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10/4: JR & Syd Let Go, Hans & Ginger Crowns; Maz Finale, Game Tales, Dock Dishin', Cole & Co. Playoff Stars, Greg & Walk Replace Rook & Kent; HBD Oneil, Shea, Lonnie, Billy, Joe, Red & Jim

Friday, October 4, 2024 7:05

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1874 – RHP Jim Gardner was born in Pittsburgh. He pitched for Pittsburgh in 1895, then again from 1897-99, with an occasional start in the field. The soft-tossing Gardner pitched for the local Pittsburgh Athletic Club and rejected offers to turn pro because he was attending law school and didn’t want to miss classes by traveling; in his first season, he struck a deal with the Bucs so that he didn’t have to go to any away games. Jim was solid from the hill with a line of 24-20/3.91 in 56 outings, but didn’t hit much, though he did play a couple of dozen games at 2B, 3B and the outfield. The Pirates released him after Jim was sapped following a bout of malaria in addition to recovering from a serious beaning during the ‘99 season. He worked his way back to the show in 1902 with the Cubs but suffered a concussion when he was thrown from a carriage by a spooked horse. He passed away young in 1905 after surgery for an abscess that led to fatal complications, blamed by some on the lingering effects of the beanball. Jim was buried in Homewood Cemetery.
1902 – The Pirates wanted to get in their last game of the year despite the rainy weather, as they were going for a record 103rd win; the Cincinnati Reds, according to the Pittsburgh Press “…wanted to go out and place a few bets on the races.” The game went on, and to show their chagrin the Reds pitched their first baseman, put a pitcher behind the plate, and player/manager Joe Kelley even stepped up to bat with a cigarette dangling from his mouth until threatened with ejection by ump Hank O’Day. Not surprisingly, Pittsburgh won easily, 11-2. Per the Press’ Ralph Davis, owner Barney Dreyfuss refunded the fans’ money after Cincy’s sad-sack showing, and when the Reds business manager came looking for his team’s share of the gate, Dreyfuss just pointed to the now empty cash drawer. The Pirates won the National League by a record 27-1/2 games and had several league-leading performances: Ginger Beaumont won the batting title with a .357 mark and had the most hits at 193, Tommy Leach led in home runs with six, Honus Wagner drove home 91 RBI/plated 105 times/stole 42 sacks, and Jack Chesbro claimed 28 wins with eight shutouts. The club scored 775 runs, which was 142 more than any other team, while the pitching staff allowed just four home runs during the season, the fewest long balls surrendered in MLB history.
1905 – Charlie Case and the Pirates lost to the Boston Beaneaters and Chick Fraser, 1-0, in 13 innings at Exposition Park. Pittsburgh had six hits and baserunning blunders cost them dearly. Heinie Peitz tripled but was called out for missing first base, Steamer Flanagan slid past third and was tagged out in the ninth and later made the last out of the game in the 13th trying to steal second. It was a tough year for Case – he had his best season with a 2.57 ERA and 115 ERA+ in 24 starts/217 innings, but with only 11 wins as the Pirates scored just 66 runs when he was toeing the slab.

Charlie Case – 1905 photo Chicago Daily News/Chicago History Museum

1908 – Old-timey fans remember the Cubs and Giants “Merkle” playoff game as a key moment for the 1908 pennant, but it was the Bucs that were ahead by 1/2 game on their final day when they lost to Chicago and Three Finger Mordecai before 30‚247 fans‚ the largest crowd ever at Chicago’s West Side Grounds. Down 5-2 in the ninth, 2B Ed “Batty” Abbaticchio lined a ball down the line and over the fence with Honus Wagner aboard (the bases weren’t loaded, as sometimes reported for dramatic effect), but the drive was ruled foul. The Pirates argued that it was a HR, but ump Hank O’Day stood his ground and with that call went the Pirates last chance of taking the flag. There’s an urban legend that a lady in the stands was hit by the ball and later sued Batty. She claimed she was on the fair side of the seats when the blast conked her, but that tale has never been substantiated. It was a tough loss; the Bucs had won eight in a row (and 13-of-14 contests) to get a half game lead on the Cubs (who were no slugs and went 16-3 down the stretch) going into the final game. Chicago had to win the next day to clinch, and the Bruins beat the NY Giants 4-2 to finish 99-55 to Pittsburgh’s 98-56 in one of history’s hottest pennant races. The Bucs may have been a game short, but Honus Wagner had a championship season. The Dutchman led the league with a .354 batting average, 201 hits, .413 OBP, .542 slugging %, 109 RBI, 39 doubles, 19 triples, 308 total bases and 52 stolen bases. He was the NL’s runner-up with 100 runs scored and 10 homers.
1918 – RHP George “Red” Munger (he was a ginger) was born in Houston, Texas. After an eight-year run with three All-Star nods with St. Louis, Red joined the Bucs in 1952 via a deal for Bill Werle. He returned for a final bow in 1956 at age 37 after posting some strong numbers in the Pacific Coast League (1953-55) where Pittsburgh had stashed him with the Hollywood Stars (Red won 152 minor league games in 12 seasons). He went 3-7-1/4.66 for the Bucs in 40 games (17 starts) in ‘52 and ‘56. He retired in 1957 and became a Pinkerton.
1960 – RHP Joe Boever was born in Kirkwood, Missouri. He closed out a 12-year, seven-team career in 1996 in Pittsburgh where he appeared in 13 games, going 0-2-2/5.40 after being claimed off waivers from the Tigers. The palm baller retired after the campaign with 35 career wins, 49 saves and a 3.93 ERA.
1960 – OF Billy Hatcher was born in Williams, Arizona. Billy spent the middle of his 12-year tenure with Pittsburgh in 1989 when they got him just after the deadline from Houston for Glenn Wilson. He hit .244 for the Bucs and in April of the following season was shipped to Cincinnati for Jeff Richardson. He spent a decade after his playing days coaching in the Tampa Bay organization, the Cincinnati Reds and was with the Miami Marlins as a base coach through 2021.

