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6/30 Through the 1960s: Game Tales - Forbes Opens, Smokey 7 RBI, Stu Swats 3, Hans 2 Days/8 Hits, Nixey Axed; HBD Dave, Don, Tincan, Hal, Jovo & Davy

Monday, June 30, 2025 7:33

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1880 – OF Davy Jones was born in Manikota, Minnesota. After 13-years in the show, the 34-year-old Jones spent his last two campaigns (1914-15) with the Pittsburgh Rebels, where he hit .279 before an ankle injury led to his release. Jones had spent most of his MLB time holding onto a third outfield spot in Detroit between Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford, seeing considerable time as the leadoff hitter. As one would expect, Davy scored at a good pace with those two Hall-of-Fame bats behind him, and homered in the 1909 Series against the Pirates. That he ended up skipping from Motown to the Rebels was part of his MO. Per SABR’s Mike Grahek, “During his first years in the pros he jumped so many contracts that the press nicknamed him ‘The Kangaroo.’”
1892 – The Philadelphia Phillies were the home team at Expo Park for a twin bill, and they weren’t even playing the Pirates, but the Washington Senators! The Phils were making up a pair of rain dates against the Sens while the Pirates were away playing the Cleveland Spiders (Pittsburgh won 6-5). Washington had just finished a set at Baltimore and the Phils were coming off a home series, and both teams had a mutual off day scheduled. 1,200 fans showed up at the North side yard to watch the double dipper split, with each side taking a 3-2 win.
1893 – The Pirates scored seven runs in the ninth inning at Expo Park and still lost to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms by a 22-16 count. It was the epitome of ugly baseball – 38 runs, 37 hits, 24 walks and 11 errors resembled an amateur rather than pro competition. The Pittsburgh Press wrote of the walks (although noting that the ump seemed “a little off”) that “This beats anything in that line seen in a league game…Three pitchers were used by the Pittsburgs in one inning, and this, too, had never been heard of in the league.” The first six Pirates in the batting order combined for 16 hits, with George Van Haltren banging out four knocks.

Jovo – 1927 Photo Harwell Collection/Detroit Public Library

1895 – RHP Johnny Miljus was born in Lawrenceville and went to Pitt, where he was a football and baseball star. Known as “Jovo” (short for Jovan, or John in Serbian) and “The Big Serb” (a nickname hung on him by Babe Ruth, per baseball lore), he got his start with an inning for the Pittsburgh Rebels of the Federal League in 1915, and later joined the Bucs from 1927-28 (he fought in WW1 and was wounded in action, delaying his career), going 13-10-1/3.53. He was a multi-role hurler, and handled every chore from starting to closing. He’s best remembered for his wild pitch that allowed the New York “Murderers Row” Yankees to sweep the 1927 Series. Jovo struck out Lou Gehrig and Bob Meusel in the ninth of that game and got two strikes on Tony Lazzeri. But he muscled up on the next pitch (some say it was a spitter, though Johnny never ‘fessed up) and it got past C Johnny Gooch, allowing the winning run to score. Miljus played seven MLB campaigns through 1929, with his Pirates stint tucked between Brooklyn and Cleveland stops. Johnny was thought to be the first Serbian to play MLB.
1902 – RHP Harold “Hal” Smith (no relation to the future catcher) was born in Creston, Iowa. Smith broke into the big leagues as a 30-year-old, and spent his four-year career (1932-35) as a Buc, although most of his twirling in the first and last year was done for the AA Kansas City Blues. He went 12-11-1 with a 3.77 ERA as a Pirate with his time split between starting and the bullpen. Hal played for the KC Blues again in 1936, then hung ‘em up.
1903 – Honus Wagner swatted four hits for a second straight game, missing the cycle by a double (The Pittsburgh Press sidebar story was “Wagner is After Batting Honors” and he did take the ‘03 NL crown with a .355 BA) as the Pirates rolled over the Brooklyn Superbas, 17-8, at the Washington Grounds. The game was never in doubt as the Bucs ran up a 13-0 lead before the Brooklynites got on the scoreboard. Fred Clarke and Ginger Beaumont also had four knocks as Pittsburgh banged out 19 hits, allowing Sam Leever to cruise to victory.

