9/30 Through the 1970s: Roberto's 3,000, Herman-Elliott, Frankie Replaces Pie; '79 Clincher, Candy's 20th, K-Day, Mr. Swat Slams, Game Tales, TSN Scoops, Mo Bros; HBD Pat

• 1886 - The American Association Alleghenys defeated the Brooklyn Grays, 12-0, at Recreation Park, leading the Commercial Gazette to write that Brooklyn “...had been used as mops to wipe up the diamond.” Cannonball Morris tossed a five hitter with six whiffs (the hard-throwing Morris had a monster campaign with a slash of 41-20-1/2.45) and added some salt to the wound with three hits; his batterymate Fred Carroll and Sam Barkley also added three raps. The Allies had a nice club, coming in second place with an 80-57-3 slate. They won their last five games, but they couldn’t catch the St. Louis Browns, winners of the NL and World Series. 
• 1891 - RHP Leo “Pat” Bohen was born in Oakland, Iowa. He got into two major league games; one was with the Bucs in 1914, when he gave up two runs on two hits with two walks in an inning of work. Bohen retired at age 24 after the 1915 campaign and became a machinist. 
• 1893 - The Pirates ended their season with an eight-game winning streak by topping the NY Giants by an 8-6 score to finish the year 81-48, five games behind the Boston Beaneaters. Pittsburgh’s partial owner William Chase Temple thought there should be a series between the top two teams (as his club was second) for the title, so he donated the Temple Cup to the league for a best of seven postseason championship series, to start in 1894. It lasted for four years, never being terribly popular among the players or fans, and didn’t help Temple’s Bucs at all - they never finished higher than sixth during the Cup’s existence. The winner was supposed to take 2/3 of the gate, but the first teams to play agreed beforehand on a 50-50 split, which the winning club then reneged on, causing Temple to sell his Pirate share in disgust with baseball. 
• 1908 - The Pirates beat the Cards, 7-5, at Forbes Field behind Sam Leever, who relieved starter Vic Willis, and “Wee Tommy” Leach’s home run. Pittsburgh fell behind, 5-0, in the home finale before tying the game in the seventh and pushing the winning runs across in the eighth. The victory put the Bucs in a virtual tie for first with the NY Giants and 1/2-game ahead of Chicago. In a wild NL finish, the Cubs would take the pennant by a game over both the Pirates and Giants. 

Wee Tommy - 1908 Real Photo postcard

• 1921 - RHP Phil Morrison got his only big league outing, tossing 2/3 of an inning against St. Louis in a 12-4 defeat, giving up a hit and getting a K. He’s noteworthy as one of the Pirates’ early brother acts, as he joined sib “Jughandle Johnny” Morrison on the roster that season. 
• 1939 - Buc President Bill Benswanger announced that Frankie Frisch would replace Pie Traynor at the helm of the Pirates, signing a two-year deal. Frankie would manage the club through 1946, finishing second once before he was replaced by Billy Herman. Frankie had six years as field boss (five as player/manager) under his belt after leading the St. Louis Cardinals from 1933-38, winning it all in 1934, and spent ‘39 as a Boston Bees radio announcer. 
• 1946 - 2B Billy Herman, who the Bucs wanted as a manager, was traded to Pittsburgh by Boston with OF Stan Wentzel, RHP Elmer Singleton and IF Whitey Wietelmann for three-time All Star 3B Bob Elliott and C Hank Camelli. Even Herman realized a lopsided deal when he saw one, saying "Why, they've gone and traded the whole team on me.” Elliott won the 1947 National League MVP award and led the Beaneaters to the 1948 NL pennant. Herman was announced as Bucco skipper after the deal and was inked to a two-year contract. 
• 1946 - The Bob Feller Major League All-Stars and the Satchel Paige Colored Stars opened the post-season touring circuit in Forbes Field before 4,592 fans, with the Colored All-Stars taking a 3-1 win. The big draw was a three-inning duel between Paige and Feller. Paige gave up a hit and fanned four; Feller gave up two hits and whiffed three, the aces leaving the game with the score 1-1. Ray Brown, long-time Grays’ twirler, was the real star, pitching six innings of one-hit, shutout ball to top Cleveland’s Bob Lemon, who gave up the final two Colored Stars’ runs. 

