The Pirates enter the final game of the season very short-handed against the Reds, with just 10 healthy position players. That might help them to maintain their 2020 draft position, which currently sits 7th. We will have more on that soon.
I’ll be starting my season recaps of the MLB squad tomorrow, looking at the overall team, followed by the individual players and positions. That should take us through the playoffs, and get to the point where the offseason begins. My goal is to give a clear understanding of everywhere the Pirates have strengths, and everywhere they need to improve — with the latter probably taking the most time.
We’ll also have some site news this week, looking at the upcoming schedule, a few small changes to improve the site, and looking for your input on what you want to see going forward.
TODAY’S ARTICLES
Today is the final game of the season. We’ll have any news that comes up, and the live game discussion.
SONG OF THE DAY
Two days in a row posting a live song from Lollapalooza. I definitely want to go to that festival one year. Today’s song is one of my favorites from one of my favorites.
DAILY QUIZ
Name all of the movies based on Marvel comics.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
By John Dreker
Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players have been born on this date, including a pitcher who is the single-season leader in many pitching categories.
Ed “Cannonball” Morris pitched for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys from 1885 until 1889. During that time, he set a franchise record that will most likely never be equaled with 326 strikeouts in 1886. Morris also set records the will never be broken due to a change in the times. His 41 wins, 581 innings, 12 shutouts, 63 starts and complete games (twice he completed all 63 starts!) will never be equaled. He won 171 games in his seven year career.
Also born on this date was a pitcher who had one of the highest win totals for someone that played for the Pirates, but just one came while with Pittsburgh. Gus Weyhing won 262 games between 1887 and 1901. He pitched one game for the Pirates on May 21,1895 and won 10-7, then was immediately released by manager Connie Mack.
You can find bios for both Morris and Weyhing here in the additional bio section.
Other players born on this date include Hunky Shaw, who struck out as a pinch hitter for the Pirates on May 16,1908. That was his only big league appearance. He played 12 years in the minors. His real first name was Royal.
Paul Giel, pitcher for the 1960 World Series champs. Giel played two years for the Pirates (1959-60) and threw 40.2 innings over 20 relief appearances. He had a 7.30 ERA. He played parts of six seasons in the majors, while taking two years off in the middle of his career to serve in the military.
Ken Macha, played for the 1974 and 1977-78 Pirates. He played five different positions over his 69 games with the Pirates, hitting .263 in 152 at-bats. Macha was a sixth round pick of the Pirates out of the University of Pitt in 1972. He played a total of six seasons in the majors, also seeing time with the Expos and Blue Jays. After his playing days, he managed for six seasons in the majors.
