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6/20 Through 1964: Game Tales - Sunday Swatter, 23 For Big Poison, Carey Cycle, Chief 5X3, Hans Goes Home, Gene Hired; HBD Gary, Scooter, Bill, John, Cum & Ed

Friday, June 20, 2025 7:33

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1889 – LHP Ed Warner was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. His major league career consisted of 11 games (three starts) in 1912 for the Pirates as a 23-year-old, going 1-1/3.60. After the season, he was sent to the Columbus Solons of the American Association. Warner, who was a Brown graduate and went straight from college to the big leagues, then decided to bypass the baseball circuit as a life path and began his business career.
1890 – Cumberland Willis “Cum” Posey was born in Homestead. He was an outfielder, manager and eventual owner of the Negro League powerhouse Homestead Grays from 1911-1946. At one time or another he had 11 of the 18 current Negro leagues Hall of Famers on the Gray’s payroll. He also wrote a regular sports column for the Pittsburgh Courier.
1894 – Per Baseball Chronology: “Denny Lyons scores the winning run in the ninth inning to lead Pittsburgh to 7-6 win over Washington (actually, it was Louisville). Lyons gets into scoring position by running from 1B to 3B – across the pitcher’s mound – on a fielder’s choice. The umpire did not see Lyon’s transgression, a common one in the 1890s.” The Pittsburgh Press in its game story didn’t include Lyons shortcut but did castigate the ump for missing a call at third. In a separate notes column, the paper mentioned that “Dennis Lyons was accused of cutting second base in running to third on (Jack) Glassock’s sacrifice but he could have scored from second, however, on (Lou) Bierbauer’s hit.” Despite the skulduggery, it was a nice win for Pittsburgh, which blew a 6-1 lead only to rally for the decision at Exposition Park in front of 1,000 fans. It took a few more sleight-of-hand tricks by the players for it to come about, but in 1898 the league went to a two umpire system partly because of “transgressions” like these.
1901 – In a 7-0 win against the Giants at the Polo Grounds, Honus Wagner became the first player in the 20th century to steal home twice in one game (and he’s still one of only six to pull off the feat) while Jack Chesbro tossed a three-hit shutout. The Pittsburgh Press credited the win “…almost entirely to the sensational pitching of Chesbro, who allowed New York only three hits, and baserunning of Hans Wagner, who last year was champion batsman of the league. In five times at bat yesterday Honus made four hits, two of which were doubles.” They could have added that the Big Apple boys committed eight errors; only one Buccaneer run was earned off loser Ed Doheny, who Pittsburgh would pick up a month later. Wagner wasn’t shy about pulling off a little run-scoring larceny; he stole home 27 times in his career. This was one of six shutouts Happy Jack tossed during the year; he would author 17 whitewashes in 107 Pirates outings over four years.

Jack Chesbro – 2011 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions

1902 – IF John Beckwith was born in Louisville. Considered one of the great sluggers of black baseball (his nickname was “The Black Bomber”), John played with the Homestead Grays in 1924, again from 1928-29 and for a last time in 1935, toward the end of his 23-year career. He rarely stuck around for long periods with one club; he was a jack of all trades but master of none as an infielder and had a sometimes disruptive clubhouse attitude.
1907 – The Pirates salvaged the finale of a four-game set against the Phils by a 4-2 count at Exposition Park. Deacon Phillippe tossed a seven-hitter (one whiff, one walk) for the win. Honus Wagner had two hits, scored twice and per the Pittsburgh Press “In the third inning Wagner made the longest hit on this grounds…” when he tripled, settling for three bases when he pulled up lame while running the bases. They never gave an estimate of the distance, but Expo, like many early ballparks, was a huge yard, 400’ down the lines and 450’ in dead center.
1912 – In a doubleheader at Cincinnati’s Redland Field, Owen “Chief” Wilson hit two triples in the opener, including a big blow the 10th inning that keyed a 6-4 win, then bopped another in the nitecap, a 5-3 loss. It was his fifth straight game with a three-bagger. Wilson swatted 36 triples, a major league record, although he never hit more than 14 in any other year of his career. Chief was a pretty big guy for the era and not much of a speedster, but he was a slugger; many of his triples were balls drilled over the outfielder’s heads in an age of deep pastures. Forbes Field was chief among the spacious yards and the Pirates joined Chief to set the MLB team triples record with 129 three-baggers that year.
1918 – The Pirates traded 25-year-old RHP Elmer Jacobs to the Philadelphia Phillies for 28-year-old RHP Erskine Mayer. Mayer went 9-3/2.26 as a Buc starter during the second half of the season, but the wheels came loose in 1919, which was his last MLB campaign. Jacobs ended up remaining solid through 1919, then mostly worked out of the Pacific Coast League (he did get three years in Chicago w/the White Sox), tossing until 1932.

