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Live Game Discussion: Pirates vs Brewers, 8:10 PM
April 16, 2021
Live Game Discussion
The Pittsburgh Pirates (5-8) are at Miller Park (now known as American Family Field) for a three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers (7-5), starting tonight at 8:10 PM. The Pirates are sending out JT Brubaker for his third start, while the Brewers are countering with right-handed pitcher Adrian Houser, who is also making his third start. Houser has allowed two runs over ten innings of work this season. Brubaker gave up one run over four innings in his debut, then allowed one run over 5.1 innings in his second start. He has ten strikeouts in 9.1 innings. Before the game, the Pirates placed Michael Feliz on the injured list and recalled Sean Poppen. Here are the lineups: Pirates In Milwaukee for the weekend.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/yJ4n7Eh3mZ — Pirates (@Pirates) April 16, 2021 Brewers It's time to take on the Pirates. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. 📺: @BallySportWI 📻: @620wtmj @fleet_farm | #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/71U4BsyR9z — Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 16, 2021 Ke’Bryan Hayes update: Ke’Bryan Hayes hit live pitching today. Well, off Rick Eckstein. First time he’s done that in his return. Pirates taking it day-to-day. — Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) April 16, 2021...
Michael Feliz Placed on Injured List; Pirates Recall Sean Poppen
April 16, 2021
News
The Pittsburgh Pirates placed right-handed pitcher Michael Feliz on the 10-day injured list prior to Friday night’s game in Milwaukee due to a cracked nail on his right middle finger. Right-handed pitcher Sean Poppen has been recalled and will be available for tonight’s game. Feliz has made six appearances this season, giving up two earned runs on seven hits and a walk, with seven strikeouts, in 5.2 innings. Poppen, who was with the team as part of their taxi squad for this series, has pitched parts of the last two seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He was picked up by the Pirates off of waivers shortly after the 2020 regular season ended. In 16 innings over ten big league appearances, the 27-year-old has a 6.19 ERA and a 1.75 WHIP, with a 9:19 BB/SO ratio....
First Pitch: Focusing on the Rebuild During a Frustrating Pirates Season
April 16, 2021
First Pitch
I wrote the first draft of this article yesterday, before Mitch Keller threw a pitch yesterday. I wanted to write something to capture just how up and down this season feels like it is going to be. That first article would have talked about how the Pirates could have gotten to .500 today with a win from JT Brubaker. Of course, this would have also required another good start from Keller on Thursday. This team started the season 1-6 against the Cubs and Reds. Then, they took four of five against the Cubs and Padres. I started the season saying that this team didn’t look like they would be in contention for the first pick in 2022. In other words, this wouldn’t be the worst team in baseball. There are a lot of wins between “worst team in baseball” and being a contender. The last week might suggest that the Pirates have what it takes to cover some ground, and at least push above 70 wins. I think the last week has shown us exactly why the Pirates aren’t going to be competitive this year. It has also shown us that the Pirates could be competitive sooner than a lot of people thought. Looking at the current rotation, the Pirates have a decent group. Trevor Cahill and Tyler Anderson could produce above-average results over the next few months, with the hope being that they perform well enough to generate trade interest. If the Pirates wanted to win with those two, they would need Keller and Brubaker to step up with more consistency. Cahill and Anderson can help get a team above .500, but they’re not getting to that point with young, inconsistent pitchers. I wouldn’t call Brubaker inconsistent in his first two starts, but I don’t think we will consistently see him perform to his current ERA level with his current walk rate. Keller has the stuff to lead this group, but has struggled against left-handers, and his struggles yesterday were against both sides of the plate. The Pirates have been surprising on offense, ranking just outside of the top ten in the majors in wOBA and wRC+. It’s too early to consider either of these numbers legit, but they’re positive signs from a team that has had one of the worst offenses the last two years. They have seen an impressive group of relievers, led by Richard Rodriguez. The future hope in this bullpen comes from the 28-and-under group, which has seen David Bednar, Duane Underwood Jr., Sam Howard, Kyle Crick, and Michael Feliz off to good starts. I think Howard and Crick will be hurt the most in the future from this group, due to control issues. The most interesting aspect to the bullpen, to me, is Luis Oviedo. Naturally, a prospect writer would gravitate toward Oviedo. I mean, he’s the only guy under 26 on the MLB roster, outside of Keller and Ke’Bryan Hayes, when he returns. Oviedo is a Rule 5 pick, making his way up from A-ball, and has pitched 6.2 innings over four appearances so far. By comparison, Kyle Crick has pitched 4.1 innings over four appearances. A team that was trying to win in 2021 probably wouldn’t be rolling the dice with Oviedo in the situations the Pirates have been using him in. His first appearance was expected, coming in for an inning of work late in the game while down four runs. The next outing saw him pitch two innings, entering with a one run lead and leaving with a tie game, after a Mike Moustakas home run. He returned for another multi-inning outing in his third appearance. This time he entered in another high-stakes appearance, with a tie game. He gave up five runs in 1.2 innings. Three days later, Oviedo was out there again, this time in a lower leverage situation. He entered with the team down four runs, and once again pitched two innings, giving up a run. If you’re looking for this team to win games in 2021, you don’t want to see Oviedo coming in to pitch in a tie game. For that matter, you don’t want to see Mitch Keller brought back out for a second inning after giving up four in the first. You also don’t want to see Keller brought out for the third, after giving up two more runs in the second. But, what about if you are only focused on winning beyond 2021? I look at this roster and see a team that clearly says two things: This team isn’t winning in 2021. This team isn’t winning in the future. The top five players leading the offensive surge right now are Phillip Evans, Jacob Stallings, Adam Frazier, Colin Moran, and Wilmer Difo. This group doesn’t project well for the future. You can add Hayes to the mix when he returns, but the group is still lacking. The Pirates would need Phillip Evans to become this decade’s Garrett Jones, Jacob Stallings to be a starting catcher into his 30s, and Adam Frazier and Colin Moran to at least generate some trade value. Even with those developments, there are some obvious holes for this offense. The biggest is in center field, where Pirates’ General Manager Ben Cherington feels that the struggling pair of Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler need more time. Both are 26 and out of options. That makes them some of the youngest players on this team, which means they have more of a chance to help a future team than someone like Gregory Polanco, who is only riding out the remainder of his deal at this point. We know that the Pirates need Polanco to surprise to give the team any kind of chance in 2021. The Pirates need either Alford or Fowler to surprise and get adjusted to the majors in 2021 to give the future teams a better chance at winning. I think either scenario is unlikely, based on what we’ve seen so far. That said, I’d take the risk on Alford/Fowler, since the potential return is much greater. This is that year. This is the year to take those risks. This might as well be extended Spring Training. We know that the games don’t really matter, because does any game matter when you’re trying to talk yourself into a team winning more than 70 games? We see that the Pirates are treating this as if it was an exhibition with some players. The usage of the 28-and-under guys is interesting, especially how there seems to be more accepted room for error with the younger guys in this group. This is the year to see Keller bomb in the majors as he figures out what works and what doesn’t. This is the year to give Oviedo as much development, hoping that by the end of a season in the majors, the young Oviedo won’t be far from a legit return to the majors. This is the year to painfully churn through 26-year-old post-prospects in center field. That also makes this a year to watch Jared Oliva’s every move, to see if hope exists from the players within the system who are approaching the post-prospect age. Sure, this is a year to hope that the Adam Frazier’s of the world hit well enough to land a good prospect at the deadline. But that exercise is just waiting to see if we have another player to wait and see. I find it more entertaining watching the players who might have a chance at winning in Pittsburgh in future years. Unfortunately, this team doesn’t have a lot of those players. This is a roster with only three players who are 25-and-under. The team looks more promising in the future when you consider that age might have less of an impact on the 28-year-old hard-throwing relievers. That promise starts to fade as you remember how inconsistent any reliever can be. This is a bad team in 2021, although they don’t appear to be as bad as the initial expectations. There aren’t a lot of players on this team to watch for future hope. The saving grace is that the players who provide that future hope are mostly providing hope for impact players. I think this is going to be a long season. It’s going to be frustrating if you want to see a Major League team win, or even if you want to see a Major League team operate as if they want to win. But, if your focus is on the future of this franchise, I think there will be some entertaining players to follow. Just prepare for bumps along the journey. Pirates Highlights Daily Links **Game Recap: Derek Shelton Goes for the Tie **This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: April 15th, King, Rambo and Abbaticchio **Card of the Day: 1909-11 T206 Ed Abbaticchio **1925 Pirate Replay, September 6: Quick Chicago Trip Goes Well for Bucs **SPORCLE QUIZ Song of the Day...
Game Recap: Derek Shelton Goes for the Tie
April 15, 2021
No Quarter / Recaps / Uncategorized
The Pirates had a chance to take three of a four-game series from the Padres, a series many of us expected to be a blowout. Faced with Mitch Keller’s second meltdown in three starts, though, Derek Shelton chose to surrender the game and accept a split of the series. The Padres won, 8-3. Keller got rocked in the first inning. He allowed five hits, including three doubles and a home run, most of which had to be measured on the Richter Scale. It didn’t help that he fell behind the first four hitters. So the Pirates started off down, 4-0. Keller’s second inning started off better, as he retired the first two hitters. But yet another double and two walks loaded the bases to Eric Hosmer. With Keller having a terrible day and a generally terrible time with left-handed hitters, the obvious move was to go to the bullpen. It was time for a teaching moment. Hosmer of course singled to drive in two, making it 6-0. Jacob Stallings got Keller out of the inning by throwing Hosmer out stealing. The Pirates still had a chance to get back in it. Colin Moran and Erik Gonzalez led off the bottom of the second with doubles, with Moran repeating Stallings’ feat of scoring from second on a double. The Pirates later loaded the bases with one out, bringing up Keller. Shelton could have tried to get the Pirates back in the game by sending up a pinch hitter. Instead . . . Keller fanned and Adam Frazier was retired, and the chance to make a game of it floated away. Leaving Keller in didn’t exactly accomplish anything. He lasted only an inning and a third longer, giving up a seventh run. The bullpen pitched well again, giving up just one hit and one run over five and two-thirds innings. Clay Holmes got five outs. Actually six, as one runner reached on an error by Moran, the only error by a non-pitcher in a week. Luis Oviedo mostly bounced back with two hitless innings. He had a two-batter control lapse that cost him a run when the walks were followed by a double steal and a sacrifice fly. Michael Feliz and David Bednar each threw a scoreless inning. The Pirates got their other two runs on an error. Ironically, given Shelton’s decision to punt the game by letting Keller hit, their pinch hitters went 3-for-3. That included Anthony Alford’s first hit of the year, which was a relief, poor guy. Michael Perez also got his first Pirate hit. Moran was the only Pirate with two hits. So the Pirates played a powerhouse team evenly over four games. Their bullpen and defense actually looked better than San Diego’s, much better in the case of the latter. The Padres’ main advantage was drastically more power. Both teams were missing their best player, but that impacts the Pirates more. Ke’Bryan Hayes makes up a much larger proportion of the Pirates’ talent than Fernando Tatis, Jr., does of the Padres’. The Pirates now move on to Milwaukee....
Live Game Discussion: Pirates vs Padres, 12:35 PM
April 15, 2021
Live Game Discussion
The Pittsburgh Pirates (5-7) take on the San Diego Padres (8-5) in game four of a four-game set at PNC Park on Thursday afternoon. The Pirates are sending out Mitch Keller for his third start, while the Padres are countering with right-hander Chris Paddack, who is also making his third start. He has a 5.63 ERA in eight innings, going four innings in each start. Keller has faced the Chicago Cubs twice this year, allowing three runs in three innings during his debut, followed by one run over five innings in his last outing. Tim Williams wrote about Keller’s problem with left-handed batters yesterday. Here are the lineups: Pirates Thursday matinee.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/kH0Lf9A6sa — Pirates (@Pirates) April 15, 2021 Padres For #Jackie42. pic.twitter.com/eIqmDVz5hj — San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 15, 2021...
