8/4 Through the 1910’s: Leever, Yeager Moves; Home Cooking; Game Stories; HBD Luke, Jake, Cliff, Homer, Bill, Paddy & Hicks

• 1867 - 1B Jake Beckley was born in Hannibal, Missouri. “Eagle Eye” played eight seasons (1888-96) for Pittsburgh, with a year off in 1890 when he suited up for the Pittsburgh Burghers of the outlaw Player’s League. He hit 113 triples as a Buc and had four 100+ RBI years. Jake could glove it, too. He’s the all-time leader for putouts and top 20 in assists for MLB first basemen. After his 20 year career was done, he was eventually selected in 1971 to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee with a lifetime .308 BA. Jake got his nickname because of his batting eye; he was a contact hitter who finished his career with more walks than whiffs. 

Paddy O'Connor 1908 - photo George Bain

• 1879 - C Patrick “Paddy” O’Connor was born in County Kerry, Ireland. A little used catcher for the Pirates from 1908-10, he hit .250. He played one more season in Pittsburgh in 1915, albeit with the Rebels of the Federal League, batting .228. Paddy got a lot of mileage out of baseball, with a playing career that spanned from 1901-21 counting his bush league years. 
• 1883 - RHP Lew “Hicks” Moren was born in Pittsburgh and attended Duquesne University. He pitched exactly two games for the Pirates between 1903-04 (0-1/9.00), but was more successful with the Phillies, picking up 48 wins and 10 shutouts while pitching to a 2.88 ERA from 1907-10 before arm problems ended his career. He was one of the first to feature a knuckleball, after its original practitioner, Eddie Cicotte. Hicks (no clue as to how he got that moniker) lived to the ripe old age of 86, and is buried in Homewood Cemetery. 
• 1896 - Utilityman Cliff Lee was born in Lexington, Nebraska. Cliff began his eight-year run in the show at Pittsburgh in 1919-20 after being drafted from Portland and then putting in military time. He hit .213 before being claimed by the Phillies and putting up three consecutive .300+ campaigns in Philadelphia, playing OF, C and 1B. His splits aren’t available, but it appears he never caught on as a regular because he was a platoon guy that could maul southpaws but righties, not so much. He played in the minors until 1930. 
• 1897 - It was a bad day for Pittsburgh at League Park II in Cincinnati. Lefty Killen and the defense floundered in the first of two, losing 14-3 and per the Pittsburgh Press “The Reds won the first one with ease as they found Killen at will and the Pirates made so many errors they simply couldn’t do anything else.” In the second game, ump Tim Hurst caught a beer bottle tossed at him from the stands and threw it back at his attacker. Hurst ended up the one arrested (he was fined $100 as the bottle gashed its victim; good arm for an ump) and Red Bittman, who umped a handful of times and was a Cincinnati native, took over and called the game a 4-4 tie after six innings due to darkness, wiping out a six-run seventh by the Bucs. Per the Press, the real reason was “...because he failed to check the run getting of the Pirates, he called the game. As the sun was shining, it was a clear case of a steal.” The Pirates did win the rescheduled game 8-1, and it was the last of 10 big league games Bittman umped. 
• 1901 - Before Pittsburgh’s 6-3 win at Cincinnati’s League Park‚ Reds and Pirates players were clocked while running from home plate to 1B. The fastest time for the 90-foot sprint was three seconds flat‚ by Bucco OF Ginger Beaumont. Though Beaumont was a lefty and was known for his wheels, scouts today consider 3.9-4.0 to be elite speed. The SABR Biography Project says he was once timed at 4.4, which seems a little more like it. As for the game, the Buc attack was primed by Beaumont and Hans Wagner with three hits apiece and a Lefty Davis homer. Ed Poole, subbing for scheduled but sore-armed starter Sam Leever, went wire-to-wire for the win. 

Sam Leever 1902 - photo via Baseball Hall of Fame

• 1901 - The Bucs made a couple of moves. First, they brought in veteran C George Yeager from the Cleveland Blues on a try-out basis after Chief Zimmer, the Bucs starting catcher, was spiked and put out of action (he would then break a rib in a fall three weeks later). George passed the test and finished the year with the Bucs, hitting .264 in 26 games. On the same day, P Sam Leever requested an unpaid leave of absence because of a sore arm, a problem he had throughout his career. The Goshen Schoolmaster told club secretary Harry Pulliam, as reported by the Pittsburgh Press, that “I am not in a position to earn my salary and in justice to the Pittsburg club I think I should take a vacation at my own expense. Just lay off me, Harry, until I send you word that my arm is right.” The Bucs granted his leave, with Pulliam replying “You are one of the highest paid men in the league and the officials will be pleased when they hear of your offer (but) you will get your salary if you do not pitch another game this season.” He didn’t but came back strong the following year and in fact tossed for the Pirates through 1910. 
• 1902 - RHP Homer Blankenship was born in Bonham, Texas. Homer tossed for a couple of years with the White Sox (1922-23) and then became a Texas League twirler; the Pirates gave him a shot in 1928 and he went 0-2/5.82 in two starts with one complete game. He retired from baseball in 1931. 
• 1912 - IF Bill Schuster was born in Buffalo, New York. He started his five-year, 123-game big league stint in 1937 with the Pirates, going 3-for-6 in a three game audition. Schuster did have a long career spanning 16 years of pro ball, mainly in the PCL, where he’s a member of its Hall of Fame. After retiring as a player, Schuster managed and coached in the league, and later worked in the press room of the Los Angeles Times. 
• 1915 - 1B Luke Easter was born in Jonestown, Mississippi. The slugger played for the Homestead Grays from 1947-48. He hit .363 and led the Grays to a win over the Birmingham Black Barons in the 1948 Negro League World Series, the last one held. The Grays sold him to Bill Veeck and he went on to play for the Cleveland Indians, but age (he was 34 when he made his MLB debut) and injury limited him to just a couple of productive seasons.