4/30: Meares Signs; April X-Man; Allies First; Hans Statue; King Two-fer; TSN Mad Dog; Boo-Hoo Bert; Bru-booter; Juan, Pud Gems, Game Tales; HBD CSN, Jeff, Scrap Iron, Ray & Tony

• 1877 - Jim “Pud” Galvin of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys tossed the International Association’s first shutout, defeating Columbus, 2-0, at Union (Recreation) Park. He pitched for 15 years, was MLB's first 300-game winner (he won 365 games) and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965. The IA disbanded after the season and the Allies folded, getting back together in 1882. 

Fred Carroll - 1887 Goodwin/Old Judge

• 1887 - The Pittsburgh Alleghenys played their first NL game, defeating the defending champion Chicago White Stockings, 6-2, behind Pud Galvin in front of nearly 10,000 fans at Recreation Park. In pre-game ceremonies, Fred Carroll’s beloved pet monkey (the chimp was also the team mascot), which had passed on to simian heaven, was buried beneath home plate, according to local baseball lore. The team wouldn't become the Pirates until 1891, after they "pirated" the services of second baseman Lou Bierbauer from the Philadelphia Athletics. 
• 1891 - C Tony Brottem was born in Halstad, Minnesota. He made a couple of pit stops in MLB, appearing in 62 games in three seasons, mostly as a Bucco in 1921, hitting .242 in 30 games. He had a long minor league career covering a dozen campaigns. His career had a sad ending; he tried a comeback in 1929 and was cut after 60 Class B games. Depressed, the 37-year-old committed suicide. 
• 1924 - At Cubs Park, Rabbit Maranville lined a triple in the 14th inning and then stole home to beat Chicago, 2-1. Johnny Morrison was the winner over Elmer Jacobs as both pitchers went the distance. The Pirates had 12 hits, led by Max Carey’s three, and drew five walks but shot themselves in the foot by banging into four DPs during the day as they stranded 10 runners. 
• 1938 - 3B Bill Brubaker set a modern MLB record by committing four errors (he also was picked off second) in a 2-0 loss to  the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. Bill’s boots didn’t contribute to the loss as both Red runs (one off Russ Bauer and the other off Mace Brown) were earned. The outing was played in front of 10,000 fans, of which 6,300 were knotholers who got into the yard gratis to help celebrate the long overdue victory for the Redlegs; the win snapped a 20-game Bucco unbeaten streak against Cincy that dated back to May of 1937. 

ill Brubaker - photo via Detroit Public Library

• 1945 - Ray Miller was born in Takoma Park, Maryland. He spent ten years as the Pirates pitching coach (1987–96) under Jim Leyland, replacing Ron Schueler, and worked with Cy Young winner Doug Drabek. Miller also managed for Minnesota & Baltimore and tutored Mike Flanagan & Steve Stone while with the O’s. He retired from coaching in 2005 and passed away in 2021. 
• 1949 - Phil “Scrap Iron” Garner was born in Jefferson City, Tennessee. He spent five years (1977-81) with the Pirates, playing second base for the 1979 World Series club. Scrap Iron hit .267 and stole 112 bases while a Bucco. After his playing career, Garner managed the Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros and spent time as a special advisor for the Oakland A’s. 
• 1955 - A statue of Honus Wagner, created by Frank Vittor and paid for from donations, was unveiled outside the left field gates at Forbes Field. Among the crowd of 1,000 were Ford Frick, Warren Giles and John Galbreath. Hans was present but weak; he would pass away in December. It’s been moved twice since: first to TRS, then to PNC Park where his likeness greets fans at the main gate. 
• 1960 - Pittsburgh scored 10 times in the second inning against the Reds at Crosley Field on the way to a 12-7 win, their eighth victory in a row. Roberto Clemente, Billy Maz (who was 4-for-5) and Dick Stuart each drove home three RBI. They knocked off Cincy one more time 13-2 the following day (Clemente & Maz stayed hot; each homered and drove in four runs) before the good times ended with a 4-3, ninth-inning loss to the Cards at Busch Stadium. 

