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: Third Basemen
International: The pool of eligible 3B for the international squad is a small one consisting of just 14 players. There are another 25 to have played the position but unlike the last 3 posts I’m not going to take the time to mention them all as they all have been or will be discussed. One player I will mention outside of either two groups is Yurendell De Caster. De Caster is the lone player on either team to not have played the field at all. Third base was De Caster’s primary position in the minors which is why he is being mentioned here. He played 3 games with the Pirates back in 2006 and is actually someone I remember. His first stint was short as he replaced a player who was placed on the bereavement list and saw action once as a pinch runner. Later in the year he was called up and used in two separate games as a pinch hitter. Fun fact De Caster’s pinch running appearance was in an interleague game for the DH making him the only player in Pirates history to be listed as a DH on Fangraphs.
Two of the 14 eligible players, Henry Youngman and Enrique Wilson have previously been covered in the 2B section. Youngman played for the Pirates in 1890 and played 6 games at 2B and 7 at 3B. Wilson was with the Pirates in 2000-01 and was used as a utility infielder playing 2B, 3B and SS.
Cesar Izturis made a long career (2001-13) out of being an all glove utility infielder. Izturis, from Venezuela was acquired by the Pirates during the 2007 season and saw time in 45 games (primarily at SS) where he was his typical self playing great defense while posting a poor 68 wRC+. Another player from Venezuela, Luis Sojo played for the Pirates in 2000. The Pirates signed him in the offseason to share the 3B job with one of their younger players (who will be mentioned later). Sojo wasn’t much of a hitter in his career but did ok with the Pirates posting an 86 wRC+ across 189 PA before being dealt to the Yankees. Having two stints with the Pirates in 1972-73 and 1977-78 we have the Puerto Rico born Fernando Gonzalez. He barely played in his first and last season with the team and spent the two others serving a utility role playing all over the field but spending most of his time at 3B. In all he collected 272 PA across 129 games. Another Gonzalez this one from the Dominican Republic played for the Pirates from played for the Pirates from 1984-88 (though he never appeared in the majors in ’86). He saw limited action each season and played all over the field, in short he was basically a depth utility player.
Part of a return the Pirates received in a controversial trade of a player who will be mentioned later was Jose Hernandez. Hernandez who hails from Puerto Rico played for the Pirates in 2003 and then again in 2006. He was a competent hitter capable of playing all over the field (his primary position was SS) but with the Pirates in his first stint he was exclusively a 3B (the second stint would see him play every position but catcher, pitcher and center field). Hernandez struck out a lot before it really became cool to do so and in 2002 he would have likely broken the single season record save for his manager benching him because the Brewers fans were cheering for him to do so. Though for his career he was a decent hitter for the Pirates he proved to be a pretty terrible one posting just a 66 wRC+.
Freddy Garcia, not the recently retired pitcher, but the late 90s 3B/OF played almost his entire career with the Pirates from 1995-99. Garcia, who is a native of the Dominican Republic, played sparing from 1995-97 (not even making the majors in ’96) but was a regular bench player his last two years. He had a reasonably good year in 1998 but overall was fairly poor posting a 73wRC+ across 436 PA and compiling a position worst -1.3 fWAR. Dave Brain is the earliest of all the eligible 3B so far and is probably the best of the lot. Brain, from the United Kingdom, played for the Pirates for just part of the 1905 season but was roughly a league average hitter in that time and his 1.8 fWAR ranks 5th of all eligible international 3B. Brain’s career lasted from 1901-08 and he was largely the same type of player on each of his stops.
The most plate appearances received by any of the previous 9 eligible 3B was the 436 collected by Freddy Garcia and the least amount by any of the remaining 5 is 1,520. So there is a clear separation between these 5 guys and the rest of the pack.
Born in Germany the earliest player on this list, Bill Kuehne, tops all eligible international 3B with a 7.5 fWAR. He played with the Pirates from 1885-89 and received 2,281 plate appearances in that time which is the second most amongst 3B (and only 12 off of the lead). Kuehne’s offensive numbers don’t look good compared to the modern era but adjusted for his time his 91 wRC+ is right in line with the 4 players and considering he also spent significant time at shortstop it is probably fair to say he has the best defensive reputation of the bunch.
Moving a good bit forward in time we get the Puerto Rico born Jose Pagan. Pagan played with the Pirates from 1965-72 and over that time he played in 625 games the most of all eligible 3B but his 1,710 plate appearances just ranks fourth. During his time with the Pirates Pagan was never a starter but rather he was one of the first guys off the bench picking up a lot of starts and pinch hitting appearances but never topping 400 plate appearances in a season. Pagan played everywhere for the Pirates except pitcher and center field but his primary position was 3B. His line of .263/.306/.384 is solid and his 94 wRC+ is the second best mark amongst 3B while his 3.2 fWAR ranks him fourth.
