- 1864 - George “Doggie” Miller was born in Brooklyn. Doggie was mostly a catcher, but also played the OF and every IF position, primarily third. In 10 seasons with the Alleghenys and Pirates (1884-1893), he hit .254 and was the epitome of a contact hitter: Doggie struck out 99 times in a Pittsburgh uniform (not counting 1884-86, which have no K stats), and never had a season where he whiffed more than he walked. Doggie was athletic for a catcher; beside playing all those other positions, he swiped 209 bases. Miller is one of three catchers to last a decade in Pittsburgh, along with George Gibson and Manny Sanguillen, and was the first player ever to spend 10 years with Pittsburgh. Doggie got his nickname because he bred dogs. In a less kindly vein, he was also called “Foghorn” and “Calliope” because of a mouth that never shut on the field.
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| Doggie Miller - 1987 Buchner Gold Coin |
- 1872 - IF Lew Carr was born in Union Springs, New York. Lew’s only major league action was with the powerhouse 1901 Pirates when he got into nine games and went 7-for-28, which was pretty heady stuff for a guy who played for the amateur Morovian team in 1899 while going to Hobart College. He also was the table-setter for Hans Wagner who slid into the SS spot after Carr was injured after a beaning. Lew attended Syracuse and earned a Law degree after his playing days and stayed around to coach the school's baseball team from 1910-42. In 1952, the school's ballyard was renamed in his honor and he was selected into the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Known locally as “Mr. Baseball,” Carr spent his retirement years starting a little league program in Moravia and served as its commissioner until he passed away in 1954 at age 81.
- 1906 - LHP George “Red” Peery was born in Salt Lake City. He spent 10 games in the majors; his first was with the Pirates in 1927, when the 20-year-old tossed an inning and gave up an unearned run on a walk & boot. He figured out baseball wasn’t going to be his livelihood early on; he retired in 1930 as a 23-year-old after working in the Texas League.
- 1908 - RHP Bernie Walter was born in Dover, Tennessee. He got one MLB inning in 1930 as a Pirate, tossing a clean frame as a 22-year-old fresh out of the U of Tennessee. His main job wasn’t to challenge for a rotation spot; he spent the season as the Pirates BP pitcher.
- 1910 - In a meeting of two powerhouse rivals, the Pirates and NY Giants split a twinbill at the Polo Grounds by 2-1 scores. The first game went 11 innings before either team scored. Pittsburgh got a pair of runs off Christy Mathewson thanks to a Fred Clarke double; Lefty Leifield was nicked for a score in the bottom half but hung on for the win. The Giants scored twice in the first frame of the nightcap off Howie Camnitz, and Hooks Wiltsie made it hold up, with the only Buc run coming via a Hans Wagner double and Doggie Miller single an inning later. However, the game didn’t have much influence on the finish as the Cubs won 104 games and ran away with the pennant, leaving the usual NL suspects in their dust.
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| Max Carey - 2010 SP Legendary Cuts |
- 1910 - The Pirates bought the rights to OF’er Max Carey from South Bend of the Central League. The Hall-of-Famer played in Pittsburgh for 17 seasons, compiling a .287 BA and .363 OBP with 2,416 hits, 918 walks (he had over 1,000 in his career), 1,414 runs scored and 688 stolen bases. He led the NL in stolen bases 10 times and still holds the Bucco record for swipes, barely edging out Honus Wagner. They also purchased SS Alex McCarthy on the same day from the same club. He spent eight years as a Bucco good-glove utility guy, hitting just .226 over that span but with a positive dWAR for seven of those years.
- 1934 - The Bucs and the NY Giants split a twin bill at Forbes Field. The Giants took the opener 5-4, holding on after a four-run first for the win. Lloyd Waner singled to bring his hitting streak to 22 games. Pittsburgh won a see-saw battle in the second game. NY tied it 3-3 in the eighth; the Bucs answered in their half and won 4-3 behind Schoolboy Hoyt’s arm and Arky Vaughan’s homer. The Giants did end Little Poison’s hitting streak in the second contest, but he collected knocks in the next nine games to claim a 31-of-32 games roll.
- 1945 - C Duffy Dyer was born in Dayton, Ohio. Dyer backed up Manny Sanguillen from 1975-78, hitting .227 as a Bucco. He caught John Candelaria's no-hitter on August 9th, 1976 and led NL catchers in fielding % in 1977. The light-hitting (.221 lifetime BA) catcher had a long career behind the dish, lasting 14 MLB campaigns. He managed in the minors after his playing days, scouted and was a MLB coach for the Brewers and Oakland A’s. In 2013, Duffy powered down to skipper the Kenosha Kingfish, a summer collegiate league club; he had managed Kenosha in the early eighties when the town was home to a Twins farm club.
- 1947 - Ralph Kiner hit consecutive home runs off Red Munger in his last two at bats during a 7-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field. Kiner then homered in his first two at bats in his next game against the Cards Ken Burkhart, tying the record for consecutive home runs.
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| Ralph Kiner - 1949 MP & Company |
- 1950 - The Pirates surrendered six runs in the ninth, then scored a half dozen of their own to beat the Reds 10-9 at Forbes Field. The Bucs put up the six spot with six singles, a walk and a big boot - a bobbled potential DP ball - with Clyde McCullough getting the walk off knock, scoring Wally Westlake from second when his liner was deflected into no man’s land by Reds pitcher Johnny Hetki. The highlight was a fifth-inning homer by Ralph Kiner, his 33rd, to left center off Ewell Blackwell that was estimated to travel 480’. The Bucs third twirler, Bill MacDonald, earned the win.
- 1951 - Ralph Kiner banged a homer and triple, scored twice and drove in four runs as the Bucs beat the Chicago Cubs 7-0 at Forbes Field behind Bob Friend’s two-hitter (to go with eight walks) and first career shutout. George Metkovich added three hits.
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