5/11 Through 1955: First Pitch Winner; Windy City; Cy Season; Big Exhibition; HBD Rip, Mel & Gene

• 1907 - RHP Truett Banks “Rip” Sewall was born in Decatur, Alabama. Sewall was the creator of the “ol’ eephus” blooper pitch, and in twelve seasons (1938-49) with the Pirates went 143-97/3.48, winning 21 games twice and selected as a member of three NL All-Star teams. Rip had pretty good baseball bloodlines as three of his cousins, Luke, Joe, and Tommy Sewell, also played in the show. He got his nickname from his wife Margaret, who told Buffalo sportswriter Jimmy Dunn to call him "Rip" in a story about his final spring training game with the minor-league Bisons and her nickname stuck. 

Rip Sewell 1949 Bowman

• 1915 - Pittsburgh Rebel OF Jim Kelly bopped the first pitch of the game over the wall in left at Buffalo’s Federal League Park to defeat the Blues’ (aka Bisons) and pitcher Fred Anderson, 1-0. RHP Clint Rogge tossed the shutout for the Rebs. 
• 1920 - OF Gene Hermanski was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Gene spent nine years in the bigs as a bench outfielder, closing his career by batting .177 in 1953 with the Bucs. He came over as part of a big deal with the Cubs featuring Ralph Kiner. Hermanski is mostly noted as a Brooklyn Dodger - he earned a spot by playing for da Bums while on leave from the Coast Guard during WW2 and appeared in two World Series with the Trolley Dodgers. 
• 1928 - Coach Mel Wright was born in Manila, Arkansas. Mel tossed for the Cubs and Cards and became good friends with Bill Virdon. Virdon selected him as his pitching coach (replacing Don Osborn) when he managed the Buccos in 1973, and Mel subsequently followed The Quail to the Yankees, Astro and Expos before passing away in 1983. 
• 1937 - Cy Blanton fired a five-hit shutout as the Pirates beat Boston, 3-0, to increase their winning streak to four games. It was Blanton’s third complete game and second shutout of the year. Cy recorded a career-high 143 strikeouts and compiled a 14-12-4/3.30 slash in his standout season and was named to the NL All-Star team for the only time in his Pirate career. 

Cy Blanton 1936 (photo Conlon/TSN/Getty)

• 1953 - The Bucs played the St. Louis Browns (it was their last season before becoming the Orioles) in an exhibition game at Forbes Field for the benefit of Children’s Hospital; the big draw was SL starter Satchel Paige, returning to his old stomping grounds. The Mt. Lebanon Marching Band provided the musical entertainment, and an added highlight was a “long distance hitting contest” between the Pirates Ralph Kiner, Frank Thomas and Joe Garagiola v the Browns Bob Elliott (an ex-Bucco), Vic Wertz and Don Larsen, the future Yankee pitcher who apparently swung a mean bat, too. He and Kiner tied for top honors with two long balls in five swats, each winning a radio. Pittsburgh took the game, 3-2, in front of 5,935 fans (Billy Hunter of the Browns lured 1,000 of them; the Indiana, PA, native was honored before the game) by scoring twice in the ninth, so some good ball was played, too.
• 1953 - A tornado demolished the Class B Waco Pirates’ Katy Field, also destroying its equipment and offices. The damage was so complete that Pittsburgh’s Big State League club had to finish the season playing its games in Laredo, not returning to Waco until the following season after the field was rebuilt.