Battling Bucs : ATP Near and Far: First Base

ATP Near and Far is a 10 part series dedicated to assembling two teams of All Time Pirates greats based upon their place of birth. The "near" team will consist of players born exclusively in the state of Pennsylvania and the "far" team will consist of players born outside of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. Each roster will consist of 25 players the particulars of how the rosters will be assembled can be found in the introduction post here.
All Time Pirates Near and Far: First Basemen
International: In the last segment the Pennsylvania team went first so this time around I am going to let that honor fall to the international team. The pool of eligible players for the first base position is a limited one consisting of only 12 players. There are another 18 players to have played at least one career game at the position and one of them actually has the 5^th most career games at the position of all players eligible for the international roster but he falls short of the 20% threshold.
Fifteen of those 18 players are Manny Sanguillen, Vic Davalillo, Frank Colman, Bill Kuehne, Jose Hernandez, Andre Rodgers, Freddy Garcia, Tony Pena, Pedro Alvarez, Jose Pagan, Jocko Fields, Matty Alou, George Gibson, Jimmy Archer and Alex Ramirez. Sanguillen with 50 games at the position is the one in 5^th in terms of games played. One name there may stand out and raise some questions, Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez attended high school in New York but was born in the Dominican Republic making him eligible for the international team.
The above 15 players have been or will be covered so I am going to leave them be. However I failed to name 3 players above and that is because they are a special case and will get a brief mention here. These three players like a handful of others actually do not qualify for any position due to having been used primarily as a pinch hitter during their tenure. The three guys are Ivan Cruz, Dave Roberts and Willie Montanez. The Puerto Rican born Cruz played in 13 games with the Pirates during the 1999-2000 seasons but only appeared in the field 3 times, twice at 1B and once in the OF. In all he had 21 PA, registering 5 hits and striking out 10 times. Cruz had some time with the Yankees in 1997 prior to joining the Pirates and went on to play a bit of 2002 season with the Cardinals.
Dave Roberts, not the recent vintage born in Japan (who never played for the Pirates), but the 1960’s version born in Panama played for the Pirates in 1966. In a similar situation to Cruz he appeared in 14 games but only played the field twice both at 1B. In all he registered 16 PA and recorded 2 hits. Pittsburgh was the final stop of his major league career but he played for the Houston Colt .45s in 1962 and 1964. Unlike the other two Montanez actually has a somewhat sizeable Pirates career appearing in 65 games across the 1981 and 1982 seasons but only seeing the field in 15 of them (13 at 1B, 2 in the OF). Montanez, who was born in Puerto Rico, received 74 PA for the Pirates during that time and hit far better than the other two mentioned but not well recording 19 hits. Prior to joining the Pirates Montanez had a fairly long career starting with a cup of coffee 1966 (it would take until 1970 for him to return to the majors though). He was primarily a Phillie but played with numerous teams over the years. For his career he was a decent hitter but by the time he came to the Pirates he was well past his prime. In 1982 the Pirates released him and he signed back with Philadelphia where he finished the season out and his career.
As for the 12 players eligible for the position, 10 of them were primarily 1B during their Pirates career and of those 10, 6 received fewer than 100 PA. Those six players include Eddie Vargas, Fred Lake, Carmelo Martinez, Orestes Destrade, Alex Hernandez and Justin Morneau. Vargas, born in Puerto Rico, saw time with the Pirates in 1982 and 1984. He played in 26 games over those two years collecting 43 plate appearances. He didn’t hit much in that limited sample posting a wRC+ of just 77. His two seasons with the Pirates were the only ones in which he saw any major league time. Born in Canada, Fred Lake is primarily a 19^th century ball player having played sporadically with Boston, Louisville and Pittsburgh during the 1890’s. He had one season in Pittsburgh, 1898, where he played in 5 games collecting 16 PA. In those 16 PA he recorded just one lone hit. His time with the Pirates appeared to be the end of his career but he stuck around the minors until 1907 and then oddly three years later in 1910 the Boston Doves brought him back for 3 games and gave him 2 PA. Martinez, another Puerto Rico born player, had a fairly long career lasting from 1983 through 1991. His stop with the Pirates came in the 1990 and 1991 seasons where he played in 23 games and received 37 plate appearances. He actually didn’t hit too poorly in that limited sample posting a 95 wRC+. His final season was 1991 but he made two more stops after leaving the Pirates that year.
