Burial at Home Plate: An Oddball History of the Pittsburgh Pirates

By Bob Fulton

About the Book
Burial at Home Plate offers a colorful look at the Pittsburgh Pirates, with an emphasis on offbeat moments in team history. Read about the doubleheader completed underwater; the Pittsburgh outfielders whose pursuit of a batted ball was halted by a gun-wielding Cincinnati fan; the pitcher who earned a victory while taking a nap; the dead man who tied a franchise record for games played; the sparrow that flew from beneath batter Casey Stengel’s cap; and the rookie who struck out while seated on the bench.
Burial at Home Plate touches on the indoor game that was rained out; the throng of 50,000 that turned out in Pittsburgh for a game played more than 400 miles away; the tipsy pitcher who fell asleep inside the tarp during a game; the future MVPs who delivered their first major league hits while still in the minors; the FBI agent who “pinch hit” for Ralph Kiner; and the Pirates manager who disproved the notion that you can’t steal first base.
Burial at Home Plate also shines the spotlight on the Green Weenie, the alabaster plaster, Aunt Minnie, the Rickey Dinks, Destiny’s Darlings, Dr. Strangeglove, eephus pitches and—the inspiration for the book’s title—a strange pre-game interment that took place at home plate.

About the Author
Bob Fulton has written extensively about the Pittsburgh Pirates for regional and national publications such as Sports History, Pittsburgh Magazine, The National Pastime, Pittsburgh Sports Now, Pennsylvania, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game program and On Deck, formerly the official magazine of the Pirates. His work has also appeared in American Heritage, Football Digest, The NCAA News, NFL Exclusive, Delta Sky, Marathon and Beyond, Basketball Weekly, Referee, The Elks Magazine, Collegiate Baseball and Sports Heritage, among others. Fulton is the author of The Summer Olympics: A Treasury of Legend and Lore; Never Lost a Game (Time Just Ran Out); Top Ten Baseball Stats: Interesting Rankings of Players, Managers, Umpires and Teams; and Pirates Treasures: Facts, Feats, Firsts in Pittsburgh Pirates History. In addition, his story on the major league debut of 15-year-old pitcher Joe Nuxhall was included in an anthology, The Ol’ Ball Game. Fulton, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, resides in Indiana, Pa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company
• Release date: Jun 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888126394

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The contents of this work, including, but not limited to, the accuracy of events, people, and places depicted; opinions expressed; permission to use previously published materials included; and any advice given or actions advocated are solely the responsibility of the author, who assumes all liability for said work and indemnifies the publisher against any claims stemming from publication of the work.

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2023 by Bob Fulton

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, downloaded, distributed, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without permission in writing from the publisher.

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PREFACE

I became a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates the day my father first took me to a game at Forbes Field. I can’t recall any particulars about the day—only that he stood up at one point, barehanded a foul pop and calmly handed me the baseball. His ho-hum demeanor after the catch contrasted with my wide-eyed amazement.

Yes, I became a fan of the Pirates that day and I’ve been a student of the team ever since. Much of the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years has been poured into Burial at Home Plate. This is no ordinary book about the Bucs. I favor the offbeat, the colorful, the humorous, even the bizarre. You’ll read about the doubleheader completed underwater, the indoor game that was rained out, the rookie who struck out while seated on the bench and the pitcher who picked up a win while napping. You’ll read about the Cincinnati fan who pulled a gun on a pair of Pirates outfielders, the FBI agent who pinch hit for Ralph Kiner, the dead man who tied a franchise record for games played and the throng of 50,000 that jammed downtown streets for a Pirates game that wasn’t even played in Pittsburgh.

I cover every facet of the team’s history in Burial at Home Plate, dating to the founding of the franchise in 1882. You’ll learn which Pirates broadcaster succeeded a future United States president, how a publicity director helped win the Bucs a game, why a sparrow flew from beneath Casey Stengel’s cap and what prompted Pittsburgh outfielder Billy Sunday to turn his back on baseball and become the Billy Graham of his day.

