1-9: Forbes Field a Hit, Burleigh Traded, Jeromy's Big Deal, Dirt Passes Away

• 1910 - Dreyfuss’ Folly, Forbes Field, drew some raves from the local press after a busy debut season. The Pittsburgh Press noted that “...from its opening to the end of football season, Forbes Field drew nearly one million fans...nothing even approaching this record was ever made at any other athletic venue.” Half the crowd was attracted by baseball; the remainder filled the seats for football, track meets, hippodrome events, police drills, and even a Communion service as the Oakland ballyard quickly become Pittsburgh’s big-event host.
• 1918 - The Pirates traded P Burleigh Grimes to the Brooklyn Robins along with P Al Mamaux and SS Chuck Ward for 2B George Cutshaw and OF Casey Stengel, who was making his second stop at Pittsburgh. Hall of Famer Grimes went on to win 158 games in nine seasons with Brooklyn. The Bucs top prize was Cutshaw, who manned second for Pittsburgh for four years, hitting .275 and providing solid up-the-middle defense.

The Ol' Perfesser returns to Pittsburgh 1918 (photo via RMY Auctions)

• 2006 - 37-year-old OF Jeromy Burnitz was officially signed to the Pirates richest free agent contract to date, a $6M deal with a 2007 mutual option worth $6M/$700K buyout. The option didn’t come into play - he hit .230 for Pittsburgh during 2006, his last year in the majors as the Pirates opted not to renew his contract. The following spring, Burnitz announced his retirement after 14 seasons during which he logged 315 HR and 981 RBI while playing for seven teams.
• 2014 - Steve “Dirt” DiNardo, who had been the head groundskeeper at Three Rivers Stadium after starting as a part-timer at Forbes Field in 1961 (he retired in 1994), passed away at the age of 82. Dirt was legendary for his tricks, once alleged to have lowered the bullpen mounds of heated rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, when they were in town along with many feats of homerism on behalf of the Steelers.

1-8: Goose HoF; Jose Signed; HBD John, Augie & Brian

• 1864 - SS John Gilbert was born in Pottstown, PA. His big league career lasted a day. John played both ends of a doubleheader for the Alleghenys against the Phils on June 23rd, 1890, going 0-for-8 but playing a clean game in the field during the split. His brother Harry was his teammate up the middle, and that twin bill was his only major league time, too. They did make club history as the first bro teammates of the Alleghenys/Pirates franchise.
• 1934 - IF Gene Freese was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. Augie went to Wheeling Central HS and West Liberty State College, spending two stints (1955-58, 64-65) and six years with the Bucs. Mostly a reserve with Pittsburgh, he hit .247 as a Pirate, though while between Bucco rosters, he started at third for three years at Cincinnati, hitting 26 homers in 1961, helping the Reds to their first NL flag in years. After he retired, Freese settled near New Orleans where he ran a sports bar. Freese had a history of issuing nicknames; he claimed to have given Pete Rose his “Charlie Hustle” moniker. Gene had his nickname hung on him in 1955 thanks to Ebbets’ Field PA announcer Tex Ricard, who was noted for confusing names and introduced him as Augie, per ex- Bucco player and announcer Nellie King.

Gene Freese 1958 Topps

• 1969 - RHP Brian Boehringer was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The reliever closed out his 10 year MLB career in Pittsburgh between 2002-04, with a Bucco record of 10-9-1, 4.36 ERA. He had a sharp 2002 season, making 70 appearances and pitching to a 3.39 ERA, but couldn’t keep up the pace during his final two campaigns.
• 2007 - The Pirates brought back utility man Jose Hernandez, who they had sold to the Phillies late in the 2006 campaign after he had hit .267 for the Buccos. Jose’s homecoming didn’t have a storybook ending as he was a late cut in camp and was assigned to Indy, marking the end of his MLB career.
• 2008 - In his ninth year on the BBWAA's ballot, Rich “Goose” Gossage was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame. During Goose's' 22-year career, he compiled a 124-107 record, saved 310 games, and posted a 3.01 ERA. He spent 1977 as a Pirate, going 11-9-26 with a 1.62 ERA and 151 K in 133 IP. Goose was inducted on July 27th.

Notes: JHK, Quintana, Jose, Moves, Heaters

The New Year started off with a whimper, news-wise...

