- 1877 - 3B Tommy Sheehan was born in Sacramento. Tommy played for Pittsburgh from 1906-07 and hit .255. He also spent a year with the New York Giants and Brooklyn Superbas before and after his Bucco stint. He did get to play a lot of ball near home, though - he earned his daily bread with 11 years of minor league ball at Sacramento, Portland, Tacoma, Oakland and Stockton.
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| Tommy Sheehan 1925 (Photo Conlon Collection/TSN/Getty) |
- 1888 - Umpire John Mullin was born in Pittsburgh. John umped in the NL in 1909, the AL in 1911-12 and the Federal league in 1915, spending most of his arbitrating time in the Western League. John was just as rowdy as the early baseball players he joined on the field. In one of his first major league gigs, two days after he had been called up from the bushes in 1909, he threw out three players during an argument and after they refused to leave, he waited the allotted one-minute of grace time they had and forfeited the game.
- 1899 - RHP “Big Jack” (he was 6’-3”) Wisner was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jack’s first two major league campaigns consisted of 21 outings for the Bucs from 1919-20 and was solid, going 2-3, 2.70. He got fours years off after that, tossing for Rochester, before getting the call to serve 1925-26 as a NY Giant. Big Jack was sent down during the ‘26 season, worked in the minors through 1929 and hung ‘em up to work as a minor league coach.
- 1908 - LHP Ralph “Lefty” Birkofer was born in Cincinnati. Lefty worked for the Bucs from 1933-36 and slashed 31-26-2/4.04, splitting time between starting & the pen, then finishing his career in 1937 as a Dodger.
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| Lefty Birkofer (photo Harwell Collection/Detroit Public Library) |
- 1909 - RHP Harry “Gunboat” Gumbert was born in Elizabeth. Harry tossed for 15 big league seasons (and that’s with missing a year, 1945, in the service), closing out his run in his hometown in 1949-50 (1-4-3, 5.83) before retiring at age 40. Gunboat joined his great-uncles Ad and Billy Gumbert (also pitchers) as Pittsburgh hurlers. During his career, he slashed 143-113/3.68 with 235 starts (94 CGs), 13 shutouts and 48 saves, working 200+ IP in a season five times before transitioning into a reliever. His nickname doesn’t have much of a story behind it; Harry says it came about because a sportswriter thought ”Gunboat Gumbert” sounded good together.
- 1922 - RHP Jim Bagby Sr. was claimed by the Pirates after being waived by the Indians. Bagby won 31 games for Cleveland in 1920 and 122 games for the Tribe over the last six years, but at age 33 was done. He finished 3-2, 5.24 in 23 appearances for Pittsburgh and retired at the end of the campaign. His son, RHP Jim Bagby Jr., also played for the Pirates in 1947.
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| Bob Prince & Nellie King Parade Day 1975 (photo Harry Coughanour/Post-Gazette) |
- 1975 - After KDKA fired Pirate announcers Bob Prince and Nellie King days earlier, rival station WEEP organized a downtown parade in their honor that drew thousands of fans and featured both Pirates & City politicos as supporters. While the parade was a success, it didn’t move the station or team off their position. The Gunner wouldn’t broadcast a Bucco game again until 1985, after he had been diagnosed with throat cancer; he died a few days later.
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