6/6: Higbe Deal; Rappin' Russ, Big Frames, Bombs-Away Bucs Score 27, Game Tales; Basebrawl, Face MiLB No-No, D-Day Honored, Helmets On, Jubilee Game; HBD Doug, Tommy & Jake

• 1870 - LHP Jake Hewitt was born in Maidsville, West Virginia. He tossed for WVU in 1895, and joined the Pirates for four games (two starts). He worked 13 innings and slashed 1-0-2/4.15, also tossing for Rochester Browns in the Eastern League and Warren of the Iron and Glass League as a teammate of Honus and Butts Wagner in a pretty busy season. Jake’s last stat line was compiled in 1898 hurling for the New Castle Quakers of the Interstate League. 
• 1894 - The Pirates set a still-standing club record by scoring 27 runs when they routed the Boston Beaneaters, 27-11, at Congress Street Grounds. Boston actually led, 2-0, in the second inning and was tied, 3-3, going into the bottom of the third, until Pittsburgh scored 21 runs in the third and fourth innings. Jake Stenzel homered twice in the third inning, a Bucco first that wouldn’t be duplicated again until 1995 by Jeff King. (The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette cracked “Stenzel made two home runs in the third to relieve the monotony of crackling singles and sharp doubles.”) The Bucs hit four homers and scored 12 times in the that frame, sending 15 players to the dish and setting a homer record of seven bombs in a single game (Stenzel - 2, Lou Bierbauer - 2, Mike Smith, Connie Mack & Denny Lyons) that wouldn’t be matched again until 1947. Tom Colcolough got the win. He was used to big run support, notching eight victories despite a 7.23 ERA. 
• 1902 - 2B Lafayette Fresco “Tommy” Thompson was born in Centerville, Alabama. He first planted his MLB roots in Pittsburgh, playing 14 games and batting .286 for the World Champion 1925 club before spending eight more years in the show, notably with Philadelphia. But Tommy made his name after his playing days, managing in the minors and then becoming a big wheel for the Dodgers, rising from assistant farm director to head of minor league operations under Buzzy Bavasi (he even replaced him as GM briefly) and putting together the 1968 draft that netted Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Bill Buckner, Bobby Valentine, Joe Ferguson and Tom Paciorek. Sadly, he didn’t get to enjoy the fruits of his labor as he passed away a few weeks later. 

Claude Ritchey - 1934 Press file image

• 1925 - The Pirates held their Golden Jubilee celebration, bring back old stalwarts like Happy Jack Chesbro, Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke, Kitty Bransfield, Deacon Phillippe, Ginger Beaumont, CL Zimmer, Tom McCreedy, Jess Tannehill, George Yeager, Jimmie Burke, Wee Tommy Leach and Claude Ritchey. The 1901 team played the 1925 squad in a special pre-game exhibition that lasted three innings, with the young pup club (who, btw, became the NL champs) beating the old timers by a 5-3 score. Pittsburgh’s current crew went to work afterwards, beating the Phils, 9-3, at Forbes Field behind Emil Yde in the game that counted. Eddie Moore homered, Pie Traynor had a double and triple and Glenn Wright contributed a pair of knocks, including a two-bagger, to lead the Pirate attack. 
• 1940 - The Bucs fell behind Boston, 5-0, in the second, then put up a six-spot of their own in the third and hung on for a 7-6 win at Forbes Field. It was an all-hands-on-deck performance with six of the eight Pirates position players having hits with runs scored and/or RBI on the score sheet. Rip Sewell tossed eight innings for the win in relief; he gave up 10 hits but just two runs. The two-hour game was played before a sparse crowd of 1,165. 
• 1941 - The New York Giants became the first team to wear headgear in a game against the Pirates at the Polo Grounds. They donned the caps during a twin bill that Pittsburgh swept, 5-4 and 4-3. The new lids proved more precautionary than protective; no one was beaned in either contest. The Pirates made batting helmets mandatory a decade later under Branch Rickey’s direction. In the nitecap of the doubleheader, Rip Sewell not only won the game but flashed some golden glovework as he set a NL record with 11 assists as a pitcher. 

