10/10: WS Matches; Playoff Contests; TSN Danny, SI Deacon; '61 Expansion; '90 Staff Back; Latino HoF; Game Tales; RIP Lefty; HBD Cutch, Renegade, Shelby, Gene, Myrl, Homer, Dave & Ad

• 1867 - RHP Addison “Ad” Gumbert was born on Frankstown Avenue in Pittsburgh’s East End. He won 123 games in nine MLB seasons and was a good enough hitter that he played 38 games in the outfield. Ad was a Buc from 1893-94, going 26-21/5.73, and even played seven games in the pasture with a .263 BA. He and his brother Billy just missed one another; Billy pitched for the Bucs in 1892, a year before Ad arrived. After he hung up the spikes, Gumbert became a popular local politico and an active community leader. He was elected sheriff of Allegheny County and later County Commissioner while also serving as chairman of several charitable and civic organizations. 
• 1868 - LHP Dave Anderson was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He tossed a couple of big league campaigns, finishing up his career with 13 starts for the 1890 Alleghenys with a line of 2-11/4.67. He then toiled for local minor league clubs before hanging it up after the 1891 season. 
• 1879 - P/UT Homer Hillebrand was born in Freeport, Illinois. Homer was a Princeton grad that was good at multitasking. His MLB career was spent with the Pirates from 1905-06 & 1908, and he pitched in 18 games (11 starts) with an 8-4-1/2.51 line. He also played 26 games in the field at 1B, OF and C (even though he was a lefty), hitting .237. Homer sat out the ‘07 year to rest a sore arm that never bounced back, causing him to retire after tossing one frame in ‘08. 
• 1894 - RHP Myrl Brown was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Myrl started his career late, at age 24, following his service during WW1. He quickly became a minor league ace and in a bit of a bidding war, Barney Dreyfuss bought him from the Reading Orioles in August, 1922, for $20K (Brown kept one-third; the rest went to his team) and he got into seven games (five starts) with a line of 3-1/5.97. He won his first three starts, a feat unmatched until 2013 when Gerrit Cole won his first four outings, and even with the meh counting numbers, the Bucs liked what they had seen of him. But he showed up for camp in 1923 with a dead arm; Pittsburgh sent him to a couple of minor league teams to see if it would recover, but with no luck. He took a full year off to nurse it and came back in 1924 to work three straight 250+ IP seasons in the bushes, but never got another call. 

Kitty Bransfield - 1903 photo Chicago Daily News/Library of Congress

• 1903 - The fourth and final home match of the Series at Exposition Park before 17,038 fans saw Deacon Phillippe start his fourth game of the ‘03 WS against Cy Young, who was making his third start. Boston won the match easily, 7-3, and returned home up four games to three, looking for just one more win to claim MLB’s first World Series crown. Kitty Bransfield went 3-for-4 for the Pirates while Jimmy Sebring and Phillippe added a pair of knocks during the afternoon. 
• 1904 - In the final year without a formal October Classic (the 1903 World Series was set up by the two pennant-winning clubs, Pittsburgh and Boston, not by the leagues themselves), the Naps and Pirates opened a five-game postseason exhibition series of their own at Cleveland’s League Field. It was a natural rivalry due to the proximity of the cities, as a bragging-rights NL-AL clash with both teams finishing fourth in their league and with a bit of star power on display featuring the era’s two best hitters, Hans Wagner and Nap Lajoie (the Cleveland nine was called the Naps in Lajoie’s honor). Alas, the fans didn’t want to see meaningless fall baseball and stayed away in droves, with the Naps taking the series, 2-1-2. 
• 1925 - The World Series moved to Griffith Stadium and Washington took a two-to-one lead in games with a 4-3 win, scoring twice in the seventh off Ray Kremer when a walk and an infield single eventually came home to score. DC’s Alex Ferguson and Firpo Mayberry scattered eight hits; Max Carey had a pair of them. Pittsburgh loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but Mayberry got Clyde Barnhart on a pop to the catcher and Pie Traynor on a fly to center to close out the win. The game is famed for the Sens’ Sam Rice’s catch. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Earl Smith drove a ball to right-center field. Rice caught the ball at the fence, flipped over its top and landed in the stands, disappearing for 15 seconds or so. When Rice popped back up, the ball was in his glove and the umpire, Cy Rigler, called the batter out. The ump's explanation was that as soon as the catch was made the play was over, so it didn’t matter if Rice dropped it during his tumble or not. Rice was mum about the grab - “The ump called him out” was all he’d say - and seemed to enjoy the life-long conversation piece. After his death in 1974, a letter he penned was opened at Cooperstown, and he had written "At no time did I lose possession of the ball." 
• 1930 - A MLB All-Star team played its first game in Cuba on a 10-day barnstorming tour, including Pirates reps OF Paul Waner, 3B Pie Traynor and P Larry French. The Cubans proved to be worthy opponents then as now, winning four of the seven games played on La Isla. 