Billy Maz - 1960 Topps

• 1964 - Utility man Jeff Reboulet was born in Dayton, Ohio. Jeff had a 12-year MLB career as a jack-of-all-trades, playing every position on the diamond except pitcher. He closed out his big league run with Pittsburgh in 2003, batting .241, just about his lifetime average (.240). After living on a bench-warmers pay, Jeff turned that experience into his second career - when he retired, Reboulet co-founded Horizon Wealth Management and became a financial advisor. 
• 1967 - Juan Pizarro struck out eight batters and tossed a four-hit shutout in Pittsburgh’s 2-0 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. It would be his only shutout and complete game as a Bucco; the Pirates used him primarily from the pen and he only made nine starts here. Jerry May knocked in both of the tallies with a run-scoring single in the second and a solo shot in the fifth. 
• 1968 - The Bucs couldn’t solve the Cubs’ Bill Hands, who left the game in the eighth with a 1-0 lead, but some two-out magic eventually saved the day. Matty Alou’s double with two away off Phil Regan knotted the score heading into the last frame. Chicago came right back to score a pair in the ninth off Bob Moose and Juan Pizarro, and Chuck Hartenstein, who would become a Bucco next season, climbed the hill, looking for the save. But he couldn’t put the Pirates away as a pair of walks and a pair of singles made it 3-2, jamming the sacks with one gone. Bill Stoneman took over and got a big K, but Manny Mota walked it off with a soft liner to right center that a diving Adolfo Phillips couldn’t corral. The game was played in front of just 3,710 fans at Forbes Field; it drizzled through much of the evening and the temperature was just 44 degrees. 
• 1980 - Phil Garner had his first two-homer game, good for three RBI, and Bill Robinson added another tater as the division-leading Pirates took a 5-0 victory over the Montreal Expos at TRS. Jim Bibby went the distance, tossing a six-hitter for the win. The Garner long balls were a birthday gift to himself; Scrap Iron was celebrating his 31st spin around the sun. 

Bert Blyleven - 1980 Kelloggs 3D

• 1980 - Pitcher Bert Blyleven left the team and announced that he would retire if he wasn’t traded, citing “the non-support and lack of confidence from his manager,” unhappy that Chuck Tanner wouldn’t let him pitch deeper into games. He did finish out the year, going 8-13/3.88 with 216 IP and was granted his wish when he was sent to the Indians during the off season. 
• 1984 - Bill Madlock was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Have Bats - Will Hit.” Not quite...Mad Dog tried playing through a sore elbow and eventually had surgery in August to remove bone spurs, batting just .253 for the campaign, his worst full season average in Pittsburgh. 
• 1996 - For the second time in his career, Jeff King hit a pair of bombs in the same inning - one a grand slam - as the Bucs took a 10-7 win over the Reds. The first baseman joined Andre Dawson and Willie McCovey as the only MLB’ers to have accomplished the feat twice. The Bucs tallied nine times in the fourth frame to spark the victory at Cinergy Field, sending Cincinnati to its eighth straight loss. 
• 1999 - Pat Meares, 30, was signed to a one year, $1.5M contract by Cam Bonifay. He broke his wrist in spring training (the Pirates misdiagnosed it as a sprain), and a week after he came off the DL was given a four-year, $15M extension. He played 240 games for the Pirates and 2001 was his last season, reaching a settlement that paid him for 2002-03 without him playing. 

Pat Meares - 1999 Upper Deck MVP

• 1999 - LF Canaan Smith-Njigba was born in Dallas, Texas. A fourth-round prep pick of the Yankees in 2017, he joined the Bucs in 2021 as part of the Jameson Taillon deal. He debuted in 2022 after starting out at Indy, but only got into three games before a June wrist injury landed him on the 60-day IL after he had missed much of 2021 with a thigh injury, so the jury is still out on CSN. He came north with the team as a spare outfielder in 2023 but was sent to Indy in late April. 
• 2008 - Pirate RF’er Xavier Nady went 3-for-3 with a pair of walks while driving in three runs during a 13-1 rout of the Mets in New York. Nady’s three RBI increased his total to 26 for the month of April. That was tops in the National League that season and the most runs chased home by a Pirate in the campaign’s first month since Willie Stargell plated 27 Buccos in 1971. 
• 2019 - The Pirates carried an eight-game losing streak into Texas and were an out away from making it nine when Josh Bell’s ninth-inning two-bagger plated a pair to tie the game at 3-3. The 10th went quietly before the Buc bats again erupted, with Bryan Reynolds hitting his first big league homer and Starling Marte adding a two-run shot in the 11th to snap the streak with a 6-4 victory against the Rangers at Globe Life Stadium. Kyle Crick won, with a Felipe Vazquez save. Despite that icy stretch, the Pirates finished the month at 13-14 to stay at least within shouting distance in the division, but then faded badly, costing Clint Hurdle his job.