1869 - 2B “Bad Bill” Eagan was born in Camden, New Jersey. Per David Nemec of SABR, “He got the nickname ‘Bad Bill’ the hard way: He earned it through regular, rowdy behavior.” Eagan was like many old-timey players - a heavy drinker, gambler, and general thorn in the side of umpires & management. He was also a ball magnet, even practicing getting hit by pitches in BP by crowding the plate, leading umps to often allow him to get brushed a couple of times before yielding to the inevitable and awarding him a base. Though he was briefly the Bucs starting second baseman and hit .328 in 1898, he was sent down to the minors after a drinking bout. It was a familiar pattern; in his 13-year pro career he wore out his welcome often and only got three years and 107 games in the majors. Bad Bill died of consumption (tuberculosis) in 1905. 1887 - RHP Harry Gardner was born in Quincy, Michigan. His MLB career consisted of 14 outings with the Pirates from 1911-12 with a 1-1/4.46 line. Harry did have a long baseball stint, pitching 16 minor league seasons and winning 206 games. He spent his last nine years working in the Pacific Coast League before retiring at age 37 after the 1924 season.
1897 - The Pirates were cruising along with a 7-0 lead in the sixth at the Polo Grounds when the NY Giants put up four runs and were still going when an ump show broke up the game. A Giant runner was tagged on the way to second on a grounder. Umpire McDermott, with whom the Pirates had a run-in with the previous game and had a history of controversy, didn’t make a call. The runner, Lucky Holmes, held second, the ump eventually ruled him safe and according to the Pittsburgh Press “...he (Lucky) laughed uproariously and danced a jig.” The resulting discussion over the call led to the ejection of four players. One of the Pirates bench subs was injured, and that left Pittsburgh one player shy of a full nine. McDermott then forfeited the game to the Giants. The Pirates protested to no avail, and the Press headline the following day read “An Immense Steal - Umpire McDermott Robbed The Pirates Of Yesterday’s Game. His Work Was The Worst Exhibition Ever Seen On Any Ballfield.”
 |
| Al Niehaus - 1925 NEA photo |
1899 - 1B Al Niehaus was born in Cincinnati. He started 15 games for the 1925 Pirates, batting .219, before he was traded to his hometown Reds. Niehaus hit .299 there but was replaced by a vet and sold to St. Paul after the season. He was in the minors from 1921-29 and had several .300+ campaigns, but his glovework - he made 11 errors between the Pirates and Reds in 1925 - held him back. The DH arrived a few decades too late to help him.
1901 - The Bucs lost to the Reds 4-3 following a disputed call by rookie umpire Bert Cunningham, a former pitcher whom the Pirates got in an off-season trade and later released to end his playing career. Cunningham ruled Kitty Bransfield out at first on a questionable bang-bang call, costing the Pirates the tying run and also ending the game. 2,000 fans stormed the field at Exposition Park after the decision, suspecting a bit of payback figured in the ump’s call, and Cunningham had to be chaperoned to the locker room by Fred Clarke and Honus Wagner to escape mob justice. It made the front page of the Pittsburgh Press which described the scene: “...an angry crowd followed umpire Cunningham and the Cincinnati players and despite the efforts of the Pittsburg players to protect the official and their visitors managed to land a few blows...The disgraceful scene occurred under the very eyes of President NE Young of the National League, who came here yesterday to investigate the reports about the poor umpiring of Nash (Cunningham’s partner in blue) and Cunningham, two recent additions.”
1911 - LHP Lou Tost was born in Cumberland, Washington. Lou had tossed for the Braves in 1942 (he also tossed in three games in ‘43 before becoming a sailor) and got a final appearance for the Bucs in 1947, giving up a run on three hits in his last MLB outing. He was another wartime guy who lost 1943-45 to the service; the Bucs purchased him from the Braves’ Sacramento club in the PCL after the 1946 season. In all, he played pro ball from 1934-49 except for his service years.
