This day in baseball: Waner turns down his 3,000th hit
Posted: June 17, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Boston Braves, Braves Field, Cincinnati Reds, Eddie Joost, history, Jerry Moore, Major League Baseball, MLB, Paul Waner, Pittsburgh Pirates, Rip Sewell, sports Leave a commentOn June 17, 1942, Braves right fielder Paul Waner stood on first base during the second game of a double-header against the Cincinnati Reds and gestured at the official scorer not to credit him with a hit. Waner had just reached base on a ground ball in the hole that was knocked down by Reds shortstop Eddie Joost.
Waner had entered the game at Braves Field batting just .263 for the year, but he was nearing a major milestone — his 3,000th career hit. When the ground ball knocked down by Joost was initially scored a hit, Waner grew furious. “No, no. Don’t give me a hit on that. I won’t take it,” he yelled. Waner didn’t want a questionable roller to be his historic 3,000th hit.
Jerry Moore, who was acting as official scorer for the game, relented, and he changed the scoring on the play to an error by Joost. (I haven’t been able to find anything depicting Joost’s reaction to this decision, however.)
Two days later, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Waner laced an RBI single off Rip Sewell, his former teammate on the Pirates. In doing so, he became just the seventh player in major league history to hit the 3,000 mark.
Box score for Waner’s 3,000th hit game (The Sporting News)
This day in baseball: Connie Mack to the Brewers
Posted: September 21, 2020 Filed under: 19th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Connie Mack, history, Major League Baseball, Milwaukee Brewers, Minor League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, Western League Leave a commentOn September 21, 1896, Connie Mack announced his intention to leave the Pirates in order to manage the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers of the Western League. Mack thus retired as a full-time player to accept his new role, which included a $3,000 a year salary and 25% ownership of the club. He managed the Brewers for four seasons from 1897 to 1900, their best year coming in 1900, when they finished second.
Connie Mack baseball card, 1887 (Wikimedia Commons)
This day in baseball: Youngest home run
Posted: August 20, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers, Ebbets Field, Major League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, Preacher Roe, sports, Tommy Brown Leave a commentThe youngest player in MLB history to hit a home run was Tommy Brown of the Dodgers, who accomplished the feat on August 20, 1945. Brown was 17 years, eight months, and 14 days old on the day of the blast. The Brooklyn shortstop started his career as a 16-year-old high school student, and his homer proved to be the only run Brooklyn would score that day off the Pirates lefty, Preacher Roe. Roe pitched a complete game in the 11-1 rout of the Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
This day in baseball: Stargell elected to HoF
Posted: January 12, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, National League, Pittsburgh Pirates, sports, Willie Stargell, World Series 1 CommentOn January 12, 1988, Pirates slugger Willie Stargell was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA. Stargell helped bring two world championships to Pittsburgh and was the National League’s co-MVP in 1979, as well as the World Series MVP that same year. Stargell was the 17th player to be elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility.
Wikimedia Commons
This day in baseball: Cy Young’s final win
Posted: September 22, 2019 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Boston Rustlers, Cy Young, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, sports Leave a commentCy Young pitched and recorded his 511th and final career victory on September 22, 1911, when he defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates. Young kept the Pirates scoreless at Forbes Field, winning 1-0. With a season record of 35-101, the Boston Rustlers won only three contests in 22 attempts against Pittsburgh during the 1911 season, with two of the victories coming as a result of shutouts thrown by the 44 year-old Cy Young.
This day in baseball: Kiner’s home run streak
Posted: August 16, 2019 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Major League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, Ralph Kiner, sports, St. Louis Cardinals Leave a commentOn August 16, 1947, Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit three home runs in consecutive at-bats to lead the Pirates to a 12-7 win over the Cardinals. With this performance, Kiner matched the major league marks of seven home runs in four games, six in three games, five in two games, and four homers in consecutive at-bats.
sabr.org
This day in baseball: Yde’s offensive show
Posted: June 25, 2019 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Emil Yde, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, sports Leave a commentOn June 25, 1924, left-handed relief pitcher Emil Yde hit a double in the ninth inning to tie the score, 6-6, against the Cubs and send the game into extra innings. Then, in the fourteenth inning, Yde hit a triple to lead the Pirates to an 8-7 victory.
Emil Yde (Baseball Reference)
This day in baseball: Pittsburgh’s NL debut
Posted: April 30, 2019 Filed under: 19th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: American Association, Baseball, Chicago White Stockings, history, National League, Pittsburgh Alleghenys, Pittsburgh Pirates, sports Leave a commentThe Pittsburgh Alleghenys, now known as the Pirates, played their first game in the National League on April 30, 1887, defeating the defending league-champion Chicago White Stockings, 6-2, at Pittsburgh’s Recreation Park. Formerly an American Association team the Alleghenys posted a 55-69 record in their first season, finishing in 6th place in the eight-team circuit.
1888 Alleghenys
This day in baseball: World Series rookie dominance
Posted: October 16, 2018 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Babe Adams, Baseball, Detroit Tigers, Major League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, sports, World Series 2 CommentsOn October 16, 1909, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Tigers, 8-0, to win the World Series, four games to three. Rookie pitcher Babe Adams hurled a complete-game shutout in Game Seven, having also won Games One and Five.
This day in baseball: Sole victory
Posted: September 28, 2018 Filed under: 19th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Chicago Colts, Chicago Cubs, Dave Wright, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, sports Leave a commentChicago Colts (Cubs) pitcher Dave Wright won the only game of his major league career on September 28, 1897 (out of two total pitching appearances). The twenty-one-year-old gave up 14 runs on 17 hits, yet he still managed to eek out a 15-14 victory over the Pirates.
Dave Wright (Wikipedia)