• 3B Jung-Ho Kang's DUI not only is being prosecuted by local authorities, but it just cost him a spot on the South Korean WBC squad. Word is that he's likely looking at a rehab stint. 
• The Pirates are still in on the White Sox' Jose Quintana, as are other clubs to varying degrees. Phil Rogers of MLB.com ranks the teams thought to be involved, their need for Q and the resources available to cobble together a deal; Chicago is still looking for an epic prospect haul.

Jose Osuna 2012 Bowman Chrome Prospects

• Stephen Nesbitt of the Post Gazette has a piece on 24-year-old Jose Osuna, who is a depth guy at first right now but could work his way onto the radar with his bat.
• Recently DFA'ed 1B/3B Jason Rogers has cleared waivers and been assigned to Indy.
• C Jackson Williams, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Bucs w/camp invite. He's been in 14 MLB games, batting .208, and in 10 minor league campaigns has posted a .222 BA.
• Richard Justice of MLB.com thinks the Bucs are one of five clubs poised for a rebound season. 
• The Pirates look for pitchers that get their deliveries beat into the ground, but they've bought into the velocity school, too. As Travis Sawchuck of Fangraphs notes, the Pirates have finished in the league's top three in average fastball speed since 2014. 
• OF Willy Garcia, recently DFA'ed by the Bucs, was claimed by the White Sox.

Travis inked a deal w/White Sox (2014 Topps)

• The Rangers have signed OF Travis "Lunch Box Hero" Snider to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
• OF Rajai Davis, 36, who the Pirates gave up in the straw-that-broke-Dave-Littlefield's-back Matty Morris deal way back in 2007, signed a one-year/$6M deal w/Oakland. He's hit .267 lifetime, stolen 365 bases and appeared in 100+ games in 10-of-his-last-11 big league campaigns. Matty Mo went 3-8, 7.04 and was released in April of 2008.
• The Jackson Generals, Arizona's AA club, will have a Pittsburgh look this year. JR House, 37 and a Buc property from 1999-2004 (he caught for the big club briefly in 2003-04) will manage and Doug Drabek, who won the NL Cy Young Award in 1990 with the Pirates, will be the pitching coach.

1-7: McClatchy Cashes Out; Wilson Signs; HBD Kitty, Red, Al, Ted, Jim & Ducky

• 1875 - 1B William “Kitty” Bransfield was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He played four seasons for Pittsburgh (1901-04), batting .271, and started for the 1903 Pirate team that played in the first recognized World Series, losing to the Boston Americans. He played through the 1911 season and then spent time as an minor league umpire, Cubs scout and briefly as a farm team manager. Per David Anderson of the SABR Biography Project, “His original nickname was "Kid," but a reporter with bad hearing (mis)heard it as "Kitty" and the name stuck.”

Kitty Bransfield 1903 (Chicago Daily News/Library of Congress)

• 1889 - C Leo “Red” Murphy was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. Leo only spent one year in the majors when he was George Gibson’s 1915 back-up in Pittsburgh. He batted .098 and spent the next five years in the minors. But it did lead him on to bigger and better things - Red managed the Racine Belles of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (the inspiration for the “A League of Their Own” movie) for five years, winning the AAGPBL title in 1946.
• 1902 - C Al Todd was born in Troy, NY. Todd spent from 1936-38 as a Pirate after coming over in a deal with the Phillies. He started the last two seasons, compiling a .282 BA during that span before being traded to the Boston Bees. He hung up the spikes at age 39 after the 1943 season and worked as a minor league manager and scout for several years after his playing career ended.
• 1921 - OF Ted Beard was born in Woodsboro, Maryland. He played for the Pirates as a reserve outfielder from 1948-52, batting .203, after losing three years to WW2 as a medic. A top prospect, Ted had speed and showed some occasional flashes of power (he became the second player, after Babe Ruth, to clear the RF roof at Forbes Field), but was fated to become an AAAA player. He had great success playing for the Hollywood Stars & San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League and later Indianapolis through the fifties and into the early sixties.

