8/18 From the 40’s Through the 60’s: Gunner Stays; Rickey Goes; Berardino Deal; ASG; Mitt Muffs; Game Stories; HBD Spanky & Paul

• 1940 - Homestead Grays’ P Ray Brown was part of the East All-Star staff that shut out the West 11-0 at Comiskey Park in the Negro League AS game. Teammate Buck Leonard added three hits and three RBI for the winners. 
• 1940 - IF Paul Popovich was born in Flemington, West Virginia. The WVU player (he was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 2013) closed out his 11-year career with Pittsburgh, hitting .211 in 1974-75 as a bench player for two division-winning clubs. After his playing days, he spent a decade as an infield coach for the Dodgers.

Paul Popovich 1975 Topps

• 1948 - The Bucs put up a six-spot in the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs to pull away for a 7-4 win at Wrigley Field. Future manager Danny Murtaugh drove in three runs, and rookie pitcher Bob Chesne helped himself with two hits, a run and RBI. 
• 1952 - The Pirates sent IF George Strickland and RHP Ted “Cork” Wilks (he was called Cork in his St. Louis days because he was the club’s “stopper” from the pen) to Cleveland for Johnny Berardino‚ minor leaguer Charlie Sipple and $50‚000. For Berardino‚ it was his second stint in Pittsburgh, a stopping off point before his more lucrative career in movies and as a soap opera star, notably playing Dr. Steve Hardy on “General Hospital.” The deal was a win for the Tribe; Strickland ended up with eight years for the Tribe as a defensive whiz, playing 734 games while hitting .233.
• 1959 - Branch Rickey resigned as chairman of the Pirates board of directors to become president of the Continental League, a proposed third major league. The league disbanded in 1960 without playing a single game, but it helped to accelerate the expansion of MLB. Owners who were opposed to the CL approved expansion clubs in Houston, Minnesota and New York, all CL cities, to draw membership away from the new league, eventually killing it. 
• 1960 - C Mike LaValliere was born in Charlotte, NC. Spanky caught for the Bucs from 1987-93, putting up a .278 BA, and was part of three Jim Leyland-led division winning teams (1991-93) that couldn’t get past the NLCS. LaValliere is now an instructor at the IMG Academy in Bradenton. He picked up his nickname because his teammates thought he looked like Little Rascal Spanky from “Our Gang.” 

Mike LaValliere 1991 Studio

• 1966 - Oooops! 3B Jose Pagan tied the modern NL record for errors in an inning with three in the fourth frame, booting four balls overall‚ as Pittsburgh lost to Mets 9-5 at Shea Stadium. Jose’s bad mitt day led to six unearned runs charged to loser Woodie Fryman. To make things a little worse, Pagan also went 0-for-4 with two whiffs. 
• 1969 - The Pirates showed some late inning two-out lightning at Crosley Field by scoring three times in the ninth to tie the Reds 5-5 and then ringing up seven more runs in the 10th to seal a 12-5 win that was anything but a romp. In the final frame, Matty Alou scored on a Willie Stargell double to make it 5-3, but with two outs it looked over when Manny Sanguillen bounced a ball to SS Woody Woodward. But he botched the play and given new life, Al Oliver took full advantage by chasing home Pops and the Roadrunner with a double. Bruce DelCanton stranded a pair of Reds in their half and the Reds played kick the can again. The Buccos juiced the sacks with two gone, with two runners reaching on Cincy errors, and the floodgates opened. Carl Taylor cleaned the bases with a double, a knock set up Pirates at the corners and Al Oliver’s double followed by Gene Alley’s homer added up to a seven spot. Alley had four hits during the contest while Alou and Roberto Clemente each chipped in with three. 
• 1969 - Bucco broadcaster Bob Prince announced that he had a lucrative offer to switch booths and take Harry Caray’s place in St. Louis as Caray was in the Busch doghouse and was fired after the campaign. The Gunner didn’t sound like a man ready to move, though, as he told the Pittsburgh Press that “I wouldn’t quit a job where I’m #1 for one where I’d be #2 or #3. He stayed but his announcing teammate Jim “The Possum” Woods did accept a job there as the sidekick to Jack Buck, tho he left after a year because the two didn’t get along particularly well.