First Pitch: Expectations For MLB Starting Pitchers
April 15, 2021
First Pitch
What is a dominant start? It’s a thought that crossed my mind earlier in the week, after some discussion about Mitch Keller and JT Brubaker over the weekend. I casually threw out the word “dominant” to describe the pair combining for two earned runs in over ten innings of work. This led to one of my favorite or most annoying activity on the site (depending on the day): Word semantics. After seeing a brief discussion about what constituted a “dominant” outing by a starter, I decided to look at some numbers. The main argument against Keller and Brubaker not being dominant was that they didn’t pitch deep enough into the game. This is where my definition of “dominant” comes into play. I think there is very little that Keller or Brubaker can do to pitch deep into the game at this point in the season. They’re young pitchers, key to the future on a losing team, and neither has built up much of a workload this season. Thus, if we’re saying that Keller and Brubaker can only be dominant if they go more than 5-plus innings, then I don’t think either pitcher has a realistic chance to be dominant on this team, this early. I wanted to first see just how many pitchers go beyond 4-5 innings in today’s game. I looked at the numbers for all teams from 2019-2020 combined, trying to get a recent look. Pitching Deep Into the Game Here is how often MLB pitchers reached an inning total in a game during 2019-20. 4+ IP: 85.8% 5+ IP: 68.7% 6+ IP: 40.3% 7+ IP: 14.6% 8+ IP: 2.6% Most games saw pitchers going 4+ innings, and almost 70% saw one pitcher throwing five or more innings. There’s a big drop around the seven inning mark, with less than 15% of games seeing a pitcher go seven or more innings. Keep in mind, this is only tracking pitching deep. It doesn’t take into account how the pitcher performs, which is the other side of this coin. Limiting Damage While Pitching Deep So, what is a dominant start? The average ERA in 2019-20 was around 4.50, which is a perfectly round number for evaluating expected performances from pitchers. We’d expect a dominant pitcher to perform better than the average, which would be two runs in four innings, three in six, or four in eight. For the purposes of this study, I considered dominant anything with one or fewer runs in less than six innings; two or fewer runs in less than eight innings; three or fewer runs in eight or more innings. Here is how the numbers broke down: 4-5.9 IP, 1 ER max: 11.8% 6-7.9 IP, 2 ER max: 26.7% 8+ IP, 3 ER max: 2.6% That’s a combined average of about 41% of starts being considered dominant, which is probably too high. That number would come down if you use an innings limit and remove the 4-5.9 IP group. You’d have less than a third of your starts as dominant, which seems to be more in line with expectations for the word. Let’s go a little more extreme. How about 4-5.9 shutout innings, 6-7.9 innings with 1 ER max, and 8+ innings with 2 ER max: 4-5.9 IP, 0 ER: 4.3% 6-7.9 IP, 1 ER max: 17.9% 8+ IP, 2 ER max: 2.5% That seems more like a consensus version of “dominant”. Of course, then what would we then use to describe elite? Expectations For a Starter The interesting thing about that 4-5 inning group above is that anyone would take those results. Pair them with the right reliever, and you’ve got a dominant starter in the aggregate. And you kind of wonder what the circumstances were that limited all of those pitchers in innings when they were doing well in limiting damage. Most of the gams from 2019-20 saw a pitcher go 4-6 innings. Less than 15% of pitchers went seven or more innings. However, most of those outings were probably considered dominant to allow the pitcher to go so deep. If I was coming up with a sliding scale, I’d say a dominant start would be: 5-6 IP, 1 ER 7+ IP, 2 ER I’d also take every single 4 IP, 1 ER outing I could get, and would pair that outing with a long-reliever, hoping to get a dominant start in the aggregate. All of this is very subjective, and I think any of us would take any outcome with low run totals attached. This does give some insight as to what to expect from pitchers, and how to evaluate their performances. Regardless, I still intend to use words that are subjective but feel objective, and highlight them in such a way that it will detract from the thousand other words in the article. Pirates Highlights Daily Links **Game Recap: Pirates Win the Other Way This Time **This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: April 14th, Pirates Open Up World Series Winning Season **The One Who Got Away: Pat Duncan **1925 Pirate Replay, September 5: Bucs Rebound From Rough Start to Edge Cards **SPORCLE QUIZ Song of the Day...
Game Recap: Pirates Win the Other Way This Time
April 14, 2021
No Quarter / Recaps / Uncategorized
A day after walking 13, hitting three and throwing 190 pitches, the Pirates took a different approach and just pitched well. They also got offense from Gregory Polanco (!) and Adam Frazier, and beat the powerhouse Padres again, this time 5-1. Tyler Anderson pitched well, going five and a third and giving up four hits and a walk. He never got in much trouble. San Diego got two on with two outs in the second, then had a leadoff double in the fourth. He finally left with a runner on second and one out in the sixth. Duane Underwood, Jr., unfortunately gave up an RBI single, but fanned the next two. The Pirates didn’t exactly batter Joe “No-No” Musgrove, but they annoyed him enough that he left after four, having thrown 81 pitches. The only run off Musgrove came when Gregory Polanco connected in the second for his first home run and first RBI of the year. A good chance went by the board in the fourth when a walk and a Polanco single put runners at the corners with nobody out. Sadly, that brought up whoever was in center field and then Michael Perez, who’s been doing an Anthony Alford imitation. A popup and strikeout, then an out by Anderson, wasted that chance. Colin Moran got the Bucs their second run in the bottom of the fifth, coming through with a two-out single to drive Adam Frazier in from third. That was good, because it meant the Padres’ sixth-inning run didn’t cost Anderson his first Pirate win. The bullpen was solid again. After finishing the sixth, Underwood got through the seventh with the help of the second of three double plays the Pirates turned. (They also played errorless ball for the fifth time in six games.) Sam Howard and Chris Stratton finished, needing 19 pitches for the last two innings. The Pirates also picked up three insurance runs in the eighth. Erik Gonzalez drove in one and Frazier the other two. Frazier was 3-for-5 with two doubles. Polanco was 2-for-2 with two walks. Bryan Reynolds singled his first time up but then completed the Pirates’ second golden sombrero in two days. He’s obviously ready to take over center field....
Live Game Discussion: Pirates vs Padres, 6:35 PM; The Return of Joe Musgrove
April 14, 2021
Live Game Discussion
The Pittsburgh Pirates (4-7) take on the San Diego Padres (8-4) in game three of a four-game set at PNC Park on Wednesday night. The Pirates are sending out Tyler Anderson for his third start, while the Padres are countering with Joe Musgrove, the former Pirate, who threw a no-hitter during his last outing. Anderson has a 5.23 ERA in 10.1 innings, with 12 strikeouts and a 1.65 WHIP. Here are the lineups for today: Pirates Here's our lineup for tonight.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/y9YxlJ34Uf — Pirates (@Pirates) April 14, 2021 Padres Big Joe’s return to Pittsburgh.#HungryForMore pic.twitter.com/kRXUVxjICd — San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 14, 2021 As a side note for those who follow prospect status, Phillip Evans loses the prospect tag with his fourth at-bat tonight, which I assume will happen unless he gets plunked twice again tonight. JT Brubaker already transitioned from prospect to grizzled MLB veteran earlier this year....
First Pitch: Mitch Keller’s Problem Against Left-Handers
April 14, 2021
First Pitch
Mitch Keller has struggled against left-handed hitters so far in his MLB career. The young Pirates pitcher has a career 13.3% walk rate against lefties, compared to 9% against right-handers. His 5.50 xFIP against lefties is two runs higher than his 3.45 against right-handers. Keller is off to a similar start in 2021. He’s absolutely dominating right-handed hitters this season. While there was some debate about whether Keller was dominant for his start on April 10th, there’s no question that he has been dominating right-handed hitters. This year, Keller has a 41.2% strikeout rate against right-handers, along with a 5.9% walk rate and a 1.58 xFIP. By comparison, Keller has a 21.1% walk rate and a 6.50 xFIP against lefties. And he’s faced a lot of lefties so far. The first outing of the season for Keller was rough, and I noticed a similar trend when he was facing lefties. Watch in the video below how often Keller misses with his fastball high and outside. The 88 MPH pitch that got replayed a few seconds in is Keller’s changeup, and it wasn’t a good one. He’s thrown eight changeups this year, and one or two have looked good. Keller doesn’t necessarily need a changeup, but he does need a third pitch. He doesn’t attack hitters right on with his fastball, and hasn’t been hitting the strike zone when he elevates the pitch. He has been using both of his breaking pitches against lefties, but that is only so effective when the fastball command isn’t there. The struggles against left-handers continued into the first inning of his second start… You’ll notice an immediate difference in this outing. Keller is yanking his pitches. In the first start, he was flying open too soon, sending his pitches sailing to the arm-side of the plate. His follow through for the first few hitters of game two was a bit extreme, but he toned it down after a few hitters. That carried over through the rest of the game… There’s a lot to watch above. Some is promising, and some raises the same concerns that Keller showed in his first start of the season. The big highlight is the changeup in slow-mo around the 45 second mark. The GIF below: Keller has mostly been working the high, outside corner with his fastball, and working inside with his offspeed stuff against lefties. One good changeup thrown doesn’t give Keller a weapon to work with, but if the pitch is thrown more consistently like the above, it would add some deception to those low breaking pitches, which might make Keller more effective against lefties. Again, Keller doesn’t need a changeup to have success against lefties. He just needs the fastball to be thrown in the zone more consistently, setting up the breaking stuff. We saw last weekend how good he can look when his game is on against lefties. We’ve seen in both starts how he can easily fall apart against lefties with poor control. Keller could be primed for the breakout everyone is waiting for if he can fix his control issues against left-handers. That will make his next start a very interesting one to follow, to see if he continues the better results he had in the final four innings of his second start. Pirates Highlights Daily Links **Modifying Musgrove **Game Recap: Did Somebody Say “Tank?” **This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: April 13th, Steve Pearce and Ricardo Rincon **Card of the Day: 1998 Topps Francisco Cordova/Ricardo Rincon **1925 Pirate Replay, September 4: Cards Drop Pirates, Ending Win Streak at Nine **SPORCLE QUIZ Song of the Day...
Game Recap: Did Somebody Say “Tank?”
April 13, 2021
No Quarter / Recaps
The Pirates are supposed to be an easy mark for teams like the Padres this year. In fact, for most teams. They looked like it today. Their pitchers walked 13 batters, hit three and needed 190 pitches to get through nine innings. Except things didn’t go according to script. The Padres helped out by going 1-for-13 w/RISP and stranding 15 runners. And the Pirates beat up on one of their aces. It took over four hours, but the Bucs won, 8-4. An interminable, 37-pitch first inning from Chad Kuhl seemed to leave the Pirates headed for another dismal loss. The first two batters homered and doubled, and two walks and a hit batsman produced another run. But then a strange thing happened: Blake Snell failed to get out of the first inning against the Pirates. And it all started with two outs and nobody on. Jacob Stallings drove in two with a double and Erik Gonzalez followed with another double (yes, Stallings scored) to put the Pirates up, 3-2. And Snell came out after plunking Anthony Alford. Kuhl didn’t exactly settle down. Somehow he staggered through three and two-thirds on 92 pitches, only 45 of them strikes. He walked seven, hit one, threw a wild pitch and made a wild throw on a pickoff attempt — the Pirates’ first error since before the Cubs’ series — but allowed only four runs, three earned. Clay Holmes bailed Kuhl out after he left with two on board, although not before hitting a batter to load the bases. Holmes went one and a third and managed to walk only one. Sam Howard got two out in the sixth, but left with two on for David Bednar. He walked the first batter he saw to load the bases, but got a ground out. In the seventh, Bednar gave up a hit and a walk to start the inning, but Chris Stratton actually came on to retire three straight batters, two on strikeouts. The Pirates’ hitters kept at it after the first. They got two in the second on RBI singles by Bryan Reynolds and Stallings. Kevin Newman singled in a run in the third and Colin Moran did the same as a pinch hitter in the fifth. That put the Pirates up, 7-4. The lead was still three when Kyle Crick came on in the eighth. With one out, he loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batsman, and went 2-0 on Jurickson Profar. Remarkably, Profar hit into a 4-6-3 double play, the third DP the Pirates turned. There were some fireworks in the eighth. With two outs, Taylor Williams hit Phillip Evans, obviously on purpose. It was the second time Evans was hit in the game. That led to a warning. It also led to an 8-4 Pirates lead when Stallings walked and Gonzalez singled. Williams then hit Adam Frazier, which the umps seemed to be OK with. Happily, Richard Rodriguez ended all the craziness with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Despite six walks and two hit batsmen, the Pirates’ bullpen got through five and a third innings without allowing a run. Stratton got the win, another scoring decision I just don’t get, but whatever. Stallings finished 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs. He’s now hitting .333. Gonzalez also had three hits, and Newman and Reynolds each had two. The glaring holes in the lineup didn’t go away. Wilmer Difo started in center because it was there and managed to whiff four times in the first five innings, which probably doesn’t happen a lot. Alford’s misery continued, as he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, one time after he twice failed to get a bunt down. He stranded seven runners and is now 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts. I just don’t see how the Pirates can responsibly keep sending him out there, especially with the team showing signs of not being all that bad....
