4/29: Cutch #1,000; 1st Sunday Game; Greenlee Opens; Gems & Game Tales; Indy No-no; HBD Rookie, Steven, Tony, JVW, Phil, Lefty & Frank

• 1860 - RHP Frank (Hengstebeck) Beck was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. Frank had five MLB outings in 1884, three with the Alleghenys. All three starts were complete-game losses as he put up a 6.12 ERA, although he did have better luck as a part-time outfielder, going 4-for-12. He finished up with two more losses with the Union Association’s Baltimore Monumentals to end his big league stay. He returned to baseball’s independent leagues, where he started from, and his trail died off after his 1887 campaign with Ionia of the Northern Michigan League. 
• 1896 - LHP Ralph “Lefty” Mellix was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mellix’s family moved to Pittsburgh when he was a child and the Peabody HS grad became a semi-pro legend (he kept a day job at Westinghouse and later with the City), tossing briefly for the Homestead Grays in 1935 and part of a Gus Greenlee touring team in the 40’s. Lefty played for local and regional clubs too numerous to mention, often as a rental headliner, but his regular home was in Pittsburgh’s Hilltop, as he pitched and managed for the Beltzhoover Black Sox (later the 18th Warders), based out of McKinley Park. His playing days covered 1917-57, earning him the title of “The Granddaddy of the Sandlots.” Though records are scarce, it’s said that he was on the bump for 1500+ games and claimed nine no-hitters. After Mellix retired, the Pirates recognized him by giving him a lifetime pass and he became a historian of sorts as a dispenser of local black baseball lore. 

Lefty Mellix - 1988 Negro League Stars

• 1930 - Rollie Hemsley, George Grantham, and Charlie Engle combined for 11 hits and 12 RBI while all eight starters scored to lead the Pirates to a 13-9 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Bucs rallied from an early 7-1 deficit with a seven-run sixth inning and never looked back. Ralph Erickson got the win (his only MLB victory) in relief of Ray Kremer with a save going to Steve Swetonic. Pittsburgh and Chicago joined in a day of MLB fireworks - in the seven games played on this date, an average of 17+ runs a game were scored. 
• 1932 - Greenlee Field in the Hill, home of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, opened in front of 4,000 fans. Hall of Famers Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson were the battery as the Pittsburgh Crawfords lost the opener to the New York Black Yankees, 1-0, in a pitching duel with Jesse "Mountain" Hubbard. Paige struck out 10 and allowed six hits, but Hubbard was better, surrendering just three knocks. The Allegheny County commissioners, Pittsburgh's mayor, and the city councilmen caught the opener from the field boxes. Robert Vann, attorney and Pittsburgh Courier owner, threw out the first pitch.  It was the first ballfield built specifically for a black team, erected by team owner Gus Greenlee. When completely finished, the grounds sat 7,500 (it held 5,000 on Opening Day), with lights added in 1933. It was demolished in 1938-39 to create space for the Bedford Dwellings. 
• 1934 - Red Lucas won Pittsburgh’s first Sunday home game as the Pirates beat Cincinnati, 9-5, at Forbes Field, backed by Gus Suhr’s three hits and four RBI. Both Suhr and Paul Waner, who also had three knocks, homered. 20,000 turned out for the game, including Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and former NL President/PA Governor John Tener. Because of Pennsylvania’s Blue Laws, Pittsburgh was the last major league city to play a home game on a Sunday after local referendums in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia finally approved Sunday ballgames in the 1933 November elections. 
• 1938 - Sports writer Phil Musick was born; he was raised in the Garfield section of Pittsburgh. He began locally at the Greensburg Tribune-Review as sports editor. He joined the Pittsburgh Press in 1969 and moved across the street to the Post Gazette, covering the Pirates and Steelers in his columns (“Stop the Musick,” usually filled with musings under “Things I think I think...”). He later was the first sports columnist at USA Today before returning to the Press. He left there in 1987 and hosted a talk show on WTAE-Radio while teaching journalism at LaRoche College. He also had a handful of books and national freelance articles on his resume before passing away in 2010. 

