6/23 Through the 1950s: Roberts-Jacobs Deal; The Kitten's Streak Ends; Pud; Gilbert Bros; Game Tales; HBD Bill & Curly

• 1877 - Before there were the Bucs there was Pud and the Alleghenys: Jim “Pud” Galvin of the Alleghenys shut out Chicago on three hits, 6-0, in International League play. The IL was considered a minor league, and only lasted one more season. The Alleghenys became a major league club in 1882 when they joined the American Association. Gentleman Jeems spent eight years in Pittsburgh as an Allegheny, Burgher and Pirate. 
• 1890 - 2B Harry and SS John Gilbert became the first brothers to play together for a major league Pittsburgh club when they manned the middle at the Philadelphia Baseball Grounds against the Phillies. The Alleghenys split the twin bill, with Harry going 2-for-8 and John 0-for-8, and they turned a DP in each game. The doubleheader was the only time either one of the Pottstown brothers played at the MLB level. They preceded brother duos Harry & Howie Camnitz (1909), Carson & Lyle Bigbee (1921), Johnny & Phil Morrison (1921), Lloyd & Paul Waner (1927-40), Gene & George Freese (1951), twins Eddie & Johnny O'Brien (1953-58) and Adam & Andy LaRoche (2008). 
• 1900 - RHP Bill Harris was born in Wylie, Texas. He tossed for the Bucs from 1931-34, with a record of 16-15-7/3.45. Harris was a baseball lifer - he had seven years in the show, and earned 257 minor league wins between 1921-45, including two no-hitters. He managed in the minors afterward for the Giants and then scouted for them, the Senators and Yankees. 

Bill Harris - photo Conlon Collection/Retro Images Archive

• 1916 - Ken “Curly” Jungels was born in Aurora, Kansas. Curly pitched five MLB seasons, mostly for Cleveland, though not very often nor well. He made five outings and was 0-0/6.89 for the Pirates in 1941 while overall, his career consisted of 25 games, slashing 1-0/6.80. After his Pittsburgh campaign, Curly joined the Army during WW2 and never returned to the ballfield. 
• 1919 - The Bucs won their fifth game in a row, 3-2 over the Saint Louis Cardinals at Robison Park. Casey Stengel was the man of the hour, hitting a two-run homer in the sixth and then making a game-saving catch in the bottom half to back Frank Miller’s complete game effort. The Pirates cut the Reds NL lead to two games with the win, but finished fourth with a 71-68 record, miles behind Cincinnati, which posted 96 victories. The Redlegs won the World Series, but that result is often forgotten thanks to the “Black Sox” scandal of their Chicago opponents. 
• 1930 - Bucco pitchers Heinie Meine and Leon Chagnon gave up 12 straight hits in the sixth inning during a loss to the Brooklyn Robins at Forbes Field, tying the record for most consecutive hits allowed (Brooklyn banged out 28 knocks in all) in a game. And if you think beatmen are tough to please now: Pittsburgh Press writer Ed Balinger led off the game story with “the slugging Robins...lambasted the lame and groggy Pirates to the agonizing tune of 19-6.” 
• 1944 - The weather and local law combined to nullify four hours and 14 innings of baseball as the Pirates-Cards game at Forbes Field was called at 1 AM with the score knotted at 5-5 to comply with the curfew. The two teams used 39 players (10 pitchers) and combined for 10 runs and 30 hits, wasting a big effort by Bucco OF Jim Russell, who went 5-for-7. 12,086 paid and 277 free military fans were on hand at the start of the marathon, which went on for 4:02 before ump Beans Reardon called it a night. It was a miracle they got that much play in - the contest was delayed by rain twice, the batting cage (which was on wheels) was blown from the plate and crashed into the grandstands before the game and a lethal tornado touched down in nearby McKeesport and continued down through Waynesburg and the Mon Valley into West Virginia, killing 90 and injuring over 600. 

Bob Hall - photo via Out of the Park Development

• 1953 - The Pirates defeated Hall-of-Fame pitcher Warren Spahn and the Braves at County Stadium, 1-0. Spahn, who would be named The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year after the season (23-7/2.10 ERA), struck out 12 batters and surrendered just two hits. Bucco outfielder Carlos Bernier delivered the game-winner, a two-out single in the eighth inning that scored Preston Ward, who had walked. RHP Bob Hall tossed a six-hit shutout to win the duel against Spahn and Milwaukee; it was one of his three wins during his final MLB campaign. 
• 1954 - The Bucs broke St. Louis’ Harvey Haddix’s string of 37 straight shutout innings when Preston Ward drove home Dick Cole in the sixth, but were still left in the dust at Forbes Field by the Cards 7-1. Pittsburgh kept an eye on The Kitten and in 1959 reeled him. Harvey spent five years as a Bucco, went 2-0 in the 1960 World Series, and later put in eight seasons as a minor league manager/big league coach for the Pirates. 
• 1956 - Pittsburgh dealt 2B Curt Roberts and lefty reliever Jack McMahan to the Kansas City Athletics in exchange for 2B Spook Jacobs. Jacobs was given a brief opportunity to start, couldn’t hit worth a lick, and was shipped to the farm. He never returned to the show; it didn’t help his cause that Bill Mazeroski was his replacement. Roberts was sent straight to the minors, and he likewise never made it back to the show. McMahan got into 23 games for the A’s and joined his other trade mates in being sent down for good.