5/11 Through the 1960s: Danny Granny; Sizzlin' Cy; 1-0 Wins; Game Tales; Windy Waco; HBD Mike, Mark, Walt, Mel, Gene & Rip
- 1907 – RHP Truett Banks “Rip” Sewall was born in Decatur, Alabama. Sewall was master of the “ol’ eephus” blooper pitch, and in 12 seasons (1938-49) with the Pirates went 143-97/3.48, winning 21 games twice, and was a member of three NL All-Star teams. Rip had pretty good baseball bloodlines as three of his cousins, Luke, Joe, and Tommy Sewell, also played in the show. He got his nickname from his wife Margaret, who told Buffalo sportswriter Jimmy Dunn to call him “Rip” in a story about his time with the minor-league Bisons and her nickname stuck.
- 1915 – Pittsburgh Rebel OF Jim Kelly bopped the first pitch of the game over the wall in left at Buffalo’s Federal League Park to defeat the Blues’ (aka Bisons) and pitcher Fred Anderson, 1-0. RHP Clint Rogge, who slashed 17-11/2.55 during the campaign, tossed the shutout for the Rebs.
- 1920 – OF Gene Hermanski was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Gene spent nine years in the bigs as a bench outfielder, closing his career by batting .177 in 1953 with the Bucs. He came over as part of a big deal with the Cubs featuring Ralph Kiner. Hermanski is mostly noted as a Brooklyn Dodger – he earned a spot by playing for da Bums while on leave from the Coast Guard during WW2 – and appeared in two World Series with the Trolley Dodgers.
- 1928 – Coach Mel Wright was born in Manila, Arkansas. Mel tossed for the Cubs and Cards and became good friends with Bill Virdon. Virdon selected him as his pitching coach (replacing Don Osborn) when he managed the Buccos in 1973, and Mel subsequently followed The Quail to the New York Yankees, Houston Astro and Montreal Expos before passing away in 1983.
- 1937 – Cy Blanton fired a five-hit shutout as the Pirates beat Boston, 3-0, to increase their winning streak to four games. It was Blanton’s third complete game and second shutout of the year. Cy recorded a career-high 143 strikeouts and compiled a 14-12-4/3.30 slash in his standout season and was named to the NL All-Star team for the only time in his Pirate career.
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| Cy Blanton – 1936 Goudey |
- 1953 – The Bucs played the St. Louis Browns (it was their last season before becoming the Orioles) in an exhibition game at Forbes Field for the benefit of Children’s Hospital; the big draw was Saint Louis starter Satchel Paige, returning to his old stomping grounds. The Mt. Lebanon Marching Band provided the game’s musical entertainment, and an added highlight was a “long distance hitting contest” between the Pirates Ralph Kiner, Frank Thomas and Joe Garagiola v the Browns Bob Elliott (an ex-Bucco), Vic Wertz and Don Larsen, the future Yankee pitcher who apparently swung a mean bat, too. He and Kiner tied for top honors with two long balls in five swats, each winning a radio. Pittsburgh took the game, 3-2, in front of 5,935 fans (Willy Hunter of the Browns lured 1,000 of them; the Indiana, PA, native was honored before the game and the hometown showed) by scoring twice in the ninth, so the ball game was equal to the entertainment.
- 1953 – A tornado demolished the Class B Waco Pirates’ Katy Field, also destroying its equipment and offices. The damage was so complete that Pittsburgh’s Big State League club had to finish the season playing its games in Laredo, not returning to Waco until the next season after the field was rebuilt.
- 1956 – Down by three runs in the bottom of the ninth, rookie C Danny Kravitz hit a walk-off grand slam, his first and only MLB granny (he hit just 10 big flies during his career), to give the Pirates a 6-5 win over Philadelphia at Forbes Field. Losing 5-0 in the sixth, Pittsburgh put up a pair of runs but were otherwise stymied until Danny’s blast. Phil pitchers helped; they walked seven Buccos and three touched home. Dale Long added three hits as newly acquired Luis Arroyo won the game that Vern Law started, with ElRoy Face and Nellie King providing the bridge.
- 1957 – Roberto Clemente hit an inside the park homer that went under the batting cage 457’ away at Forbes Field before CF Richie Ashburn could almost literally dig it out. The Phils, 7-2 winners (they were up 6-0 before the Bucs batted), protested at the time, but the umpires ruled that there was no ground rule to cover the situation and so the home run stood, with Philadelphia’s win making it a moot point. The Great One banged his four-bagger off future teammate Harvey Haddix.
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| Bob Porterfield – 1959 Topps |
- 1958 – Bob Porterfield, newly acquired from the Boston Red Sox, won a duel with Curt Simmons at Forbes Field to take a 1-0 victory over the Phils after RC Stevens drove home Dick Groat in the 11th inning for the walk-off win. It was a twin bill sweep as the Bucs won the opener, 10-4, behind Bob Friend, who survived back-to-back first inning home runs. He had lots of help – Bob Skinner doubled, scored three runs and drove in a pair, Ted Kluszewski homered with three RBI, Frank Thomas drove in three more, Dick Groat tripled and scored three runs while Roberto Clemente had a double, triple, and plated a pair.
- 1958 – RHP Walt Terrell was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The 11-year MLB vet tossed for the 1990 Bucs, starting 16 games with a line of 2-7/5.88 after signing an $800K free agent deal in the off season. He was released in July and signed with the Tigers, pitching for Motown through 1992 to finish his career. He was inducted into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
- 1958 – RHP Mark Huismann was born in Littleton, Colorado. Mark tossed parts of nine seasons for six clubs, closing out his career with the Pirates in 1990-91. He slashed 1-0/7.88 in seven games over that span, spending most of his time in AAA Buffalo. That was par for the course; Mark had just one campaign – 1986 with KC & Seattle – with more time on the big team than the minors.
- 1968 – RHP Mike Garcia was born in Riverside, California. Garcia had a 20-game MLB career, spent with Pittsburgh in 1999-2000. He went 1-2/7.36 with three holds over that span. The Bucs had inked him after a two-year run in Korea. He was well-traveled afterwards, tossing in the minors, Korea, Mexico and finally closed it down as a 39-year-old after spending 2007 playing indy ball.
Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/05/511-through-1960s-danny-granny-sizzlin.html
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