1925 Pirate Replay: Bucs Split Two With Cubs
April 16, 2021
1925 Season Replay / Uncategorized
The Pirates returned to Forbes Field and took the first game of a doubleheader from Chicago, 8-5. In the second game, they couldn’t hold a ninth-inning lead and missed a sweep when they lost in the tenth, 9-8. In the opener, late-season pickup Red Oldham made his second start since joining the Pirates. Oldham allowed 15 hits, but tossed a complete game. He got tough when it counted, holding the Cubs to 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranding a dozen. The Bucs’ hitters gave Oldham some room to maneuver against former teammate Wilbur Cooper. They got on the board first when Pie Traynor, Stuffy McInnis and Johnny Gooch all singled to produce a run in the bottom of the second. In the fourth, the home team went up, 6-0. The rally started with a triple by Glenn Wright, who scored on another McInnis single. Stuffy moved up on a walk and scored on a single by Max Carey, who was making his first start since returning from a mid-August injury. Fresco Thompson, still subbing at second for an injured Eddie Moore, doubled in two runs, moved up on an error and scored on a hit by Kiki Cuyler. The Cubs got on the board in the fifth when Howard Freigau doubled in Cooper, but Oldham got the run right back. His triple in the bottom of the inning scored McInnis, who’d reached on his third hit. That made it 7-1, then the Bucs added one more in the sixth when Cuyler legged out his 23rd triple of the year and scored on a hit by Clyde Barnhart. The Bucs went quiet after that, but there was a little late excitement. A two-out error on Thompson let in a run in the eighth to make it 8-2. In the ninth, the Cubs’ first two hitters reached and Mandy Brooks followed with a three-run home run. That cut the lead to 8-5, but Oldham settled in and retired the next three hitters. The win boosted Oldham’s record to 2-0. Cuyler had four hits and fell a home run short of a cycle. In game two, the Pirates had to battle back from the start when Ray Kremer failed to retire a batter in the first. He faced just four hitters. Sparky Adams started the game with a triple and Cliff Heathcote lined a ball to right that eluded capture long enough to go for an inside-the-park home run. When Freigau tripled and Art Jahn followed with an RBI single, Bill McKechnie replaced Kremer with Lee Meadows. A double by former Pirate Charlie Grimm put the Cubs up, 4-0. The Pirates halved their deficit in the third, with some help. After Cubs’ starter Guy Bush walked Meadows, Carson Bigbee singled and, as the Cubs fumbled the ball around for two errors, Meadows scored and Bigbee took third. Another error, on Thompson’s grounder brought in Bigbee. Meadows kept Chicago off the board from the second through the seventh, except for an unearned run in the fifth. That came home on an outfield error following a single by Denver Grigsby and an outfield error by Bigbee, making it 5-2. The Pirates meanwhile came back to tie the game. With Cuyler on base in the sixth, Wright lined a ball to center that got by center fielder Grigsby, allowing Wright to circle the bases for a home run. It was his 17th of the year and gave him 108 RBIs. The tying run came in the seventh with Cuyler beat out a grounder to first with the bases loaded and one out. The hit scored Meadows, but the Pirates failed to get any more runs in. The Cubs got the lead back in the eighth when two hits and a fielder’s choice loaded the bases to Gabby Hartnett. The Cubs’ catcher lined a ball deep to Cuyler in center for a sacrifice fly. That put them up, 6-5, but the Pirates came back in the bottom half to take an 7-6 lead. A double by Wright and an error put runners at the corners. Earl Smith hit a sacrifice fly to drive in one run and Meadows singled in a second. Unfortunately, Meadows couldn’t hold the lead in the ninth. Heathcote led off with a double, moved up on a flyball and scored on a grounder by Jahn. The Pirates stranded two runners in the bottom of the ninth and the Cubs quickly took the lead in the tenth. Mike Gonzalez, who’d replaced Hartnett behind the plate, doubled in Grimm. Gonzalez later scored when Wright booted Heathcote’s grounder. That made it 9-7. The Pirates mounted a comeback, but fell short. With two out, Bigbee singled and Thompson tripled. That finally knocked Bush out, but Tony Kaufmann came to get Cuyler on a popup. Meadows took the loss to drop to 18-9. Bigbee had three hits. The Giants were idle, so the Bucs retained their eight and a half game lead....
Card of the Day: 1936 S&S Game Card Paul Waner
April 16, 2021
Card of the Day
Paul Waner has been featured on his own card in our Card of the Day series twice before, but the last time was in July of 2020, so it’s been a while. That article was provided by Jarrod Ranone as a guest feature. Waner’s 1933 Goudey card was also a part of our summer of cards from 2020. We haven’t completely ignored him over the last nine months, as he is part of the drool-worthy 1935 Goudey 4-in-1 Pirates card (I really like this card a lot!). Anyway, Paul Waner is an all-time great in baseball, and more importantly, an all-time great in Pittsburgh Pirates history, so we shouldn’t go too long without mentioning him. Seeing as he was born 118 years ago today, it seems like a good day to have him here again. So today’s Card of the Day is from his best season in the majors (according to WAR) when he put up a 7.1 WAR for the 1936 Pirates. Here’s the 1936 S&S Game Card Paul Waner. Here’s the front: This card is part of a set that game with a board game called “The National Game”, which was produced by a Chicago company named S&S Games Company. I’m not 100% sure why they decided to go with the manufacturers name instead of the name of the board game, but that is how these cards are recognized now. There are 52 cards in the set (as you might expect with playing cards), and 19 of those players have gone on to Cooperstown. Another “seems obvious” fact with this set is that they went heavy on the Chicago players, being a Chicago company and all. The Pirates had Paul and Lloyd Waner, Arky Vaughan, Pie Traynor and Pep Young in the set. Anyway, as you can see, the game card had outcomes on the four corners for every player, but it’s really just one outcome. Paul Waner seemed to be a pretty good one. If you picked his card it was worth a double, with any runners ahead of him advancing two bases. Arky Vaughan got the short end of the stick, with all of his cards giving him a ground out to shortstop. The actual Paul Waner portion of the card had a small photo, to go along with his name, team, batting/throwing sides, position, height and weight. No stats are found on cards in this set. Here’s the back: Not much to talk about here. The good stuff on the card is on the front, though I’m not sure if the other side would be considered the front, but for baseball card purposes, the front of the card holds the good stuff. The company spared all expense here. Someone said “How about all green?”. Another person said “That’s too green, how about a small white border?”. Everyone agreed and went to lunch, exhausted from the 15 seconds of thinking. I’m being a little hard on them, because you can find some backs with a light tan background too, so they may have worked 30 seconds that day. If you’re interested in this card, you’ll be happy to know that it’s rather inexpensive considering that it is 85 years old and it pictures a Hall of Famer. Many of Waner’s cards in high grade will go for much more than this card. Of the four examples on Ebay right now, the highest prices one is graded a PSA 9 and it’s up for sale for $180 or best offer. If you don’t need the grading company to be PSA, then an SGC 92 (basically a PSA 8.5) is selling for $79. If you don’t need a grading company, which you don’t really with this card, then a decent looking copy is for sale for $67, and it has a best offer option. Then there is one lot that also has Arky Vaughan and Gabby Hartnett (this has to be a cruel Cubs fan listing it). You can get three Hall of Famers in one shot for $249 or best offer (which I’d strongly suggest)....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: April 16th, Paul Waner
April 16, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, one trade to talk about and one Opening Day to mention. We start with one of the all-time greats in team history. Before we start, recent Pirates pitcher Tyler Bashlor turns 28 today. He will get a full bio next year on April 16th if he’s no longer in the organization. He was just recently sent outright to Triple-A. The Players Paul Waner, outfielder for the 1926-1940 Pirates. If the Pirates ever created a Mount Rushmore for players, Waner has a strong case to be included there. He retired with a .333 career average, 1,627 runs scored, 3,152 hits, 1,091 base on balls and 1,377 RBIs. With the Pirates, he ranks first all-time in batting average with a .340 mark (Jake Stenzel hit .360, but had less than 2,000 PAs). He also ranks first in doubles with 558 (career he ranks 11th all-time). He is sixth in games played, second to Honus Wagner in both runs scored and triples, third in hits and walks, and fifth in RBIs. When he left the Pirates, he was the team’s all-time leader in home runs. Among all Major League right fielders, he is first in putouts, fourth in assists and second in games played. He holds the Pirates single season record with 237 hits. He’s also tops on the doubles list with 62, and he’s first in RBIs with 131. He has five of the top ten single season batting averages in team history, four of the top ten in hits, and two of the top ten seasons in runs scored. He led the National League in games played three times, runs twice, hits twice, doubles twice, triples twice, RBIs once and he won three batting crowns. He was the NL MVP in 1927 and finished second in the voting in 1934. Waner batted .333 during the 1927 World Series. He was voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1952, then was joined there by his brother Lloyd in 1967, although Paul had passed away two years earlier. The Pirates retired his jersey number 11 in 2007. The Waner brothers combined for 5,611 hits. Waner debuted in pro ball at 20 years old in 1923 and spent his first three seasons playing for San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League. He was probably big league ready after his first season when he hit .369 in 112 games. He batted .356 the next year, while collecting 46 doubles. His best was still ahead. During the 1925 season, Waner hit .401 with 75 doubles and 280 hits in 174 games. Pirates scout Joe Devine recommended that the Pirates acquire Waner, which they did on October 12, 1925. At the same time, they also received infielder Hal Rhyne, with the reported price for both being $100,000 and three players. Waner made an easy transition to the majors as a rookie, hitting .336 with 66 walks, 35 doubles, 101 runs scored, 79 RBIs and a league leading/career high 22 triples. He was even better the next year in helping the Pirates to the 1927 World Series. He led the league with a .380 average, 342 total bases, 237 hits, 131 RBIs and 18 triples. He also added 42 doubles and 114 runs scored. The RBI and hit totals are single-season Pirates records. We posted a detailed recap of his 1927 season here. In 1928, Waner led the league with 142 runs scored and 50 doubles. He also added a .370 average, 223 hits, 77 walks, 19 triples and 86 RBIs. During the 1929 season, he batted .336 with 100 RBIs, 131 runs scored and 89 walks. He had 43 doubles, 15 triples and a career high 15 homers. In 1930, offense was up all around baseball. Waner put up a .368 average and 115 runs scored, along with his fourth straight 200+ hit season. He set a career high with 18 stolen bases. His 1931 season looks like a down year compared to the surrounding seasons. He hit .322 and scored 88 runs, the only time he didn’t reach 90 runs in a season during his first 12 years in the majors. Waner finished fourth in the MVP voting in 1932 after setting a Pirates record with 62 doubles. He hit .341 with 215 hits, 107 runs scored and 82 RBIs. Waner was an All-Star for the first time in 1933 (first year of the All-Star game) when he batted .309 with 38 doubles, 16 triples and 101 runs scored. He had an outstanding second All-Star campaign in 1934, winning his second batting title with a .362 average. He also led the league with 122 runs scored and 217 hits. Waner finished with 32 doubles, 16 triples, 14 homers and 90 RBIs. The 1935 season saw Waner make his third straight All-Star appearance. He batted .321 in 139 games, with 98 runs scored and 78 RBIs. He had his best season according to WAR in 1936 (7.1 WAR) when he won his third batting title with a .373 average. Waner had 218 hits, 53 doubles, 107 runs scored and 94 RBIs. While he played until 1945, he had one final big season in 1937. That year he hit .354 with 219 hits, 74 RBIs and 94 runs scored. He still provided positive value in each of the next seven seasons (he batted once in 1945), but he was far from the superstar player. Waner hit .280 in 1938, with 31 doubles and 69 RBIs. He was a .328 hitter in 125 games in 1939, then batted .290 