August 22: Busy Day For The Buccos

Camnitz, Willis, Swatfests, Hans, 22 Innings, Bye-Bye Giants, The Big Three, Sturdivant's Knuckler, Clemente, brils & Home Run Derby...

• 1881 - RHP Howie Camnitz was born in Covington, Kentucky. He pitched nine seasons for Pittsburgh (1904-13), going 116-84 with a 2.63 ERA and posting three 20 win seasons. Camnitz was a member of the 1909 World Series club. He finished his career by pitching a couple of years in the upstart Federal League for the aptly named Pittsburgh Rebels. 
• 1906 - Vic Willis edged the NY Giant’s Christy Mathewson 2-1 at Exposition Park. After falling behind in the first inning, the Pirates evened the score in the fifth on two errors followed by two walks, then won in the ninth when Claude Ritchey walked, was bunted to second, and scored with two down on Fred Clarke’s double to right center. 
• 1907 - As the Pittsburg Press reported “It was a regular swatfest from start to finish, the Buccaneers having no mercy...but hammering the ball to all corners of the lot” in a 20-5 win over the NY Giants at the Polo Grounds. George Gibson, Ed Abbaticchio and Alan Storke had four hits each while Tommy Leach and Fred Clarke had three. Lefty Leifield cruised to the win. 
• 1910 - Honus Wagner led the Bucs to a 6-2, 8-4, doubleheader sweep against the Philadelphia Phillies at Forbes Field, going 7-for-7 with two homers, three doubles and a sac fly. The Bucs set a record in the second game by hitting three homers in an inning for the first time when Howie Camnitz, Vin Campbell and Hans connected. It was Camnitz’s only MLB home run. 
• 1912 - Honus Wagner hit for the cycle in an 8-6 loss to the NY Giants at Forbes Field. 1917 - The Pirates lost the longest game in innings they ever played, 6-5, in 22 frames to the Brooklyn Robins at Ebbet’s Field despite Carson Bigbee’s six hits (Bigbee set the MLB record with 11 at-bats in a single game). The game was the longest in NL history to that point. Poor Elmer Jacobs tossed 16-2/3 innings, giving up one run - and lost. The match was, as fate would have it, the opener of a double header; the second game went two innings before being called for darkness. It was the fourth straight extra-inning game for Pittsburgh, and third against Brooklyn. 
• 1925 - The Pirates swept a doubleheader from the second place NY Giants by 8-1 and 2-1 scores at the Polo Grounds behind the pitching of Lee Meadows and Vic Aldridge to take a five game lead in the NL race. Kiki Cuyler had three hits, including a homer, three RBI and two runs scored in the opener, while Glenn Wright’s two run homer in the seventh was the difference in the nitecap. The Pirates pulled away from the Giants and won the pennant by 8-1/2 games. 
• 1928 - The Bucs big three of Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner and Pie Traynor led Pittsburgh to a 10-3 win over the Boston Braves at Forbes Field. Big Poison and Pie had three hits and three RBI apiece while the Waner brothers each scored three runs. Erv Brame tossed a six hitter for the win. 
• 1962 - Tom Sturdivant’s knuckler fluttered its way past the Colt .45 bats for eight whiffs as he tossed a three hit, complete game whitewash against Houston at Forbes Field, winning 3-0. Bob Skinner’s two run triple followed by Roberto Clemente’s sac fly in the third provided all the Bucco runs. Clemente preserved the shutout by making a wall-crashing grab of Jim Pendleton’s ninth inning drive with a runner on second. 
• 1970 - The Pirates beat Los Angeles 2-1 in 16 innings at Dodger Stadium. Roberto Clemente went 5-for-7 and scored the winning run when he led off the 16th with a single, stole second and came in on Jerry May’s two out knock to left. Four Pirate pitchers scattered seven hits, with Bruce Dal Canton getting the W, but they kept it interesting by issuing 11 walks. The Dodgers went 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
• 1972 - Nellie Briles tossed a one hitter, giving up just a two-out, seventh inning single to Ken Henderson, to beat Juan Marichal and the SF Giants 1-0 at Candlestick Park. The game’s only score came in the first when Roberto Clemente reached on a two-out error by Tito Fuentes and came home on Willie Stargell’s double. Henderson was the only Giant baserunner; Briles didn’t walk anyone and whiffed six. 
• 2007 - The Bucs bashed six homers (Nate McLouth - 2, Freddy Sanchez, Xavier Nady, Jason Bay, Jack Wilson) to bang out an 11-2 decision over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Sanchez had four hits and three RBI to plow the road for Tom Gorzelanny's win.