Sunday, July 24, 2016

7/24 Happenings: HBD Joe, Preston & Barry, Roberto Honored, Little Poison In HoF, Wandy Deal & More...

  • 1893 - OF and exec Joe “Germany” Schultz Sr. was born in Pittsburgh. He spent one year (1916) of his 11 year MLB career at home, hitting .260. After retiring and managing in the Cards minor league system, Schultz became the farm system director of the Pirates in 1939. Sadly, in 1941, while on his way to one of the Pittsburgh farm clubs, he suddenly passed away at the young age of 47. His legacy carried on, as his son Joe Jr. was a reserve catcher for Pittsburgh during Germany’s director stint, from 1939-41.
  • 1927 - OF/1B Preston Ward was born in Columbia, Missouri. Ward came to Pittsburgh as part of the Kiner deal, and was a back-up/platoon guy from 1953-56, hitting .240 in 305 games. He spent nine years in MLB, mostly serving as a reserve for five teams.
Preston Ward 1979 TCMA Baseball History
  • 1956 - Honored at a Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce luncheon before the game, Roberto Clemente proved his plaudits were well deserved by leading the Bucs to a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field. Roberto drove in four RBI on three shots to left center: a sacrifice fly, a triple off the wall, and a homer into Schenley Plaza. Ron Kline got the win with help from Howie Pollet.
  • 1964 - Barry Bonds was born in Riverside, California. The slugger, a first round pick in the 1985 draft, spent seven summers in Pittsburgh, putting up a line of .275/176/556 with two All-Star appearances before really busting out with San Francisco, where he became the all-time HR leader.
  • 1967 - With his induction into the Hall of Fame, Lloyd Waner joined Paul as the first pair of brothers to be enshrined at Cooperstown. Little Poison played for 18 seasons, hitting .316 while amassing 2,459 hits.
  • 1970 - 43,290 fans showed up for Roberto Clemente day at TRS. Pirate ownership buried him with gifts (cash gifts were, at Clemente’s request, donated to charities), and he put on a show of his own, cracking a pair of hits and making a couple of diving grabs in the field during an 11-0 thumping of the Houston Astros. Danny Murtaugh pulled him in the eighth inning so he could get a final ovation on the night (he also had cut his knee making a catch); several fans had made the trip from Puerto Rico to help honor their native son. Dock Ellis tossed a four-hitter behind a 15 hit attack.
  • 1973 - The NL romped over the AL 7-1 at Royals Stadium in the All-Star game. Dave Giusti pitched a clean seventh inning and Willie Stargell K’ed against Nolan Ryan in his only at bat.
  • 2012 - Wandy Rodriguez was traded by the Houston Astros with cash to the Pirates for minor league prospects RHP Colton Cain, LHP Rudy Owens and OF Robbie Grossman as the Bucs looked to shore up their stretch run rotation. Wandy ended up injury prone and made just 31 starts with 11 wins as a Pirate until he was released in late May of 2014.

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