12/15 From 1960: Fryman/Money-Bunning, Matt-Jeff & Don Sign, Olivares & Francis/Savage Deals, Staff Signed, Rule 5 Loses Five, Hanny Goes, ABC-SAG; HBD Joey
- 1961 – Though none of the players had signed a contract for 1962 yet, the Pirates did have the John Hancock of all seven of Danny Murtaugh’s coaches – Frank Oceak, Ron Northey, Sam Narron, Bill Burwell, Lenny Levy, George Sisler and Virgil Trucks – who agreed to return for another campaign.
- 1962 – The Pirates shipped 30-year-old backup C Don Leppert to Washington for minor league righty Ron Honeycutt. It ended up a pretty minor deal; Leppert got into 123 games over two years for the Senators but hit only .207 while Honeycutt never advanced past Class AA.
- 1964 – The Bucs sent RHP Earl Francis and OF Ted Savage to the St. Louis Cardinals in return for OF’s Ron Cox and Jack Damaska (from Beaver Falls HS). Francis sputtered through his last big league season while Savage was the only player that had any MLB impact, serving as a bench bat through the 1971 season. Neither of the players the Pirates received made it to the majors.
- 1964 – ABC and MLB announced a two-year/$12M package for the rights to the Saturday Afternoon Game of the Week, with the pot being evenly divided among the clubs. The network loosened the blackout rule; it had previously been anywhere within a 50-mile radius of a big league city, but now would be limited to the hometowns of the two teams playing. Most teams were at least publicly ho-hum about competing with the televised games; the Pirates announced that they wouldn’t change any Saturday TV conflicts. It also marked the first time that TV money was split even-steven among the clubs.
- 1967 – Pittsburgh traded for RHP Jim Bunning, sending the Phillies pitchers Woodie Fryman, Bill Laxton and Harold Clem along with IF Don Money, who was the Phils regular 3B until Mike Schmidt arrived, then moving on to become an All-Star with Milwaukee. The popular Money had also been targeted by the White Sox, but the Pirates wanted RHP Joel Horlen in exchange, who Chi-town wasn’t about to surrender. Fryman lasted 18 years in the show and was twice named an All-Star. Bunning, who the Pirates hoped would put them over the top in 1968, stayed in Pittsburgh for 1-1/2 seasons, slashing at 14-23/3.84.
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| Woodie Fryman – 1966 Dexter Press photo |
- 1971 – Bill Virdon made his only new hire as Bucco manager by promoting Charleston Charlies skipper Joe Morgan to his staff as an infield/batting coach. He kept four of Danny Murtaugh’s assistants – Frank Oceak, Don Leppert, Don Osborn and Dave Ricketts – for his own gang.
- 1994 – 3B Jeff King turned down a chance to become a restricted free agent and instead opted to sign a one-year guaranteed deal with the Bucs for $2.16M, a 10% pay cut. He accepted that he was coming off a sub-par year (.263/5 HR/42 RBI) and told Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette that “I was happy they (the Pirates) wanted me…I like it here and I wanted to stay.”
- 1996 – C Joey Bart was born in Buford, Georgia. With Endy Rodriguez out for the year and concerns about Yasmani Grandal’s foot injury, the Pirates picked up Bart, who had been DFA’ed, from the Giants in exchange for RHP Austin Strickland, 2023′s 8th round pick from Kentucky. In four years yo-yo’ing between the Giants and AAA Sacramento, Bart got into 162 MLB games and hit .219. He had a .274 BA in the PCL, the slash lines of a Quad-A poster boy and a far cry from the days of being touted as Buster Posey’s replacement when he was selected second overall in the 2018 draft out of Georgia Tech. Bart was out of options & went on the MLB roster, with the domino effect of Indy RHP Colin Selby being DFA’ed and C Jason Delay placed on the 15-day IL. Joey had a resurgence when he arrived, slashing .265/13/45 in 80 Pirates games to claim the top spot behind the dish, pushing past vet Yasmani Grandal and started out as #1 in ‘25, but hit .249 with a big drop in power, so ‘26 will be a make-or-break campaign for him in Pittsburgh.
- 2002 – Well-traveled Matt Stairs (he played for three teams just in 2002) signed a one year/$900K contract with the Bucs, pending a physical (the official signing date was 12/18), and was penciled in as Craig Wilson’s platoon mate in right field. He had a strong season, hitting .292 with 20 HR despite just 305 AB, earning himself a three year/$3.55M contract with KC the following campaign. He retired after the 2011 season and entered the record books: Stairs played for more major-league teams (12) than any position player in big league history (technically, he was rostered on 13 teams but for just 12 franchises, as he played for the Montreal Expos /Washington Nationals). A trio of guys with Pittsburgh stops have joined or passed him – P’s Ron Villone, Octavio Dotel and Rich Hill all played for a dozen or more squads. Ps Edwin Jackson and Hill hold the record for the number of teams that they suited up for, repping 14 clubs during their careers.
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| Matt Stairs – 2003 Topps |
- 2003 – The Pirates lost five players in the Rule 5 draft – 1B Chris Shelton, OF Rich Thompson, LHP Frank Brooks, RHP Jeff Bennett and 3B/OF Jose Bautista (they traded RHP Kris Benson to get him back in July, 2004). Oddly, the Pirates had three openings on the 40-man roster, but GM Dave Littlefield told local media that the need to add free agents to the lineup for next season and thus have some openings was more important than keeping players the club believed would not make an immediate impact. The rest of baseball begged to differ as the five Pirate farmhands went in the first six picks of the draft. Littlefield also removed pitchers Duaner Sanchez and Matt Guerrier from the 40-man roster (and lost them both on waivers to the Dodgers and Twins) to protect Mike Gonzalez and John Grabow.
- 2021 – Indy’s pitching coach Joel Hanrahan announced that “After five years coaching with the Pirates I have decided to move on and look for other opportunities,” catching on with the Nats as a farm coach. Hanny was Pittsburgh’s ‘21 Danny Murtaugh coach of the year, given out to the top assistant in the Buccos’ minor league system. He spent four years (2009-12) as a two-time All Star back-ender in Pittsburgh, posting a slash of 10-8-82/2.59 with 265 punchouts in 229-1/3 innings of work, appearing in 283 games before being traded to the Boston Red Sox for his eventual replacement, Mark Melancon.
- 2023 – The Kansas City Royals sent OF Edward Olivares to the Pirates for 21-year-old Bradenton IF Deivis Nadal. Olivares, 27, made the roster out of camp and was considered a good stick, meh mitt guy with a .261 BA over parts of four MLB seasons. He sported good speed and a strong arm, and was hoped to be Jack Suwinski’s platoon partner in right field as both had considerable batting splits. Olivares became expendable after hitting .214 in 55 games and posting a negative WAR. He went to Indy, was released at season’s end, and spent 2025 in Japan.
Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/12/1215-from-1960-frymanmoney-bunning-matt.html
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