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Committee Chairman

Committee Chairman

Kirk Buchner, "The Committee Chairman", is the owner and operator of the site.  Kirk can be contacted at [email protected] .

The son of 12-year veteran Catcher Fred Kendall, Jason Kendall naturally came by his trade behind the plate and would eclipse his father in Major League accomplishments.

Kendall was a First Round Pick in 1992, and after slowly being groomed by Pittsburgh, he would make his Pirates debut as their starting Catcher in 1996.  The rookie year of Kendall was strong, as he was an All-Star, a third-place finisher for the Rookie of the Year, and he batted an even .300.  Kendall remained a good hitter over his duration with Pittsburgh, batting .300 five more times with the team, with an overall.306 Batting Average for the team.  Defensively, the three-time All-Star was competent, and though he was not a Gold Glove winner, this was not a deficiency in his game.  

Kendall was traded to Pittsburgh in 2007, and with the team, he had 1,409 Hits.

29. Al Oliver

Signing as an Amateur Free Agent in 1964, Al Oliver first made the Pirates in 1968 and became their starting Centerfielder the year after.  

Oliver tied for second in Rookie of the Year voting and would help the Pirates win the World Series in 1971.  An All-Star the following season, Oliver developed his hitting stroke, batting at least .300 four times, and from 1969 to 1977, always at least 11 Home Runs, peaking with 20 in 1973.  Finishing seventh in MVP voting twice (1972 & 1974), Oliver added two more All-Stars (1975 & 1976), and by the mid-70s, he was regarded as one of the better hitters in the National League.

Despite his success, the Pirates were looking to shake things up, and Oliver was sent to Texas as part of a four-team trade.  Oliver batted .296 with 1,490 Hits and 135 Home Runs with Pittsburgh.

Ray Kremer was a Pirate for the duration of his ten-year career, beginning in 1924 when he got off to a good start with an 18-10 Record and an ERA of 3.19.

For the rest of the decade, Kremer was a top starter for Pittsburgh, anchoring the team to a World Series win in 1925 and another Pennant in 1927.  Kremer won 20 Games twice (1926 & 1930), leading the NL in that stat both times, and he was also a two-time ERA Champion (1926 & 1927), where he finished third and ninth in MVP voting, respectively.

Kremer, who did not make it to the Majors until he was 28, would begin to age out in 1931 and was done two years later. He had a record of 143-85 with a 3.76 ERA.

Truett "Rip" Sewell is not just known for his long run with the Pittsburgh Pirates, as it is Sewell who gave the world the "Eephus."

Sewell first made the Majors with the Detroit Tigers for five Games in 1932, but it was mostly known for Hank Greenberg beating him up.  He finally made it back to the big league with Pittsburgh in 1938, but as Sewell was now in his early 30s, he had to learn how to use every bit of guile and trickery to get outs.

Making the Pirates starting rotation in 1940, Sewell had an occasional pitch called the “Eephus," which was so off-speed that it just blooped over home plate, confusing batters who had years of conditioning to hit a baseball at much faster speeds.  He was named to four All-Star Teams and led the NL in Wins (21) in 1943, duplicating that number the season after.  Sewell’s best seasons were during the talented-depleted World War II, but that should not penalize him, as it was a factor beyond his control.

Overall, Sewell had 143 Wins against 97 Losses with a 3.43 ERA.