6/25 Through the 1950s: Krusher Kiner; Yde Ride; Streak Split; Game Tales; RIP Jake; HBD Alejandro, John. Bill & Ralph

• 1895 - 2B Bill Webb was born in Chicago. His show time consisted of five big league games for the 1917 Pirates, going 3-for-15 as a 22-year-old. His late season Bucco try out had its ups-and-downs. Webb was 0-fer in his first four games, but in his last go, he went 3-for-4 with a run scored as the Bucs beat Boston, 2–0, at Forbes Field. Webb did have a long minor league career, playing 14 seasons and went on to become a baseball lifer. He managed in the minors and then coached third base for the White Sox under Jimmy Dykes for five years before becoming their farm director, a position he held until he had a fatal heart attack at the age of 47. 
• 1902 - LHP Ralph Erickson (yep, his middle name was Lief) was born in DuBois, Iowa. He went to Idaho State and toiled in the Class C Idaho-Utah League before the Bucs brought him to Pittsburgh in September, 1929. He lasted until mid-summer of 1930, getting into eight games with a 1-0/8.40 slash. Ralph was a workhorse starter on the farm after that trial and pitched through the 1934 season. He then went to Arizona and worked in the mining industry, which apparently agreed with him - he was MLB’s oldest living player until he passed away in 2002 at the ripe old age of 100. Erickson did have his moment in the sun: He tossed a no-hitter in 1933 while pitching for Shreveport of the Texas League. He won the game, 2-0, against Houston, beating none other than Dizzy Dean. 

Ed Doheny - via Vermont Historical Society

• 1903 - Ed Doheny surrendered just four singles as the Pirates won at Philadelphia, 4-3, in 10 innings to run their winning streak to 15 games. Hans Wagner had three hits while Ginger Beaumont and Fred Clarke each had a pair; Doheney helped his own cause by scoring twice. It would end later in the day as the Phils took the nitecap of the Baker Bowl twinbill by a 5-1 tally to stymy the Bucco run at an NL-record 17 straight wins. Beaumont stayed hot with two more raps in the nightcap. 
• 1912 - The Pirates swept a DH from the Cards by 10-4 and 19-3 scores, banging out 35 hits over the course of the day at Robinson Field. Max Carey (he had six hits during the affair) and Chief Wilson hit grand slams (Wilson’s was thought to be the longest ball ever hit at Robison, clearing the park), and rookie Stump Edington came close, being thrown out at home after clearing the bases with a triple. The Bucs put up a 10-spot in the seventh inning of the nitecap. Claude Hendrix and King Cole were the winning pitchers. The Pittsburgh Press wrote “The Pirates slugged their way to a double victory… There appeared to be absolutely no style of pitching that the Corsairs could not solve.” 
• 1913 - What had been a tight pitching duel through nine innings turned into a laugher in the 10th when the Pirates erupted for eight runs against three St. Louis Cardinal relievers to take home a 9-1 win at Robison Field. The Bucs had five hitters with a pair of knocks (and all in a row, batting 7-8-9-1-2 in the order), including pitcher Marty O’Toole who scattered eight hits for the complete game win. The eight-run margin in extra innings is the largest bonus baseball spread in Pirates history. 
• 1918 - 1B Jake Beckley passed away in Kansas City. He spent 20 years in MLB, and during his first nine campaigns (1888-96), he wore Pittsburgh colors as an Allegheny, Burgher and Pirate. He hit over .300 for six of those nine seasons. During his six-team career, he batted .308 with a .361 OBP, scored 1,600 runs and chased home 1,575 teammates. 

Emil Yde - 1924 photo Conlon Collection/TSN/Getty

• 1924 - Pitcher Emil Yde's bases-loaded double tied the score in the ninth inning and in the 14th, the Pittsburgh southpaw's two-run triple beat the Cubs at Forbes Field, 8-7. Beside the two hits and five RBI, do-it-all Yde hurled 10-1/3 innings of one-run ball in relief to earn the win. 
• 1943 - RHP John Gelnar was born in Granite, Oklahoma. The Bucs signed Gelnar out of Oklahoma in 1963; a year later he got a cup of coffee with the Pirates, working nine innings and giving up five runs. He got into 10 games in 1967, going 0-1, 8.05, with most of his time spent with AAA Columbus. In 1969-70, after a couple of trades, John pitched fairly well for the Seattle Pilots and then the Milwaukee Brewers. He got off to a rough start with the Brew Crew in ‘71, was sent down to AAA and then retired at the end of the 1972 campaign. He did get some recognition from Jim Bouton in “Ball Four” when Bouton wrote Gelnar used to bring binoculars to the bullpen when the pair were with Seattle so they could watch girls. 
• 1944 - The Cards edged the Bucs 2-1 in the opener of a twinbill as Red Munger outpitched Rip Sewell. The second ended in a controversial 5-5 tie, called after nine innings because of the Pennsylvania Blue Law. Pittsburgh tied the game in the ninth on a pinch hit long ball by Virgil “Spud” Davis that went through the screen in front of the RF stands. Cards manager Billy Southworth protested, claiming that the ground rules were that a fair ball stuck in the screen was a double and the same reasoning should apply. Ump Beans Reardon didn’t buy the argument and ruled that since it didn’t hang up but went through the fence, it was a homer. 
• 1949 - The Bucs hit five home runs (Ralph Kiner twice, Wally Westlake, Ed Stevens & Dino Restelli) but the Dodgers banged out four of their own to leave Pittsburgh eating their dust at Forbes Field, winning a 17-10 slugfest. Rookie Restelli set a record as his four-bagger was the seventh in his first ten MLB games; he would only hit six more in his abbreviated big league career. 

Dino Restelli - 1949 photo Acme News Service

• 1950 - Ralph Kiner had a massive day as he led the Pirates to a 16-11 win at Brooklyn by hitting for the cycle, the only one of his legendary career. He went 5-for-6 with two homers, scored four times and drove in eight runs at Ebbets Field. Stan Rojek added four hits against the Dodgers, Gus Bell had three and Ted Beard homered. Cliff Chambers got the win in relief of Vern Law though both were tagged for five runs in four innings. 
• 1959 - RHP Alejandro Pena was born in Cambiaso, Dominican Republic. After helping whip the Pirates in the playoffs as a Brave in 1991, the Pirates signed him as a free agent after the 1992 season for $1.35M. He promptly sat out the year with elbow surgery and came back in 1994, going 3-2-7/5.02 and was released in June. The 15-year vet had a twisty road to join the Pirates - he was mentioned, along with Kevin Mitchell and a PTBNL, to be part of a 1992 preseason deal for Barry Bonds with Atlanta. The swap was agreed to in principle by GM Ted Simmons but nixed by Jimmy Leyland, who went over Simmons’ head to plead his case with team President Carl Barger. So the club, which apparently thought highly of Pena, later signed him as a free agent even after he sat out the 1992 postseason with tendonitis.