7/22 Through the 1930s: O'Toole Deal; FF Fans; Deacon Granny; Ginger Rolls 6's; Game Tales; HBD RC, Jack, Larry, Elmer, Mooney & Jack

• 1857 - SS Jack Glasscock was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. He got his start as a 20-year-old for the Alleghenys of the International League and then went on to play the next 15 campaigns for five different clubs, winning the NL batting crown in 1890 before joining the Pirates in mid-1893 in a trade with St. Louis for Frank Shugart and cash. Jack hit .341 in his first Bucco go-around, but at age 36, he dipped to .281 in 1884’s offense-hot season and retired the following year, closing out his career with Louisville and Washington. He spent several more seasons in the minors and played/managed through 1901. Glasscock retired and returned to Wheeling, finishing out his days as a carpenter. 
• 1880 - C George “Mooney” Gibson was born in London, Canada. He played a dozen years for the Bucs (1905-16) as a defense-first catcher, batting .238 but tossing out 949 runners. He had a 46% throw-out rate back in the days when baseball was a go-go league - 1,101 runners actually did steal off him against the Pirates. He was durable, too, once catching 140 straight games. Mooney finished his career as a NY Giant and later returned to Pittsburgh as a manager, first in 1920-22, then from 1932-34, finishing second three times with a record of 401-330. Gibson was the first baseball player elected to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. Per Wiki, his nickname may have been inspired by his round, moon-shaped face, though other sources claim he picked it up because he had played on a sandlot team known as the Mooneys. 
• 1885 - LHP Elmer Knetzer was born in Carrick. He tossed for the Pittsburgh Rebels of the Federal League from 1914-15 with a 38-26/2.73 slash, with six years in the NL sandwiched on either end of that stint. Knetzer was the first active player to jump from the NL to the FL after Brooklyn lowballed him during contract time. He went by “Pretzel” and “The Baron” - Pretzel because of the way his curveball twisted, while Baron goes unexplained. He stayed a hometown boy, and when he died in 1975, he was buried in St. Wendelin Cemetery in Carrick. 

Elmer Knetzer - 1914 Cracker Jack

• 1885 - OF Sheldon “Larry” LeJeune was born in Chicago. He played briefly for two seasons in the show, his last being in 1915 for the Pirates, hitting .161 and committing five errors in 61 chances. He came to Pittsburgh with a strong resume - he had led the Central League in batting from 1912-1915 and in homers in 1910 and 1912. Larry made the record books in 1910, when he hurled a baseball 426’ 9”, a mark that stood until minor-leaguer Don Grates broke it (434’) in 1952. 
• 1899 - The Pirates rolled over the Philadelphia Quakers by an 18-4 count at Exposition Park. OF Ginger Beaumont went 6-for-6 at leadoff and scored six times without hitting a ball out of the infield, rookie second baseman Jimmy Williams drove in three runs with a pair of triples to help Jesse Tannehill cruise to the win. 
• 1908 - The Pirates scored twice in the first inning and those runs held up as they beat the Brooklyn Superbas, 2-1, at Exposition Park. As described by the Pittsburgh Press: “Howie Camnitz was on the rubber for the Pirates and pitched in faultless style, allowing only four hits and having his opponents at his mercy the whole way.” One of those hits was a bomb by Brooklyn 1B Tim Jordan, who “...laced the sphere over the right field fence...It was a terrific swat and the Superba star was cheered to the echo by the spectators.” He was the first batter to put one into the seats on the fly at the Expo since 1899. 
• 1910 - Deacon Phillippe hit an inside-the-park grand slam off Brooklyn’s Fred Miller as part of a 14-1 win at Washington Park as the Pirates swept the Superbas in a four game set. Mel Stottlemyre was the next MLB pitcher to hit an inside the park grannie - in 1965! Phillippe was the first Bucs hurler to empty jammed bases; there are only five other twirlers in franchise history (Al McBean, Don Robinson, Bruce Kison, Enrique Romo & Denny Neagle) with grand slams. As for the game, every starter but Bobby Byrne had a hit and all nine scored. 

Marty O'Toole - 1911 photo Paul Thompson via RMY Auctions

• 1911 - The Pirates paid St. Paul of the American Association $22‚500 for RHP Marty O'Toole‚ the most expensive purchase of a player to date. The AA ace joined the Bucs when St. Paul's campaign ended (His first Bucco start was on August 30th). Barney Dreyfuss spent another $5‚000 for his battery mate Bill Kelly. In 1912‚ O'Toole went 15-17/2.71, but led the NL with 159 walks and was out of Pittsburgh by 1914, winning a total of 26 games while walking 300 batters in 599-1/3 IP. Kelly was a reserve catcher, hitting .290 and out of MLB after 1913. 
• 1932 - LHP Jack McMahan was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He pitched for one season in the show, and his 11-game stint with the Pirates in 1956 didn’t go so well. In 13-1/3 IP, the Rule 5 pick from the Yankees gave up nine runs on 18 hits with nine walks and he was traded with Curt Roberts to the Kansas City Athletics on June 23rd for Spook Jacobs. His stay with KC went a little better, but it was his last MLB stop. He retired after the 1959 season, opened a liquor store for a spell and then became a golf equipment salesman. Jack passed on in 2020 at the age of 88, and left for his legacy an endowed scholarship for Arkansas Tech. 
• 1933 - Fans were hard to come by during the depression-era 30’s, but 27,000 came out to Forbes Field to see the Bucs and Giants mix it up, the biggest turnout since 1930. The first game was a duel between Larry French and Carl Hubbell, who exchanged six-hitters in the lidlifter, with the G-Man claiming a 1-0 win thanks to Mel Ott’s sac fly in the first inning. It was a tight game, and the fans got into it by showering ump Charlie Moran with pop bottles after he called Bucco Tony Piet out at first, changed his mind and ruled him safe, and then, as the Giant infield charged first in protest, reverted back to his original call. There were no injuries - Moran even caught a couple of the bottles (although Beans Reardon, the third base arbitrator who had nothing to do with the decision, had some debris aimed at him, too) and after a cleanup, the game went on. The heated rooters and NY nine cooled off after an hour’s rain delay and Heinie Meine tossed the Pirates to a calm 6-2 win, with the pivotal blow a two-run triple by Arky Vaughan, who tallied a third score on a wild pitch following the three-bagger. 

RC Stevens - 1958 Topps

• 1934 - 1B RC Stevens was born in Moultrie, Georgia. The 6’5” slugger was signed out of Moultrie HS, but his one-trick stick wasn’t enough to earn him a starting spot in the show. As a backup, he hit decently, with a .260 BA and eight homers in 108 PA in 71 games from 1958-60, but he couldn’t outpace Ted Kluszewski, Dick Stuart and Rocky Nelson in the first base race. 
• 1939 - Boston committed seven errors in a 9-3 loss to the Bucs at Braves Field, allowing five unearned runs to cross the plate. One frustrated Bee’s fan jumped out of the stands and took a swing at Braves’ catcher Al Lopez after he dropped a popup. The Bucs did their part, banging out 13 hits, led by Lee Handley’s 3-for-4 effort. Chuck Klein ran his hitting streak to 21 games with a 2-for-5 performance before the Bees stopped him the next day. 
• 1939 - Girls baseball never caught on in Pittsburgh, but softball was red hot here. The Duquesne Gardens hosted a pair of games touted as “Girls Indoor Baseball” (never mind that it was softball) on back-to-back days with the championship New York City Roverettes going against the Pittsburgh All-Stars. Pittsburgh won the opener, 2-1, behind SS Ann Giaciach, who had four hits, but was thumped in the rematch, 10-1.