9/10 Through the 1930’s: Burleigh's Finale; Game Stories; HBD Klu, Bob, Brandy, Highpockets & Kid

• 1886 - P/OF Blane “Kid” Durbin was born in Lamar, Missouri. He got 51 at bats in parts of three season, and although he finished out his MLB days as a Pirate, he didn’t get any swings in with Pittsburgh after being acquired via a trade with the Reds for Ward Miller, entering just one game as a pinch runner. Following a few years of minor league ball, he retired, got married and became a baker. His nickname was probably due to his size; he was just 5’8” and weighed 150 pounds or so. 

Highpockets as a 1919 NY Giant - photo Bain/Library of Congress

• 1895 - 1B George “Highpockets” Kelly was born in San Francisco. He started as everyone’s replacement guy - the Giants wanted him to take over for Fred Merkle, the Bucs then snagged him for a brief period to be Hans Wagner’s caddy, getting in eight games and going 2-for-23 in 1917. He went into the service in 1918 and when he came out finally won a spot with the Giants when 1B Hal Chase was suspended. He proved to be a golden glove guy with some power and a reputation as a clutch hitter during his 16-year MLB career. Kelly was selected to join the Hall of Fame in 1973 by the Veterans Committee. He later coached and earned the monikers Highpockets and Long George due to his 6’-4” stature. 
• 1913 - Before the Bucs lost 5-2 at Forbes Field to the NY Giants, Hans Wagner was gifted with a new piece of lumber. MA Seidel, a boyhood bud of the Dutchman who moved to Erie, presented the shortstop with a bat made from a timber of Commodore Perry’s flagship The Niagara, sunk in 1813, that was engraved with “We have met the enemy and he is ours.” 
• 1924 - 1B Ted Kluszewski was born in Argo, Illinois. After 11 years with the Reds, winning an MVP and four All-Star berths, Big Klu (6-2, 225) came to Pittsburgh in 1958 for Dee Fondy in a swap of 1B. He hit .292 in 100 games that year and was sent to the White Sox at the 1959 deadline for Harry Simpson and a minor league player as Chicago was looking for some stretch run help. Both teams got him at the downside of his career; a back injury in 1956 left him worse for wear and he never hit double-digit homers in a season again after having launched 171 bombs from 1953-56. 
• 1927 - OF Robert “Brandy” (his middle name was Brandon) Davis was born in Newark, Delaware. He signed with the Pirates in 1952 after spending time at Duke. Davis was a burner (in 1951, he stole 82 bases in 85 tries in the minors) but in his 1952-53 tour of duty with the Pirates, he hit just .187. His 2005 obituary in the Wilmington News-Journal noted that “He was forced from the league after it was discovered that he could not successfully steal first base.” Brandy went on to coach, manage and scout for 10 major league teams over the course of his 52-year career. He was a 1989 inductee in the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame and later a 1999 inductee of the Delaware Baseball Hall of Fame. 
• 1928 - RHP Bob Garber was born in Hunker, near New Stanton in Westmoreland County. Garber only got two games with the 1956 Pirates for his career resume, doing pretty well - he gave up a run in two outings on three hits in four innings with three strikeouts and three walks while working mostly out of Hollywood. He was a hit on the farm - in a nine year career, he twice won 20 games before retiring in 1958, missing a couple of years thanks to the Korean conflict. After baseball Bob was a salesman before retiring in 1991. He and his wife then jumped into the RV and traveled the country, visiting some 30 states and 40 national parks before he passed away. 

Burleigh Grimes - photo via Detroit Public Library

• 1934 - Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes, closing out his career, got his last MLB win in relief as the Pirates beat the NY Giants 9-7 at the Polo Grounds. Grimes went two innings and gave up a run to claim his 270th victory. 
• 1938 - It was a rough start at Sportsman Park in St. Louis as Russ Bauers started and didn’t retire a single Redbird before being sent to the showers, while his replacement, Russ Bauers, was only marginally better as the Cards took a quick 6-0 lead after three innings and were up 7-3 going into the sixth before Lloyd Waner’s bases loaded triple that frame pulled the Pirates within a run. Then the Buc bats exploded in the eighth for eight runs, keyed by Al Todd’s bases-loaded three-bagger (only the second time that the Pirates had hit two bases-jammed triples in a game; the first was in 1898) and Pittsburgh coasted to a 14-7 win. Todd also homered and had five RBI’s on the day while Lee Handley (who scored four times) and Johnny Rizzo each had three hits. The Pirates third hurler, Mace Brown, got the win, his 15th of the campaign, by tossing four innings of no-hit, one walk ball.