over 89 games in 1940. He was released by the Pirates after the season and signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. His stay in Brooklyn was over in May when he was released, but he quickly signed with the Boston Braves, Waner hit .267 in 106 games that season. Waner hit .258 in 114 games during the 1942 season, then got released in January of 1943. He quickly signed back with Brooklyn and had a fine season in a part-time role, putting up a .311 average in 82 games. He hit .287 through 83 games in 1944, before being released on September 1st. He signed with the New York Yankees that same day and took a pinch-hitting role. Waner went 1-for-7 with two walks to finish out the season. He batted once in 1945, drawing a walk, before being released in early May when he retired. His pro career ended the next year in the minors. Babe Phelps, catcher for the 1942 Pirates. While with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1935 until 1941, Phelps was a strong hitting catcher who made three All-Star appearances. Twice he batted over .360 in a season, and he had a .315 average in 581 games with Brooklyn. His time with the Pirates was brief and a bit rocky. Phelps started off in pro ball at 22 years old in 1930, playing Class-D ball for Hagerstown of the Blue Ridge League, where he hit .376 in 115 games. He moved up one level in 1931 and put up a .408 average in 115 games while playing the Middle Atlantic League for a Hagerstown franchise that moved twice during the season. That performance earned him a brief look with the Washington Senators in September of 1931. Phelps played Class-B ball in 1932 for Youngstown of the Central League, where he put up a .373 average and 81 extra-base hits in 135 games. He played for Albany of the American Association in 1933, which was a top minor league at the time. Phelps hit .293 in 122 games, with 38 extra-base hits, earning a trip to the majors with the Chicago Cubs in September. He remained in the majors through the 1942 season. He was a backup catcher to Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett in 1934, playing just 44 games, with eight starts all year. Phelps hit .286 with 12 RBIs in 70 at-bats. He was selected off waivers by the Dodgers in January of 1935 and he hit .264 in 47 games that first season. He got a starting role in 1936 and responded with a .367 average in 115 games. Phelps batted .313 in a career high 121 games in 1937. He drove in 58 runs and set a career best with 37 doubles. His 1938 season was limited due to a fractured thumb suffered on July 1st, which kept him out of action for the next 46 days. He batted just .255 after returning, finishing the year with a .308 average. He was named an All-Star that year, but could not participate in the game. Phelps was an All-Star again in 1939 when he .285 in 98 games, with a career low .754 OPS. He received his third straight All-Star selection in 1940 when he batted .295 in 118 games, while setting career highs with 47 runs scored, 13 homers and 61 RBIs. Phelp’s last season in Brooklyn was marred by health problems, injuries and a suspension, leading him to play just 16 games in 1941. The Pirates acquired him a four-for-one deal on December 12, 1941 in exchange for shortstop Arky Vaughan. Phelps platooned at catcher with future Hall of Fame manager Al Lopez in 1942 for the Pirates. He hit .284 with nine homers and 41 RBIs in 95 games that season. In April 1943, Phelps was put on the voluntary retired list by baseball for failing to sign his contract for that season within ten days after the start of the schedule. The Pirates tried trading him in May, but the commissioner held up the deal due to his status. They finally dealt Phelps to the Philadelphia Phillies, along with cash, in exchange for first baseman Babe Dahlgren on December 30, 1943. Phelps never reported to the Phillies, instead deciding to retire after 11 seasons in the majors. In his career, he batted .310 in 726 games, with 54 homers, 345 RBIs and 239 runs scored. Piggy Ward, left fielder for the 1891 Pirates. He made his Major League debut just after his 16th birthday, playing one game for the 1883 Philadelphia Quakers (Phillies). Six years later he returned to the majors, this time playing seven games for the 1889 Quakers. In between that time, he bounced around teams in Pennsylvania. Ward was born in Chambersburg, PA and lived out his later years in Hollidaysburg, PA, so he was able to land jobs with many local/in-state clubs throughout his career in pro ball. Two seasons after his second brief trial with Philadelphia, he joined the Pirates for a brief six-game trial in late August, with all five of his starts in left field. It was said that owner J. Palmer O’Neil thought highly of Ward and purchased his contract from Minneapolis of the Western Association on August 8, 1891 when he tried to purchase the team outright along with his business partners with the Pirates after it was revealed that they (Minneapolis) were near the point of folding due to finances. Ward returned his signed contract to the Pirates days before he arrived with the club and well after he was expected to arrive, taking extra time to get to them from Minneapolis. That decision to arrive late likely cost him a lot of money. He was originally signed to replace third baseman Charles Reilly, but Reilly started hitting the ball well just before Ward arrived. It was revealed that Ward stopped at his home in Altoona for a few days before reporting to the Pirates and he didn’t play right away because he had a sore back “from a few days earlier” according to the August 24th Pittsburgh Press. He ended up coming off the bench late and playing center field in his debut on August 25th. On August 26th it was said that Ward would play third base and Reilly would go out to right field. That didn’t happen, but Ward did debut in left field that day in his first start with the Pirates. He had three hits the next day, and two hits and two runs on August 29th. He played his final game on August 31st, going 0-for-4 at the plate. Ward hit .333 for the Pirates in 18 at-bats with six singles, two RBIs, three runs scored and three stolen bases. The local newspaper at the time was critical of his defense, suggesting he should play third base because he was too slow to cover ground in left field. However, they did like the hitting that he added to the team during his brief stay. His time with the team ended due to illness, which came on just as Reilly’s bat cooled off. Reilly ended up hitting just .219 with a .561 OPS in 1891. Ward was released after he couldn’t come to an agreement with the team on his salary. They offered to pay him half of his salary while he was out of action due to illness, but he wanted his full paycheck through the end of October, so the club gave him his release instead, which came with ten days pay at the full rate. Pittsburgh was one of five teams Ward played for during the 1891 season, spending time with four minor league teams at some point during the year, in four different leagues. He bounced around a lot during his career, playing for five different Major League teams in six seasons and at least 30 different minor league teams during his 21-year career. His defense was often maligned outside of Pittsburgh, with numerous disparaging remarks saying that he could hit well, but couldn’t field at all. July 23, 1893 St Louis Dispatch probably summed up his defense the best when they said “Ward shows the happiest faculty for muffing, fumbling and wild throwing from any man masquerading in a league uniform and drawing a salary”. He was a .286 hitter in 221 big league games. He batted .290 in 56 games for the 1892 Baltimore Orioles, then split the 1893 season between the Orioles and Cincinnati Reds, hitting .271 with 55 runs scored in 53 games that year. Ward finished out his big league career with the 1894 Washington Senators, where he hit .303 with 80 walks, 86 runs scored and 41 steals in 98 games. While he did an excellent job of getting on base in the majors (.419 OBP), he hit just one big league home run. His minor league stats are far from complete at this time, with a few seasons totally missing and others incomplete, but he is still credited with over 1,600 minor league hits. His first name was Frank. His nickname came from a combo of his weight, running and the way he chatted up the game in the coaching box, with one early source saying he sounded like a catarrhal cow. The Trade On this date in 1937, The Pittsburgh Pirates traded first baseman/right fielder Earl Browne to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for pitcher Joe Bowman. Browne was a September call-up for the Pirates in both 1935 and 1936. He was 26 years old at the time and had hit .273 in 17 total games for the Pirates. Bowman was also 26 years old, and coming off of a season in which he went 9-20, 5.04 in 203.2 innings. It was his fourth season in the majors and he had a 21-35 career record. The trade worked out decent for the Pirates in that they got five seasons out of Bowman. He had a 33-38, 4.35 record in 629.2 innings for Pittsburgh. He pitched 134 times, 78 as a starter. Browne was a regular for the Phillies in 1937, playing all three outfield positions and first base. He hit .292 with 52 RBIs in 105 games. The Phillies sold him to the St Louis Cardinals just over a month into the 1938 season and he never played in the majors again. The 1903 Season Opener On April 16, 1903, the Pirates played their season opener against the Cincinnati Reds. Pittsburgh had won the last two National League pennants and they looked to make it three in a row. Although they didn’t know it at the time, the 1903 season wouldn’t just end with an NL pennant. The Pirates would go on to play a postseason series against the the American League champions Boston Americans, in what would be the first modern day World Series. The Pirates opened up the 1903 season with an easy 7-1 win against the Reds, on their way to sweeping the four-game series. The starting lineup for the Pirates that day was as follows: CF Ginger Beaumont LF Fred Clarke 3B Tommy Leach SS Honus Wagner 1B Kitty Bransfield RF Jimmy Sebring 2B Claude Ritchey C Ed Phelps P Deacon Phillippe That same lineup would start game one of the World Series, with the only change being Ritchey and Sebring were switched in the order. Here is the boxscore courtesy of Baseball-Reference. We also have a Game Rewind feature from the time the 1885 Alleghenys, while still in the American Association, played a great exhibition game against the Buffalo Bisons of the National League...
1925 Pirate Replay, September 6: Quick Chicago Trip Goes Well for Bucs
April 15, 2021
1925 Season Replay / Uncategorized
The Pirates headed to Chicago for a one-game, Sunday visit, a product of Pennsylvania’s blue laws. It turned out to be a productive visit, as Vic Aldridge threw a complete game four-hitter and everybody in the lineup scored or drove in at least one run. The result was an easy, 9-2 win. Aldridge mostly had an easy time of it. He set the Cubs down in order five times and missed a sixth only because of an error. Chicago picked up a single run in the fifth when Gabby Hartnett doubled to drive in former Buc Charlie Grimm. That left runners at second and third with nobody out, but Aldridge got an unorthodox double play. Butch Weis grounded to first and Stuffy McInnis stepped on the bag. McInnis threw to shortstop Glenn Wright to try to catch Hartnett off second, but the runner from third went for the plate and Wright’s throw to catcher Earl Smith got the second out. A grounder ended the inning. The Cubs’ only other run came in the sixth on a two-out single. Aldridge retired the last ten batters he faced. By the time Chicago got on the board, the Pirates already had a 6-0 lead. Cubs’ starter Sheriff Blake walked a pair of batters in the second. Along with one single, that produced run-scoring ground outs by Wright and Smith. Two more scored in the fourth when Pie Traynor doubled to drive in Clyde Barnhart and McInnis singled in Traynor. The Pirates played the game without Eddie Moore, who was shaken up yesterday, and Max Carey, who still hasn’t fully recovered from an injury that kept him out for several weeks. They were replaced at the top of the order by Carson Bigbee and rookie Fresco Thompson, making his first major league start. The subs helped fuel a fifth-inning rally when Bigbee beat out a bunt and Thompson singled. Bigbee came around to score on a bad throw by right fielder Cliff Heathcote, then Kiki Cuyler doubled to drive in Thompson. The Bucs added on two more after Chicago got its first run. In the top of the sixth, Wright led off with a single and took third on a double by McInnis. Wright scored when Smith grounded to short and catcher Gabby Hartnett dropped the throw home. Bigbee got McInnis home with a sacrifice fly, running the score to 8-1. The Pirates got their final run in the eighth when Aldridge singled to drive in Wright. Aldridge is now 12-6, having won his last five games. The Giants were off, so the Pirates’ first-place lead expanded to eight and a half games. Both teams travel to Pittsburgh for a four-game series starting with a doubleheader tomorrow....