Maz - 1959 TSN All Star

• 1959 - The Giants jumped ahead of the Pirates and Ronnie Kline, 2-0, at Forbes Field early on and the lead held up until the Bucs counter-punched in the seventh. Roberto Clemente opened with a triple, Smokey Burgess followed with a double, and Dick Stuart’s single tied the score. A double play dampened the festivities a bit, but Bill Mazeroski put the cherry on top by homering off Johnny Antonelli to give Pittsburgh the lead. Kline, who fanned nine Golden Gaters, cruised to the finish line, retiring the last eight G-Men as Pittsburgh went on to take a 3-2 win. 
• 1966 - OF/1B John Vander Wal was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He played for the Bucs in 2000-01, and in 232 games hit .290 w/35 HR and 144 RBI. The Pirates traded him at the 2001 deadline with Jason Schmidt to the Giants for Ryan Vogelsong and Armando Rios in one of GM Dave Littlefield’s early deals after replacing Cam Bonifay in mid-July. In his career, Vander Wal banged 129 pinch hits and holds the single-season record for pinch hits with 28 with the Rox in 1995. 
• 1978 - RHP Tony Armas Jr. was born in Puerto Piritu, Venezuela. Tony worked 10 big league campaigns as a journeyman starter and spent 2007 as a Pirate (4-5/6.03) after inking a $3.5M deal. It proved to be his final full MLB season as the Bucs didn't pick up his 2008 option and the Mets released him the following year after one outing. Junior was the son of All-Star OF Tony Armas, who had been a hot Bucco prospect but was traded to the Oakland A’s as part of the Phil Garner deal after a cup of coffee in Pittsburgh, launching a solid 14-year MLB career. 
• 1987 - The Pirates were clocked by the Dodgers, 10-2, at Three Rivers Stadium, but with a couple of interesting sidebars. Ump Fred Brocklander blew a pair of calls on the same play, and while sorting them out, the Pirate Parrot launched a feather-brained dance of indignation, ending with a nerf ball aimed at Fred. When the other umps came to Brocklander’s rescue, the Parrot jumped in his cart and exited stage right. He quickly learned that umpires are not part of the show, at least not for mascots, and was suspended for a day (he did apologize - he was a rookie Parrot and just learning the ropes the hard way). And later, coach Rick Donnelly got into a bullpen fight with a couple of fans who had sneaked into the area through an unwatched employee entrance. He tried to get them to leave peacefully, but to no avail, leading to a brief battle that ended poorly for the interlopers. They were taken away by police and charged with public intoxication. The Pirates didn’t file any additional charges; being thumped by Rick was punishment enough. 

Doug Drabek - 1990 Score

• 1990 - The Bucs swept San Diego, 10-1, behind a four homer barrage at Jack Murphy Stadium. Barry Bonds (he scored four times and drove home three runs) and Jay Bell hit three-run bombs, Bobby Bonilla banged a two-run blast, and Don Slaught added a solo shot to grease the wheels for Doug Drabek. It was the Pirates sixth consecutive win and their 10th in 11 games. 
• 1992 - LHP Steven Brault was born in La Mesa, California. Drafted by the Orioles in 2013, he was sent to the Pirates as part of the Travis Snider deal. The lefty moved through the system quickly and in July of 2016 made his MLB debut. He slashed 0-3/4.86 but was in the running for a back-end rotation spot in 2017 camp, where he pitched well but lost out to Tyler Glasnow and was returned to Indy. He returned later in the year (1-0/4.67) and broke camp with the Bucs in 2018 as a long man and spot starter, becoming a regular back-end starter in 2019. Brault posted a 3.38 ERA in 10 starts in 2020, but began the 2021 campaign on ice with a lat strain. He came back in August, and the Bucs DFA’ed him after the campaign. He signed with the Cubs as a NRI - he suffered a triceps injury before camp - and is still in the Chicago organization, carried on the minor league IL. 
• 1993 - RHP William “Rookie” Davis was born in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina. Drafted by the Yankees and given a seven-game taste by the Reds in 2017 after being part of the Aroldis Chapman deal, Rookie was signed as a FA by the Bucs in 2019. He got the call from Indy on May 25th and made his first Bucco start on June 7th against the Brewers. His dad, William Theron Davis III, gave him his handle; to differentiate the two, his pops said “Let’s just call him ‘Rookie’.” He retired after the ‘19 campaign and opened The Davis Academy, a baseball training facility. 
• 2000 - For the true believers in productive outs, this was a game for you - the Pirates and Reds tied the MLB record in Cincinnati's 6-5 victory at TRS by hitting five sacrifice flies (the Redlegs also dropped a pair of successful bunts). Neither club was very clutch other than cranking out flies - the two teams combined to go 1-for-19 w/RISP during the game. Pat Meares and Warren Morris both homered in the losing effort, triggered when Cincy overcame an early Bucco lead by scoring five times in the seventh and eighth innings (with two runs plating on sac flies). 

