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Rick Reuschel signs as a free-agent with the Pirates, spending the first two months in the minors. After being called up in May, ‘Big Daddy’ will win 14 games and be named the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year by the Sporting News.

On February 28, 1985 —

the Pittsburgh Pirates signed 35-year-old Rick Reuschel as a free agent for $200,000. He had pitched well earlier in his career, but Reuschel was coming off of a 5.17 ERA in 92.1 innings with the Chicago Cubs in 1984. He missed all of 1982 with rotator cuff surgery and struggled through the 1983 season, spending most of the year in the minors. He will spend the first two months of the 1985 season in the minors, but After being called up in May,Reuschel turned things back around with the Pirates, going 14-8, 2.27 in 194 innings for a team that lost 104 games. he will be named the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year by the Sporting News.

He made another 89 starts for the Pirates before being traded late in the 1987 season to the San Francisco Giants.