7/14 Through the 1960s: Clemente Clears 'Em; Ouch; Pie Off the Menu; Murry Saves ASG; Game Tales; HBD Jose, Earl, Bob, Jack, Tanny & Joe

• 1874 - LHP Jesse “Tanny” Tannehill was born in Dayton, Kentucky. He played six seasons (1897-1902) for Pittsburgh, with a line of 116-58/2.75. Tanny won 20 games or more four times for the Pirates and led the NL in ERA in 1901 (2.18). He was also pretty handy when not hurling, batting .277 and making 71 OF appearances for the Bucs. After six years with the Pirates, he and owner Barney Dreyfuss got into a contract squabble. Tannehill then jumped to the AL New York Highlanders and spent the next seven years of his career in the junior circuit before a last hurrah with Cincinnati. He coached, managed and even umped after his playing days but eventually joined the 9-to-5 crowd as a machinist. 

Jess Tannehill - photo via SABR

• 1889 - RHP Joe Conzelman was born in Bristol, Connecticut, long before ESPN was a twinkle in an eye. He spent his three-year MLB career (1913-15) with the Bucs, slashing 6-8-2/2.92 in 54 outings, mostly as a reliever. He was a Columbia and Brown graduate and left baseball to pursue his calling as an engineer. 
• 1892 - Utilityman Floyd “Jack” Farmer was born in Granville, Tennessee. Farmer played 2B, SS, 3B, LF & RF for the 1916 Bucs, getting into 55 games and batting .271. He would play big league ball again in 1918 briefly for the Indians before ending his playing days after spending the 1920 season at Nashville of the Southern Association. 
• 1910 - The Bucs were down, 3-0, going into the ninth against Christy Mathewson and the NY Giants at Forbes Field, but scored four times to take home the win. A walk, error and two singles set the table. Matty turned wild child, tying the contest with back-to-back walks, and after throwing two balls to Tommy Leach was relieved by Red Ames. Ames lost Leach, forcing home the winning run and giving Deacon Phillippe the victory. 
• 1922 - The Pirates denied that they were about to swing a blockbuster trade with the Brooklyn Robins involving 3B Pie Traynor, UT Clyde Barnhart and C Walter Schmidt for OF Zach “Buck” Wheat and SS Jimmy Johnston. Pie was only 23-years-old and in his first season as a starter; he would have a 17-year Pirates career that ended with a .320 lifetime BA and induction into the Hall of Fame. Barnhart was 26 and would serve a nine-year MLB tour of duty, all with the Bucs, and hit .295 over that span. Schmidt was a 35-year-old reserve who would last through 1924 with Pittsburgh, with a final campaign as a Card the following year. Wheat was 34 and had 14 years under his belt, but would play through 1927, hitting .346 over those final six seasons. Like Pie, Buck also entered the HoF. Johnston was 32 and would be a solid stick man through 1925 (.313 BA from 1922-25), playing one more year afterward before ending his MLB stay. 

Bob Purkey - 1955 Topps

• 1929 - RHP Bob Purkey was born in Pittsburgh and was signed by the Bucs after he graduated from South Hills HS. The knuckleballer spent his first four years and then his final season with the Pirates (1954-57, 1966), slashing 16-30-3/4.13. His heyday was with the Reds, where he won 100+ games, appearing in a World Series and three All-Star contests. The Pirates dealt Purkey to Cincinnati in 1957 for relief pitcher Don Gross. Pirates GM Joe Brown often called the transaction "the worst trade I ever made.'' After his retirement, Purkey and his family lived in Bethel Park and he ran an insurance agency. 
• 1935 - Earl Francis was born in Slab Fork, West Virginia. The hard throwing righty tossed five seasons (1960-64) for the Bucs, going 16-23/3.77 with his time split between starting and as a long man from the bullpen. Francis was the Pirates first African-American Opening Day pitcher in 1963 when he started against the Reds and became the first pitcher that a young Pete Rose ever batted against. His short spell in the show wasn’t because of lack of talent but a bad wing; Francis battled a sore arm throughout his career. He retired and put that achy but powerful arm to good use - he became a butcher. 
• 1940 - The Pirates won their sixth game of seven by whipping Brooklyn, 6-2, at Forbes Field. Rip Sewell got the win and also cracked a homer. They dropped the nitecap of the twin bill, 2-0, as the Dodgers’ Freddie Fitzsimmons got the better of Ken Heintzelman. The ‘40 Bucs basically sputtered along as Frankie Frisch’s charges finished 78-76-2 and in fifth place, 22-1/2 games behind the eventual World Series champs, the Reds. 

Rip Sewell - photo Hall of Fame/Getty

• 1946 - Hall of Famer Warren Spahn beat the Bucs at Forbes Field by a 4-1 tally for his first MLB win; he would earn 363 of them in his 21-year career, with 49 against Pittsburgh. His only blemish was a solo shot by Frankie Gustine. The lefty reached 400 wins despite losing three years (1943-45) to WW2. 
• 1953 - RHP Murry Dickson was the Bucco rep at the All Star Game, a 5-1 NL victory at Crosley Field. He tossed the final two innings, giving up a run on three hits and earning a save for Warren Spahn. The relief appearance of St. Louis Brown’s 46-year-old Satchel Paige in the eighth inning set an All-Star record for oldest pitcher to toss in the contest. 
• 1955 - The Pirates suffered the worst defeat in their history to date when Cincinnati mashed them, 19-1, at Forbes Field. Reds Johnny Temple, Wally Post and Smoky Burgess combined for 13 hits. Five Pirate pitchers gave up 21 hits (including three homers), 12 walks and a hit batter while the fielders chipped in with three errors. The whupping stayed in the record books until 2010 when the Brewers laid a 20-0 beatdown on the Bucs. 
• 1961 - A two-out grand slam in the bottom of the eighth by Roberto Clemente, a rising liner that carried the center field wall at the 410’ mark, erased a 4-1 deficit and led the Bucs to a 6-4 win over the SF Giants at Candlestick Park. Clem Labine got the win and ElRoy Face the save after Joe Gibbon started. 

Jose Hernandez - 1994 Upper Deck

• 1969 - IF Jose Hernandez was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Jose played for 15 years in the show, making stops in Pittsburgh in 2003 as part of the infamous A-Ram/Kenny Lofton deal with Chicago and again in 2006 as a FA, playing six positions while hitting .240. He signed a minor league deal with the Bucs for 2007 (he was one of Jim Tracy’s favorites) but the 37-year-old’s tank was running on empty and he didn’t make the final cut. He’s been a coach in the Baltimore system since 2010, moving up to the big club in 2022.