9/25: Neal Named GM; 46 For Mike, DD's #21, '60 Clincher, Mr. Swat, Wally World; Waner 2B Mark, Moore Debut, Hans Half-Dozen & Swipe Circuit, Game Tales, Wilson's 6's; HBD Vance, Mike, Tony, Dick & Dave

• 1890 - Boston defeated the Alleghenys by a 4-3 score at Recreation Park in front of 240 fans, the usual attendance for the sad-sack Allies. The team was gutted before the season when most of their better players defected to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players League. It wasn't enough that the team wasn't very good. On this day, the ump called the game from behind the mound, and that positioning led him to miscall a ball hit down the line, ruling it foul when it appeared to be a game-tying two-bagger. Even Beaneaters’ manager Frank Seelye agreed, calling the win “a fluke” in the Pittsburgh Press. John “Phenomenal” Smith took the tough loss. Poor attendance accompanied the poor play, with Pittsburgh drawing just 16,604 fans during the year, an average of 236 rooters per game. That led to the squad to playing 97 of their 136 games away. They finished with a road record of 9-88, and their .093 road winning percentage is the worst in MLB history. The 1906 New Castle News wrote tongue-in-cheek (we think) that the term 23 Skidoo came about in reference to the Allies’ 23 wins. 
• 1889 - OF Dave Robertson was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. He played nine big league seasons, stopping in Pittsburgh near the end in 1921 where he started 58 games and hit .322. The Pirates picked him up from the Cubs for RHP Elmer Ponder and then released him at the end of the year. Both were near the end of their roads - Robertson played through 1922; Ponder was done after ‘21. 
• 1901 - The Dutchman, Hans Wagner, drove in six runs against Christy Mathewson at Exposition Park with a double and triple as the Pirates defeated the NY Giants for the 12th straight time during the season by a 10-5 score. The top three men in the lineup - Lefty Davis, Fred Clarke and Ginger Beaumont - banged six hits, walked four times and scored seven runs as a trio. Jesse Tannehill was touched for 13 hits but was never really threatened as Pittsburgh scored three runs in the opening frame and was up 10-1 after six to make the livin’ easy for Jesse. 

Hans - Helmar's Famous Athletes

• 1907 - Honus Wagner swiped four bases at Forbes Field, including second, third, and home in the second inning, against the New York Giants during a 14-1 victory, a deed the Flying Dutchman duplicated four times in his career. Fred Clarke scored three times and also swiped four bags; only Tony Womack would join the pair in stealing four bases in a single game for Pittsburgh. The game itself was a laugher after the Bucs put up a seven-run second inning, with Nick Maddox coasting on a six-hitter. It was the first time since 1901 that the Pirates had taken the season series from their Big Apple rivals. Umpire Bill Klem had his work cut out, though, ejecting three Giants during the game; Klem ended up giving the heave-ho to eight G-Men during the three-game set. 
• 1920 - Jimmy Zinn went the distance in the Pirates 12-inning, 2-1, victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field. Zinn gave up six hits in just his second MLB start; before the game, he had 10 big-league innings under his belt. Zinn’s only full season came the following year, when he went 7-6 for the Pirates. He was the epitome of a AAAA player and spent 25 years hurling in the minors. Elmer Riddle wasn’t quite as sharp in the nightcap as the Cards rallied for a 3-1 win and a split. 
• 1923 - The Pirates turned the Phillies every which way but loose in an 18-5 romp at Forbes Field. SS Eddie Moore made his MLB debut at the leadoff spot, and had three hits, drew two walks, and scored five times. Pie Traynor had chased home four runs and Johnny Rawlings went 4-for-5. Ray Steineder got the win, and chipped in with two hits, two runs, two RBI and a sac bunt. 
• 1927 - The Pirates took a pair from the Cubs at Wrigley Field by 2-1 and 6-1 counts. It was a big sweep as the St Louis Cards, breathing down the Buccos’ necks, also claimed a doubleheader win. The Bucs lead remained at two games with the NY Giants 2-1/2 back with five games to go, and Pittsburgh would hang on to win the NL crown by a game. Vic Aldridge and Ray Kremer got the wins for Pittsburgh. Aldridge helped his own cause with an RBI in the opening squeaker while the Pirates banged out 13 hits in the second game to smooth Kremer’s road. 

