7/12 Through 1984: Pud To Pgh; Cobra RF Debut, Long Ball, Jack Gem, Game Tales; Sudsy, Lucky 13, ASGs; HBD Gorzo, Phil, Big Country, Dave, Johnny & Specs

• 1885 – The Buffalo Bisons sold RHP Pud Galvin to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys for $5,000. Galvin won 138 games pitching for the Alleghenys, Burghers and Pirates. From the HOF (he was inducted in 1965): “Jim ‘Pud’ Galvin was baseball's first 300-game winner. Short and stocky, The Little Steam Engine was a tireless worker with a deceptive pick-off move. Galvin pitched for 14 Major League seasons, earning 20 or more victories 10 times and twice topping the 40-win mark. When he retired in 1892, he was the all-time Major League leader in wins, innings pitched, games started, games completed and shutouts. He was nicknamed Pud because his pitching process supposedly turned opposing batters into pudding.” Galvin also went by "Gentleman Jeems” for his demeanor, and "The Little Steam Engine" because of his small but powerful build. 
• 1894 - Lee Meadows was born in Oxford, NC. The righty spent the last seven campaigns (1923-29) of his 15-year career with the Pirates, going 88-52/3.50. He was hardly used his last two seasons (he made five appearances), but was a workhorse in his first five years, leading the NL with 20 wins in 1926 and winning 19 games twice. Meadows was part of two World Series teams, the winning 1925 club and the losing 1927 squad. He wore glasses and was dubbed “Specs.” 
• 1902 - Jack Chesbro pitched a five-hit shutout (he led the league with eight whitewashes) and struck out 11 Giants to beat Christy Mathewson, 4-0, at Exposition Park despite the Buccos losing five straight runners via basepath errors. With two outs in the third, Ginger Beaumont was on second base and was tossed out trying to advance to third on a grounder to short. In the fourth, Honus Wagner led off with a triple, but was thrown out at the plate on Kitty Bransfield's grounder to first; Bransfield was then caught trying to steal second. Claude Ritchey drew a walk and got picked off first. Jimmy Burke led off the fifth with a double and tried to stretch it into a triple, but was tagged out by Matty, covering the bag. Happy Jack’s performance made it all moot. 
• 1919 - OF Johnny Wyrostek was born in Fairmont City, Illinois. The Bucs bought him from the St. Louis Cardinals and he spent 1942-43 as a bench player in Pittsburgh, hitting just .140 in 60 games. After a two-year break for the service, he returned to baseball and played another nine campaigns for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds, ending his career with a solid .271 BA and two All-Star outings. After he retired, he returned home to become a deputy sheriff, tradesman, and the long-time mayor of his birthplace, Fairmont City. 

Larry French - 1933 Conlon

• 1933 - The Pirates blew an 8-0 lead in the ninth inning as the Boston Braves rallied to tie the score at Forbes Field, leading to Larry French’s “Soap Game.” Per Bob Fulton’s 1999 Pittsburgh Pirates History: “French figured he could duck out of the bullpen and hit the showers early. Little did he know as he was getting clean that the Braves had rallied to make the score 8-7. When the call came for French to pitch, he didn't even have time to rinse off. He put on his uniform and hustled out to the mound with soap trickling down his neck.” French tossed 1-2/3 IP perfectly and earned the win as the Bucs came back to take a 9-8 decision. Arky Vaughan helped, too - he doubled, banged two triples and drove in five runs. 
• 1935 - Dave Ricketts was born in Pottstown. He was a two-way star at Duquesne University, playing on a pair of Dukes NIT basketball teams. He spent most of his MLB career as a back-up catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, joining the Bucs in 1970. Ricketts retired after that season and coached in Pittsburgh from 1971-74 as part of the World Series team. 
• 1938 - The Pirates won their 13th straight game, 14-6, over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, led by C Al Todd, who homered and drove home five runs. With their 40th victory in their last 54 games, the Bucs were in the NL lead for the first time that season. Ed Brandt got the win and Rip Sewell notched a save. That club was in first place by two games on September 25th, then fell apart, losing six of their last seven games to finish two games off the pace. 
• 1949 - Pittsburgh sent OF Ralph Kiner to Ebbets Field for the All-Star Game, won 11-7 by the Junior Circuit. Ralph went 1-for-5 and his one swat left the park for a two-run homer, but a Kiner fly out generated bigger news - Ted Williams fractured his elbow after crashing into the fence while grabbing one of Ralph’s screamers. Although he finished the game, the Splendid Splinter was operated on the next day and was out of action until mid-September. This All-Star Game was the first to have black ballplayers in the lineup, with Brooklyn’s Jackie Robinson starting at 2B while teammates C Roy Campanella and P Don Newcombe also appeared for the Nationals. Indians' OF’er Larry Doby played four innings for the AL’ers. 

