8/25 Through the 1970s: Cooper, Suitcase Deals; Byrne Burns Brooklyn; Blue Strike; Mic'ed Ump; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Junior, Euclides, Jim, Sam & Tony

• 1892 - 3B Norman “Tony” Boeckel was born in Los Angeles. He spent the first two years (1917, 1919) of his career as a Pirate, batting .259 in 109 games. He was hurt early in his first campaign, and got in just 65 games after returning from the Navy during the second stint as he lost the job to his 1918 replacement, Walter Barbare, and was waived to Boston. He prospered there from 1920-23, where he was the starter. But he was struck down in early 1924, dying in a car accident at age 31 in San Diego. The Yankees Bob Meusel was riding with him, but was uninjured; Boeckel became the first active MLB player to die in a car wreck. 
• 1910 - In the 12th inning at Washington Park, Bobby Byrne legged out a hustle double, stole third, then swiped home to beat the Brooklyn Superbas, 4-3. It was the National League's first 20th century extra-inning steal of home. The Superba’s skipper, Bill Dahlen, decided to intentionally walk the bases loaded after the steal of third (a decision that did not sit well with his pitcher, George Bell) to set up the force rather than face Fred Clarke and Hans Wagner. Bell got two strikes on John Flynn, then Byrnes took matters in his own hands and bolted home; the 0-2 pitch was wide and eluded the catcher, so Byrne’s timing was right. As for the Superba strategy, Pirates beat writer Ralph Davis of the Pittsburgh Press wrote “...fans were calling Dahlen a dub, whereas if his plans had worked out right, they would be hailing him as a real genius and wonderful thinker.” 
• 1912 - The Pirates traded for 20-year-old LHP Arley Wilbur Cooper from Columbus of the American Association for a pair of PTBNL and $3,000. He was arguably Pittsburgh’s best franchise pitcher, retiring following the 1926 campaign after spending his first 13 seasons (1912-24) as a Bucco. Coop is the franchise’s all-time leader in wins with 202 while posting a 2.74 ERA, starting 369 games and appearing in 469 outings. He began his professional career in 1911 with minor league Marion, a club that was owned by newspaper publisher and future US President Warren Harding. Legend has it that Harding was the person who recommended Wilbur to the Pirates. He never made the Hall of Fame; he and Babe Adams are on the outside, looking in. 

Wilbur Cooper - photo via 3/1940 issue of Baseball Magazine

• 1913 - Coach Sam Narron was born in Middlesex, North Carolina. Narron spent most of his playing career in the minors as a converted OF’er turned catcher, though he appeared in parts of three seasons (1935, 1942 and 1943) with the St. Louis Cardinals, playing in 24 games and getting just 28 at bats. After his playing career ended in 1948, he became the bullpen catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers for two years, then followed GM Branch Rickey to the Pirates (and outlasted him by quite a bit) as the Buccos bullpen coach from 1951 through 1964 for managers Bill Meyer, Fred Haney, Bobby Bragan, and Danny Murtaugh. He lasted until Harry Walker became skipper and axed all of Murtaugh’s coaching staff as Sam retired. 
• 1926 - RHP Jim Suchecki was born in Chicago. He made MLB stops for three teams,the last being the 1952 Pirates, working 10 innings and giving up six runs on 14 hits with six K. The Pirates had purchased him from St. Louis on a “make good” basis, and after a month they returned him to the Browns after he apparently failed to make good, and it was his last MLB stint. He pitched in the pro ranks from 1943-54, with time off to serve in the Navy. After he retired from baseball, Jim worked for a refinery and later operated an employment agency. 
• 1929 - Per The Sporting News, the fans were able to hear the calls of home plate umpire Cy Rigler, who was wired for sound, a first in major league history. Wearing a mike and metal-plated shoes, standing on a flat metal sheet, Rigler's calls were broadcast over the Polo Ground speakers as he somehow avoided electrocution. The Giants topped the Pirates, 10-5, as the Bucs committed three errors and allowed six early unearned runs as the clang of their mitts resounded throughout the Polo Grounds without any electronic assistance. 
• 1952 - 18 year old RHP Bill “Ding Dong” Bell tossed his third no-hitter as a member of the Pirates Class D Appalachian League affiliate Bristol, winning, 4-0, in a seven inning game against Bluefield. Bell is one of two professional pitchers to toss three no-hitters in the same season. He was called up in September by the Bucs after posting an 11-3/2.09 slash, though he did have one big red flag there - in 112 IP, he had 194 whiffs, but also 113 walks. Ding Dong made it back to Pittsburgh for a short while in 1955, but his wildness continued - Bell was 0-1/4.32 in his MLB career with 14 walks in 16-2/3 IP, and that tolled the bell for him. 

