4/25 Through the 1950s: Game Tales - Wally World, Howie, Hans Haunts Bucs, Clarke HoF; HBD Bob, Ed, Jimmy, Fred, Dutch & Tom
- 1864 – C Tom Quinn was born in Annapolis, Maryland. He played three years in the show, getting a cup of coffee with the Alleghenys in 1886 (0-for-11) and finishing with the Players League Pittsburgh Burghers (.213) in 1890. Tom got a job with the state after he was done with baseball and lived in Swissvale.
- 1868 – 3B Fred “Dutch” Hartman was born in Allegheny City (Northside); some other sites have his birthday as 4/21. He began his career as a Pirate in 1894 after several seasons in the Pennsylvania State League and hit a strong .319. After a couple of years of seasoning, he returned to the show in 1897 after a trade to the Browns, where he was considered a highly touted addition to the club. But his career never took off and Dutch ended up pretty much a league-average player, hitting .278 during a six-year career with Pittsburgh, St. Louis, the NY Giants and Chicago White Stockings. After baseball he lived in McKeesport, and is buried in McKeesport/Versailles Cemetery.
- 1896 – Fred Haney was born in Albuquerque. He managed the Bucs as a favor to Branch Rickey from 1953-1955. His record reflects the fact that he was brought in during the early stages of a youth movement, losing 104, 101 and 94 games for a 163-299 (.353) slate, although he was used to the drill after managing the sad-sack St. Louis Browns from 1939-41. But he delivered when finally given some players, moving on to Milwaukee to win back-to-back NL titles and the 1956 World Series. Later, he was the Los Angeles/California Angels first GM.
- 1899 – In a game of foes about to join forces, Pittsburgh lost to Louisville, 2-1, at Eclipse Park as future Bucco SS Honus Wagner went 4-for-4 with two homers, the second being a ninth-inning game winner. The Colonels were managed by future Pirate skipper (and player) Fred Clarke. The following season, most of Louisville’s top players followed owner Barney Dreyfuss to Pittsburgh.
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| Hans Wagner (Louisville) – Ars Longa Pioneers |
- 1909 – Howie Camnitz tossed a one-hitter as the Pirates nosed the Reds at League Park by a 2-1 tally. The Pirates workload was carried by Bill Abstein, who had four hits, and Honus Wagner, who added three more raps; the Bucs only had one other hit. The run plated against Camnitz was tainted; the Reds got a triple on a “fan interference” call and scored on a Wagner error.
- 1910 – IF Jimmy Brown was born in Jamesville, North Carolina. A seven-year major league vet with an All-Star game under his belt, he was signed by the Bucs in 1946 after a two-year hiatus in the Army Air Force. He played three infield spots and hit .241 off the bench in his last hurrah. In 1947 he became a manager in the Pirates farm system at Indianapolis and New Orleans before returning to the NL as a coach for the Boston Braves in 1949. After leaving Beantown in 1952, he managed minor league teams for the Cardinals, Braves and Reds.
- 1930 – Umpire Ed Vargo was born in Butler. He was an NL ump from 1960-1983 and the umpire supervisor from 1984-1997. Vargo worked the first night World Series game in 1971, two of Sandy Koufax’s no-hitters, the last games at Forbes Field & the Polo Grounds, four All-Star Games, four NLCS, four World Series, the first game at Candlestick Park and the game in which Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s career home run record. Ed was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 1966 and the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame 1994.
- 1943 – RHP Bob Johnson was born in Aurora, Illinois. He pitched for the Bucs from 1971-73, beginning as a starter and ending in the bullpen. He went 17-16-7/3.34 as a Pirate and appeared in a pair of NLCS games – he beat Juan Marichal in 1971 – and in the World Series. Out of MLB since 1977, Johnson runs a construction company and works as an American Legion coach and umpire.
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| Fred Clarke – Helmar Big League Brew |
- 1945 – Fred Clarke was elected to the Hall of Fame (there was no induction ceremony in 1945 as it was delayed a year by the war). Selected by the Old Timers Committee, Clarke spent 15 years in Pittsburgh (1900-11, 1913-15) and hit ahead of Honus Wagner, batting .299. As a manager, he led the Bucs to the first three modern NL pennants, taking four flags in all, and finished second five times. Clarke won (1,602) and managed more games (2,829) than any other Bucco skipper while compiling the club’s highest career winning percentage (.576).
- 1948 – Wally Westlake homered, doubled, and drove in six runs while Ed Stevens added five more RBI to lead the Bucs to a 13-10 win over the Reds in the second game of a twinbill at Crosley Field. Stevens also went deep in the opener, but the Pirates lost, 7-6, in the ninth.
- 1954 – Roberto Clemente collected his first pro hit, a single against the International League Buffalo Bisons’ Milo Johnson, as a member of the Class AAA Montreal Royals in a 6-1 loss at Offermann Stadium. Clemente hit .257 in his only farm stop. On April 17th, 1955, he banged out his first MLB hit, a single against Brooklyn’s Johnny Podres at Forbes Field, and didn’t quit until he had 3,000 knocks, a .317 BA over 18 Pirates seasons and a place in the Hall of Fame.
- 1958 – Roberto Clemente was in fine form as he led the Bucs to a 4-3 win against Cincinnati at Crosley Field. He scored in the sixth after a leadoff double and then smacked his first long ball of the year, a two-out, three-run shot in the seventh that stood as the game-winner. Vern Law earned the win after an ElRoy Face save while future Bucco Harvey Haddix took the loss.
Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/04/425-through-1950s-game-tales-wally.html
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