’79 Champs Witness Bucs Rise to 5th Place

I was supposed to be in the audience tonight. But a business trip looms tomorrow. Thusly, I witnessed the game courtesy of Fox Sports Ohio. 22 members of the 1979 World Series champs were honored before the game and they got to watch Zach Duke, Ryan Doumit and Garrett Jones pitch and pound the Reds into submission. And into the cellar.

The Pirates took over 5th place with their fifth straight win. Duke allowed two runs on eight hits and no walks in seven innings. The Pirates got on Justin Lehr in the first inning with three runs. Doumit was in the middle of it. With the Pirates already up 1-0, one gone in the first and Jones on third, Doumit hit a high bouncer back to Lehr. The Reds hurler wanted to get two and end the inning, but Doumit hustled down the line and was credited with a fielder’s choice RBI. He then swiped second based and scored on a single from Lastings Milledge.

Doumit hit a two run homer high into the seats in right in the fifth to make it 6-1. Jones added a two run double in next frame and the route was on. The Pirates added four more in the 7th. Steve Pearce had a two run single. Had it not been for an acrobatic stop by Brandon Phillips off the bat of Delwyn Young that Phillips helped turn into a double play, it could’ve been worse.

Lehr allowed six runs on 8 hits in five innings.

The Good

Five straight wins.

Fifth place.

Doumit had three hits, scored three times and drove in three.

Jones also had three hits and three runs knocked home.

Duke picks up win #10.

The Bad

Nothing at all, other than me not being in the Steel City tonight.

The Rest

The 19 players from the 1979 team on hand were:

Matt Alexander, Dale Berra, Bert Blyleven, John Candelaria, Mike Easler, Phil Garner, Grant Jackson, Bruce Kison, Lee Lacy, Bill Madlock, Omar Moreno, Steve Nicosia, Ed Ott, Dave Parker, Don Robinson, Jim Rooker, Manny Sanguillen, Rennie Stennett and Kent Tekulve. Chuck Tanner and coach Al Monchak were there along with trainer Tony Bartirome. Willie Stargell’s wife was also there.

Among the deceased in addition to Stargell are Bill Robinson, John Milner, Dave Roberts and Dock Ellis (not on post-season roster). Living players who did not come back were Jim Bibby, Doe Boyland (not on post-season roster), Joe Coleman (not on post-season roster), Tim Foli, Gary Hargis (not on post-season roster), Alberto Lois (not on post-season roster), Rick Rhoden (disabled most of the season), Enrique Romo, Frank Taveras (traded early on for Foli), Ed Whitson (traded for Madlock in June)

This was Doumit’s fifth career game with three runs scored. It was the third time he reached three RBI and three runs scored in one contest.

Jones has six RBI in the last two games.

Duke reached double figures in wins for the second time in his career.

Each of the starting 8 had a hit and scored a run.

Last five game winning streak was May 15 to 20th against Colorado and Washington. Each of the starters were the winning pitcher during the current winning streak.The bullpen picked up three wins during the earlier winning streak.

Luis Cruz got his third start of the year in place of Ronny Cedeno who has a fractured finger.

Welcome back Phil Dumatrait who pitched a scoreless inning, his first game since July 7, 2008.

 

Game #6 at Florida

Dolphin Stadium | 1:10 | Snell vs. Rick VandenHurk | Box
The Bucs got another strong pitching performance. This one wasn’t marred by a grand slam or badly damaged by poor fielding. Ian Snell notched his first win of the season with six strong innings of work. He struck out ten and allowed two runs (one earned) while walking none and yielding just four hits.
Nate McLouth and Xavier Nady continued their strong early season efforts. McLouth doubled in the first run of the game in the third and later scoredin the same inning. The Bucs put up four runs in that frame – more than enough for Snell this afternoon. McLouth had three hits, three runs scored and a pair of RBI. Nady sealed the contest with a two run 8th inning homer with McLouth aboard.
Losing pitcher Rick VandenHurk didn’t make it out of that fateful third inning. Super subs (at least super today) Luis Rivas and Chris Gomez had three hits each.
With a seven run lead heading into the last of the 9th, I was thinking we’d see Evan Meek to put him in a spot with little game consequence pressure. Nah, baby, nah. Phil Dumatrait finished up the contest with a scoreless 9th.
VandenHurk was sent to AA after the game. The Buccos have placed Jack Wilson on the DL and recalled Jose Hernandez. Nope just kidding, Brian Bixler was brought up.
Recaps
AP recap at Yahoo! Sports

