5/24 Through the 1960s: Roberto Debuts #21; Pin-Up Richie; Pop Plop; Glovely Bill; Game Tales; HBD Jeff, Giant Killer & Sam

• 1859 - 2B Sam Barkley was born in Wheeling. After a contract kerfuffle (he signed with Baltimore, but had been sold by his club, the St. Louis Browns, to the Alleghenys). He was awarded to Pittsburgh, and in 1886 he hit .266 with 31 doubles and stole 22 bases while playing in 122 games. His performance slipped in '87, playing in 89 games and hitting .224. After the season, Pittsburgh sold him to the Kansas City Cowboys of the American Association. Sam retired back home after the 1889 campaign to become a cigar maker. 
• 1878 - LHP Jack “The Giant Killer” Pfiester was born in Cincinnati. Jack spent eight years in the show with his first two seasons (1903-04) as a seldom-used Bucco arm. In six games, he slashed 1-4/6.69 and then spent 1905 in Omaha before he took off as a Cub from 1906-09, winning 63 games in four years before arm woes ended his career two seasons later; the curve-baller ended his days with a 2.02 ERA. He got his nickname for his success against the NY Giants, going 11-5 against them (he was only 1-5 against his old mates in Pittsburgh). 
• 1884 – Al Atkinson of the Philadelphia Athletics retired the final 27 batters in pitching a no-hitter over the Pittsburgh Alleghenys at the Jefferson Street Grounds. Atkinson hit leadoff batter Ed Swartwood, who stole second, moved to third on a grounder and scored on a wild pitch, providing the only fly in the ointment of the Athletics’ 10–1 victory over the Allies. 

Bill Kuehne - 1889 Goodwin/Old Judge

• 1889 - Bill Kuehne converted 13 chances at the hot corner, handling three putouts and 10 assists without an error (“...a remarkable game” per the Pittsburgh Press) for a MLB record to help Harry Staley and the Alleghenys to a 9-7 win over Washington at Swampoodle Grounds. It was an outlier; Kuehne committed 34 errors that season and finished with a .908 fielding average, making his feat doubly remarkable. Jake Beckley drilled three knocks, including a pair of doubles, while Billy Sunday and Pop Smith, who homered, collected a pair of hits each. 
• 1893 - Before the days of the infield fly rule, C Connie Mack intentionally allowed a popup in front of home plate to fall and then started a triple play against the Browns. The play was one of several around the league that eventually led to an infield fly rule in 1895, with the current version adopted in 1901. He later drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth to lead Pittsburgh to an 8-7 win over St. Louis at Expo Park. Mack was a backup catcher who hit .286 for the Pirates that year, and later entered the Hall of Fame as a manager, notably of the Philadelphia Athletics, although his first player/manager gig was with the Bucs. 
• 1894 - The Pirates rallied to beat the Cleveland Spiders and Cy Young, 6-5, at League Park. Down 4-0 early and 5-2 late, the Bucs scored twice in the seventh and twice more in the eighth for the win. Red Ehret (“Ehret never pitched better ball in all his life” gushed the Pittsburgh Press) went eight innings for the victory in relief of Lefty Killen, who was rocked for four first-inning runs. Jake Stenzel had two hits and scored three runs while Jake Beckley added three knocks. 
• 1918 - Ol’ vet Jimmy Archer set a record with seven assists from the catcher’s spot against the Boston Braves, but it didn’t help as the Pirates went down, 6-3, at Forbes Field. Boston hit the ball on the ground all day; the Pirates ended up with 27 assists as a team, with 1B Fritz Mollwitz registering 17 putouts. 

Preston Ward - 1955 Topps

• 1955 - The Bucs broke an 11-game losing streak in style by pounding the Brooklyn Dodgers, 15-1, at Forbes Field. Jack Shepard had four hits, Preston Ward had a single, triple and homer while Gene Freese added three raps to lead the attack. Ward, Freese and Roberto Clemente each had three RBI with Bob Friend getting the win in relief of Vern Law after tossing 4-1/3 innings of no-hit ball. One of the Dodger relievers the Corsairs tortured was future manager Tommy Lasorda, who gave up five runs in two innings of work. The Pirates had 19 hits and batted around three times. However, the good times were fleeting; the club lost six of its next seven games. The game also had a noteworthy debut: it was the first time Roberto Clemente wore #21; he had been sporting #13 but claimed OF Earl Smith’s old number after Smith was sent down. 
• 1959 - The Bucs swept a pair of white-knucklers from the Reds at Forbes Field by 2-1 and 5-4 scores; both games were won by walk-off, pinch hit doubles. Danny Kravitz drove home Don Hoak to give Ron Kline, who went the distance, the win. Pittsburgh had tied the game a batter before when Bill Mazeroski beat Johnny Temple’s throw home to knot the score. The Pirates were down, 4-2, in the nightcap and down to their last out when Rocky Nelson tied the game with a two-run homer. Pittsburgh won it in the 10th when Smoky Burgess doubled home Roman Mejias to give Ron Blackburn the win. The Bucs took the four game series from Cincinnati, winning each game by a run. 
• 1961 - Roberto Clemente homered in back-to-back at bats against Dick Ellsworth and drove in four runs to lead the Pirates to a 7-3 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Dick Stuart also went long and added a triple to help Vinegar Bend Mizell to the victory, closed by a Clem Labine save. The Bucs needed Clemente’s big day; they were their own worst enemy as they hit into three twin killings and committed a pair of errors during the afternoon. 

Roberto Clemente - 2021 Topps Game Within the Game

• 1966 - Coach Jeff Livesey was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Livesey was a catcher in the Yankees system for eight years, retiring in 1995 and spending two years with Montreal as a minor league coach. He joined the Pirates as an organizational hitting coach, becoming the skipper of the GCL club in 2005. After that, he went to Japan for five years as a bench coach, returning to the Pirates in 2011. After three seasons as the Minor League Hitting Coordinator, he was called up to the big team as an assistant hitting coach in 2013 until he was replaced after the 2018 campaign. He’s with Miami now. 
• 1969 - Richie Hebner was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Pirates Pin-Up Prize.” In his first full season as a Pirate, he hit .301 after inheriting the hot corner from Maury Wills. The Gravedigger would play through 1976 for Pittsburgh, then return again in 1982-83 during an 18-year career that ended after the 1985 campaign with the Cubs.