- 1866 - RHP Jim Handiboe was born in Columbus, Ohio. Jim’s big league stay consisted of a season with the Alleghenys in 1886, then in the American Association, where the 20-year-old put up a respectable 7-7/3.32 slash, going the distance 12 times. That gave him an OPS+ of 100, making him the poster boy for a league-average pitcher. Apparently the team thought he needed a little more seasoning; Jim toiled in various whistle stops until 1901, retiring at age 34 after hurling for hometown Columbus.
- 1873 - RHP George “Chummy” Gray was born in Rockland, Maine. His tale is that of a AAAA pitcher getting his moment in the sun. After back-to-back 20 win seasons, Gray tossed a no-hitter with one walk for Buffalo in 1899. He got his reward when the Pirates brought him up for the last month of the season. Gray went 3-3/3.43 in nine games, completing six of his seven starts. Chummy then rattled around the minor leagues for a few more years, but never again returned to the majors before hanging up the spikes after the 1901 season. He passed away at age 40, remembered as a member of the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame.
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| Bill Kuehne's tag caused an uproar - 1889 Goodwin/Old Judge |
- 1888 - The Pittsburgh Alleghenys lost, 2-0, to the Philadelphia Quakers, dropping a three-game set at Exposition Park by 1-0, 1-0, and 2-0 counts. The middle game was the most exciting when a ninth-inning hit-and-run single followed by an unpopular safe call at third led to the game’s only run. The Pittsburgh Press described it this way: “ …the umpiring...looked to be decidedly against the locals in the ninth inning. Twice it looked like Andrews (Quaker CF Ed Andrews who scored the game winner) was out. The first time on strikes (and)...again in deciding him safe at third when Billy Kuehne (Alleghenys’ 3B) had touched him fully two feet from the base. It looked as though another serious mistake had been made in favor of the visitors by the tenth man...There is little wonder that the indignation of the crowd knew no bounds but let it be said to its credit no act of violence was done.” For his part, the ump was indignant at the fans’ reaction and said he called the game in good faith while Philly manager Harry Wright claimed the “locals had no business to kick.” The Alleghenys bat woke up after that, going on to win 11-of-13 after the series while averaging 5-1/2 runs per game.
- 1890 - For the first time, two eventual 300-game winners were opponents as Tim Keefe of the Giants faced Pittsburgh's Jim 'Pud' Galvin in a Players League (which was eventually considered a major league) match-up. New York easily beat the Burghers, 8-2. O’Keefe did his part, tossing a four-hitter (The Pittsburgh Press wrote “the wonder is that the Pittsburgs were allowed to score at all.”) while Pud was rattled for a dozen knocks. They met again in 1892, and after that, the next time two 300-win twirlers went head-to-head wouldn’t be until in 2005 when Greg Maddux met Roger Clemens.
- 1907 - “The veteran Vic Willis was on the slab...and he tied knots in the home bunch from first to last. He allowed but two hits, one a scratch...” per the Pittsburgh Press, and he led the Bucs to a 2-0 win over Christy Mathewson and the NY Giants at the Polo Grounds. Matty only allowed four hits, with the Pirates not getting on the scoreboard until the eighth with an unearned run. The clincher came in the ninth when Ed Abbaticchio bounced one off the wall; it caromed into a dirt pile by the fence and it took two Giants to eventually dig it out. By the time the ball made it back in, Abby had rounded the bases.
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| Hans Day - 7/17/1908 - Pgh Press image |
- 1908 - It was Honus Wagner Day at Exposition Park, and before the game, players from both teams lined up to honor him. He was speechified, then gifted with a $700 gold watch and an Elk’s pin with a diamond worth four bills. Wagner's tribute was originally scheduled for the 16th, but Hans asked that it be moved a day so it wouldn’t conflict with the annual benefit picnic for orphans. The Boston Doves won the game 4-0 behind ex-Pirate Tommy McCarthy’s five-hitter. It could have been worse - the Doves tacked on six more runs in the eighth, but the game was called because of darkness before the Pirates could bat, nullifying the six-pack. Hans went hitless.