1936 - C Hal Smith (not the Bucs World Series Smith but a Redbird namesake) was born in Barling, Arkansas. Smith was a Cardinals catcher from 1956-61 before he was forced to retire and enter the coaching ranks with a heart condition. Smith appeared in four games in July, 1965 for the Pirates as a player-coach after Jim Pagliaroni, Del Crandall and Ozzie Virgil were injured, catching 12 frames and going 0-for-3 before returning to Harry Walker's staff. He left to join the Milwaukee Brewers in 1968 and finished as a scout for the Cardinals.
 |
| Rip Sewell - photo Walter Stein/AP |
1939 - Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia in the Phillies’ first night game at Shibe Park 5-2 as Rip Sewell earned the under-the-lights win. The Bucs only had seven hits, but eight walks and a beaned batter gave them plenty of baserunning opportunities. Bill Brubaker homered while Paul Waner & Arky Vaughan scored the other four runs from the top of the order.
1943 - Huck Geary ended a 14-inning marathon at Forbes Field by stealing home to top the Boston Braves, 5-4. The bases were loaded with an out, probably not the textbook time for a mad dash, but skipper Frankie Frisch sent Geary and Huck slid in under the tag for the walkoff win. Sharing in the glory was Vince DiMaggio, who smoked a three-run homer, and Johnny Lanning, who tossed three scoreless frames for the win following Jack Hallett and Hank Gornicki.
1954 - Montreal Royals OF’er Roberto Clemente, then a Dodger farmhand who was playing in Montreal, was nevertheless found out (Roberto was on several radar screens) by Pirate scout Clyde Sukeforth. Sukeforth, ironically, wasn’t even a scout but a Pittsburgh pitching coach on special assignment in Richmond, where the Royals were playing, to check out pitcher Joe Black. Sukeforth strongly recommended that the Bucs take Clemente in the upcoming minor league draft, based more on his pre-game eyeball scouting of Roberto throwing and running than his actual game performance, and the rest is Pittsburgh baseball history.
1960 - Poor Hank Foiles didn’t know if he was coming or going. After the Pirates sent him to Kansas City in December to complete the Hal Smith deal, they got him back OTD with cash in exchange for C Danny Kravitz. The next day, he was shipped to the Indians for OF/PH John Powers, a lefty stick off the bench who had been with Pittsburgh from 1955-58. It was much ado over nothing; It was Kravitz’s final campaign in the big leagues, Powers was used as an insurance policy who spent the rest of the year stashed with the AAA Columbus Jets, and Foiles kept on frequent flying, going to the Tigers in July for Rocky Bridges and Red Wilson.
 |
| Smoky Burgess - 1961 Topps |
1961 - The Bucs entertained 19,128 Forbes Field faithful by thumping the Milwaukee Braves by an 8-2 score. Smoky Burgess with two homers and Dick Groat with another got the crowd on their feet; both had three RBI on the day. Roberto Clemente got them out of the seats with his fielding. He ran down a Joe Adcock shot and taught rookie Joe Torre a lesson in baserunning as described by the Pittsburgh Press beatman Les Biederman: “Torre singled to right...rounded first and Dick Stuart cut off Clemente's throw home and politely tagged out Torre.” Harvey Haddix got the win; he tossed shutout ball after the first inning.
1963 - The Pirates had the best of both worlds, banging out four homers and getting a two-hitter from Bob Friend in a 10-1 runaway against the New York Mets at the Polo Grounds. The dingers were launched by Bill Virdon, Willie Stargell, Jerry Lynch and Bill Mazeroski. The Bucs collected 16 hits, with four from Donn Clendenon and three each from Lynch and Ducky Schofield. Friend struck out eight during his complete game victory.
1965 - Bob Veale set the Pirate nine-inning strikeout mark when he K'ed 16 Phillies at Forbes Field in a 4-0 victory, even though he sat through two rain delays that added two hours to the game. The big lefty also struck out 16 Reds in 12 innings on September 30th, 1964. Back before the gun, the 6’6” lefty was estimated to throw a heater in the 97-98 MPH range. The five-hitter was the Bucs 12th consecutive win; it came right on the heels of an eight-game losing streak. The Bucs lost the next day but still took eight of the next 10 games. The early hole they dug eventually did them in - they won 90 games but finished third behind the Dodgers, never coming closer than four games from first after April.
1971 - Dock Ellis tossed a three-hitter as the Bucs bombed the Cardinals 9-0 at TRS. It was a team effort - every Buc had a hit, all but Ellis scored, and six had RBI. Richie Hebner and Dave Cash had three hits while Manny Sanguillen and Vic Davalillo added a pair. It was the third straight shutout spun by the Bucs as Steve Blass and Bob Moose blanked the Cubs to close out the prior series.
