Busy date for trades of note, plus we also have four former Pirates born on this date.
The Trades
On this date in 1899, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Louisville Colonels completed a trade that changed both franchises for history. Louisville owner Barney Dreyfuss became part owner of the Pirates and under an agreement with his old team, he paid $25,000 and traded four players for his pick of the Louisville roster. That group included Hall of Famers Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke and Rube Waddell, as well as key players for the Pirates in the 1900s in Tommy Leach, Claude Ritchey and Deacon Phillippe. The Louisville club eventually folded and the Pirates actually took possession of all of their signed players who were still on the team at the time. The Pirates would go on to win three straight pennants (1901-03) and four players they acquired were still around for their 1909 World Series title. I plan to have a much bigger recap of this trade in the future, as there was much more to it than the 12-for-4+cash deal that it is recognized as being today. The original trade as reported by Louisville papers was 13 players going to Pittsburgh, while six were sent to Louisville.
On this date in 2005, the Pirates traded pitcher Dave Williams to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for first baseman Sean Casey and cash. Casey had batted over .300 five times in his career to that point. He lasted with the Pirates just 59 games before being traded to the Detroit Tigers on July 31, 2006. He hit .296 with 29 RBIs before the trade. Williams had a 4.25 ERA in 334.1 innings for the Pirates over four seasons. After the trade, he pitched a total of 73.1 innings in the majors, with nearly half of that time coming for the 2006-07 New York Mets.
On this date in 1977, the Pirates teamed up with the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets and Texas Rangers to complete a four-team, 11-player trade. The Pirates gave up Al Oliver and Nelson Norman in the deal while getting back future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven from the Rangers and outfielder John Milner from the Mets. Blyleven would win 34 games over three seasons in Pittsburgh and add another two wins during the 1979 postseason, helping the Pirates to their fifth World Series title. Milner hit .263 with 34 homers and 149 RBI’s in 417 games over five seasons in Pittsburgh, while posting an impressive 150:97 BB/SO ratio. Norman was a minor leaguer at the time. He played just 198 big league games, including a very brief return to Pittsburgh in 1982. Oliver did well in Texas, batting .319 with 49 homers and 337 RBIs in four seasons.
On this date in 1948, the Pirates traded infielder Frankie Gustine and pitcher Cal McLish to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Cliff Chambers and catcher Clyde McCullough. Gustine was an all-star for three straight seasons prior to the trade, but he played just 85 more big league games after the deal. He played 1,176 games over ten seasons in Pittsburgh. McLish had a 5-11 record over parts of two seasons with the Cubs then went five years between Major League appearances. Chambers threw a no-hitter with the Pirates in 1951, the first in team history since 1907, then was traded shortly afterwards. McCullough played three seasons for the Pirates and he hit a career high .297 in 1951. The Pirates won this trade, getting solid performances from each player, then trading them when they still had value. McCullough was an All-Star in 1953, though he had just 0.3 WAR for the season.
On this date in 1947, the Pirates and Brooklyn Dodgers hooked up for a six-player deal with three players from each team involved. The Pirates traded infielders Billy Cox and Gene Mauch, along with pitcher Preacher Roe to the Dodgers for outfielder Dixie Walker and pitchers Hal Gregg and Vic Lombardi. The trade was a major win for the Dodgers. Roe went 93-37 in seven seasons in Brooklyn after going just 34-47 for the Pirates. Cox had the second best career following the trade playing seven years for the Dodgers, playing a steady third base for a team that won three NL titles during that stretch. Mauch only played 16 games with the Pirates, but lasted just 12 games with the Dodgers before they lost him via waivers.
Walker had two good years with the Pirates before he retired, batting .306 in 217 games, but his best years were behind him at that point. He was 37 at the time of the trade, a four-time All-Star who received MVP votes in seven seasons while with the Dodgers, including a second and third place finish. His defense was poor late in his career, so it limited his overall value and playing time. Lombardi went 14-19, 4.60 in 343.1 innings with the Pirates over three seasons. His first year was much better than the last two seasons. Gregg lasted three years with the Pirates as well, though his mound time was much more limited, with 98.1 innings total over that time.
On this date in 1939 the Pirates traded pitcher Bill Swift to the Boston Bees for pitcher Danny MacFayden. Swift had been with the Pirates since his rookie season in 1932. He won at least 11 games in each of his first five seasons in Pittsburgh and a total of 91 wins over his eight seasons. MacFayden was a 14-year veteran with 125 career wins at the time of the trade. Despite strong credentials on both sides, neither did much for their new team. Swift won just four more Major League games over his last three seasons, while MacFayden went 5-4 3.55 in 35 games in his only year with the Pirates. He was released following the season and pitched just 15 more Major League games.
The Players
Jim Pagliaroni, catcher for the 1963-67 Pirates. He played 490 games for the Pirates, hitting .254 with 49 homers and 185 RBIs. His best season came in 1965 when he played a career high 134 games. He hit 17 homers that season and drove in 65 runs, both career highs. He reached double figures in homers for six straight seasons (1961-66). After the 1967 season, Pagliaroni was sold to the Oakland Athletics. He finished out his 11 year big league career, two seasons later with the Seattle Pilots, during their only season in existence. Pagliaroni signed with the Boston Red Sox right out of high school in 1955 at 17 years old. He was required to remain with the Red Sox because of his bonus ($85,000) qualified him for the Bonus Baby rule. The basics of the rule during its existence said that if a player signed for a bonus over a certain amount, he had to remain with the Major League team. It was put in place to keep the teams with the most money from stockpiling all of the prospects. Pagliaroni had just one plate appearance during the 1955 season, then spent the next two years in the Army.
When he returned in 1958, he went to the minors for the next 2 1/2 seasons, returning to the Red Sox on August 1, 1960. He hit .306 in 28 games in 1960, then put together two solid full seasons at the plate before coming to the Pirates. On November 20, 1962, the Pirates gave up Dick Stuart in a four-player deal with the Red Sox. They acquired Pagliaroni and pitcher Don Schwall. Pagliaroni spent five full seasons with the Pirates, accumulating 10.3 WAR over that stretch. During his final season in Pittsburgh, he was relegated to a backup role, then rookie Manny Sanguillen emerged from the minors and played regularly. Pagliaroni played his final Pirates game in early August, then finished out his time in Pittsburgh on the disabled list with a neck injury. His sale price to the Oakland A’s was $75,000 total, though he needed to make the team for the Pirates to get the full amount. He did and was doing great until a broken hand caused him to miss nearly two full months in the middle of the season. He also missed more than a month in 1969 due to a broken finger, which limited his playing time in his final year to 54 games. He was released after the season and retired.
Jack Rowe, shortstop for the 1889 Alleghenys. He was a star player back in the day, before hitting .259 in 75 games for the Alleghenys. Pittsburgh purchased him shortly after the 1888 season ended from the Detroit Wolverines as part of a package deal that included young star pitcher Pete Conway. Rowe was a big part of Detroit’s 1887 NL championship team. He hit .318 with 46 extra-base hits, 135 runs scored and 96 RBIs. He saw a significant decline in his stats in 1888, with a .271 average and a 134 point drop in his OPS. He held out for the beginning of the 1889 season along with Deacon White, who was also acquired from the Wolverines over the off-season. Rowe managed Buffalo of the International League during that time. Both players insisted that they were to be paid part of their purchase price (which amounted to $1,250 each) before they joined the Alleghenys. Rowe debuted with Pittsburgh on July 8th (same day as White) and he played 75 of the final 77 games of the season at shortstop. When the Player’s League formed in 1890, both White and Rowe jumped from the Alleghenys to the Buffalo club in the PL. He played 125 games and hit .250 with 76 RBIs and 77 runs scored, but it ended up being his last season in the majors. He played for Lincoln of the Western League in 1891 and Buffalo of the Eastern League in 1892-93 to finish out his pro career. Rowe hit .286 career in 12 seasons, scoring 764 runs and driving in 644 runs in 1,044 games. He was an excellent defensive player, mostly playing catcher early in his career, before moving full-time to shortstop in 1886. Rowe led all catchers in fielding percentage in 1884, then led all shortstops in fielding percentage in 1890, making him the Player’s League all-time leader in that category. His brother Dave spent seven seasons in the majors as a player, two of those spent as a player/manager. They were teammates in 1879 with a minor league team in Rockford, then again in 1891 with Lincoln.
Kid Camp, pitcher for the 1892 Pirates. In 1890, he debuted in pro ball with Seattle of the Pacific Northwestern League at 20 years old. He’s credited with a 12-9, 0.94 record in 181 innings. In 1891, Camp pitched 459.1 innings for Seattle, while posting a 31-20 record. The next season, he made his debut in the majors for the Pirates, getting one start and three relief appearances before returning to minor league ball in Seattle. Camp pitched 21 innings, allowing 23 runs (16 earned), finishing with a 0-1, 6.26 record. According to reports, he was pitching with both hands in games, though he was a natural right-handed pitcher who had an unorthodox delivery and relied up his fastball, but he threw a whole mix of pitches to keep batters guessing.
The Pirates had an interesting financial matter arise with Camp. They gave him an advance on his salary, which wasn’t rare back then, but he wasn’t with the Pirates long enough to earn the amount that they already paid out. He was sold back to Seattle on June 22, 1982. As of December of 1892, they were still looking to collect $117 from Seattle, as they assumed his debt to the Pirates when he was released and sent back to his old team. What is more interesting is that the Pirates signed Camp away from Seattle, despite the fact that he was put on their reserve list in October of 1891. He was signed in mid-February by Russ McKelvy, who played one game for the Pirates (1882 Alleghenys) and was now a scout for the team. The Pirates excuse amounted to saying that if they didn’t sign him, some other MLB team would have instead.
Camp had one other brief trial in the majors, going 0-1, 6.55 in three games (two starts) for the 1894 Chicago Colts (Cubs). That 1894 season would be his last in pro ball under unfortunate circumstances. At the age of 25, Camp passed away from consumption (tuberculosis) a month prior to the 1895 season. His brother Lew Camp pitched three seasons in the majors, the last in 1894 as a teammate of Kid (his real name was Winfield Scott Camp). His nickname appears to come from a comparison to Hall of Fame pitcher Kid Nichols, who starred in the minors in Omaha, which was Camp’s hometown, though it may also have something to do with playing alongside his brother during his first season. The local papers in 1890 called him “Win” Camp at times, Young Camp and also Kid. He was the youngest player on his team. In the minors in 1890, he won a long distance throwing contest, where he threw the ball 386 feet in the air.
Charlie Wacker, pitcher for the Pirates on April 28, 1909. In his only appearance for the Pirates, and his only big league game period, Wacker threw two innings in relief, giving up two unearned runs on two hits and a walk. He came in during the seventh inning of an 8-2 loss to the Cardinals and finished the game for the Pirates. The 25-year-old, 5’9″ lefty, got his big league chance after going 27-8 in 1908 for Evansville of the Central League. He was originally with the Cincinnati Reds during Spring Training, but he didn’t make the team and got put on waivers. The Pirates claimed him on April 8th and he joined the club on April 14th. Part of his brief time with the Pirates was spent at home after the birth of his son, though one paper reported it as him tending to his ill mother and another said his ill wife. An interview cleared up that the baby was the reason he was home for the better part of a week in early May. Wacker was sent to Milwaukee of the American Association on May 19th, then days after he returned to the Pirates, and he was subject to recall at the end of the season. In February of 1910, he was sold to Dayton of the Central League for $650 (which went to Milwaukee). He played minor league ball until 1911, finishing with a 76-54 record over five seasons in the minors. Wacker went by his middle name James (or Jimmy) in the minors, but he was referred to by his first name (Charles or Charlie) with the Reds and Pirates, which is why you will find him sometimes listed as Jimmy. He had the nickname “Demon” in the minors.