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 14

Continuing with a look at post-1979 trades. Last time out I examined the trades that happened after the 1979 post-season and up through the end of the 1980 season.
This time, let’s look at trades that happened after 1980 and up through the end of the 1981 season.
Gary Alexander, Victor Cruz, Bob Owchinko and Rafael Vasquez
On December 9, 1980 the Pirates traded Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillen to the Tribe for Alexander, Cruz, Owchinko and Vasquez in what was clearly the organization’s worst trade since they gave up Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis and Ken Brett to the Bombers for Doc Medich. Where to start on this one? It is wicked painful. How about alphabetically?
Way, perhaps too much, more after the jump.

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 14

Continuing with a look at post-1979 trades. Last time out I examined the trades that happened after the 1979 post-season and up through the end of the 1980 season.
This time, let’s look at trades that happened after 1980 and up through the end of the 1981 season.
Gary Alexander, Victor Cruz, Bob Owchinko and Rafael Vasquez
On December 9, 1980 the Pirates traded Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillen to the Tribe for Alexander, Cruz, Owchinko and Vasquez in what was clearly the organization’s worst trade since they gave up Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis and Ken Brett to the Bombers for Doc Medich. Where to start on this one? It is wicked painful. How about alphabetically?
Way, perhaps too much, more after the jump.

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 12

In the previous posts I’ve made the case that the Pirates collapse in the mid-80s was not the result of trades made to acquire the players that appeared on the 1979 post-season roster. Here’s a brief rundown of some other trades in the 1970s in which the Bucs didn’t acquire a member of the 1979 post-season roster. I’m examining trades that resulted in the Pirates losing a player who was active during the 1984 to 1986 time frame. Other trades are inconsequential to this discussion. Players are listed in alphabetical order:
Kurt Bevacqua
Bevacqua was never much more than a bit player, yet he had a long career. In 15 seasons he had more than 250 plate appearances just four times. He never reached double digits in homers and never scored or drove in 50 runs in a single season. It wouldn’t be unfair to call him a journeyman. He played everywhere except pitcher and catcher in his career. I remember him for two reasons. First, he won the bubble blowing contest in 1975 when MLB held the event every year and was immortalized on a 1976 Topps baseball card. Second he got into a verbal spat with Tom Lasorda, causing Lasorda to describe Bevacqua’s lack of ability by saying he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
The Pirates acquired him in 1973 in a trade that saw Nellie Briles go to KC. In the middle of 1974, KC reacquired Bevacqua for a minor leaguer and cash. He had less than 40 ABs for the Bucs at the time of the trade. After much travel, the Bucs traded Luis Salazar and Rick Lancellotti to San Diego for Kurt and Mark Lee down the stretch in 1980. Between 1980 and 1981, Bevacqua was just 14 for 70 for the Pirates. He was released following the 1981 season and picked up by the Padres.
Bevacqua had his moment in the sun in the 1984 World Series. He had seven hits, including two homers and two doubles in a losing effort for the Friars. He served as DH for San Diego as this was when the use of the DH in the World Series was alternated every year – one year on and one year off. He was free agent following 1985 but never appeared in another ML game.
Quite obviously, the presence of Kurt Bevacqua on the Pirates in the mid-80s would not have prevented the ship from sinking.