Card of the Day: 1909-11 T206 Ed Abbaticchio
April 15, 2021
Card of the Day
Today’s Card of the Day comes from the ever popular T206 set, which was produced between 1909 and 1911. Today’s feature card pictures infielder Ed Abbaticchio, a member of the 1907-10 Pittsburgh Pirates, who was born on this date in 1877 in Latrobe, PA. He had two cards in the set. This one is the blue sleeves version. I’ll get into the differences between the two cards in the front/back descriptions. Abbaticchio was considered to be the first Italian-American star in baseball and possibly the first Italian-American in baseball period, debuting 26 years after the first Major League game. This particular card came out at the tail end of his career when he was just a seldom-used bench piece for the Pirates. He was a member of the 1909 team, though he played just 36 games all season, losing his second base job to some rookie named Dots Miller. Here’s the front of the card: As mentioned, this is the blue sleeves version. The other Abbaticchio card also shows him in a batting pose, except he’s wearing a long sleeve road jersey, so to tell the two apart easily, that one is called the brown sleeves version. Many people refer to the shirt shown above as the candy strip shirt, which can be seen on numerous Pirates cards in the set. Notice the spelling of Pittsburgh with no H, which would change a short time after this card was printed, with 1911 marking the end of that 21-year period where they tried to be like everyone else. Also notice part of Pittsburg on the jersey. That wasn’t actually there, just a creative addition to cards in the set by the artists. I mentioned that Abbaticchio may be the first Italian-American in baseball and that deserves a bit of an explanation, so here’s a quick one. Lewis “Buttercup” Dickerson played in the 1870-80’s, including a time with the Pirates back when they were the Alleghenys. He has questionable Italian ancestry, based almost solely off his middle name being Pessano, which is a name of Italian origin. His current living relatives claim no Italian heritage in their family. Also, a semi-popular practice back when Dickerson was born was to give kids the middle name of the doctor who delivered them. Maybe he was delivered by a doctor Pessano, who knows. Anyway, I’ve done research and have seen no mention during his era of Dickerson being Italian. Trust me, if you’ve ever read 1800’s newspapers, writers had no problem interjecting European heritage into their writing. If someone was Italian, Irish, German, etc, you knew it in no uncertain terms. Stuff that you would never see in print today. I’m not saying Dickerson wasn’t Italian, but Abbaticchio was definitely the first recognized Italian player in baseball, and it took quite some time for the first Italian player to show up, considering that baseball started many years before the majors were formed in 1871. His popularity among his fellow countrymen took off when he became a star player for the Boston Beaneaters in 1904-05. Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss was actually quoted as saying that one of the reasons he added Abbaticchio prior to the 1907 season was to help draw fans from the large Italian population in the area. Here’s the back of the card: There are various cigarette/tobacco brand backs for this particular card, just as there are different backs for the brown sleeve version of his card. The two lists of available backs are not the same for both cards. The blue sleeve version was printed in a later series. The backs of T206 cards were the only hint of a possible checklist from back then and those didn’t turn out to be correct. The first printing series says “150 subjects” on the back. The second series says “350 subjects”, while the third series says “350-460 subjects” as you can see on this particular back. The actually count from the set was over 500 cards. All of the backs advertised cigarette/tobacco brands and Piedmont was by far the most popular brand as far as back ads go. If you see a random T206 card in a store, there’s a good chance that it has a Piedmont back. If you’re interested in this card, it’s going to cost you more than most of the cards we feature here, but it’s not a bank breaker. T206 cards are very hot right now and any card that is even semi-tough to find has seen a price increase. If price is an issue, then stick to the easier brands of backs, because a tough back will send the prices really high. As a quick lesson, Piedmont is the best (at keeping the price down) for almost any card, but a Factory 42 Piedmont back will carry a bigger price tag. Sweet Caporal cards are also very easy to find (relatively speaking) and they will go for a lower price. Other available backs will increase in value based on their rarity. Anyway, let’s assume you just want one and don’t care about the back. Most available copies will be in similar condition to the card pictured. As you would expect, it’s not easy to find a mint condition card from the early 1900s. There are plenty of low grade examples out there that keep the price down. This particular card has ended for as low as $30 in low grade over the past three months on Ebay. As you get into graded examples, that adds to the price. The nicest one on Ebay in the last three months was a PSA 4 and it sold for $200. Right now there aren’t many for sale on Ebay. As of the time of this writing, there were just 13 T206 Abbaticchio cards for sale and seven of them were the brown sleeve pose. The lowest priced blue sleeve is $68 right now. Happy hunting!...
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: April 15th, King, Rambo and Abbaticchio
April 15, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Seven former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date and one minor trade mentioned below. The Players Adeiny Hechavarría, infielder for the 2018 Pirates. He was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays out of Cuba, just days before his 21st birthday in 2010. Hechavarria defected from Cuba after playing three years of pro ball there. The Blue Jays signed him to a four-year deal worth $10,000,000. He didn’t play in 2009, so it took some time for him to get back into the swing of things. He put up poor stats are High-A and mediocre stats at Double-A during his first season in the U.S., which was followed by a brief trip to the Arizona Fall League. Hechavarria returned to Double-A in 2011 and posted a .622 OPS in 111 games, then exploded on offense when he reached Triple-A, though he was playing in the very hitter-friendly Las Vegas at the time. He had a .968 OPS in 25 games. That was followed by another trip to the Arizona Fall League after the season. In 2012, he opened the year back in Las Vegas and had a .788 OPS in 102 games before being promoted to the majors in August. For the 2012 Blue Jays, he hit .254 in 41 games, while playing three infield spots. The Blue Jays kept him just under the Rookie of the Year qualifications so he was eligible for the award in 2013. However, he was traded to the Miami Marlins as part of a huge 12-player deal in November of 2012. Hechavarria was the starting shortstop for the Marlins from day one. He played solid defense, but he put up a .565 OPS in 148 games during his first season, gaining no Rookie of the Year support. His hitting improved slightly each of the next two years. He hit for average, putting up a .276 mark in 2014 and a .281 mark in 2015, but he had limited power and low walk totals, which kept his overall production down. His stats slipped off in 2016 when he played a career high 155 games, and he finished the year with a .594 OPS. Hechavarria was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2017 season and did well after the deal, posting a .701 OPS in 77 games. He had a .621 OPS through 61 games played in 2018 when he was traded to the Pirates for minor league pitcher Matt Seelinger on August 6th. Hechavarria hit .233 with a homer in 15 games for the Pirates before he was sold to the New York Yankees on August 31st, ending his time in Pittsburgh after just 25 days. He signed with the New York Mets as a free agent in 2019 and hit .204 in 60 games before he was released in August. He signed with the Atlanta Braves just two days later and put up a 1.039 OPS in his final 24 games of the season. Hechavarria remained with the Braves during the shortened 2020 season, putting up a .607 OPS in 27 games. He did not sign for the 2021 season. In nine seasons in the majors, he has hit .253 in 922 games, with 37 homers, 273 RBIs, 35 stolen bases and 311 runs scored. During the 2015 season, he was rated as the sixth best defensive player in the National League, finishing with 2.0 dWAR. Jeromy Burnitz, right fielder for the 2006 Pirates. He already had 13 seasons of Major League experience when the Pirates signed him to a one-year contract on January 9, 2006. He had played for five different teams over the five previous seasons at the time of the signing. Burnitz was originally drafted out of high school in 1987 by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 24th round. While he didn’t sign with the Brewers then, he would eventually end up there for the best years of his career. He attended Oklahoma State University, where the New York Mets selected him in the first round (17th overall) in 1990. Burnitz had a huge first full season in pro ball, despite a .225 batting average. Playing in Double-A, he was a 30/30 players, with 31 homers and 31 steals, while also drawing 104 walks. He moved up to Triple-A in 1992 and struggled, so he had to repeat the level to begin the 1993 season. In late June of 1993, the Mets called him up to the majors. He batted .243 with 13 homers in 86 games as a rookie. A slow start in 1994 landed him back in Triple-A for 2 1/2 months in the middle of the season, then he lost the end of the year due to the strike. Burnitz hit .238 with three homers in 45 games. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians in November and he played just nine big league games in 1995. In 1996, he got off to a strong start and was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in an August trade. He combined to hit .265 with nine homers and 40 RBIs in 94 games that season. Burnitz would take off the following year when he batted .281 with 37 doubles, 27 homers, 85 RBIs, a career high 20 steals and 75 walks. He set career highs the next year with 38 homers and 125 RBIs, receiving mild MVP support for his effort. Burnitz was an All-Star for the only time in 1999 when he hit .270 with 33 doubles, 33 homers, 110 RBIs and 91 walks in 130 games. He saw his average drop to .232 in 161 games in 2000, but he still had 31 homers, 98 RBIs, 99 walks and 91 runs scored. In his final season in Milwaukee in 2001, he batted .251 with 32 doubles, 34 homers, 100 RBIs, 80 walks and a career high 104 runs scored. In January of 2002, Burnitz was traded to the Mets in a three-team deal that involved 11 players. He did poorly in his only full season back with the Mets, hitting .215 with 19 homers and 54 RBIs in 154 games. He was doing well during the 2003 season, putting up a .974 OPS in 65 games, when he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in mid-July. He batted just .204 with a .643 OPS after the deal. Burnitz signed a one-year free agent deal with the Colorado Rockies after the season and moving to Coors Field was to his liking. He batted .283 with 37 homers and 110 RBIs. He had a 1.057 OPS at home and a .757 mark on the road. In 2005 for the Chicago Cubs, Burnitz hit .258 with 24 homers and 87 RBIs in 160 games. He signed with the Pirates on January 9, 2006 and ended up hitting .230 with 16 homers and 49 RBIs in 111 games, making 84 starts in right field. His first home run of the season was the 300th of his career, becoming just the third player (after Willie Stargell and Ralph Kiner) to hit his 300th homer while wearing a Pirates uniform. Burnitz retired following the 2006 season. For his career, he hit .253 with 315 homers, 981 RBIs and 917 runs scored in 1,694 games. Mike Diaz, utility player for the 1986-88 Pirates. He was a 30th round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in 1978 out of high school in California. He debuted that season in the Gulf Coast League and hit .279 with one homer in 26 games. He remained in short-season ball in 1979 and had an .875 OPS in 63 games in the New York-Penn League. Diaz moved up to Low-A in 1980 and hit .293 in 105 games. He skipped to Double-A for the 1981 season, though he ended up repeating the level. He batted .264 with ten homers in his first season with Midland of the Texas League, then came back with a .289 average, 22 homers and 75 RBIs in his second season. Diaz moved up to Triple-A Iowa in 1983, where he hit .324 with 15 homers in 74 games. He made it to the majors for the first time in 1983 for six September games, all of them off of the bench. Chicago traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies prior to the 1984 season and he spent the entire year in Triple-A, where he hit .270 with 14 homers. Early in the 1985 season, the Pirates traded for Diaz, giving up minor league catcher Steve Herz. Diaz spent the year at Triple-A Hawaii (after ten games with the Phillies Triple-A club), hitting 22 homers with 85 RBIs. He then made the Pirates out of Spring Training in 1986 without appearing in a big league game during the previous two season. In his first year with the Pirates, he hit .268 with 12 homers and 36 RBIs. He followed that up with a .241 average, 16 homers and 48 RBIs in 103 games during the 1987 season. He was playing mostly off the bench through August of 1988, when the Pirates traded him to the Chicago White Sox for Gary Redus. Diaz was released at the end of the year and he spent the last four seasons of his pro career in Japan. He hit 39 homers and drove in 105 runs in 130 games in 1989, then hit .311 with 33 homers and 101 RBIs in 128 games in 1990. Diaz was a career .247 hitter in the majors, with 31 homers and 102 RBIs in 293 games. He hit .250 with 28 homers in 247 games with