Vince Di Maggio - 1942 Play Ball (1983 TCMA Reprint)

• 1944 - The Pirates joined Brooklyn (the only other MLB game scheduled for the day) by canceling their game against the Reds at Forbes Field in tribute to the D-Day invasion. Pirates president William Benswanger said “...merely asking the audience to rise and offer silent prayer for the Allied armies who have just invaded the enemy’s stronghold would scarcely be sufficient for such a solemn occasion.” The game was pushed back 24 hours, with the Bucs taking a 4-2 decision behind Rip Sewell’s seven hitter and Vince DiMaggio’s game-winning two-run single in the eighth inning. The victory cemented the Pirates hold on second place, where they would finish the year with a 90-63 record, 15 games behind the St. Louis Cards, who went on to take the World Series crown against the St. Louis Browns. 
• 1949 - RHP Kirby Higbe was traded to the New York Giants for RHP Ray Poat and IF Bobby Rhawn. It ended up a minor deal; Higbe was about at the end of his MLB days (he retired after the 1950 season) and the Giant pair played briefly for the Bucs in ‘49 but were gone the following season. Manager Bill Meyer said somewhat tartly but accurately of the deal “We didn’t get anything too much, but we gave away nothing.” The Bucs were cleaning their house a bit; pitcher Bob Muncrief was waived and sold to the Cubs for $10,000 on the same day. 
• 1952 - ElRoy Face, a 24-year-old starter for the Brooklyn Dodgers AA club, Fort Worth, tossed a nine-inning no-hitter, giving up a hit in the 10th frame before recording a 3-0 win over Buffalo. Despite that and a 14-11/2.83 line, he was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft and the Pirates, then under Branch Rickey, who had originally signed Face for Brooklyn when he was their GM, snapped him up. The Bucs converted him to the bullpen, Face picked up his signature forkball in 1954, and in ‘55 he joined the big club to stay, pitching for 15 years in Pittsburgh and slashing 100-93-186/3.46 in 802 outings while appearing in three All-Star games. He still leads the franchise in outings made and saves with Kent Tekulve holding down both runner-up spots. 
• 1959 - Ron Blackburn had a good day even if the team didn’t follow his lead. The reliever smacked the only longball of his MLB career while tossing four innings of perfect ball mopping-up in an 8-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field. 

Ron Blackburn - 1960 Topps

• 1959 - OF Doug Frobel was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He played for Pittsburgh from 1982-85 and  looked ready to break out after hitting .286 in limited at-bats in 1983, but Doug couldn’t match that pace in following campaigns, ending his Bucco career with a .213 BA. He was sold to the Montreal Expos at the August deadline in 1985 and ended his MLB days with the Cleveland Indians in 1987. Frobel played in the Mexican League and AAA through 1989. 
• 1986 - The Bucs split a twin bill with the Mets at TRS but not without a little dancing. Rick Rhoden was cruising on his way to a 7-1 opening game win when ex-Bucco teammate and current New York coach Bill Robinson called him out (Rhoden was often accused of scuffing a ball) after Gary Carter whiffed. Rick snapped back, Robby gave him a good shove and for five minutes the benches grappled at the mound; umpire Joe West even had to drag Jim Leyland away from the nosh pit. Order was restored; apparently the trigger point was when Rhoden threw a ball in the dirt that left a mark, causing Robinson (the only player ejected) to call on the ump to check the pitcher for foreign objects, which he did without success, and setting off Rhoden. RJ Reynolds did the most damage (with his bat, not his knuckles) with three knocks while Barry Bonds had a pair of hits and a homer. The second game took a 180 when the NY banged three long balls and won easily by a 10-4 score as the hot-and-cold Jose DeLeon was chased early. 
• 1998 - It took the Bucs awhile to rev it up at the dish, but a three-run seventh frame rally knotted the score against the Minnesota Twins at TRS, and after playing a total of four hours and 16 minutes of baseball, the Pirates finally squeezed out a 4-3, 12-inning decision. A Jose Guillen single, Aramis Ramirez triple and Turner Ward homer propelled the big seventh, while four straight singles won the game in the 12th, the first by Chance Sanford and the last by Jason Kendall. Esteban Loaiza, the Bucs fifth pitcher, got the win. The Pirates hurlers seemed to work from the stretch all game; the Twinkies went 0-for-14 w/RISP and stranded 14 runners. 
• 2014 - The Pirates scored eight times in the sixth inning to hand the Milwaukee Brewers a 15-5 thumping at PNC Park. It was the biggest Bucco frame since 2012 when they matched the feat against San Diego. The 15 runs were the most scored since 2010, also against Milwaukee. The Bucs parlayed six hits and four walks into their big inning. Seven Pirates had multi-hit outings during the contest, led by Russ Martin, who had three hits, four RBI and three runs scored.