In a sense, the inspiration for Burial at Home Plate was a long-ago afternoon at Forbes Field when a father introduced his son to the Pirates and even caught a foul ball to mark the occasion. I still have the baseball. And I still have a sense of wide-eyed wonder about the team I’ve followed ever since.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bob Fulton has written extensively about the Pittsburgh Pirates for regional and national publications such as Sports History, Pittsburgh Magazine, The National Pastime, Pittsburgh Sports Now, Pennsylvania, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game program and On Deck, formerly the official magazine of the Pirates. His work has also appeared in American Heritage, Football Digest, The NCAA News, NFL Exclusive, Delta Sky, Marathon and Beyond, Basketball Weekly, Referee, The Elks Magazine, Collegiate Baseball and Sports Heritage, among others. Fulton is the author of The Summer Olympics: A Treasury of Legend and Lore; Never Lost a Game (Time Just Ran Out); Top Ten Baseball Stats: Interesting Rankings of Players, Managers, Umpires and Teams; and Pirates Treasures: Facts, Feats, Firsts in Pittsburgh Pirates History. In addition, his story on the major league debut of 15-year-old pitcher Joe Nuxhall was included in an anthology, The Ol’ Ball Game. Fulton, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, resides in Indiana, Pa.

DEDICATION

To my late father, Wayne Fulton, who worked for more than 40 years as an usher at Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium, and who passed on to his son a passion for the Pirates and baseball in general.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to express his gratitude to fellow members of the Society for American Baseball Research, who graciously provided assistance and information on a wide range of topics; the helpful and knowledgeable staff at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.; and Pirates players, managers, coaches, broadcasters and media relations personnel, past and present, who were so generous with their time.

ABOUT THE BOOK

There are several points to keep in mind while reading Burial at Home Plate:

1. In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names, in an effort to standardize the spelling of cities ending in -burg and -burgh, decided that the h should be dropped from Pittsburgh. The ruling, however, was not officially binding. Consequently, some Pittsburgh newspapers dropped the h while others did not. Those differences are reflected in this book. Although the final h was restored by the board on July 11, 1911, some newspapers continued for several years afterward to spell Pittsburgh without the h.

2. Team nicknames reflect contemporary, not current, usage. For example, the Pirates opposed the Boston Americans in the inaugural World Series in 1903. The Red Sox nickname was not adopted until four years later.

3. The major league team that began play in Pittsburgh in 1882 and evolved into the Pirates was referred to as both Alleghenies and Alleghenys, depending on the source. The author used the latter spelling, in keeping with the preference of most newspapers of the day.

4. The modern era, as defined here, began in 1900.

5. Where sources disagree on statistical matters—especially figures from the 19th century that, because of continuing research, have been revised—the author relied on baseball-reference.com.

6. Byline preferences of longtime Pittsburgh sportswriters often changed through the years. For example, Les Biederman also wrote as Lester Biederman; Charles J. Doyle also wrote as Charles Chilly Doyle, Charles J. Chilly Doyle and Chilly Doyle. Those differences are reflected in this book.

7. Spelling and punctuation in older newspapers, magazines and books from which passages were taken often differ from modern preferences (base ball instead of baseball, for example). The author has reproduced excerpts as they originally appeared in print.

Glory Daze

Moments before he stepped into the batter’s box at Forbes Field and slugged the most momentous home run in Pirates history, Bill Mazeroski was far away. At least in his mind.

The second baseman whose Game 7 blast in the 1960 World Series sank the heavily favored New York Yankees didn’t even realize he was supposed to lead off the bottom half of the ninth inning. Mazeroski was in a daze.

Hal Smith had cracked a three-run homer in the eighth to give Pittsburgh a 9-7 lead and touch off a delirious celebration that shook Forbes Field to its foundation.

