10/13: Big Poison, Rizzo, Russ Join Club; Shep Hired; Saul & Game 7 Gang; Smoky City; HBD Beetles; Hayden, Rube, Xavier, Dick, Charlie, Jack & Frank

• 1876 - LHP George “Rube” Waddell was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania. He pitched just two season for the Pirates (1900-01), but his legend deserves mention. He wore out his welcome with Pittsburgh, getting into two games in 1901 after leading the NL in ERA (2.37) the year before with the Bucs. His eccentricities: He was a fire fanatic in a good way; Rube always wore a red t-shirt so he could join up with any fire-fighting brigade that he found in action. Though he never showed up drunk at a game, he was a heavy drinker - The Sporting News called him a “sousepaw” - and was distracted by crowds, who would mesmerize him by flashing shiny objects at him. In exhibition games, he had his teammates sit around him on the mound. Waddell also wrestled alligators in the off season. Current baseball historians believe he was autistic or had ADD before the conditions were commonly diagnosed. But Rube could throw a baseball. He won 193 games and struck out 2,316 batters in his career (349 whiffs in 1904 alone). Rube K’ed three batters on nine pitches in 1902. He was one of the great drawing cards of early baseball, and is in the Hall of Fame. The story of his life was foretold by the stars: Rube was born on Friday the 13th and died on April Fools Day (4/1/1914). 

Jack Onslow - 12/7/1927 Pgh Post Gazette

• 1888 - Manager, coach & scout Jack Onslow was born in Scottdale, between Connellsville and Mt. Pleasant. Jack had a brief MLB career, consisting of two seasons and 36 games as a catcher and then coached for the Pirates (1925–26), Washington Senators (1927), St. Louis Cardinals (1928), Philadelphia Phillies (1931–32) and Boston Red Sox (1934). Onslow also scouted for the White Sox and Boston Braves. He was the White Sox skipper from 1949-50 and managed minor league squads for six seasons. 
• 1889 - SS Frank Smykal was born in Chicago. He got a six-game cup of coffee with the Bucs in 1916, going 3-for-10 with three walks. He was one of a group of SS’s on the roster as it was Hans Wagner’s final season; the shortstop spot stayed patchwork after the Dutchman left until Rabbit Maranville arrived in 1921. It was the 26-year-old Smykal’s only taste of MLB ball, and it appears that after his Pirates stint that he went home to Chicago for good, where he lived until he passed away at age 60.
• 1899 - Smoky City, home field edge: Per Charlton’s Baseball Chronology, the Louisville Colonels scored four runs in the ninth to take a 6-5 lead over the Pirates at Exposition Park‚ as a thick‚ black mist from the local mills settled over the field. The game was called before the Bucs could bat because of poor visibility (darkness, technically), and the score reverted to the last full frame, the eighth inning, giving Pittsburgh a 5-2 victory. 
• 1906 - IF Charlie Hughes was born in Lawrenceville. Hughes, a gifted gloveman who developed his skills on Ammon Field, played two seasons for the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1931 & 1934) and another campaign for the Homestead Grays (1933). Hughes started in the local black sandlot leagues of the City, playing for the Bluesox of Herron Hill/Lawrenceville and the Edgar Thompson mill team (he played 32 years for them, off-and-on, as not only did you get to play ball but had a job in the mill to pay the bills). 
• 1912 - RHP Xavier Rescigno was born in New York City. He tossed for the Pirates during the war years of 1943-45 (it was his entire MLB career, too), slashing 19-22-16/4.13 in 129 games (21 starts). The curve ball whiz tossed for Manhattan College and was signed by the Yankees but didn’t take off until he joined the Brooklyn organization and was tutored by Burleigh Grimes. The Pirates eventually bought his contract and sent him to Albany, and they brought him and Ralph Kiner up in 1943. He worked through the ‘45 season when at age 32, he was overtaken by the wartime talent returning from the service back to baseball. He worked in the minors for five more years before retiring. Rescigno was known as “Mr. X” and was the first guy named Xavier to play in MLB (there have been six in big league history and the Pirates rostered three - Rescigno, Nady and Paul). In fact, while in his 90s, one of his final baseball acts was to meet up with the newest MLB Xavier at the time, OF’er Nady, during a game at San Diego and Rescigno followed up with a letter welcoming Nady into the Xavier fraternity of baseball men. 

