10/24 Through 1954: It's 1-2-3 Strikes And...Break Out The Candles: HBD Reggie, Antelope, Johnny, Ding Dong, Cal, Pete, Heinie, Chicken, Jay, Bill & Ned
- 1857 – IF Ned Williamson was born in Philadelphia. Ned launched his career as a 19-year-old with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1877, when the club’s first incarnation began in the minor league International Association. They were pretty good as the Alleghenys won the league title, albeit with a 13-6 record, and all 12 players on the roster eventually ended up in MLB, notably Williamson, Pud Galvin and Chick Fulmer. Ned hit .173 in 19 games for Pittsburgh and then jumped to the NL Indianapolis Blues the next year. In 1879, he began a 11-year run with the Chicago White Stockings, ending his playing days in 1890 with the Chicago Pirates after a knee injury. He also took part in Al Spalding’s famous World Tour of 1888. Ned died in 1894 at age 36 from tuberculosis.
- 1858 – 3B Bill Kuehne (his surname was an Ellis Island special; in Germany, it was Knelme) was born in Leipzig, Germany. He played every position but pitcher and catcher, hitting .240 in Pittsburgh (he was with the Alleghenys 1885-89 and the Burghers in 1890). His best years were with the Allies, where he batted .299 in 1887 and led the NL with 138 games played in 1888.
- 1859 – 1B Jacob “Jay” Faatz was born in Weedsport, New York. He began his four-year MLB career with a 29-game audition with the 1884 Alleghenys, batting .241 and then spending the next three years in the minors before getting another big-league opportunity. Faatz was an argumentative player with a knack for sticking out an elbow or knee and getting plunked, and that fiery temperament led him to become a ringleader in the Players League movement, which put an end to his career. He retired in 1894 after spending some time in the minors and moved to Syracuse to become a sales rep. His highlight came against his old Allegheny teammates in 1889 when he smoked a grounder to third that glanced off the fielder’s foot and kicked into temporary stands along the baseline; by the time the Pittsburgh infield could recover the ball, Jay had a three-run homer (one of three career four-baggers) on a hit that never left the infield.
- 1870 – OF Phil “Chicken” Routcliffe was born in Frontenac, Ontario. Routcliffe got into one MLB game as an Allegheny in 1890, going 1-for-4 and HBP, scoring once, driving in a run and swiping a sack while corralling three balls in the pasture as the left fielder. Just 19 when he played (although his 1870 birthdate is questionable), he was thought to be a contender for a starting role, but was released shortly thereafter. The Alleghenys must have sensed something; he hit just .213 in the Western League and was out of baseball two years later, working as a newspaper pressman and later as a policeman before being claimed by the 1918 flu epidemic at age 47. His nickname dates back to his youth.
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| Heinie Smith (Buffalo) – 1909 Carolina Brights |
- 1871 – 2B Heinie Smith was born in Pittsburgh. Heinie played for six MLB campaigns and spent 1899 with the Pirates, batting .283 in 15 games (a deceptive small sample; his career BA was .238). Smith had a disastrous turn as big league skipper, losing 27-of-32 games as the Giants player/manager in 1902. That didn’t deter him when his playing days ended; he was the minor league Buffalo Bisons’ manager for a decade and then coached the U of Buffalo for a couple of seasons.
- 1906 – PH Pete McClanahan was born in Coldspring, Texas. His only big league time came in 1931 as a 24-year-old Pirate, getting into seven games as a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner. He went 2-for-4 with two walks and scored twice, so he fit right into that role. Pete’s calling card was his stick. In six farm seasons in the Texas, Lone Star and Dixie Leagues, he hit .317 before swinging the bat for a final time after the 1933 campaign, giving up the sport at the age 26.
- 1908 – Edward Meeker recorded “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” for the Edison Phonograph Company, the first recorded version of the tune (it was quickly covered and popularized by Billy Murray & the Haydn Quartet on Victor Records, who turned the song into a 1908 chart-topper). The melody was written earlier in the year by Tin Pan Alley vets Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer (“Shine On, Harvest Moon”) and became a vaudeville hit. Though it remained popular and was updated lyrically in 1927, it was first played in a major league venue at the 1934 World Series and in 1976 became a big league ballyard standard per baseball lore when then-Chicago White Sox announcer Harry Caray began singing it during the stretch, accompanied by organist Nancy Faust, at the urging of Sox owner Bill Veeck. Norworth and Von Tilzer, incidentally, had never seen a ballgame before writing the song, and wouldn’t until decades later.
- 1927 – RHP Calvin “Cal” Hogue was born in Dayton, Ohio. His MLB career spanned 1952-54, all spent as a Bucco, with a line of 2-10/4.91 in 25 games (16 starts). He got a decent shot in his first campaign after a July call up while the next two seasons were cup of coffee stops. Cal’s issue was finding the dish – he issued 96 bases on balls in 113-2/3 innings as a Pirate. He stayed in the system through the 1957 season before retiring and returning home to work as a pipefitter.
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| Cal Hogue – 1953 Topps |
- 1933 – RHP Bill “Ding Dong” Bell was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Bell was one of two professional pitchers to throw three no-hitters in the same season (1952), doing the deeds as a member of Pirates affiliate Bristol in the Class D Appalachian League. Success there didn’t translate into much of a MLB career, though. Ding Dong was given a September call up at age 18 in ‘52 and resurfaced again briefly in 1955, going 0-1/4.32 lifetime for the Bucs. The hiatus was because Bill was drafted by Uncle Sam in 1953 and lost two years to the Army. When he came back, he popped his shoulder while practicing and tried to pitch through a sore wing from that time forward. Bill died at age 28 in 1962, from injuries he had sustained in a January car wreck.
- 1944 – OF Johnny Jeter was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. Johnny began his six-year MLB run with the Pirates, which had signed him out of Grambling, playing here between 1969-70. He hit .252 in 113 games (30 starts) and got a couple of at-bats against the Reds in the 1970 NLCS. JJ put in a pair of seasons with the Padres and played for the White Sox and Indians before he retired.
- 1952 – Pirate CF Omar Moreno was born in Puerto Armuelles, Panama. “The Antelope” played eight years in Pittsburgh (1975-82) and led the league in stolen bases twice, swiping 487 sacks as a Buc. Moreno played every game of the 1979 and 1980 seasons, led the National League in at bats both years and hit .333 against the Orioles in the 1979 World Series (he also won a ring with KC in 1985). Known as “The Antelope” for his speed, both on the base paths and in center field (he set the Bucs three top seasons for swiped bags – 96 in 1980, 77 in 1979 and 71 in 1978), his bat never quite caught up to his wheels and he ended his Pirates career with a .255 BA/80 OPS+. One of the good guys of the game, he and his wife Sandra began the Omar Moreno Foundation, a youth baseball charity for underprivileged kids in Panama, and the Antelope is still active in Pirates alumni and PR work. Moreno was inducted into the Latino Hall of Fame in 2014.
- 1952 – OF Reggie Walton was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Reggie had a 12-year pro career in the majors, on the farm and in Mexico, finishing his big league time with the Pirates in 1982, hitting .200 in a bench role. Reggie was a good stick guy with a .291 minor league batting average, but half of his time was spent swinging in the hitter-friendly PCL and he didn’t show much plate patience. He hung ‘em up after the 1983 campaign at age 30 after playing for AAA Hawaii.
Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/10/1024-through-1954-its-1-2-3-strikes.html
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