One Pittsburgh Pirates trade of note, followed by three former players born on this date. Research has led to some birthday changes for today, which you will see below.
The Trade
On this date in 1985, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded longtime reliever Kent Tekulve to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for pitcher Al Holland and minor league pitcher Frankie Griffin. Tekulve was 38 years old at the time. He had pitched just three games for the Pirates in 1985, allowing seven runs in 3.1 innings. He pitched well in 1984, posting a 2.66 ERA in 88 innings over 72 games, while picking up 13 saves. Holland was originally signed by the Pirates. He pitched two games for the team during the 1977 season. He was 32 years old at the time of the trade. He pitched 68 games for the Phillies in 1984, compiling 29 saves and a 5-10, 3.39 record in 98.1 innings. Griffin was a 25-year-old minor league reliever, who had a 1.60 ERA in 38 games at Double-A.
Holland would end up pitching a total of 58.1 innings for the 1985 Pirates over 38 relief appearances. He went 1-3 with four saves and a 3.38 ERA. He would be traded to the California Angels in a six-player deal on August 2, 1985. It was a deal that also sent George Hendrick and John Candelaria to California. The trade worked well for the Pirates in that it was addition by subtraction, along with a big different in salary, with the much smaller amount coming back in the deal. Griffin never made it above Double-A in his only season with the Pirates, which was also the final year of his career. Tekulve would end up pitching four seasons for the Phillies, appearing in 291 games. He won 24 games, had a 3.01 ERA, saved 25 games and twice pitched over 100 innings in a season. He led the National League with 90 games pitched in 1987. He put up 7.2 WAR over his four seasons in Philadelphia.
The Players
Chris Duffy, outfielder for the 2005-07 Pirates. He was an eighth round draft pick of the Pirates in 2001 out of Arizona State. He was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 43rd round in 2000 out of South Mountain Community College, but transferred to Arizona State instead of signing. Duffy hit .317 in 2001, with 50 runs, 17 extra-base hits, 24 RBIs 30 steals and an .860 OPS in 64 games with Williamsport of the short-season New York-Penn League. He then jumped to high-A ball for 2002, where he hit .301 for Lynchburg of the Carolina League, with 85 runs, 27 doubles, ten homers, 52 RBIs, 22 stolen bases and a .778 OPS in 132 games. He spent the next two seasons with Altoona of the Double-A Eastern League. He hit .273 over 137 games in 2003, with 84 runs, 30 extra-base hits, 42 RBIs, 34 steals and a .705 OPS. He attended the Arizona Fall League after the season. He batted .309 over 113 games in 2004, with 84 runs, 37 extra-base hits, 41 RBIs, 30 steals and an .817 OPS. Duffy made the Pirates out of Spring Training in 2005, but was quickly sent down to Triple-A after hitting .167 in his first seven games. He had a .308 average, with 55 runs scored, 27 extra-base hits, 31 RBIs and 17 steals through 77 games with Indianapolis of the International League, when he was recalled by the Pirates in mid-July. Duffy had his average up to .341 through 39 games, when he got injured in late August, which ended his season early. He had 22 runs, seven extra-base hits, nine RBIs and an .814 OPS in his short time.
Duffy started off really slow in 2006, but the Pirates stuck with him through mid-May, before sending him down with a .194 average in 31 games. He was briefly suspended by the team for not reporting to Triple-A, but he eventually did, then hit great with Indianapolis. He had a .349/.415/.509 slash line in 26 games, which earned him a recall on August 1st. Duffy finished the season strong, while going 26-of-27 in stolen base attempts that year with the Pirates. He had a .255 average in 84 games for the entire season, but he hit .282 with a .710 OPS in 53 games after being recalled in August. He had 46 runs, 19 extra-base hits, 18 RBIs and a .655 OPS for the 2006 Pirates. He was the starting center fielder through the end of June in 2007, before injuries and surgery ended his season. He batting .249 over 70 games that year, with 31 runs, 17 extra-base hits, 22 RBIs, 13 steals and a .670 OPS. Duffy was released after playing just 30 games in the minors in 2008, including 18 games in Altoona and 12 with Indianapolis. He had a .266 average and a .749 OPS that season between both levels. He attempted to play winter ball that year, but he lasted just three games in Mexico. He signed with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2009, then hit .125/.222/.156 in 19 games. He was demoted to Triple-A in late May, but he left the team (Nashville of the Pacific Coast League) after just three games for personal reasons. Duffy signed a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2010. He hit .243 in 91 games for Lehigh Valley of the International League, with 47 runs, 27 extra-base hits, 34 RBIs and a .668 OPS. That ended up being his final season of pro ball. He batted .269 in 193 games for the Pirates, with 99 runs, 29 doubles, eight triples, six homers, 49 RBIs and 41 steals in 48 attempts. All but one inning that he played with the Pirates on defense was spent in center field. He played all three outfield spots in his short time with the Brewers.
Mike Mowrey, third baseman for the 1914 Pirates. Very recent research has updated his birthday to March 24th. He was covered in that day’s This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History article.
