10/8: Cannonball, Donie, The Whistling Irishman, To the Wire, World Series & Playoff Games...

Cannonball, Donie, The Whistling Irishman, To the Wire, World Series & Playoff Games...

• 1886 - Ed “Cannonball” Morris whitewashed the New York Metropolitans 9-0 at Recreation Park. It was his 12th shutout, a record for lefties. Cannonball went 41-20 that year with a 2.45 ERA over 555-⅓ IP, striking out 327 batters. 
• 1887 - Owen “Donie” Bush was born in Indianapolis. He was a hometown hero; until 1996, the Indy ballyard was called Bush Field before a new downtown park opened. He managed the Bucs briefly, from 1927-29, taking them to a World Series in 1927 against the Yankees’ “Murderers’ Row” club (and the Pirates got murdered in four straight). But he’s probably best remembered for his feud with Hall-of-Fame OF Kiki Cuyler, whom he benched and then traded to the Cubs. 
• 1903 - Game Six was a rematch between Boston's Bill Dinneen and Pittsburgh's Sam Leever at Exposition Park. Both went the distance, with Boston coming out on top 6-3 to tie best-of-nine series at three games. Ginger Beaumont went 4-for-5 with a pair of stolen bases while Jimmy Sebring and Fred Clarke added two hits for the Bucs. Boston's "Royal Rooters", 200 strong, traveled to Pittsburgh with a brass band and sang their theme song "Tessie" to distract the opposing players (especially Honus Wagner). Boston won three out of the four games at Pittsburgh to keep their Rooters rocking. 
• 1905 - Per Charlton’s Baseball Chronology: Just one point apart in the batting race on the final day of the season, Cincinnati Reds CF Cy Seymour and Pittsburgh Pirates SS Honus Wagner played against each other in a doubleheader. Seymour entered the day with a league leading .365 average and Wagner was in second, batting .364. Seymour had four hits in seven attempts to end up with the NL batting championship (.377) as Wagner went two for seven to end up hitting .363. A newspaper account of the day stated "...10,000 were more interested in the batting achievements of Wagner and Seymour than the games...cheer upon cheers greeted the mighty batsmen upon each appearance at the plate..." The Reds swept the Bucs at the Palace of the Fans by 3-1 and 4-1 scores. 
• 1909 - After walking two of the first three batters and giving up a first inning run, Babe Adams settled down and pitched the Pirates to a 4-1 win over the Detroit Tigers in the opening game of the World Series at Forbes Field. Pittsburgh only had five hits off George Mullin, including a homer by Fred Clarke, but four different Tigers committed errors that led to three unearned runs. This series was the first head-to-head matchup of league batting winners with Honus Wagner (.339) and Ty Cobb (.377) squaring off. 
• 1917 - Danny Murtaugh was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He was a Bucco infielder from 1948-51, with a lifetime BA of .256 and a stolen base crown in 1941. The Irishman won a couple of World Series as the skipper in 1960 and 1971, managing the club from 1957–1964, 1967, 1970–1971, 1973–1976. He guided five playoff squads and had a record of 1115-950. 
• 1925 - The Bucs evened their World Series count against Washington at a game each with a 3-2 win at Forbes Field. The only dent against the Senators’ Stan Coveleski was a Glenn Wright homer until the bottom of the eighth when Kiki Cuyler’s two-run blast put Pittsburgh up 3-1. The Sens added a ninth inning run to get it close, but Vic Aldridge went the distance for the win. 
• 1927 - The NL Champion Pirates lost, 4-3, and were swept in four games by the New York Yankees, led by their "Murderers Row" lineup featuring Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. It was an exciting finish at the House That Ruth Built, though. Pirate RHP Johnny Miljus loaded the bases with no outs, then struck out Lou Gehrig and Bob Meusel. But with Tony Lazzeri up, he uncorked an 0-1 wild pitch and Earle Combs came home with the winning run, the only World Series to end with on a wild pitch. It was the first ever sweep of a NL team by an AL club. Babe Ruth and Lloyd Waner each hit .400 during the series. 
• 1960 - The Yankees returned home in style, ripping off six first inning runs and burying the Bucs 10-0 at Yankee Stadium to take a two games-to-one lead in the World Series. Whitey Ford tossed a four hitter and only allowed two Pirates to reach second base; none touched third. Bobby Richardson belted a grand slam (he had one regular season homer) and had six RBI. 
• 1972 - The Reds scored four times in the first inning off Bob Moose (he didn’t retire a batter, giving up five straight hits) and then hung on to take a 5-3 win at TRS and even the NLCS at a game each. Roberto Clemente, Milt May and Dave Cash each drove in runs to make it 4-3 after six innings, but Joe Morgan’s eighth inning homer took the wind out of the Pirate sails, as Tom Hall retired six of the last seven batters for the Cincinnati win. 
• 1974 - The Pirates scored five times in the first frame and never looked back as they defeated LA 7-0 at Dodger Stadium. Bruce Kison and Ramon Hernandez combined on a four hitter to cut the Pittsburgh deficit in the NLCS to two games to one. Willie Stargell drilled a three run homer and Richie Hebner added a two run shot off Doug Rau in the opening frame to ignite the win. 
• 1990 - Cincinnati took a 2-1 lead in the NLCS by whipping the Bucs 6-3 at TRS. Zane Smith gave up a three run homer to Mariano Duncan and a two run shot to Billy Hatcher to give the Reds’ Danny Jackson and the “Nasty Boys” in the bullpen working room. Bobby Bonilla, Carmelo Martinez and Jose Lind had the Bucco RBI.