9/3 Through The 1960s: Al Axed, Connie Hired; Dizzy & Daffy Dropped; Pops Peepers; Altoona Allies; Ironclad; Gems & Booming Bat Tales; HBD Ed & Harry

• 1864 - C Harry Decker was born in Lockport, Illinois. Harry spent most of his fourth and final MLB season (1890) with the Pirates, hitting .274. Decker was all-around; he also played 1B, 2B, SS and OF for Pittsburgh. Per SABR, Decker is on the short list as an inventor of the modern catcher's mitt, winning a patent in 1906. Harry’s later years are a mystery - in the 1910s, he was serving time at San Quentin prison under the name Earl Henry Davenport (and playing ball for the prison team, which is how he was outed by The Sporting Life). His criminal ways involved forgery, larceny and bigamy (he was also said to be a womanizer) while several of his crimes victimized other ballplayers. The string of aliases he used made documenting his life beyond baseball impossible; baseball historians lost track of him after 1915 when he was released from The Q. 
• 1885 - 1B Ed Konetchy was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He stopped in Pittsburgh in the middle of his 15-year career, hitting .249 for the Pirates in 1914 and .314 for the Federation League Pittsburgh Rebels in 1915. Konetchy was noted for his speed, consistency with the stick (.281 career BA plus he broke up four no hitters during his career) and solid glovework along with his friendly demeanor (His SABR bio noted that “He was the kind of player that even the umpire liked.") Ed was a man of many monikers: the Candy Kid (his first job was in a candy factory), Big Ed (he was 6-2, 195 lb), the LaCrosse Lulu (hometown), the Big Bohemian (he was Czech), Edward the Mighty (600+ career extra-base hits) and he was listed in box scores simply as Koney. He was posthumously inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1961. 

Ed Konetchy - Helmar Oasis

• 1890 - Pittsburgh played the Cleveland Spiders in Altoona, one of four regular season home games in the Alleghenys/Pirates history that wasn’t played in Pittsburgh (Wheeling and two at Williamsport were the others). The Alleghenys lost to a 23-year-old rookie named Cy Young, 10-6. The Pirates self-destructed during the game by committing 10 errors, leaving the Altoona fans “somewhat disappointed” per the Pittsburgh Press. The game’s actual status confused later baseball historians, who can’t quite figure out if it was a make-up of a rainout or barnstorming, such was the state of record-keeping back in the day. The Press called it a “championship” game - ie, the result counted towards determining the league champion - and we’ll leave it at that. 
• 1894 - Replacing fired skipper Al Buckenberger, C Connie Mack took the helm to lead the Pirates to a 22-1 win (“...the Pittsburgs were in brave form against the visiting Senators” said the Pittsburgh Press) over his former Washington team at Exposition Park. Mack was a Bucco for six years, batting .242 from 1891-96 while compiling an 149–134 (.527) record as a player/manager (1894-96). Mack (real name: Cornelius McGillicuddy) later went on to a Hall-of-Fame career as the long-time skipper of the Philadelphia Athletics. 
• 1905 - Deacon Phillippe and Chicago's Bob Wicker hooked up in a 10-inning scoreless duel, each allowing three hits, before the Colts scored an unearned run in the 11th following a triple. That runner scored a batter later when with the infield in, 1B Del Howard threw the ball away going for the out at home. In the nitecap, Paul “Lefty” Leifield made his MLB debut and whitewashed Chicago 1-0 on a three-hitter in a game stopped after six innings at West Side Park because both teams had to catch a train to their next series. The Buc run scored in the final frame when Fred Clarke doubled to lead off and scored on a pair of groundouts. In a bit of an oddity, all four pitchers threw three-hitters. The opening loss broke an 11-game winning streak by the Bucs. They went on to win 8-of-9 afterward on the way to a 96-win, second-place finish. 

Lefty Leifield - Harwell Collection/Detroit Public Library

• 1914 - In a rare early example of a guaranteed contract being upheld, Pittsburgh Rebel Harry Gessler reached a final settlement with the Federal League club after he was fired as player/manager two weeks into the season. He rebuffed the ownership’s proffered settlement and hired an attorney to collect his pay and a separation bonus, as stipulated in his “ironclad” contract. Gessler, from Indiana and Greensburg HS, then left baseball and went to medical school, where Harry picked up the moniker “Doc” and started a hometown practice.
• 1914 - The Pirates had a big day in an otherwise dismal season when they swept the Cards, 11-6 and 10-3, at Forbes Field. Wilbur Cooper won the opener with relief help from “Hickory Bob” Harmon while Erv “Kanty” Kantlehner went the distance in the nitecap. The offensive hero was Max Carey, who scored five times in the opener. The Bucs swept a four-game set from St. Louis without the injured Honus Wagner. Pittsburgh ended the season with a 69-85 slate, finishing in seventh place, 25-1/2 games off the pace of the Boston Braves, as their roster was badly deflated by defections to the upstart Federal League. 
• 1925 - The Pirates won their ninth in a row with a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field. Glenn Wright went 3-for-4 with two RBI to back Ray Kremer’s pitching. Pittsburgh upped their league lead to nine games. The gap would never drop below seven games as they won the crown by 8-1/2 games and whipped the Senators in the World Series. 
• 1927 - The Pirates bombed the Cards, 14-0, at Forbes Field. George Grantham went 4-for-4 while Paul Waner and Pie Traynor each went 3-for-4. Carmen Hill tossed a five-hit winner as the Pirates began to pull away from the Cards and NY Giants, taking a two game lead in the NL race, a position that they would never surrender on their way to meeting Murderer’s Row in the Series.