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 11

The last member of the 1979 post-season roster that was picked up via trade was Manny Sanguillen
The Trade
The Pirates acquire Sanguillen from Oakland on April 4, 1979 for Miguel Dilone, Mike Edwards and Elias Sosa.
The Background
Sanguillen was amateur free agent signing out of Panama, one of a host of players the Bucs signed from the Canal Country. He was a boxer in his youth and the speed and agility he learned while boxing suited him well as a catcher. One of my favorite things to do every year is to watch my VHS tape of the 1971 World Series highlights so I can hear Curt Gowdy (I think its Curt Gowdy) refer to him as the “smiling Panamanian.” He hit .379 in that Fall Classic. The free swinger helped the Pirates win division titles in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1975.
Sanguillen was among, along with Johnny Bench and Ted Simmons, the best NL catchers in the first part of the 1970s. Sangy made three All-Star teams and should’ve made the All-Star team in 1974. That contest was played in Three Rivers. NL skipper Yogi Berra chose his own catcher, Jerry Grote, over Sangy. He spent the first part of 1973 in right field following the death of Roberto Clemente.
He was nearing the end of his useful life as a catcher following 1976 when the Pirates traded him and $100,000 to the A’s for manager Chuck Tanner. Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh had retired following 1976 and would unfortunately die that off season. The Galbreath family felt the Bucs would be in good hands with Tanner and got him from Charlie Finley.
In his last season as a full time player, Sangy and Jeff Newman split catching duties with the A’s, with Manny also appearing numerous times as DH in 1977.
Before the start of the 1978 campaign, Sangy was reacquired by Pittsburgh. He was the third string catcher behind Ed Ott and Duffy Dyer. He appeared in 40 games at first, but was behind the plate in just 18 contests.
His role was more limited in 1979 as he was primarily a pinch hitter. He was in just 13 games in the field. He didn’t appear in the 1979 NLCS, but came up big with a game winning pinch hit in Game 2 of the 1979 World Series.
After 48 ABs in 47 games in 1980, Sangy was traded along with Bert Blyleven to the Indians in a disastrous trade. Sangy retired without appearing in a contest with the Tribe.

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 9

Did bad trades in building the 1979 team wreck the Pirates in the mid-80s?
Carrying on with the mysterious Enrique Romo.
The Trade
On December 5, 1978 the Pirates acquire Romo, Rick Jones and Tom McMillan from Seattle for Odell Jones, Mario Mendoza and Rafael Vasquez.
The Background
The Pirates bullpen, already a strength in 1978 (sub 3.00 ERA in almost 500 innings pitched), was about to get stronger. Vicente Romo, Enrique’s little brother, had bounced around the Majors for a couple of years. Soon enough, Enrique would be on the scene. The Mariners purchased his contract from the Mexico City entry in the Mexican League on 4/1/77. He had played in that league since he was 19 and went 20-4 with a 1.89 ERA in 1976. His totals included better than one whiff per inning pitched.
For Seattle he was almost exclusively working out of the bullpen. In the Mariners first year of existence (Romo’s “rookie year”), Romo saved 16 games. He saved another 10 the following year.
Then the trade to Pittsburgh, where he fit nicely with Kent Tekulve and Grant Jackson to give the Bucs three talented and rubber armed relievers. Each of the trio appeared in more than 70 games in 1979 and each checked in with an ERA on the good side of 3.00.
Romo pitched so-so in the playoffs and World Series. He got into four games and pitched 5 innings, allowing two earned runs.
Romo pitched fairly well in 1980 (he did hit a grand slam that year), but tailed off in 1981 and 1982. What happened after that remains something of a mystery. Romo failed to report to Spring Training in 1983 and hasn’t been heard from since. He doesn’t come back for reunions or autograph signing appearances. Nobody knows for certain why that is. I read somewhere (maybe the Pirates Encyclopedia?) that one story had it that Romo ran afoul of some connected men in the Pittsburgh area and was told to leave the country or else. At the end of this article is another take on why Romo left.