Billy Hatcher – 1990 Upper Deck

1970 – Pittsburgh fell behind in the NLCS two games to none after being held to five hits by three pitchers and losing to the Reds, 3-1, at TRS. Roberto Clemente drove in Dave Cash, who had doubled, in the sixth inning for the Bucs only tally. Luke Walker took the loss. Cincy’s man of the hour, Bobby Tolan, had three hits, including a homer, with three runs and an RBI for Cincinnati.
1971 – Dock Ellis told the Post Gazette’s Charley Feeney that “I got something to say and I’m going to say it. The establishment around here, the brass as some call them, doesn’t deserve a winner,” a year after small TRS crowds led him to say the Pirates fans didn’t deserve a winner, either. He was triggered by a bed he thought was too small for him in his San Francisco hotel during the NLCS and that the charter plane carrying them to The Bay was also too small (it was near full passenger capacity, filled with the Pirates FO and the players’ wives and kids, including Dock’s). Ellis did add that manager Danny Murtaugh was “a good man” and that he wanted to remain on the team because “It is a young club. It is going to win some titles…I want to be part of it.” The Docktor won his one game during the NLCS, lasting into the sixth, but only made one short appearance in the ensuing World Series, suffering from a bum elbow that developed in September. He missed two weeks and the injury cost him a shot at 20 wins (he finished with 19).
1972 – The Pirates closed out the regular season at TRS in front of 4,603 fans, scoring twice in the ninth but losing to the St Louis Cards, 4-3. The defeat was immaterial as the Pirates had already clinched the pennant, but it was notable as Hall-of-Famer Bill Mazeroski’s last regular season game. He got in as a pinch hitter and grounded out (no surprise; he finished the year batting .188) in just the 34th game he appeared in that season (Dave Cash had pushed him out of the lineup a year earlier). Mazeroski told Jeff Samel of the Pittsburgh Press post-game that “It happens to everyone sooner or later…I can’t do it any better than the guys we’ve got.” Maz would go 1-for-2 in the NLCS against Cincinnati before hanging up the spikes after 17 seasons as a Pirate.
1975 – Don Gullett hurled a complete game and added a homer, a single, and three RBI with the bat to lead Cincinnati to an 8-3 win over Pittsburgh in the opening game of the NLCS at Riverfront Stadium. The Pirates took an early 2-0 lead, when Dave Parker was plunked, Richie Hebner doubled him home and touched the plate after Frank Taveras’ single, all with two away. But the Reds chased Jerry Reuss and then ran up a four-run fifth inning off Larry Demery to leave the Bucs in the dust. Bob Robertson’s knock in the ninth frame chased home the Cobra with the final run.

