5/1 Through the 1930’s: Double Grannies & Game Stories; HBD Bills, Heinie, Johnny & Tom

• 1859 - IF Tom Forster was born in New York. He played four big league seasons with a stop in Pittsburgh with the Alleghenys in 1884, where he hit .222. Tom had a 10-year pro career, playing his last campaign in 1891 for Hartford of the Atlantic Association at age 31, finishing out his days working for ConEd in NYC. 
• 1860 - SS Bill White was born in Bridgeport, Ohio. He played five years in the big leagues, spending 1884 with the Alleghenys as a bench infielder and hitting .227. He played until 1889 with a rep as a good gloveman, and after his active days ended managed the Wheeling minor league clubs on three different occasions. 

George McQuillan - 1915 Crackerjack

• 1885 - RHP George McQuillan was born in Brooklyn. He was a decent pitcher for low-scoring teams, going 29-33 from 1913-15 with a 3.06 ERA for Pittsburgh. In 1907 he set one of the longest-lived records in MLB history when he pitched 25 innings for the Philadelphia A’s before giving up his first earned run. The mark stood for 101 years before being broken by Oakland A’s reliever Brad Ziegler who extended the record to 39-1⁄3 innings. 
• 1886 - C Bill Kelly was born in Baltimore. He came to the Pirates from minor league St. Paul in 1911, becoming their third catcher and serving as the personal caddy for P Marty O’Toole. He played here through 1913, hitting .293 with 20 RBI’s in 102 games with a reputation as a good hit, bad glove backstop. 
• 1895 - Bill Hart hurled a one-hitter in a 4-1 victory over Cincinnati at Exposition Park. CF Jake Stenzel and C Joe Sugden each had a pair of knocks to lead the Pirates while SS Monte Cross made several nice running catches of short outfield flares. As the Pittsburgh Press noted succinctly of the Reds: “One hit will not win many games.” 
• 1896 - RHP Heinie Meine was born in St. Louis. The twirler spent six seasons with Pittsburgh (1929-1934), going 66-50 with a 3.95 ERA. Between 1931-33 he was a workhorse, throwing 663-2/3 frames in 96 games, going 46-30. In 1931, he led the NL in wins (19), innings pitched (284), and was fourth in ERA (2.98). He was an interesting guy, known as "The Count of Luxemburg" because he ran a hometown speakeasy/tavern in the Luxembourg section of St. Louis. 
• 1917 - 2B Giovanni “Johnny” Berardino was born in Los Angeles. He got a couple of cups of coffee with the Bucs in 1950 and 1952 (.187 BA in 59 games), but his claim to fame wasn’t at the ballyard but rather in the back lots as he went on to become a TV soap opera star playing the role of Dr. Steve Hardy of General Hospital. 

Earl Grace - 1934 Goudey

• 1933 - The Pirates banged a pair of grand slams to back Bill Swift’s nine-hit, complete game shutout pitching and throttled the Philadelphia Phils 10-0 at the Baker Bowl. Arky Vaughan hit an inside-the-park grannie when his ball caromed wildly off the scoreboard in the third frame, then the Bucs iced the game with a five spot in the seventh, primarily fueled by Earl Grace’s grand slam over the right field wall. Vaughan and Grace became the first pair of Pirates to hit grand salamis in the same game (Bill Madlock & Richie Hebner matched the feat in 1982).