Xavier Rescigno - RD Maloney/AP

• 1925 - The Pirates purchased SS Hal Rhyne and OF Paul Waner from San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, then an unaffiliated independent organization. Rhyne played a couple of years for the Bucs and had a seven-year MLB career while Big Poison went on to the Hall of Fame after spending 15 of his 20 big league seasons with Pittsburgh. 
• 1932 - IF Dick Barone was born in San Jose. His bio, per BR Bullpen: the 27-year-old Barone was called from Columbus to become the back-up to Dick Schofield in 1960 after Dick Groat was injured. He played in three games (once as a starter) over the final month, and those three contests constituted his entire major league career. He was hitless in six at-bats while flawless in the field, but wasn’t included on the Pirates' 1960 World Series roster as Groat returned and Schofield went back to the bench. Barone's baseball claim to fame is that he once started a game in place of Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski. Afterward, he played in the minors through 1962 and saw his pitcher grandson, Daniel, play in the show in 2007 with Florida. 
• 1937 - The Bucs got OF Johnny Rizzo from the Cards for 1B Bernard Cobb, C Tom Padden, OF Bud Hafey and cash. The rookie Rizzo hit 23 homers in 1938, a team record that lasted for nearly a decade (it was broken by Jason Bay and Josh Bell, both who hit 26 dingers), and was traded early in 1940 for Vince DiMaggio. Rizzo went downhill in 1941, and ‘42 was his last MLB season as he enlisted in the Navy the following year. He came back from the service in 1946, spent four years in the minors and retired to work in the sporting goods field and as an auto salesman. 
• 1941 - The Pirates drafted Fayette City’s Jim Russell from Memphis of the Southern Association in the minor league draft. He hit .277 from 1942-47 for the Bucs before spending his next four MLB campaigns playing for the Braves and Dodgers. Jim’s career was cut short by heart problems he had contracted as a child. He stayed on in the sport, though, scouting for the Dodgers and Senators for two decades after his playing days had ended. 
• 1942 - 3B Bob Bailey was born in Long Beach. He was inked to the largest signing bonus ever paid up to that time, a reported $135,000, and began his 17 year pro career in Pittsburgh (1962-66) where he hit .257 with occasional power. Bailey had his best years with Montreal in the early seventies, with three 20+ HR seasons and three more with 80+ RBI. When he retired, he spent a decade managing in the Montreal system with side gigs as a hitting instructor. He passed away at age 75. 

Bob Bailey - 1965 Topps

• 1967 - Larry Shepard was named manager, replacing Danny Murtaugh, who in turn had replaced Harry Walker earlier in the year. He lasted two seasons (replaced by Murtaugh), then became the pitching coach of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine under Sparky Anderson from 1970 through 1978. He finished his coaching career with the San Francisco Giants in 1979. 
• 1984 - RHP Hayden Penn was born in La Jolla, California. Penn appeared in 33 games over four years in the majors. His last three outings were with the Pirates in 2010, when he gave up eight runs in 2-1/3 IP after being claimed off waivers from the Marlins during training camp. Penn was sent to AAA Indianapolis, then his contract was sold and he threw in Japan for three seasons afterward, winning a Japan Series game (their WS) in 2010. He made his last hurrah with the indie Bridgeport Bluefish in 2013. 
• 1985 - Saul Finkelstein sat at the base of the flagpole by the Forbes Field wall outside Schenley Plaza and listened to a taped NBC radio broadcast of Chuck Thompson and Jack Quinlan calling the seventh game of the 1960 World Series on his boombox. After that day, it soon evolved into an annual party & ceremony open to all under the auspices of the Game Seven Gang, often drawing an assortment of politicos and members of the championship team to mingle with the fans.