August 13: Hanlon's Debut, B-Days, Twin Bills, Home Runs, ABC Affair...

Hanlon's Debut, B-Days, Twin Bills, Home Runs, ABC Affair...

• 1889 - Ned Hanlon won his managerial debut with the Alleghenys in a 9-0 thumping of the Beaneaters at Exposition Park. Pud Galvin tossed a five hitter for the first Pittsburgh win of the season against Boston, which had taken the previous 11 matches. Galvin added a pair of hits, including a triple, and Jocko Fields and Jack Rowe contributed two knocks. 
• 1903 - RHP Steve Swetonic was born in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County. A Pitt grad, he pitched for the Bucs from 1929-33 and in 1935 to a line of 37-36/3.81. He spent his entire MLB career in Pittsburgh; he retired young at age 28, suffering from a chronic sore arm. 
• 1910 - The Pirates and Brooklyn Superbas met at Washington Park for a twin bill, and the opener took 13 frames, with Pittsburgh coming out on top 3-2. All the scoring was in extra innings, with Babe Adams and Medicine Man Scanlon each giving up a tenth inning run. The next three frames were turned over to Deacon Phillippe and Nap Rucker. Pittsburgh pushed a pair of runs over the plate in the 13th. Tommy Leach scored when Dots Miller was walked with the bases jammed (after Honus Wagner had been intentionally walked to get to him), and Mike Flynn’s sac fly brought home Fred Clarke. Brooklyn fought back; Jake Daubert’s homer cut the lead to one and with two outs and a runner on, Jack Dalton drilled a ball deep to left, but Clarke ran it down. There was a lot more action in the nitecap, but it was called because of darkness with the score tied 8-8. 
• 1916 - The Pirates lost the opener of a doubleheader against the Cards 9-8 at Robison Field. The Bucs scored eight runs in the first two innings of the nitecap, and while Pittsburgh rushed to get the game in to earn a split‚ the Cards begin to dally in hopes of twilight arriving before the fifth inning. St. Louis stole 11 bases‚ while the Bucs added three as neither side contested the swipes, one hoping to move the game along and the other hoping to delay it. The game did last five frames in a 9-5 Buc win, but led to an eventual rule change. 1920 saw the first nod to what is today called defensive indifference, as stolen bases would not be credited unless an effort was made to stop the runner. 
• 1926 - The ABC Affair concluded with Babe Adams released and Carson Bigbee & Max Carey waived. Adams had been a World Series hero, Bigbee spent 11 years with the team, and Carey was a Hall of Fame player. But they crossed management by holding a team meeting to complain of an odd bench dynamic - Bill McKechnie was the manager, but the owner had Fred Clarke sit on the bench every game, leaving the club more than a little paranoid as to who was really in charge. 
• 1930 - LHP Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell was born in Leakesville, Mississippi. The Pirates sent 2B Julian Javier to St Louis for Mizell in May of 1960, and in four months he won 13 games to help carry the Bucs to the 1960 championship. In parts of three seasons, Mizell’s Bucco line was 21-16/3.94. He was nearing the end of his career, and the Pirates sent him to the NY Mets in 1962, from where he retired at season’s end. 
• 1930 - The Pirates won their fourth game in row, scoring exactly eight runs in each, by dropping the Philadelphia Phillies 8-4 at Forbes Field. Paul Waner had three hits and a homer, while pitcher Ray Kremer also went yard. 
• 1958 - Though nicked by three-run pinch-hit homers off the bats of Rip Repulski and Bob Bowman‚ the Pirates nosed the Phils 10-9 at Connie Mack Stadium for their seventh straight victory. Roberto Clemente had two homers‚ Maz added one more‚ and Ted Kluszewski doubled and tripled. 1969 - Roberto Clemente hit three homers to lead the Bucs to a 10-5 win over the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park. He had four hits, four RBI and four runs to back Jim Bunning’s win, saved by Bob Moose. 
• 2003 - Pittsburgh scored twice in the eighth to take the lead, then the Cards came back to tie it 5-5 in the ninth at PNC Park. But with two away and the bases empty in their half, Pittsburgh, thanks to some against-the-book strategy by Tony LaRussa, walked away with the win. After two routine outs, Jason Kendall doubled, and St. Louis intentionally walked both Brian Giles and Reggie Sanders (who had homered) to load the bases for Randall Simon. Simon fell behind Pedro Borbon 0-2, then shot a single through the left side to plate Kendall with the game winner.