Pittsburgh. While with the Pirates, he split the majority of his time between first base and left field, though he also saw time at right field, catcher and third base. Diaz came up through the minors as a catcher, but his big league career saw him play just 13 games behind the plate, and only two of those games were starts. He had the nickname “Rambo” after the movie Rambo came out starring Sylvester Stallone, who Diaz shared many characteristics with, including looks and how he talked. Bill Pierro, pitcher for the 1950 Pirates. He was a hard-throwing sidearm right-handed pitcher, with strong minor league stats, but his Major League career was ended by illness shortly after it started. Pierro was signed by the Pirates at 20 years old as an amateur free agent in 1947 and he struggled with his control in the low minors (Class-D) that first season while splitting his time between Bartlesville of the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League and Tallahassee of the Georgia-Florida League. His 4.30 ERA wasn’t that bad, but in 134 innings, he had 159 walks. On August 22nd, he made headlines when he picked up 15 strikeouts in a game. He turned it around quickly while at Bartlesville in 1948, posting a 17-8, 2.15 record in 230 innings. He was still wild (145 walks) but he was also very hard to hit, allowing just 114 hits all season. Pierro moved up to Class-B for the 1949 season and continued his success with the Waco Pirates of the Big State League. He went 18-11, 2.96 in 255 innings that season, lowering his walks to 126 for the season, while increasing his innings pitched. In 1950 he moved up to Triple-A with the Indianapolis Indians, going 8-3, 2.60 in 25 games, with 59 walks in 104 innings, before getting called up to the Pirates on July 12th, when the made a flurry of roster moves during a year in which they would finish with a 57-96 record. He had a rough go with the Pirates, posting a 10.55 ERA in twelve games, three as a starter. He pitched 29 innings, gave up 33 hits and walked 28 batters. He had some success against the New York Giants in three appearances, giving up one run on two hits over five innings. Pierro pitched just once in the last 31 games of the season. As the 1951 Spring Training schedule was wrapping up, Pierro started complaining of a gastritis attack and dizziness. Just days later (on his birthday), he was rushed to the hospital with what turned out to be inflammation of the brain. He was listed in critical condition and the first few days it didn’t look good for him. He eventually recovered and lived out a full life passing away in 2006, but the brain issue marked the end of his baseball career. The Pirates officially released him in April of 1952. King Cole, pitcher for the 1912 Pirates. He had minimal experience in pro ball prior to his big league debut on October 6, 1909. Cole pitched briefly in pro ball in 1908, then spent the 1909 season playing for Bay City of the Southern Michigan League, where he posted a 21-17 record. He was signed by the Chicago Cubs at the end of the season and threw a shutout in his Major League debut against the St Louis Cardinals on the final day of the season. He had an amazing rookie season in 1910, going 20-4 with a league leading 1.80 ERA in 239.2 innings. He threw 21 complete games and had four shutouts. Cole was almost as good his second season, going 18-7, 3.13 in 221.1 innings. His pitching quickly went downhill in 1912, going 1-2, 10.89 in eight games through the end of May. The Pirates and Cubs hooked up on a four-player trade on May 30th, with Tommy Leach and Lefty Leifield going to Chicago and Cole and Solly Hofman coming back to Pittsburgh. King (first name was Leonard) went 2-2, 6.43 in 12 games for the Pirates, making five starts and pitching 49 innings. In his final game with the Pirates on September 1, 1912, he allowed 11 runs on 12 hits over eight innings in a loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Cole was healthy, but never got into a game during the final month. When the Pirates went on their final road trip on September 28th, they allowed eight of their 28 players to go home, including Cole. Coincidentally, they were on their way to play the Chicago Cubs and Cole was living in Chicago over the winter, so he actually attended at least one game during that series. On October 24, 1912, he was sold to the Columbus Senators of the American Association as a partial payment for the Pirates acquiring pitcher Wilbur Cooper and Hall of Fame first baseman George Sisler (who never joined the Pirates, long story for another time) earlier in the fall. Cole went 23-11 in 46 games for Columbus in 1913, throwing a total of 341.2 innings. The Yankees took him in the 1913 Rule 5 draft and he spent two seasons in New York. In 1914 he did well in a swing role, going 10-9, 3.30 in 141.2 innings spread over 15 starts and 18 relief appearances. He saw limited time in 1915, with a 3.18 record in 51 innings. Late in 1915 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and he passed away on January 6, 1916 at the age of twenty-nine. Cole had a career record of 54-27 with a 3.12 ERA in 730.2 innings. Ed Abbaticchio, infielder for the 1907-1910 Pirates. He made his MLB debut with the 1897 Philadelphia Phillies, playing parts of two seasons in Philadelphia before spending the next four years in the minors. With no previous professional baseball experience, the 20-year-old Abbaticchio played three September games for the Phillies in 1897 before he got injured. In 1898, he batted .228 with no homers and 14 RBIs in 25 games for Philadelphia. He played for Minneapolis of the Western League in 1899, then spent the 1900 season in the American League, one season before it reached Major League status. Abbaticchio moved on to Nashville of the Southern Association in 1901, where he put up a .363 batting average in 108 games. Back in Nashville for 1902, he hit .353 in 99 games. He returned to the majors with the Boston Beaneaters in 1903 and became the first Italian-American star in baseball, and possibly the first Italian-American ever in the majors. He was Boston’s everyday second baseman for most of the 1903 season, seeing some time at shortstop as well. He batted .227 in 136 games, with 52 walks, 23 steals and 61 runs scored. Abbaticchio became the everyday shortstop in 1904 and played 154 games that year. He batted .256 with 24 steals, 76 runs scored and 54 RBIs. He played 153 games in 1905 and led the National League with 610 at-bats. He had his best season at the plate, batting .279 with 40 extra-base hits, 30 stolen bases and 70 runs scored, leading to a career best .700 OPS. Abbaticchio sat out the 1906 season to manage a hotel in Pittsburgh owned by his family. Boston traded him to Pittsburgh on December 11, 1906 in exchange for three players, Ginger Beaumont, Claude Ritchey and Patsy Flaherty. That deal did not work out for the Pirates, though they were still a strong team after the deal. Ritchey and Abbaticchio were basically the same player after the deal and Beaumont outplayed both of them, while Flaherty was a steady presence in the Boston rotation for two seasons. He was a shortstop with Boston, but with Honus Wagner at shortstop in Pittsburgh, he moved to second base. In his first season he hit .262 with 82 RBIs, 65 walks and 35 stolen bases. In the field he led the league in errors for second baseman. During the 1904 and 1905 seasons, he also led the National League in errors among shortstops, so what happened in 1908 was probably a surprise. Abbaticchio hit .250 with 61 RBIs in 146 games that season, plus he had the best fielding percentage among NL second baseman. Just five games into the 1909 season, Abbaticchio lost his starting job to rookie Dots Miller, forcing him to the backup middle infielder role. In 36 games that year, he hit .230 with 16 RBIs. He saw just one at-bat in the postseason, as the Pirates won their first World Series title. In 1910, Abbaticchio played just three games for the Pirates through the end of June, leading to Pittsburgh selling him back to Boston on July 1st. He hit .247 with a .587 OPS in 52 games, then got released at the end of the season, ending his baseball career. He was a gifted athlete who also excelled at football and played some basketball. Bill Gray, third baseman for the 1898 Pirates. He made his pro debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1890 as a teenager. He hit .242 in 34 games and played seven different positions during his brief time, everywhere except pitcher and shortstop. He had a similar season at 20 years old in 1891, hitting .240 in 23 games while playing five different positions. After two seasons with Philadelphia, he spent the next three years in the minors. He played for two teams in the Eastern League in 1892, moved to the Pennsylvania League in 1893, then played for Indianapolis of the Western League in 1894, where he hit .318 with 50 extra-base hits and 117 runs scored in 115 games. He returned to the majors with the Cincinnati Reds in 1895 and hit .304 in 52 games. The following season his average dropped down to .207, which would lead to him spending the 1897 season back in the minors with Indianapolis, where he batted .347 with 56 extra-base hits and 131 runs scored in 125 games. On November 10, 1897 the Reds traded him, along with Billy Rhines, Pop Schriver, Jack McCarthy and Ace Stewart to the Pirates for outfielder Mike Smith and pitcher Pink Hawley. The Pirates were giving up two of their better players and they didn’t get a lot from the five-player return. Gray was the everyday third baseman for the Pirates in 1898 and he hit .229 with 67 RBIs and 56 runs scored in 137 games. His defense was below average and he committed the second most errors among National League third baseman. It ended up being his last season in the majors. The Pirates traded him that December to Milwaukee of the Western League in exchange for Ginger Beaumont, who went on to become a star center fielder for the Pirates for eight seasons. Gray finished his career two years later in the minors, spending his final season in the American League, the year before it became recognized as a Major League. He was a .242 hitter in 292 big league games, with 141 RBIs and 126 runs scored. His lone big league home run came in 1895 in the ninth inning of a game his team was losing 15-0 at the time. The Trade One minor deal to mention from this date. In 2009, the Pirates acquired second baseman/outfielder Delwyn Young from the Los Angeles Dodgers for two players to be named later. The Pirates later sent minor league pitchers Eric Krebs and Harvey Garcia to Los Angeles to complete the deal. Young played 234 games for the Pirates during the 2009-10 seasons, hitting .255 with 14 homers and 71 RBIs, while neither Krebs nor Garcia played for the Dodgers in the majors and both were soon out of baseball after the deal. Young’s time with the Pirates, and in the majors, ended when he became a free agent after the 2010 season....
1925 Pirate Replay, September 5: Bucs Rebound From Rough Start to Edge Cards
April 14, 2021
1925 Season Replay / Uncategorized
Lee Meadows had a rough first inning, but the Pirates got some good relief pitching from Johnny Morrison and the hitters gradually made up the gap. In the end, the Bucs edged the Cards, 6-5, to take the rubber match of the teams’ three-game series at Forbes Field. The Bucs’ ace wasn’t fooling anybody at the start of the game. After the leadoff hitter lined out, Heinie Mueller tripled, Rogers Hornsby doubled and Jim Bottomley singled to produce two runs. Bottomley went to third on the throw to the plate and then scored when Chick Hafey beat out an infield hit. After a popup, Bob O’Farrell reached on an error by Johnny Rawlings at second. Tommy Thevenow singled to drive in Hafey, putting the Cards up, 4-0. The inning ended on Thevenow’s hit when right fielder Eddie Moore threw O’Farrell out at third. Moore was hurt on the play and left for a pinch hitter, Carson Bigbee, in the bottom of the first. Meadows settled in after that, keeping St. Louis off the board through the fourth. He allowed three runners, but one was erased on a double play and Earl Smith caught the other two stealing. Meanwhile, the Pirates started a comeback in the bottom of the third against St. Louis starter Duster Mails. One-out singles by Bigbee, Rawlings and Kiki Cuyler brought in a run, and Clyde Barnhart made it 4-2 with a sacrifice fly. In the fourth, the Bucs took the lead. Glenn Wright and Stuffy McInnis started the inning with singles. Smith grounded into the hole between short and third, but the ball hit Wright. He was declared out and Smith got credit for a single. Max Carey, batting for Meadows, struck out, but Bigbee singled in a run and an infield hit by Rawlings loaded the bases. Mails then walked Cuyler to force in a run and bring on Leo Dickerman in relief. Dickerman walked Barnhart to force in another run, putting the Bucs up, 5-4. Eddie Dyer for the Cards and the Bucs’ Tom Sheehan kept the score where it was through the fifth and sixth. In the top of the seventh, St. Louis tied the game when the first three batters singled. Bill McKechnie brought in Morrison, who picked O’Farrell off second and got two ground outs to end the inning. The score held at 5-5 until the bottom of the eighth. Morrison led off with a single and moved up on a bunt by Bigbee. That brought up Fresco Thompson, a 23-year-old infielder appearing in his first major league game. Thompson had pinch run for Rawlings in the sixth and stayed in the game at second. In his first big league at-bat, he singled to drive in Morrison and put Pittsburgh up, 6-5. Morrison retired the Cards in the ninth to pick up the win, improving his record to 16-11. Rawlings and Smith each had three hits, and Bigbee went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. The Giants also won, so the Pirates remain in first place by eight games. The Pirates next make a quick trip to Chicago for one game tomorrow. They return the next day for a four-game series with the Cubs, starting with a doubleheader....
