8/19: Redus, May, Byrne, Faber Deals; Rook & Roll; Mad Dog POTW; Pirates Portrait; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Britt, Terry & Ike

• 1891 - SS Ike McAuley was born in Wichita. In his three years in Pittsburgh (1914-16) he had just 50 PA and hit .149, yo-yo’ing between the show and the farm. He did have a moment in the sun, though - when he made his debut, the Bucs started him at SS and played Hans Wagner at 3B. He also had stints with the Cubs and Cards. Ike spent 15 years playing pro ball, retiring after the 1927 campaign at age 35 and then scouting for the Detroit Tigers. 
• 1901 - The Pirates chased the Cards’ 21-game winner Jack Harper in a 9-5 win at Robison Field. The Bucs used a five-run third inning to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, using four hits and a pair of Redbird errors to pile up the points. Ed Doheny got the win with help from Deacon Phillippe. Lefty Davis left the attack with four hits; Hans Wagner and Kitty Bransfield added three more knocks each. Pittsburgh banged out 17 hits as “the batting fever was still hot upon them” per the Pittsburgh Press. 
• 1902 - In a see-saw game at Exposition Park, the NY Giants went ahead of Pittsburgh 4-3 with a ninth-inning run off Jack Chesbro on a single that went off Honus Wagner’s glove. But in the Bucco half, the Dutchman atoned when he spanked a two-out, two-strike single through the left side to score Deacon Phillippe and Ginger Beaumont to give the Bucs a 5-4 win. 

Bobby Byrne - 1909 photo Conlon Collection/Detroit Public Library

• 1909 - The Pirates traded Alan Storke and Jap Barbeau to the St. Louis Cardinals for 3B Bobby Byrne. Storke died young in the next year from the flu, while Barbeau lasted two more seasons. Byrne held down the hot corner for the Bucs for the next five seasons, hitting .277 in 590 games. 
• 1910 - The Pirates signed RHP Urban Clarence “Red” Faber from Dubuque the day after he tossed a perfect game against Davenport. After finishing the campaign with the Dubs, he broke camp with the club in 1911, but the sidearm fastballer was sold to the minor league Minneapolis Millers in late May without appearing in a game. He had a mediocre farm season due to a sore arm, but with a big silver lining: he learned to toss the wet one to compensate. That combined with his fastball made for a deadly combo, and at Des Moines he won 41 games and led the Western League in strikeouts in 1912-13. The White Sox inked him and he threw for 20 years, winning 254 games for Chicago, the only MLB he ever pitched for, before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964. 
• 1941 - Manager Frankie Frisch was ejected by ump Jocko Conlan and fined $50 during the second game of a twinbill when he appeared on the field with an umbrella to protest the damp playing conditions at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, with the scene becoming the basis of a Norman Rockwell painting. Da Bums were the better mudders, winning 9-0 and 6-2 as they hung out the Pirates to dry. 
• 1950 - The Pirates outpointed the Cubs 13-9 at Wrigley Field for their sixth win in seven games, led by Ralph Kiner’s pair of bombs and three RBI. Johnny Hopp had a big day, too, with a homer and a pair of doubles, driving in a pair and scoring twice. Pittsburgh plated six times in the final two frames to rally for the victory. Murry Dickson earned the win with Bill Werle finishing up. 

