Tuesday, January 7, 2014

1/7: Kitty, Ted Beard, Ducky, Kevin McClatchy...

Kitty, Ted Beard, Ducky, Kevin McClatchy...

1875 - 1B William “Kitty” Bransfield was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He played four seasons for Pittsburgh (1901-04), batting .271, and started for the 1903 Pirate team that represented the NL in the first recognized World Series, losing to the Boston Americans.
1921 - CF Ted Beard was born in Woodsboro, Maryland. He played for the Pirates as a reserve outfielder from 1948-52, batting .203, after losing three years to WW2 as a medic. A top prospect, Ted had speed and showed some occasional flashes of power (he became the second player, after Babe Ruth, to clear the RF roof at Forbes Field), but was fated to become a AAAA player. He had great success playing for the Hollywood Stars & San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League and also with Indianapolis through the fifties and into the early sixties.

 Topps series 1952

1935 - IF Dick “Ducky” Schofield was born in Springfield, Illinois. He played eight (1958-65) of his 19 big league years with the Pirates, and took over for an injured Dick Groat during the 1960 title stretch run, hitting .333 to help the Bucs take the NL title without looking back. Schofield was a regular infielder from 1963-65, but his BA (.248 as a Pirate, .227 overall) limited him to a backup role through most of his career.
2009 - Selling the last of his remaining shares in the Pirates, Kevin McClatchy ended his 13-year relationship with the team. After local ownership failed to materialize in 1996, the former managing general partner guaranteed that the struggling club would stay in Pittsburgh by finding shareholders and securing the cash needed to buy the franchise.

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