Satchel Paige, Sugar Ray Robinson & Bob Feller
Post-Gazette photo 10/1/1946

• 1949 - Ralph Kiner hit his 54th homer and 16th of September over the LF scoreboard at Forbes Field as the Pirates beat Herm Wehmeier and the Reds, 3-2, behind Bob Chesnes’ four-hitter. The monthly total eclipsed Cy Williams' 1923 NL mark (broken in 1965 by Willie Mays with 17), and 54 homers is still the Pirate standard for long balls in a season. 
• 1951 - Ralph Kiner hit a two-out, 425’ walk-off grand slam in the 11th inning to give the Pirates an 8-4 walk-off win over the Reds at Forbes Field. The four RBI gave him 109 on the year, his fifth straight season with 100+ runs driven home, tying the franchise record set by Pie Traynor. Bill Werle, the Pirates third pitcher, got the win in a match that was started by Howie Pollet.
• 1964 - The Pirates were struck out 19 times in 16 innings, but the Bucs still beat the Reds, 1-0, on Jerry Mays’ suicide squeeze, knocking Cincy out of the top spot in the National League. Starters Bob Veale struck out 16 in 12-1/3 innings while the Reds’ Jim Maloney K’ed 11 in eleven frames at Crosley Field. Al McBean worked the final 3-2/3 IP for the bonus baseball victory. 
• 1972 - Roberto Clemente hit a fourth-inning double off Jon Matlack’s 0-1 curve to become the 11th player in major league history (there are now 33; Miguel Cabrera is the most recent, joining in 2022) to reach the 3,000 hit plateau. As an added bonus, Clemente scored and his run was the game winner when Manny Sanguillen chased him home with the Pirates’ first tally. Take it with a grain of salt if someone told you they were there for the big occasion. Only 13,117 people showed up at TRS to watch the 5-0 win over the Mets on a raw Saturday afternoon. Dock Ellis took home the win and Bob Johnson worked three innings for the save as the pair combined on a two-hitter to stymie New York. 
• 1972 - Al Oliver was highlighted on the cover of The Sporting News for the featured story “Swat Artist.” And that he was; the 25-year-old Bucco center fielder slashed .312/18/89 and scored 88 times on the way to his first of seven All-Star selections and three Top 10 MVP finishes. 

• 1977 - John Candelaria became the first Bucco since Vern Law in 1960 to win 20 games (and it would take until 1990 for Doug Drabek to become the Pirates next) when he downed the Cubs, 3-1, at TRS. Al Oliver, Kenny Macha and Frank Taveras chased home the Pittsburgh runs. Candy Man scattered seven hits to go with seven whiffs, and his only mistake was a 3-0 meatball that Steve Swisher smacked into the seats. Candelaria went all the way to become the first Puerto Rican pitcher to notch a 20-win season (The Yankees’ Ed Figueroa became the first native-born Puerto Rican to win 20 games the following year). He finished the year 20-5/2.34, both top marks in the league. Jim Rooker didn’t have such a good day; he broke his arm and leg in a car accident. Rook returned next season, but never had another double-digit win year and retired after the ‘80 campaign. 
• 1978 - The Phillies clinched their third consecutive NL East title by eliminating the Pirates, 10-8, at TRS. The victory, fueled by Phil pitcher Randy Lerch’s two home runs, snapped Pittsburgh’s 24-game home winning streak. The Bucs went down fighting. They scored four times in the ninth and got the tying run to the plate twice, but Willie Stargell, who had earlier swatted a grand slam, whiffed and Phil Garner bounced out to end the rally. But just wait ‘til next year... 
• 1979 - The Pirates clinched the NL East crown with 5-3 win over the Cubs on the last day of the season in front of 42,176 jubilant fans at TRS. Bruce Kison and Kent Tekulve got the win and save, Dave Parker had three hits, Phil Garner added an RBI, and Bill Robinson’s two-run single in the seventh was the key blow as the Bucs finished the season two games ahead of the Montreal Expos, who dropped a 2-0 decision to Steve Carlton and the Phils. Willie Stargell became the Pirates all-time RBI leader when he bombed a solo homer in the fifth to overtake Honus Wagner. Pops’ pair of RBI were numbers 1,475 and 1,476; he would finish his career with 1,540 runners driven home.