Steamer Flanagan, outfielder for the 1905 Pirates. He began his pro career in 1901 at 20 years old, playing for Meriden of the Class-F Connecticut State League. That was as far as you could be from the majors at that time and still be in pro ball. Stats are limited from his early years, but we know that he hit .278 in 81 games that year. Meriden was reclassified to Class-D in 1902. Flanagan hit .309 that year, with 18 doubles, six triples and no homers in 57 games. He also played briefly for Toledo of the American Association that season, hitting .200 in eight games, with six singles to his credit. While that league was considered independent in 1902, the level of play was just below that of the majors. Flanagan played for three teams total in 1903, with limited stats at all three spots. He hit .295 over 31 games for Meriden, while collecting four doubles and five triples. He also returned to Toledo to hit .216 in 14 games, with five runs, a triple and a homer. The American Association was a Class-A league that year, which was the highest level of the minors at the time. He hit .296 in 17 games for Newark of the Class-A Eastern League, finishing with eight runs and four steals. He spent the 1904 season with Springfield of the Connecticut State League, where he hit .272 in 119 games. The Pirates purchased the release of 24-year-old Flanagan from Springfield on August 30, 1905 for $1,500. He was in his fifth season of pro ball at the time. He finished the year with a .335 average in 115 games. That high average came with the Connecticut State League being reclassified as Class-B that season.
Flanagan was allowed to finish the 1905 season with Springfield before joining the Pirates. He finally joined the big league team on September 9th. He was scheduled to play in a game three days later, only to find out that his sale to the Pirates was deemed to be illegal according to baseball rules at the time. Flanagan was subject to the MLB draft (recognized as the Rule 5 draft now, but under different rules than the current Rule 5 draft), though the case was eventually settled. The Pirates had some open dates in their September schedule, so they played some exhibition games on those off-days. This allowed Flanagan to make his debut with the team before his actual recognized debut, since these games didn’t count as official games. He ended up playing his first game with the Pirates in an exhibition game against a team from Sparta on September 13th. The next day he played against his Springfield teammates, manning center field and batting second. The Pirates took on Newark on September 18th, when he collected two hits and a run scored. The Pirates played Youngstown on September 19th. He collected two more hits in the game, while playing in left field. As a side note, the shortstop during three of these games was an unknown player named “Koch”, who turned out to be college star Dutch Meier. He didn’t want to ruin his college eligibility, so he played under an assumed name. Meier ended up signing with the Pirates for 1906. The day before his Major League debut (9/25/1905), Flanagan started another exhibition game for the Pirates in right field. He did well, collecting two hits and scoring two runs against Columbus of the American Association.
Flanagan was used as a pinch-hitter in his first big league game. He batted for Deacon Phillippe, while going up against Christy Mathewson, who retired him on a line drive. He sat the next few games, as the Pirates had a slim chance to get back into the pennant race. Once they were eliminated with a week left in the season, he began to start in center field. The newspapers were impressed with his play in the field, while saying he ran the bases awkward, but he was very quick. Flanagan hit .280/.308/.400 for the Pirates, with seven runs scored in seven games (five as a starter). He was flawless in the field in his 19 chances. That wasn’t enough to keep him around on a strong Pirates team for the next season. He ended up playing a total of ten seasons in the minors, never returning to the majors again. After the 1905 season, the Pirates went on a barnstorming tour for a week. Flanagan was part of that group. That was usually a good sign, because players received all of the money from the tour, and they usually wouldn’t split the gate with a new player who they didn’t expect to be around next year. The Pirates originally brought him along to help replace the injured Ginger Beaumont, who wasn’t assured to play in 1906. It was expected that Flanagan could handle right field to start the season. However, Beaumont was deemed fit to go in January, so Flanagan was released on January 3, 1906.
Flanagan spent a majority of the 1906 season back in Springfield, where he had a .286 average and 32 extra-base hits in 121 games. He also played ten games with Rochester of the Eastern League, where he put up a .326 average. He hit .306 over 131 games with Rochester in 1907, with 66 runs, 25 doubles, nine triples, five homers and 22 steals. He remained with Rochester in 1908, where he batted .259 over 137 games, with 62 runs, 26 extra-base hits and 20 steals. Flanagan played 117 games in 1909, which were split between Rochester and Buffalo of the Eastern League. He hit .246 between both stops, with 11 doubles, three triples and no homers. He then dropped down in competition by going back to the Connecticut State League for the next three years, playing for three different teams. Flanagan hit .297 over 23 games for Northampton in 1910, with six doubles and one homer. A knee injury limited his time that year. He was with Scranton of the Class-B New York State League at the end of the year as a bench player, though he still wasn’t 100% healthy at the time. He split 1911 between Northampton and New Britain, combining to hit .323 in 101 games, with 14 doubles, ten triples and a homer. He had a .278 average in 109 games for Holyoke in 1912, with eight doubles, one triple and four homers. His final season (1913) was split between two Class-B leagues, seeing time with Bridgeport of the Eastern Association and Harrisburg of the Tri-State League. He batted .264 that year in 80 total games. He had nine extra-base hits in 42 games with Bridgeport. He had 15 runs and four stolen bases while with Harrisburg. Some of his minor league stats are incomplete, but it’s known that he played over 1,000 games during his 13-year pro career (1901-13), and he had over 1,110 hits. His real name was James, which is how he was referred to most of the time, though the Steamer nickname was used often.
