- 1862 - IF Jim Gray was born in Pittsburgh. Gray was a local kid “who helped in an emergency” whenever a Pittsburgh club was short handed as a roster fill-in, per Frederick Lieb in his book “The Pittsburgh Pirates.” Playing in six games - not many emergencies back in the day, we guess - he got 23 at-bats and hit for a .304 average (His fielding was brutal, though; the infielder made nine errors in 32 chances). He played for the Alleghenys in 1884 & 1890, the Player’s League Burghers, also in ‘90, and finally for the Pirates in 1893. He spent a short time umpiring in the minors before coming back home. Jim then settled down and spent the next 50 years as a City worker.
- 1864 - RHP William “Adonis” Terry was born in Westfield, Massachusetts. He tossed for 14 big league seasons, working for the Pirates from 1892-94. He was excellent in ‘92 (17-7/2.51) but went downhill in his last two seasons, still putting up a respectable slash of 30-16/3.45 as a Buc. During his career, he tossed two no-hitters, was versatile enough to play both infield and outfield if called on, and umpired, even as an active player, into his retirement. Brooklyn fans gave him his nickname, reflecting the clean living Terry’s appearance and character.
- 1886 - Bill McKechnie was born in Wilkinsburg. A backup infielder for Pittsburgh (1907, 1910-12, 1918, 1920/.235 BA), he began 1922 as a Pirate coach. McKechnie replaced George Gibson as manager in midseason, and the team improved from fifth place to a tie for third. The club got better in each of the next few seasons before capturing the National League pennant and the World Series crown in 1925. But after the Pirates fell to third place in 1926, McKechnie was fired. He resurfaced and became the only skipper to win pennants with three different NL clubs - Pittsburgh (1925), St. Louis (1928), and Cincinnati (1939-40). McKechnie earned the nickname “Deacon” because he sang in his church choir and lived a quiet lifestyle. He was also the namesake for Bradenton’s old McKechnie Field (now LECOM Park) and joined the Hall of Fame in 1962.
- 1895 - The Pirates rang up 11 runs in the third inning, parlaying a combo of bloops, blasts, boots and bases on balls, to trounce the St. Louis Browns at Exposition Park, 18-1. The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette wrote ”There wasn’t enough left of the St. Louis Browns to bait a mousetrap...the home boys grabbed the visitors by the neck and knocked down all the high weeds in the outfield...” among other bon mots. Brownie Foreman (the winner) and Jake Hewitt scattered five hits for the victory while Jake Stenzel led the Pirates 18-hit barrage with four knocks.
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| Jimmy Sebring - 1904 photo Chicago History Museum/Getty |
- 1904 - The Pirates sent IF Jimmy Sebring to the Reds, Cincy sent Mike Donlin to New York, and the Giants then sent OF Moose McCormack to the Bucs. The deal was the seed that sprouted this trade tree: the Pirates flipped Moose to Philly for IF/OF Del Howard, who become part of the 1905 package sent to Boston that landed Hall of Fame RHP Vic Willis, who won 89 games for Pittsburgh in four seasons and was part of the World Series Championship squad of 1909.
- 1913 - The Pirates purchased pitcher Erv “Peanuts” Kantlehner from Victoria in the Northwestern League. Peanuts went 13-29-5 between 1914-16 for the Bucs, with a respectable 2.84 ERA. He split his time starting and relieving, matching five saves with five shutouts. Peanut's career ended in 1916 after he was sold to Philly, where he made three final outings. The Santa Clara University grad's last pro gig was with San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League in 1919.
- 1915 - The Pirates tossed double zeroes at the Philadelphia Phillies in sweeping a Forbes Field double-dipper, 9-0 and 6-0. Al Mamaux tossed a four-hitter behind an efficient Buc attack that scored nine runs on nine hits. Jim Viox and George Gibson had two hits while Max Carey homered. In the second match, Bob Harmon scattered five hits while Doug Baird had a pair of raps including a triple and Bill Hinchman added two more knocks to lead the attack against the Phils.
- 1915 - 1B Les Fleming was born in Singleton, Texas. His last hurrah was with the Pirates in 1949, hitting .258 in a bench role to end his seven-year MLB run (he debuted with Detroit and then spent five years in Cleveland). Fleming played on until 1956, closing out a 20-year pro run (he missed two years during the war) in the Texas League, retiring from pro ball at age 40.