Jim Pendleton 1957 Topps

• 1924 - OF Jim Pendleton was born in St. Charles, Missouri. The utility man played sparingly for Pittsburgh from 1957-58, batting .306 in 49 games. He was one of the early Negro League players to reach the majors, having gotten his pro baseball start in 1948 with the Chicago American Giants. Sent to the minors in ‘58, he came back with the Reds and later the Colt .45s to carve out an eight-year career in the show.
• 1935 - IF Dick “Ducky” (his dad’s nickname that followed Schofield around; prob a play on Dickie) Schofield was born in Springfield, Illinois. He played eight (1958-65) of his 19 big league years with the Pirates and took over for an injured Dick Groat during the 1960 title stretch run, hitting .333 to help the Bucs take the NL title without missing a beat. Schofield was a regular infielder from 1963-65, but his BA (.248 as a Pirate, .227 overall) limited him to a backup role through most of his career. His son Dick continued the legacy, playing for 14 big league seasons.
• 2005 - SS Jack Wilson inked a two-year/$8M contract ($3.5M - 2005, $4.5M - 2007; $200K in potential awards bonus money both years) to avoid arbitration. He was coming off an All-Star year when he hit .308. Jack would go on to sign a three-year extension w/an option in the following off-season, putting him under team control up until 2010.

Kevin McClatchy (photo Rich Pilling/Getty)

• 2009 - Cashing in his last shares in the Pirates, Kevin McClatchy ended his 13-year relationship with the team. Always undercapitalized, he still managed to keep the financially floundering Buccos in Pittsburgh by coming up investors to cover the $95M needed to buy the franchise. Bob Nutting became the majority stockholder in 2007 and ushered in the Frank Coonelly/Neal Huntington era when the season ended.

1-6: Neftali Signs; HBD Phil, Lee & Doe; Batter's Eye

• 1914 - The first version of the “batter’s eye” in ballparks was mandated by baseball. Every park was required to have a plain, dark green center field wall (early ballyards had their fences plastered with ads) so the hitters could pick up the ball as it left the pitcher’s hand per Today In Baseball History.

PNC's batter's eye is clean and green, but w/lots of visual distractions around it.

• 1916 - C Phil Masi was born in Chicago. He spent 48 games of his 14-year career in Pittsburgh, arriving via a June 1949 deal with the Braves. Phil hit .278, then was sold to the White Sox, where he closed his career in his hometown after three more campaigns. Masi began his MLB career with Boston, where he spent the first 11 years of his stint while earning four All-Star spots as a steady hitter and strong defensive player.
• 1933 - OF Lee Walls was born in San Diego. He played three years in all three outfield positions for Pittsburgh (1952, 1956-57) and put up a .259 BA before being traded to the Cubs in May of 1957. Walls was a Cub starter for three years, earning an All-Star berth in 1958, but spent the back end of his career as a bench player.
• 1955 - 1B Dorian "Doe" Boyland was born in Chicago. Boyland was drafted in the second round of the 1976 draft but would play in just 21 games with the Pirates in parts of 1978, 1979, and 1981, batting .105 and at any rate was blocked at first base by Willie Stargell. Boyland was traded to the San Francisco Giants and never resurfaced in the show. He still made it big, though - at last look, his Dorian Boyland Auto Group had dealerships thriving in several western states.

Neftali Feliz (image from Root Sports)

• 2016 - Free agent RHP Neftali Feliz signed a one year/$3.9M deal plus incentives with the Bucs. He had suffered through a terrible 2015 season, but the Pirates bet on past performance as a closer and recovery from a variety of injuries, including TJ surgery, by adding Feliz to the pen. Neftali bounced back and put up a solid 4-2-2, 3.52 slash with 61 K in 53-⅔ IP and 1.137 WHIP.

1-5: Bert HoF; Live Ball Era Begins; HBD Bob, JR, Danny & Mark

• 1928 - C Bob Oldis was born in Preston, Iowa. Oldis was a third string catcher for the Bucs between 1960-61, getting into 26 games and batting .160 as a Pirate. Tho seldom used, Oldis appeared in Games 4 and 5 of the 1960 World Series as a late-inning defensive replacement. After his six year MLB career ended, he was a coach/scout for the Phillies, Twins, and Expos. He’s been with the Marlins since 2002.