- 1914 - In one of the great pitching duels of early baseball, Babe Adams lost to the Giants Rube Marquard, 3-1, in 21 innings at Forbes Field. Babe surrendered 12 hits without a walk; it’s the longest outing without a free pass in MLB history. NY’s Larry Doyle's inside-the-park home run was the spoiler. The key play was when Honus Wagner was called out for interference in the sixth inning. He slid into third and headed home when the ball disappeared from view; it ended up tucked in his uniform, as Wagner was, per the Pittsburgh Press “...trying to hide a ball and score off the trick.” Hans plated, but ump Lord Byron rang him up for the subterfuge. As the Press reported “...the decision caused a mighty howl, which was participated in by many of the players and by Manager Fred Clarke, who applied a flow of profanity to the umpire, which was anything but pleasing to the disgusted spectators. Clarke’s language on this occasion...will not win ball games.” The Pirates appealed Byron’s call to the league with no success.
- 1930 - OF/PH Jerry Lynch was born in Bay City, Michigan. Lynch started (1954-56) and ended (1963-66) his career in Pittsburgh, spending the seven middle years with the Reds. He hit .263/45/188 as a reserve Pirate outfielder and primo pinch hitter. Lynch had 116 pinch hits during his 13-year big league tour with 18 HR, and is still high on the hit lists for PH.
- 1936 - 1936 NL MVP Carl Hubbell of the NY Giants started a 24-game winning streak with a 6-0, five-hit win against the Pirates at Forbes Field, the longest victory run in MLB history. He was finally stopped by the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 31st, 1937. In his 28 outings during the span, he had 24 wins, two saves and just two no-decisions with 19 complete games in 24 starts.
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| Chuck Klein - 1939 photo Rogers Photo Archive/Getty |
- 1939 - Newly acquired Bucco outfielder Chuck Klein made his first appearance back in Philadelphia since leaving the city where he spent 10 years as a player and jacked a pair of homers to lift the Bucs to a 7-4 win at Shibe Park. The Bucs released Klein in August and he returned to his old club, retiring in 1944 as a Phil.
- 1952 - Ralph Kiner hit a two-run shot in the ninth to walk off the Phils at Forbes Field by a 4-2 count in the nightcap of a twin bill. He also joined the 1,000 hit club; he would end his career with 1,451 knocks. The blast off Karl Drews made a winner out of Ted Wilks, who tossed a scoreless ninth in relief of Woody Main. Clem Koshorek and Pete Castiglione joined Ralph with a pair of hits. The Pirates also took the opener, 2-1, behind a Cal Hogue four-hitter. Catfish Metkovich singled home rookie Dick Groat in the third frame to knot the score, and Groat drove in Clyde McCullough two innings later with the game winner. Doubleheaders weren’t the clubs’ strong suit; they swept just three times in 23 double dip tries.
- 1966 - The Pirates swept a twinbill from San Francisco at Forbes Field, 7-4 and 7-1, to vault over the Giants into first place behind the pitching of Steve Blass and Tommie Sisk. Matty Alou and Donn Clendenon collected four hits during the DH, with Clendenon homering. In a wild race, the Bucs would finish third with a 92-70 slate, three games behind the Dodgers.
- 1970 - Roberto Clemente led the Bucs to a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Forbes Field with three hits, falling a double short of the cycle. He tripled and scored the tying run in the sixth, homered for the eventual game winner in the eighth, and threw out Tommy Helms at the plate in the ninth.
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| Roberto Clemente - 1970 Topps Super |
- 1971 - A deserted Forbes Field suffered its second fire in a matter of weeks, and the structural damage was so bad that its demolition, already scheduled by Pitt, began almost immediately. Now the former ballyard’s footprint is the site of Posvar Hall, with home plate still showcased in the building and a bit of the brick & ivy wall left standing outside.
- 1971 - Dock Ellis won his 13th straight game without a defeat over the Padres at TRS, 9-2, with Bob Robertson’s three-run homer providing all the scoring the Docktor would need. Manny Sanguillen had four knocks and Roberto Clemente added three more raps to aid the cause. Dock’s next outing would be a no decision before the Dodgers ended his streak.
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