8/12 Through the 1940s: Ott Shot; Dock & Quail Ruffled; HomerFest; Monday Night Baseball; Lucky 13; Game Tales; HBD Paul, Watty, Andy & Dan

• 1867 - OF Dan Lally was born in Jersey City. He played two seasons in the majors and had a long minor league career from at least 1887 to 1905 where he put up a .308 lifetime BA. He made two stops in the show, hitting .224 as a Pirate in 1891 and then landing a one-year starting gig at St. Louis where he batted .279 in 1897. After his playing days, Daley became a minor league ump for a season (1907), but sadly ended up in an insane asylum by 1910. 
• 1871 - RHP Andy Dunning was born in New York City. Andy didn’t have much of a career with the Alleghenys, pitching two games (both complete) and losing both, giving up 19 runs on 20 hits with 16 walks and 18 stolen bases in 1889. But he could be excused; at 17, he was the youngest player to appear in a game for Pittsburgh. Dunning’s pro career covered what should have been his prep years; he first tossed professional ball for the Bridgeport Giants of the Eastern League as a 15-year-old, threw his last MLB pitch at 19 for the NY Giants and retired from baseball when he was 21 after he was released by the Brockton Shoemakers of the New England League.

Watty Lee (with Newark) - 1911 American Tobacco

• 1879 - LHP Wyatt “Watty” Lee was born in Lynch Station, Virginia. Lee played three campaigns as a Washington Senator before closing out his career with Pittsburgh in 1904, with a slash of 1-2/8.74 in three starts. He was a hybrid, also playing outfield, and he hit better than he tossed, going 4-for-12. Those eight games were the end of Lee's major league career, but he went on to a long run in the minors. He continued to split his time between pitching and the outfield until 1909, when he returned full time to the bump. He finished his pro career in 1917 with the Richmond Virginians of the International League, but played sandlot ball until he was 52. 
• 1895 - RHP Paul Carpenter was born in Granville, Ohio. He pitched for the Bucs in 1916 as a 22-year-old, doing pretty well in five games as a reliever, giving up eight hits and four walks in 7-2/3 IP but yielding only one earned run in his five games. But that was the end of his MLB days; he worked in the minors through 1919 
• 1915 - Al Mamaux tossed a three-hitter in a 4-0 win over the NY Giants at Forbes Field, his eighth shutout of the year. Doug Baird led the offense, going 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. Ralph Davis of the Pittsburgh Press noted that Giant skipper John McGraw wasn’t in the coaching boxes, and asked a NY writer about his absence. He was told that “Mac is disgusted with the bunch he is piloting this year...who are tied to long term contracts and not hustling.” 
• 1918 - Pittsburgh bats boomed in a 12-1 win over the Chicago Cubs at Weeghman Field. The middle of the order (Billy Southworth, George Cutshaw and Fritz Mollwitz) went 9-for-13 with a walk, eight runs scored and four driven home. Southworth had four hits while Cutshaw and Walter Schmidt had three raps. Carmen Hill went the distance, firing a seven-hitter. 

