5/2 Through the 1900s: 1st NL Homer; Alleghenies 1 & 2; Small Ball; HBD George & Freddy

• 1877 - The Alleghenys beat the Boston Red Caps, the eventual International Association champs (the IA was perhaps the first minor league ever formed), 1-0, behind do-it-all Pud Galvin. He tossed a one-hitter and bombed a homer thought to be the first ball to clear the fence at North Side’s Union Park. These Alleghenys, who began as a local independent nine, folded after the 1878 campaign, and were unrelated to the 1882 club that eventually became the Pirates. 

First Bucco box score? (Pgh Commercial Gazette 5-3-1887)

• 1882 - The second coming of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys of the American Association played their first MLB game (The AA was an alternative major league in the early days; the club would join the NL five years later) against Cincinnati at the Bank Street Grounds. The Alleghenys whipped the Red Stockings by a 10-9 tally, led by Charlie Morton and Jim Keenan combining for seven hits. The Alleghenys’ Jack Leary and Reds’ Will White both went the distance. For Leary, who was a jack-of-all-trades (he only pitched three times in his 60 games with the Alleghenys while batting .286), it was his sole Pittsburgh win (1-0/6.75) before he moved on to Baltimore later in the season. White would end the campaign 40-12 with a 1.86 ERA as Cincinnati ran away with the AA crown. Many consider this game the first in Pirates’ franchise history, although not the team itself, which officially dates its beginnings to its 1887 entry into the NL. 
• 1887 - Fred Carroll of the Alleghenys hit the franchise’s first NL homer off Detroit Wolverine pitcher Lady Baldwin as part of his cycle at North Side’s Recreation Park in an 8-3 win. Motown had won 31 straight exhibition games and three regular season games‚ but met their match in Pud Galvin and Carroll. 
• 1902 - RHP Freddy Sale was born in Chester, South Carolina. His MLB career consisted of an inning’s work in 1924 for the Pirates, giving up two hits but putting a zero on the scoreboard. He was a star at South Carolina, but got on with his life’s work quickly, leaving the game after spending 1925 with Wilson in the Class B Virginia League at age 23. 

Hans had happy feet (photo via MLB.com)

• 1909 - Talk about small ball! Honus Wagner stole second, third and home while his teammates turned three additional stolen bases, two walks, a plunked batter, two errors, and two hits into a five-run first frame in the Bucs' 6-0 victory in the opener of a twin bill. They also won the second game 5-2 against the Cubs at the West Side Grounds. For the Flying Dutchman, the base-stealing feat was the fourth and last time he pulled it off; it’s still the MLB record. 
• 1909 - 1B George Giles was born in Junction City, Kansas. George was a well-traveled Negro League player who was considered an excellent fielder, speedy, and a solid contact hitter. He had a 1932 stint with the Homestead Grays (.301) and a 1938 stop with the Pittsburgh Crawfords (.261). The good glove, contact hitter retired and eventually ran a motel/bar in Manhattan, Kansas. His son George Jr. played in the minors and grandson Brian Giles was an infielder who played for the Mets, Mariners and White Sox through the eighties.