9/22 Through the 1940s: Red-Hot; Heinie On Top; Wheeling Hosts; Doheny Demons; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Harry & Ira

• 1890 - The Pittsburgh Alleghenys moved their home game with the New York Giants to Wheeling, West Virginia, due to attendance issues at home (they couldn’t draw flies; they went 23-113). The game at Island Grounds, home of the Wheeling Nailers, drew 1,500 fans and it remains the only major league game ever played in the state of West Virginia. According to the Wheeling Daily Register, “The game was played under some slight disadvantages, as the outfield was unkempt and unshaven, the grass being so tall that the ball, and almost the players, frequently got lost. (The Giants Mike) Tiernan knocked one into the tall grass, and while some seven or eight players were still on the hunt, he modestly crossed the home plate...” for a ninth-inning inside-the-park homer. The Alleghenys lost, 8-3, and the Pittsburgh Press wrote “to be sure, the local team lost to be in keeping with its record and (team owner) Mr. McNeill may rest assured that his team will establish a world record in time (for losing).” The paper was right; they were baseball’s worst until the Cleveland Spiders of 1899 finished 20-134, bumping the Alleghenys to runner-up. It would also be the last regularly scheduled Pittsburgh home game moved to a neutral site until 2017 when the Pirates played St. Louis in Williamsport to help celebrate youth baseball. 
• 1893 - OF Ira Flagstead was born in Montague, Michigan. Ira closed out his 13-year career in Pittsburgh from 1929-30, a journey that had begun with the Detroit Tigers and blossomed with the Boston Red Sox where he was a top shelf CF’er with a good stick and rifle arm. He signed with the Pirates on July 8th, 1929, fostered by both his acquaintance with Pittsburgh manager Donie Bush, whom Ira played with in Detroit, and the suspicion that Washington, which had signed him earlier, wanted to dump his contract. He hit .257 and was released in August, 1930. Ira closed out his pro ball in the Pacific Coast League in 1931. He retired to Olympia, where he grew up, and managed the local semi-pro Timber League nine. “Flaggy” (he was also known as “Pete” from his teen days) was elected to both the Red Sox and Washington State Halls of Fame. 

Ira Flagstead - photo Retro Archives/Fine Art America

• 1894 - After tossing 12 innings in a tie contest, Phil “Red” Ehret threw a complete game four-hitter the next day to salvage a doubleheader split with the NY Giants by a 4-1 score at Exposition Park. His opponent was Les German, the same pitcher whom he had met in the draw in a redux matchup. Despite collecting nine hits, the Bucs and Tom Colcolough lost the twin bill’s opener, 6-2. 
• 1903 - Pittsburgh's 16-game winner Ed Doheny, suffering from bouts of paranoia, was escorted home by his brother. After the World Series, Doheny was committed to the Danvers Insane Asylum and at the age of 26, his major league career was over. Not only was this a tragic turn of events for Doheny, but it cost the Bucs dearly in their World Series loss to the Boston Americans as they were short of pitching for the series. He, Deacon Phillippe and Sam Leever formed the Pirate rotation, and with Leever nursing an injury, Phillippe was forced to start five of the seven games, eventually wearing down. Poor Doheny, whose mental issues were said to be triggered after he developed that dead arm during the season, never returned to normalcy. He had some violent episodes at home and was committed full-time to the Danver asylum. He was later transferred to another institution but never recovered and passed away at 43-years-old. 
• 1908 - The Brooklyn Superbas cashed in a run in the ninth, scoring when no one covered first on a two-out grounder to the right side, but Pittsburgh and Nick Maddox prevailed, 3-2, in 11 innings at Washington Park. Alan Storke tripled home Hans Wagner with the go ahead run and scored himself on a wild throw home. Maddox gave up a homer in Brooklyn’s half, but hung on for the win as the Pirates stayed alive in their late drive for the flag, which fell a game short. 

Nick Maddox - 1908 photo Bain/Library of Congress

• 1911 - Cy Young, pitching for the Boston Rustlers (they didn’t “rustle” players like the Pirates had “pirated” them; the moniker was a play on the name of team owner William Russell), earned his 511th and final career victory by defeating the Pirates, 1-0. Cy scattered nine hits and fanned three at Forbes Field to best Babe Adams. Although 20 games above .500 at the time, the Bucs were deep in third place, drawing just 1,208 fans. The Pirates feasted on Boston during the season: the Rustlers (they became the Braves in 1912) won only 3-of-22 against Pittsburgh, with two of the victories coming on shutouts thrown by the 44-year-old Cyclone. 
• 1929 - Utilityman Harry Bright was born in Kansas City. He played for eight seasons, with the first three (1958-60) in Pittsburgh. Bright hit .237 and was traded to the expansion Washington Senators after the ‘60 season as part of the Bobby Shantz package. Harry had a long pro career, playing 20 years and in nearly 2,000 games between the show and the farm. Bright managed the PCL’s Sacramento club and in the Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers & Atlanta Braves organizations, then scouted for the Montreal Expos. 
• 1931 - The Phillies overcame a 2-0 ninth-inning deficit to send the game to overtime, but the Pirates pushed home a run in the 13th to claim a 3-2 win at Forbes Field. Heinie Meine went the distance for the victory, tossing a four-hitter. It was his 19th win, which led all NL pitchers that season. The Bucs left 20 men on base as Philadelphia pitchers allowed 10 hits and 13 walks. Workhorse Meine logged 284 IP in 35 starts by season’s end, the top numbers in the NL.

Heinie Meine - 1933 Goudey

• 1932 - Rookie Hal Smith recorded a six-hit shutout in his first MLB start in a 7-0 win at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. The Bucs got all the runs they would need by scoring five times in the third inning. Arky Vaughan and Adam Comorosky led the way with two RBI apiece while Paul Waner banged out three hits and scored twice. Former (and future) Pirate pitcher Burleigh Grimes took the loss. 
• 1938 - Pittsburgh swept a twinbill from the Brooklyn Robins by 6-0 and 11-6 scores at Ebbets Field to take a 3-1/2 game lead in the race for the pennant. Jim Tobin tossed a four-hitter in the opener. Arky Vaughan had four hits, with three doubles and three RBI to go with Pep Young’s four runs driven home to power the win in the nitecap. But the 1938 NL crown would go to Chicago, which won their last 10 games while the Bucs stumbled to a 3-7 finish in a September swoon. 
• 1949 - Danny Murtaugh had the game-winning knock to hand a walkoff defeat to Johnny Sain and the Boston Braves, 1-0, at Forbes Field. The Irishman’s two-out, ninth-inning rap brought home Wally Westlake, who had singled and then stole second. It was Murtaugh’s only at bat; he was subbed into the game after manager Billy Meyer burned through a pair of pinch hitters and a pinch runner trying to squeeze out a run in the seventh. Murray Dickson labored to go the distance for the victory, giving up seven hits and six walks but stranding 11 Braves.