7/14 Through the 1960s: Pie Trade Rumor; Rip Roars; ASGs; Game Tales; HBD Jose, Earl, Bob, Jack, Joe & Tanny

• 1874 - LHP Jesse “Tanny” Tannehill was born in Dayton, Kentucky. He played six seasons (1897-1902) for Pittsburgh, with a line of 116-58/2.75. Tanny won 20 games or more four times for the Pirates and led the NL in ERA in 1901 (2.18). He was also pretty handy when not hurling, batting .277 and making 71 OF appearances for the Bucs. After six years with the Pirates, he and owner Barney Dreyfuss got into a contract squabble. Tannehill then jumped to the AL New York Highlanders and spent the next seven years of his career in the junior circuit before a last hurrah with Cincinnati. Tanny went on to coach, manage and even ump some after his playing days. 
• 1889 - RHP Joe Conzelman was born in Bristol, Connecticut, unfortunately for him long before ESPN could tout a hometown jock. He spent his three-year MLB career (1913-15) with the Bucs, slashing 6-8-2/2.92 in 54 outings, mostly as a reliever. He was a Columbia and Brown graduate and left baseball to pursue his university-trained calling as an engineer. 
• 1892 - Utilityman Floyd “Jack” Farmer was born in Granville, Tennessee. Farmer played 2B, SS, 3B, LF & RF for the 1916 Bucs, getting into 55 games and batting .271. He would play big league ball again in 1918 briefly for the Cleveland Indians, then took off the twenties and made a last hurrah stop in the Class D Cotton League from 1929-31 before ending his playing days. 
• 1910 - The Bucs were down, 3-0, going into the ninth inning against Christy Mathewson and the New York Giants at Forbes Field, but roared back in their last go-round to take home the win. A walk, error and two singles set the table. Matty turned wild child, tying the contest with back-to-back walks, and after throwing two balls to Tommy Leach was relieved by Red Ames. Ames lost Leach, forcing home the winning run and giving Deacon Phillippe the victory. 

Pie Traynor - 1923 Maple Crispette

• 1922 - The Pirates denied that they were about to swing a blockbuster trade with the Brooklyn Robins involving 3B Pie Traynor, UT Clyde Barnhart and C Walter Schmidt for OF Zach “Buck” Wheat and SS Jimmy Johnston. Pie was only 23-years-old and in his first season as a starter; he would have a 17-year Pirates career that ended with a .320 lifetime BA and induction into the Hall of Fame. Barnhart was 26 and would serve a nine-year MLB tour of duty, all with the Bucs, and hit .295 over that span. Schmidt was a 35-year-old reserve who would last through 1924 with Pittsburgh, with a final campaign as a Card the following year. Wheat was 34 and had 14 years under his belt, but would play through 1927, hitting .346 over those final six seasons. Like Pie, Buck also entered the HoF. Johnston was 32 and would be a solid stick man through 1925 (.313 BA from 1922-25), playing one more year afterward before ending his MLB stay. 
• 1929 - RHP Bob Purkey was born in Pittsburgh and was signed by the Bucs after he graduated from South Hills HS. The knuckleballer spent his first four years and then his final season with the Pirates (1954-57, 1966), slashing 16-30-3/4.13. His heyday was with the Reds, where he won 100+ games, appearing in a World Series and three All-Star contests. The Pirates dealt Purkey to Cincinnati in 1957 for relief pitcher Don Gross. Pirates GM Joe Brown often called the transaction "the worst trade I ever made.'' After his retirement, Purkey lived in Bethel Park, and he ran an insurance agency before passing on in 2008 at age 78. 
• 1935 - Earl Francis was born in Slab Fork, West Virginia. The hard throwing righty tossed five seasons (1960-64) for the Bucs, going 16-23/3.77 with his time split between starting and as a long man from the bullpen. Francis became the Pirates first African American Opening Day pitcher in 1963 when he started against the Cincinnati Reds and was the first pitcher that rookie Pete Rose ever batted against (Charlie Hustle went hitless). His short spell in the show was cut short by a bad wing as Francis battled a sore arm throughout his career. He retired in 1966 and put that achy but still powerful arm to good use - he became a butcher. 

Earl Francis - 1963 Topps

• 1940 - The Pirates won their sixth game of seven played by whipping Brooklyn, 6-2, at Forbes Field. Rip Sewell got the win and also cracked a homer. The Corsairs dropped the nitecap of the twin bill, 2-0, as the Dodgers’ Freddie Fitzsimmons got the better of Ken Heintzelman. The ‘40 Bucs basically sputtered along as Frankie Frisch’s charges finished 78-76-2 and finished the season in fifth place, 22-1/2 games behind the eventual World Series champs, the Cincinnati Reds. 
• 1946 - Hall of Famer Warren Spahn beat the Bucs at Forbes Field by a 4-1 tally for his first MLB win; he would earn 363 of them in his 21-year career, with 49 of his victories coming against Pittsburgh. His only blemish was a solo shot by Frankie Gustine. The lefty reached 400 wins despite losing three years to WW2 and popularized by the rhyme “Spahn, Sain and pray for rain...”. 
• 1953 - RHP Murry Dickson was the Bucco rep at the All Star Game, a 5-1 Senior Circuit victory at Crosley Field. He tossed the final two innings, giving up a run on three hits and earning a save for Warren Spahn. The relief appearance of St. Louis Brown’s 46-year-old Satchel Paige in the eighth inning set an All-Star record for the oldest pitcher to toss in the contest. 
• 1955 - The Pirates suffered the worst defeat in their history when Cincinnati mashed them, 19-1, at Forbes Field. Reds Johnny Temple, Wally Post and Smoky Burgess combined for 13 hits. Five Pirate pitchers gave up 21 hits (including three homers), 12 walks and a hit batter while the fielders chipped in with three errors for a total team meltdown. That visit behind the woodshed stayed in the record books until 2010 when the Brewers laid a 20-0 beatdown on the Bucs. 

Roberto Clemente - 1961 Topps

• 1961 - A two-out grand slam in the bottom of the eighth by Roberto Clemente, a rising liner to dead center, erased a 4-1 deficit and led the Bucs to a 6-4 win over the SF Giants at Candlestick Park. Clem Labine got the win and ElRoy Face the save after Joe Gibbon started. 
• 1969 - IF Jose Hernandez was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Jose played for 15 years in the show, making stops in Pittsburgh in 2003 as part of the A-Ram/Kenny Lofton deal with the Chicago Cubs and again in 2006 as a free agent add, playing six positions while hitting .240. He signed a minor league deal with the Bucs for 2007 (he was one of Jim Tracy’s favorites) but the 37-year-old’s tank was running on fumes and he didn’t make the final roster cut. He’s been a coach in the Baltimore Orioles system since 2010, moving up to the big club in 2022.