Ralph Kiner - 1949 Bowman

• 1955 - OF Frank Thomas was the only Pirates player in the All-Star Game at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. He went 0-for-1 in a 6-5 National League overtime win. It was one of the Senior Circuit’s great rallies as they overcame a 5-0 deficit in the seventh and eighth innings, winning in the 12th frame on the Cards' (and Donora’s) Stan “The Man” Musial’s first-pitch walk-off homer. 
• 1956 - The Bucs swept a doubleheader at Wrigley Field by 2-1 and 5-4 counts. In the opener, Ronnie Kline kept the Cubbies under control by spinning a six-hitter and was backed by Bill Virdon’s three hits. The nitecap hero was Dale Long, who chased home four runs against Chicago with a bases-loaded triple and a game-winning solo shot in the eighth, the slugger’s first long ball in over a month. It gave ElRoy Face a well-deserved win after he tossed seven innings of scoreless, five-hit ball in relief of Cholly Naranjo, who was making his first major league start. 
• 1959 - Roberto Clemente kept ElRoy Face’s 19-game win streak alive when he cracked a bases-loaded single off the right field wall in the 10th inning to rally the Bucs to a 6-5 win over the Cards at Forbes Field. Face had blown the save in the ninth frame, but settled down and was on the hill for the win. Dick Groat and Danny Kravitz carried the Pittsburgh attack with three hits. 
• 1966 - The Nationals edged the Americans, 2-1, in the All-Star game at Busch Stadium on soon-to-be Bucco Maury Will’s 10th-inning rap. OF Roberto Clemente batted 2-for-4 with a double, OF Willie Stargell went 0-for-1 and P Bob Veale sat. The game not only went into extras, but hello, St. Looie summer - it was a muggy 105 degree day with the field reaching a toasty 113 degrees. 

Dave Parker - 1973 Debut Custom Card

• 1973 - Dave Parker made his Bucco debut in right field, replacing Manny Sanguillen (who was trying to replace Roberto Clemente), in a 4-0 Pirates win against the Padres at San Diego Stadium. He went 0-for-4, but Willie Stargell homered and had three RBI while Bob Robertson added a solo shot. Luke Walker went the distance for the win, spinning a five hitter. 
• 1980 - OF/1B Brad “Big Country” (6-5, 280 lbs) Eldred was born in Fort Lauderdale. The big banger (he hit 30+ dingers four times in the minors) was drafted by the Pirates in the sixth round of the 2002 draft. He made his MLB debut in 2005, batting just .221 but with 12 homers in 190 at-bats. That was offset by 77 whiffs, and he made it back to Pirates for just a brief 2007 showing, hitting .140 in 47 PAs after missing most of 2006 due to injury. The K-rate haunted him and he got two cups-of-coffee with Colorado in 2010 and Detroit in 2012 before continuing his career in Japan where he played for Hiroshima through 2018. 
• 1981 - LHP Phil Dumatrait was born in Bakersfield, California. The Pirates claimed him from the Cincinnati Reds, and he worked the bump from 2008-09 here, making 11 appearances and six starts with a line of 3-6/5.50. He became a starter when Matt Morris was released, but underwent bursitis surgery (his second procedure after TJ surgery in 2004) and his shoulder never fully recovered. Phil retired in 2012 after a couple of come-back tries fell short. 
• 1982 - LHP Tom Gorzelanny was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois. The lefty was a second round draft pick of the Pirates in 2003, and spent the first 4-1/2 years (2005-09) of his career in Pittsburgh with a 25-26/4.79 line before being traded to the Cubs. Gorzo has tossed for six teams in his career, last with the Indians in 2016. He’s now a D-Back minor league pitching coach.