8/5 Through the 1920’s: First Buc/MLB Broadcast; Grimes Deal; Game Stories; HBD Sonny & Pepper

• 1902 - The first-place Pirates defeated the New York Giants 3-0 behind Jesse Tannehill's two-hitter. Tanny retired the first 19 Giants to face him before John McGraw managed a knock. Christy Mathewson made it a fight and struck out 11 Bucs, but had no answer for Honus Wagner, who doubled and scored twice.

Honus Wagner - 2018 Panini Diamond Kings

• 1905 - In front of a record crowd of 18,383 fans at Exposition Park, the NY Giants forfeited to the Pirates over a call at third. In a 5-5 game, Claude Ritchey opened the ninth with a double, his third hit of the day, and beat the throw to third on a bunt. At least that’s what ump George Bausewine called. The Giants disagreed and tried to get the first base ump to overrule the call; lotsa luck with that. The ensuing hubbub by the New York nine continued, and when they wouldn’t return to their positions after several warnings, Bausewine called the game. It was front page news in Pittsburgh, and manager Fred Clarke was incensed, telling Ralph Davis of the Pittsburgh Press that “the New York players realized that only a miracle could prevent us from winning a clean and creditable victory, and rather than give us that satisfaction they allowed the game to break up...If we had disgraced ourselves in front of a record breaking crowd as the Giants did, we would have been mobbed.” The Giants protested the forfeiture; the league upheld it. 
• 1915 - The Pirates beat the Phillies and ace Grover Cleveland Alexander 1-0 at Forbes Field when Quaker catcher Bill Killefer threw wildly past third base in the ninth; Bill Hinchman, who had tripled, scooted home with the game’s only tally. Babe Adams, who tossed a six-hitter, claimed the win over Old Pete, who had only surrendered five knocks himself. 
• 1915 - OF Bill “Sonny” Randall was born in Hampton, Virginia. After a decade of playing for local Negro indie teams, Sonny was the Homestead Gray’s fourth outfielder from 1942-43 before entering the service, returning for the 1946 season. He had an odd career; he also worked for the government while a player and would rarely travel with the club (by then the team was the Washington-Homestead Grays) unless they were at home. Sonny turned down several offers with other teams because of that and “...the hard times that the black ball players had trying to make it riding up and down the road in those buses” per the Brent Kelley book “I Will Never Forget.” 
• 1916 - The Pirates picked up RHP Burleigh Grimes from Birmingham of the Southern Association for 1B Doc Johnston, who spent five years in the junior circuit, P Larry Douglas, who appeared in two games for the Baltimore Terrapins and IF BW Cleveland, a lifetime minor leaguer. Old Stubblebeard would work five years and notch 48 wins as a Pirate in three Steel City stops, but overall he won 270 games and a place in the Hall of Fame over his 19-year career. 

Burleigh Grimes - photo Gary Bettman/Getty

• 1919 - C Lloyd “Pepper” Bassett was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Bassett played for the Homestead Grays in 1936 as a backup. The next year, he started for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and started at catcher in the East-West All-Star Game. He was back on the bench by 1938, jumped to Chicago the following season and became a Negro/Latin League nomad until he retired in 1950. 
• 1921 - The Phils’ Jimmy Ring shut down the top of the Buc lineup as the first three hitters managed just a free pass in 12 PAs (and that was erased on a CS) but the rest of the Buccos collected 10 hits and three walks in an 8-5 win over Philly at Forbes Field. Jimmy Zinn had a big day; not only did he spin six innings off one-run relief for the win, but added a pair of hits in a see-saw game that saw each team lose a lead twice before the Pirates put up three eighth-inning tallies. Possum Whitted and Tony Brottem also had two hits as Possum, who hit cleanup, didn’t have an RBI but started several fires and scored three times. 
• 1921 - KDKA aired the first broadcast of a Major League game as Harold Arlin described the action during the Pirates' 8-5 win over the Phillies at Forbes Field. Jimmy Zinn worked six innings of one run relief for the win and added two hits. That broadcast started a list of firsts for Arlin and KD: he followed with another first when he took his equipment to the Allegheny Country Club for a live broadcast of the Davis Cup tennis match between Australia and Great Britain the next day. In October, he and KDKA became part of a three-station Westinghouse network that broadcast the Yankee-Giants World Series for the first time. Then, later in October, Arlin returned to Forbes Field for another first, a college football game between Pitt and West Virginia. He returned, at Bob Prince’s invitation, to call a few innings of a 1972 game against San Diego at TRS with his grandson, Steve Arlin, on the hill. 
• 1926 - OF Max Carey stole his last base as a Bucco against the Boston Braves during a 4-3 win at Braves Field. Carey is the all-time team leader in swipes with 688. He also had two of the Pirates six hits, as the Bucs gave Ray Kremer just enough support for the win.