Hats off to Skip Tanner, one of my favorites of all time. Jared shares a birthday with Skip and America, as well as another connection to Chuck (article below):
Quote:
Of birthdays, Hughes, Tanners
On the day the United States celebrated its 236th birthday, Pirates reliever Jared Hughes celebrated his 27th.
Hughes shares his birth date with former Pirates manager Chuck Tanner, who would have turned 84 Wednedsay. Tanner died in February 2011. But Hughes' connection with the Tanner family does not stop there.
After signing with the Pirates in '06, Hughes reported to Class A Williamsport, where his first professional pitching coach was Bruce Tanner, Chuck Tanner's son. It was Bruce Tanner's last season in the Pirates organization before being hired by the Detroit Tigers.
"I know that Chuck did amazing things for the organization, but Bruce also did," Hughes said. "He just said to me, just throw sinkers. He was the first guy that really said that and said 'Hey, you can make it to the major leagues if you can keep that sinker down.' "
Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/spo ... z1zkJ94B6D