Gene Tenace - 1984 Donruss

• 1946 - C Gino Tennaci (Gene Tenace) was born in Russellton, Pennsylvania, in northeastern Allegheny County. Gene’s claim to fame came as an Oakland Athletic, where he played eight of his 15 MLB years. His final hurrah was in Pittsburgh, where Tenace spent his last season as a utility player and pinch-hitter, appearing in 53 games in 1983 and batting .177. He retired after being released in spring training the following year. Gino was considered a candidate to replace Chuck Tanner as manager but Chuck hung in for another season and so Tenace began his coaching odyssey with Houston, going to Toronto (twice), Boston and St. Louis before retiring in 2009. 
• 1960 - Vernon Law was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated during its 1960 World Series coverage. He won a pair of games against the Yankees and the Cy Young Award as he finished the regular season 20-9/3.09. The Deacon went through some injury-plagued campaigns afterward and even considered retirement, but rallied to win the National League Comeback Player of the Year award in 1965, with a 17-9/2.15 slash, along with earning the Lou Gehrig Award for his contributions on and off the field. Law finished his career with a slash line of 162-147-13/3.77 with 483 outings (364 starts). 
• 1960 - Bill Mazeroski’s two-run double was the big blow as Harvey Haddix and Roy Face claimed a 5-2 win and three games to two World Series lead against New York at Yankee Stadium, packed with 62,753 fans. Don Hoak also chased home a pair of runs; he and Smoky Burgess each had two knocks. Pittsburgh outhit the Yankees 10-to-5 to move within a game of the crown. 
• 1961 - The expansion draft claimed six Pirates - the Houston Colt .45s took OF Roman Mejias, P Bobby Shantz, P Jim Umbricht and C Hal Smith, while the New York Mets selected OF Joe Christopher and P Al Jackson. All but Shantz and Jackson had been members of the 1960 title team. 

Lefty Leifield - 1909-11 American Tobacco

• 1970 - LHP Albert “Lefty” Leifield passed away at the age of 87 in Fairfax, Virginia. Leifield tossed for the Pirates from 1905-12. From 1906-11, he was a regular in the Pittsburgh rotation, winning 15 or more games each season and slashing 109-84-7/2.38 with 28 shutout victories. In 1909, he went 19-8 to help the Pirates win the National League pennant although he lost his only World Series outing that year; he was the last remaining member of that Fall Classic club. Lefty spent five more years in the majors after the Pirates traded him to the Cubs with several minor league stops, fighting a sore arm in his later years. Per SABR’s Lenny Jacobson, after his playing career, Leifield coached for the Browns, Red Sox, and Tigers, also managing in the minors for seven years. Lefty then worked in the St. Louis water department before spending his last years fishing, betting on horses, and taking in an occasional game at Busch Stadium. 
• 1970 - Danny Murtaugh was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Bucs’ Secret Weapon.” His ‘70 team made the transition from Forbes Field to Three Rivers Stadium and won the National League East, only to be swept by the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS. 
• 1972 - Cincinnati, facing elimination, took the Pirates behind the woodshed at Riverfront Stadium, winning, 7-1, to force a winner-take-all showdown for the NLCS crown. Ross Grimsley tossed a two-hitter, with both hits posted by Roberto Clemente, including a solo homer. Dock Ellis went five frames, giving up three unearned runs on a pair of two-out errors. The Big Red Machine then teed off on relievers Bob Johnson and Luke Walker to run away with the contest. 
• 1979 - The Orioles rocked Bruce Kison for five first-inning runs (Buster got one out before being yanked) and then hung on to take the first game of the World Series, 5-4. Willie Stargell homered with a pair of RBI and Dave Parker banged out four knocks while Jim Rooker, Enrique Romo, Don Robinson and Grant Jackson pitched three-hit ball over the last 8-2/3 innings. Mike Flanagan gave up 11 hits, but went the distance for Baltimore’s win at Memorial Stadium. 