Sam Nicholl, outfielder for the 1888 Pittsburgh Alleghenys. He hit .331 during his first season of pro ball, finishing with 89 runs, 25 doubles, five triples and one homer in 92 games for Wheeling of the Ohio State League in 1887. He played for Wheeling again the next season (no stats available), as the team moved to the Tri-State League. His manager that season was Al Buckenberger, the Pirates manager from 1892-1894. The Alleghenys signed Nicholl and teammate Henry Yaik on September 26, 1888. They were able to do so without any added cost because Wheeling had disbanded. Nicholl made his big league debut on October 5th, while Yaik played each of the two previous days, then never played in the majors again. Nicholl would have debuted earlier, but he dislocated a finger while playing catch with Alleghenys catcher Doggie Miller before a game on September 29th. The Alleghenys had five players out with injuries late in the season, and only a 16-man roster, forcing Nicholl into full-time duty during the last week of the season. He hit just .045/.125/.045 in eight games as the center fielder, finishing with three runs, one hit and two walks. He was still with Pittsburgh in April of 1889. The team said that they expected better things from him in 1889, because he was slowed by his hand injury during his 1888 trial, and he had trouble batting. That hope for better things never worked out. He made the team out of Spring Training, but didn’t get into a game before being released on May 1st, just over a week into the season. That was five days after manager Horace Phillips said that no other man besides John Coleman (who was released on April 26th) would be released for at least two months.
Nicholl returned to the minors for another ten seasons before he retired, with his only other Major League experience coming during the 1890 season. He played 14 games that year for the Columbus Solons of the American Association, who were managed by the aforementioned Al Buckenberger. He hit just .161/.190/.161 for Columbus, with seven runs, nine singles, four RBIs and two walks. After being cut by Pittsburgh in 1889, he split the rest of the season between Wheeling (no stats available) and Davenport of the Central Interstate League, where he hit .299 in 38 games, with 29 runs, seven extra-base hits and 18 steals. Nicholl ended up playing for three minor league teams in three different leagues during the 1890 season, after playing his last big league game on May 4th. His only available stats for his 1890 minor league time show a .253 average, 12 runs, four extra-base hits and two steals in 20 games for Saginaw-Bay City of the International Association. He also saw time with Jamestown of the New York-Penn League and Lincoln/Des Moines of the Western Association, but no stats are available from either stop. Nicholl returned to Jamestown in 1891, where he hit .247 in 78 games, with 39 runs, nine extra-base hits and 13 steals . He then ran off a streak of .300 hitting seasons that surprisingly didn’t get him another chance.
Nicholl played for Toledo of the Class-A Western League in 1892, hitting .306 in 53 games, with 30 runs, 14 extra-base hits and 13 steals. He spent the 1893 season with Savannah of the Class-B Southern League, where he batted .319 in 93 games, with 67 runs and 27 extra-base hits (23 doubles). He was with Kansas City of the Western League in 1894, when he had a .376 average, with 140 runs, 46 doubles, 18 triples, 11 homers and 32 steals in 124 games. Those numbers look great, though offense was up around baseball that year due to new rules (started in 1893) for pitchers that favored hitters. Nicholl then followed it up with a .338 average over 102 games with Kansas City in 1895, finishing with 93 runs scored, 31 doubles, nine triples, nine homers and 21 steals. Stats aren’t available for 1896 with Kansas City, but his 1897 stats show a .328 average over 127 games, with 99 runs, 29 doubles, eight triples, one homer and 20 steals. He played 117 games that year with Detroit, and ten with St Paul, both clubs in the Western League. He dropped down to a .266 average in his final season in 1898, which was split between Detroit (67 games) and Indianapolis (51 games) of the Western League. He had 58 runs, 14 doubles, two triples and 11 steals in 118 games during that final season. While with Pittsburgh, he was referred to by the last name “Nichols” in the papers. Nicholl was among a group of old local players invited by the Pirates to the opening of Forbes Field in 1909.
Sam Nicholl’s birthday was determined to be April 18th according to new research from myself and a fellow historian. His birth year also changed from 1869 (currently recognized) to 1865, which would have made him 23 years old when he played for the Alleghenys, not 19 years old. I left him in the April 20th article for now, in case anyone searches for him based on his current listed birthday. He was one of three players on the 1888 Alleghenys who was born in Ireland (Jocko Fields and William Farmer are the others). Here’s a Card of the Day article looking at the research and his 1889 baseball card. The photo taken during that 1889 season, when he was on the Alleghenys, but did not play before they released him.
