1/28 Through The 1960s: ElRoy Signs, Deacon & Kiki HoF; HBD Comet, Bob, Alf, Bill & Emil

• 1900 - LHP Emil Yde was born in Great Lakes, Illinois. As a rookie in 1924, Yde led the NL in shutouts with four, in winning percentage (.842) with a record of 16–3 and he was a member of the Pirates 1925 World Series championship team, going 17-9 during the season. His career was brief; he pitched four years for the Pirates with a 44-22/3.84 line before the bottom fell out in 1927 (1-3/9.71). He spent 1928 in the minors and was out of MLB after a stint with the Tigers in 1929. Emil tossed in the minor leagues briefly and in 1933 retired to Florida, where he and his family lived, and became a successful realtor. 
• 1908 - RHP “Spittin’ Bill” (guess what his bread and butter pitch was) Doak was born in Pittsburgh. He never pitched for the hometown nine, which was their bad - in 1919, he pitched the Cards to victory over the Pirates at Forbes Field on “Doak Day” before hometown family and friends. The Bucs and MLB can thank Bill for an innovation still in use, the first modern glove. He proposed to Rawlings that a web should be placed between the first finger and thumb to create a natural pocket, and his model was introduced when he pitched against the Pirates in 1920. The Bill Doak glove soon replaced all other mitts and is still considered a classic design. Spittin’ Bill also was key in lobbying MLB to grandfather old spitballers when the leagues decided to ban the wet one. After he retired, he became an amateur coach for HS/Legion ball and a golf pro. 
• 1914 - SS Alf Anderson was born in Gainesville, Georgia, where he was an all-state HS baseball player and a two-sport (baseball/football) athlete for the Georgia Bulldogs. He saw some action in 1941-42 for the Bucs, but lost the next three years to wartime service. He returned for a cup of coffee in 1946, but that was it; he retired after the season. Alf hit .238 as a Bucco. After baseball, Anderson worked for Jefferson Mills HS in Georgia as athletic director/baseball coach and was inducted in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. 

1948 Post-Gazette

• 1918 - RHP Bob Muncrief was born in Madill, Oklahoma. He tossed 288 games in the bigs over 12 years, mostly as a St. Louis Brown, with 13 contests tossed as a Pirate during the early part of the 1949 campaign. He went 1-5-2/6.31, and was waived in June to the Cubs. Bob finished the year with them and ended his MLB stint with two appearances in 1951 with the NY Giants. 
• 1927 - OF Carlos “Comet” (the speedster led his MiLB league in stolen bases three times) Bernier was born in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico. He only played one MLB season, hitting .213 for the Pirates in 1953, but he was a minor league dynamo. Carlos played for 16 MiLB seasons, appearing in 2,200 games (mostly in AAA and the PCL, then independent), batting .298 with 2,291 hits and 200 home runs in the bushes with a great eye, whiffing and walking at the same pace. Carlos is de facto the first Pirates black player, beating Curt Roberts to the show by a season. Oddly, he’s not recognized as such by Major League Baseball, likely because he was Puerto Rican rather than American. His tale has a tragic ending: In 1989, at age 62 and homeless, Bernier committed suicide. 
• 1960 - Elroy Face became the Pirates highest paid player when he signed a contract guesstimated at $35-$40,000 after an 18-1-10/2.80 All-Star campaign in ‘59 that saw him win 22 straight games. He was worth the geld; he worked 114 IP in 1960 with a 10-8-24/2.90 slash, was an All-Star selection and saved three games in the World Series. As an added bonus, he was a week away from being honored as the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year at the group’s annual dinner. 

Baron of the Bullpen - 1960 Richard Lawrence Tag On

• 1962 - Local boy Bill “Deacon” (he was a quiet soul who even sang in his church choir) McKechnie was selected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. He was inducted on July 22nd. The Wilkinsburg native played for and managed the Pirates, winning the 1925 World Series. McKechnie was the first manager to win World Series titles with two different teams (1925 Pirates and the 1940 Cincinnati Reds; he’s one of 15 to pull off that feat), and is one of only two managers (Dick Williams is the other) to win pennants with three teams, also capturing the NL title in 1928 with the St. Louis Cardinals. 
• 1968 - OF Kiki Cuyler was elected into the Hall of Fame by a unanimous vote of the Special Veterans Committee and was inducted on July 22nd. Kiki spent his first seven MLB seasons (1921-27) in Pittsburgh, hitting .336. Cuyler was traded for a couple of journeymen by the Bucs when he bumped heads with management over a new contract and feuded with manager Donie Bush over batting position and hustle, or lack thereof. Kiki went on to play 11 more post-Pirates years, batting .315 with a 121 OPS+ and playing in two more World Series.