5/13 Through the 1960s: Groat Six-Pack, Ron's 27-K Day, Game Days, Strickland Sold, Smith Goes, 3000 For The Man; HBD Jack, Bill, Leroy, Bullet & Jimmy

• 1883 - C Jimmy Archer was born in Dublin, Ireland. He played for five different clubs during his career, starting out and then playing his last year in Pittsburgh, first in 1904 as a rookie and then taking his bow in 1918. Archer was a strong armed catcher (his throwing strength was a trademark of Archer’s play; one bio credited it to shortened arms muscles caused by a teenage work accident) who often threw out wanna-be base stealers from a squat. In his two stints with the Pirates, he only got into 31 games and hit .154 but posted a career .249 BA. He retired and became a purchaser for Armour meats. Jimmy made the news as a hero in 1931 when he revived a pair of drivers who had been overcome by carbon dioxide while idling their rigs in the Union Stockyards. 
• 1886 - RHP Frank “Bullet” Miller was born in Salem, Michigan. Miller tossed for the Pirates from 1916-19 and put up a 41-49-2/2.75 slash. Miller sat out two full seasons (1920-21) when the Pirates wouldn’t meet his salary demands, working his farm instead. He did eventually return to baseball when the Boston Braves paid the 36-year-old $7,500 in 1922, but hung up the spikes and returned to farming after two more seasons. His nickname was a nod to his fastball. 
• 1901 - 33-year-old OF Elmer “Mike” Smith was released as a late cut to the roster. He spent seven of his 14 big league years with Pittsburgh, starting as a pitcher in 1892 but quickly being converted to the pasture, where he hit .325 for the Pirates. It was the end of the road for Smith; he played in just 16 more MLB games. Smith was born in Allegheny City and lived in the North Side on Madison Avenue throughout his four-team (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, New York & Boston) career. After leaving baseball, Smith worked as an inspector for the City of Pittsburgh. 

Mike Smith - Ars Longa art card

• 1909 - SS Leroy Morney was born in Oak Forest, Illinois. Morney had brief local stops in 1933 with the Homestead Grays (one of three teams he played for that season) and with the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1934. Leroy had happy feet, playing for 15 teams in a 14-year career as a heavy-hitting shortstop who was named to three Negro League All-Star games. 
• 1910 - Umpire Bill McKinley was born in Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County. He was an AL umpire from 1946-65, making the calls in 2,977 regular season games, four World Series and three All-Star Games. After his retirement at age 55, he later served as umpire-in-chief of the short-lived 1969 Global League. 
• 1931 - C Jack Shepherd was born in Clovis, California. Signed out of Stanford in 1953, his first full season was the following year when he hit .304 and was a member of The Sporting News All-Rookie team. He played for Pittsburgh through 1956, compiling a lifetime .260 BA; he retired in 1957. 
• 1952 - RHP Ron Necciai of Gallatin struck out 27 batters while throwing a 7-0 no-hitter for the Bristol Twins, the Pirates' Class D Appalachian League team, against the Welch Miners. Four hitters reached base against him, via a walk, an error, a hit batsman and a passed ball on a swinging third strike that resulted in a four-strikeout ninth inning. Only two batters put the ball in play: a grounder to short in the second inning and an error in the ninth. Necciai pitched for the Bucs later in the year, but a torn rotator cuff limited him to that one MLB season.

George Strickland - 1952 Bowman

• 1953 - Pittsburgh sold SS George Strickland to the Cleveland Indians. It was a nice grab by the Tribe, which got eight seasons out of the sweet-fielding infielder, who started for four years and played 85 or more games in six Indians campaigns. Bo never had much of a stick - he hit over .238 just once in a decade-long career, but was consistently among the league leaders in fielding. Strickland’s time as a Pirate came to an end when the club signed the O’Brien twins (Eddie was a SS) as bonus babies; the rules of the time required that they stay on the MLB roster for two years or be released. George later went on to scout, coach and manage. They also sold C Ed Fitz Gerald to the Washington Senators. Fitz went on to play seven more seasons with a .264 BA and left the Pirates without an experienced backup backstop as he was replaced by another bonus baby, Nick Koback, who got into 16 Bucco games in three years and batted .121. Ed became a golf instructor after his baseball days, swinging a driver rather than a Louisville Slugger. 
• 1958 - A quick shout-out to the original kid from Donora: the Cardinals’ Stan Musial got his 3,000th hit with a pinch hit double off the Chicago Cubs’ Moe Drabowsky at Wrigley Field when the Hall of Famer was 37 and in his 16th season. Stan The Man is fourth all-time with 3,630 hits. 
• 1960 - Dick Groat became the first National League player since Philadelphia’s Connie Ryan in 1953 to go 6-for-6 and the first Bucco since Johnny Hopp in 1950 to roll sixes as Pittsburgh beat Milwaukee, 8-2, at County Stadium. He collected three doubles and three singles. Four other Bucs had two-hit days as Bob Friend went wire-to-wire for the win. He battled Carl Willey until the seventh, when the Pirates scored all eight of their runs. Despite being Friday the 13th, the day was a crystal-ball view of Groat's charmed 1960 season - he was the Bucs team captain, an All-Star, won the batting title by hitting .325, earned a World Series ring and was honored as the NL-MVP.