- 1872 - OF/player-manager Fred “Cap” Clarke was born in Winterset, Iowa. Hall-of-Famer Clarke was discovered by Barney Dreyfuss, and came to Pittsburgh with most of the Louisville team in 1900 in a ploy masterminded by Dreyfuss. He was the left fielder and manager from 1900-11, and then mostly skippered, with a couple of spot appearances, from 1912-15. His Pirate line was .299/.379/.418, he hit .300 or better 11 times, and was player/manager for four pennant winners and two World Series teams. He guided the club to 14 straight first-division finishes, 1,422 wins, and compiled a winning % of .595. Cap got his nickname in 1897 when he became player/manager for Louisville; in that era, the skipper was referred to as the team’s captain.
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| Fred Clark - 1950 Callahan Hall of Fame |
- 1890 - The Alleghenys played their last game, losing, 10-4, to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms at Washington Park. It was the franchise’s most disastrous campaign as the club won just 23 games after being decimated by defections to the Players League. The Pittsburgh Press noted that “The Alleghenies showed themselves world-beaters yesterday by more than equaling the Louisville record of games lost… the Allies (Alleghenys) lost their 113th game.” The next season, they became the Nationals/Pirates, moved from Recreation Park to Exposition Field, and managed to finish with a more respectable 62-73 mark.
- 1903 - Deacon Phillippe, working on a day’s rest, allowed four hits in a 4-2 win over Boston Americans in the first World Series, giving the Pirates a 2-1 lead in games. Ed Phelps doubled twice and Claude Ritchey had a pair of hits to lead the Pirate attack. The contest was played at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds.
- 1905 - C Johnny Riddle was born in Clinton, South Carolina. In parts of seven seasons (his MLB debut was in 1930 and his last at-bat in 1948), Johnny never got into more than 25 games. His swan song was in ‘48 with Pittsburgh, where he joined his younger brother, All-Star pitcher Elmer, on the roster and hit .200 in 10 games as a player/coach. He got to catch his brother and at 42, was the oldest NL player to appear in a game that year. Johnny also was part of one of the rarely seen over-40 batteries in baseball history when at age of 42 he caught for Fritz Ostermueller, who was 40. After that campaign, Riddle worked as a coach for the Pirates (1948–50; he only coached during his last two years), St. Louis Cardinals (1952–55), Milwaukee Braves (1956–57), Cincinnati Redlegs (1958) and Philadelphia Phillies (1959). He picked up the nickname of “Mutt” as a youth but it was never used much during his ball-playing days.
- 1908 - The Pirates moved 1/2 game ahead of the Cubs and Giants with a 3-2 win over the Cardinals at Robison Field, the Bucs eighth straight victory. Nick Maddox tossed a five-hitter and drove in a run; the other RBIs came from the bats of Tommy Leach and Honus Wagner, and it was just enough to beat Art Fromme. Their next game was against the Cubs, and interest was so high that the Pittsburgh Press opened four phone lines and posted telegraphed bulletins at their office with the Chicago game’s blow-by-blows. Alas, the Bucs lost that game and finished second in one of the great NL pennant races.
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| Bob Harmon - 1916 American Biscuit |
- 1914 - Bob Harmon ended a disappointing season for the Bucs on a high note, tossing a two-hit, 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Forbes Field in the home finale. Both Redleg runners were caught stealing by C Bob Schang, and Harmon faced the minimum 27 batters while topping King Lear. Wally Gerber’s triple in the seventh drove in the game’s only score.
- 1915 - The Pirates ended their season with a 5-3 win over the Reds at Redland Field. Retiring manager Fred Clarke hosted his players at a banquet after the game, celebrating not only his retirement (Jimmy Callahan took the reins in 1916), but his 43rd birthday before the team scattered during the off season. The next day, he arrived back in Pittsburgh and was given a public send off in front of 500 at the Hotel Schenley. Carnegie Steel vice president HP Bope served as toastmaster of the event with team owner Barney Dreyfuss and Pittsburgh Mayor Joe Armstrong among the speakers.
- 1915 - The Federal League came down to a bang-bang finish when the Chicago Whales beat the Pittsburgh Rebels, 3-0, at Weeghman Park, the future Wrigley Field. Because of various unplayed games (Chicago finished the year with one game less than Pittsburgh and two fewer than St. Louis), the standings were in flux. The Rebels, managed by “Rebel” Oakes, were a nose ahead of the pack down the stretch but dropped a twin bill to the Windy City nine at Exposition Park the day before and needed a sweep of a doubleheader in Chicago to retake first. Pittsburgh ground out the lidlifter 5-4 in 11 innings behind Al Wickman’s three RBI to stay alive, but the Whales scored three times off Elmer Knetzel in the sixth frame (he went 5-2/3 IP as the starter; he already won the first game with three innings of shutout relief work) of the finale to claim a title-clinching 3-0 victory, with the key blow a double that Oakes came within a hair of running down, but instead had glance off his glove. The Whales won the FL by .001% over the St. Louis Terriers and .004% over the Rebels, a smoking finish to what would be the final season for the Federal League.
