5/9 Through the 1960s: Con-Klu-Sion; Mr. Swat Salami + 7 RBI; Ken Sold; Game In A Game; Yinz Again?; Plunking Pink; Dirt Balls; UE Line; HBD Tony, Culley & Link

• 1857 - C Dan “Link” Sullivan was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He spent parts of five campaigns in the show, with his last round being five innings caught for the Alleghenys in 1886, with an 0-for-4 showing at bat and two errors/three passed balls behind the dish. He played in two minor league games afterward and ended his career at age 29. He did have a highlight week in 1882 as a rookie when he caught a pair of no-hitters for Louisville within eight days of one another. 
• 1896 - RHP Emerson "Pink" Hawley plunked three Washington batters in the seventh inning at Exposition Park, tying a mark he set two years earlier (in justice, Washington hurler Win Mercer bopped three Pirates in the same frame, so frontier justice prevailed). Eight batters were hit in the contest, with a NL-record five nicked by Hawley, during the Pirates 14-9 loss. The five Senator batters hit by pitches tied the mark that wasn’t matched again until 1969. Hawley retired in 1900 after nine seasons with a still-standing NL record of 201 hit batters; he also walked 933 hitters. For all of that, he was a capable hurler, winning 31 games in 1895 and claiming 167 victories over his career. 
• 1901 - The Pirates beat Chicago, 8-1, behind Deacon Phillippe to end a marathon series. It was the eighth game in nine days between the two clubs, with the first four in Expo Park where the teams split a four-game set and the final four at West Side Park where the Bucs swept the Orphans. Pittsburgh’s Sam Leever beat Chicago’s Tom Hughes twice and Rube Waddell dropped a pair of contests to the Buccos. The Windy City nine finished 6-14 against the Pirates as Pittsburgh won the National League with 90 victories while the Orphans would claim just 53 wins. 
• 1914 - OF Culley Rikard was born in Oxford, Mississippi. Rikard played for the Bucs from 1941-42 before taking a three-year break during the war (he served stateside and played for a unit team called “The Globetrotters”). He returned for the 1947 campaign, posting a .270 BA during his three years with the Buccos. In 1949, playing as a Pittsburgh farmhand, he was traded to the San Francisco Seals for Dino Restelli and ended his pro career after the 1952 season. 

Tony Bartirome - 1953 Topps

• 1932 - Tony Bartirome was born in Pittsburgh. The slick fielding 1B played one year for the Bucs in 1952, hitting .220. The Hill District native did have a long career with the Bucs as their trainer, lasting from 1967-85, and is believed to be the only guy to be an MLB player, coach (w/the Braves from ‘86-88) and trainer. One Bartirome tale involves an RBI he earned, not as a player but as a sawbones. As related in John McCollister’s Tales From The Pirate Dugout, Bartirome went out to check on Bill Robinson, who had just been knocked down by a pitch in the seventh game of the 1979 World Series. The bases were loaded in the ninth with two down when he was brushed back. Robinson told Bartirome that he was OK; the pitcher (Dennis Martinez) didn’t hit him. “The hell he didn’t” replied Bartirome, who dug his nail into Robinson’s thumb until it bled. The ump, Jerry Neudecker, saw the trickle and waved him to first to bring home the Bucs’ final run in the 4-1 win. 
• 1932 - The Depression was tough times, but the Bucs tried to make it a little easier. They began a policy of allowing 25 unemployed fans per game in for free through passes distributed through the Welfare Fund. They had plenty of room; the average attendance that year was just 3,731. 
• 1947 - The Pirates sold lefty Ken Heintzelman‚ 33, to the Phillies. Heintzelman worked 7-1/2 years (1937-46) for the Bucs, interrupted by the war, and had a 37-43/4.14 slash. The swingman wasn’t done; he pitched 5-1/2 more seasons for the Phils, winning 40 games. His son, Tom went on to play major league baseball with the Cardinals and Giants as an infielder between 1973 and 1978. 
• 1948 - In the second game of a Sunday doubleheader at Forbes Field between the Pirates and the Dodgers, umpire Jocko Conlan let the game play through a 7PM curfew because he thought Pittsburgh manager Billy Meyer was stalling while sitting on a 5-4 lead (and he was right). Brooklyn foiled the scheme and went ahead 7-5, but Ralph Kiner hit a three-run HR to give Pittsburgh the 10-8 victory. The Bucs were fined $100 by the City for violating the curfew, but a win was well worth the wrist slap. Brooklyn romped in the opener, 14-2, and all those first-game runs were the reason the nightcap ran past the curfew. 

Ralph Kiner - 1949 MP & Company

• 1950 - Ralph Kiner hit a grand slam, the eighth of his career and second in three games, then added a three-run homer during a 3-for-4, seven-RBI outing as the Bucs beat Brooklyn, 10-5, at Forbes Field. Ralph went on to lead the league with 47 dingers and his first blast was one of 13 grand salamis that he swatted. Bill Werle tossed 6-2/3 frames of scoreless relief for the win. 
• 1958 - Ted Kluszewski broke up a scoreless tie between starters Robin Roberts and Ron Kline - both hurlers went the distance - by belting a lead-off, first-pitch homer in the 12th to give the Bucs a 1-0 win over the Phils at Forbes Field. It was only the fourth Pirates hit off Roberts while Kline scattered eight knocks. The play of the game may have been Roberto Clemente’s laser beam that cut down Granny Hamner at home in the fourth inning, preserving the scoreless deadlock. 
• 1963 - Worms beware: The Bucs beat Dick Ellsworth’s slider into the infield dirt all day as Ernie Banks became the first NL first baseman to post 22 putouts in a game (with an assist). The Cubs whipped Pittsburgh, 3-1, at Wrigley Field as Ellsworth allowed Pittsburgh just two singles.