Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date.
Tanner Anderson, pitcher for the 2018 and 2021 Pirates. He was a 20th round draft pick out of Harvard in 2015 as a senior. He was a regular for all four years on the Harvard staff, but he pitched a total of just 143.1 innings during that time. It took Anderson three years to make his big league debut. He pitched for two short-season clubs in 2015 after signing, going 5-0, 2.83 in 28.2 innings over 15 relief appearances split between Bristol of the Appalachian League and Morgantown of the New York-Penn League. He split the 2016 season evenly between Low-A West Virginia of the South Atlantic League and High-A Bradenton of the Florida State League, with similar results at each level. He went 3-3, 3.58 in 88 innings that season, mostly pitching in long relief, with three starts in 36 appearances. That fall he pitched in the Arizona Fall League, where he had a 3.76 ERA in seven starts, though he pitched just 26.1 innings, so it was a limited pitch count each game. In 2017, he was a starter at Double-A Altoona of the Eastern League for most of the season. Anderson was 10-8, 3.38 with 97 strikeouts in 133.1 innings spread over 19 starts and 11 relief appearances. He spent most of 2018 in Triple-A with Indianapolis of the International League, where he had a 2.64 ERA and six saves in 61.1 innings spread over 39 relief appearances. He came up to the majors for a time in July, then returned in September. He pitched six games in relief for the 2018 Pirates, posting a 6.35 ERA in 11.1 innings.
Anderson was traded over the 2018-19 off-season to the Oakland A’s for minor league pitcher Wilkin Ramos. Anderson made five starts for the A’s in 2019, going 0-3, 6.04 in 22.1 innings. In Triple-A that season, he had a 6.00 ERA in 96 innings, though that’s not as bad as it sounds because he was playing in the ultra hitter-friendly Las Vegas, where the team ERA was 5.20 that season. During the shortened 2020 season, Anderson played for Sioux Falls in the independent American Association on loan from the A’s, though he was limited to 11 innings due to a 10.64 ERA. He was pitching at Triple-A for the A’s in 2021 until they released him in mid-June, despite a 3.60 ERA in 12 relief appearances. He signed with the Pirates a short time later and went to Indianapolis, where he had a 2-4, 4.17 record in 36.2 innings over four starts and 13 relief appearances. The Pirates called him up on September 30th for a start and he allowed two runs in five innings. He finished the year on the injured list, though he was on the active roster for a total of four days. He’s currently playing in Tijuana of the Mexican League during the 2022 season. Anderson has a deceptive delivery with a high leg kick and he pitched with a lot of command and throws to contact, which limits his pitch counts. In 407.1 minor league innings between 2015-2019, he had 113 walks and 280 strikeouts. In his big league career, he is 1-3, 5.82 in 38.2 innings over five starts and seven relief appearances.
Jacob Brumfield, center fielder for the 1995-96 Pirates. He was signed by the Chicago Cubs at 18 years old as a seventh round pick out of Hammond HS in Louisiana in the 1983 draft. That’s a school that has produced just three draft picks and Brumfield is the only one to make the majors. He batted .257 with three homers and a .740 OPS in 42 games while playing for Pikeville in the Appalachian League during his first season. He missed all of the 1984 season due to injury, then was released in April of 1985. It wasn’t until August of 1986 that he signed with another team. Brumfield was picked up by the Kansas City Royals and spent six seasons in their system before becoming a free agent in October of 1991. He finished out the 1986 season with Fort Myers of the Class-A Florida State League, where he hit .317 in 12 games. Playing most in Fort Myers in 1987, he had a .254 average, 63 runs, 36 extra-base hits, 45 steals and a .732 OPS in 123 games. Brumfield played nine games in 1987 for Memphis of the Double-A Southern League, then stayed there for the next two full season. He batted just .226 with a .633 OPS in 128 games with Memphis in 1988, but he had 70 runs scored and 47 steals in 54 attempts. He then hit .228 with 43 runs, 17 extra-base hits and 53 walks in 104 games in 1989. He had a better OBP due to a higher walk rate, but his slugging dropped to .289, giving him a lower OPS (.625) than the previous year. His stolen base total dropped to 28 that year, and he was caught stealing 12 times.
Brumfield ended up spending most of the 1990 season back in High-A (Baseball City of the Florida State League), where he hit .336 in 109 games, with 66 runs, 24 doubles, 60 walks and 47 stolen bases. He was promoted to Triple-A Omaha of the American Association, where he finished the season with a .325 average in 24 games. The 1991 season was his final year with the Royals and he spent it at Omaha, where he hit .267 with 62 runs, 24 extra-base hits, 36 steals and a .683 OPS in 111 games. He signed with the Cincinnati Reds a month after reaching free agency and he made their 1992 Opening Day roster, making his Major League debut on April 6, 1992. He spent three seasons in Cincinnati, playing a total of 195 big league games. As a rookie in 1992, he hit .133 in 24 games, getting just 33 plate appearances. The rest of the season was spent with Triple-A Nashville of the American Association. The next year saw him make it to the majors on May 19th, and then he remained with the Reds for the rest of the season. Brumfield hit .268 with 40 runs, 17 doubles, six homers and 20 steals in 103 games (63 starts). He was with Cincinnati for the entire strike-shortened 1994 season, hitting .311, with 36 runs, 16 extra-base hits, six steals, and a .906 OPS in 68 games.
On October 13, 1994, the Reds traded Brumfield to the Pirates in exchange for minor league outfielder Danny Clyburn. Brumfield would step in and take over the center field job during that 1995 season, playing 116 games, finishing with a .271 average, 64 runs, 23 doubles, four homers, 22 steals and a .708 OPS. He held that spot at the beginning of 1996, but in mid-May, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league prospects, D.J. Boston. Brumfield was hitting .250 with two homers in 29 games before the trade to Toronto. After the deal, he hit .256 with 52 runs, 19 doubles, 12 homers and 12 steals in 90 games. He played a career high 119 games that season. His 14 homers and 60 RBIs were more than double his totals from any other season in the majors, yet he didn’t set a career best with runs scored, which happened with the 1995 Pirates. During the 1997 season, he batted just .207 with 22 runs, two homers and 20 RBIs in 58 games. Brumfield then spent 1998 in Triple-A for the Florida Marlins, where he hit just .167 in 95 games. Despite that rough season in the minors, he spent the 1999 season in the majors, split between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Blue Jays. He batted .241 in 80 games total that year, winding up with 29 runs, 14 extra-base hits and 20 RBIs. He returned to the minors to finish his career in 2001. He played in the Chicago White Sox system in 2000, and he was in independent ball in 2001. He was a .257 career hitter in 568 Major League games, with 91 doubles, 14 triples, 32 homers, 162 RBIs, 260 runs scored and 74 stolen bases. He played 1,570 games of pro ball and stole a total of 351 bases.
Ross Baumgarten, pitcher for the 1982 Pirates. He was a 20th round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1977. Despite the late draft status, it took him just over a year to make the majors. He went right to full-season ball after the draft, posting a 3-6, 3.75 record in 84 innings for Appleton of the Class-A Midwest League. Baumgarten started the 1978 season back in Appleton, going 9-1, 1.82 in ten starts, with 73 strikeouts in 74 innings. He was moved to Double-A Knoxville of the Southern League that season, and it took just 25 innings and a 3.24 ERA before the White Sox promoted him to Triple-A. He then made nine more starts for Iowa of the American Association, going 5-4, 3.27 in 66 innings, before getting his third promotion of the season, joining the White Sox in mid-August. He went 2-2, 5.87 in 23 innings over four starts and three relief appearances for the White Sox over the final six weeks of the season. Between the minors and majors, he threw 188 innings total in 1978. The next year he was a regular in the Chicago starting rotation, going 13-8, 3.54 in 190.2 innings over 28 starts, finishing fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. He threw four complete games and three were shutouts. His ERA dropped to 3.44 in 136 innings the next year, but his record suffered due to the poor play of Chicago, as they finished 70-90. Baumgarten had a 2-12 record, and that was despite winning his first start of the year. The White Sox scored 0-3 runs in 21 of his 23 starts that year.
After going 5-9, 4.07 in 101.2 innings over 19 starts in the strike-shortened 1981 season, the Pirates acquired Baumgarten on March 21, 1982, along with pitcher Butch Edge, in exchange for pitcher Ernie Camacho and infielder Vance Law. For the Pirates, Baumgarten made ten starts and two relief appearance in 1982, going 0-5, 6.55 in 44 innings. He missed part of the early season with two fractured fingers on his throwing hard. He was released at the end of Spring Training in 1983. Baumgarten signed with the Detroit Tigers and had a 12.10 ERA in seven outings for their Triple-A club (Evansville of the American Association). His career finished later that 1983 season pitching in Triple-A Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League for the Oakland A’s, where he had a 5.63 ERA in 24 innings. He retired after the season to take up a job in financial management. His time in Pittsburgh had a bit of a controversial ending. He filed a grievance (along with infielder Jim Morrison) against the club looking to be reimbursed for some flights that he took without the team during the season. At the time, certain clubs (including the Pirates) had a rule that said players had to pay for their own flights if they decided not to travel with the team. As far as I can tell, the decisions on the grievances were never announced. Baumgarten finished his big league career with a 22-36, 4.00 record in 495.1 innings over 88 starts and six relief appearances. He had ten complete games and six shutouts.
George O’Donnell, pitcher for the 1954 Pirates. He spent five seasons in the minors before having his contract purchased by the Pirates in October of 1953. He was originally a member of the St Louis Browns organization, signing in 1949, before moving on to the Pirates four years later. He played for three different Class-D clubs during his first two seasons of pro ball. That was the lowest level of the minors at the time. In 1949 he had a 3.49 ERA in 188 innings for two teams, pitching 133 innings for Mayfield of the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League, and 55 innings for Olean of the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York Leagues (Those leagues are more famously known as the KITTY and PONY leagues). In 1950, he was with Appleton of the Wisconsin State League, where he was 12-12, 2.50 in 241 innings. In 1951, O’Donnell won 22 games (with ten losses) for Class-B Waco of the Big State League, while posting a 3.67 ERA in 243 innings. He split the 1952 season between Class-A Charleston of the South Atlantic League and Double-A New Orleans of the Southern Association. He had a combined 14-10, 2.71 record in 209 innings, with similar results in both spots.
O’Donnell went 20-12, 3.61 in 281.1 innings in 1953 for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League. His big league career lasted just three months of the 1954 season, but he saw plenty of action for the Pirates over that time, making ten starts and eleven relief appearances. He went 3-9, 4.53 in 87.1 innings. He walked 21 batters, which wasn’t a bad percentage, but he was only able to pick up eight strikeouts. O’Donnell never had more than one strikeout in any game, and on May 29th he pitched a complete game against the Philadelphia Phillies without a strikeout. It should have been expected though, as he compiled just 67 strikeouts in 281.1 innings in the minors in 1953. O’Donnell still pitched in bad luck, despite the inability to miss bats. The Pirates were shut out in five of his nine losses. He was sent to Hollywood on July 30th on option, where he finished the season by going 3-1, 2.64 in 58 innings over seven starts and 11 relief appearances. O’Donnell was recalled by the Pirates without reporting in early September, but on September 26th he was traded to Hollywood as part of a five-player deal with cash. It was a deal in which the Pirates landed three outfielders.
O’Donnell would end up pitching another seven seasons in the minors before retiring, finishing with a 127-93 record in 530 games, while throwing 1,840 innings. He pitched almost exclusively in relief after the 1954 season. He remained in Hollywood for all of the 1955-56 seasons and threw 223 innings in 110 appearances, going 19-12, 3.31 during those two years combined. He split 1957 between Hollywood and Columbus of the Triple-A International League, which was another affiliate of the Pirates. He had a 2.92 ERA in 114 innings with Columbus that season, but that ERA jumped to 4.25 in 146 innings with the team in 1958. The 1959 season was his last with Pirates affiliates, splitting the year between Columbus and Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League. He also saw brief time with Spokane of the PCL, where he spent the entire 1960 season, putting up a 5.11 ERA in 40 relief appearances. His pro career wound up in 1961 with a 6.75 ERA in brief time with Syracuse of the International League. O’Donnell is the only pitcher in Pirates history with 4+ losses, who has more career losses than strikeouts.