- 1917 - OF Frank “Fats” Kalin was born in Steubenville, Ohio. He had a seven-game MLB career, with three of those contests as a Pirate in 1940, going 0-for-3 with a pair of walks. Kalin was considered a prospect with the White Sox in early 1943 and broke camp with Chicago, but he never got much chance to show his stuff in the majors as he served in the military during World War 2, starting that season. He was 28 when he was discharged and spent the next four years in the Pirates system at Hollywood and Indianapolis. We’re uncertain about his nickname, although he was 6’, 200 lbs., which suggests a likely clue.
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| Bob Skinner - 1959 Topps (reverse) |
- 1931 - LF/1B Bob Skinner was born in La Jolla, California. The “Dog” (a Bob Prince nickname derived from Skinner’s Marine Corps - the Devil Dogs - days) played for the Bucs in 1954 and then 1956-63, hitting .280. He was the starting left fielder for the 1960 World Series champs. Skinner was the Phillies manager from 1968-69, famously resigning when Richie Allen beefed about going to an exhibition game. He coached for several clubs after that, including the Pirates from 1974-1976 and again from 1979-1985. His son Joel was drafted by the Pirates and played in the show, though not in Pittsburgh, later coaching/managing in both the majors and farm for several organizations.
- 1936 - RHP Jack Lamabe was born in Farmingdale, New York. Jack tossed for seven big league seasons, making his debut as a Bucco in 1962, going 3-1-2/2.88 in 46 appearances. He, along with Dick Stuart, was part of the Jim Pagliaroni/Don Schwall deal with Boston the next year, before following the itinerant route of a reliever by tossing for six more teams. After he hung up the spikes, he spent a decade coaching college ball at Jacksonville and LSU. Jack’s a member of the U of Vermont (his alma mater) Athletic Hall of Fame and the Jacksonville U Athletic Hall of Fame. Lamabe also picked up an odd family tree of nicknames with the Red Sox (variously Tomato, Tomato Face, the Old Tomato, ‘Mater, or Pizza Face) begun by pitcher Dick Radatz and popularized by Bosox announcer Ned Martin, who called him “The Old Tomato.” Jack had a round, red face and loved to nosh on pizza, making the love apple monikers perfect fits.
- 1937 - The Pirates swept a closing day doubleheader from the Reds at Forbes Field‚ 4-3 and 4-0‚ extending their winning streak to 10 and running the Reds' losing run to 14. The Bucs finished 21-1 against Cincinnati, winning the last 17 decisions of the season. Ken Heintzelman tossed a six-hitter to take the opener in his MLB debut. Woody Jensen scored twice and Fred Schulte had a pair of RBI to lead the attack. The second game was called after seven innings with Jim Weaver and Mace Brown combining on a three-hitter (Weaver was excused after three innings so he could get an early jump on the off season). Bill Schuster and Gus Suhr each scored and drove in a run.
- 1939 - Frankie Frisch jumped from the Boston Braves’ broadcasting booth to Pittsburgh’s managing gig, signing for two years with the Pirates to replace Pie Traynor, who resigned. The Fordham Flash skippered the Bucs for seven seasons from 1940-46, compiling a 539-528 record but only finishing higher than fourth once (second place - 1944). He had been the Cards field general prior to the Pittsburgh job and became the Cubs manager afterwards, then retired back to the mic. He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1947 as a player.
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| The Fordham Flash - 1940 Play Ball |
- 1948 - Vic Lombardi lost a duel to Johnny Vander Meer as the Reds took a 1-0 win at Crosley Field to end the season. It was scoreless into the bottom of the ninth when Bobby Adams walked, was bunted to second and came in on Steve Filipowicz’s single. Lombardi gave up five hits, Vander Meer just two. The loss cost the Bucs a chance to join Brooklyn in third; they finished fourth, 8-½ games behind the Boston Braves.
- 1948 - Luke Easter's grand slam highlighted the Homestead/Washington Grays' 19-hit assault on the Birmingham Black Barons in the fourth game of the Negro World Series, played at Pelican Stadium in New Orleans. The Grays won the contest, 14-1, and the Championship in five games. This was the final Negro WS‚ as the Negro National League became a casualty of MLB integration and folded during the winter.
- 1969 - Scout Ismael Cruz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The son of old Pirates scout Pablo Cruz, he trawled Colombia for the Bucs and Reds in the 1900s before moving up the international scouting ladder with the Mets, Toronto and his current organization, the Dodgers.
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