The Waner bros - Helmar Big League Brew

•  1928 - The Bucs broke out the bats at Forbes Field, clobbering the Chicago Cubs, 16-1, in the opener of a Forbes Field twin bill and taking the nitecap, 6-3. Five Pirates had multiple RBI in the first game as Lloyd Waner led the 19-hit outburst with four knocks behind Erv Brame’s five hitter. Paul Waner, Adam Comorosky and Dick Bertell added three hits each. Big Poison homered and had a pair of RBI to back Ray Kremer in the finale. Comorosky was a busy boy; he tied an NL record for right fielders with nine putouts in the second contest. 
• 1934 - The Pirates beat the Dean brothers, Daffy (Paul) and Dizzy (Jay), by 12-2 and 6-5 scores during a Forbes Field doubleheader. Freddie Lindstrom had four hits in the lid lifter, Pie Traynor and Gus Suhr knocked in three runs each and Larry French cruised to the victory. The Bucs put it away with their biggest inning of the season, an eight-run third. The second game had its action in the ninth. The Cards scored three times to take a 5-3 lead; the Pirates came back with a three spot of their own in the bottom half, ripping three hits off reliever Dizzy Dean and claiming the win when Pie Traynor singled into right to score Lindstrom, who had seven hits during the day. Howie Meine got the win after coming in to relieve Waite Hoyt in the final frame. Volney Walsh of the Pittsburgh Press wrote “the customers had come to see Dizzy pitch, no doubt about it, but when he left the mound, thousands stood and gave a tremendous ‘boo’ that could be heard for blocks. Even the Carnegie Museum seemed to rock from that razzberry.” 
• 1944 - The Pirates took both ends of a twinbill from the Cardinals, 6-5 and 8-2, to sweep the four-game set from St. Louis. The brooming ended the Cards’ amazing MLB record of 132 consecutive series without being swept. Rip Sewell and Jumbo Strincevich were the complete game winners, putting on a show for the largest Forbes Field crowd of the season of 34,927. 
• 1945 - The Bucs took a double dipper from St. Louis, 6-5 and 6-2. The Bucs banged four homers in the opener, two by C Bill Salkeld. Fritz Ostermueller got the win while Ted Wilks took the loss; Wilks wouldn’t lose again until 1948, after 77 more appearances. In the nitecap, Preacher Roe scattered seven hits while fanning 11, and his battery mate Al Lopez caught his 1‚793rd game‚ a then-MLB record for catchers, eclipsing Gabby Hartnett, who set the mark in 1941. 

Al Lopez - 1977 TCMA

• 1950 - The Pirates gave up a pair of runs in the 10th to the Cards, then rallied to score three in their half to beat St. Louis, 12-11, at Forbes Field. Bob Dillinger and pinch hitter Pete Castiglione hit back-to-back homers off Harry Breechen to tie the game. After Breechen walked Ralph Kiner intentionally with two outs, Gus Bell doubled home the game winner. 
• 1962 - OF Dave Clark was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. He played for the Pirates for five seasons (1992-96) as a reserve OF’er and bench bat. Clark’s Pittsburgh line was .278/35/158 with an OPS+ of 111 in 940 AB. He went on to coach in Pittsburgh, Houston (where he served as interim manager) and Detroit. Dave also managed several seasons for Licey in the Dominican League. 
• 1966 - The Bucs showed off their muscle in a 9-1 win over the Cubs at Forbes Field. All eight position players had at least one rap and either scored or drove in a run, while seven of the Pirates 14 hits went for extra bases (two doubles, three triples, two homers). Tommie Sisk appreciated the support, but more than held up his end by tossing a complete-game four-hitter. 
• 1968 - Willie Stargell took off the glasses he had been wearing for 10 days (he was 1-for-25 with 11 K while wearing them) and returned to his normal ball-banging self, hitting a solo homer in the sixth that was the game winner in a 3-2 win over the Astros at Forbes Field. His play wasn’t the big one, though - Larry Dierker, who limited the Bucs to four hits, walked the bases loaded in the second inning, and Jose Herrera booted a DP ball that should have ended the inning. Instead, Stargell scored on the error and Bill Mazeroski came in a batter later on a short Freddie Patek sac fly. Dock Ellis got the win - he was in almost constant hot water, giving up 11 hits, but for the most part dodged the raindrops - finished off by Luke Walker, who struck out the final four ‘Stros. The crowd was a dismal 3,003 as the Pirates sat in sixth place, 21 games off the lead.