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 2

The authors of the book When the Bucs Won it All state that the Pirates plunge into last place in the 1980s was due to the poor trades that were made to acquire the players on the 1979 club. I disagree.
In part 1 of this series, I looked at how the World Series roster was put together – which players were acquire via trade, draft, and free agency. In the next several posts, I’ll analyze the trades that brought the members of the team to Pittsburgh. Going alphabetically, the first player on the 1979 post-season roster acquired in a trade was Bert Blyleven.
The Trade
After a season and a half pitching for the Rangers, Blyleven was involved in a mammoth four team trade on 12/8/77. Blyleven was dealt to the Pirates. The Braves sent Willie Montanez to the Mets. Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller went to Atlanta from Texas. The Rangers sent Ken Henderson and Tom Grieve to the Mets. The Bucs dealt Al Oliver and Nelson Norman to Texas. The Mets sent Jon Matlack to the Rangers. John Milner went from the Mets to the Pirates.
From the Pirates perspective, this boils down to Oliver for Blyleven and Milner. Norman’s career was inconsequential as he amassed just a single win share in the Show.
The Background
Oliver was a star, an outstanding hitter and a player capable of playing multiple positions. His career totals fall a touch short of serious Hall of Fame consideration, in my opinion. He hit .308 with 19 homers and 82 RBI in 1977. However, in that season, Willie Stargell was injured, leaving Bill Robinson as the Pirates primary first baseman. Robinson, finally living up to the billing given to him as a prospect, hit .304 with 26 taters and 104 RBI. A couple of things made Oliver expendable. Stargell was presumably healthy and the Pirates were most likely looking to keep the slightly more potent (and slightly more aged) bat of Robinson in the lineup. Stargell was only capable of playing first at this point in his career, which meant Robinson would go to the outfield. Fleet footed Omar Moreno manned center field. Though not as skilled a hitter as Oliver, his speed gave him range in center matched only by Garry Maddox in Philly. Moreno led all NL outfielders in put outs both in 1979 and in 1980. Dave Parker, a budding superstar, had a justifiable stranglehold on right field. Additionally, the rotation was a bit suspect. The pitching staff posted the third best ERA in the NL in 1977, but two of the four starters (Jerry Reuss and Bruce Kison) posted an ERA+ of less than 100. The fifth starting spot was manned most often by Odell Jones who posted an ERA above 5.00 in 34 appearances (15 starts).
For Oliver the Pirates acquired a pitcher with a track record for being a workhorse (no fewer than 230 IP in every season since he was a 20 year old rookie in 1970) and for being hard to score on (his career worst ERA+ was 117 in his rookie season). They also got Milner, a capable home run hitter who could (and would) spell Stargell at first and Robinson in left.
The Data
The following table has win share data for the primary players involved for 1978 to the end of their careers. I’ve included Robinson’s numbers here for comparison’s sake since he became the primary left fielder in Oliver’s absence.

Year	Blyleven	Milner	Oliver	Robinson
1978	16	10	22	14
1979	13	13	18	12
1980	9	7	21	7
1981	14	4	13	0
1982	1	2	26	4
1983	10	–	14	0
1984	20	–	8	–
1985	23	–	2	–
1986	18	–	–	–
1987	18	–	–	–
1988	4	–	–	–
1989	22	–	–	–
1990	3	–	–	–
1991	DNP	–	–	–
1992	5	–	–	–

The Analysis
In the short term, this was a good trade for the Pirates. Blyleven continued his solid pitching and Milner and Robinson proved to be capable players for the immediate future. However, Blyleven bristled at the frequency in which he pitched (he preferred a 4 man rotation) and the quick hook delivered by skipper Chuck Tanner. The Dutch Master felt that he pitched better when his arm was a little tired. The Pirates felt compelled to trade him following the 1980 campaign and got little in return. Robinson and Milner (and Stargell) declined quickly after 1979, while Oliver had perhaps his best season in 1982 when Milner and Robinson were bit players in the Show.
Conclusion
Overall, this was a good trade. Blyleven helped the Pirates win the 1979 World Series. He pitched the clinching game in the 1979 NLCS. Robinson and Milner played big roles that season, as well. The combination of Blyleven and Milner provided more win shares in both 1978 and 1979 than Oliver did. The trade went sour after 1980 when Blyleven was unloaded for a package of players that didn’t pan out. But that is the subject of a future post.

Downfall of the Fam-A-Lee – Part 1

In 2006 I read the book When the Bucs Won it All by Bill Ranier and David Finoli. The authors suggest that the Pirates failings in the mid-80s were mainly due to the trades that took place putting the 1979 team in place. The authors stated:

Because he (GM Pete Peterson) no longer had the personnel to trade like he did when he first took over, Pittsburgh slid from the top of the rung all the way down to the bottom in the second half of 1981 and during the abysmal 1984 and 1985 seasons.

