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10/12: Leyland Signs, Wood - Pizarro, Polo Grounds Finale; Postseason - Blass Stops '71 O's, Sens Go Down in '25; HBD JT, Casey, Joe, Erv, Pete, Sunset Jim, Frank, Pop & Charlie

Saturday, October 12, 2024 7:05

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1854 – Utilityman Charlie Morton (no relation to later Bucco pitcher Charlie “Ground Chuck” Morton) was born in Kingsville, Ohio. He got his brief career off to a fine start by batting .296 in 1882 for the Alleghenys, but was released in July and finished the year with St. Louis. He spent a year in the bushes and played in 54 more games for Toledo and Detroit as player/manager for both clubs to close out his MLB days; his Pittsburgh stint was the only time he hit over the Mendoza Line. After some managing, Charlie later went on to found the Ohio-Pennsylvania League and was its president during its existence from 1905-12. Over that time, it hosted a lot of local Western PA ball clubs (Braddock, Butler, Homestead, Mansfield/Carnegie, McKeesport, New Castle, Pittsburgh, Sharon and Washington). In fact, it was home to 40 teams from 20 towns in those eight years.
1856 – Charles “Pop” Smith was born in Digby, Nova Scotia. He played the infield for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys from 1885-89. Pop only hit .220 for the Alleghenys, but could run (117 stolen bases in 557 games, 225 as a Pirate) and was a good glove man who played second or short equally well. He spent 12 years in big league ball, playing for 10 teams (Pittsburgh was the only club he stayed with for longer than two campaigns) and was one of the earliest Canadian major league players, first joining the show in 1880. In 2005, he was recognized with his induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
1860 – 1B/C Frank Ringo was born in Parkville, Missouri. He didn’t make much of a dent in Pittsburgh, getting into just 18 games for the Alleghenys from 1885-86 and batting .209. Ringo was an alcoholic who couldn’t conquer his demons (he had gotten straight but later relapsed) and in 1889 became the first known major league player to take his own life, via a morphine overdose.
1874 – 3B “Sunset Jimmy” Burke was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Burke spent seven years in the show with part of 1901 (Pittsburgh was his third team that season) and all of 1902 as a Bucco, hitting .276 in 74 games before he was traded to St Louis. He played in the NL until 1905, then spent time mostly in the American Association until 1913. Sunset Jimmy was a player/manager for the St Louis Perfectos, coach for the Detroit Tigers, manager for the St. Louis Browns, and a coach for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees, finally retiring in 1933. Jimmy got his nickname from a superstition/habit of his, believing it was unlucky to eat dinner until after sunset.

Jimmy Burke (Indianapolis) – 1909-11 T206

1882 – Negro League OF and manager John Preston “Pete” Hill was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, but was raised in Pittsburgh after arriving in town as an infant. He played for 11 teams during his Hall of Fame career, getting his first taste of organized ball as a teen with the semi-pro Pittsburgh Keystones in 1899. A reader poll by the Pittsburgh Courier in 1952 selected Pete as the fourth best outfielder in the history of the Negro Leagues, running in pretty good company, behind only Oscar Charleston, Cristobal Torriente and Monte Irvin in the voting.
1901 – RHP Erv Brame was born in Big Rock, Tennessee. He spent his five-year MLB career (1928-32) with Pittsburgh, going 52-37/4.76, mostly as a starter who was shuttled to the bullpen in his last season. He was 16-11 in 1929 with 19 complete games in 28 starts, then posted a 17-8 record and led the National League with 22 complete games in 29 starts in 1930. Erv sported a nice stick, with a career batting line of .306 with 21 doubles, eight homers, 43 runs scored and 75 RBIs in 416 big league at bats. The Pirates called on Erv 78 times as a pinch hitter and he hit .322 in that bench bat role.
1906 – SS Joe Cronin was born in San Francisco. He spent his first two seasons (1926-27, .257 BA) of a 20-year career in Pittsburgh, getting in 50 games before being sold. The Bucs should have exercised a little more patience. During the next 18 seasons with Washington & Boston, Joe posted a .301 BA, made seven All-Star teams, and eventually entered the Hall of Fame.
1909 – The Tigers, behind George Mullin’s five-hit whitewash, evened up the World Series at two games with a 5-0 win at Bennett Park. Deacon Phillippe tossed four shutout innings for Pittsburgh after relieving starter Lefty Leifield, who gave up three runs in the fourth with the bases empty and two outs, to give the Pirates a chance, but the bats never warmed up. Pittsburgh fielders didn’t help out as they committed six errors during the contest although none led to a score.