After Smith got us ahead, I just raced onto the field [for the top of the ninth]. I couldn’t wait to get those last three outs, Mazeroski said years later. Next thing you know, the Yankees tied the game.

On one of the strangest plays in Series history. The Bucs led 9-8 with one out when Yogi Berra came to the plate with Mickey Mantle on first and Gil McDougald on third. Berra smashed a one-hopper to first baseman Rocky Nelson, who gloved the ball and tagged the bag for the second out. He then turned to throw to second base to cut down Mantle. But instead of running toward second, Mantle dove back into first before Nelson could react, allowing McDougald to cross the plate with the tying run.

The fans at Forbes Field, so raucous moments before, fell silent.

I’m standing out there [at second base] saying to myself, ‘Yankees, Yankees,’ Mazeroski recalled. I was a Cleveland Indians fan as a kid. All I could think of was how the Yankees used to beat up on Cleveland for years and years, and how the Yankees would come back and win and how, just now, they’d come back on us. I’m thinking, those damn Yankees are gonna do it again.

After Bill Skowron bounced into a force play to end the top of the ninth, the Pirates glumly trotted off the field, stunned by the sudden turn of events. Mazeroski plopped down in the dugout and gazed across the diamond, absorbed in thought, trying to process what had just happened.

I got so happy [after Smith’s home run] and then the guy in front of me—I think it was [Don] Hoak—made the third out, Mazeroski said. I didn’t even think about hitting again because I didn’t think I was gonna have to. I thought we were gonna win the game [in the top of the ninth] and it was gonna be over. Then they tied it and I’m sitting there thinking, Now what?

He was roused from his reverie by coach Lenny Levy, who shouted, Maz, you’re up! Mazeroski hastily grabbed a bat and batting helmet and headed toward the plate. Winning the game with one swing never crossed his mind.

All I wanted to do was hit the ball hard somewhere, get on base and get us started, Mazeroski said. I wasn’t trying to hit no home run or anything.

He stepped in against right-hander Ralph Terry, who had retired Hoak to close out the bottom of the eighth.

The first pitch was high, Terry said. [Catcher] John Blanchard called time and came to the mound and told me, ‘This guy’s a high-ball hitter. Get it down.’ I got the next pitch down, but not down enough.

Mazeroski sent the delivery screaming toward the 406-foot mark in left field.

I didn’t know for sure if it was gonna be a home run or not, Mazeroski said, but I knew Berra wasn’t gonna catch it. I was running hard, hoping to get to second or maybe third. Then the umpire gave the home run signal and I sort of went crazy.

According to Newsweek, the normally undemonstrative Mazeroski jumped in the air, whipped off his plastic batting helmet and began whirling his right arm, like a cheerleader gone berserk.

All I could think of was, we beat the mighty Yankees, we beat the mighty Yankees, he said. From the time I hit second base I don’t think I touched the ground. It felt like I was floating.

It Just Don’t Figure

Only 18 teams in World Series history have lost games by a double-digit margin. The Pirates did it three times—in the same Series.

A Series they won.

Weird, wild and wacky aptly describes the 1960 Fall Classic, a gripping drama that carried fans of both the Bucs and the New York Yankees on an emotional roller-coaster ride. It ended with breathtaking suddenness, leaving Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle slumped at his locker, weeping inconsolably.

Is it any wonder? The Yankees absolutely bludgeoned Pittsburgh pitching, winning by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. The Bronx Bombers lived up to their nickname by scoring 55 runs on the strength of 91 hits and a .338 batting average, all records that survive to this day. And still they could not extinguish the indomitable spirit of a Pirates team to which surrender was an alien concept.

That team as a whole had a great attitude, recalled Bucs left fielder Bob Skinner years later. Not one of 25 guys ever gave up through the course of the season. That carried through the Series. When you get beat 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0, a lot of teams would fold up. But that team never knew they were beat.