Terry Harper - 1988 Fleer

• 1955 - OF Terry Harper was born in Douglasville, Georgia. The Bucs traded for the then 32-year-old Harper from the Tigers in June of 1987, and it was the last hurrah for the eight-year vet. He hit .288 and then played out his final campaign in Japan. Terry’s now a private hitting instructor in the Atlanta area. 
• 1958 - The Pirates held off the Chicago Cubs 4-3 at Wrigley Field on the strength of two-run blasts by Bill Mazeroski in the second frame and Dick Stuart in the sixth (Stu’s went 450’ and touched down on Waveland Avenue), both off starter Taylor Phillips. Curt Raydon worked six innings for the win, with Bob Porterfield tossing three shutout frames to save the decision. A key factor in the victory was Roberto Clemente’s play in the field; he made a pair of highlight grabs and threw out a runner at third. The win was the Pirates’ twentieth of twenty-eight games and kept them in second place, 6-1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Braves. 
• 1973 - Jim Rooker was a one-man wrecking crew, spinning a five hitter and batting 3-for-3 as the Pirates beat San Francisco and Juan Marichal 5-0 at TRS. Richie Hebner also added three hits, as he & Al Oliver went back-to-back with long balls, and Manny Sanguillen iced the cake with a two-run double. 
• 1973 - RHP Britt Reames was born in Seneca, South Carolina. Britt spent parts of six years in the show with his final campaign as a Bucco in 2006, getting into five games and putting up a 9.82 ERA. He became the pitching coach for Furman and moved on to his alma mater, The Citadel, where he’s a member of the Bulldogs Hall of Fame. 
• 1983 - The Pirates traded Steve Nicosia to the Giants in exchange for Milt May and cash in a swap of backup catchers. May retired after the 1984 season and Nicosia, who was unhappy here playing behind Tony Pena, remained a reserve and played a bench role for three teams before giving up the tools of ignorance after the 1985 campaign. 

Gary Redus - 1989 Donruss

• 1988 - The Pirates swapped 1B/OF Mike Diaz, sending him to the Chicago White Sox for OF Gary Redus. Rambo ended the year with the Sox before heading to Japan to finish his career. Redus played first and some outfield for the Bucs until 1992, hitting .255 with 24 homers, 96 RBI, 157 runs scored and 69 stolen bases for Pittsburgh. 
• 1985 - Bill Madlock was named the NL Player of the Week after going 9-for-22 (.409) and banging out four homers; he was the first Bucco to win the award this season. Unfortunately for the team, he was pretty much a one-man show as the club went 2-5 over the week. 
• 1999 - Cincinnati defeated Pittsburgh 1-0 at Cinergy Field, as Pete Harnisch and Scott Williamson combined for a one-hitter while whiffing 13 Bucs; Harnisch surrendered just a seventh inning single to Mike Benjamin. Kris Benson pitched a dandy of his own, scattering seven hits and punching out eight. He had a shutout going until one out in the eighth, when Sean Casey, in the midst of his breakout year, homered for the game’s only run. 
• 2012 - The Bucs outlasted the Cards at Busch Stadium to take home a 19-inning victory, 6-3. The teams ran through 16 pitchers before it was decided on a Pedro Alvarez homer off Barret Browning; El Toro became the first player in Pirates history to hit a home run in the 19th inning or later. Usual starter Wandy Rodriguez was called on to work the last two frames and notched the W after both teams swapped runs in the 17th to keep the game rolling. It was the first Pittsburgh road win of 19 innings or more since beating San Diego in 1979, and the first time the Pirates put up three runs or more in the 19th or beyond since 1912 against the Boston Braves. 

Wandy Rodriguez - 2012 AP photo/Al Behrman

• 2018 - The Pirates salvaged a hard-earned four-game split against the Cubs with a 2-1, 11-inning victory at PNC Park. Jameson Taillon (he struck out eight in six innings) and Carlos Quintana left it up to the bullpens to battle out a 1-1 draw. Both sides ducked some bullets and blundered on the basepaths. The Bucs were especially egregious, having two runners thrown out at home and going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. After Richard Rodriguez left the bases full in the 11th, Brandon Kintzler got two easy outs before falling behind Adam Frazier 3-0; he grooved a fastball and Fraze wasn’t taking but hunting. He blasted the ball 413’, completely out of the park and onto the Riverwalk, for his second career walk off homer. The Pirates had lost the first two games 1-0, then took the last pair by 3-1 & 2-1 tallies. Chicago set a quirky MLB record; all four of their runs came on solo homers, neatly meted out at one per game.