8/19 Through the 50’s: Byrne Deal; Rockwell Moment; Game Stories; HBD Terry & Ike

• 1891 - SS Ike McAuley was born in Wichita. In his three years in Pittsburgh (1914-16) he had just 50 PA and hit .149, yo-yo’ing between the show and the farm. He did have a moment in the sun, tho - when he made his debut, the Bucs started him at SS and played Hans Wagner at 3B. He also had stints with the Cubs and Cards. Ike spent 15 years playing pro ball, retiring after the 1927 campaign at age 35 and then scouting for the Detroit Tigers. 

Ed Doheny (image via the Vermont Historical Society)

• 1901 - The Pirates chased the Cards’ 21-game winner Jack Harper in a 9-5 win at Robison Field. The Bucs used a five-run third inning to take a lead they’d not relinquish, using four hits and a pair of Redbird errors to pile up the points. Ed Doheny got the win with help from Deacon Phillippe. Lefty Davis left the attack with four hits; Hans Wagner and Kitty Bransfield added three more knocks each. Pittsburgh banged out 17 hits as “the batting fever was still hot upon them” per the Pittsburgh Press. 
• 1902 - In a see-saw game at Exposition Park, the NY Giants went ahead of Pittsburgh 4-3 with a ninth-inning run off Jack Chesbro on a single that went off Honus Wagner’s glove. But in the Bucco half, the Dutchman atoned when he spanked a two-out, two-strike single through the left side to score Deacon Phillippe and Ginger Beaumont to give the Bucs a 5-4 win. 
• 1909 - The Pirates traded Alan Storke and Jap Barbeau to the St. Louis Cardinals for 3B Bobby Byrne. Storke died young in the next year from the flu, while Barbeau lasted two more seasons. Byrne held down the hot corner for the Bucs for the next five seasons, hitting .277 in 590 games. 
• 1941 - Manager Frankie Frisch was ejected by ump Jocko Conlan and fined $50 during the second game of a twinbill when he appeared on the field with an umbrella to protest the damp playing conditions at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, with the scene becoming the basis of a Norman Rockwell painting. Da Bums were the better mudders‚ winning 9-0 and 6-2 as they hung out the Pirates to dry. 

Norman Rockwell 1949 "Tough Call"

• 1950 - The Pirates outpointed the Cubs 13-9 at Wrigley Field for their sixth win in seven games, led by Ralph Kiner’s pair of bombs and three RBI. Johnny Hopp had a big day, too, with a homer and pair of doubles, driving in a pair and scoring twice. Pittsburgh plated six times in the final two frames to take the win. Murry Dickson earned the win with Bill Werle finishing up. 
• 1955 - OF Terry Harper was born in Douglasville, Georgia. The Bucs traded for the then 32-year-old Harper from the Tigers in June of 1987, and it was the last hurrah for the eight-year vet. He hit .288 and then played out his final campaign in Japan. Terry’s now a private hitting instructor in the Atlanta area. 
• 1958 - The Pirates held off the Chicago Cubs 4-3 at Wrigley Field on the strength of two-run blasts by Bill Mazeroski in the second frame and Dick Stuart in the sixth (Stu’s went 450’ and touched down on Waveland Avenue), both off starter Taylor Phillips. Curt Raydon worked six innings for the win, with Bob Porterfield tossing three shutout frames to save the decision. A key factor in the victory was Roberto Clemente’s play in the field; he made a pair of highlight grabs and threw out a runner at third. The win was the Pirates’ twentieth of twenty-eight games and kept them in second place, 6-1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Braves.