The Yankees boasted a lineup stocked with All-Stars and future Hall of Famers and entered the Series riding a 15-game winning streak. They were considered heavy favorites to crush the Pirates, and crush they did, outscoring Pittsburgh by 28 runs over the seven games.

But the 1960 Bucs were a team that refused to concede, even in the wake of such merciless beatings. New York rolled to a 16-3 win in Game 2—the second-largest margin of victory in Series history—by banging out 19 hits, six for extra bases and two of them tape-measure homers by Mantle. The Yankees then clobbered the Bucs 10-0 in Game 3.

Nobody gave us a chance after the third game, said Pirates shortstop Dick Groat, that season’s National League MVP and batting champion. But the Bucs proved resilient, winning the next two days by 3-2 and 5-2 scores.

We weren’t in any of those games we lost, Groat said, but every close game we won. When we were kids in baseball, Mr. [Branch] Rickey [Pittsburgh’s general manager from 1951 to 1956] used to tell us any team can score a lot of runs, but it takes a quality team to win the close games. That’s exactly what the 1960 Pirates did all season, including the World Series.

The Yankees pummeled Pittsburgh 12-0 in Game 6, still the most lopsided shutout in Series history. And yet, despite absorbing three blowout defeats, the Pirates were still alive.

The game is getting funnier and funnier, New York catcher-outfielder Yogi Berra told reporters after Game 6. We do everything but punch ’em in the nose and here we are tied up in the Series. We flatten ’em three times and we still need one more to win it. It just don’t figure.

Berra was scratching his head even more after the Pirates won a wild and woolly seventh game filled with fireworks from start to finish. Keeping in character, the Bucs prevailed in another close one, winning 10-9 on Bill Mazeroski’s bottom-of-the-ninth home run.

No other team has lost more than one game by a double-digit margin in a single World Series, yet the Pirates suffered three such setbacks and still managed to claim the championship. As Berra said, It just don’t figure.

Associated Press writer Joe Reichler, trying to capture the essence of that most improbable of Fall Classics, opened his Game 7 story with these lines: Years from now when they look back on the 1960 World Series, they won’t believe it. They’ll look at the statistics and all the records that were smashed and they won’t be able to understand how the Pittsburgh Pirates ever managed to defeat the New York Yankees.

Naming Rights

The Pirates gained their nickname because manager Ned Hanlon fearlessly crossed a frozen-over harbor in February of 1891 to sign second baseman Lou Bierbauer.

Like many major leaguers, Bierbauer had jumped to the fledgling Players League in 1890, signing with Brooklyn. When the PL disbanded after only one season, players were ordered to return to their 1889 clubs, in Bierbauer’s case Philadelphia of the American Association, another major league that operated between 1882 and 1891.

But the Athletics had inadvertently left him off their reserve list, which bound players to their respective teams. Pittsburgh owner J. Palmer O’Neill noticed the oversight, realized Bierbauer was a free agent and set out to sign him.

So on a frigid day in February of 1891, Hanlon caught a train for Bierbauer’s hometown of Erie. The player was living on Presque Isle, a peninsula that juts into Lake Erie, not far from the city. It made for a perilous journey.

According to Alfred H. Spink’s The National Game, a baseball history published in 1910, Ned Hanlon, then managing Pittsburg, went to Erie in the depth of the winter to secure a contract from Bierbauer. He found him on Presque Isle Peninsula, his favorite ‘hang-out.’ Hanlon had to cross the ice on the harbor in a bitter storm, but he finally reached Bierbauer’s shack and before leaving had secured his signature to a contract to play with Pittsburg.

The Athletics were outraged. Philadelphia newspapers called the Alleghenys—as the Pittsburgh team was then known—pirates for stealing Bierbauer, and a nickname was born.

The A’s lodged an official protest, but an interleague board of arbitration decided that Bierbauer was a free agent and that the Alleghenys had every right to sign him.

Bierbauer played six seasons in Pittsburgh, and was regarded as a first-rate defensive second baseman. His best season offensively came in 1894, when he batted .303 and drove in a career-high 109 runs.

