7/19 Through 1964: Dillinger Joins Up; Arky Cycle; Giant Snark; Hans Debut; Game Tales; HBD Vincente, Nick, Earl, Clint, Jeff, Jasper, Bill & Jim

• 1865 - RHP Bill Hart was born in Louisville. He played for Pittsburgh in 1895 and again in 1898, going 19-26-2/4.77. He also played some OF during his eight-year career, but was strictly a hurler for the Bucs. Bill hit .237, marking him as a journeyman both on the rubber and at the dish. Hart was twice traded by the Pirates and they landed a pair of very good players in exchange, IF Bones Ely in 1896 and then OF Ginger Beaumont after the ‘98 campaign. 

Bill Hart - 1909 Sweet Caporal

• 1865 - 3B Jim Donnelly was born in New Haven, Connecticut. The son of immigrants, Jim played pro ball at some level from the time he was 18 in 1884 until 1902 when he was 36. He spent parts of 11 seasons in the show, split into two eras: 1884-91, when he was a regular for a while, and then after a run in the minors, he returned as purely a bench guy from 1896-98. Jim spent part of that second stay with the Pirates in 1897, hitting just .193 before being shipped to the NY Giants in mid-season. He arrived in town with Steve Brodie from Baltimore as the O’s return for the Jake Stenzel trade. Neither Donnelly nor Brodie made it to 1898 with the Bucs while Stenzel played on for three more seasons, batting .309 over that span. 
• 1873 - OF/1B Harry “Jasper” Davis was born in Philadelphia, with some sources citing the 18th as his birthdate. Jasper played early in his 22 year MLB stint for the Bucs, from 1896-98. He came to Pittsburgh in 1896 in a deal for Jake Beckley, and the 22-year-old hit .190 to finish the campaign before blooming in ‘97, batting .305 the following season and .293 in 1898. He was sent to the Louisville Colonels, and from there, he bounced around, landing with the Athletics in 1901 after taking a year off to work on the railroad. That was a match made in heaven; Harry played 16 of his next 17 seasons in Philadelphia (he had a hiatus in 1912 with Cleveland as a player/manager), batting .279 before retiring in 1917 at the age of 43. From 1912 on, his ballfield action was limited; he served as a player/coach for Connie Mack for most of that period. Fun fact: Jasper had a four-year run of leading MLB in long balls from 1904-07, yet hit just 75 homers between 1895-1917. He never had more than 12 in a single season, and in fact finished with double-figure dingers only twice. His nickname dates back to his Girard College days, given to him by his schoolmates for reasons unknown. 
• 1887 - Honus Wagner made his NL debut with the Louisville Colonels, owned by Barney Dreyfuss. He got a hit and stole a base in a 12-2 win over the Brooklyn Grays. In 1900, Dreyfuss bought the Pittsburgh franchise and maneuvered most of the Louisville club onto the roster, including the Flying Dutchman. 

Honus Wagner - 1898 image via Ultimate Baseball

• 1888 - C Ed “Jeff” Sweeney was born in Chicago. The defensive specialist spent eight years with the NY Highlanders/Yankees, two more in the minors, time in the Navy during WW1 and then finished his nine-year MLB run with the Pirates in 1919, getting into 17 games and hitting .095 before being sent to the PCL. He spent one more year in pro ball before calling it a career. 
• 1889 - RHP Francis Clinton “Clint” Rogge was born in Memphis, Michigan.The long-time minor league twirler (he beat the bushes from 1909-23) got his first big league (albeit in the Federal League) taste during the 1915 campaign when he was part of the Pittsburgh Rebels’ rotation. He held up fairly well against Fed batters, slashing 17-11/2.55 in 31 starts, compiling five shutouts and 254-1/3 IP. After that campaign, he started a long run with the Indianapolis Indians of the now minor-league American Association, getting one brief return to the show in 1921 with the Reds. 
• 1891 - LHP Earl Hamilton was born in Gibson, Illinois. The little southpaw spent six of his 14 big league seasons (1918-23) as a Pirate, putting up a line of 55-55-7/3.35. He won 115 MLB games overall, tossing for four clubs. Earl had a couple moments in the sun - he spun a no-hitter for the St. Louis Browns in 1912 and went 16 scoreless frames for the Bucs in a 1920 start, only to run out of gas and drop the decision in the 17th inning. 
• 1893 - From Charlton’s Baseball Chronology: “Pittsburgh used 19 hits –all singles– to win in Cleveland, 10-6. Pittsburgh was further aided by the defense of LF Elmer Smith, whose use of green glasses to fend off the sun greatly helped him in his fielding.” It was a noteworthy win in that the game may be the first time that an outfielder donned shades. 