Vic Aldridge - 1927 Conlon Collection/Detroit Public Library

• 1932 - Paul Waner stroked a pair of two-baggers at Sportsman's Park to set the Senior Circuit mark for doubles (62) during Pittsburgh’s 7-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a twin bill. Big Poison and Arky Vaughan each had three hits, Gus Dugas homered and Bill Harris scattered seven hits for the win. The Redbirds took the second game, 7-4, overcoming the still-hot bat of Dugas, who banged another long ball and added three hits during the defeat. 
• 1941 - Max Butcher and Elbie Fletcher eliminated the St. Louis Cards from the NL race with a 3-1 win at Forbes Field. Butcher tossed a five-hitter, and the only run he was allowed was when he surrendered a bases-loaded walk in the seventh; he came back to strike out the next two Redbirds to limit the damage. Fletcher drilled a two-run, inside-the-park homer to straight center, with Billy Cox scoring the other tally with a triple followed by Arky Vaughan’s sac fly. 
• 1946 - The Pirates traded with the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks for OF Wally Westlake, sending them a PTBNL (RHP Johnny Hutchings) and $35,000. In five years with the Bucs (1947-51), Westlake slashed .281/97 HR/378 RBI in 580 games; Hutchings never tossed in the majors again. 
• 1946 - Ralph Kiner capped a strong rookie season by banging his 23rd homer in a 6-5 win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. It tied the Johnny Rizzo’s Bucco record for the most long balls in a season and for all intents and purposes, earned him the NL home run title as he bypassed Johnny Mize, the man he was battling for the crown, who was injured and done for the season. Ralph would obliterate the Pirate mark in 1947, swatting 51 dingers. Mr. Swat’s dinger followed Bob Elliot’s three-run shot in the eighth frame and gave the Bucs the lead, which they promptly gave back. The Bucs finally prevailed in the 16th frame, when rookie pinch-hitter Billy Cox’s RBI single plated Lee Handley with the game-winner to reward Ken Gable’s scoreless eight-inning relief stint. 

Ken Gables (Oakland Seals) - 1948 Sommer-Kaufman

• 1949 - Mr. Swat, Ralph Kiner, banged his 53rd homer of the year in the first game of a doubleheader sweep of the Reds at Cincinnati. It was his 25th of the year on the road, a new NL record, and his 15th of the month, tying another mark. He would bang out #16 on the 30th, just in time to set another record. It was his 54th, still the most dingers for a Bucco in a single season. 
• 1953 - OF Dick Davis was born in Long Beach, California. He closed out his six-year career in 1982 with Pittsburgh, the third team he played for that season, hitting .182 in 39 games. The Pirates acquired Davis from Toronto in exchange for C Wayne Nordhagen in late June. 
• 1960 - Although the Pirates lost, 4-2, to the Braves, a St. Louis defeat clinched the pennant for Pittsburgh (The NY Yankees clinched their title on the same day). The City celebrated by holding a giant midnight torchlight parade in the Golden Triangle. It was the first time since 1927 that the Pirates were headed for the World Series, and it was front page news in the City, with the ensuing Fall Classic and its seventh game still celebrated to this day in Pittsburgh. 
• 1969 - Tony Womack was born in Danville, Virginia. Womack was drafted by the Pirates in 1991 (seventh round) and became their everyday second baseman in 1997. Tony led the NL in stolen bases that year with 60 and did it again in 1998 with 58 swipes. The speedster played his first five seasons (1993-94; 1996-98) with the Bucs, hitting .278 and earning an All-Star berth. After the 1998 campaign, he was traded to the D-Backs for Jason Boyd and Paul Reichard (it was a salary dump - there was no heir apparent; Warren Morris took over the spot) and he played a key role in Arizona’s 2001 World Series title. He lasted 13 seasons in the show, posting a .272 BA with 363 stolen bases. 

