- 1880 - P George Merritt was born in Paterson, NJ. He spent from 1901-03 with the Pirates as a pitcher and part-time outfielder, slashing 3-0/4.50 from the hill and hitting .213 as a bench stick. That was the extent of his MLB days. During his 1903 campaign, he left Pittsburgh and joined the hometown Jersey City Skeeters, playing with them until 1910 before finally hanging up the glove in 1915.
- 1925 - Chicago’s WGN Radio broadcast its first ever Cubs’ baseball game (Quin Ryan announced the contest from the grandstand roof) as Chicago’s Grover Alexander defeated the Pirates and Emil Yde on Opening Day, 8-2. Six of the runs against Yde were unearned thanks to three Bucco boots.
 |
| Jim Tobin 1994 Conlon/TSN series |
- 1937 - The Bucs bought minor league pitcher Jim Tobin from the Yankees. Tobin tossed three seasons for Pittsburgh, going 29-24 with a 3.71 ERA before being sent to Boston. He was a mainstay of their staff during the war years and pitched through 1945.
- 1960 - The Pirates showed that they would be a NL force to reckon with during their home opener, pounding the Reds 13-0 in front of 34,064 fans. Vern Law pitched a complete game shutout while Roberto Clemente and Billy Maz combined to chase home nine runs. One of the Great One’s RBI was a 445’ sac fly that Vada Pinson corralled just short of the batting cage parked in center field.
- 1968 - Jim Bunning earned his first win with Pittsburgh‚ 3-0 at Los Angeles. It was his 40th career shutout and included his 1‚000th NL strikeout‚ making him the first pitcher since Cy Young with 1‚000 punchouts in each league. His bacon was saved when Roberto Clemente brought back a potential two-run homer to right by Ron Fairly, leaping above the wall to snag the ball.
No comments:
Post a Comment