Suitcase Simpson - 1959 photo via Seamheads

• 1959 - The White Sox sent 3B Bob Sagers and OF/1B Harry "Suitcase" Simpson packing to Pittsburgh in exchange for 34-year-old vet 1B Ted Kluszewski. Klu hit .297 during the rest of the season and .391 with three homers in the World Series for the Sox, playing through the 1961 campaign. Simpson retired after the season and Sagers was a career minor leaguer. Per SABR, Harry wore a size 13 shoe, and a sportswriter dubbed him “Suitcase” Simpson based on a character by that name from the comic strip “Toonerville Folks” with feet as large as suitcases. 
• 1962 - The Pirate players called off a threatened walkout in objection to a rained out game that was rescheduled as part of a Saturday doubleheader with another doubleheader already scheduled on Sunday. Bob Friend, the Pittsburgh team rep, was irked that the players weren’t consulted in the decision to reschedule the game. Friend went out and lost the opener, 3-2, to St. Louis at Busch Stadium, giving up a run with two down in the ninth. The Bucs took the second game, 4-0, behind Earl Francis, who tossed a three-hitter and was backed by homers off the bats of Dick Groat and Dick Stuart. They also split the next day’s twin bill. 
• 1967 - Euclides Rojas was born in Havana. He was the Cuban National Team's all-time leader in saves before he left his homeland by raft in 1994, was rescued by the US Coast Guard, and emigrated to America. He was the Buccos bullpen coach from 2010-19, having served in the same position for the Red Sox and the Marlins. Rojas spent 2005-2010 as the Pirates Latin American Field Coordinator and also as a roving minor league instructor in 2002 with an eye on the club's Latin American program. Prior to that job, Rojas spent five seasons as a coach in the Florida Marlins organization. Now he's a player development official for MLB. 
• 1972 - Steve Blass pitched a career-high 11 innings but ended up with a no-decision in a 3-2, 12-inning walk off win in the first game of a doubleheader against the Dodgers at TRS. Steverino had a rare bout of wildness (that would come next year), walking nine and bopping one, but had some glovely fielding behind him to keep the damage to a minimum. Richie Hebner sent the game into overtime with a homer in the ninth, then Manny Sanguillen delivered the game-winning rap with a two-out single in the 12th off reliever Pete Richert. Dave Cash had reached second on a throwing error and scored the winning run. The Dodgers were held to three hits in the second game by Bruce Kison, but split on the day by taking a 4-3 win with some gifts. A walk came around, another run scored on a balk and Bill Buckner homered after an error for LA's runs. 

Gary Matthews Jr. - 2002 Upper Deck Victory

• 1974 - OF Gary “Junior” (he’s Gary Matthews’ son) Matthews Jr. was born in San Francisco. He put in 12 big-league years with nine stops, spending 46 games in Pittsburgh in 2001 after he was taken off waivers from the Cubs. He hit .245 and was sold to the Mets in the off season. Known for defensive flair, the late bloomer made the All-Star team in 2006, joining his dad as the 14th father-son combo to appear in the Midsummer Classic. Junior played through 2010. 
• 1974 - The Pirates swept a twin bill at San Diego Stadium, dropping the Padres by 4-1 & 10-2 scores, to vault into first place, 1/2-game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals. Pittsburgh was on a 29-11 roll, having caught fire after a basebrawl with the Reds that seemed to bond them. The Pirates won the lidlifter in 12 innings, with Jim Rooker getting the win by tossing six-hit ball over 11 frames. The Bucs won softly - their runs in the 12th came on a sac fly and a pair of bases-loaded walks. Larry Demery won the nightcap with help from Ramon Hernandez in a game that was a cliffhanger until late, when the Buccos scored nine runs in the seventh and ninth frames. The Pirates won the NL East, but were left in the dust by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. 
• 1978 - Major League umpires staged a one-day strike, their first walk-out, to air a laundry list of grievances they had with MLB; semi-pro and amateur arbitrators were used as replacements. The umpires walked out again at the start of the 1979 season. The Major League Umpires Association authorized several disruptive events on behalf of the boys in blue, including the ill-fated mass resignation of 1999, leading the umps to decertify the MLUA and start a new unit called the World Umpires Association (now the MLB Umpires Association), recognized in 2000 by the NLRB and still the umps’ bargaining unit. It includes MLB, some minor league and international umpires (such as the WBC), along with a variety of development programs for aspiring men in blue. 
• 1979 - The Bucs scored twice in the ninth after two were out and no one aboard to send the game into extra innings, eventually winning 4-3 in 19 frames over the Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium. Dave Roberts pitched out of a pair of bases loaded jams to earn the win. He wriggled off the hook with the sacks juiced and no one away in the 17th inning after escaping in the 16th, when the bases were packed with two outs and he went 3-0 to opposing pitcher John D'Acquisto. The Friars stranded 26 runners, one short of the MLB record. The contest lasted six hours and twelve minutes, the longest Pirate contest until the Jerry Meals 19-inning game at Atlanta in 2011.