The One Who Got Away: Pat Duncan
April 14, 2021
The One Who Got Away
Today’s featured player in this series is one who could have helped boost the Pirates when they were putting together solid seasons in the early 1920’s, before they finally broke through and won it all in 1925. He’s a poor man’s version of Hall of Fame first baseman George Kelly, who was featured in this series back in June. Kelly became a star for the New York Giants, leading them to four straight National League pennants. During that time, the Pirates were averaging 88 wins per season and had nothing to show for it. If they could have kept Kelly, who they let go for nothing, then maybe it would have been the Pirates winning all of those titles during that time. If we are revising history, then the Pirates also gave up Hall of Fame pitchers Red Faber and Dazzy Vance during that era for nothing. I would say there’s no doubt that they would have been a dynasty with the three Hall of Famers added to teams that averaged 88 wins. That’s definitely a strong possibility that we will never know about, but now imagine that you could add another solid player for no cost to those same teams. The Pirates had that player in 1915 and his name was Pat Duncan. Duncan debuted in pro ball at 18 years old in 1912. He started in the low level Ohio State League, then moved to the Southern Michigan League in 1913, where he hit .299 in 97 games for the Flint Vehicles. He switched teams in the same league during the 1914 season and hit .285 with 43 extra-base hits and 46 steals for the Battle Creek Crickets. He was with Battle Creek at the start of 1915, but the league folded after two months and it left him searching for a job. His landing spot was the Pittsburgh Pirates, who announced on July 8th that they signed him to a contract. It was reported that he received offers from 14 clubs, including other minor league teams. The Pirates got him when owner Barney Dreyfuss offered him a $300 bonus for signing. On July 8th, Duncan left to join the Pirates, who were playing the Philadelphia Phillies at the time. He was with the team the next day and was immediately given a look by manager Fred Clarke. In the July 10th edition of the Pittsburgh Press, they reported that Duncan worked out with the team for the first time, looking good in the outfield, while consistently making hard contact during batting practice. They said he was expected to see some work soon. The Pittsburgh Daily Post noted that he showed plenty of speed, despite nursing a leg injury he suffered when his spikes got caught while running the bases a week earlier. On July 12th, Duncan was said to be getting regular batting practice and he was taking fly balls in left field, where the Pirates weren’t getting good results from their regulars. The next day the Pittsburgh Press noted that Fred Clarke said that Duncan would get a trial in one of the team’s games in Boston over the next four days. Two days later, the Daily Post printed posed photos of Duncan (as a side note, these are the only photos I’ve seen with him in Pittsburgh) Duncan was part of an amusing tale that wasn’t so amusing when it happened, at least to him. On the 16th, the local papers noted that he was playing with Max Carey at an early age and they were rivals as the best players on their respective teams, which played each other often. They also noted that Duncan and Pirates teammate Wally Gerber were held up in a robbery in a dark alley. The “robber” turned out to be Max Carey, playing a joke on the two young players. That same day the robbery report came out, Duncan got to play his first big league game. With southpaw pitcher Lefty Tyler on the mound, the right-handed hitting Duncan got the start in center field and batted seventh in the lineup. He played seven innings until a right-handed reliever came on, then he left for pinch-hitter Zip Collins, a lefty batter and the regular starting center fielder at the time. Duncan went 0-for-3, but the papers gave him credit for hitting the ball on the nose during his first at-bat, a ground out to third base. He also made outs on a shallow fly to left field and a strikeout. One paper noted that he had at least 12 foul balls, including a few hit a long way down the outfield line. In his strikeout, he had a total of six fouls before going down on strikes. In the field, his only put out was a line drive hit to him in the fifth, though he fielded multiple hits and showed off a strong arm getting the ball back in to the infield. On July 17th during the first game of a doubleheader, Duncan batted for starting pitcher George McQuillan in the seventh inning. He actually picked up the at-bat with a 1-0 count, as Clarke decided a little late to remove his starter and McQuillan took the first pitch for a ball. Duncan grounded out to second base. He did not play during game two that day. The Pirates were dealing with a minor injury at the time that the local papers said might result in more time for Duncan. Honus Wagner was nursing a sore ankle and first baseman Doc Johnston wasn’t hitting well, so with a limited bench, it appeared that Duncan could see the lineup, either in left field or center. As it turned out, all he saw was a pinch-hit at-bat that day. On July 19th, with one out in the ninth and the Pirates trailing 3-0, Duncan hit for pitcher Joe Conzelman and lined a “stout” single into left field, picking up his first Major League hit. The Pirates lost, but it was a highlight for the youngster. It seemed to be a big deal in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who ran the subheading “DUNCAN MAKES A HIT AS PINCHER”. The Pirates and New York Giants had a doubleheader rained out on July 22nd, which meant that they would played doubleheaders on Friday (July 23rd), Saturday, then another on Monday after a Sunday off-day. Surely that would get Duncan some playing time you would imagine, right? He didn’t get into a single game, though he nearly got tossed from one of the games when he commented from the bench that Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem missed a strike call on a curve ball. Klem was not pleased and gave the rookie a warning. On July 28th, it was announced that Duncan was released to Grand Rapids of the Central League. The Pirates were able to recall him if he played well, but he didn’t expect to come back until September after the minor league season was over. Duncan was looking forward to the regular playing time, believing that he would be back in September. On July 29th, Duncan debuted in the Grand Rapids lineup and picked up two hits. He was referred to as the “Pirates castoff”. He ended up batting .295 in 30 games for Black Sox. On September 12th, the Post-Gazette said that his trip to Grand Rapids was a success and they expected Duncan to be with the Pirates for the next season. On February 15, 1916, the Pirates officially cut ties with Duncan, selling him to Grand Rapids. Duncan remained in the minors for quite some time, but he hit at every level and he also missed time while serving in the Army in WWI, which likely delayed his return to the majors. The war efforts limited his play for part of 1917, most of 1918, and early in 1919. He was playing well for Birmingham of the Southern Association in August of 1919 when his contract was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds. Duncan had a .717 OPS over the final 31 games in Cincinnati, which led to a starting left field job in 1920. The 1920 Pirates were part of a mediocre stretch for the franchise that led into their strong run during the rest of the decade. The Pirates had losing seasons from 1914 until bottoming out in 1917 with a 51-103 record. In 1918, they were just above .500 for the first of three very similar seasons. Their winning percentage ranged from .511 to .520 in that three-year stretch (1918-20). Duncan was the starting left fielder for the Reds in 1920 and he hit .295 in 154 games, with 75 runs scored and 83 RBIs. He wouldn’t have pushed the Pirates over the top, but he could have helped them to a better finish. Where he could have really made a difference is from 1921 until 1923. Duncan hit .308/.367/.408 in 145 games during the 1921 season. He backed that up with a career best slash line of .328/.370/.479 in 151 games in 1922. He scored 94 runs, picked up 94 RBIs, as well as collecting 44 doubles and 12 triples. Duncan had another big season in 1923, batting .327/.363/.438 in 147 games, with 92 runs scored and 83 RBIs. His 1924 season saw a small slide in his stats and an end to his big league time. He likely could have been a solid MLB bench player over the next few years. He played at the highest level of the minors for Minneapolis of the American Association and batted .345 in 1925, .351 in 1926, and .352 in 1927. Sometimes back then it was better (more lucrative) to be a big fish in a small pond than it was to be a bench player in the majors. The Pirates could have used a bat like Duncan’s when they were falling short each year during the 1921-24 seasons. Maybe you don’t gain a lot when you factor in where his at-bats would be coming from, as in who he would have been taking at-bats away from to get regular playing time. The other way to look at it is that if he played for the Pirates, then the guy he’s replacing would have become a trade chip to help out a weakness, or vice versa. His time with the Pirates was all too brief and he proved that he could hit at every level over 13 seasons in the minors. His .307 average in the majors over seven seasons showed that he could hit at the biggest stage. That makes Pat Duncan, The One Who Got Away....
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: April 14th, Pirates Open Up World Series Winning Season
April 14, 2021
This Date in Pittsburgh Baseball History
Five former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date and one game of note. The Players Chris Leroux, pitcher for the 2010-13 Pirates. Leroux was drafted out of high school in Canada by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the ninth round of the 2002 draft. He decided to attend Winthrop University in South Carolina, where he was selected in the seventh round of the 2005 draft by the Florida Marlins. He debuted in pro ball as a starter in 2006 and struggled at three lower levels, posting a combined 6.06 ERA. Leroux switched to relief in 2007 and had a 4.14 ERA in 71.2 innings over 46 appearances at Low-A. He moved to High-A for 2008 and had a 3.65 ERA in 74 innings over 57 games in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League. Despite mild success and his lack of upper level experience, he made his MLB debut in May of 2009. He ended up having three separate stints in the majors, though he only pitched five games total, spending the rest of the season in Double-A. Leroux was in the majors at the beginning of 2010 and remained there until mid-May. He went to Triple-A, where he pitched poorly in 21 games, posting a 6.95 ERA in 22 innings, but he returned to the majors when the rosters expanded on September 1st. The Pirates picked him up on waivers on September 13, 2010 after he posted an 8.03 ERA in 22 relief appearances between 2009-10 for the Marlins. After making six appearances for Pittsburgh in 2010, with three runs allowed over 4.2 innings, Leroux began the 2011 season in Triple-A. He was recalled in July, appearing in 23 games for the Pirates with a 2.88 ERA in 25 innings. He was placed on the 60-day DL at the start of the 2012 season with a strained right pectoral muscle. He ended up pitching just ten games in the majors that year after returning in September, then followed that up with his final big league games for the Pirates at the start of the 2013 season. He was let go on April 17th, one week after his last game with Pittsburgh. During his final two seasons with the Pirates combined, he allowed 12 runs over 15.1 innings. Leroux finished out the 2013 season pitching in Japan. He finished his MLB time with two games for the 2014 New York Yankees, giving up five runs over two innings. He pitched in the minors for another two seasons before retiring, seeing time with the Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays organization. He played a total of five seasons of winter ball between the 2011-12 and 2016-17 off-seasons, playing in both Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. With the Pirates, he had a 4.20 ERA in 45 innings over 41 appearances. Kyle Farnsworth, pitcher for the 2013 Pirates. He was a 47th round draft pick out of high school by the Chicago Cubs in 1994. Despite that low draft status, Farnsworth ended up playing 16 years in the majors. He was known as a reliever with 100+ MPH heat, but he actually began his Major League career as a starting pitching in 1999. As a rookie for the Cubs, he went 5-9, 5.05 in 130 innings. He switched to relief the next year, making just five starts, to go along with 41 relief appearances. He struggled that sophomore season, going 2-9, 6.43 in 77 innings. Farnsworth was on top of his game in 2001, putting up a 2.74 ERA in 88 innings over 76 appearances. He got roughed up in 2002 though, to the tune of a 7.46 ERA in 46.2 innings over 45 games. While not as drastic, that trend continued in the 2003-04 seasons. Farnsworth was a solid bullpen arm in 2003 with a 3.30 ERA in 76.1 innings and 77 appearances. His ERA dropped to 4.73 in 2004 in 66.2 innings. He was traded to the Detroit Tigers prior to the 2005, who in turn traded him to the Atlanta Braves in July. He had an outstanding season that got better as it went along, combining in the two stops to put up a 2.19 ERA in 70 innings, with 16 saves. Farnsworth became a free agent after the season and signed with the New York Yankees where he continued his off and on seasons, though he didn’t rebound in the odd number year this time. He had a 4.32 ERA in 2006 and a 4.80 ERA in 2007. He was doing slightly better in 2008 before a mid-season trade back to the Tigers, where a poor showing left him with a 4.48 ERA for the season. Farnsworth signed with the Kansas City Royals as a free agent prior to the 2009 season. He went 1-5, 4.58 in 41 appearances, then had strong results