7/6 Through the 1960s: One Homer Leads To Another; Who Needs Umps?; ASG's; Game Tales; HBD Willie, Jason, Omar, Cy & Ed

• 1896 - The Pittsburgh Press described the game, played in the rain at Washington, as “...a farce. But it was not without excitement, however, for Umpire Tim Hurst threatened to whip half a dozen players.” Hurst reportedly socked Pirates Jake Stenzel and Emerson "Pink" Hawley in the jaw for the guff they had given him during the game. They accepted their fate like men according to the New York Clipper as "neither player resented the attack." The Pirates defeated the Senators 6-2 at Boundary Park. Hawley got the win; Stenzel had three hits while Joe Sugden and Mike Smith added a pair. 
• 1879 - SS Ed Holly was born in Chicago. Ed had a yo-yo career - he spent eight years in the minors, then two seasons with the NL Cardinals. After that taste, he built up a rep on the farm as a defensive whiz over the next half dozen years and in 1914, at age 34, joined the Pittsburgh Rebels, hitting .246 in 100 games and then batting .262 in a bench role behind Marty Berghammer of the Reds who had jumped leagues the following campaign. After that, he did some minor league managing and was a long-time scout. As a nod to his days in the bushes, Ed was selected as a member of the International League Hall of Fame in 1949. 

Jack O'Connor - 1900 Conlon Collection/Detroit Public Library

• 1901 - NY manager George Davis said he would pull his team off the Polo Grounds rather than allow ump Harry Colgan to call the game, and he got his wish. Colgan avoided the drama by not showing up, and under the threat of a forfeit and fine by the league if the blustering Giants didn’t play the match, the two teams each selected a player - Giants infielder Charlie Buelow and Pirates catcher Jack O'Connor - to ump. Davis might have been better off with Colgan as his club lost 6-2, but at least there weren’t any rhubarbs. There were only two bang-bang plays, and sportsman O’Connor called them both in favor of the Giants. The Pittsburgh Press gloated that “The delusion of manager Davis that the umpires were the cause of the New York’s club failure to take first place away from Pittsburg was dispelled…” Jack Chesbro got the win over Dummy Taylor, who was torched for four first-inning runs. Ginger Beaumont led the attack with two hits, including a homer. 
• 1908 - RHP Darrell Elijah “Cy” Blanton was born in Waurika, Oklahoma. He twirled for Pittsburgh from 1934-39, going 58-51-4/3.28 and earning an All Star spot in 1937 with a dazzling array of breaking pitches. In 1935, his 2.58 ERA was the lowest in MLB, besting Lefty Grove. But his promising career was shortened by a stream of elbow injuries and physical woes, aggravated by alcoholism, and he died at the age of 37. Throwing the curve and screwball was the likely cause of his arm issues (some believe his chronically aching arm may have driven him to the bottle), and as SABR’s Gregory Wolf posted, the pitch-until-you-drop ethos of the era didn’t help. “Ranking among the most dubious decisions in big-league history, (Pirates manager Pie) Traynor permitted Blanton, coming off an injury-riddled season, to pitch a nine-inning no-hitter in a pointless exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians in New Orleans on Easter Sunday 1939, just days before the regular season. Blanton subsequently tore ligaments in his elbow in his third start of the season, effectively ruining his career.” 
• 1933 - CF Paul Waner and 3B Pie Traynor represented the Bucs in the first-ever All-Star Game held at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, won by the AL, 4-2. Pie delivered a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning off Lefty Grove to become the first Pirate to collect an ASG knock while Waner played the final frame of the game in right field. 
• 1938 - The Bucs sent P Mace Brown, SS Arky Vaughan and CF Lloyd Waner to the All-Star Game at Crosley Field. Brown was the only guy to play; he went three innings, giving up a run on five hits with two strikeouts, and earned a save for starter Johnny Vander Meer in a 4-1 NL win. 

Mace got the AS save - photo 1938 George Burke

• 1940 - Arky Vaughan, Elbie Fletcher and Maurice Van Robays each homered and combined for 10 RBI and six runs as the Bucs romped over the Cards 15-8 in the lidlifter of a Sportsman’s Park doubleheader. Bob Klinger got the win with Johnny Lanning finishing up. Pittsburgh took the second match from St. Louis by a 4-3 count, pushing across a 10th inning run for the win. Van Robays had a two-run homer and Mace Brown, who pitched five innings of one hit, shutout relief, earned the victory. 
• 1942 - 3B Bob Elliott was the sole Bucco invited to the All-Star Game at the Polo Grounds. He singled in his only at-bat during a 3-1 loss to the AL. 
• 1945 - A doubleheader couldn’t begin any better; Pete Coscarart and Jim Russell started it off with a bang, smoking back-to-back leadoff homers for the first time in franchise history (it wouldn’t happen again until 1982). But Boston regained its composure pretty quickly and swept the Buccos easily, 13-5 and 14-8, at Braves Field. 
• 1954 - 1B Jason Thompson was born in Hollywood. He played for the Pirates for five years (1981-85) and hit .253 with 93 HR, with a particularly sharp eye that led to a .376 OBP. Thompson was an All-Star in 1982, batting .284/31/101, and spent 11 years in MLB before knee injuries took their final toll. In his early career while with the Tigers, Thompson earned the nickname "Roof Top" due to his knack of hitting balls to the top of Tiger Stadium’s right field roof. JT now operates the Jason Thompson Baseball Academy in Auburn Hills, Michigan. 
• 1954 - Willie Randolph was born in Holly Hill, South Carolina. The Pirates selected him in the seventh round of the 1972 draft straight out of high school. He made his major league debut in 1975 at age 21, getting in 30 games and batting .164. He was traded in that off-season w/Ken Brett and Dock Ellis to the Yankees for Doc Medich, not because of his rookie showing but because the Pirates had a 24-year-old 2B ahead of him, Rennie Stennett. All Willie did after that deal was play 17 more years, win two World Series rings with the Yankees, appear in six All-Star games, bang out 2,210 hits (.276 lifetime BA, .373 OBP) and gain a rep as a solid glove and great pivot man. After he hung up the spikes, he managed and coached, then gigged as an ESPN talking head. 

Willie Randolph - 2001 Topps Traded

• 1955 - Jerry Lynch, Frank Thomas and Dale Long hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the sixth inning against the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Carl Erskine during a 10-5 loss of a doubleheader lidlifter at Forbes Field. The Bucs didn’t homer in the nitecap, but won 4-1 behind Vern Law. The game was knotted in the eighth when the Pirates scored three times, keyed by Gene Freese’s triple and Law’s two-out double. 
• 1967 - RHP Omar Olivares was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Omar closed out his eight-team, 12-year big league run as a Pirate in 2001 with a 6-9-1/6.55 line, dealt for as a starter but ending up in the pen by early June. The 33-year-old had a good run at the beginning of his career and in the late nineties, but he finished his career with back-to-back 6+ ERA campaigns.