Forbes Field – Opening Day

1909 – The fans were pumped; they began lining up 6-1/2 hours before the game for tickets as an SRO crowd of 30,338 filled every nook, to date the largest gathering to ever watch a baseball game, to watch the Pirates fall to the Chicago Cubs, 3-2, in the debut of Forbes Field. Ed Reulbach tossed a three-hitter to top Pittsburgh’s Vic Willis, who spun a four-hitter. Honus Wagner collected two hits and scored a run in a game that was played in one hour and 50 minutes. Mayor William Magee threw out the first ball. He was in the second tier and lobbed the ball to John M. Morin, Director of Public Safety, on the field below. Morin then went to the mound and threw the first pitch to open the festivities. Danny Nirella and his band played, as they would for every Opening Day at Forbes Field for the next 45 years. The ball yard was one of the nation’s first made completely of concrete and steel, featuring public phones, separate ladies room, ramps rather than stairs and even included a visitor’s clubhouse. FF’s firsts: the first radio broadcast in 1921, the first fan elevator installed in 1938, the first field tarps, the first pads to cushion the outfield wall in the forties and the first All-Star (1944) game played at night. It had a print shop (Banker’s Lithographing) in its interior and in the twenties, the space under the LF bleachers was used for car sales and repairs! It wasn’t exactly embraced at the beginning; it was often called “Dreyfuss’ Folly” in its conceptual years. Some folly; the yard ended up as the Pirates’ home for 61 seasons.
1909 – LHP Harry “Tincan” Kincannon was born in North Fork, West Virginia. Harry moved to the City for work, became a sandlot star and pitched for the Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1930-36, being one of just three players to transition from the original indie Craws to the Negro NL. The curve-ball specialist made one All-Star appearance for the Crawfords before he was traded to the New York Black Yankees. He finished his career after the 1939 campaign.
1917 – Pirates skipper Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan was fired after the club staggered to a 20-40 start, and Honus Wagner took over as player-manager. The Wagner-led Bucs won 5-4 win over the Reds, with the Dutchman banging a two-run double. Wilbur Cooper went the distance for the win at Forbes Field. Wagner resigned after a five-game stint at the helm; he much preferred playing to filling out lineup cards, and business manager Hugo Bezdek took the reins.
1927 – Per BR Bullpen, SS Glenn Wright, on the way home from St. Louis after being beaned while batting against the Cards, was slightly injured when the train he was riding wrecked in Ohio. “Buckshot” lost two weeks to the twin traumas, not returning to the lineup until July 14th. Lee Meadows, who accompanied Wright on the trip home, escaped shaken but unscathed.

Don Gross – 1960 Topps

1931 – LHP Don Gross was born in Weidman, Michigan. Gross pitched from the pen for the Bucs from 1958-60, going 6-8 with a 3.82 ERA. The Pirates made one of their “whatever was I thinking of” deals when they got him from the Reds; they sent RHP Bob Purkey to Cincinnati, where he won in double figures for eight seasons and made three All-Star teams.
1933 – 1B/OF Dave Roberts was born in Panama City, Panama. After a couple of years playing off the Houston Colt .45’s (Astros) bench, Roberts spent a year on the farm and joined the Bucs in 1966 via the Rule 5 draft, going 2-for-16 in his last MLB shot while spending most of the campaign at AAA Columbus. Afterwards, he played eight seasons in Japan (1967-74).
1934 – A small stone monument dedicated to Barney Dreyfuss was unveiled outside Forbes Field’s RF gates, leading to Schenley Park, on the 25th anniversary of the ballyard. The monument was later displayed in TRS and it’s now located at PNC Park, on the concourse behind home plate. The ceremony didn’t help the Bucs, who were 4-2 losers to the Cubs.
1960 – Dick Stuart bombed three consecutive HRs to key an 11-6 win as the Pirates split a DH with the second place Giants at Forbes Field. Stuart had seven RBI in the nitecap and joined Ralph Kiner as the second Pirate to hit three homers in a game at Forbes Field. Joe Gibbon worked 7-2/3 innings, giving up six hits and a run after Vinegar Bend Mizell was chased by the G-Men in the second frame. The Bucs were flattened in the opener, losing by an 11-0 count.
1962 – The Pirates clobbered the Cards, 17-7, at Busch Stadium. Smoky Burgess banged out two homers and a double, good for seven RBI. Roberto Clemente had a hot stick, too, going 4-for-5 with a homer, a double and five runs driven in. Dick Groat, Bob Skinner and Dick Stuart added three knocks apiece as the Pirates drilled 22 hits against St. Louis.
1965 – Post Gazette Sports Editor Al Abrams disclosed that in May, in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, the Pirates and the Braves were close to pulling the trigger on a Lee Maye for Vern Law, Donn Clendenon and Jerry Lynch swap. But the Bucs turned it around on the field and the deal (thankfully for Pittsburgh) fell through. Milwaukee sent Maye to the Houston Astros instead for Ken Johnson/Jim Beauchamp and he never developed into more than a platoon guy and off-season singer with the Five Crowns & the Hearts. Law won 17 games in ‘65 and a dozen more the next season, the often-dangled Clendenon played through the 1968 campaign for the Bucs, and Lynch retired as a Buccaneer at age 35 in 1966.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/06/630-through-1960s-game-tales-forbes.html

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