Ad Gumbert; Baseball to City Hall & The Cobra Discovers Money Can't Buy Me Love...
- 1895 - RHP Addison “Ad” Gumbert was traded to the Brooklyn Grooms for C Tom Kinslow. Ad, only 26, had gone 26-21 for the Bucs in 1893-94 and Kinslow was a back-up catcher. Both ended up washes, retiring after the 1896 season. Ad was a local boy, and was elected County Sheriff in 1906 and County Commissioner in 1915. He headed a variety of benevolent efforts - in fact, Pittsburgh Mayor Magee once appointed him an Assistant Director of Charities - and belonged to many service groups, including the Masons, Shriners and Odd Fellows. Ad is buried in Homewood Cemetery.
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| Ad Gumbert Old Judge Cigarettes series |
- 1979 - Dave Parker of the Pirates became the first $1M per year player in sports when he signed a five-year, $5M contract after winning consecutive batting crowns and being named MVP. He didn’t get to enjoy it long - he had three straight All-Star seasons, but missed half of the 1981 and 1982 campaigns with injuries before having a full-time but poor, by his standards, 1983. Fans behaved even more poorly when they tossed batteries, nuts, bolts, cups and other assorted trash at him in the field. He signed with Cincinnati when the deal expired. As Lennon and McCartney so aptly noted, “Money Can’t Buy Me Love.”
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| Dave Parker at Press Conference - photo by Robert Pavuchak (Pittsbrugh Press) |
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