Pittsburgh management made the Pirates name official in 1891, in effect thumbing their noses at the Athletics.

Life of Leisure

Pirates reliever Joel Hanrahan picked up his first victory of the 2009 season on July 9—while taking a nap.

Stranger still, he won the game for the Washington Nationals.

Hanrahan was waiting on deck in the bottom of the 11th inning on May 5 when the Nationals’ contest against Houston was suspended by rain with the score tied 10-10. Play was resumed two months later, nine days after the Pirates acquired him in a four-player deal.

The Bucs were enjoying an off day in Philadelphia when the suspended game was completed at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. Hanrahan played some golf and was napping when Washington pulled out an 11-10 victory. The pitcher of record? Hanrahan. He woke up to find numerous text messages congratulating him on his win.

That’s something that doesn’t happen very often—and I don’t know if it ever happened, Hanrahan said. It might never happen again. You never know. Pretty funny.

Funnier still, the Nationals’ winning run was scored by Nyjer Morgan—one of the players Washington acquired in the Hanrahan trade.

Sudden Impact

Nick Maddox threw the first no-hitter in Pirates history on the anniversary of his debut in the major leagues—his one-week anniversary.

On Sept. 20, 1907, only seven days after his first big league appearance, the 20-year-old right-hander handcuffed the Brooklyn Superbas in a 2-1 victory at Exposition Park.

The glittering feature was the remarkable pitching of Nick Maddox, the Pirates’ Central League recruit, who did not allow his opponents a single hit nor semblance of the same, their lone tally being the result of two wild throws, noted the Pittsburg Press. He had his opponents at his mercy all the way.

The Pirates obtained Maddox from Wheeling of the Central League and he paid immediate dividends. The rookie shut out St. Louis on five hits and fanned 11 on Sept. 13, a performance the Pittsburgh Post hailed as one of the best games ever pitched at Exposition Park. Maddox beat the Cardinals again at Robison Field three days later, 4-2. That outing proved to player-manager Fred Clarke that the newcomer was no fluke.

I knew he had something in the game he pitched in Pittsburg, but I thought he might be pitching beyond his real speed, Clarke said. Today’s work, however, convinces me that he is there with the goods all the time, and I believe we have picked up a man who will prove of more than ordinary value to us in seasons to come.

Maddox vindicated Clarke’s faith in him four days later. An error by Honus Wagner cost him a shutout, but Maddox didn’t mind because it was Wagner who secured his place on the all-time list of no-hit pitchers. The shortstop’s sterling play with two outs in the ninth provided a dramatic finish that brought the 2,380 fans out of their seats.

Speedy Brooklyn left fielder Emil Batch bounced a ball over the mound that seemed certain to pass through the infield. Wagner darted to his left, gloved the ball and gunned Batch out by a whisker.

He saved my no-hitter, Maddox recalled years later. "A ball was hit right over my head and, pfft, Honus was over there to get it. I don’t think he ever held the ball. He just swooped it over to first."

At 20 years, 315 days old, Maddox is the second-youngest pitcher in modern major league history and the sixth-youngest all-time to throw a no-hitter. The youngest is Giants hurler Amos Rusie, who handcuffed Brooklyn on July 31, 1891, at 20 years, 62 days of age. The youngest in the modern era is Philadelphia’s Johnny Lush, who was 20 years, 205 days old when he no-hit Brooklyn on May 1, 1906.

Maddox’s gem against Brooklyn gave him three wins in a span of a week.

The annexation of Nick Maddox’s name to the Pittsburgh payroll just now looks like one of the happiest ventures [owner] Barney Dreyfuss has made in a long time, wrote Ed Balinger of the Pittsburgh Post on Sept. 22. The boy behaves as though he has been working in major league company for 10 years instead of 10 days.

