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Will Bucs regret waiving Waddell?

One of the endearing things about baseball is that you can start pulling for guys for no apparent reason. When I was a young fan, I became enamored of Pirates first baseman Donn Clendenon. Don’t ask me why. He wasn’t the best player on the team; the Bucs in those days were sporting three players who wound end up in Cooperstown in Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski. Clendenon had a long sweeping swing that meant he was prone to striking out – although if he were playing today he’d fit right in. But he did have two excellent seasons back to back in 1965-66 – essentially the first two years of my actual baseball fandom – so Clink was my guy, at least for a while.