7/27 Through the 1960s: Skeeter Joins; Double Bill; Benswanger Backs Off; TSN Matty; ASG, Gems & Game Tales; RIP Babe; HBD Biz, Irish & Henry

• 1860 - RHP Henry Jones was born in McKeesport. Henry started playing for McKeesport in 1884 and hopped from one minor/indie team to another, landing with the Alleghenys in 1890. He went 2-1/3.48 in five outings (four starts), though his numbers don’t tell a true tale - he gave up 25 runs, but only 12 were earned, although he did finish with a 3.85 FIP. It still ended up as his only big league campaign, and after two more years in the bushes, he was done with pro ball. 
• 1880 - LHP/OF Henry “Irish” McIlveen was born in Belfast, Ireland. His family later settled in the Pittsburgh area and McIlveen attended Penn State. He got his start in the majors with the Pirates in 1906, pitching two games and slashing 0-1/7.71. He was wisely converted to the outfield and caught on with the New York Highlanders, seeing some action in 1908 and getting into four games the following year before ending his MLB days. He passed away in 1960 at age 80. 
• 1897 - C Biz Mackey was born in Eagle Pass, Texas. The 2006 Hall of Famer played for 24 seasons in the Negro Leagues and he made a brief stop in the area in 1927, playing for the Homestead Grays when they were an independent team. He put together a .329 lifetime BA and is considered one of the two top catchers in black baseball history, along with Josh Gibson. 

Chief Wilson - Helmar Cabinet

• 1908 - Honus Wagner and Chief Wilson led the Bucs to a 4-3 win over the NY Giants and Christy Mathewson at the Polo Grounds. The Flying Dutchman had a pair of doubles good for two runs and an RBI while Wilson had two knocks, including a triple, scored once and drove in a pair. Nick Maddox got the win while Irv Young came on to get the last out in the ninth frame. 
• 1916 - The Pirates bought the contract of 21-year-old Carson “Skeeter” Bigbee from Tacoma (he played his college ball at Oregon). Bigbee spent his 11-year MLB career as a Buc, batting .287 as mainly a LF who also played a bit in center and 2B. He was a hero of the 1925 World Series when his two-out, eighth-inning pinch hit double plated the tying run and he scored the winner against Walter “Big Train” Johnson in the seventh game although health issues had reduced him to a role player. He was part of a Buc brother act as sib Lyle pitched for the 1921 club. 
• 1927 - Vic Aldridge tossed a five-hitter and the Bucs scored twice in the eighth inning to beat Dazzy Vance and the Brooklyn Robins, 2-1, at Forbes Field to take over undisputed possession of first place. Kiki Cuyler banged the game winner when his single chased home Paul Waner, who had three hits on the day, and George Grantham for the victory. 
• 1932 - Bill Harris notched a pair of wins in a twinbill against the Giants at the Polo Grounds, tossing three innings in the opening, 9-8, win followed by two perfect frames in a 4-2 nitecap victory. In the first game, Lloyd Waner had four knocks while Arky Vaughan and Tony Piet homered. The Pirates scored three in the ninth to take the second match with C Earl Grace knocking home two of his three RBI and Harris singling in another. The Pirates increased their NL lead over the Cubs to five games, but would finish the season four games behind Chicago.

Bill Harris - 1932 photo Conlon Collection/Retro Image Archives

• 1941 - Homestead Gray 1B Buck Leonard launched a three-run homer at Chicago’s Comiskey Park to lead the East to an 8-3 win over the West in the Negro League All-Star Game. The contest drew a record crowd of 50,256. The NLASG series began in 1933, the brainchild of Pittsburgh Crawfords’ owner Gus Creenlee, and continued through the 1962 season. 
• 1942 - Pirates owner Bill Benswanger planned a tryout for Negro League players Roy Campanella, Sammy T. Hughes, and David Barnhill as reported by the NY Daily Worker. The August date was pushed back to September while Benswanger added Josh Gibson, Willie Wells, Sam Bankhead, Leon Day and several others to the list of players to audition. But the new September showcase never happened for undisclosed reasons (it was thought that most MLB owners were opposed to the idea and Benswanger didn’t want to go solo, but he never publicly gave a reason for the inaction) and a black ballplayer wouldn’t join MLB until Jackie Robinson suited up in 1947. 
• 1961 - Giants’ Manager Alvin Dark said before the game that "Juan Marichal will go all the way" and kept his bullpen in the dugout to emphasize the point. And to rub it in, he was right. Marichal threw a complete game, five-hit shutout with eight whiffs at Forbes Field before 17,885 fans, winning 2-0 over the Pirates while topping hurlers Vinegar Bend Mizell and ElRoy Face. 

• 1968 - Matty Alou was featured as the cover story of The Sporting News in an article titled “Pistol Packing Pirate.” Mateo was indeed packing - he hit .332 for his third straight .330+ campaign as a Bucco and earned a spot on the National League All-Star team for the first time. 
• 1968 - Charles “Babe” Adams passed away in Silver Springs, Maryland, at age 80. The righty was on the short list of great Bucco pitchers, slashing 194-139-16/2.74 in 18 Pirates campaigns. Babe was the hero of the 1909 World Series, going 3-0/1.33 against Ty Cobb and the Tigers. He later was a farmer and newspaperman, covering local Mount Moriah, Missouri, sports and also serving as a foreign correspondent during World War II and the Korean War.