Bob Oldis 1961 Topps

• 1934 - The leagues still can’t agree on the DH, didn’t play inter-league games until 1997 and didn’t pool umpires until 2000, but they did agree on a common baseball for the first time on this day. The NL adopted the AL horsehide, which had a thinner cover and less prominent seams. The switch was supposed to both juice up the NL attack and make inter-league performance comparisons more equivalent (the NL was considered more of a pitcher's league because of the less lively ball and the higher, pitcher-friendly seams). Pirates manager George Gibson told Volney Walsh of the Pittsburgh Press that “If the lively ball helps anyone it should help us some for we had the hardest hitting team in the league last year.” It didn't quite work out that way. The Bucs led the NL with a .383 slugging % in '33, and tho they came in second in '34, their average fell to .344 as they pounded a paltry 52 homers. Business of baseball trivia: The AJ Reach Company, the AL's vendor, was contracted to manufacture the balls, but it was bought out by Spalding, its chief rival in the business, which then produced the MLB balls until 1977 when Rawlings became the supplier.
• 1961 - Manager John Russell was born in Oklahoma City. While with the Rangers, he caught Nolan Ryan's 6th career no-hitter in 1990. He ended his 10 year career with a .225 batting average, 34 home runs and 129 RBI in 448 games. After hanging up the spikes, he made several coaching stops and managed the Bucs from 2008-10 during some dark seasons, with a record of 186-299. It wasn’t his first gig in Pittsburgh; JR had been Lloyd McClendon’s third base coach from 2003-05. He’s currently the Baltimore Oriole’s bench coach.

Danny Jackson 1993 Select

• 1962 - LHP Danny Jackson was born in San Diego. The Pirates got him in mid-July for the stretch run of the 1992 division race, and the lefty went 4-4/3.36 ERA as the club won the NL East but lost the NL playoff to Atlanta in seven games. After the season, he was lost in the expansion draft. Jackson had a 15-year career with seven teams, appearing in three World Series and two All-Star games.
• 1974 - LHP Mark Redman was born in San Diego. He was part of the return from the Jason Kendall trade with Oakland, but in his one year (2005) with the Pirates, he went 5-15/4.90, the worst counting numbers season of his career. That prompted an off season deal with the Royals. He rallied there, earning a spot on the 2006 All-Star team, but that his his last hurrah. He made 17 more starts over two campaigns and retired after the 2008 season, after playing for 10 years and eight teams in MLB.

Bert Blyleven (photo Baseball Hall of Fame)

• 2011 - After a 14 year wait, curveball king RHP Bert Blyleven was elected to the Hall of Fame. He won 34 games for Pittsburgh between 1978-80, his stay cut short because the Dutchman publicly disagreed with Chuck Tanner, who went to his bullpen earlier and more often than the righty preferred. Blyleven, who was inducted into the Hall on July 24th, posted 287 victories and 3,701 strikeouts during a 22 year MLB career.

1-4: Everyone Wants Sam, Skates & Starling Inked, Lance Deal

• 1886 - St. Louis owner Chris Von Der Ahe sold the contract rights of IF Sam Barkley to the Alleghenys despite the fact that the infielder had already signed a deal with the Orioles. Because the O’s were late in sending Von Der Ahe their check to buy Barkley’s rights, he unilaterally voided the contract and shipped him to Pittsburgh instead. The American Association eventually resolved the controversial case by allowing Barkley to play for the Alleghenys, and sending Milt Scott from Pittsburgh to Baltimore as compensation. Additionally, the Browns were allowed to keep the $1,000 they received from Pittsburgh for Barkley's reserve rights. For all that, Barkley hit .248 in his two years with the club, splitting time between first and second base.

Lonnie Smith 1993 Leaf (back)

• 1993 - The Pirates signed OF Lonnie “Skates” (due to his somewhat awkward footwork and quirky routes while playing the outfield) Smith to a one year/$1M deal. He put up a line of .286/6/24, with a .422 OBP and nine stolen bases before he was flipped to the Orioles in September for two career minor leaguers, Terry Farrar and Stanton Cameron. The Pirates were Smith’s fifth team; he had reached the World Series with the first four (and was on the winning side for three of them) but his championship streak bottomed out as a Bucco.
• 1996 - Pittsburgh purchased the contract of free agent and eight-time All-Star catcher Lance Parrish from the Tigers. He had caught for the Bucs in 1994, hitting .270 in a backup role before Father Time caught up to him. The catcher was entering his age 40 season in 1996 and didn’t make it out of camp with the Pirates, marking the end of his career. Since then, he’s been an announcer, minor league manager, and MLB coach. Lance was a local boy, born in Clairton, though he was raised in California. Parrish had a scholarship offer to play football at UCLA but made what proved to be a wise choice by focusing on baseball.

Starling Marte 2012 Topps Finest

• 2007 - Rene Gayo signed Dominican OF Starling Marte for $85,000 in one of the top Latin signings of Dave Littlefield’s watch. Marte was sought by several teams, and his stock took off after he switched from SS to CF. The deciding factor was said to be that Gayo had a good working relationship with Marte’s buscon (agent), tilting the field toward the Buccos.