Justin Wilson - 2013 Topps Heritage Rookies

• 2012 - Pitching for the AAA Indianapolis Indians against the Durham Bulls, lefty Justin Wilson tossed the first 7-1/3 innings of a combined no-hitter (two walks, nine K, 107 pitches), completed by Jose “Jumbo” Diaz and Doug Slaten. He was converted to the pen when he made it to the show, and worked his first Bucco game on August 20th. Wilson later tossed for the NY Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs, NY Mets, back to the Bronx Bombers, onward to the Cincy Reds and is now a member of the Brew Crew. 
• 2015 - Andrew McCutchen entered the game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in an early funk with an anemic .179 BA, but left it as the newest member of the 1,000 hit club. Cutch tripled and then legged out an eighth inning infield rap to reach 1,000 knocks in the Pirates 8-1 win over Chi-town. He became the 33rd Buccaneer to collect at least 1,000 hits and the first since Jack Wilson in 2007 to bang them all while with Pittsburgh. Gerrit Cole tossed a three-hitter over six innings for the victory, and combined with three relievers to whiff 14 Cubbies. 
• 2017 - Ivan Nova tossed a 95-pitch, complete-game shutout against Miami at Marlins Park, winning 4-0. His "Maddux" (a complete game shutout under 100 pitches) was the first for a Bucco since Jeff Karstens posted one on July 15th, 2011 against the Astros. John Jaso homered, but the clinching frame was the sixth when Fish hurlers walked four straight batters (two of them battling back from 0-2 counts) to force in a pair of runs. In Ivan’s 16 Pirates starts, he had more complete games (five) than walks (four), and had yet to hit the 100-pitch mark. 
• 2018 - Nick Kingham had a debut to remember as he retired the first 20 batters he faced in a 5-0 win over the Cardinals at PNC Park. He gave up a two-out single to Paul DeJong in the seventh, finishing with a one-hit, nine-K outing in his first MLB game. The Elias Sports Bureau said no pitcher in the Expansion Era (since 1961) had taken a perfect game bid so far in his debut. Wayne Simpson of the Reds in 1970 and Ken Cloude of the Mariners in 1997 each set down their first 16 batters. Kingham joined Johnny Cueto as the only pitchers in the last 100 years with one hit allowed, at least nine strikeouts and zero walks in a debut. The contest itself was a scoreless duel between Nick and Luke Weaver before the Bucs broke it open with four runs in the sixth, keyed by a two-run single by Elias Diaz, who had three hits on the day. It was the Pirates fifth straight victory and gave them their earliest 17th win in franchise history. Nick, after that dazzling intro, didn’t live up to his early promise; he was sold to Toronto in 2019 and now tosses in Korea. 

Nick Kingham - 4/29/2018 Topps Now

• 2020 - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced that it canceled the 2020 Hall of Fame Induction Weekend events due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the Museum itself had been closed since March. The ceremonies have been eliminated several times before for various reasons, but this was the first year without an induction ceremony since 1961, when there were no new members elected. The 2020 class received their proper dues in 2021 during a combined September ceremony with the following group of HoF’ers.