Syd Thrift – 10/5/1988 Gene Collier/Press

1988 – The Pirates fired GM Syd Thrift. He and his Buc bosses weren’t often on the same page during his 1985-88 stint, but he hired Jim Leyland and laid the foundation for the early nineties playoff teams, adding Andy Van Slyke, Mike LaValliere, Doug Drabek and Jeff King while reacquiring Bobby Bonilla after Bo was lost via Rule 5. Thrift was ambitious and said to have his eye on Carl Barger’s club presidency while banging heads with Board Chairman Douglas Danforth over finances; both of those were battles he lost. He was replaced by Larry Doughty.
1988 – RF/3B Lonnie Chisenhall was born in Morehead City, North Carolina. The Pirates signed him to a $2.75M deal in the 2018 off season with $3M more available in bonus money based on at bats. He had spent seven years with Cleveland and was having a breakout year in 2017 when a strained calf laid him low; it continued to haunt him in 2018, as he got into just 111 games over those two years but put up a strong .272 BA/127 OPS+ line when healthy. But par for the course, he was hit by a pitch the day before the 2019 camp ended and broke a finger, then aggravated his calf during rehab. Chisenhall never played an inning for the Pirates, retiring after the season.
1990 – The Reds wasted no time jumping on the Pirates, taking a 3-0 first inning lead at Riverfront Stadium in the opener of the NLCS. But the Bucs had the last laugh, rallying their way to a 4-3 victory. Bob Walk, who got the win, settled down to toss shutout ball after a rocky start, handing the ball off to the bullpen in the seventh (Ted Power nailed down the save). The Pirates tied the game in the fourth inning thanks to Sid Bream’s two-run homer before Andy Van Slyke drove home the winner in the seventh with a two-out, ground rule double to score Gary Redus.
1992 – Tim Wakefield and three other Pirate pitchers spun a three-hitter to win a pitching battle against Bret Saberhagen and the New York Mets by a 2-0 count at Shea Stadium, ending the season with the Bucs pennant winners in the NL East, taking the pennant by nine games. Barry Bonds’ solo homer and Alex Cole’s sac fly drove in the hard-to-come-by runs.

Tim Wakefield – 1982 Topps Rookie

1993 – The Pirates let go of half their broadcasting team when Jim Rooker and Kent Derdivanis didn’t have their contracts renewed. Neither had really caught on with the fans, and the Bucs said they wanted guys who would be more involved with promotions and ticket sales. Rooker, the color analyst, had worked in the booth for 13 years and Derdivanis, the #2 play-by-play voice behind Lanny Frattare, had put in four seasons. Rook caught on with ESPN from 1994-97 before he left broadcasting while Kent returned to Arizona and landed a variety of on-air gigs. Greg Brown and Bob Walk replaced them (and are still in the booth), joining holdovers Frattare and Steve Blass.
1994 – RHP Shea Spitzbarth was born on Staten Island. He was undrafted out of Molloy College, but showed well in the summer leagues and was signed by the Dodgers. He was dominant in the lower levels, but his AAA numbers were not so good (4-2/5.01).The Pirates selected him from LA in the 2020 minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft the light went on at Indy (3-2/1.41) as he became more of a contact than strikeout pitcher. He was rewarded with an August 3rd call up to the big team and debuted the same night. Shea moved on to Motown in 2022 and then was released by the Reds in 2023.
1998 – SS Oneil Cruz was born in Nizao, Dominican Republic. One of the Pirates touted minor league young guns and a Top 50 MLB Prospect, he was acquired in 2017 from the Dodgers as part of the Tony Watson deal. Oneil played in three levels in 2021, breaking out at AA Altoona, promoted for an eye-popping week at AAA Indy (six games/five HRs) and then called up to Pittsburgh to start the final two games of the year. He had three hits, homered and plated three RBI for a pretty good start. Cruz was called up in June of 2022 and put in his claim on the shortstop spot, where he was a lock to be the 2023 starter after banging out 17 homers until he was felled by a broken ankle sustained via an awkward April slide, costing him most of that campaign. OC came back strong in ‘24, with a long debated shift to CF made in September.
2010 – John Russell was fired as manager of the Pirates. He equaled a franchise record for most losses by a manager in three seasons, compiling an 186-299 record to join Fred Haney, who posted a 163-299 record from 1953-55. JR was replaced by Clint Hurdle on November 14th. JR then coached for the Baltimore Orioles through 2018 and now is an IMG Academy director.

Gerrit Cole – 2013 Topps Chrome

2013 – After being trounced in the opener of the NLDS by the Cards, rookie Gerrit Cole fired two-hit ball for six innings in a 7-1 win over St. Louis at Busch Stadium to square the series. Pedro Alvarez and Starling Marte cracked home runs while Russell Martin added a pair of RBIs. Alvarez went 2-for-4 with a homer and a double, scoring twice and driving in a pair of runs. El Toro became the first Pirate since Willie Stargell in 1974 to go yard in back-to-back playoff games.
2015 – It went to the last day of the season, but the Pirates claimed home field advantage for the wild card game with a 4-0 win against the Reds. JA Happ went six frames giving up three hits, three walks and collecting seven K’s. Josh Harrison went 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored while Pedro Alvarez crushed a homer 479’ to right center. The Pirates ended with a 98-64 record, but finished second in the NL Central behind the 100-win St Louis Cardinals and barely nosed out the 97-win Chicago Cubs in a heart-thumping pennant/postseason battle royale.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/10/104-jr-syd-let-go-hans-ginger-crowns.html

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