8/22 Through the 20s: HBD Ned, Howie, Swats & Lyle; Hans Big Days; Sweeps & Game Stories

• 1857 - CF and manager Ned Hanlon was born in Montville, Connecticut. He played in 1889 and 1891 for the Pirates, hitting .252, with a year in between spent as a Pittsburg Burgher in the Players League where he hit .278. He was a player/manager all three years, and “Foxy Ned” was credited with coming up with tactics such as the hit-and-run and the Baltimore chop. Hanlon was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee in 1996. 

Howie Camnitz 1907 Pittsburg Press

• 1881 - RHP Howie Camnitz was born in Covington, Kentucky. The curveballer pitched nine seasons for Pittsburgh (1904-13), going 116-84 with a 2.63 ERA and posting three 20-win seasons. Camnitz was a member of the 1909 World Series club and spun 240 innings+ for seven consecutive years. He finished his career by pitching a couple of years in the upstart Federal League for the Pittsburgh Rebels, earning his release in 1915 after a hotel fight (and a fading arm). Howie factoids: He was called “Rosebud” as a kid because of his red hair, tossed a weather-shortened five-inning no-hitter in 1907, was an early Bucco brother act with his sib Harry in 1909 and finally, became a car salesman after he retired. 
• 1881 - 1B Harry “Swats” Swacina was born in St. Louis. Harry played the first two years (1907-08) of his four-year career (he played a couple of seasons in the Federal League) with Pittsburgh as a bench guy, batting .210 but earning a rep as a golden glove defender. Per Brian McKenna’s book “Early Exits,” it wasn’t Swacina’s weak bat that ended his big league stay; it was a nasty letter to owner Barney Dreyfuss complaining about club practices that in effect got him blackballed. Swacina did play organized ball from 1901-23 before he finally hung up the spikes. 
• 1893 - RHP Lyle Bigbee was born in Waterloo, Oregon. A farmboy with an imposing build, Lyle was a three-sports star at Oregon. Then he worked in the shipyards and the service before beginning his brief MLB career. In 1920, he worked for the Philadelphia A’s and the next year the Pirates brought him up from the minors where he joined his brother, Carson. The curveball whiz worked just eight IP for the Bucs, albeit with a 1.13 ERA, and was cast loose. His control was always an issue (he walked 29 hitters in 53 big league innings) and never made it back to the majors. He retired at age 30, playing semi-pro ball (he was a decent hitter & played some OF) and working as a farmer, watchman and in the shipyards. 

Lyle Bigbee (photo via Out of the Park)

• 1903 - The Pirates beat the last place Phillies 7-4 in the second game of a doubleheader sweep at Philadelphia. With that win, the Pirates had 1,409 wins and 1,409 losses since playing MLB in 1882, originally as the Alleghenys of the major league American Association. Even with some rough decades of losing ball, the franchise hasn’t dipped below .500 since then, per Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times. 
• 1906 - Vic Willis edged the NY Giant’s Christy Mathewson 2-1 at Exposition Park. After falling behind in the first inning, the Pirates evened the score in the fifth on two errors followed by two walks, then won in the ninth when Claude Ritchey walked, was bunted to second, and scored with two down on Fred Clarke’s double to right center. 
• 1907 - As the Pittsburg Press reported “It was a regular swatfest from start to finish, the Buccaneers having no mercy...but hammering the ball to all corners of the lot” in a 20-5 win over the NY Giants at the Polo Grounds. George Gibson, Ed Abbaticchio and Alan Storke had four hits each while Tommy Leach and Fred Clarke had three. Lefty Leifield cruised to the win. 

Alan Storke 1908 (photo Conlon Collection/Detroit Public Library)

• 1910 - Honus Wagner led the Bucs to a 6-2, 8-4, doubleheader sweep against the Philadelphia Phillies at Forbes Field, going 7-for-7 with two homers, three doubles and a sac fly. The Bucs set a record in the second game by hitting three homers in an inning for the first time when Howie Camnitz, Vin Campbell and Hans connected. It was Camnitz’s only MLB home run; some credit the outburst to the debut of the new cork-center NL ball. 
• 1912 - Honus Wagner hit for the cycle in an 8-6 loss to the NY Giants at Forbes Field in the nightcap of a Forbes Field doubleheader played in front of 27,000 fans. At the time, Hans was the oldest player in the league at age 40. In the twinbill’s opener, Howie Camnitz outpitched Christy Mathewson for a 3-2 victory, with Hans going 3-for-4. On the day, the Dutchman had seven hits, scored five runs, plated four Buccos, and swiped two sacks. 
• 1917 - The Pirates lost the longest game (by innings) that they ever played, 6-5, in 22 frames to the Brooklyn Robins at Ebbet’s Field despite Carson Bigbee’s six hits (Bigbee set the MLB record with 11 at-bats in a single game). The game was the longest in NL history to that point. Poor Elmer Jacobs tossed 16-2/3 innings, giving up one run - and lost. The teams only used two pitchers each, and it took four hours and 19 minutes to complete the contest. The match was, as fate would have it, the opener of a double header; the second game went two innings before being called for darkness. It was the fourth straight extra-inning game for Pittsburgh, and third against Brooklyn. The Pirates set a record by playing 59 innings in those four games.

Glenn Wright 1925 (photo - National Photo Company)

• 1925 - Pittsburgh swept a doubleheader from the second place NY Giants by 8-1 and 2-1 scores at the Polo Grounds behind the pitching of Lee Meadows and Vic Aldridge to take a five game lead in the NL race. Kiki Cuyler had three hits, including a homer, three RBI and two runs scored in the opener, while Glenn Wright’s two-run homer in the seventh was the difference in the nitecap. The Pirates pulled away from the Giants and won the pennant by 8-1/2 games. 
• 1928 - The Bucs big three of Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner and Pie Traynor led Pittsburgh to a 10-3 win over the Boston Braves at Forbes Field. Big Poison and Pie had three hits and three RBI apiece while the Waner brothers each scored three runs. Erv Brame tossed a six hitter for the win.