I disagree. Very much so. Peterson made a couple of bad trades, but the ones that hurt the most happened after the team won the World Series in 1979. In a series of posts I will look at why the author’s statement is untrue (think of it as a blog version of the FoxSports show “Top 5 Reasons Why You Can’t Blame Bad Trades on the Pirates Being Terrible in the mid-80s”)
First, let’s look at the players that were on the World Series roster and how they were acquired, in alphabetical order:
Matt Alexander – signed as a FA (free agent) on 9/1/78
Jim Bibby – signed as a FA on 3/15/78
Bert Blyleven – acquired via a four team trade on 12/8/77. The Pirates gave up Al Oliver and Nelson Norman. They got Bert and John Milner
John Candelaria – 2nd round DP (draft pick) in 1972
Mike Easler – acquired via trade from the Red Sox on 3/15/79 for two career minor leaguers (George Hill and Martin Rivas) and cash
Tim Foli – acquired via trade from the Mets on 4/19/79 for Frank Taveras. The Bucs also got career minor leaguer Greg Field
Phil Garner – acquired via trade from the A’s on 3/15/76 along with Chris Batton, who never played in the Show for the Pirates, and Tommy Helms, who was at the end of the line. The Pirates gave up several players in return. Dave Giusti, Doc Medich, Doug Bair, Mitchell Page, Rick Langford and Tony Armas all went to the A’s. Strangely enough, the A’s had acquired Helms from the Pirates for cash earlier in the same off season and then traded him back. The Bucs released him in June of 1977 and he was picked up by Boston, who released him the following Spring. And he was done.
Grant Jackson – acquired via trade from Seattle on 12/7/76 for Jimmy Sexton and Craig Reynolds
Bruce Kison – 14th round DP in 1968
Lee Lacy – signed as a FA on 1/19/79
Bill Madlock – acquired via trade from Frisco on 6/28/79. The Bucs got Madlock, Dave Roberts and Lenny Randle, who never appeared in a Pirate uni. They gave up Ed Whitson, Fred Breining and Al Holland.
John Milner – acquired in the same trade as Blyleven
Omar Moreno – signed as an undrafted FA in 1969. Omar is from Panama and wasn’t eligible for the draft
Steve Nicosia – 1st round DP in 1973
Ed Ott – 23rd round DP in 1970
Dave Parker – 14th round DP in 1970
Bill Robinson – acquired via trade from Philly on 4/5/75 for former All-Star pitcher Wayne Simpson. Simpson won 14 games and made the All-Star team as a 21 year old rookie for the Reds in 1970. He would win just 18 more games in his career
Don Robinson – 3rd round DP in 1975
Enrique Romo – acquired via trade from Seattle on 12/5/78. The Pirates gave up Odell Jones, Rafael Vazquez and Mario Mendoza. The Pirates also got Rick Jones and Tom McMillan, neither of whom ever appeared in the Bigs with the Pirates. Jones was called up late in 1979, but didn’t appear in a game
Jim Rooker – acquired via trade from KC on 10/25/72 even up for Gene Garber
Manny Sanguillen – acquired via trade from Oakland on 4/4/78. The Pirates sent Miguel Dilone, Elias Sosa and Mike Edwards to the A’s to get Sangy back. He had been traded, along with $100,000, before the 1977 season to the A’s for manager Chuck Tanner. No that isn’t a typo. My Dilone story. I was 14. It was 1985. Dilone was in his last season, hanging on with Montreal. They were in Cincy and I was at the ball yard with baseball cards trying to get autographs. When I asked Dilone in my typical polite way, he yelled back at me in anger the following (at least I think this is what he said): No tengo escribir mi nombre. Translated that means “I don’t have to write my name”. I didn’t argue with him.
Willie Stargell – signed as an amateur FA, before the draft was established in 1958
Rennie Stennett – exact same as Moreno. He was from Panama and was inked in 1969
Kent Tekulve – signed as an undrafted FA in 1969
Next time I’ll examine the trades the various trades that brought some of those players to the club.