Erskine Mayer (Philly) – 1915 Cracker Jack

1919 – RHP Bill Clemensen was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He pitched for the Pirates in 1939, 1941 and 1946, going 1-1/5.57 in 15 appearances. He was a guy whose potential career was cut short by WW2. Bill’s best season was 1941 (1-1/2.77 in 13 IP) and he looked like he would break camp with the Pirates for the ‘42 campaign, but Uncle Sam had different plans and he ended up spending four years in the Army Air Corps. Even though he played Army ball, he couldn’t overcome the layoff after his military stint. Clemensen made one more MLB outing and spent the rest of 1946-47 in the minors before leaving the game.
1925 – Max Carey became the first switch hitter to hit for the cycle during the Pirates 21-5 victory over the Brooklyn Robins at Forbes Field. Carey went 4-for-6 with four RBI and two runs, and shared the spotlight with a pair of teammates. Glenn Wright, who was a single shy of the cycle, drove in five runs and scored three times. Kiki Cuyler carried the biggest stick of the day, hitting two homers, one a grand slam, plus a triple with six RBI and five runs scored. As Lew Wollen of the Pittsburgh Press noted, the Pirates “…were doing such splendid work with the willow.” Babe Adams went the distance for the win. The Buc bats stayed hot – they lit up the scoreboard for 24 more runs in the next game against St Louis.
1925 – IF Clement “Scooter” Koshorek was born in Royal Oak, Michigan. Scooter played pretty regularly in 1952 for the Bucs, batting .261, but in 1953 got into Opening Day as a pinch hitter and fanned; it was the final at bat of his MLB career after losing a competition for the SS spot to bonus baby and future MVP Dick Groat. Clem was 5’4”; inspiring his nickname.
1927 – Paul Waner kept his 23-game hitting streak alive, but his string of 14 contests with an extra-base rap came to an end as the Bucs dropped the Cubs 4-0 at Forbes Field. A scoreless duel between Lee Meadows and Chicago’s Hal Carlson ended in the sixth when Johnny Gooch banged a three-run homer; Meadows went the distance, tossing a four-hitter. Big Poison’s 23-gamer ended the next day against Dolph Luque of the Reds in a 10-inning loss.

Pie Traynor – 1934 Diamond Star

1934 – Newly named player/manager Pie Traynor, replacing George Gibson, gave his charges a short pep talk (“Hustle” was the gist of the message) and then let his stick provide the leadership. Pie banged out three doubles & a single, then scored the winning run in the ninth inning of a 6-5 win over the Boston Braves at Forbes Field, ending a five-game Bucco skid. Arky Vaughan went 4-for-4 while Leon Chagnon, in relief of Red Lucas, was the winner.
1948 – Ralph Kiner homered twice in a 7-5 win over the Phillies at Shibe Park. It capped a remarkable streak of Sunday homers; he went eight straight Sundays with long balls during May and June, finishing the year with 17 round trippers in 38 Sunday games. Winner Hal Gregg almost blew a 6-0 lead, but Kirby Higbe, Elmer Singleton and Mel Queen closed the book. The Phils helped the Pirates attack as much as Kiner by committing five errors. It was game two of a twinbill; the Pirates were spanked, 9-0, in the opener to break a six-game winning streak.
1961 – OF Gary Varsho was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin. He played three years for the Bucs, in 1991-92 and 1994 with a .251 BA as a pinch-hitter/spare outfielder, appearing in the 1991 and 1992 NLCS. He was the Pirates bench coach during manager John Russell’s regime, serving from 2007 – 2010, then returned to the club in 2016 as a scout.
1961 – Gene Baker was released from the active roster and became the first African-American manager of an MLB-affiliated team when the Pirates named him skipper of their Batavia Pirates farm club in the Class D New York-Penn League. A couple of seasons later, he moved up as a Bucco coach and was credited with being the first black manager in MLB when he took over for ejected skipper Danny Murtaugh on September 21st, 1963 against LA. (Frank Robinson became the first full season Black manager in 1975). Gene finished his off-field career as a midwest Pirates scout. Baker was an eight-year MLB vet as an infielder after starting out with the KC Monarchs, and he spent 1957-58 & 1960-61 with Pittsburgh.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/06/620-through-1964-game-tales-sunday.html

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