Vic Aldridge – 1925 photo Bain/Library of Congress

1925 – Five different Pirates banged out a pair of knocks as Pittsburgh used a 13-hit attack to overcome some great Senator glovework to defeat Washington, 6-3, at Griffith Stadium. Vic Aldridge’s complete game win kept the Bucs alive in the World Series, although down two games to three. Clyde Barnhart had a pair of hits, two RBI and a run scored (Max Carey, Kiki Cuyler, Glenn Wright and Earl Smith also had two raps) while Washington’s Joe Harris, who would play for Pittsburgh’s 1927 World Series club, homered as the bright spot in the Sen’s offense.
1930 – RHP Joe Trimble was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Joe was a standout in high school and signed with Cincinnati. He lasted until 1950 but had arm woes; he left baseball and joined the Marines, seeing action in Korea. The time off strengthened his arm; he came back and was signed by the Bucs in 1954. Trimble was later lost to Boston in the Rule 5 Draft, but they returned him to the Pirates after a brief MLB look. Following a year at AAA Hollywood, he got some work for Pittsburgh in 1956, but went 0-2/8.24 in five games (four starts) with his arm again failing him. That finished him in baseball, although he did pretty well afterwards, going to night school and eventually becoming a local VP for Coca Cola in Providence. He also ran the John Trimble Fund Pro-Am Golf Tournament for Autism, which has raised more than a million dollars to help fight autism.
1960 – Whitey Ford again owned the Bucs in the World Series, tossing a seven-hitter as New York blanked Pittsburgh 12-0 at Forbes Field to stave off elimination and force a seventh game. Bobby Richardson tripled twice and had three RBI as the Bronx Bombers amassed 17 hits against Bob Friend and a beleaguered bullpen. Roberto Clemente and Hal Smith had a pair of hits each for the Pirates, who added to their misery by bouncing into three double plays.
1963 – The final baseball game at the Polo Grounds (it was demolished the next year after Shea Stadium opened) was the Hispanic American All-Star game, the first and only one held in MLB history (it was originally planned to be an annual affair). The starters were Juan Marichal and Pedro Ramos while the roster of Latino stars included Pirates Roberto Clemente (who also served as the National League manager), Manny Mota, who delivered a clutch two-run pinch-hit single, and Alvin McBean, who was credited with the win, in a 5-2 NL victory. The game drew 14,235 fans who were entertained by Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez and La Lupe as warm-up acts before the game.