Tony Womack - 1999 Pacific Aurora

• 1974 - Trying to sweep the Cards and hang on to their slim 1/2 game lead, the Bucs instead squandered a wild one at Busch Stadium by a 13-12 count. The Pirates scored five times in the first, keyed by a three-run shot by Manny Sanguillen. The Cards came back with a six-run third; starter Ken Brett yelled at manager Danny Murtaugh when he was yanked during the frame, and again after the contest. The game settled down, and went into the 11th inning tied at 10. The Pirates scored twice; the Cards rallied for three runs to take the game, scoring off September call-ups Juan Jimenez and Jim Minshall. The fielders didn’t help much; Rennie Stennett’s error allowed the tying run to score, and the infield played Bake McBride’s bunt into a hit. The loss stung, but Pittsburgh would eventually take the pennant, although losing the NLCS to the LA Dodgers. 
• 1984 - RHP Mike Crotta was born in Fort Lauderdale. He was drafted in the 17th round of the 2006 draft by the Bucs out of Florida Atlantic. He got his only MLB taste in 2011, going 0-1 for the Pirates and giving up 11 runs in 10-2/3 IP, appearing in 15 outings. He pitched in Japan from 2014-15 and tossed his last pro campaign in 2016 for the Tigers organization. 
• 1987 - RHP Vance Worley was born in Sacramento. Vanimal hit the show running in 2011, as he was elected to Baseball America’s All-Rookie Team and finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, behind winner Craig Kimbrel and Freddie Freeman. Alas, bone chips derailed his 2012 campaign, and he was moved to Minnesota, where mechanical problems caused by the injury led to some very forgettable outings. The Bucs bought him in the 2013 off season, called him up in June of 2014, and he went 8-4/2.25. He started 2015 in the pen, claimed a spot in the rotation when Charlie Morton was hurt, and went back to relief upon Morton’s return, finishing with a 4-6/4.02 slash. He was released after the 2015 season & claimed by the Orioles. Vance spent 2021 primarily in the Mets organization, then tossed for the indie Kane County Cougars as a last hurrah. 
• 1990 - It was a good day at TRS. First, Doug Drabek, who had fallen into an early 3-0 hole on the scoreboard, righted himself against the Cubs to win, 5-3, and record his 21st victory of the season (he would go on to win 22 games and the Cy Young). And Doug did more than just pitch his squad to victory - he doubled, singled and scored twice to help fuel a pair of Pirates rallies. Next, the crowd of 21,644 pushed the attendance at the yard to 1,870,640, setting a new single-season record while on the way to Pittsburgh’s first 2M+ home gate. And finally, it nudged the magic number for a division title to six; the Bucs would eventually win the East by four games over the New York Mets, claiming Pittsburgh’s first divisional pennant since 1979. 

Doug Drabek - 1990 Donruss

• 2001 - Craig Wilson collected hits in each of the final three innings of Pittsburgh's last game and got hits in each of the first three frames against Chicago‚ giving him knocks in six consecutive innings against six different pitchers‚ an MLB mark. The Bucs won 13-1, but the Cubbie pitchers got a little glory, too. They fanned 10 Pirates, giving them 1,250 Ks for the year for a new MLB mark. 
• 2002 - Mike Williams capped the Bucco single season save record when he earned his 46th save against the Mets at PNC Park with a 1-2-3 ninth, closing out a 4-3 win for Ron Villone. He had broken the mark in mid-August when he blew past Jim Gott’s 1988 mark of 34 saves. The righty’s ERA wasn’t super at 2.93 (w/a FIP of 3.91) and he K’ed just six guys per nine, but he only blew four saves during the year. Williams’ mark would last until 2015, when Mark “The Shark” Melancon topped it by posting 51 saves, the current Pirates record. 
• 2007 - 37-year-old Neal Huntington was officially named as the Pirates new GM, replacing Dave Littlefield, although the news had been leaked earlier in the week. He spent six years with the Expos and a decade with the Indians in various executive positions prior to coming to Pittsburgh, primarily in the player development area. Huntington, per the Associated Press’ Alan Robinson, was among the newer breed of executives who rely heavily on statistics and number-crunching before making decisions and was expected to provide some data-driven direction to the club. His debut was successful as the Pirates snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over Arizona. The Bucs also took the next game from the Snakes before ending the season on a four-game losing snap. He lasted through the 2019 season, when he was replaced by Ben Cherington.