- 1920 -The Pittsburgh Press banner touted “Victory Boosts Pirates Into Third Place” with the front-page story headline of “Gibson’s Warriors Shut Out League’s Leaders” after the Bucs beat the Brooklyn Superbas, 7-0, for their fifth win in a row. Babe Adams got the win at Ebbets Field, tossing a six hitter. A two-run throwing error on a pickoff play gave the Pirates a five-run cushion in the sixth inning and Max Carey’s two-run triple in the seventh frame was the icing. Alas, the pennant fever was premature. The Bucs faded and finished fourth, 14 games off the pace.
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| Babe Adams - 1920 photo/RMY Auction |
- 1922 - Ten different Pirates had two hits apiece, a club record, as the Bucs whipped the Phillies, 17-10, at the Baker Bowl, sparked by an eight-run fourth inning that saw 13 Bucco hitters bat. The only Pittsburgh batters without two knocks were cleanup hitter Clyde Barnhart and pitcher Wilbur Cooper; all 12 batters in the lineup hit safely while even the pitchers combined to go 5-for-5 with a homer. Whitey Glazner picked up the win in relief after Wilbur Cooper and Hal Carlson were given early hooks. The Pirates were in the midst of a 13-game winning streak and this was the beginning of a four-game sweep of the Phils, with the Bucs scoring 57! runs during the set.
- 1925 - The Pirates and Brooklyn Robins had a wild final three innings at Forbes Field. The Robins scored twice in the seventh inning to take the lead at 7-4; Pittsburgh scored three times in their half to knot the score. Brooklyn then plated twice in the eighth frame to go up 9-7; the Pirates answered in the ninth with a three-pack to rally for a 10-9 win. Max Carey, Pie Traynor and Kiki Cuyler each had three hits in the victory, which went to “Jughandle” Johnny Morrison.
- 1936 - C Jerry McNertney was born in Boone, Iowa. He finished a nine-year MLB career with the Pirates in 1973, playing nine games, mostly as a defensive sub, and going 1-for-4 at the dish. The Iowa State product was later a bullpen and minor league coach with the Yankees and briefly a Bosox coach in 1989 before spending eight years coaching at his alma mater.
- 1942 - For the first time, a Negro League game was broadcast on radio when the Washington/Homestead Grays defeated their division rivals, the Baltimore Elite Giants, 7-3, at Baltimore’s Bugle Field in front of a guesstimated crowd of 6,000 fans. The Baltimore Afro-American newspaper sponsored the game, aired by WWDC in a battle between the Grays’ southpaw Roy Welmaker and the Giants’ Jonah Gaines. It ended up an easy win for Homestead; they scored four times in the first while Josh Gibson homered twice (he was also wisely intentionally walked two times) to leapfrog Baltimore into first place. The games were broadcast sporadically; the two teams were carried on the airwaves next on August 13th from Griffith Stadium, a 14-inning, 3-2, Grays win over the KC Monarchs in front of a crowd of 24,000. Welmaker started against Satchel Paige, with Ray Brown coming on in the ninth to finish the task and earn the victory. The Grays ended up claiming the Negro NL title, but Paige had his revenge as Homestead was swept by the Monarchs in the Negro World Series. (Thanks to Donna Halper/SABR - “August 7, 1942: First Negro League Baseball Game Is Broadcast On Radio“)
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| Cum Posey - Longa Ars |
- 1946 - In a Forbes Field night game, the Homestead Grays topped the Baltimore Elite Giants, 7-4, in a Negro League game witnessed by 6,000 fans. It was dedicated to Cum Posey: the owner, who had died earlier in the year, was commemorated with a scholarship award in his name that the contest helped to fund. Two pups, the Grays’ 23-year-old Wilmer Fields and 22-year-old Joe Black of the Giants, faced off from the hill. The Homestead hitting stars were Luis Marquez, who was a homer shy of the cycle, and Buck Leonard, who added a pair of raps.
- 1951 - RHP Jim Sadowski was born in Lawrenceville. A nephew of the local MLB clan of Ed, Ted and Bob Sadowski, he played for Central Catholic HS. Ed signed with the Pirates in 1969 and while not as successful as his uncles, he did get into four games with Pittsburgh in 1974, going 0-1/6.00 in nine innings of work. He spent a decade toiling on the farm, playing in the Pirates, Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds systems. Jim’s now a financial consultant.
- 1954 - OF Steve Kemp was born in San Angelo, Texas. He played for the 1985-86 Pirates and hit .246 before being released in early ‘86. He joined the club as part of the deal that brought Tim Foli back to Pittsburgh during the 1984 off season. After a stint in the Senior Baseball League, the semi-retired Kemp has coached at the amateur level and is a regular at Tigers fantasy camps.
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