9/23 Happenings: HBD Joe, Johnny, Lino, Dino, Rook, Dennis, Jim & Jim; Ralph's 51; Pud Gathering & More

• 1886 - OF Joe Kelly (not to be confused with Bucco “Handsome Joe” Kelly of earlier years) was born in Weir, Kansas. He played regularly during his rookie campaign as a Pirate in 1914, hitting .222, and spent parts of five seasons in the show. Like many players of that era, Joe had a long career in minor league ball that spanned 23 seasons (1908-30), spending the last five years as a player-manager. 

John Mokan 1922 American Caramel

• 1895 - OF Johnny Mokan was born in Buffalo, New York. He started his seven-year career with the Bucs in 1921-22, hitting .262 off the bench, then spent the next five campaigns with Philadelphia where he blossomed. He spent the last two years of his playing days with the local farm clubs at Buffalo and Rochester and later worked as an equipment operator for NY State. 
• 1915 - It was “Fred Clarke Day” in Pittsburgh, and Cap suited up one last time in his only on-field appearance of his final season. He played four innings and went 1-for-2 against Dick Rudolph of the Boston Braves in an 8-4 win at Forbes Field with Wilbur Cooper on the hill. For farewell gifts, Clarke received an eight-day grandfather clock from his players and a leather binder containing the names of several thousand supporters as a keepsake. 
• 1922 - LHP Lino Donoso was born in Havana. Donoso was a star in the Mexican League (and for a few seasons with the Negro League NY Cubans) although it didn’t quite translate in MLB. The Pirates brought him up on the strength of his 19-8/2.37, Pitcher of the Year performance in 1954 for Hollywood in the PCL; the only problem was that Lino came to Pittsburgh as a 33-year-old and had lost some steam on his fastball. He worked 1955-56 as a Bucco, going 4-6/5.21 and returned south of the border. He became one of the few ML pitchers with 100+ wins and was elected to the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. 

Dino Restelli 1950 Bowman

• 1924 - OF Dino Restelli was born in St. Louis. He had just a two-year MLB career (1949, 1951) spent with the Pirates, but has a legit claim to fame: he hit a record seven home runs in his first ten games. He, along with Jose Abreu (White Sox - 2014) and Mark Quinn (KC - 1999), are the only players since 1914 to have a pair of multi-HR outings in their first 10 career games. But his star dimmed quickly. In parts of two seasons (1949-50), he hit .242 with 13 HR and was nagged by a series of injuries. The theories as to why he fizzled seem to focus on two issues - one was fear of the Lord, instilled in him by the Reds’ Ewell Blackwell who drilled him high with a fastball as a rookie. The other was his eyesight - he wore glasses that fogged up and he would often back out of the box to wipe them clean with an ever-present red hankie (which precipitated his incident with Blackwell). After his baseball career ended in 1955, he became a San Francisco police officer briefly before another injury caused him to leave that job. But he found work in nearby San Carlos where his parents lived. There he became a civic mover and the local Mr Baseball, coaching and working with the local Parks Department. 
• 1942 - LHP Jim Rooker was born in Lakeview, Oregon. Rook pitched eight years (1973-80) for the Bucs with a line of 82-65/3.29, which he equalled in playoff time with a 3.20 ERA, including a strong start in Game #5 of the 1979 Series, a crucial match that the Pirates, down 3 games to one, won. He was also a Pirate TV color analyst from 1981 through 1993, and worked for ESPN from 1994 to 1997. Rooker’s most memorable TV moment came when he said on air that he’d walk home from Philadelphia if the Pirates lost, which they did. True to his word, he staged a charity walk after the season. Retired now, he’s an author of children’s books. 

• 1947 - Ralph Kiner hit his franchise record 51st homer (he would break that mark in 1949) against Jim Kearns of the Cards at Forbes Field in an 8-4 loss to the Redbirds. It was the only hittable ball he saw that night. He was walked on four pitches in three other at-bats and was ahead 2-0 before his swat. 
• 1952 - IF Jim Morrison was born in Pensacola, Florida. He spent half (1982-87) of his 12 year career as a Pirate, hitting .274 as a Bucco with a standout 1986 campaign. That year, Morrison together a line of .274/23/88 as Pittsburgh’s starting third baseman. He had a memorable outing on June 1, 1986, against the Los Angeles Dodgers when Jim chased home seven runs with a double, a triple and a grand slam, the only granny of his career. After he quit playing, he managed in the Phillies system for a couple of years and has been with the Tampa Bay organization since 2007. 
• 1952 - RHP Dennis Lamp was born in Los Angeles. He worked in Pittsburgh as a 40-year-old, finishing out his 16-year MLB career going 1-1, 5.14 in 21 appearances until his June release.
• September 23, 1959 - RHP Jim Winn was born in Stockton, California. A first round draft pick (14th overall) of Pittsburgh in 1981, the reliever never quite panned out, pitching from 1983-86 for the Bucs with a 7-11-4/4.47 line, then spending a couple of years in the AL to end his career. 

• 1978 - Dave Parker was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Peerless Pirate.” He would win the MVP and his second batting crown (.334) despite playing with a football-like mask on his helmet after breaking his jaw in a plate collision in late June. 
• 2017 - SABR held a celebration of the life of Hall of Famer Pud Galvin. The event was at Calvary Cemetery in Hazelwood, where Pud’s flat stone marker was replaced by a headstone. Galvin’s resting spot was the third grave marked by the SABR 19th Century Grave Baseball Marker Project. The dedication ceremony featured a bio of Galvin, prepared by his biographer Chip Martin, as well as a gathering of other baseball notables and members of the Galvin family.