6/23 Through the 1960s: Roberts-Jacobs; Irishman's Worst Defeat; Sibling Rivalries; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Curly & Bill

• 1877 - Before there were the Bucs there was Pud and the Alleghenys: Jim “Pud” Galvin of the Alleghenys shut out Chicago on three hits, 6-0, in International League play. The IL was considered a minor league, and only lasted one more season. The Alleghenys became a major league club in 1882 when they joined the American Association. Gentleman Jeems spent eight years in Pittsburgh, climbing the bump for the Alleghenys, Burghers and Pirates. 

Pud Galvin - 1892 Pgh Post

• 1890 - 2B Harry and SS John Gilbert became the first brothers to play together for a major league Pittsburgh club when they manned the middle at the Philadelphia Baseball Grounds against the Phillies. The Alleghenys split the twin bill, with Harry going 2-for-8 and John 0-for-8, and they turned a DP in each game. The doubleheader was the only time either one of the Pottstown brothers played at the MLB level. They were the first of several brother duos that played for the Buccaneers - Harry & Howie Camnitz (1909), Carson & Lyle Bigbee (1921), Johnny & Phil Morrison (1921), Lloyd & Paul Waner (1927-40), Gene & George Freese (1951), twins Eddie & Johnny O'Brien (1953-58) and Adam & Andy LaRoche (2008) followed the Gilberts. 
• 1900 - RHP Bill Harris was born in Wylie, Texas. He tossed for the Bucs from 1931-34, slashing 16-15-7/3.45. Harris was a baseball lifer - he had seven years in the show, and earned 257 minor league wins between 1921-45, including two no-hitters. He later managed in the minors for the Giants and then scouted for them, the Senators and Yankees. 
• 1916 - RHP Ken “Curly” Jungels was born in Aurora, Kansas. Curly pitched five MLB seasons, mostly for Cleveland, though not very often nor well. He made five outings and was 0-0/6.89 for the Pirates in 1941 while his overall career consisted of 25 games, with a line of 1-0/6.80. After his Pittsburgh campaign, Curly joined the Army during WW2 and never returned to a big league ballfield, retiring after two minor league campaigns in 1946-47. 

Casey Stengel - 1919 Strip Card

• 1919 - The Bucs won their fifth game in a row, 3-2, over the Saint Louis Cardinals at Robison Park. Casey Stengel was the man of the hour, hitting a two-run homer in the sixth and then making a game-saving catch to back Frank Miller’s complete game effort. The Pirates cut the Reds NL lead to two games with the win, but finished fourth with a 71-68 record, miles behind Cincinnati, which posted 96 victories. The Redlegs won the World Series, but that result is often forgotten thanks to the “Black Sox” scandal of their Chicago opponents. 
• 1930 - Bucco pitchers Heinie Meine and Leon Chagnon gave up 12 straight hits in the sixth inning during a lopsided loss to the Brooklyn Robins at Forbes Field, tying the record for most consecutive hits allowed (Brooklyn banged out 28 knocks in all) in a game. Pittsburgh Press writer Ed Balinger led off the game story with a terse recap that told the tale: “...the slugging Robins...lambasted the lame and groggy Pirates to the agonizing tune of 19-6.” 
• 1944 - The weather and local curfew combined to nullify four hours and 14 innings of baseball as the Pirates-Cards game at Forbes Field was called at 1 AM with the score knotted at 5-5. The two teams used 39 players (10 pitchers) and combined for 10 runs and 30 hits, wasting a big effort by Bucco OF Jim Russell, who went 5-for-7. 12,086 paid and 277 free military fans were on hand at the start of the marathon, which went on for 4:02 before ump Beans Reardon called it a night. It was a miracle they got that much play in - the contest was delayed by rain twice, the batting cage (which was on wheels) was blown from the plate and crashed into the grandstands before the game and a lethal tornado touched down in nearby McKeesport and continued down through Waynesburg and the Mon Valley into West Virginia, killing 90 and injuring over 600. 

Bob Hall - 1955  Bowman

• 1953 - The Pirates defeated Hall-of-Fame pitcher Warren Spahn and the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium, 1-0. Spahn, who would be named The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year after the season (23-7/2.10 ERA), struck out 12 batters and surrendered just two hits. Preston Ward and Johnny Lindell drew back-back free passes with one away in the eighth, and the walks bit Spahn when Carlos Bernier’s two-out single scored Ward. RHP Bob Hall tossed a six-hit shutout to win the duel, the last of the three wins he posted during his final MLB campaign. 
• 1954 - The Bucs broke St. Louis’ Harvey Haddix’s string of 37 straight shutout innings when Preston Ward drove home Dick Cole in the sixth inning, but were still left in the dust at Forbes Field by the Cardinals, 7-1. Pittsburgh kept an eye on The Kitten over the years and in 1959 reeled him. Harvey spent five years as a Bucco, went 2-0 in the 1960 World Series, and later put in eight seasons as a minor league manager/big league coach for the Pirates. 
• 1956 - Pittsburgh dealt 2B Curt Roberts and lefty reliever Jack McMahan to the Kansas City Athletics in exchange for 2B Spook Jacobs. Jacobs was given a brief opportunity to start, couldn’t hit worth a lick, and was shipped to the minors. He never returned to the show; it didn’t help his cause that Bill Mazeroski was his competition. Roberts was also sent straight to the minors, and he likewise never made it back to the show. McMahan got into 23 games for the A’s before joining his other trade mates in being sent down to the farm for good. 

Spook Jacobs - Aceo Art Card

• 1961 - The Pirates raced out to a 9-0 lead and were up, 11-2, after seven innings at Forbes Field, but ended up losing, 12-11, in regulation to the Philadelphia Phils in one of the Bucs most forgettable finishes. Joe Gibbon, the starter, had his arm tighten up, so Clem Labine and ElRoy Face took over in the eighth, giving up four runs but still holding an 11-6 edge. Earl Francis took over in the ninth, and the Bucs committed four errors behind him, with the winning run scoring after LF Bob Skinner lost his footing fielding a single. All manager Danny Murtaugh could mutter was “This is the worst defeat I’ve had since I’ve been the Pirates manager.”