8/31: A-Ram Signed; Tip-Top; Streaks; Bye Baron; Tame Doves; Game Tales; HBD Dillon, Erik, Juan, Mo, Ramon, Ray, Wally, Syd, Monte, Red & Duke

• 1866 - C Charley “Duke”/“Duke of Marlborough” Farrell was born in Oakdale, Massachusetts. Farrell was a big (6’-1”, 208 lbs.), switch-hitting catcher who could fill in at other spots and batted .275 in 18 big league seasons. He stopped at Pittsburgh in 1890, playing three spots (C, 1B, OF) and batting .290. He went to Boston, then returned here in 1892 but had a fairly miserable time, batting just .215 and never feeling quite at home in the clubhouse or city. He was traded in the offseason for pitcher Lefty Killen. He earned the nickname Duke of Marlborough early in his career; he was a snazzy dresser who was raised in Marlborough. 
• 1868 - RHP Phillip “Red” Ehret was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He played for Pittsburgh from 1892-94 and put up a 53-59/3.79 line in 109 starts and 15 relief appearances. Red also played some outfield and got 438 PA in that span (mostly as a pitcher), batting .201 (hey, at least he was on the right side of the Mario Mendoza line, right?) And yes, he was a redhead. 
• 1869 - SS Monte Cross was born in Philadelphia. Monte spent 15 years in the show and was known as a good glove man. Monte launched his career in Pittsburgh in 1894-95, batting .273 and becoming a starter for the first time in ‘95. He spent his last 10 seasons at home with the Phillies and the Athletics. When his MLB career ended in 1907, Monte hung on for a while, playing minor league/semi-pro, umpiring and managing, notably for several seasons with the U of Maine Black Bears, before joining the real world as a salesman. He passed away in his hometown at age 64. 

Monte Cross - 1895 photo Edwin Dana

• 1883 - C Syd Smith was born in Smithfield, South Carolina. He spent parts of five seasons in the show, with the last two in Pittsburgh from 1914-15, getting into six games and going 3-for-12. He then managed the Pirates’ Caddo Lake Gassers, a Texas League team in a gas/oil boomtown. Before baseball, he also was the head coach at the Citadel in 1905 - for the football team. 
• 1888 - OF Wally Rehg was born in Summerfield, Illinois. He began his seven-year MLB career with the Pirates in 1912, going 0-for-9 in eight games. He did better with the Red Sox and later with the Braves as a bench outfielder. Known for his brash mouth, he greeted Hans Wagner in Pittsburgh by calling him “Grandpa.” He played in the minors until 1930, got a couple of movie cameos, and made cinema his second career, albeit as an Paramount Studio electrician. 
• 1907 - C Ray Berres was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was a Bucco back-up from 1937-40, a good glove guy that hit .225. After his playing days, he was the pitching coach for the Chicago White Sox from 1949-66, then again from mid-season of 1968 through 1969, primarily under manager Al Lopez. He and Lopez had an interesting history together. Berres served as Lopez’s back-up early in his career and then was later traded to the Pirates straight-up for him. 
• 1909 - The Pirates extended their winning streak over the Boston Doves to 18 straight games with a 7-2 victory at South End Grounds. Honus Wagner led the way with a pair of doubles, a single, stolen base, a run scored and three Buccos driven home. Vic Willis went the distance for his 19th victory. The streak ended the next day in Boston when Cliff Curtis fired a five-hit shutout to edge Babe Adams, 1-0. Pittsburgh went 20-1 against Boston that year. 
• 1940 - LHP Ramon Hernandez was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The reliever tossed six years (1971-76) in Pittsburgh, going 23-12-39/2.51 after being signed by Howie Haak, and was a bullpen member of the Bucco division champs of 1972, 1974 and 1975 (he was a September call-up for the 1971 team). In a nine-season career, Hernandez’s line was 23–15-46/3.03. 

Morris Madden - 1889 Score Hot Riser

• 1960 - LHP Morris Madden was born in Lauren, South Carolina. He tossed 14 of his 16 big league outings (three starts) for the Pirates in 1988-89 with a 2-2/5.03 line and was released after the ‘89 campaign. He had a long minor league career, spanning 1979-90 and collected 1,100 strikeouts over that stretch. Morris now coaches the Carolina Metros, an umbrella organization for youth traveling teams with a strong mentoring component. 
• 1968 - Steve Blass got the first out against the Atlanta Braves‚ and then moved to LF. ElRoy Face, 40, was in the process of being sold to the Tigers for an estimated $100K (actually, it was a done deal, but Detroit wouldn’t have an open roster spot until September 1st), and the club sent him in for one last appearance (legend has it he was asked whether he wanted to start or relieve, and opted to make his last outing from the pen). He retired Felix Millan on one pitch, a grounder to short, to tie Walter Johnson's MLB record of 802 pitching appearances with one club. Then manager Larry Shepherd came out for Roy and his recognition, Blass returned, and the Pirates won, 8-0, at Forbes Field. 
• 1986 - RHP Juan Nicasio was born in San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic. The Pirates signed the five-year vet (LA, Colorado) in 2016 to a $3M deal and inked him again in 2017 for $3.65 M. After trying him out as a starter, the Pirates put him back in a bullpen role where he became an effective eighth-inning bridge. The Pirates let him go on waivers as an apparent salary dump and lost him to the Phils with no return. He last played for Texas in 2020. 
• 1987 - The Pirates won their seventh straight game, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 7-3, at TRS. Andy Van Slyke went 3-for-3 with a homer and a walk, scored three times and drove home a pair while Al Pedrique chipped in two raps. Mike Dunne went the distance, tossing a six-hitter and earning his sixth win in the last seven decisions. It was a good day as earlier Doug Drabek had been named the NL Player of the Week after winning two games while giving up two runs in 16 innings the week before. 

