- 1863 - IF Simeon Henry Jean “Sam” LaRocque was born in St. Mathias, Quebec. Sam played fairly regularly for Pittsburgh in 1890, getting into 111 games w/481 PA, hitting .242, but after just one outing in 1891 was shipped to Louisville, where he ended his pro career. Sam did stay in baseball, managing in the minors.
- 1909 - The Pirates traded IF Charlie Starr to the Boston Doves for a PTBNL, who was C Mike Simon. 1909 was Starr’s last season while Simon was a Pirate reserve catcher for the next five years, compiling a .244 BA and tossing out 45% or more of base stealers four of his five campaigns.
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| Preacher Roe 1945 Play Ball |
- 1916 - LHP Elwin “Preacher” Roe was born in Ash Flat, Arizona. Preacher worked early in his career with the Pirates from 1944-47, where he was 34-47/3.73. He started off with two strong years, but an off season fractured skull in 1945 was followed by a pair off poor campaigns. Preacher was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers and bloomed (a spitter added to his arsenal helped him mightily), earning four All-Star berths and pitching in three different World Series. There are two versions of how he got his childhood nickname. One is that he was an ornery kid, and his grandma called him "Preacher" in hopes that he would eventually turn into one. The other, more likely, is that a minister and his wife used to take him around whenever they went out on their buggy, and he became Preacher because of his association with the couple.
- 1930 - C/3B Vic Janowicz was born in Elyria, Ohio. A gridiron All-America and Heisman Trophy winner at Ohio State, Janowicz passed on football to sign for $75K as a bonus baby with the Bucs. He hit only .214 over two seasons (1953-54) as a bench player. He returned to football late in the 1954 season with the Washington Redskins, and was their starting halfback in 1955. An automobile accident in 1956 ended his athletic career.
Hey, Ron. Regarding Preacher Roe, did you mean he threw an illegal spitball, or a split finger pitch?
ReplyDeleteDunno if he had a splitter/forkball, Will, but it seems like he had a pretty good spitter, lol. He even wrote an article in Sports Illustrated about his wet one after he had safely retired.
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't know that about ol' "Preacher", who evidently never did quite live up to that nickname, eh? Pretty in-your-face move to write about it and tell the whole world, retired or not. I heard a story a number of years ago that supposedly Don Sutton was going to appear on camera to show how he doctored the baseball, but then he changed his mind. I can't remember where I saw this---whether it was in print or on TV---but if I recall correctly, he was supposedly going to be in disguise or his voice was going to be altered and his face blurred, something like that.
ReplyDeleteDon't think it was a big deal in the mid-fifties, Will. It sure helped Preacher - after a pair of 5+ ERA campaigns with Pittsburgh, he put together five solid years (and six w/double digit wins) for Brooklyn before age caught up to him. So hey, why be shy, lol?
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