Pirates History 4/20

All-stars, pitchers moving on, gems from the bump, clutch blasts

• 1930 - Long-time baseball writer Irwin Howe of the Chicago Tribune picked his all-time MLB team, and it included Honus Wagner and Pie Traynor. Howe was the secretary for the Chicago chapter of BBWAA and the AL’s official statistician.
• 1932 - North Side native Steve Swetonic came as close as any Pirate pitcher (Bob Moose matched his feat in 1968) to toss a no-hitter at Forbes Field. He surrendered a two-out knock in the eighth by the Card’s George Watkins to spoil his bid. Though he gave up a couple of anti-climatic ninth inning singles, he cruised to a 7-0 victory. His career was short-circuited after five years when he retired at the age of 28 because of a chronic sore arm.
• 1936 - Overcoming an early six run deficit, the Bucs’ Gus Suhr slugged a two-out, three-run homer in the ninth off Roy Henshaw to give Pittsburgh a 9-8 win over the Cubs at Forbes Field.
• 1946 - Rip Sewell spun a four hitter to win a duel against the Cards Bucky Walters 2-1. Walters scored his clubs only run by stealing home, but RBI from Bob Elliott and Elbie Fletcher sent the Forbes Field crowd of 27,891 home happy.
• 1948 - Rip Sewell did it all; he tossed a complete game six hitter and homered as the Bucs won their home opener 3-2 over the Cubs. Rookie second baseman Monty Basgall had the game winner, his first big league homer, in the sixth inning.
• 1970 - Willie Stargell belted a homer off Jim Bouton that cleared the RF roof at Forbes Field as the Pirates took a 3-1 decision over Houston.
• 1985 - Kent Tekulve’s Pirate career ended after a dozen seasons when he was traded to the Phils for Al Holland. He became a set up man there and remained remarkably rubber-armed, appearing in 291 games in four years.
• 1995 - The Pirates released knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. He was picked up by Boston, where he spent 17 seasons and won 186 games.
• 2009 - Ross Ohlendorf tossed the Bucs’ fourth shutout of the season, giving up two hits in seven innings in an 8-0 win over Florida, ending the Fish seven-game winning streak. The Bucs had recorded just two shutouts in all of 2008. Nate McLouth gave Ohlie all the support he needed by driving in four runs, three touching home after a sixth inning homer.