Maddox might well have been the best September call-up in franchise history. He finished his rookie season with a 5-1 record and an 0.83 earned run average. Maddox went 23-8 a year later, but he would win only 15 more games after that. He hurt his arm pitching in Game 3 of the 1909 World Series on a cold, drizzly day in Detroit and was never the same. Maddox made his final big league appearance on Sept. 12, 1910—washed up at the age of 23.

Monkey Business

The Pittsburgh Alleghenys celebrated a victory in their National League debut on April 30, 1887, a game preceded by perhaps the most bizarre Opening Day ceremony in baseball history.

Alleghenys catcher Fred Carroll buried his beloved pet monkey beneath home plate at Recreation Park.

The monkey—its name has been lost to time—accompanied Carroll everywhere. It even went on road trips and became something of a team mascot. When it died, the national publication Sporting Life noted that the monkey will find a resting place under Pittsburg’s home plate.    

Carroll and his teammates arranged for the unusual pre-game ceremony, and his monkey was buried there, with full honors. Since Carroll was primarily a catcher, that meant he could remain close to his companion.

The Alleghenys followed with a 6-2 victory over the defending champion Chicago White Stockings before a throng of over 10,000. Pud Galvin scattered 10 hits to earn the first of his team-high 28 victories that season and 30-year-old first baseman Alex McKinnon—who would die of typhoid fever less than three months later—went 4-for-4 to spearhead the offensive attack.

Saturday’s victory was a glorious one, noted the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette, and reflects the greatest credit on the boys who so nobly battled for the honor of Pittsburg. It was the league baptism and royally did they stand the test.

Carroll, regarded as something of an eccentric, played six seasons with the Alleghenys and Pirates (1885-89, 1891), mostly as a catcher, although he also played at first base and in the outfield. If he was grieving the loss of his monkey in 1887, it didn’t show: Carroll led Pittsburgh in home runs (6), batting average (.328), doubles (24), triples (tied with 15), RBIs (tied with 54), slugging percentage (.499) and on-base percentage (.383).

Out for Blood

Trainer Tony Bartirome drew blood to help the Pirates score an insurance run during the 1979 World Series.

The Bucs led Baltimore 3-1 in the ninth inning of Game 7 at Memorial Stadium when Bill Robinson, batting with the bases loaded, tried to elude a chest-high inside delivery from Dennis Martínez. He spun to the ground, barely avoiding the pitch. Bartirome rushed from the dugout to check on the Pirates left fielder.

That’s OK, Tony, I’m all right. He didn’t hit me, Robinson told Bartirome. The hell he didn’t, Bartirome whispered to Robinson, and dug a fingernail into Robinson’s thumb, breaking the skin. Robinson showed the bloodied digit to plate umpire Jerry Neudecker and was awarded first base, bringing in Omar Moreno with the Bucs’ fourth run.

Robinson received credit for an RBI and Bartirome received credit for an assist.

Mr. Clean

Pirates pitcher Larry French reversed the usual sequence during a July 12, 1933, game against Boston at Forbes Field. While hurlers are typically sent from the mound to the showers, he was sent from the showers to the mound.

And wound up winning the game.

French didn’t figure to pitch that day, what with the Bucs leading 8-0 and Heinie Meine cruising with a two-hitter through eight innings. So he decided to sneak off to the locker room and get an early start on his shower. But his plan backfired.

When the Braves mounted a furious rally, manager George Gibson ordered French to warm up, but he couldn’t be found. A clubhouse boy finally located him in the shower, soaked and soaped, and told him he was needed in the bullpen. French didn’t believe the lad. A teammate soon appeared and pleaded with French to hurry. Forget about the bullpen, Larry, he said. You’ve got to get out on the diamond.

By the time French toweled off, threw his uniform back on and entered the game, Boston had sliced the lead to 8-7 and had a runner on third with one out. French yielded a game-tying sacrifice fly to the first batter he faced, but he wound up winning the game when Arky Vaughan tripled home Pie Traynor in the 10th for a 9-8 victory.

