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10/13 Through the 1930s: Top Tigers In '09 & Sens In '25, Paul Waner/Hal Rhyne Join, Rizzo Deal, HBD Dick, Mr. X, Charlie, Frank, Jack & Rube

Tuesday, October 13, 2026 7:33

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1876 - LHP George “Rube” Waddell was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania. He pitched just two seasons for the Pirates (1900-01), but his legend deserves mention. He wore out his welcome with Pittsburgh, getting into two games in 1901 after leading the NL in ERA (2.37) the year before with the Bucs. His eccentricities: He was a fire fanatic in a good way; Rube always wore a red t-shirt so he could join up with any fire-fighting brigade that he found in action. Though he never showed up drunk at a game, he was a heavy drinker – The Sporting News called him a “sousepaw” – and was distracted by crowds, who would mesmerize him by flashing shiny objects at him. In exhibition games, he had his teammates sit around him on the mound. Waddell also wrestled alligators in the off season. Baseball historians now believe he was autistic or had ADD before the conditions were diagnosed. But Rube could throw a baseball. He won 193 games and struck out 2,316 batters in his career (349 whiffs in 1904 alone). Rube K’ed three batters on nine pitches in 1902. He was one of the great drawing cards of early baseball, and is in the Hall of Fame. The story of his life was foretold by the stars: Rube was born on Friday the 13th and died on April Fools Day.

1888 – Manager, coach & scout Jack Onslow was born in Scottdale, between Connellsville and Mt. Pleasant. Jack had a brief MLB career, consisting of two seasons and 36 games as a catcher before coaching for Bill McKechnie’s Pirates (1925–26), the Washington Senators (1927), St. Louis Cardinals (1928), Philadelphia Phillies (1931–32) and Boston Red Sox (1934). Onslow also scouted for the Chicago White Sox, Boston Braves and Boston Red Sox. He was the White Sox skipper from 1949-50 and managed minor league squads for six seasons.

1889 – SS Frank Smykal was born in Chicago. He got a six-game cup of coffee with the Bucs in 1916, going 3-for-10 with three walks. He was one of a group of SS’s on the roster as it was Hans Wagner’s final season; the spot stayed patchwork after the Dutchman left until Rabbit Maranville arrived in 1921. It was the 26-year-old Smykal’s only taste of MLB ball, and after his Pirates stint that he went home to Chicago for good, where he lived until he passed away at age 60.

1899 – Smoky City’s home field edge: The Louisville Colonels scored four runs in the ninth to take a 6-5 lead over the Pirates at Exposition Park, as a thick‚ black mist from the local mills slowly settled over the field. The game was called before the Bucs could bat because of poor visibility (darkness, technically) caused by the smokestack fog, and much to Louisville’s consternation, the score reverted to the last full frame, the eighth inning, giving Pittsburgh a 5-2 victory.

Press 10/14/1909

1903 – Boston won the first World Series five games to three (it was best-of-nine) with a 3-0 win at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds in front of 7,455 fans. In a battle between Deacon Phillippe and Bill Dinneen, the key blow was Hobe Ferris’ two-run single in the fourth inning, following a Bucco boot. Dinneen tossed a four-hitter, and ended the game with his seventh K, whiffing Honus Wagner. Even in that rubber-armed era, the Pirates had piled way too much work on Phillippe, who started five of the eight games (and went the distance in all of them) because of an injury to Sam Leever’s shoulder, the mental breakdown of Ed Doheny, a 16-game winner during the season, and the defection of 1902 rotation members Jack Chesbro and Jesse Tannehill to the American League. Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss added his share of the gate receipts to the players’ share, so the losing team’s players actually finished with larger individual shares than the winning team ($1,316.25 to $1,182.00). An appreciative Dreyfus also gave the gimme-the-ball Deacon a bonus and 10 shares of stock of Pirates ownership for his yeoman efforts on the slab.

1906 – IF Charlie Hughes was born in Lawrenceville. Hughes, a gifted gloveman who developed his skills on Ammon Field, played two seasons for the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1931 & 1934) and another campaign for the Homestead Grays (1933). Hughes started in the local black sandlot leagues, playing for the Bluesox of Herron Hill/Lawrenceville and the Edgar Thompson mill team. He played 32 years for ET, off-and-on, where not only did you get to play ball but had a job in the mill to pay the bills. (Carnegie/US Steel sponsored teams starting in the late 1800s).