1-3: HBD Red, Gus, Harry, Mark & AJ; It Rolls In; The Joker Returns

• 1894 - RHP Kirby (or Red) White was born in Hillsboro, Ohio. Kirby tossed most of 1910 and a bit in 1911 for the Bucs. He was traded to the Pirates by the Boston Doves early in 1910 and went 10–9 with a 3.46 ERA in 30 games. In 1911, he was used for just three innings, going 0-1, 9.00, and was released, spending the next four seasons in the minors. We assume he was red-haired; Kirby also went by “Buck.”

Kirby White 1911 (photo via Detroit Public Library)

• 1906 - 1B Gus Suhr was born in San Francisco. He spent 9-1/2 seasons (1930-39) with the Pirates, hitting .279 with a .386 OPB and driving in 818 runs, earning an All-Star berth in 1936. Suhr played 1,339 games at first base for Pittsburgh, a team record, and once held the NL standard of 822 consecutive games played, which lasted until 1957. The record-snapping game he missed wasn’t due to injury; he took off to attend his mother’s funeral.
• 1926 - PH/RHP Harry Fisher was born in Waterloo, Ontario. He was a two-way guy and appeared in 18 MLB games with the 1951–52 Pirates, ten as a pinch hitter and eight as a pitcher. Harry hit .278 for the Bucs, and went 1-2, 6.87 on the hill. He made his last appearance in August of 1952 before returning to minor league baseball, where he played through 1959 and split time between the mound and the pasture.
• 1961 - The Pittsburgh Press reported that the Pirate owners collected their first dividend check since buying the club from the Dreyfuss family in 1946, citing the increased attendance thanks to the 1960 World Series championship. They got $4/share. John Galbreath was the main man and majority team owner from 1946-85.
• 1965 - RHP Mark Dewey was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mark went 3-3-8/3.23 for the Bucs out of the pen from 1993-94. After retirement, he coached for the Washington Wild Things and is now a part of the Brewers organization.

Mark Dewey 1995 Score

• 1973 - President Nixon gave a $1,000 check in Roberto Clemente's memory to the Nicaraguan embassy. At the President's request, Dan Galbreath, owner of the Pirates, along with Dave Giusti and Steve Blass, met with him at the White House to discuss setting up a fund in Clemente's honor to aid the survivors of the earthquake. Thus was born the Roberto Clemente Memorial Fund to aid the earthquake victims with Tricky Dicky as the first donor.
• 1977 - RHP AJ Burnett was born in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The veteran tossed for two years in Pittsburgh (2012-13) after being obtained from the Yankees in a Gotham salary dump, with a line of 26-21 with a 3.41 ERA while averaging a whiff per frame. After a rough season in Philly, he returned for his final year in 2015. He went 9-7/3.18 in 26 starts, coming back in September from an All-Star break elbow inflammation to close out his 17th season, collecting 164 wins and 2,513 whiffs for five teams over that span. AJ was credited with leading the charge to reverse the team’s decades-long losing culture through his mentoring and clubhouse presence.
• 2006 - 3B Joe Randa was officially signed as a free agent for his second go-around with the Pirates. He was inked to a $4M deal, nearly double his 2005 salary at Cincinnati. The Joker hit .267 in 89 games in what would be his last MLB season, losing his job to Freddy Sanchez and then announcing his retirement in November.

1-2: Mike Williams, Sure Shot Signed; HBD Jack, Jesse, Bill, Mad Dog & Supe

• 1858 - RHP Jack Neagle was born in Syracuse, New York. Jack tossed for the Alleghenys between 1883-84, going 14-38, 4.28 (the Alleghenys were pretty poor during those seasons; they only won 61 games as a team). He also played a few games in the outfield but that was no better than his mound work as he hit just .165. His Pittsburgh tenure marked the last two years of his career.

Sure Shot - 2014 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions

• 1888 - 2B Fred “Sure Shot” Dunlap signed with the Alleghenys following the sale of his contract by the Detroit Wolverines. He agreed to a $5‚000 salary and a $2‚000 bonus‚ making him the highest-paid player of the time. Sure Shot got his nickname because of his strong and accurate arm. The rangy defensive whiz played three years for the team, hitting just .240 (his lifetime BA was .292). Alfred Spink in “The National Game” wrote that Dunlap was ambidextrous and was able to catch and throw a baseball with the same skill and accuracy with either hand. Moreover, Dunlap reportedly never wore a glove.
• 1893 - OF Jesse Altenburg was born in Ashley, Michigan. His MLB career was comprised of the 19 games he played as a Pirate from 1916-17, with a .290 BA as Jesse had a strong September in his rookie campaign, but faltered in the second go-round. He did have a long run in baseball, spending 10 years in the minors and hitting .300+ in at least five of those seasons.
• 1894 - C Bill Wagner was born in Jessup, Iowa. The light-hitting reserve (he also played 1B) was a Bucco from 1914-17, putting up a .205 BA in Pittsburgh. He was then sold to the Boston Braves, and 1918 was his last MLB season.

