5/16 Through the 1950’s: Big Daddy Comeback Player; Grimm Streak; Packed House; Vic Zippo; Game Stories; HBD Rick, Bob & The Natural

• 1904 - The Pirates rallied from a 5-0 deficit against Christy Mathewson by scoring a run in the fifth and five more in the sixth for a 6-5 win over the NY Giants. The big blow was Claude Ritchey’s three-run, bases-loaded double. Starter Sam Leever hung on for the win at Exposition Park. The crowd of 6,360 seemed to ignite the rally, per the Pittsburgh Press: “...every mother’s son of them (the crowd) became a howling, raving rooter...They yelled like maniacs in one continuous roar...Women threw their hankerchiefs (sic) in the air, men tossed their hats...and all cheered with all the power of their vocal organs.” After the game, the fans rushed the field to mingle with the hometown heroes and taunt the Giants “with cries of derision.” 
• 1906 - Vic Willis started a three game shutout streak with an 11-0 win over the NY Giants at Exposition Park. Willis led the staff with 23 wins, tossed six shutouts and posted a 1.73 ERA for the Pirates, winners of 93 games and third-place finishers in the NL. The Pirates collected 15 hits, many bunts that they used to torture lumbering NY 1B Frank Bowerman by dropping the ball to him (he was usually a catcher); they got to first faster than he could get to the ball. 

Charlie Grimm - 1923 photo Bains/Library of Congress (filter ColouriseSG)

• 1923 - Charlie Grimm extended his hitting streak to 25 games, the NL record for starting off a season, against the NY Giants’ Jack Scott in a 6-2 loss at the Polo Grounds. Grimm hit .416 during the span, which ended the next day against the Boston Braves’ Dick Rudolph. 
• 1925 - The Pirates used a pair of triples mixed with two sac flies to score three runs in the 10th inning to defeat Boston at Braves Field 7-5. Max Carey went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, one run, one RBI and a stolen base, but he had lots of help - all nine Pirates starters, including pitcher Babe Adams, had hits with Johnny Gooch, Kiki Cuyler and George Grantham adding a pair of raps each in a day that the Bucs shot themselves in the foot with four DPs. Emil Yde got the win in relief. 
• 1937 - The Pirates drew MLB’s largest crowd of the day, 39,571, to Forbes Field on a Sunday afternoon to watch Joe Bowman pick up a 2-1 win over the Cards. Gus Suhr and Arky Vaughan drove home Paul Waner and Johnny Dickshot while Bowman ran his record to 5-0. 
• 1949 - RHP Rick Reuschel was born in Quincy, Illinois. Reuschel pitched for the Pirates from 1985-87, going 31-30/3.04 and representing the club in the 1987 All-Star game. He was a reclamation project who won The Sporting News’ 1985 NL Comeback Player of the Year award, going 14-8 for the last place Bucs after being left off the Cubs postseason roster the season before. “Big Daddy” (he was on the roundish side physically) had a 19-year big-league career with the Cubs, Giants, Yankees and Bucs, making 519 starts, working 3,548 innings and winning 214 games. 
• 1953 - Rick Rhoden was born in Boynton Beach, Florida. The righty spent eight seasons (1979-86) with the Pirates, going 97-93/3.51 during that span. He was an All-Star in 1986 (15-12, 2.84) and won three Silver Slugger awards (1984–1986). A talented golfer, Rhoden also starred on the Celebrity Players Tour, becoming the CPT’s all-time leading money winner. 
• 1957 - The Pirates beat the Braves 2-1 at County Stadium behind Bob Friend’s pitching and a Roberto Clemente homer. The Braves got the tying run aboard via an error in the ninth, but future Bucco skipper and then Brave Chuck Tanner missed a bunt sign and bounced into a 4-6-3 DP. The next pair of Bravos singled, but Del Crandall flew out to close out the contest. 

Bob Patterson -1992 Ultra (reverse)

• 1959 - RHP Bob Patterson was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He pitched from 1986-92 for the Bucs in many roles, putting up a record of 25-21-17/3.97 in Pittsburgh. The righty appeared in five NLCS games, with a save and 1.93 ERA. He tossed for 13 MLB seasons, and started up a cottage industry while hanging out in the bullpen; Patterson became the “Glove Doctor.” Players from his team and around the league would ask Patterson to repair their mangled mitts, and Bob would spend his time in the bullpen patching leather. 
• 1959 - OF Mitch “The Natural” Webster was born in Larned, Kansas. Webster spent 13 seasons in the show as a good glove guy; in 1991, he played for three teams, with the middle one being the Pirates, hitting just .175 after 97 at-bats. Mitch became a Bucco when Mike York was sent to Cleveland for his services, then he was later flipped to the Dodgers for Jose Gonzalez. He coached and scouted for the Dodgers for nearly two decades before joining the Royals as a regional supervisor in 2009. He got his nickname after homering in four straight games for the Expos in 1986.