4/18 Through the 1930’s: Forbes Field Named; Opening Day Twinbill; Hot Howie; HBD Larry, Bob, Fred & Jack

• 1864 - RHP Fred Doe was born in Rockport, Massachusetts. Fred was a long-time minor league player (1886-1902) who got to twirl two MLB games, both in 1890 in the Players League. The first was with Buffalo and the second as a Pittsburgh Burgher, with him tossing four mop-up innings and giving up two runs. Doe was a player, manager, and owner over several decades in the New England League and was known as the “Father of Sunday Baseball” because of his advocacy to repeal blue laws in Massachusetts. 

Fred Doe - photo circa 1890's via Out of the Park Developments

• 1872 - 1B Jack Rothfuss was born in Newark. Rothfuss tore it up for the Atlantic League’s Newark Colts, was bought late-season by the Bucs for $2,000 and made his MLB debut on August 2nd, 1897. Jack hit .313 and was the frontrunner to become Pittsburgh’s next starting first baseman. Alas, Rothfuss never played in the majors again after contracting dysentery late in the season. (He blamed it on the city’s water, telling The Sporting Life “...the water in Pittsburgh is atrocious." And during that era, he was probably right.) He was loaned to minor-league Kansas City, recovered and bolted back home to play for Newark. Jack returned to KC the next year, but jumped back-and-forth among minor league/indie clubs until he finally hung up the spikes in 1907. 
• 1886 - The Alleghenys played the only Opening Day doubleheader in Pittsburgh baseball history at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, with the twinbill scheduled because of a rainout the day before. The North Siders dropped both ends to the eventual American Association champion St. Louis Browns. They lost the opener 8-4 with Ed “Cannonball” Morris on the bump and went down 10-5 in the second game with Hall of Fame pitcher James “Pud” Galvin toeing the rubber. The Alleghenys team was pretty strong; they went 80-52 on the year, but still ended up 12 games behind the Browns. It was the last season the team played in the AA, moving on to the NL in 1887. 
• 1902 - C Bob Linton was born in Emerson, Arkansas. Bob’s MLB career consisted of 17 games with the 1929 Pirates, half of them behind the dish and half as a pinch hitter (not that his .111 BA got him many at bats). Bob did have a long career in pro ball, beginning in 1927 and ending in 1942, with a brief comeback in ‘45 and a spell of minor league managing in the forties. 
• 1909 - Howie Camnitz spun an eight-hit shutout (he was, as the paper said, “a trifle wild” with six walks and a bopped batter) as the Bucs whipped the Cubs 1-0 in 12 innings, besting Three Finger Brown at the West Side Grounds. The run scored when, as the Pittsburgh Press wrote “(George) Gibson hit to (Chicago SS Joe) Tinker, who bungled and (Bill) Abstein scored…” but the Pirates wouldn’t need much help that season as they won 110 games and the World Series from the Ty Cobb-led Detroit Tigers. 
• 1909 - The Pirates announced that their new Oakland ballyard, which opened on June 28th, would be called Forbes Field. The team and the Pittsburgh Press held a contest for the naming rights, and out of 100,000 entries, seven (who won season tickets) chose Forbes Field. Owner Barney Dreyfuss’ name seemed to be the top vote-getter, but he passed on the honor, saying that his decision was reached after “I considered it from a historical, euphonious and appropriate viewpoint.” Seems like euphony always wins.

Forbes Field 1909 - Singer Card Store Postcard

• 1936 - RHP Larry Foss was born in Castleton, Kansas. After bouncing around the minors, he was called up as a 25-year-old by the Bucs in September of 1961. Danny Murtaugh threw him right into the fire, telling him that he was starting against Bob Gibson at Forbes Field that night. And while not exactly a classic duel, Foss outlasted him to earn an 8-6 win. He pitched a couple of more games (1-1/5.87), and was sent back to the bushes. In September of ‘62, he was waived after the minor league season and the Mets claimed him. He finished the last two weeks of the season with them, and after another year on the farm retired with arm woes. He went on to earn his daily bread in the oil and gas industry, saving enough to open a sporting goods store later.