Destrade grew up in Florida attending both high school and college there but was born in Cuba making him eligible for this team. He made a brief appearance with the Pirates in 1988 seeing time in 36 games but he proved to be a pretty bad hitter in that time hitting only .149. Destrade played one more season in the minors with Pittsburgh before going over to Japan to play professionally. His major league career wasn’t over though as the Marlins signed him and used him as their regular 1B in 1993.The following year he played a partial season with the Marlins before being released and going back to Japan the following year. Alex Hernandez is a player I should recall playing with the Pirates in 2000 and 2011 but I have no recollection of him whatsoever. During his time he got 71 plate appearances, got just 5 hits and most impressively never walked. Those two years with the Pirates are the only time this Puerto Rico born player would see in the majors. The last player in this group probably has the best overall career of any 1B mentioned so far, considering he has an MVP and all, but Morneau’s time with the Pirates was short consisting of basically a month (92 PA) and his performance was just ok. I am sure most of you recall the Pirates acquired Morneau on August 31, 2013 to help with their first playoff run in two decades. During his brief time he showed good plate discipline and made one really memorable defensive play but overall he wasn’t that impressive. Canadian born, Morneau’s only organization prior to joining the Pirates was the Twins and after the 2013 season he signed on with the Rockies.
This leaves us with just 4 players who were primarily 1B for their Pirates career and those guys are Carlos Rivera, Randall Simon, Fritz Mollwitz and Jimmy Knowles. Rivera, born in Puerto Rico, is a recent Pirates having played for the team in 2003-04 and I do recall him but for some reason thought he was a right handed hitter when in reality he bats left handed but I digress. His first year with the Pirates is when he saw the bulk of his playing time appearing 78 games as opposed to only 7 the following year. He received 127 PA total with the Pirates and really didn’t hit at all posting just a 53 wRC+. Simon, who is our first player born in Curacao, was with the Pirates for the same two years as Rivera and served as the primary starter whereas Rivera was his backup. When the Pirates acquired him in the offseason he appeared to be a decent hitter coming off two solid seasons in Detroit but he didn’t have quite as much success in Pittsburgh. The Pirates ended up trading him to Chicago that year and then resigned him in the offseason. His second stint with the Pirates would prove to be worse than the first and he was released mid season. I see Simon as a piece of evidence that shows how curse the Pirates were back then. Through his release in 2004 Simon had played with four organizations and posted the following OPS+ for each of them, 104, 112, 69 and 105. Can you guess which one he did with the Pirates? Simon was never a great hitter but he was an adequate early in his career except for his time in Pittsburgh. No mention of Simon would be complete without recalling his most infamous moment, hitting a racing sausage with a baseball bat; it is really the one thing people probably remember about him. After he left Pittsburgh, the second time, his career was basically over though he did make appearances with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia.
Mollwitz, who was born in Germany, actually has the highest fWAR of all the primary 1B on the international team posting a 0.6 fWAR over his career. He played for the Pirates from 1917-1919 and was a fairly poor hitter for a 1B posting a line of .245/.291/.301. In all Mollwitz came to plate 829 times for the Pirates blowing by Randall Simon and his 514 plate appearances for most by an internationally born primary 1B. His time with the Pirates was near the end of his career as he had played 1913-16 with the Cubs and Reds. He did go to finish the 1919 season with St Louis. Knowles is the earliest player on this list appearing for Pittsburgh back in the American Association days, 1884 to be exact. His stop in Pittsburgh was his first stint in the big leagues and it didn’t last long as he only played in 46 games picking up 189 plate appearances. Knowles was Canadian born and during his career played all over the infield but in Pittsburgh he was exclusively a 1B. He didn’t hit poorly, relative to the time, but didn’t distinguish himself and was with another organization by the end of the season. His career lasted until 1892 bouncing around with many different teams.
