6/15 Expo Park-Forbes Field Era: Elbie, Joe Garagiola, Ducky, Johnny Logan & Digger Deals; 14-In-A-Row;Game Stories

• 1897 - IF Gene DeMontreville had five hits, but it wasn’t enough as the Pirates went down to the Senators 10-8 at Washington’s Boundary Field. DeMontreville had a 36-game hitting streak from 1896 to 1897. The mark wasn’t discovered by baseball historians until 2007, and ranks as the tenth-longest hitting streak in MLB history. 
• 1909 - The Pirates defeated the Brooklyn Superbas 8-2 at Washington Park for their 14th straight victory. Sam Frock went the distance for the win despite giving up 12 raps, backed by three hits from Fred Clarke and a Tommy Leach homer. The streak was was snapped the following day, but between May 24th-June 29th, Pittsburgh won 27-of-30 games on the way to the pennant and their first World Series title over Ty Cobb’s Detroit Tigers. 

Elbie Fletcher 1941 Goudey Big League

• 1939 - The Pirates picked up 1B Elbie Fletcher from the Boston Bees for IF Bill Schuster and cash. Fletcher played seven seasons for Pittsburgh (he missed three because of WW2) and hit .279 with 60 HR and 464 RBI for the Bucs. Broadway Bill Schuster was a sub who also missed three war years, and hit .234 over a five-year career. 
• 1944 - Max Butcher ducked the bullets and went the distance as the Bucs edged the Reds 1-0 at Crosley Field. The Pirates scored with two down in the ninth when Bob Elliott’s single to center sent Lee Handley home for the Pirates only tally against Cincinnati’s Tom de la Cruz. Butcher gave up eight hits over the course of the afternoon, but the Redlegs went 0-for-8 with RISP while Handley was only the second Bucco to get into scoring position against de la Cruz. 
• 1949 - Rookie OF Dino Restelli homered twice and drove in five RBI against Boston’s Warren Spahn, leading the Pirates to an 8-7 come-from-behind victory at Forbes Field and make Rip Sewell, on in relief, a winner. After a blazing start, Dino was back in the minors the next season. Some people say his career was ruined when he took a Ewell Blackwell fastball in the neck; another theory was that he couldn’t see because of east coast humidity - his glasses kept fogging up! 
• 1951 - The Pirates received RHP Ted Wilks, IF Dick Cole, C Joe Garagiola, OF Bill Howerton and LHP Howie Pollet from St. Louis for LHP Cliff Chambers and OF/3B Wally Westlake. Pollet and Chambers ended up as washes on the hill, but Westlake played seven more seasons and retired with a lifetime .272 BA. Wilks pitched creditably for the Bucs from 1951-52, Garagiola hit .262 for the Bucs from 1951-53 and Howerton batted .279 as a Pirate with 1952 being his last campaign. 

Joe Garagiola 1953 Topps

• 1958 - SS Johnny O’Brien and 3B Gene Freese were traded to the Cardinals for IF Dick “Ducky” Schofield, who would play a key role in the Bucs 1960 NL championship as a sub for the injured Dick Groat during the stretch run for the pennant. Ducky, a lifetime .227 hitter, had a .333 BA for the 1960 Buccos and hit .248 in his eight Pittsburgh seasons. Freese ended up with a 12-year career and rejoined the Pirates from 1964-65. It was the first time Johnny and his twin brother Eddie were on different teams; for Eddie, it was his last campaign and Johnny was out of the majors a year later. 
• 1961 - Pittsburgh traded OF Gino Cimoli to the Milwaukee Braves for IF Johnny Logan. Cimoli was a bench player for the Braves, then went on to start for KC in 1962-63. Logan’s All-Star days were behind him and he spent his final three seasons with the Bucs as a reserve infielder batting .249. 
• 1962 - Hank Aaron hit a grand slam in the seventh and Roberto Clemente answered with a grand salami of his own an inning later as a furious Pirates rally was just enough to overcome the Milwaukee Braves 9-8 at Forbes Field. The Braves held an 8-2 lead going into the eighth. Arriba’s slam made a game of it, then with two outs, five straight Bucco hitters reached with Bill Virdon’s single tying the game and Dick Groat’s knock chasing home the game winner. Seven Pirates starters had hits and scored/ drove in runs (or both). Jack Lamabe got the win for tossing a scoreless eighth and ElRoy Face earned the save.

Roberto Clemente 1962 Topps

• 1966 - The Atlanta Braves traded LHP Billy O'Dell to the Pirates for RHP Don Schwall in a twilight time deal. 33-year-old Digger O’Dell was effective in ‘66, making 37 appearances with a 2.78 ERA, but he faltered during the next season, his last in the majors. Schwall, 30, went 3-3 in eight starts for Atlanta, and pitched one game in 1967 before his career ended.