6/15 - Lotta Stuff Going On For The Bucs

Streaks, trades, Dal Canton, Dino, Ducky, rain, toss outs, & a rally...

• 1897 - IF Gene DeMontreville had five hits, but it wasn’t enough as the Pirates went down to the Senators 10-8 at Washington’s Boundary Field. DeMontreville had a 36-game hitting streak from 1896 to 1897. The mark wasn’t discovered by baseball historians until 2007, and ranks as the tenth-longest hitting streak in MLB history.
• 1909 - The Pirates defeated the Brooklyn Superbas 8-2 at Washington Park for their 14th straight win. It was snapped the following day, but between May 24th - June 29th, Pittsburgh won 27-of-30 games on the way to their first World Series title over Ty Cobb’s Detroit Tigers.
• 1939 - The Pirates picked up 1B Elbie Fletcher from the Boston Bees for IF Bill Schuster and cash. Fletcher played seven seasons for Pittsburgh (he missed three because of WW2) and hit .279 with 60 HR and 464 RBI for the Bucs. Broadway Bill Schuster was a sub who also missed three war years, and hit .234 over a five-year career.
• 1941 - RHP Bruce Dal Canton was born in California, PA. Dal Canton was signed by the Bucs out of California State College and tossed his first four big-league seasons (1967-70) in Pittsburgh, finishing with an 11-year career as a starter and long man.
• 1949 - Rookie OF Dino Restelli homered twice and drove in five RBI against Boston’s Warren Spahn, leading the Pirates to an 8-7 come-from-behind victory at Forbes Field. After a blazing start, he was back in the minors the next season. Some people say his career was ruined when he took a Ewell Blackwell fastball in the neck; another theory was that he couldn’t see because of east coast humidity - his glasses kept fogging up!
• 1951 - The Pirates received RHP Ted Wilks, IF Dick Cole, C Joe Garagiola, OF Bill Howerton and LHP Howie Pollet from St. Louis for LHP Cliff Chambers and OF/3B Wally Westlake. Pollet and Chambers ended up as washes on the hill, but Westlake played seven more seasons and retired with a lifetime .272 BA.
• 1958 - SS Johnny O’Brien and 3B Gene Freese were traded to the Cardinals for IF Dick “Ducky” Schofield, who would play a key role in the Bucs 1960 NL championship as a sub for the injured Dick Groat.
• 1976 - The Bucs were in effect rained out of a game at the Houston Astrodome when flooding prevented the umps from reaching the field. The Pirates and Astros shared their clubhouse buffet on the field with the few faithful Texans who had shown up for the game.
• 1982 - In a much ado about nothing deadline swaps, the Phillies sent OF Wayne Nordhagen on to the Pirates for OF Bill Robinson. A week later, the Blue Jays traded OF Dick Davis to the Pirates for Nordhagen. Davis hit .182 and finished his career in Japan, Nordhagen’s last year was 1983, and Robinson was out of baseball after the 1984 season.
• 1987 - In a 3-1 win over the Cardinals‚ Jim Morrison set a MLB record by getting caught stealing home twice in the same inning. He was first caught in a rundown and Terry Pendleton dropped the throw to third, with Morrison being charged with a CS and Pendleton an error. Morrison tried to steal again - some guys never learn - and was caught cleanly the second time. 
• 1992 - Jeff King was caught stealing twice in the same inning. The first time he was given 1B after being picked off when he collided with Phillies P Terry Mulholland during the rundown. Mulholland was called for interference‚ and King was charged with a caught stealing. He was nailed later in the frame trying to steal third. The Bucs lost 4-1.
• 2008 - The Bucs squandered a 4-2 lead in the ninth, allowing the Orioles to score twice, but came back in the tenth to claim a 5-4 win at Camden Yards. Jason Bay walked to start the extra frame and scored on Adam LaRoche’s single. Matt Capps, who had blown the save by giving up a two run, two out homer to Bip Roberts, struck out a pair in the tenth to claim the W.