9/3 - Through The 30s: Big Wins In '25 & '27, Daffy & Dizzy Go Down, Doc's Contract Squabble & More...

• 1894 - Replacing fired skipper Al Buckenberger, Connie Mack took the helm to lead the Pirates to a 22-1 win (“...the Pittsburgs were in brave form against the visiting Senators” said the Pittsburg Press) over his former Washington team at Exposition Park. Mack was a player/manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1894 to 1896, compiling an 149–134 (.527) record.

Connie Mack 2012 Topps Archive

• 1905 - Deacon Phillippe and Chicago's Bob Wicker hooked up in a 10 inning scoreless duel, each allowing three hits, before the Colts scored an unearned run in the 11th following a triple that scored a batter later when with the infield in, 1B Del Howard threw the ball away going for the out at home. In the nitecap, Paul “Lefty” Leifield made his MLB debut and whitewashed Chicago 1-0 on a three hitter in a game stopped after six innings at West Side Park. The Buc run scored in the final frame when Fred Clarke doubled to lead off and scored on a pair of groundouts. The opening loss broke an 11 game winning streak by the Bucs. They went on to win 8-of-9 afterward on the way to a 96 win, second place finish.
• 1914 - In an early example of a guaranteed contract, Pittsburgh Rebel Harry Gessler reached a final settlement with the Federal League club after he was fired as player/manager two weeks into the season. He rebuffed the ownership’s settlement and hired an attorney to collect his pay and a separation bonus, as stipulated in his “ironclad” contract. Gessler, from Indiana and Greensburg HS, then left baseball and went to medical school, picking up the moniker “Doc.”
• 1914 - The Pirates had a big day in an otherwise dismal season when they swept the Cards 11-6 and 10-3 at Forbes Field. Wilbur Cooper won the opener with relief help from Hickory Bob Harmon while Erv “Kanty” Kantlehner went the distance in the nitecap. The offensive hero was Max Carey, who scored five times in the opener. The Bucs swept a four-game set from St. Louis without the injured Honus Wagner. Pittsburgh ended the season with a 69-85 slate, finishing in seventh place, 25-½ games off the pace of the Boston Braves, as their roster was badly deflated by defections to the upstart Federal League.

Bob Harmon (photo from his estate)

• 1925 - The Pirates won their ninth in a row with a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field. Glenn Wright went 3-for-4 with two RBI to back Ray Kremer’s pitching. Pittsburgh upped their league lead to nine games. The gap would never drop below seven games as they won the crown by 8-½ games and whipped the Senators in the World Series.
• 1927 - The Pirates bombed the Cards 14-0 at Forbes Field. George Grantham went 4-for-4 while Paul Waner and Pie Traynor each went 3-for-4. Carmen Hill tossed a five hit winner as the Pirates began to pull away from the Cards and NY Giants, taking a two game lead in the NL race that they would never surrender.
• 1928 - The Bucs broke out the bats at Forbes Field, clobbering the Chicago Cubs 16-1 in the opener of a Forbes Field twin bill and taking the nitecap 6-3. Five Pirates had multiple RBI in the first game as Lloyd Waner led the 19 hit outburst with four knocks behind Erv Brame’s five hitter. Paul Waner, Adam Comorosky and Dick Bertell added three hits each. Big Poison homered and had a pair of RBI to back Ray Kremer in the finale. Comorosky was a busy boy; he tied an NL record for right fielders with nine putouts in the second contest.

Adam Comorosky 1933 Play Ball

• 1934 - The Pirates beat the Dean brothers, Daffy and Dizzy, by 12-2 and 6-5 scores during a Forbes Field doubleheader. Freddie Lindstrom had four hits in the lid lifter, Pie Traynor and Gus Suhr knocked in three runs each and Larry French cruised to the victory. The Bucs put it away with their biggest inning of the season, an eight-run third. The second game had its action in the ninth. The Cards scored three times to take a 5-3 lead; the Pirates came back with a three spot of their own in the bottom half, ripping three hits off reliever Dizzy Dean and claiming the win when Pie Traynor singled into right to score Lindstrom, who had seven hits during the day. Howie Meine got the win after coming in to relieve Waite Hoyt in the final frame. Volney Walsh of the Pittsburgh Press wrote “the customers had come to see Dizzy pitch, no doubt about it, but when he left the mound, thousands stood and gave a tremendous ‘boo’ that could be heard for blocks. Even the Carnegie Museum seemed to rock from that razzberry.”