Time to be straight forward with all of you, the above group of 10 players is a very ugly one and is disappointing for an all time team, fortunately though the two remaining players who are eligible for the 1B position but who had a different primary position are much stronger candidates. First we have the Canadian born Matt Stairs who spent one season, 2003, with Pittsburgh. Stairs along with Kenny Lofton and Reggie Sanders signed deals with the Pirates that offseason making it by far the most active one I can recall. Stairs didn’t having a starting spot in Pittsburgh but played a lot as the top hitter off the bench logging time in LF, RF and 1B. During that season Stairs hit exceptionally well posting a 144 wRC+ by far the highest of all the qualified 1B and his 1.9 fWAR for that one season triples that of the top regular 1B. Stairs had a long career spanning from 1992-2011 playing for 12 different organizations, a record for a position player but his one season with the Pirates was one of the best of his career.
One last player to cover and though he wasn’t primarily a 1B for his Pirates career his 352 career games at the position is easily the most of any international player. The player in question here played for the Pirates from 1990-96 so relatively recent but just before what I can recall. Born in Puerto Rico this player is of course Orlando Merced. In his 7 years with the Pirates Merced split his time fairly evenly between RF and 1B. His offensive numbers (114 wRC+) aren’t overwhelming for a 1B but they are solid enough to make him a good regular. Over all in 2,980 PA (2,000+ more than anyone else listed here) he produced 13.7 fWAR blowing away Stairs’ 2^nd place mark of 1.9. Merced bounced around to 6 other organizations after leaving Pittsburgh but his best years were undoubtedly spent playing for the Pirates.
Pennsylvania: The PA group of 1B is significantly deeper containing 20 eligible players and another 14 that have played at least one game at the position including the man with the third most career games at 1B of all eligible PA born players. The 14 players not eligible are Dan Costello, Chuck Lauer, Lance Parrish, Otis Clymer, Dixie Walker, Joe Sugden, Jim Russell, Ken Macha, John Wehner, John Coleman, Bill Hinchman, Bill McKechnie, Frank Thomas and the iconic Honus Wagner (he played 169 games at the position ranking 3^rd of all PA players).
Of the 20 eligible players, only 6 recorded fewer than 100 PA in their Pirates career: Ray Miller, Ripper Collins, Bud Sharpe, Gene Tenace, Paddy Fox and Jake Goodman. Miller had one season in the majors, 1917; he started the year with Cleveland before coming over to Pittsburgh. A native of Pittsburgh, he received just 30 PA with the Pirates and was pretty bad in them batting just .148. Collins had a pretty solid career with the Cardinals and Cubs spanning from 1931-38 he made three All Star appearances and in 1934 finished 6^th in the MVP voting. During his time with St Louis especially he was a great hitter posting a 134 OPS+ and he even with Chicago he was a bit above league average. Collins stayed in the Cubs minor league system before joining the Pirates in 1941. With the Pirates he got 70 PA over 49 games and was nowhere near the hitter he was earlier in his career. His major league career ended that season but he hung around the Pirates minor leagues until 1946 and then played one final season of minor league ball in the PCL. In 1905 Sharpe got an immediate big league shot with the Boston Doves but failed to impress and spent the next 4 years in the minor leagues before being selected in the Rule V draft by the Pirates prior to 1910. He didn’t spend much time with the Pirates recording just 17 PA before being sent back to Boston in a trade.
Tenace is the most modern player of these six having played in the majors from 1969-1983. He was primarily a catcher for his career but started seeing time at 1B as he got older. He began his career with Oakland and was a really good hitting catcher in that posting a .809 OPS in his 8 years there. He then went to San Diego for 4 years followed by St Louis for 2 years where he continued to hit about the same but was starting to play a bit more 1B. In 1983 he finally joined the Pirates, playing almost exclusively 1B in his 53 games with the team and didn’t hit at all getting just 11 hits through 78 plate appearances. Paddy Fox was briefly mentioned in the catcher section as he played 3 games at that position but he was primarily a 1B playing 9 games at 1B for the Pirates. He played for the team back in 1899 receiving 46 plate appearances. Goodman is another player from the beginning of Pirates history having played for the Alleghenys in their inaugural year, 1882. Born in Lancaster, Goodman received just 46 PA that year but hit very well in that limited time registering 13 hits. Goodman’s time with the Pirates wasn’t his first taste of what would come to be known as major league ball as he also spent the 1878 season with the Milwaukee Grays.