in the first half of 2010, putting up a 2.42 ERA in 44.2 innings. In July he was traded to the Braves, where he posted a 5.40 ERA to finish the season. Farnsworth signed a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays prior to the 2011 season. He had an excellent first year, posting a career best 2.18 ERA in 57.2 innings, with 25 saves. As you probably figured out, that success did not carry over. He was moved out of the closer role in 2012 and finished with a 4.00 ERA. He re-signed with the Rays for 2013, but he was released after a 5.76 ERA in 39 games through early August. The Pirates signed him five days later to help with their playoff run and he gave up just one run over 8.2 innings and nine appearances in September. Fansworth split his final season in the majors between the New York Mets and Houston Astros, who released him in June, which ended his big league career. He spent his final two seasons of pro ball pitching in Mexico before retiring. In the majors, he had a 43-66, 4.26 record and 57 saves in 988.2 innings over 893 games. His postseason experience was a lot like his career. He threw shutout ball in four different series over the years, but he had a career 5.06 ERA in postseason play. John Van Benschoten, pitcher for the 2004 and 2007-08 Pirates. He was a first round draft pick of the Pirates in 2001 out of Kent State University, the eighth overall pick in the draft. Van Benschoten hit 31 homers his last season of college, the most in the country, but he was drafted as a pitcher. As a reliever for Kent State in 2001, he had a 2.77 ERA in 48.2 innings. He reported to the New York-Penn League after signing and posted a 3.51 ERA in nine starts. He spent his first full season of pro ball at low-A ball, playing for Hickory, where he went 11-4, 2.80 in 27 starts, striking out 145 batters in 148 innings. Van Benschoten split the 2003 season between High-A and Double-A, going 13-6, 3.17 in 26 starts, striking out 127 in 139 innings. After a 4.72 ERA in 23 Triple-A starts in 2004, he was called up to the majors for the first time in August. He made five starts for the Pirates and one relief appearance. He went 1-3, 6.91 in 28.2 innings over the final six weeks of the season. Against the Houston Astros on September 10th, he allowed just one run in eight innings, picking up his first career win. Van Benschoten had to have surgery on his throwing shoulder in 2005, followed shortly by surgery on his left shoulder, and he missed the entire season. He had to have left shoulder surgery again in 2006 and didn’t make his season debut until August in the minors. He was limited to five starts and 22.2 innings. He began 2007 in Triple-A, going 10-7, 2.56 in 19 starts. Van Benschoten debuted in the majors that season in mid-June and remained in the rotation for a month. He then returned to Triple-A until September, when he rejoined the Pirates. He made nine starts and two relief appearances for the Pirates with extremely poor results. He went 0-7, 10.15 in 39 innings with a 2.15 WHIP, though he had a 3.92 ERA in his first four starts, then gave up 35 runs over his final 18.1 innings.. Van Benschoten began 2008 in the minors, getting recalled for the first time in late April. After one start and three relief appearances, he was sent back to Triple-A. The Pirates called him up for a second time in late June, giving him four starts before sending him down again for the remainder of the season. Pittsburgh let him go after the season and he signed with the Chicago White Sox, spending the 2009 season in the minors. He spent 2010 in the minors with the New York Yankees and 2011 at Triple-A with the San Diego Padres. Van Benschoten was released by the Padres during the end of Spring Training in 2012. He was 2-13, 9.20 in 90 innings with the Pirates. He had a 3.84 ERA in 811.1 innings in the minors. Bill Luhrsen, pitcher for the 1913 Pirates. He was a spitball pitcher who began his career in the minors in 1908 at 24 years old after playing semi-pro ball for a time. He played for three different teams in the Arkansas State League, posting a 16-17 record at the level that was considered to be Class-D ball, the lowest level of the minors. He remained in Arkansas in 1909, playing for the Marianna Brickeys of the Northern Arkansas League, then split the 1910 season between two lower level teams, putting up a 17-10 record. Despite solid results and three years of pro experience, he remained in Class-D ball in 1911, playing for Great Bend of the Kansas State League and Superior of the Nebraska State League. He spent the 1912 season in Class-D again, playing for Huntsville of the Southeastern League. His time spent in the low levels leaves us with very little in the way of stats from his first five seasons of pro ball. That changed the next year when he started the season with Selma of the Cotton States League, where he pitched 160 innings during the first half of the season. He was picked up by the Pirates from Albany of the South Atlantic League in August of 1913 after going 17-8 between two teams. Albany paid Selma $500 for Luhrsen’s contract just one month earlier. He reported to the Pirates on August 19th and made his Major League debut during the second game of a doubleheader on August 23, 1913, coming in during the second inning after the starter Wilbur Cooper allowed four runs in the first. Luhrsen would pick up the victory that day when the Pirates ended up scoring 13 runs. He pitched eight innings, allowing four runs. He got his first start ten days later, winning 5-2 over the Cincinnati Reds. Four days later he beat the St Louis Cardinals for his third straight win, before picking up a loss a week later against the New York Giants with Christy Mathewson on the mound. He lasted just two innings that game due to wildness, in what would be his last Major League game. Just days later, his contract was sold to Columbus of the American Association, where he pitched a few more times before the season ended. The local papers critiqued his small stature (5’9″, 157 pounds) and his lack of refinement on the mound, saying he could be good with more experience, but he wasn’t ready for the majors. That was despite a 2.48 ERA in his 29 big league innings. Luhrsen played two more years in the minors before retiring. He signed with Columbus in February of 1914, but ended up playing for five other teams over his final two years. Despite pitching his final pro game in 1915, he was still a draw in his home state of Arkansas, where he made headlines in 1923 for pitching part of a tripleheader, and he was pitching as late as 1927 in semi-pro games when he was 43 years old. He was occasionally referred to in print as “Wild Bill”, but it seemed to have nothing to do with his control as a pitcher. George Merritt, outfielder/pitcher for the 1901-03 Pirates. He had a 15-year career in the minors, splitting his time between the outfield and pitching. The Pirates brought him to the majors for the first time when they purchased his contract from the Utica Pentups of the New York State League on September 4, 1901. Merritt, who debuted in pro ball in 1900, played just 39 games for Utica in 1901, but he put up a .328 average during that time (his pitching stats are unavailable, though a newspaper report said that he won 22 of his 26 starts). Just 11 days before he joined the Pirates, it was announced that he signed with the New York Giants after he defeated them in an exhibition game, but Utica sold his contract to the Pirates instead. He made his big league debut on September 6th during the second game of a doubleheader and won 13-4 over the Giants, getting two hits of his own, including a triple. Despite making a strong impression on the mound (after a shaky first inning) Merritt did not make another start for 18 days. His first appearance was the last game of three straight doubleheaders the Pirates played and the team was in a pennant race at the time. When he next started on the 24th, the Pirates had a nine-game lead with 11 to go in the season. Merritt would throw a complete game over the Giants in his second start, winning 14-9, although he didn’t pitch as bad as nine runs would sound. The fielding behind him was described as “sloppy once the Pirates had a big lead.” His third start of the year came in the final game of the season against the Chicago Orphans (Cubs), exactly one month after his debut. Merritt improved his record to 3-0 thanks to nine runs by the Pirates and nine errors by the Orphans. The Pirates played a barnstorming tour after the season to make a little extra money, but Merritt wasn’t in on the tour due to his late arrival with the club. The limited roster allowed all of the regulars to get a bigger cut of the money pool. Merritt would spend the 1902 season in the minors with Worcester of the Eastern League, where he hit .285 in 64 games and won 11 games on the mound. He was actually with the Pirates until May 15th without playing a game, then got released outright. He was re-signed by the Pirates on August 18th, though he was to remain with Worcester through the end of their season. That day before he joined the Pirates, he played right field in an exhibition game for Worcester against the Pirates. He rejoined Pittsburgh with just five games left in the schedule. He started in left field on September 27th and collected three hits. He only got into the game because the regular left fielder/manager Fred Clarke, was visiting his sister, who was ill. When Tommy Leach couldn’t play due to his own illness and regular first baseman Kitty Bransfield got injured before the game, the Pirates had to empty the bench just to play the game, which they still ended up winning 13-6. The next day the Pirates were also without regular second baseman Claude Ritchey, so they went even further down the bench, this time losing 3-2 to the Reds. Merritt went 0-for-4 and then didn’t play in any of the last three games of the year. Once again the team played postseason exhibition games and Merritt was not part of the group, but he played with the team during their annual Field Day at Exposition Park on October 6th. The next year he was with the Pirates as a backup outfielder early in the year. He would hit just .148 in nine games and he made one appearance on the mound in relief, allowing one earned run in four innings. He broke a bone in his foot on a slider on May 26th and that ended up being the end of his big league career. The Pirates sent him to Worcester once he was healthy, but he was returned to the Pirates a short time later. Instead of reporting back to the Pirates, he was released, and ended up finishing the year with Jersey City of the Eastern League. Despite the fact he played just 15 Major League games, he was a member of three National League pennant winners. His minor league career ended 12 years after his last Major League game. He played eight straight seasons for Jersey City (1903-10). After he saw a drop in his hitting, he moved back to pitching full-time in 1909 and won 14 games. The Game Finally, on this date in 1925, the Pirates opened up their season at Wrigley Field in Chicago with an 8-2 loss. Emil Yde, who went 16-3 in 1924, made the start for the Pirates while 38-year-old future Hall of Famer Grover Alexander made the start for the Cubs. For Alexander, it was the 301st win of his career. Pittsburgh would go on to win the NL pennant and the World Series during that 1925 season. The Pirates lineup that day featured three Hall of Famers: LF Carson Bigbee CF Max Carey 2B Eddie Moore 3B Pie Traynor RF Kiki Cuyler 1B George Grantham SS Glenn Wright C Earl Smith P Emil Yde Here’s Wilbur Miller’s recap of the game. We also have Game Rewind features from April 14th in two other World Series winning seasons. Here’s the 1909 season and 1960 season, both highly recommended....
1925 Pirate Replay, September 4: Cards Drop Pirates, Ending Win Streak at Nine
April 13, 2021
1925 Season Replay / Uncategorized
The combination of Art Reinhart and Rogers Hornsby was too much for Emil Yde and the Pirates as St. Louis picked up a 9-3 win at Forbes Field. The loss broke the Pirates’ win streak after nine games. The Cards got to Yde early. Hornsby singled in Ray Blades for the game’s first run in the top of the first. The run was unearned, as Blades had moved into scoring position on an error by Clyde Barnhart in left. In the second, Les Bell led off with a triple and, after a walk, scored on a single by Tommy Thevenow. Reinhart struck out while Thevenow stole second. That led to an odd double play. Blades hit a sacrifice fly to left, making the score 3-0. Thevenow, though, got thrown out at third when Glenn Wright cut off Barnhart’s throw and caught the runner with a throw to Pie Traynor. Yde got tough after that, allowing just two baserunners over the next five innings. The Pirates, though, struggled to get on the board against Reinhart. They stranded four runners over the first three innings. In the fourth, they cut the gap to 3-1 on consecutive, two-out singles by Stuffy McInnis, Johnny Gooch and Yde, but Eddie Moore grounded out to strand two more. That was all the Bucs managed through the end of the seventh. In the top of the eighth, Hornsby blasted his 35th home run of the year to extend the Cards’ lead to 4-1. The Pirates came back in the bottom half, cutting the lead to one run. They rallied again after two were out. Traynor singled and Wright doubled for one run, then McInnis singled to drive in Wright. Max Carey then made his first appearance in nearly three weeks, pinch-hitting for Gooch. Carey walked, but Bill McKechnie left Yde in to hit and Emil flied out. The Cardinals blew the game open with five runs in the top of the ninth. Two singles, with an error on Yde in between, loaded the bases and brought on Babe Adams. He was greeted by two singles, bringing in four runs. Later in the inning, Hornsby doubled in a run to make the score 9-3, and that’s where it stayed. The loss dropped Yde to 15-7. McInnis had three hits. The Giants beat the Phillies, cutting the Pirates’ NL lead to eight games. They face the Cards in a rubber match tomorrow....
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