- 1884 - OF Ward Miller was born in Mount Carroll, Illinois. He began his eight-year career in the show as a 25-year-old with the Pirates in 1909, batting .143 before he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds along with cash for Kid Durbin. Ward did find his eye and finished his MLB days with a .278 BA. After 15 years of pro ball, Ward retired to Dixon, Illinois, to serve in law enforcement. The city placed a monument dedicated to Miller on the lawn of the Lee County Courthouse to commemorate both his law and baseball careers. He was aka as both “Grump” and “Windy” for reasons unknown.
 |
| Fred Carroll - 1887 Goodwin/Old Judge |
- 1886 - The Pittsburgh Alleghenys swept a DH from the Baltimore Orioles 15-1 and 13-2 at Recreation Park, led by Fred Carroll, who banged out an American Association/big league record nine hits, later matched by eight players. The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette wrote “The visitors were at the mercy of the home terrors from the start...” but didn’t give many game details because “...it would be too tedious to describe how each run was made.” They added that the results were to be expected “...where nine very bad ballpayers contest against nine good ones.” Pud Galvin and Cannonball Morris were the winners, with the crowd estimated at 7-8,000 fans. The Alleghenys finished the year in second and the Orioles were last, with Pittsburgh winning 12-of-19 games between them that season.
- 1886 - OF Beals (it was his middle name) Becker was born in El Dorado, Kansas. He began an eight-year MLB run in 1908 with the Pirates as a 22-year-old, batting .154. Despite that start, Becker hung around as a platoon guy (he was a LH hitter) with a rep as a big banger of the deadball era, finishing up his career with a .275 BA and 45 home runs. Beals played 21 years of organized ball before retiring after the 1925 campaign at age 38.
- 1948 - Ralph Kiner hit three HRs off Herm Wehmeier with five RBI in the opener of a twinbill split against the Reds at Forbes Field, backing Vic Lombardi’s pitching in the 10-3 win. Stan Rojek added his first MLB dinger to the pot; he would hit one more during his career. Ralph was shut down in the second game, a 6-4 loss that the Cincinnati took by scoring three times in the ninth.
- 1951 - RHP Rich “Goose” Gossage was born in in Colorado Springs. He was only here for for one of his 22 MLB years, but the Goose made the most of it, putting together an 11-9-26/1.62 slash for the 1977 Bucs and earning an All-Star spot, working 133 IP and amassing 151 punchouts. The Pirates never made a serious bid to keep him after the season, and he parlayed his Pittsburgh campaign into a six-year, $3.6M contract with George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees. Bruce Markusen of The Hardball Times posted “Gossage’s nickname was not a play on his last name. The nickname came from his White Sox roommate, fellow pitcher Tom Bradley. Shortly after Gossage joined the Sox, Bradley took note of Gossage’s unusual delivery and mechanics. Bradley told Gossage that he looked like a goose when he threw the ball. The Chicago media latched on to Bradley’s observation, quickly tagging Gossage ‘Goose.’ The name caught on with a flourish.”
 |
| The Goose - 1977 Doug Williams Post Card |
- 1953 - At Forbes Field, the Phils' Robin Roberts shutout the Pirates 2-0 in ten innings for his 28th consecutive complete game, outlasting Murry Dickson. The Bucs had 10 hits off Roberts but stranded 11 runners during the match. It was also his 13th straight win over Pittsburgh going back to August 26th‚ 1950 (the string would reach 15). The Bucs did win the nitecap of the DH by a 7-4 tally. The Corsairs managed just eight hits in that contest, but collected five of them in the opening frame, along with a couple of walks, to run away and hide with a five-run inning. Jim Waugh got the win with help from Lefty LaPalme who got the call after Waugh walked three batters in the ninth.
No comments:
Post a Comment