Taking the maximum threshold up to 500 career plate appearances we get Chappy Lane, Guy Hecker, Denny Mack, Jim Kane, Jim Field and Tony Bartirome. Lane a native of Pittsburgh played for the team in their first season, 1882. He was the team’s primary 1 that year playing in 57 of the 78 games that season. Even by the standards back then he didn’t perform all that well getting just 37 hits in 217 PA and posting a 68 wRC+. Two years later he got another shot in Toledo where he performed better but still not good. Hecker is one of our two fold players having pitched in 336 career games and played the field in 397 (322 at 1B). Hecker spent most of his career with Louisville and was quite a good pitcher putting together a beast of a season in 1884 when he started 73 games (threw 72 CG), posted an ERA of 1.80 (league best), and struck out a league high 385 (he also had a league high 52 wins). Those numbers are of course silly by modern standards but it was still quite a year. As a hitter he wasn’t bad either posting numbers a bit better than league average. He joined the Pirates in his final season, 1890, where his pitching was kept limited and he was primarily used as a 1B. He got 368 PA that year and did ok posting a 86 wRC+. Denny Mack’s career goes about as far back as possible having started in 1871 with the Rockford Forest Citys. Eventually in 1883 he would make his way to Pittsburgh where he played primarily SS but got 25 games at 1B. He was underwhelming batting just .196 and this would prove to be his last season in the majors.
Kane played one lone season in the majors back in 1908 with the Pirates. His stat line (.241/.299/.303) looks pretty bad by modern standards but for the time it was only a bit below league average as he posted a 92 wRC+. Field is another player from the American Association days having played for Pittsburgh back in 1885. Like Kane his stat line (.239/.306/.306) looks pretty bad but with a 104 wRC+ was actually a touch better than league average. Field played the last part of the 1885 season with the Orioles but then spent most of the rest of his career in the minors. He did get a couple more shots in the majors in 1890 (with Rochester) and then 1898 (with Washington). I ask you to remember back then the difference between the “majors” and “minors” wasn’t as clear as today. The final player of this group, Tony Bartirome, is by far the worst player amongst 1B here having posted a career fWAR of -2.2. Bartirome was the Pirates regular 1B in 1952 and for those of you who know a bit about Pirates history you probably recall that the 1952 squad is usually considered to be the worst in franchise history. The team lost 112 games (out of 154) and with a 1B like Bartirome it is little wonder. He went to the plate 386 times that and put up a batting line of .220/.273/.265 for a wRC+ of just 44. He also didn’t hit a single home run on the season (for some perspective the league leader, his teammate Kiner, had 37 so not exactly a time when homers were uncommon).
Coming in with over 500 career plate appearances we still have 8 eligible players. Forming a second tier in my opinion we have Al Maul, Tom O’Brien, Harry Davis and Paul Smith. Maul and O’Brien were primarily outfielders with the Pirates but qualify under the 20% rule. Maul is another two way player whose time in Pittsburgh was from 1888-1891 but he spent the 1890 season in the short lived Player’s League so that performance will not count here. On the pitching side he wasn’t anything special and for the Pirates in particular was really bad. As for a hitter he was ok posting a 96 wRC+ in 741 career plate appearances with the Pirates. Maul enjoyed a fairly lengthy major league career spanning from 1884-1901. O’Brien played in the majors from 1897-1900 and was with the Pirates for 1898 and 1900. His 885 PA with the Pirates is 4^th most of eligible Pennsylvania 1B and he posted a 97 wRC+ in that time. With the Pirates he played every position but pitcher and catcher but spent most of his time in the outfield with a fair amount at 1B.