George Cutshaw - 1918 photo/Paul Thompson

• 1922 - The Pirates won their 13th game in a row by a 6-0 count over the Cincinnati Reds as Charlie Grimm collected three hits and Babe Adams tossed a whitewash at Forbes Field. The streak would end the next day when the Redlegs squeaked out a 5-4 win in 10 innings. 
• 1940 - The Bucs won their 11th-of-12 games by a 4-2 count over the Cincinnati Reds at Forbes Field. The Pirates attack was led by Arky Vaughan, Maurice Van Robays and Al Lopez, who had two hits each, to support Max Butcher, who scattered nine hits while going the distance in front of a Monday night crowd of 42,254, setting a new single-game attendance record. 
• 1946 - OF Al Gionfriddo got off the bench and went on a tear, banging out 10 hits in three games for the Pirates, going 4-for-5 once and 3-for-4 twice at Forbes Field. Alas, the streak snapped and four days later, he was back on the pine. He only had three other multi-hit games and 16 more knocks during the campaign. He was traded to Brooklyn in May of 1947 and got his moment in the limelight when he robbed Joe Dimaggio of extra bases in the World Series. 
• 1958 - The red hot Pirates beat the Braves, 10-0, behind the two-hit pitching of George Witt to move into second place, five games behind Milwaukee. 36‚867 Pirate fans jammed Forbes Field to see them win their 17th game of the last 22. Frank Thomas had a homer, a double and three RBI while Bill Mazeroski and Bill Virdon banged out three hits each.
• 1959 - It was 2-2 going into the seventh at Connie Mack Stadium, but Roberto Clemente would change that in a heartbeat. The Phils’ Robin Roberts gave up back-to-back singles and a walk, but after a K and foul pop, he needed just one more out to dodge a seventh inning bullet. But he couldn’t duck Clemente, who rifled a shot into left center for a bases-emptying triple, and then came in on Rocky Nelson’s knock through the left side. Per BR Bullpen, Roberts lamented after the game that “I wish I'd thrown the ball as hard as he hit it." Harvey Haddix went the distance, giving up seven hits during his 6-2 win. 

Tommie Sisk - 1966 Topps

• 1966 - Pittsburgh beat the Reds, 14-11, in 13 innings at Crosley Field, scoring in the ninth, 10th, 11th and 13th frames before finally wresting the win from Cincinnati. Art Shamsky had a day against the Bucs as he hit three homers, one tying it in the ninth and another to knot the score in the 11th. There were 11 long balls slammed by the two teams, tying a MLB record. Going yard for the Bucs were Bob Bailey (2), Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Jesse Gonder, and Jerry Lynch, his 18th pinch-hit bomb, an MLB record. The Pirates sixth pitcher, Tommie Sisk, hurled one-hit ball over the last two innings to earn the victory. 
• 1969 - Jose Pagan's two-run homer against the San Francisco Giant’s Gaylord Perry at Candlestick Park was his second consecutive pinch-hit dinger and tied the then-major league record (broken by Lee Lacy in 1979). It wasn't quite enough help as the Bucs fell, 6-2. 
• 1973 - Manager Bill Virdon told Dock Ellis to quit wearing curlers during warm ups, as it was drawing unfavorable notice from the umpires and GM Joe Brown. Ellis ranted a bit about the decree to Charlie Feeney of the Post Gazette and added that “I know the orders came from Bowie Kuhn and I don’t like it.” He was right about that. The image-conscious commissioner threatened to fine and suspend Ellis if he continued to take pre-game practice in curlers in a letter, although it was unclear if it was sent to the club or to Ellis himself. Like it or not, the Docktor relented and limited the curlers to the clubhouse. It didn’t get any better after the game. Richie Hebner, who had been pulled in the ninth inning for Gene Alley during the day’s 5-2 Pirates win, went in Virdon’s office after the game and cussed The Quail; the 42-year-old Virdon chased down The Gravedigger, now sitting in the locker room, and told him “Stand up and say that.” Richie didn’t, and Virdon left, saying that Hebner “...doesn’t have a gut in his body.” Virdon was upset over Hebner’s recent batting slump and lackadaisical play in the field. 

Ed Ott - 1977 Topps

• 1977 - Mets’ 2B Felix Millan suffered a broken collarbone compliments of Pirate catcher Ed Ott during a 6-5 Pirate victory at TRS, ending Millan's 12-year MLB career. Ott took out Milan on a hard slide into second, Milan responded with a shot to Ott’s face, and the Pirate catcher body slammed him, earning Felix a bruised shoulder and the Otter a $250 fine. As for the game, the back end of a twin bill, the Bucs won in the 12th when Duffy Dyer chased home Rennie Stennett with two outs after a single and steal. Phil Garner had three hits and a homer in the win, which went to Larry Demery, who tossed two-hit ball over four innings. The opener was hard fought, too, with Jim Rooker hurling the Bucs to a 3-2 win while driving in two runs in the second with a two-out, bases-loaded single after the Mets walked Dyer to get to him.