1909 – The Pirates broke out the bats at Forbes Field in front of 21,706 fans to take a 3-2 lead in the World Series with an 8-4 win over the Tigers. Fred Clarke had two hits, including a homer with three RBI/two runs scored, to lead the offense. Tommy Leach, Bobby Byrne and George Gibson also had a pair of raps while Babe Adams cruised to his second WS win, giving up six hits and fanning eight. The Bucs tortured Detroit on the basepaths, stealing five bases in six tries.

1912 – RHP Xavier Rescigno was born in New York City. He tossed for the Pirates during the war years of 1943-45 (it was his entire MLB career), slashing 19-22-16/4.13 in 129 games (21 starts). The curve ball whiz tossed for Manhattan College and was signed by the Yankees but didn’t take off until he joined the Brooklyn organization and was tutored by Burleigh Grimes. The Pirates eventually bought his contract and sent him to Albany, and they brought him and Ralph Kiner up in 1943. He worked through the ‘45 season when at age 32, he was overtaken by the wartime talent returning from the service back to baseball. He worked in the minors for five more years before retiring. Rescigno was known as “Mr. X” and was the first guy named Xavier to play in MLB (there have been six in big league history and the Pirates rostered three – Rescigno, Nady and Paul). In fact, while in his 90s, one of his final acts as a baseball elder was to meet up with the newest MLB Xavier at the time, OF’er Nady, during a game at San Diego, and Rescigno followed up with a letter welcoming Nady into the Xavier fraternity.

Xavier Rescigno – photo by RD Maloney/AP

1925 - The Pirates, on the recommendation of scout Joe Devine, bought OF Paul Waner (who had 280 hits and a .401 BA) and SS Hal Rhyne from the Pacific Coast League champs, the San Francisco Seals, for $100 K. Hall-of-Famer Waner played 15 years for the Bucs from 1926-40, hitting .340 with one MVP and four All-Star outings (ASGs didn’t begin until 1933, when he was 30 years old). Rhyne played two years in Pittsburgh and batted .258, but couldn’t move Glenn Wright off of short. Hal played five more years for Boston and the White Sox.

1925 – Pittsburgh evened the World Series at three games each as they downed the Washington Senators 3-2 at Forbes Field. Ray Kremer bested Alex Ferguson, giving up six hits. Pirates leadoff man Eddie Moore had two hits, including a homer, two runs scored and an RBI; Pie Traynor and Clyde Barnhart drove in the other tallies, with all the scoring posted in the first five innings.

1932 – IF Dick Barone was born in San Jose. The 27-year-old Barone was called from Columbus to become the back-up to Dick Schofield in 1960 after Dick Groat was injured. He played in three games (once as a starter) over the final month, and those three contests made up his entire major league career. He was 0-for-6 while flawless in the field, but wasn’t included on the Pirates’ 1960 World Series roster as Groat returned to the roster for the postseason. Barone’s baseball claim to fame is that he once started a game in place of Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski. Afterward, he played in the minors through 1962 and saw his pitcher grandson, Daniel, play in the show in 2007 with the Florida Marlins.

1937 – The Bucs got OF Johnny Rizzo from the Cards for 1B Bernard Cobb, C Tom Padden, OF Bud Hafey and cash. The rookie Rizzo hit 23 homers in 1938, a team record that lasted for nearly a decade (it was broken by Jason Bay and Josh Bell, both who hit 26 dingers), and was traded early in 1940 for Vince DiMaggio. Rizzo went downhill in 1941, and ‘42 was his last MLB season as he enlisted in the Navy the following year, serving as a Specialist and playing for the Navy Skyjackets. He came back from the service in 1946, spent four years in the minors and retired to work in the sporting goods field and as an auto salesman. Johnny passed away in Houston in 1977 at the age of 65. Padden continued his career as a minor league player, getting into 20 more MLB games in the war year of 1943. Hafey spent ‘37 at Montreal, the Bucs top club, and played in 24 more big league games in 1939. Cobb was a great farm stick and almost broke camp with the Pirates in ‘37, but ended up in Montreal with Hafey and never made it out of the minors, clocking in for nine bush league years.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2026/10/1013-through-1930s-top-tigers-in-09.html

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