Erik Gonzalez - 2019 Topps

• 1991 - Utilityman Erik Gonzalez was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Traded to the Bucs in the 2018 off season, he played 3B-SS-2B for Cleveland over parts of three seasons with a rep as a good glove man and mediocre bat (.262 BA/79 OPS+). With Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison’s departure after the 2018 campaign, Pittsburgh was looking for an IF’er, and Gonzalez was out of options and blocked with the Indians, making for a fit. He was hurt for much of two campaigns, and after hitting .236 BA over his three years, he was DFA’ed and assigned to Indy in August of ‘21. He’s now in the Miami system. 
• 1991 - The Pirates rode six innings of perfect relief by Roger Mason, Bill Landrum and game winner Bob Kipper to a 3-2, 12-inning victory over San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium in a game that Randy Tomlin started. The Buc tallies came in the second on Barry Bonds’ two-run shot and a leadoff homer to left by Don Slaught off Jose Melendez in the 12th. 
• 1992 - LHP Dillon Peters was born in Indianapolis. Drafted by Miami in 2014 despite college TJ surgery, he was traded to the Angels in 2018 and slashed 7-8/5.83 in 31 MLB outings (24 starts) between them. The Halos DFA’ed him in the summer of 2021 and the Pirates bought his rights. After three weeks or so at Indy, he was called up to join the big club’s rotation in August. Dillon was working out of the bullpen in ‘22 when a bad back landed him on the IL in June. 
• 1994 - In one of their better international deals, the Pirates signed 16-year-old Aramis Ramirez as an amateur free agent. A-Ram was the Pirates' last significant signing from the Dominican until the Rene Gayo era began a decade later. Ramirez had a pair of stints with the Bucs to open and close his career. He spent seven years here, slashing .261 BA/82 HR/349 RBI. 

A-Ram - 1998 Leaf Rookie

• 1999 - The Bucs provided lots of late-inning drama while topping the Rox at Coors Field in 10 innings by a 9-8 score. Kevin Young gave the Bucs an 8-4 lead with a two-out, first-pitch grand slam down the LF line in the ninth. In the bottom half, six straight runners reached off Mike Williams to make the score 8-8, but Angel Echevarria was thrown out at home by Brian Giles to keep the game knotted. The Bucs came up with four hits and a walk in the 10th, but could only tally a run to take a shaky lead. With two away for Colorado, Dante Bichette singled off Jose Silva and was waved around on Vin Castilla’s double to left center, but was cut down, Al Martin to Mike Benjamin to Keith Osik (7-6-2), to preserve the thrill-a-minute 9-8 win. 
• 2008 - Milwaukee thumped the Bucs, 7-0, for Pittsburgh's 10th loss in a row. Ricky Weeks led off with a homer at PNC Park and it went downhill from there. The big story was CC Sabathia’s one-hitter; the lone rap he surrendered was a weakly-hit fifth-inning grounder by Andy LaRoche that Sabathia tried to bare hand and dropped; the scorer, much to the chagrin of manager Ned Yost, ruled it a hit (and not unreasonably). Yost felt that CC had fired a no-hitter and even filed an unsuccessful appeal over the ruling. CC blamed himself for the controversy, telling ESPN "The ball was still rolling and I probably should have picked it up with my glove...I think if I pick it up with my glove, I get him." 
• 2010 - Pittsburgh won by the football score of 14-7 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The top four batters of the order (Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, Garrett Jones) went 13-for-19 with two homers, two doubles, a triple, three walks, nine runs scored and 11 RBI. It was a rare bright spot during a dismal dog-days stretch of the season. Before the romp, the Pirates had gone 9-22, scoring three runs or fewer 23 times during that spell, and rung up a 14-game road losing streak as John Russell’s final Bucco squad would finish up the year at 57-105 to usher in the Clint Hurdle era. 

AJ - 2013 Bowman Chrome

• 2013 - The Pirates whipped the Cardinals, 7-1, at PNC Park to retake the NL Central lead behind AJ Burnett. Russ Martin had the big bop, a three-run homer, while Neil Walker added three knocks. The newly-acquired Justin Morneau showed he was eager to go; although not needed for this battle, he arrived in mid-game after flying in from Texas and started the next day.