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For those purveyors of horsehide history, going back, back, back to the days before 1974 when the majors switched to cowhide, the Pirates are coming close to another milepost in their 129 years of existence.
They are three bodies away from tying the franchise record for Most Players, One Season: 49.
PDFSo perhaps that leaves you hoping the Pirates' September call-ups in the next week or so include, say, outfielder Brandon Moss, outfielder John Bowker, shortstop Pedro Ciriaco and pitcher Joe Martinez? Just for history's sake. Simply because that would give the Pirates a record 50 players on the 2010 roster.
The club entered the weekend with 46 different players donning a uniform this season, three shy of their record established in 1987 and tied in 2001 -- which was the last time the Pirates lost 100 games.
To date, they have used 26 different pitchers, tying their record established in 2008.
So, Paul Maholm, a veteran of both such pitcher-heavy teams, can you name them?
"No chance," he said. "Zero.
"Most years run together for me now."
And he's an old man of 28.
Maholm, Zach Duke and Evan Meek are the lone mainstays of those turnstile pitching staffs. Ross Ohlendorf and Jeff Karstens joined that 2008 club at the trade deadline.
Other than those five holdovers, the Pirates have run out 47 different pitchers between these two staff-record years, 2008 and 2010.
So, Evan Meek, you want to try?
"No, I won't," said Meek, 27. "I'm not even going to know them all."
Can a fan even name the entire pitching staff to this point of the season?
Can a fan even name the 11 different starting pitchers, a whopping seven short of the franchise-record 18 used -- and abused -- in 1996?
Starters Maholm, Duke, Ohlendorf, Karstens, Charlie Morton, James McDonald, Brad Lincoln, Brian Burres, Daniel McCutchen, Dana Eveland, Chris Jakubauskas.
Relievers Brendan Donnelly, Octavio Dotel, Javier Lopez, D.J. Carrasco, Jack Taschner, Brian Bass, Sean Gallagher, Chris Resop, Will Ledezma, Justin Thomas, Steven Jackson, Chan Ho Park and Hayden Penn, Joel Hanrahan and Meek.
Forget 2008 -- Marino Salas, we hardly knew ye -- but focus on the breadth of this season's revolving-door policy.
Forty-six different bodies led the majors, heading into the weekend.
Twenty-six different pitchers ties Washington and Arizona for the lead.
Catchers Ryan Doumit, Erik Kratz, Jason Jaramillo, Chris Snyder.
To use this roster fluctuation as a measure, the 1952 team that lost 112 games went through more bodies (45) than victories (42), but not as many bodies as this current edition through the 107th game, Aug. 4, when No. 46 Chan Ho Park was claimed. And the franchise nadir, the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenies that lost 113 games, went through as many players as this current Pirates bunch.
First basemen Steve Pearce, Jeff Clement and Garrett Jones.
Second basemen Neil Walker and Aki Iwamura.
Shortstops Ronny Cedeno, Bobby Crosby and Argenis Diaz.
Third basemen Pedro Alvarez and Andy LaRoche.
Lest anyone forget, many of these guys also played in places for the first time in the big leagues, such as Delwyn Young at third base, and Walker and LaRoche at second. Or playing in places for the second big-league time, such as LaRoche at first. Or Doumit spending quality time in right field.
That's almost like having 47, 48, 49, 50 bodies already.
Outfielders Jose Tabata, Andrew McCutchen, Lastings Milledge, Young, Ryan Church and John Raynor.
John Raynor?
These Pirates even had turnover on the coaching roster -- two out, two in -- for the first time at midseason in a decade.
"Oh-eight?" Maholm asked, trying to turn back the clock in his mind. "When we traded J-Bay, [Xavier] Nady and [Damaso] Marte, that explains all those guys -- to get through. This year, we didn't know" to expect such player movement and another 46-player roster. And counting.
To manager John Russell, the names figure to stay the same for years to come.
"Going into spring training, it's going to be a lot better for us," Russell said. "The offseason, it's going to be a lot better, 'cause these guys are going to know where they are. Now we're going to have to add some pieces. But we're pretty excited -- very excited -- about the core that we have. We realize we're pretty set at some positions right now. In years past, we felt like we were, but you didn't know. Now ... we feel pretty confident that we got a pretty good core of players who are going to fill out most of our lineup going forward."
Neil Walker turns 25 in less than a fortnight.
Don't expect him to still live at home at 30.
"I don't think anybody wants that," he said.
Not even Tom and Carolyn Walker?
While enjoying his time back in the house where he was raised, Walker already plans to spend part of the offseason in the Florida home he owns. Then, come the 2011 Pirates season ...
"I think I'll probably get my own place."
But, you know, he'll always be welcome home for meals.
Pirates president Frank Coonelly long has toyed with the notion of potentially moving the Pirates from the National League Central to the East, where they would regularly save time and money on travel but also more often play old-school, geographic rivals such as the Phillies and Mets.
Your first thought just might be: Wouldn't they get crushed?
Looking at recent history, either the Pirates became slightly more amped for those teams, or merely it was a case of the East's unfamiliarity with the Central basement-dwellers. Over the past decade, in a much smaller sampling, the Pirates fared better against the East than the Central, or nearly equal. Three times over the past decade, they -- can't imagine typing this phrase -- finished above .500.
Colin Dunlap's blog on the Pirates is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
