7/8 Through the 1960s: Satch No-No; Big Bob - TSN; Contracts Sweetened; Souvenirs; Arky, ASGs; Game Tales & Gems; HBD Rosario, Kip, Johnny, Jay & Hank

• 1859 - Umpire and RHP Hank O’Day was born in Chicago. He tossed one year for the Alleghenys, in 1885 (5-7/3.67). Later, he became noted as an arbitrator, calling plays for 30 years, most famously the controversial “Merkle Bonehead'' decision. He wore the blue for 10 World Series and worked 2,710 major league games. O’Day also managed a couple of times, and for his long service to early baseball, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012. 
• 1874 - RHP Jay Parker was born in Theresa, New York. Jay had one MLB outing as an 1899 Bucco in late September against the Chicago Orphans; he walked two batters and plunked another. Two of them eventually scored and so he has a lifetime ERA of infinity. In fairness, it should be noted that he was a 1B/C by trade and that was the first time as a pro that he had ever stepped on the slab; it was the second game of a twinbill and ended up a 7-7 draw. He did have a long career in organized ball, starting in 1895 and playing through the 1914 campaign. Jay did pitch again, briefly, going 1-1 for Evansville in 1905. 
• 1915 - Al Mamaux authored a 2-0 shutout, his fifth whitewash of the year, over the Phils at the Baker Bowl. He struck out nine, and the Bucs tied a record by recording only two assists the entire game, both by 2B Jim Viox. Mamaux had to fight to the last out; the Phils loaded the bases with one out in the ninth on three singles before a whiff and CF Eddie “Zip” Collins' running grab at the wall to ice the victory. Mamaux finished the year 21-8/2.04 with eight shutouts. 
• 1921 - A ruling by the City of Pittsburgh allowed fans to keep balls hit into the stands as souvenirs in Forbes Field. Robert Alderdice, the Director of Public Safety, made the call following threatened lawsuits against police who had earlier arrested three fans for refusing to return balls to the team in an era when a game ball was expected to last for, well, the game. 

Johnny Gooch - Photo via Rutherford Co. Historical Society

• 1927 - Johnny Gooch’s two-out single in the seventh inning was the only hit the Bucs got off the Cubs’ Charlie Root as he outdueled Lee Meadows for a 1-0 win at Forbes Field. Meadows scattered eight hits, giving up an unearned score in the second frame, when 3B Pie Traynor threw wildly to first with two outs to allow Charlie Grimm to score from second base. 
• 1929 - OF Johnny Powers was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Johnny was a legendary minor league masher with 298 long balls during his six-year farm career, but with Pittsburgh between 1955-58, he hit just .190 with four homers in 160 PA. He played two more seasons for three more MLB teams, hit two more long balls during that span and called it a career. 
• 1932 - Satchel Paige, with Ted Radcliffe as his battery mate (he pitched in the first game, true to his “Double Duty” moniker), tossed a no-hitter as the Homestead Grays bested the New York Black Yankees, 6-0. He fanned 11 and walked three. Satch helped himself with a pair of hits and scored twice. It was the nightcap of a Greenlee Field twin bill; the Black Yankees won the opener, 9-7. 
• 1935 - SS Arky Vaughan and RF Paul Waner repped the Pirates in the All-Star game at Cleveland Stadium. Vaughan doubled, walked and scored in three at-bats while Waner was 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter in the AL’s 4-1 win over the Nationals. 
• 1941 - At Detroit's Briggs Stadium, SS Arky Vaughan became the first player to hit two home runs in an All-Star Game, cracking a pair of two-run homers in the NL's 7-5 loss. Unfortunately for Vaughan, Ted William’s three-run homer in the ninth made the Splendid Splinter the man that year. Arky went 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBI in his eighth straight (and final) ASG appearance. 3B Bob Elliott and C Al Lopez also played, both going 0-for-1. 

Arky Vaughan - Helmar Big League Brew

• 1946 - Per BR Bullpen, a special meeting of clubs was held to deal with player demands (desertions to the Mexican League were beginning to dilute the MLB product), and the owners did make some concessions. The results were a $5,000 minimum salary, $25-per-week training-camp expenses, a fixed time period for spring training, 25 days for post-season barnstorming, and a maximum pay cut of no more than 25 percent from season-to-season. A pension fund aimed at providing $100 a month for retired 10-year players was agreed upon, to be funded by World Series broadcast rights and net proceeds from All-Star Games. Each league also got to name a player rep to attend the baseball councils in the days before the MLBPA spoke for the players. 
• 1947 - Pittsburgh’s All-Star at Chicago’s Wrigley Field was 3B Frank Gustine, who went 0-for-2 in the NL’s 2-1 Midsummer Classic loss to the Junior Circuit. 
• 1950 - The Bucs beat St. Louis, 7-6, at Forbes Field. The Pirates rallied in the ninth inning when pinch-hitter Jack Phillips' long fly ball just eluded Stan Musial’s leap, grazing off his glove at the 376’ mark and landing in the Kiner’s Korner bullpen for a walk-off grand slam, his first ever, to erase a 6-3 deficit. It was also the first time in major league history that a pinch-hit grand slam overcame a three-run deficit to end a game; that walkoff scenario wouldn’t be repeated again until 2010. Ralph Kiner and Stan Rojek also homered. 
• 1952 - For the fourth straight year, OF Ralph Kiner was the sole Pirate rep for the All Star Game. The NL won, 3-2, in a rain-shortened, five-inning game at Shibe Park. Kiner was scheduled to enter the game in the seventh, but his appearance, like the game, was rained out. 
• 1958 - The Pirates sent a full contingent of RHP Bob Friend, 2B Bill Mazeroski, OF Bob Skinner and 3B Frank Thomas to the All Star Game at Memorial Stadium, a 4-3 AL win. Friend took the loss, giving up two runs in 2-1/3 innings, with the last score unearned thanks to a boot by teammate Thomas. Skinner went 1-for-3 with an RBI, Thomas 1-for-3 and Maz 0-for-4. 

Bob Kipper - 1988 Topps

• 1964 - LHP Bob Kipper was born in Aurora, Illinois. The lefty tossed for seven seasons (1985-91) for the Bucs. He spent his first three years as a starter and then was converted to the pen. Kipper slashed 24-33-11/4.34 with the Pirates, appearing 195 times in his last four seasons and was part of Jim Leyland’s 1991 NLCS club. After retirement, he began coaching for indie teams and in 1999 joined the Red Sox organization, serving in a variety of positions. 
• 1967 - Bob Veale was featured as the cover story of The Sporting News in an article titled “Bread and Butter Buccaneer.” He went 16-8/3.64 during the campaign and worked 203 innings, a down year for Veale as nagging injuries began to take their toll on the big lefty. 
• 1969 - Roberto Clemente homered over the no-righties-need-apply 436’ mark in right center at Forbes Field, his third hit of the day, in an 8-1 win over the Expos. Montreal was held to three hits by Steve Blass, while Roberto and Freddie Patek banged out three hits each. 
• 1969 - LHP Rosario Rodriguez was born in Los Mochis, Mexico. He spent parts of three seasons in the majors, the first two with the Reds, and of his 34 appearances, 15 were with the Pirates in 1991 with a line of 1-1-6/4.11. He had an outing during the 1991 NLCS against the Braves, allowing three runs in one inning, and that was his last MLB call. He opened for AAA Buffalo in 1992 but made just four appearances as he spent three stints on the DL with shoulder issues. His year was shut down in June, and the bum wing ended his career at age 23.