Cutch - 2011 Bowman Platinum

• 1986 - Andrew McCutchen was born in Fort Meade, Florida. Cutch, a five-time All-Star and MVP selected in the first round (#11) of the 2005 draft, was the face of the team after replacing Nate McLouth during the 2009 season until he was traded after the 2017 campaign. Andrew slashed .291/203 HR/725 RBI as a Bucco and won Baseball America’s Rookie of the Year, four Silver Sluggers, a Golden Glove, two Player’s Choice Outstanding Player of the Year and the Roberto Clemente award during his Bucco tenure. In 2018, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants and then moved to the New York Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies and now he’s with the Milwaukee Brewers. 
• 1990 - RHP Shelby Miller was born in Round Rock, Texas. A first round pick (19th overall) of the Cards in 2009 out of high school, he debuted in 2012. After a nice three-year run, injuries piled up on him and he underwent TJ surgery, making only 16 starts over the next five years (he opted out of the Covid-shortened 2020 season). The Cubs cut him loose in 2021 and the Pirates signed him in July as a long man option, calling him up from Indy in September. He got into 10 games and signed with the Yankees in 2022, was released, and is now with the Giants. 
• 1990 - Pittsburgh stayed alive in the NLCS by edging the Reds, 3-2, before a crowd of 48,221 at TRS to cut the Cincinnati margin to three games to two. Doug Drabek worked into the ninth, then Bob Patterson came on to get the last two outs to save the victory. Andy Van Slyke and Barry Bonds each chased home a run and scored a run against Tom Browning to lead Pittsburgh’s attack. The Pirates also rewarded the field bosses by announcing that Jim Leyland’s staff of Rich Donnelly, Bruce Kimm, Gene Lamont, Ray Miller, Milt May and Tommy Sandt, would return intact for the 1991 campaign. 
• 1991 - Steve Avery and Alejandro Pena combined to stop the Bucs, 1-0, on four hits at TRS to knot the NLCS at three games apiece in front of 57,533 fans, the largest crowd in Pirates history. Mark Lemke’s two-out, bad-hop double that bounded over 3B Steve Buechele’s shoulder in the sixth scored David Justice, who had walked & then stole second, to send Zane Smith to a tough defeat. Bobby Bonilla doubled to lead off the ninth and took third on a wild pitch with one away, but Pena got Buechele on a comebacker and caught Curtis Wilkerson looking on three pitches to save the game. 

AVS - 1992 Classic

• 1992 - John Smoltz won his second NLCS game, 6-4, in front of 57,164 boosters filling the seats at TRS, to put the Bucs in a 3-1 hole as Doug Drabek took the loss. The Bucs managed just six hits, with Andy Van Slyke banging out a double and triple. Drabek had a rare rough outing off the slab and Randy Tomlin was touched for a pair of runs in relief. 
• 1994 - RHP Dave Bednar was born in Mars and is a grad of Mars Area HS. He was a late-round pick of the Padres in the 2016 draft from Lafayette College and joined the hometown nine in 2021 as part of the Joe Musgrove package. He only worked 17 innings total for San Diego, but was dominating in the spring for the Pirates, and even with an option to burn made the Opening Day roster. The Pirates slowly slid him into high leverage situations and moved him into the closer’s role when Richard Rodriguez was traded. Despite missing much of August/September of 2022 with a bad back, he earned 19 saves over the year and was selected to Team USA for the 2023 WBC. He followed with a 39-save campaign and an All-Star berth to go with a 2.00 ERA in 66 outings. 
• 2010 - Pirates RF Roberto Clemente and Cuban/Negro Leagues Martin “El Immortal” Dihigo, who played for the Homestead Grays in 1927-28, were inducted into the inaugural class of the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame.