for Columbus of the American Association. Despite pitching well at a high level, he remained in the minors, pitching until his retirement in 1908.