Davis is another player who enjoyed quite a long major league career playing from 1895 all the way through 1917 (though from 1912 he was a player/coach and seldom played, getting just 37 PA). His time with the Pirates came early in his career, 1896-98. He received 903 PA over that time (3^rd most of all eligible 1B) and posted a respectable 103 wRC+ in that time. His 2.3 fWAR is 5^th best of all eligible players. Most of his career was spent with the Philadelphia Athletics. Smith is the most recent of these 4 players having played in 1953 and then again in 1957-58. He spent the later part of 1958 with the Cubs but the rest of his career was as a Pirate. I’m not really sure what happened to Smith between 1953 and 1957 as baseball reference has him playing in Havana in 1954 but nothing for ’55 or ’56. Smith was an ok hitter but wasn’t good enough to support being a 1B as his 82 wRC+ had him post just a -0.4 fWAR.
Two of the remaining 4 eligible players received over 2,000 plate appearances with the Pirates with the other two players being Joe Harris and Willie Clark. Harris and Clark were both very good hitters posting wRC+ of 134 and 120 respectively while with the Pirates. Harris first appeared in the majors in 1914 but didn’t see time again until 1917. He had a very good year for the Indians in 1917 but was drafted into the army before the 1918 season to serve in World War 1. He was in a truck accident while in the army and was discharged due to his injuries before the 1919 season where he once again joined the Indians and had a very good year. After the season he joined an industrial league team in 1920 and was banned from baseball for life for having played with ineligible players. Harris applied for reinstatement which was granted (first time a player with a life time ban was even reinstated) and finally started playing regularly in 1922. Harris would eventually come to Pittsburgh in 1927-28 where he put up very good numbers over 514 plate appearances (his 3.4 fWAR ranks 4^th). He was traded to Brooklyn mid season where he finished out the year poorly and he would never play in the majors again. Clark played in the late 1800’s (1895-1899), his career started with the New York Giants with his final two years (1898-99) being spent in Pittsburgh. During his two years in Pittsburgh he received 582 plate appearances and did well posting a 3.9 fWAR (3^rd best of qualified 1B) but oddly he wouldn’t get any more major league time.
Harris and Clark were two good 1B for the Pirates but one thing they didn’t have was staying power as each player only saw 2 seasons with the team the remaining two players who ranks 1^st and 2^nd in terms of fWAR were with the team for significantly longer stretches. One of the two spent the bulk of his time in the OF while the other played 615 games at 1B (more than triple anyone else). Born in McKeesport the outfielder eligible for 1B is Bill Robinson. Robinson got an early taste of the majors in 1966 and received significant playing time in the majors the next three years (1967-69) but he didn’t stick in the majors until 1972 with the Phillies. The Phillies would trade him to the Pirates before the start of the 1975 season and he remained with the team through 1982. Robinson would spend his time with the Pirates as a solid regular in the OF but in 1977 he served as the team’s primary 1B while Willie Stargell was out. His best two seasons came in 1976 and 1977 and he received MVP votes for his performance. In his Pirates career he had 2,649 plate appearances the most of any eligible 1B, he hit 109 HR (again the most of any eligible 1B) and his 9.6 fWAR just barely falls short of the top spot. Robinson wasn’t a super star but he was a very good everyday player.
As for the last player I hesitate to even mention his name as though I don’t recall it I’m well aware of the bad memories his name can stir up in the fans of the early 90s Pirates. There is no way to get around it though the player in question is Sid Bream. The Pirates acquired Sid Bream from the Dodgers late in 1985 and he would remain with the team through 1990. During his time with the Pirates he was the team’s regular 1B (except for 1989 when he missed time due to injury) and he performed at quite a solid level posting a 112 wRC+ in 2,291 plate appearances. His 10.4 fWAR in that time just barely edges out Bill Robinson for the top spot on the list but its close enough that the two basically come out to a draw. For as good as an everyday player Bream was for the Pirates for 4 full seasons that is not the lasting image most fans have of him. We all know the details so I will avoid rehashing them here as to not stir up any angry feelings. Bream spent three years with a team down south in 1991-93 before finishing his career up with the Astros in 1994.
On the international side the race doesn’t seem particularly close to me but let me know your thoughts and if I am missing someone. As for the PA side there are 4 quality players at the top but I see two of them as having an advantage because of the length of their time with the team. As for deciding between the two I have one currently penciled in but there is still a chance for me to be swayed so feel free to chime in with your thoughts.