10/11 Through the 1960s: Big Train Derails Bucs in '25; Dutchman Flying; 41 For Cannonball; Rube Rules; Barnstormin'; Burleigh, Jerry Released; HBD Buttercup & Wayne

• 1885 - OF Lew “Buttercup” Pessano Dickerson was born in Tyaskin, Maryland, and is one interesting dude who made a brief stop in the City. Dickerson hit .249 while playing five different positions for the Alleghenys in 1883, and during his career played in three different major leagues (The American Association, the National League and the Union Association.) His nickname "Buttercup" was given to him by his Cincinnati Reds teammates during the 1879 season, after the "Little Buttercup" character in Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta H.M.S Pinafore. No, we don’t why; Buttercup in the musical is described as a “bumboat woman.” On the other hand, Dickerson was known as a lush, league-jumper and all-around street hustler, so maybe he was a “bumboat” ballplayer. Also, he’s sometimes referenced as the first Italian ballplayer (he’s a member of the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame, a gang that apparently doesn’t check ID very well), but it ends up the “Pessano” name associated with Dickerson is actually his given middle name, bestowed to honor Doc Pessano, who delivered him, as was a custom of the era. Ed Abbaticchio is generally recognized as the first paesano in baseball - pro football, too; he was an all-around athlete - and played for the Pirates from 1907-10. 
• 1886 - Lefty Ed “Cannonball” Morris claimed his 41st win of the year by a 4-1 score against the New York Metropolitans at Recreation Park, three days after he had shut them out to open the series. His 41 wins set an Alleghenys/Pirates record and led the American Association that season (Pittsburgh joined the NL the following year), as did his 12 shutouts and 1.032 WHIP. Cannonball also worked 555-⅓ IP in 64 appearances (63 starts and one save) while posting a 2.45 ERA. 
• 1900 - Rube Waddell punched out a NL season-high of 12 in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Orphans at Exposition Park. He led the senior circuit with a 2.37 ERA and was second with 130 strikeouts in 208-1/3 IP, even though his record was just 8-13. He had quite a year, leading the league with fewest hits allowed per nine (7.5), most strikeouts per nine (5.6; no other twirler averaged four) and WHIP (1.107). Rube only pitched twice more for Pittsburgh in 1901 before being sold to the Chicago Orphans and embarking on a Hall-of-Fame career, mostly based on stints with the Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns. 

Rube Waddell - 2011 Upper Deck/Goodwin Champions

• 1905 - With the season over, Hans Wagner took his barnstorming team of Buccos through a week-long schedule of local challengers both as a final bow after the campaign and a chance to make a little beer money to help carry the troops through the offseason. Other players on the touring team were Claude Ritchey, Tommy Leach, Otis Clymer, Heinie Peitz, George Gibson, Deacon Phillippe, Patsy Flaherty, Otto Knabe and one or two other Pirates tagalongs. This date opened the postseason tour with a game in Homestead. 
• 1909 - Honus Wagner became the first player to steal three bases in a World Series contest as Pittsburgh beat Detroit at Bennett Park, 8-6, in Game Three of the Fall Classic to go up two games to one. The next player to swipe three sacks was LA’s Willie Davis, who matched the feat in 1965 (the Cards’ Lou Brock in 1967 and the Rays’ BJ Upton in 2008 also scored the hat trick). Nick Maddox struggled but went the distance for the win, buttressed by a five-run first inning outburst by the Bucs against Ed Summers; all the opening runs were unearned as Motown made three errors in the inning. It was a sloppy affair as 11 of the 14 runs were unearned; Motown had five boots and the Bucs committed a pair. Honus Wagner had three hits with three RBI, and Bobby Byrne, Tommy Leach and Bill Abstein each added two more knocks. 
• 1912 - RHP Wayne Osborne was born in Watsonville, California. Osborne made seven MLB mound appearances; two of them were with the Bucs in 1935, giving up a run in an inning and two-thirds while also getting a call to pinch-run once. He did have a long pro career, starting right out of high school in 1931 as a teen and tossing until he was 30 with 13 campaigns in the Pacific Coast League with Hollywood, Mission and Portland. Old age didn’t catch up to him; his ball playing days ended when he was drafted in 1943 at age 30. It was a surprise call up by Uncle Sam; Osborne was missing a finger on his pitching hand, which he used to his advantage in mastering the curveball per Donald Wells in “Baseball’s Western Front.” 
• 1925 - The Big Train, Walter Johnson, shut out the Pirates, 4-0, on six hits at Griffith Stadium to give the Senators a three games to one lead in the World Series. Washington scored all four runs in the second inning off Emil Yde, the big blow being a three-run homer by Goose Goslin, with Joe Harris adding another long ball. Johnson was in complete control; only one Pirate runner reached second all day.

Burleigh Grimes - 2013 Panini Cooperstown

• 1934 - It was the end of an era as the Pirates released RHP Burleigh Grimes. The Hall of Famer was the last player to legally toss a spitter, one of 17 hurlers exempted when the pitch was outlawed in 1921. He finished the year as a Yankee, then went on to a long career as a coach, manager and scout. 
• 1966 - The Pirates released one of baseball’s elite pinch hitters, Jerry Lynch, ending a 13-year MLB career that was evenly split between the Bucs and Cincinnati. He had 116 pinch hits during his tenure (.263 BA), which ranks him 10th all-time, and is third on the all-time pinch hit home run list (he was first when he retired) with 18.