Only then was French able to return to the clubhouse—and finish his shower in peace.

They Won With Guns

What might qualify as the zaniest episode in Pirates history occurred in 1894, when an armed spectator helped Cincinnati steal a game. A Pittsburg Commercial Gazette headline summarized the Reds’ July 20 victory perfectly: They Won With Guns.

Pittsburgh left fielder Elmer Smith and center fielder Jake Stenzel were held up by a fan while pursuing a ball hit by Cincinnati’s George Germany Smith at League Park. While the two Pirates were thus occupied, Smith gleefully circled the bases with a game-winning home run.

The day began with a ballgame as advertised, but before that contest was over all kinds of outdoor sports were introduced, and the unexpected features were greatly appreciated by the howling spectators, noted the Commercial Gazette. "There were wrestling matches, catch-as-catch can, rough-and-tumble fights, a display of firearms and a life-like imitation of a riot in which two of Pittsburg’s best and most popular players were assigned the role of victims."

The lunacy began in the 10th inning after Cincinnati’s Farmer Vaughn slugged a solo home run to tie the game, 6-6.

A second later pandemonium reigned, noted the Commercial Gazette. Germany Smith caught a low one full on the nose. It went sailing on a line for the left field seats.

The ball clattered around in the bleachers, which were in play according to the ground rules. When Elmer Smith hopped the fence and reached down to retrieve the ball, a half-dozen husky occupants fell on him and tried to wrestle the ball away. Stenzel raced to Smith’s rescue, but by then more fans had joined the fracas—including one who was packing a pistol.

Fred Benzinger, a well-known citizen, jumped into the fray, the Commercial Gazette reported. Stenzel called him a vile name, it is said, and in the midst of the melee Benzinger went for his gun. The appearance of a weapon acted as magic in stopping the fight.

Meanwhile, Germany Smith crossed home plate with the run that gave Cincinnati a 7-6 victory.

Weenie Whammy

The Pirates unleashed a secret weapon during the 1966 season that nearly brought a pennant to Pittsburgh—a green plastic rattle in the shape of a hot dog. The Green Weenie.

Broadcaster Bob Prince popularized this oddest of talismans, regularly wielding the weenie from the KDKA booth, invoking its power in critical situations. Pirates fans were convinced it kept Pittsburgh in the pennant race until the final days of the season.

Green Weenie mania can be traced to a late May series in Houston. The Astros’ dangerous Lee May was batting with the bases loaded when Prince noticed that Pittsburgh trainer Danny Whelan had taped a disgusting-looking hot dog, taken from the pre-game clubhouse spread, to the dugout railing in an effort to hex the Astros. May popped out. Prince later quizzed Whelan about the incident and a gimmick was born. Within weeks Green Weenies were being sold at Forbes Field.

They soon garnered national attention. Time magazine ran a story in August with the headline Whammy With a Weenie, speculating on the power of the Green Weenie. But Pirates fans were already convinced by then of its effectiveness.

One night we waved the Green Weenie at Don Drysdale and we chased him out of the ballgame, Prince said. Bases were loaded, and Drysdale turned to umpire Ed Vargo and said, ‘How can you concentrate with that silly idiot up there in the booth getting everybody to wave those weenies at me?’ Vargo said, ‘I don’t know, you’d better pitch.’ And [Roberto] Clemente tripled.

Another time, the Pirates were trailing Philadelphia 3-1 in the seventh inning at Forbes Field when fellow broadcaster Don Hoak implored Prince to bring out the weenie. Not yet, he said. Entering the bottom of the eighth, Pittsburgh still trailed by two runs. Prince then began waving the weenie from the booth. The Bucs erupted for four runs and went on to a 5-3 victory. Said Prince to Hoak, Remember, never waste the power of the Green Weenie.

The Green Weenie nearly carried the Pirates to a championship that year. They climbed into first place after the All-Star break and pretty much stayed there through early September before fading and finishing in third place, only three games behind the pennant-winning Dodgers.

