9/9: HBD Ab, Dots, Dashing Dan, Fordham Flash, Schoolboy, Dan; Losing Seasons Streak Snapped

• 1857 - LF Abner Dalrymple was born in Gratiot, Wisconsin. He had a long and illustrious career in early baseball - he was the first hitter to be issued an intentional walk with the bases loaded - but spent just two years (1887-88) at the backend of his career with the Alleghenys. Abner his just .215 as an Allegheny, but got the team’s first NL at-bat against the White Sox on April 30, 1887, a 6-2 win at Recreation Park that is considered by the Pirates to be the beginning of the franchise. 
• 1886 - IF Jack “Dots” Miller was born in Kearny, New Jersey. He played with Pittsburgh for five seasons, from 1909-13. He drove in 87 runs for the 1909 Series champs and had a .263 career average with the Pirates. According to Bucco lore (and the SABR Biography Project), he got the nickname "Dots" after a reporter asked Honus Wagner the whereabouts of the new kid. Wagner pointed to him in a corner and replied in his German accent, "Dots (That's) Miller." Another version has Miller himself using “dots” for “that” as a youth, and it stuck. 
• 1891 - OF “Dashing Dan” Costello was born in Jessup, PA, in Lackawanna county. He played three years for the Bucs, between 1914-16, as a reserve outfielder and utility man. He hit .241 as a Pirate, and by 1917 was in the minors. 

Dashing Dan 1916 via Wikipedia

• 1898 - Bucco skipper Frankie Frisch was born in the Bronx. He spent his Hall of Fame playing days with the NY Giants and St. Louis’ Gas House Gang. The Fordham Flash managed the Pirates from 1940-46, leading the club to five winning seasons and a second place finish in 1944, ending up with a 539-528 slate in Pittsburgh. 
• 1899 - RHP and Hall of Famer Waite “Schoolboy” Hoyt was born in Brooklyn. Best known for his NY Yankee years, he tossed for the Bucs from 1933-37 as a multi-role arm, compiling a record of 35-31-18/3.08 as a Pirate, winning 15 games in 1934. He got his nickname when John McGraw signed him to his original contract when Hoyt was a teenager, and he became known as "The Schoolboy Wonder."
• 1928 - The Pirates rallied with five runs in the eighth to overcame a 7-3 Cardinal lead and take an 8-7 victory home from Sportsman’s Park. Paul Waner went 4-for-5 with two RBI and a run while brother Lloyd chipped in with three knocks, including a double, triple, RBI and two runs scored. Joe Dawson worked two perfect innings for the win. 
• 1934 - The Pittsburgh Crawfords' Satchel Paige and the Philadelphia Stars' one year wonder, lefty Slim Jones, traded fastballs through nine memorable innings at Yankee Stadium in a 1-1 draw, called after regulation due to darkness. Paige struck out 12, giving up six hits, and Jones fanned nine while allowing just three knocks, pitching perfect ball over the first six frames and carrying a shutout until the eighth before 30,000+ fans. According to Forgotten In Time, they faced one another a month later. Before that game, the owner of the New York Black Yankees, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, presented them with travel bags (a fitting gift for the well-traveled Satchel) in honor of their efforts in the "greatest game ever played." Paige bested Jones 3-1 in the rematch. 

Satchel Paige 1933 via John Thorn "Our Game"

• 1937 - Ed Brandt outdueled the Reds Gene Schott 1-0 at Forbes Field, handing the Reds their 30th one-run loss of the year. Arky Vaughan's triple and Bill Brubaker’s single to lead off the ninth provided the dramatic finale to back Brandt’s four-hitter. 
• 1970 - RHP Dan Miceli was born in Newark. The reliever spent the first four years (1993-96) of his 14 season career in Pittsburgh, going 8-15-24/5.41 during that span. He was known for a power arm and shaky control throughout his MLB journey. 
• 1987 - The Bucs nipped the Cubs 4-3 when an unlikely suspect, reliever Jeff Robinson, went yard on ace Chicago closer Lee Smith with two out in the ninth at Wrigley Field, smashing the first pitch into the bleachers. Coach Rick Donnelly told Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette that “Jeff Robinson and Lee Smith could stand out there the rest of their lives and not have that happen again.” Robinson agreed: “It was pretty much of a fluke,” he admitted. Jim Leyland told the media that he only let Robinson bat because he thought he had the best shot at retiring the Cubs in the ninth and getting the game to Jim Gott. Well, Robby did get the closer Gott on the mound, a little sooner than expected, and he struck out two for the save. RJ Reynolds provided the offense prior to Robinson, with two hits and two RBI. 

Jeff Robinson 1988 Donruss series

• 1991 - Jay Bell went 4-for-4 with a home run in Pittsburgh’s 12-10 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Pirates trailed, 10-8, in the ninth inning before rookie Orlando Merced connected off Chicago’s Dave Smith for a three run, pinch-hit homer, highlighting Pittsburgh’s four-run frame. 
• 1992 - With the score tied in the bottom of the sixth with two on, one out and first base open, the Cubs intentionally walked Barry Bonds. It was his 28th IBB of the year, breaking the Bucs' single season record, set in 1968 by Roberto Clemente (Bonds finished up with 32 by year’s end). The stratagem backfired, though, when Jeff King hit the first pitch he saw from Ken Patterson over the left field wall for his second career grand slam. Gary Varsho and Jay Bell also went long as Pittsburgh prevailed 13-8 at TRS, with Danny Cox getting the blown save/win combo. 
• 2013 - Andrew McCutchen was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as part of Lee Jenkin’s story “The Bucs Start Here.” It didn’t take Dick Tracy to figure that out; Cutch won the MVP that year with a .317/.404/.508 slash.

• 2013 - The Pirates clinched their first winning season since 1992 with a 1-0 win over Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington. Rookie Gerrit Cole went seven innings of three hit ball, walking a pair and striking out nine, with Tony Watson and Mark Melancon pitching two innings of one hit ball to seal the deal. The game was scoreless until two outs in the seventh when Marlon Byrd and Pedro Alvarez hit back-to-back doubles to produce the game’s only run. The win broke a four game losing streak and moved the Pirates within a game of first place St. Louis.