9/1 Through the 1910’s: Triple Bill; Baldwin Bagged; Game Stories; HBD Joe L, Shoemaker, Jim & Sam

• 1877 - Jim “Pud” Galvin and the Alleghenys edged St. Louis in 15 innings‚ 1-0. Two days earlier, they had beat Milwaukee by the same score in 12 innings, per Charlton’s Baseball Chronology. Both games were played in the International Association, making the Alleghenys the first local minor league club; the other area nines were independent/sandlot teams. The Alleghenys finished the season with a 13-6 record, the second best record in the league. The club consisted of twelve players in 1877, all of which later made it the majors, and was managed by Denny McKnight, a lifelong Pittsburgh native who also served as the International Association's president. The team folded the next season, not to return until the 1882 campaign. 

Pud Galvin - 1887 Goodwin/Old Judge

• 1890 - On Labor Day at Washington Park, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, later known as the Dodgers, won all three games against Pittsburgh in the first tripleheader ever played. The home team swept the visiting Alleghenys, who were renamed the Pirates next season, 10-9 (The Alleghenys scored nine times in the ninth with Doggie Miller tossed out at home trying to stretch a triple into a game-tying homer), 3-2, and 8-4. Allegheny hurler Dave Anderson went the distance for games two and three and took both losses (ouch). The Alleghenys then lost to them the next day 5-4 to run their losing streak to 23 games. The Pittsburgh franchise would also play MLB’s last tripleheader in 1920 against the Reds, doing a bit better by winning one of the contests. 
• 1890 - C Olaf “Sam” (his middle name was Selmar) Brenegan was born in Galesville, Wisconsin. He got the briefest of time in the majors - he caught a couple innings for the 1914 Pirates, not long enough to get an at bat but long enough to allow a passed ball. Per Paul Dickson’s “Baseball Dictionary,” his passed ball came about when he was hit in the hand with the pitch, which allowed a baserunner to advance. For some time afterwards, any catcher who took a ball off his bare hand was said to have "pulled a brenegan." Even with that rep, he played pro ball until 1919, closing out his baseball days at St. Joseph’s in the Western league. 
• 1892 - The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette headline was “Baldwin Bagged - Pirates Prize Pitcher Charged With Riot.” Pirates P Mark "Fido" Baldwin was arrested in his hometown of Homestead (his dad sold real estate & insurance there) on charges of riot and providing the Carnegie Steel strikers with weapons. Baldwin posted a $2‚000 bond and claimed to be an onlooker, not a participant, in the mill melee. Fido was indicted on the charges but never brought to trial. On the diamond, he finished the year with a 26-27/3.47 slash, pitching 440-⅓ IP in 56 games, but had a contract squabble and was released the following season after one outing. After baseball, Fido became a MD and worked out of Passavant Hospital. 
• 1894 - OF Fred “Shoemaker” Nicholson was born in Honey Grove, Texas. He played for the Bucs from 1919-20 as a platoon outfielder and pinch-hitter, putting up a .342/.389/.505 slash during those seasons. Nicholson left the team as part of the 1921 Rabbit Maranville deal and spent a couple of years with the Boston Braves before settling into a minor league career that lasted through the 1935 campaign when he was 40 years old. 

Fred Nicholson - Mears/TSN

• 1917 - The Pirates lost their third straight 1-0 game to the St. Louis Cardinals at Robison Field. The Cards‚ behind the pitching of Red Ames, Oscar Horstmann and Milt Watson‚ won the tag team match against Bob Steele, Wilbur Cooper and Hal Carlson. With the three pack of 1-0 wins, the Cards tied the MLB mark and set the NL standard. 
• 1918 - GM Joe L Brown was born in New York City. Brown served as the general manager from November 1, 1955, through the end of the 1976 season, replacing mentor Branch Rickey. Under his watch, the Pirates became world champions in 1960 and 1971. Ever a loyal Pirate, after a decade of serving as a Southern California-based scout for the Bucs, Brown was called back in 1985 to serve as acting GM when the Pirates, rocked by a drug scandal, poor play and falling attendance, were sold by the Galbreath family to a local group. He oversaw the transition and acted as a bridge between GMs Pete Peterson and Syd Thrift. 
• 1919 - RHP Jim Hopper was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He got has MLB games on his resume for the 1946 Pirates; he gave up five runs in four innings. Jim could be forgiven - he won 30 games in two minor league seasons, but lost his edge after serving two years in the military, returning in ‘46. He never got the edge back and was done with pro ball after the 1949 season, spent in Class D ball.