Pirates from the Past: Francisco Cordova

In the mid 1990's the Pirates had a bit of a working agreement with the Mexico City team in the Mexican League. It led to quite a few Mexican players coming to the Pirates' system. Some of the names are Ricardo Rincon, Elmer Dessens, Esteban Loazia, Rudy Galvez, and Francisco Cordova. In my opinion Cordova was the best of the bunch, and he was one of favorite Pirates of that era.

Cordova was signed in 1996 and made his Pirate debut that very season working in the bullpen. Cordova was a part of a bullpen that featured a cast of characters ranging from Dan Plesac and Jon Lieber to Marc Wilkins and Dan Miceli. Featuring a funky sort of pitching motion and the number 67 on his jersey, Cordova led the Bucs with a whopping 12 saves in 59 games.

The next year Lamont moved Cordova into the rotation and it would be a move that would payoff for the Buccos. The rotation that year featured starters that would one day be good major league starters, but unfortunately not for the Pirates. The rotation had Steve Cooke, the only lefty, followed by Jon Lieber, Esteban Loazia, Jason Schmidt and Cordova. Francisco would go 11-8 with a 3.63 ERA, leading the team.

1997 though was the year of the Freak Show and Cordova was a part of the biggest story of that team. On July 12 he no hit the Houston Astros through 9 innings. He would be followed by fellow Mexican Ricardo Rincon, who would continue the no hitter in the 10th, opening the door for Mark Smith to make his mark on Pirate history with a home run to win the combined extra inning no hitter.

The next season Cordova was the 'ace' of the staff as he went 13-14 with a 3.31 ERA, leading the Bucs in wins and ERA. He logged a career high 220 innings pitched that year as he was the workhorse of the rotation.

Perhaps he was worked a little too hard as he suffered greatly in 1999. His strikeout numbers dropped considerably. He would got 8-10, with an ERA of 4.43 over 160 innings pitched. In 2000, he continued to decline only pitching 95 innings, due to injury. He would go 6-8 with an ERA of 5.21 in what would be his final season in Pittsburgh.

Coming into 2001 Cordova was hurt, as was most of the team's starters. He had elbow problems and tried to come back, appearing in a handful of games in Nashville and Altoona. His elbow needed major surgery and it pretty much ended his professional career.

He would resurface a few years later in Mexico, pitching again for Mexico City. He was however no where near what he once was.

Cordova was a part of one of the best moments in recent Pirate history. He was a bit of workhorse that rounded out some very unstable rotations. Unfortunately he blew out his elbow and we never got to see him pitch in PNC Park. I would like to think he could have been a fairly reliable pitcher for the Bucs, if he had not gotten hurt. Despite what could have been, we can always look back on that great night in 1997.

	Stats
Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SH	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WP	H9	HR9	BB9	K9	WHIP
1996-2001	42	47	3.96	166	112	7	4	41	12	753.2	755	366	332	75	235	537	15	9	0.9	2.8	6.4	1.31