1966 – The Pirates traded out-of-options RHP Wilbur Wood to the White Sox for cash and a PTBNL (Juan Pizarro). Chicago converted him to a straight knuckleball guy and he responded by becoming a rubber-armed reliever before being flipped to a 300-inning-per-year starter later in his career. The Bucs were rumored to have been offered a Wood-for-Hoyt Wilhelm deal earlier, but that was nixed with one reason being that the Pirates lacked a knuckleball receiver with any experience, which helped grease the skids for Wood. That allowed Wilhelm to tutor Wood when he arrived in Chi-town. Under his guiding hand, Wood pitched twelve seasons for Chicago and won 168 games with three All-Star appearances. His career was cut short in 1976 when Ron LeFlore’s liner broke his kneecap; Wood missed that campaign and was generally ineffective afterwards.
1971 – The Bucs broke open a duel between Mike Cuellar and Steve Blass by scoring three times in the seventh on the way to a 5-1 World Series win at TRS in front of 50,403 fans. Bob Robertson blasted the deciding three-run homer after he missed a bunt sign (Roberto Clemente was aboard and tried to call time when he saw Big Red had missed the sign, but Cuellar was already into his motion so his effort was ignored). Steve Blass was sitting next to Danny Murtaugh in the dugout at the time, and told the skipper: “If you fine him (Robertson, for missing the bunt sign), I’ll pay.” Murtaugh didn’t. Blass’ three-hit gem left Pittsburgh with a pulse, down two games to one in the Fall Classic.
1979 – The Pirates brought the World Series back to TRS and 50,848 fans with Danny Murtaugh’s widow Katie tossing out the first pitch, but they were run off the field, 8-4, by Baltimore, which lit up John Candelaria with a five-run fourth inning. The Birds were led by Kiko Garcia, who drove in four runs with four hits. For the Bucs, Willie Stargell had a pair of raps and scored twice while Phil Garner chipped in with two RBI and Omar Moreno added a pair of doubles. It was too little, too late against Scott McGregor as the Orioles went up two games to one.
1982 – 1B/3B Casey McGehee was born in Santa Cruz, California. Casey played eight years in the majors, making a Pittsburgh stop in 2012. The Pirates got him from the Brewers before the campaign for Jose Veras; after hitting .230 w/eight HR, the Bucs moved him at the deadline to the Yankees for Chad Qualls. Casey played for the Tigers some in 2016 and spent 2017-18 in Japan.

Casey McGehee – 2012 photo Mike McGinnis/Getty

1990 – Danny Jackson, Norm Charlton and Randy Myers combined on a one-hitter as Cincinnati beat the Pirates, 2-1, to win the NLCS in six games. 1B Carmelo Martinez had the only Bucco hit, a double that scored Barry Bonds (aboard on a walk) as Zane Smith took the loss at Riverfront Stadium. Jim Leyland started a back-end reliever, Ted Power, in order to keep the Reds from using their favored platoon lineup (he followed him with LHP Smith in the third) and it almost worked. The game clincher was an over-the-fence catch by RF Glenn Braggs, robbing Carmelo Martínez of a two-run homer with an out in the ninth, to preserve the win in dramatic fashion. The Reds carried their momentum forward to sweep the Oakland Athletics in the World Series.
1990 – The Bucs began working on 1991 right after the NLCS loss to the Reds when GM Larry Doughty, on thin ice after a late-season roster screw-up (he lost Wes Chamberlin and another prospect via a waiver snafu), and manager Leyland both agreed to new two-year contracts. Doughty, whose agreement was to expire on October 31st, wanted a three-year deal but accepted a two-year extension plus an option year, guaranteeing his services through the 1992 season. Leyland’s current contract was extended in a deal thought to be worth $500,000 per year. The Pirates’ manager since 1986, this deal locked up Leyland through 1993.
1991 – Utility man JT Riddle was born in Frankfort, Kentucky. The Pirates signed the utilityman to a one-year, $850K MLB contract as a free agent. He had hit .229 over three years (2017-19) for the Miami Marlins and was out of options, so it was a make-or-break camp for him. JT began the year on the IL and was recalled to the MLB roster in early August. He was released after the season with a BA of .149. JT had stops with the Twins and Reds plus a minor-league gig with the Mets from 2021-22, was unsigned in ‘23 and played indie league ball in 2024.
1991 – The Braves returned to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and pasted the Pirates, 10-3, to take a 2-1 lead in the NLCS. Pittsburgh collected 10 hits but stranded 11 runners as John Smoltz easily topped John Smiley. Jay Bell and Orlando Merced homered for Pittsburgh, but their firepower wasn’t enough to overcome a four-run first frame by the Bravos and a three-run pinch hit homer by Sid Bream in the eighth inning. Smoltz’s next trip to the hill was when he shut out the Bucs in the seventh game.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/10/1012-leyland-signs-wood-pizarro-polo.html

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