Youth Is Served

When the Pirates’ top three veteran pitchers faltered during the 1909 World Series, manager Fred Clarke’s team was still able to bring a championship to Pittsburgh—because Clarke turned to a babe.

Rookie Charles Babe Adams stole the spotlight from the expected heroes and tamed the Tigers on three occasions, nailing down Pittsburgh’s first world title with an 8-0 victory in Game 7 at Bennett Park. He held Detroit hitters to a .184 average, limited American League batting champion Ty Cobb to a mere single in 11 at-bats and fashioned a 1.33 ERA.

He remains the only rookie to win three games in a single Series.

If all Pittsburgh acclaimed Babe Adams after the Series, many Pirate fans were not so sanguine when they saw their Babe march out to warm up against George Mullin, the big twenty-nine-game winner of the American League champions [in Game 1], wrote Fred Lieb in The Story of the World Series: An Informal History. ‘What’s Fred doing sending a boy on a man’s errand?’ they asked.

Clarke had relied on a dominant pitching trio—Howie Camnitz (25-6, 1.62 ERA), Vic Willis (22-11, 2.24) and Lefty Leifield (19-9, 2.37)—during the season. But it was Adams he tabbed to start Game 1 at Forbes Field.

I’ll never forget the look on Adams’ face when I told him I wanted him to pitch the opener, Clarke said years later.

But if Adams was battling nerves, it didn’t show. He threw a six-hitter as the Pirates prevailed, 4-1.

Some accounts suggest Clarke acted on a hunch, others that he was simply going with a hot pitcher: Adams went 4-0 and was unscored upon in 31 innings pitched in August en route to a 12-3 record and 1.11 ERA over 130 innings. Still another theory is that National League President John Heydler interceded on the Pirates’ behalf. Heydler reportedly told Clarke that Adams reminded him of Washington rookie Dolly Gray, who gave Detroit fits throughout the season.

Regardless of the reason, Clarke picked Adams over any of his veterans.

They criticized me when I selected Babe Adams to do my twirling, Clarke told Baseball Magazine in 1915. But I felt sure that if Adams could once get fairly started he would go through safely. The only doubt I had about it was the first inning of the first game he pitched. I told him before the game that if he got off to a good start there would be nothing to it, and I was right. After the first nervousness had worn away he settled down and pitched the masterly game of which he is capable.

Adams won a pivotal Game 5 by an 8-4 score and then came back on two days’ rest to silence Detroit in Game 7. The outcome of the Series might have been much different without him. Camnitz, Willis and Leifield went a combined 0-3 with a 7.58 ERA.

Fans keeping up with Game 7 outside the offices of the Pittsburg Press were so impressed with Adams’ performance in the Series that, once he retired Tom Jones on a fly to left fielder Clarke to seal the championship, they passed the hat, collected $1,243 and turned it over to Adams when the team returned to Pittsburgh.

A New No. 1

When Ralph Kiner arrived in Pittsburgh in 1946, the Pirates’ career home run record was a modest 109, held by a player few would regard as a power threat.

Paul Waner, a 5-8, 153-pound right fielder who could spray pitches to all fields, reached double figures in homers only three times in his 15 seasons (1926-40) with Pittsburgh. His high was 15, in 1929.

Kiner surpassed Waner’s career total before his third season with the Bucs had run its course. The record-breaking 110th was a three-run shot against Larry Jansen of the Giants in a 5-4 loss at Forbes Field on Sept. 2, 1948.

By the time he was traded to the Cubs in 1953, Kiner had extended the franchise record for home runs to 301.

The Most Lopsided Trade Ever

The largest player transaction in Pirates history laid the foundation for the franchise’s most dominant decade.

A 16-player deal with Louisville enabled a team that had finished seventh in 1899 to suddenly emerge as a pennant contender.

The Dec. 8, 1899, trade brought to Pittsburgh future Hall of Famers Honus