The Games 7/10: Homer per Inning, GI Jones Shot, Merry's Bat, Rallies, Thumpings & More...

• 1901 - The Boston Beaneaters collected 15 hits in 12 innings against Pittsburgh, but failed to score in a 1-0 loss at Exposition Field, setting a record for most hits with no runs. It was part of a four-game sweep by the Bucs. The Bucs got four hits off Bill Dineen, who lost to Jack Chesbro. The Pirates won when Honus Wagner reached second on a throwing error, went to third on a bunt single and scored when Dineen’s pickoff toss to first went by 1B Pat Moran.
• 1908 - At Exposition Park, the Bucs overcame a 4-0 NY Giants lead to win 7-6 on Tommy Leach’s ninth-inning, walk off homer to center. Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke and Chief Wilson had triples for the Pirates. Sam Leever, who allowed the Giants to tie the game in the top of the ninth, got the win.

Tommy Leach 1909 (image The Sporting News)

• 1922 - In a 19-2 shellacking at the hands of the Giants in the first game of a DH, the Bucs sent up pinch hitter Art “Merry” Merewether, who bounced out to short. Merewether never made another MLB appearance, but he did set one record the Pirates should be proud of - he went on to MIT to get a Master’s degree after baseball, becoming the only major leaguer to earn a sheepskin from that distinguished school.
• 1929 - The Pirates mashed the Phillies, 15-9 at the Baker Bowl. Pittsburgh hit five homers and the Phils banged four. There was one home run hit per inning, an oddity that may never be repeated. George Grantham had a pair for the Bucs, along with Pie Traynor, Lloyd Waner and pitcher Fred Fussell adding to the total.
• 1936 - The Bucs dropped a 10 inning, 9-6 decision to the Phils at Forbes Field thanks to OF Chuck Klein. The Hoosier Hammer banged four homers, two of which landed on the right field roof, off three different Pirate pitchers and drove in six runs to almost single-handedly beat the Buccos. His three-run homer in the tenth off Bill Swift sealed the deal for Philadelphia. Paul Waner had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run while Gus Suhr added two more knocks good for a pair of RBI to lead the Pirates. Klein, a Hall of Famer, played for Pittsburgh later when he joined the club in 1939.

Gus Suhr 1939 Play Ball

• 1943 - Pittsburgh surrendered a franchise record for most runs given up in the modern era when the Brooklyn Dodgers spanked them 23-6 at Forbes Field. As a sidelight, the Dodgers only had two players willing to suit up before the game after Leo Durocher suspended pitcher Bobo Newsome, and da Bums, led by ex-Buc Arky Vaughan, were ready to walk out in support of Newsome until GM Branch Rickey stepped in and calmed the seas. Vaughan despised The Lip so much that he sat out the following three seasons and wouldn’t return to Brooklyn until Durocher was gone.
• 1971 - The Pirates beat the Braves at TRS 5-4 as the Bravos had no answer for Willie Stargell. He hit his 30th HR of the season and his tenth off Atlanta’s staff. Pops’ two-run shot in the eighth off Phil Niekro was the game winner; Atlanta had just taken the lead in the top of the frame.
• 2009 - Garrett Jones joined Ryan Howard as the only player to clear the batter’s eye at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia. He mashed the shot off Joe Blanton on the first pitch he delivered to Jones in the opening frame after striking out the first pair of Pirates. It wasn’t enough, though, as the Bucs fell to the Phillies 3-2.