Jimmy Sebring - 4/19/1904 Press photo

• 1904 - The Pirates rallied for a pair of runs in the ninth off Giants ace Christy Mathewson to take a 2-1 victory at the Polo Grounds. Shut out on five hits going into the final frame, Honus Wagner tripled to left to ignite Pittsburgh, and an out later Jimmy Sebring banged out another three-bagger, rapping a shot off the first base bag that rolled into the corner. Pinch hitter Claude Ritchey followed with an RBI knock, and Mike Lynch made it stand up in the bottom half, tossing a complete game four-hitter against NY. The series featured manager John “Mugsy” McGraw and Mathewson getting into a jawing match with the crowd the day before, a verbal (and profane) sparring session that lasted until they got back to their hotel. The Pittsburgh Press had a couple of juicy lines regarding the affair: “McGraw is not liked here...Some day he will carry things too far, and some husky Pittsburger will thump him” and then threw some shade at Christy: “ Matty... has to buy a cap a size larger after every victory…” 
• 1905 - Pittsburgh pulled to within five games of New York by overcoming a 5-2 deficit at the Polo Grounds to rally past the Giants, 8-5. It was Pittsburgh’s third straight win against the defending champions. Umpire Bill Klem was the target of a barrage of tossed garbage from the New York fans after ejecting Dan McGann and “Turkey Mike” Donlin from the game. They yapped their way into Klem’s bad graces as the Pittsburgh Press game story explained: “Umpire baiting was plentiful, with Taylor (the pitcher), McGann and Donlin the chief offenders of this style of play.” Sam Leever got the win, coming in as a second-inning reliever, while the offense was led by Otis Clymer’s three hits. The Bucs pounded out 15 knocks as five Pirates had multi-hit outings. 
• 1935 - C Nick Koback was born in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1953, at the age of 17, Koback signed with Pittsburgh as a bonus baby out of Hartford HS. He made his MLB debut before playing in the minors as the youngest player in the league and as you might imagine, he wasn’t quite ready for showtime. He got some quick sips of coffee with the Bucs from 1953-55 and went 4-for-33 (.121). It was his only big league time; most of his career was spent in the minors and Mexico. He earned a reputation of a good hitter - of Titleists, not baseballs (his minor league lifetime BA was .243), and he became a golf pro after he left baseball. 
• 1939 - Arky Vaughan went 5-for-5 and hit for his second career cycle against the Giants at the Polo Grounds, scoring four times and driving home a pair of runs. Fern Bell added three RBI in the 10-3 Pirate win. Mace Brown went the distance for the victory, supported by a hearty 19 hit Bucco attack. 

Frank McKinney & Co. buy the Bucs - 1946 Post Gazette photo

• 1950 - Frank E. McKinney resigned as president of the Pirates. He sold his interests in the club to partners John Galbreath and Tom Johnson, with Galbreath assuming the presidency. Vice President Bing Crosby retained his minority interest. McKinney and the group had bought the Bucs in 1946 from Barney Dreyfuss’ family. 
• 1950 - The Pirates purchased 3B Bob “Duke” Dillinger from the Philadelphia Athletics for $35,000. The 31-year-old slap-hitter played 70 games from 1950-51 for the Bucs, batting .279. An All-Star (1949) and league hits leader (1948) for the St Louis Browns, Bob had also claimed the AL stolen base crown from 1947-49, but his wheels were wearing thin and he only swiped six sacks as a Bucco. The Pirates sold him to the White Sox in 1951, and that was his last hurrah after six MLB seasons. Two things conspired against Dillinger - he got to the show late, spending three years in the service, and he later developed an early case of “Steve Sax” disease, often unable to make the throw across the infield, and he wasn’t very much of a fielder even before the yips hit. He spent his final four years in the PCL with Sacramento. 
• 1952 - It wasn’t a very good day for Pittsburgh as the Brooklyn Dodgers routed them at Forbes Field by a 9-1 score. But it was another good day for Ralph Kiner. The Pirates slugger homered for the fourth time in four games and the seventh time in his past dozen outings. He would claim the HR title for a seventh straight year with 37 bombs and make his fifth consecutive All-Star appearance playing for a horrible Bucco club that won just 42 games and finished 54-1/2 games behind the Dodgers. 
• 1955 - Vern Law pitched 18 innings against the Milwaukee Braves in front of 10,000 Forbes Field fans. And he didn’t even get the win; Bob Friend worked the 19th frame to get credit for the 4-3 victory. Law left giving up two runs - one was unearned - on nine hits with two walks and 12 whiffs. Friend came in and gave up a score, but the Bucs came back with a pair of tallies on Gene Freese’s single, Dale Long’s double to chase home Freese, and the game-winning knock by Frank Thomas. Law took the hill on just two days' rest; he got the call to the slab when the scheduled hurler, Joe Gibbon, became ill. 

Vicente Palacios - 1992 Pinnacle

• 1963 - RHP Vicente Palacios was born in Manlio Fabio Altamirano, Mexico. He tossed five years (1987-88, 1990-92) for the Bucs as a spot starter and long man while a member of the 1990-92 Jimmy Leyland teams. Palacios went 12-8-6/4.03 during his time in Pittsburgh. His career was hampered by a pair of shoulder surgeries, and after his Pirate days, he yo-yoed between MLB and the Mexican League, mostly working south of the border.