Remaining are 3 players who are all still currently employed in the majors. First we have a player I’ve alluded to twice already the Dominican born Aramis Ramirez. Ramirez was rushed to the majors by the Pirates and played with the team from 1998-2003. It was quite obvious he had potential and in 2001 he put it all together and had a very nice season at the plate but he would falter the next two years. In 2003, Ramirez was traded to the Cubs in a controversial trade that netted the Pirates essentially nothing. Ramirez went on to become a very good all around player. With the Pirates Ramirez really wasn’t much of a stand out player posting a 90 wRC+ over 2,253 plate appearances. The 3.6 fWAR he compiled in that time is good for 3rd of all eligible 3B.
Next up also from the Dominican Republic we have a player who like Ramirez wasn’t great with the Pirates but when he left went on to bigger and better things, Jose Bautista. Left unprotected by the Pirates Bautista was one of the many players the team had selected in the Rule V draft prior to the 2004 season. Baltimore selected him but didn’t keep him and he eventually found his way to Tampa Bay, Kansas City and the New York Mets before finally being traded back to Pittsburgh as part of the Kris Benson deal. He played with the Pirates some in 2004-05 but didn’t really get regular time until 2006-08 where he hit decently while providing poor defense at 3B. In all Bautista posted a 91 wRC+ and a -0.8 fWAR. Bautista was traded to Toronto in 2008 and spent the rest of that season and the next one as basically the same player but in 2010 after barely making the team he exploded and became one of the best power hitters in the game.
Raised in New York, Pedro Alvarez doesn’t appear as if he should be eligible for this team but he was born in the Dominican Republic qualifying him for the team. Alvarez is of course still on the team and though his days of playing 3B are likely behind him his bat makes him a credible candidate. He has registered more PA (2,293) than any other eligible player and his 104 wRC+ is easily the best of all eligible players. He has his faults namely a lot of strike outs and shaky defense (though his throwing debacle of 2014 doesn’t hurt as much here since we are looking at career) but his power makes him intriguing. In his time he has posted a 5.9 fWAR second best of the eligible players behind only Bill Kuehne. We all have our opinions about Alvarez but he very much belongs in this conversation.
Pennsylvania: The PA squad of 3B runs a bit deeper consisting of 20 eligible players and another 16 who have played the position. I’m only going to mention one of those 16 and that is Clyde Barnhart. We will get into him more when we reach the OF but Barnhart played for the Pirates from 1920-1928 and in that time he played 161 games at 3B, 5th most of all PA born players but that total falls 2 games shy of 20% of his career making him just barely ineligible. At a career 10.2 fWAR Barnhart, if eligible, would be right in the thick of the discussion but he isn’t so let’s move on to those who are.
Charlie Kuhns played in 1 game for the Pirates back in 1897 and received 4 plate appearances picking up one walk and not hits. Jim Ritz also only played in 1 game for the Pirates back in 1894 and he received 5 PA with no hits and one walk. Moving up to 2 games we have Terry Turner who picked up 7 PA for the Pirates back in 1901. He would go on to have a long career (1904-118) with the Cleveland Naps. Bobby Rhawn was acquired by the Pirates on June 6, 1949 played in three games and was then released. Gus Getz a native of Pittsburgh finished his major league career with the Pirates in 1918 when he received 10 plate appearances across 7 games. Another Pittsburgh native, Jim Gray, played for the Pirates in 1884, 1890 and 1893 but only received 14 plate appearances across 4 games so he seems to be a local guy they used when they were short on players. Tom Burns had a lengthy career with the Chicago Cubs from 1880-1891 but finished his career up with the Pirates in 1892 when he received 42 plate appearances over 12 games. Joe Redfield is a much more modern player than the rest having played for the Pirates in 1991 where he picked up 2 hits over 23 PA over the course of 11 games.
Way back in 1888 Pete McShannic, a native of Pittsburgh, played for the Alleghenies and received 101 PA across 26 games. That would be the only time he would see in the majors and he performed poorly batting .194 with just one XBH. Ken Macha who I know as the former manager of the Athletics and Brewers began his baseball career as a player in the Pirates organization and saw time with the Pirates in 1974, 1977 and 1978. He received just 171 PA in that time and was a poor hitter posting just an 82 wRC+. Macha would go on to play in Montreal and Toronto. Dick Smith played with the Pirates from 1951-1955 but in that time he never received more than 74 PA in a season meaning he was on and off the roster his entire career. He came to the plate 216 times in all and posted an awful 18 wRC+.
