8/28 Through 1964: Donie Resigns; Suhr-ly Weekend; Tag - Team Catch; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Mark, Howie, Wally, Jolly Cholly & Chauncey

• 1873 - IF Bill “Chauncey” Stuart was born in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. Bill was a two-sport star, also playing halfback for Penn State football. As a 21-year-old, he got into 19 games and collected 77 at-bats in 1895 with the Pirates, batting .247; he would get one more major league outing in 1899 with the NY Giants, going 0-for-3. He retired after that and went into oil speculation. He died in Fort Worth, but was buried at State College. 
• 1898 - Charlie “Jolly Cholly” Grimm was born in St. Louis. The 1B played six years (1919-24) in Pittsburgh, hitting .286, but made his reputation with Chicago in the following dozen years after a big 1924 trade sent him to the Windy City and played for four teams through 20 campaigns. Charlie became a manager after his playing days with stops in Boston/Milwaukee and the Cubs. He earned his nickname for his cheerful, upbeat manner, ala Chuck Tanner. 
• 1902 - OF Wally Roettger was born in St. Louis. Wally ended his eight-year MLB career (spent mostly with the Cards and Reds) in Pittsburgh in 1934, hitting .245. A college hoopster in addition to being a ballplayer, Wally went on to become the baseball skipper at the University of Illinois from 1935-51 and an assistant basketball coach from 1936-49; he started on that trail when he coached hoops at Illinois Wesleyan during the baseball off-season. His tale had a sad ending; at age 49, with heart problems and failing eyesight, he took his own life. 
• 1911 - Pirate super scout Howie Haak was born in Rochester, NY. Pittsburgh discovered much of its legendary Latino talent from the mid-1950s through the 1980s thanks to Haak's efforts. He recommended that Pittsburgh draft Roberto Clemente from the Brooklyn system and signed Manny Sanguillen, Omar Moreno and Rennie Stennett of Panama; Julian Javier, Tony Pena, Jose DeLeon, and Cecilio Guante of the Dominican Republic; Al McBean of the Virgin Islands and Roman Mejias of Cuba. Howie left Pittsburgh after the 1988 season and spent the final five years of his scouting career working for the Houston Astros, retiring at the age of 82. Haak was recognized by being selected as the first recipient of the Scout of the Year award in 1984. 

Kiki Cuyler - 1925 Exhibits

• 1925 - The Pirates hung on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-9, at the Baker Bowl. Kiki Cuyler had four hits, including a pair of inside-the-park homers, Eddie Moore and Clyde Barnhart added three knocks apiece and George Grantham homered. Babe Adams and Tom Sheehan gave up five runs in the bottom of the ninth and Ray Kremer had to come on to get the final out with the bases juiced. He retired pinch hitter Nelson “Chicken” Hawks, who was batting for the second time in the inning and already had a hit and run scored under his belt. 
• 1929 - Donie Bush resigned as the Pirate manager, replaced by coach Jewel Ens. Bush took the team to the World Series in 1927, where they were swept by the Murderer’s Row Yankees, playing without Kiki Cuyler, who Bush had benched. The Pirates had lost 8-of-9 when Bush resigned and were 14-½ games behind the eventual titlists, the Chicago Cubs. 
• 1930 - The Pirates scored in double figures for the third straight game, beating the Cincy Reds, 11-2, at Forbes Field in the second game of a twin bill after winning, 16-12, in the lid lifter. The club started the streak at Wrigley Field with a 10-8 win over the Chicago Cubs. Gus Suhr went 7-for-13 with six runs, eight RBI, two homers, two triples and a double over that span. 
• 1940 - Homestead Grays RHP Ray Brown earned his 27th consecutive victory (vs. all competition, both barnstorming and league) over a two-year span when he shut out the Baltimore Elite Giants, 5-0, on three hits, bringing his record to 12-0 (he finished 15-4). Brown played for Cum Posey's Grays from 1932-45 and again in 1947-48 (in fact, he married Posey’s daughter Ethel), winning 109 games in his career. He was selected for the Hall of Fame in 2006. 

Ray Brown - 2006 Cooperstown

• 1951 - The Bucs ended the New York Giants winning streak at 16 games, the longest since 1935, when LHP Howie Pollet tossed a six-hit shutout for a 2-0 win at the Polo Grounds. The Pirates only had three hits (two by rookie Frank Thomas), but were issued eight free passes (three to Ralph Kiner), and both eighth-inning Bucco runs were unearned following two-out muffs. 
• 1953 - You’d think a seven-run inning would be plenty to ensure a win, but the Pirates proved it not so against the Cards at Forbes Field. The Redbirds scored four runs in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead, but the Bucs, powered by longballs off the bats of Frank Thomas and Vic Janowicz, came right back with a seven spot of their own to regain the lead. But Big Mo proved fickle; St. Louis put up four more runs in the seventh and the Bucs were out of rallies. Pittsburgh did score again in the seventh to cut the lead to a run, but left the bases loaded to quiet their last hurrah. 
• 1956 - The Bucs spotted Warren Spahn and the first place Milwaukee Braves a four-run lead at County Stadium, then scored four times in the seventh to tie the game on the back of Dale Long’s three-run homer. The Pirates took command the next frame when Dick Groat’s two-out infield knock to the SS hole plated Frank Thomas and Pittsburgh held on for a 5-4 victory, credited to ElRoy Face. A tag team sixth-inning catch may have ignited the Bucs: per the Milwaukee Journal's Cleon Walfoort "Clemente and Bill Virdon robbed Spahn of an extra-base hit and the Braves of one or more runs. Clemente got his glove on the ball against the fence and Virdon grabbed it as it squirted out. It was just after this remarkable catch that the Pirates came to life." 
• 1959 - Vern Law whitewashed the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-0, on five hits at Forbes Field, striking out seven and supported by three solo homers off the bats of Roberto Clemente, Smoky Burgess and Rocky Nelson. Clemente’s was an inside-the-park four-bagger that hit off the flagpole in left center 457’ away on one hop. Pittsburgh banged out 10 hits and drew nine walks. 

Vern Law - 1959 Topps

• 1960 - OF/1B Mark Ryal was born in Henryetta, Oklahoma. Mark closed out a bits-and-pieces five-team, six-year MLB career with the Bucs in 1990, going 1-for-12. He went to Japan for a couple of years afterward. He scouted briefly and got into college coaching; he’s now the softball skipper for Midwestern State in Texas. Mark’s main claim to fame is that he was the last lefty to play shortstop in MLB, manning the spot in 1987 as a California Angel. 
• 1964 - Joe Gibbon and the Phils’ Jim Bunning traded zeroes for the first seven innings at Forbes Field. Then Bunning led a charge of four straight Philadelphia hits in the eighth as the Brotherly Love nine pulled ahead, 2-0, before Tommie Sisk and Roy Face could quiet their bats. The score stayed that way until the bottom of the ninth. A Bill Virdon knock and one-out Jerry Lynch walk was followed by a Willie Stargell single to make it 2-1, and then old Shake, Rattle and Roll, Smoky Burgess, lifted an Ed Roebuck offering into the seats to walk off a 4-2 win.