Mad Dog - 1984 Donruss Diamond Kings

• 1951 - 3B Bill “Mad Dog” Madlock was born in Memphis. The third baseman played seven seasons for the Bucs (1979-85) with a line of .297/.357/.428 while leading the league in hitting in 1981 (.341) and 1983 (.323). He was a key part of the 1979 Championship team, batting .333 in the playoffs and World Series after coming from San Francisco in a June trade for Ed Whitson. The nickname? Madlock had a fiery temper and was ejected from 18 games during his career.
• 1975 - RHP Jeff Suppan was born in Oklahoma City. “Supe” spent 17 years in the majors and made 417 starts; 21 of those were for the Pirates in 2003, when he went 10-7, 3.57 after signing as a free agent. That performance got him flipped to the Red Sox at the deadline, netting the Pirates a great return in IF Freddy Sanchez and LHP Mike Gonzalez.
• 2002 - The Pirates signed a two-year deal with RHP Mike Williams worth $5.5M. After two years and 74 saves, Williams put up another 25 saves in 2003, but with a 6.27 ERA. He was traded to the Phillies, and 2004 was his last MLB season. His saving grace in Pittsburgh was his swing-and-miss stuff - Williams whiffed 250 batters in 222-⅔ IP as a Buc.

1/1: HBD Gunner & Hank, Josh Breaks Down, Winter Ball

• 1855 - Manager Bill “Gunner” McGunnigle was born in Boston. After his playing career was ended by a beanball that fractured his skull, McGunnigle stayed in the game as a manager. When the 1891 Pittsburgh Pirates (the first to officially use the Pirate nickname) got off to a 31–47 start on the heels of a 23–113 season, the club demoted captain/manager Ned Hanlon and hired McGunnigle, who had a prior stop at Brooklyn. He managed the club to a 24-33-2 record over the remainder of the year and was replaced by Tom Burns. The dapper Gunner was tough to miss on the field. He managed and coached the bases wearing black patent-leather shoes, a cutaway suit coat, lavender trousers, a silk tie and a derby hat. But he was street smart despite his foppish attire - he was the first to use signals from the bench and the first to steal opponent’s signs. His nickname, btw, wasn't a play on his surname; he earned it in the minors because of the strength of his arm, per McGunnigle's SABR bio written by Ronald Shafer.

Gunner (photo via the Brockton Post)

• 1892 - In a promotion that never really caught on, two top Pittsburgh semi-pro clubs, the Keystones and Standards, played a New Year’s game at Exposition Park. The game was put together on fairly short notice during an uncharacteristic warm spell, and began with a fife-and-drum corp parading from town to the park with the players following in carriages. The contest drew 5,000 fans as the Standards won 8-3; the late afternoon game was called after 7-½ innings because of darkness. Fun fact: former pitcher turned North Side bar owner Ed “Cannonball” Morris umpired the game.
• 1911 - Hall of Fame OF Hank Greenberg was born in New York City. He played for the Bucs in 1947, teaming up with Ralph Kiner in the middle of the Pirate order. The original Hammerin’ Hank signed for $90,000, the biggest contract inked to date. Team minority owner Bing Crosby recorded a song, "Goodbye, Mr. Ball, Goodbye" with Groucho Marx and Greenberg to celebrate Greenberg's arrival. The Pirates also brought in the left field fence at Forbes Field for him, calling it "Greenberg Gardens" and keeping it intact during the Kiner era as “Kiner’s Korner.” Though he hit just .249 in Pittsburgh, he had a .408 OBP (he was walked 104 times), launched 25 HR and tutored Kiner in his final MLB season.
• 1943 - C Josh Gibson suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to St. Francis Hospital for rest and treatment. He was released in time to play for the Homestead Grays. The Pirates reportedly wanted to sign the future Hall of Famer that season as the first black player in baseball, but were thwarted by the commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The color line wouldn’t be crossed until Landis died in 1944 and Happy Chandler replaced him in 1945. Although he never got a MLB shot, Gibson was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972.