Joe Schultz the previously discussed senior variety split his time evenly for the Pirates in 1916 between 2B and 3B. This is the last position that father or son qualifies for though Schultz did also appear in games at shortstop and in the outfield. Fred Hartman picked up 210 PA back in 1894 and posted a nice looking .319/.389/.451 line in that time. That was good for a 105 wRC+ (3rd best of all eligible players with over 100 PA) and a 0.9 fWAR (5th best of all eligible players). It was a solid short career Hartman had with the Pirates before moving on to the Browns, Giants and White Sox where he posted largely similar numbers. Art Howe was a late bloomer not appearing in the majors until age 27 in 1974 with the Pirates. He would play the ’74 and ’75 seasons with the Pirates posting poor results (59 wRC+) at the plate however he went on to become a solid regular for the Houston Astros who he played for form 1976-1982 before finishing his career up in St Louis. Mike Mowrey played one season for the Pirates back in 1914 when he picked up 318 PA across 79 games. He hit ok posting a 93 wRC+ and his 1.5 fWAR is the 4th best of all eligible players. Mowrey’s career lasted from 1905-1917 mainly with the Reds and Cardinals who he played part of 5 seasons with each club.
Moving on to guys with more significant at bats we have two utility players and one who was a weak hitter but strong defender. Looking at the strong defender first we have to go all the way back to the beginning of the franchise (1882-84) to find Joe Battin. Battin bounced around to a lot of team spending nearly two decades in professional baseball with the 3 seasons with the Alleghenies being the most consecutive with any team. Never much of a hitter Battin survived based on a strong glove at 3B so much so that the Pirates never bothers to try him anywhere else (aside from 2 pitching appearances) which was very unusual for the time. Bill McKechnie would go on to become a great manager even leading the Pirates to a World Series victory in 1925 but before that he was a utility player who began his career with the Pirates bounced around to a few other teams and then finished his career with Pittsburgh. His stints are 1907, 1910-12 and 1918-1920. In that time McKechnie collected 1,314 PA across 368 games (both the third most of all eligible players), He played all over the infield in that time appearing in at least 40 games at each of the 4 positions but his bat wasn’t good as he posted just a 69 wRC+.
Before we reach the top guys we have one more guy to cover and that is long time Pirates and current Pirates announcer John Wehner. Wehner’s career lasted from 1991-2011 and he played all but two of those seasons (1997-98) with the Pirates. Wehner played everywhere for the Pirates except pitcher and is also a foot note in history as he hit the last HR ever at Three Rivers Stadium. Wehner was never much of a hitter posting just a 71 wRC+ across his 761 PA (364 games) with the club but remained valuable because of his ability to play anywhere. The two years not with the Pirates Wehner spent with the Marlins meaning he has a World Series ring (something I always forget about him).
The two remaining players are light years ahead of the rest finishing first and second in playing time and fWAR by miles. Their wRC+ is also better than anyone other than Terry Turner and his 7 career PA. The two remaining players are Frank Thomas and Don Hoak. Thomas had a long career spanning from 1951-1966 and he spent the first half or so of it (1951-1958) with the Pirates. Thomas began his career as an OF but in 1956 and 1958 he was the Pirates everyday 3B (in 1957 he played 1B, 3B and the OF) making him eligible for both 3B and the OF. Thomas in his Pirates career belted 163 home runs easily the most of any Pennsylvania born Pirates topping Bill Robinson by 54 and nearly doubling the current 3rd placer, Honus Wagner (82 HR). He was a force at the plate posting a career 110 wRC+ with a batting line of .275/.333/.474 the plate discipline could have been better but that was some serious power he packed. In all he played 925 games for the Pirates compiling 3,838 PA (both the highest of all 3B) and his 12.2 fWAR crushes the third place 2.3 posted by Joe Batting and falls just short of Don Hoak’s top mark. Thomas had 3 all star appearances with the Pirates and 5 times received votes for MVP topping out at 4th in 1958.
Don Hoak actually replaced Frank Thomas as 3B in the 1959 season and it is saying something that the team really didn’t miss a beat. Hoak, who had previously played with the Dodgers (Brooklyn), Cubs and Reds played with the Pirates from 1959-1962 before finishing his career in Philadelphia. Hoak played in 576 games with the Pirates and collected 2,340 PA. He didn’t nearly have the power of Thomas hitting just 41 HR (still second of the 3B) but he made up for it with better plate discipline and better defense. Hoak and Thomas posted similar wRC+ (Hoak’s was 111) but got there by entirely different ways as Hoak’s line of .281/.364/.415 doesn’t look all that similar to Thomas’s. Hoak never played any other position for the Pirates than 3B and the 12.6 fWAR he posted in that time barely edges out Thomas for the top spot. In his Pirates career Hoak received MVP consideration his first two years with the club finishing 2nd in 1960 to his teammate Dick Groat.
Two fascinating races here, the third base position is in my opinion by far the hardest to sort out. For the international side there is no legitimate front runner with several people having similar looking profiles. On the Pennsylvania side two players easily stand out but there is little separating them though they have widely different playing styles. Feel free to chime in as this is the position I think I can be the most easily swayed on.
You may not realize this but I made an attempt here to make this piece considerably shorter than the previous three. The other three were coming in at around 4,000 words where as I trimmed this down closer to 3,000 so it is significant.
