Stan Belinda And Jay Bell Milk Cows

Pittsburgh Pirates fans are unhappy. Over the past few days, the team traded away All-Star closer Mark Melancon, pitcher Francisco Liriano (who struggled this season but has been great for the team the past few years) and the disappointing pitcher Jon Niese. The team reduced payroll significantly and also traded away several prospects for seemingly little in return. While I'll let others debate the pros and cons of the trades, I'm taking you back to a simpler time. A happier time. Let's go back to June 1992.

Jonah Keri, formerly of Grantland and currently a baseball writer for Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports, hosts The Jonah Keri Podcast and recently welcomed ESPN's Tim Kurkjian. I really enjoyed the two sharing stories, but as a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, there was one that stood out. Kurkjian described a cow milking contest between Jay Bell and Mike Lavailliere around the 31:45 mark. Well, I needed to know more about this. This is the text from Kurkjian's Is This a Great Game, Or What?: From A-Rod's Heart to Zim's Head--My 25 Years in Baseball

They don't have cow-milking contests in the NHL, but Pirates Jay Bell and Stan Belinda, who grew up on a farm, engaged in one. "Jay lost by a quart," teammate Andy Van Slyke said. "It wouldn't have been close except Jay was pumping skim milk and Stan was doing whole milk.

I'm giving Kurkjian the benefit of the doubt for confusing Lavalliere and Belinda. I mean, this is a cow-milking contest from more than 20 years ago! But I still need to know more. Enter the June 3, 1992 Beaver County Times.

While the picture is terrible, yes, there was a cow-milking contest on the Three Rivers Stadium turf between Jay Bell and Stan Belinda. There's photographic proof!

Apparently, this wasn't their first, um, rodeo. This is from the June 1, 1991 edition of Tyrone, Pennsylvania's Tyrone Daily Herald:

Two Pittsburgh Pirates, Jay Bell and Stan Belinda, will be the featured attraction at the Sixth Annual Dairy Day in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, June 4, 1991, at Market Square. The two ballplayers will square off in a milking contest at 11 a.m. and attempt to show visitors just how to milk a cow. Bell, the Pirate's Shortstop, is also the dairy industry's spokesperson on behalf of the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program. He was recently featured on a growth chart that was distributed by the Pirates and the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program in early May. Belinda, the Pirate's Relief Pitcher, is a farm boy himself and hails from a dairy farm in central Pennsylvania

The cow involved will be provided by Marburger Farm Dairy of Evans City, Butler County. Following the milking contest, promotion visitors can treat themselves to milk and ice cream by participating in several activities. These include Bossey Toss, Pudding Making, and a Dairy "Wheel of Fortune." In addition to these activities, county Dairy Princesses will be entertaining the crowd with several skits and Woodsmoke, a country western band, will provide musical entertainment.

So many questions. What exactly were Bell's responsibilities as the dairy industry's spokesperson? Was Belinda mad that although he was a farm boy from a central PA dairy farm he wasn't the spokesperson? What is Bossey Toss? Skits from the county Dairy Princesses? Sign me up!

How I wish there was Twitter or blogs back then to cover this! Someone has to have video of this somewhere, right? I guess we can dream.

Pittsburgh Pirates Draft Analysis: Going Retro

After 18 consecutive seasons under .500, the Pirates management utilized the 2011 amateur draft in an attempt to return to the glory years of the early 1990s. They did so by selecting players with the same last names of players from those baseball teams and others from the 1990s. Don’t believe me? Take a look.

With the first overall pick of the draft, the Pirates chose pitcher Gerrit Cole from UCLA. Sure, he was one of the top prospects available (if not the #1 rated player) in the draft, but I suspect that a deciding factor in picking Cole over Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer and Anthony Rendon came down to the last name. I’m sure we all remember the impact Alex Cole had the 1992 Pirates. To reach the playoffs in the future, the Pirates need a Cole on their team.

In the second round, the Pirates selected Josh Bell, an outfielder from Jesuit College Prep high school in Texas. Shortstop Jay Bell was a significant contributor to the Pirates teams of the early 1990s. The Pirates hope that Josh Bell meets and exceeds Jay Bell’s accomplishments. Plus, manager Clint Hurdle will love to have Josh Bell bunt like Jay Bell used to at Three Rivers Stadium.

The Pirates grabbed RF Aaron Brown from Chatsworth High School in California with their 17th round pick. Aaron will try to follow in the long line of Pirates' "Brown" outfielders, the triumvirate of Adrian, Emil & Brant Brown.

19th round: Mike Nunez – A pitcher from Salmen High School in Louisiana. Hopefully, he has no relation to former Pirates SS Abraham Nunez.

20th round: Trea Turner, SS from Park Vista Community High School in Florida. This selection was obviously made with Turner Ward in mind.



25th round: Josh Martin, Pitcher from Samford University. Hopefully, he won’t have two wives like former Pirate Al Martin.

49th round: Austin White, 3B from Arkansas High School in, wait for it, Arkansas. Can he replicate the long career of Rick White, a relief/spot starter from the 1994 & 1995 seasons with a return to the Bucs in 2005?

To truly return to glory and to follow through on this plan, though, the Pirates still have work to do. Therefore, I suspect that they will attempt to acquire Kyle Drabek of the Toronto Blue Jays and Scott Van Slyke from the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system. In addition, there’s already a Tomlin in Pittsburgh, and I’d definitely want him on my team!

Update: I just learned that the Colorado Rockies selected Brandon Bonilla in the 37th round. What were the Pirates thinking? Were they hoping Bonilla would slip to the 40th round? They missed a great opportunity here!

Although my random name connection ends here, my draft analysis does not.

The Pirates have had little success against the Milwaukee Brewers over the past few seasons. What better way to defeat the Brewers than drafting a Brewer, specifically Colten Brewer, a pitcher out of Canton High school in Texas?

Any time that you can get a player named for a restaurant in Pittsburgh’s strip district, you have to do it. Therefore, I commend the Pirates for picking Jordan Deluca, an outfielder from Tussey Mountain High School (PA) with their 47th round pick. Sadly, Steve Pamela’s was not eligible for this year’s draft. (Yes, President Obama is a fan of Pamela's.)



Overall, I congratulate the Pirates on a (hopefully) successful draft!