Three former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date, plus a recap of the Major League debut for one of the Pirates greatest pitchers of all-time and also one of the greatest pitching performances of all-time.
The Players
Dann Bilardello, catcher for the 1989-90 Pirates. He was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the third round of the January 1978 draft out of Cabrillo College, but chose to return to school for one more year. He was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as their first round draft pick in June of 1978, chosen seventh overall. Cabrillo College is a school that has produced four MLB players through the draft, but just one of them has been picked since 1988. Bilardello batted .248 with two homers in 42 games for Lethbridge of the Pioneer League in 1978. He moved up to Clinton of the Midwest League in 1979, where he hit .239 with two homers in 52 games. He missed time due to a hand injury early in the year. From there he went to Lodi of the California League in 1980 and he hit .308 with six homers in 41 games. He missed time in the middle of the year due to a fractured cheekbone from a hit-by-pitch. Bilardello finally played a full season in 1981 and he hit .307 with 21 homers in 105 games for Lodi, while also going 1-for-19 in a brief trial at Double-A. He spent the 1982 season playing for San Antonio of the Texas League, where he hit .285 with 17 homers. Before making it to the majors with Los Angeles, he was taken in the 1982 Rule 5 draft by the Cincinnati Reds. He hit .238 with 38 RBIs during his rookie season in 1983, playing in 109 games that year. It would end up being the best season of his eight-year big league career. Bilardello spent two more years in Cincinnati, then one year in Montreal Expos, before spending all of the 1987-88 seasons in the minors. He batted .209 with two homers in 68 games for the 1984 Reds, then hit .167 with one homer in 42 games for them in 1985. Each year he spent about half of the season in the minors. With the 1986 Expos, Bilardello batted .194 with four homers in 79 games.
The Pirates purchased Bilardello’s contract from Montreal on March 22, 1987. He would last four months with the team in Triple-A, before being sold to the Kansas City Royals in July of 1987. He spent the 1988 season catching for Triple-A Omaha, where he hit .243 with eight homers in 71 games. Bilardello became a free agent after the 1988 season, choosing to sign with the Pirates in January of 1989. He began the year in Triple-A, getting called up by the Pirates for a month in early June, then again when the roster expanded in September. Bilardello started 25 games that year, hitting .225 with eight RBIs. In 1990, he had three short stints with the Pirates, getting into 19 games total, with an .054 batting average (2-for-37). He became a free agent in December of 1990 and signed with the San Diego Padres a month later. Bilardello played 32 games for the Padres between the 1991-92 seasons, hitting .186 in 59 at-bats. He spent the 1993 season in Triple-A for the New York Mets and he played independent ball in 1994, his last year in pro ball. Bilardello hit .204 with 18 homers and 91 RBIs in 382 big league games.
Chuck Hartenstein, pitcher for the 1969-70 Pirates. He was signed originally by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent in 1964 and it didn’t take long for him to make his strange Major League debut. He played for St Cloud of the Class-A Northern League in 1964, where he 3.27 ERA in 113 innings. In 1965, he was a September call-up after going 12-7, 2.18 in 223 innings at Double-A ball. Hartenstein played just one game that year for the Cubs, coming on September 11th, when he came in as a pinch-runner. It was the only time in his six-year Major League career that he wasn’t used as a pitcher. He went 3-10, 2.94 in 156 innings in Triple-A in 1966, while splitting his time between starting and relief. Hartenstein was a September call-up again in 1966, pitching well in five appearances, allowing two runs in 9.1 innings. In 1967, he came up to the majors in June after posting a 3.94 ERA in 32 innings at Triple-A Tacoma. He ended up pitching 45 games for the Cubs that season, putting up a 9-5, 3.08 record and ten saves in 73 innings. His numbers weren’t as good in 1968, as he went 2-4, 4.54, getting just 28 appearances and 35.2 innings. Hartenstein pitched well during his time in Triple-A, posting a 1.86 ERA in 58 innings.
The Pirates acquired him from Chicago on January 15, 1969, along with infielder Ron Campbell, in exchange for outfielder Manny Jimenez. Hartenstein’s first season in Pittsburgh would end up being the only full season that he spent in the majors. He went 5-4, 3.95 in 56 appearances with 95.2 innings pitched and ten saves. He made 17 appearances for the 1970 Pirates, posting a 4.56 ERA in 23.2 innings, before they put him on waivers in June. He was picked up by the St Louis Cardinals, where he gave up 13 runs in 13.1 innings over six games. Hartenstein finished that 1970 season with the Boston Red Sox, going 0-3, 8.05 in 17 appearances. He then spent the next six years in the minors, spending two years each at Triple-A with the Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. He pitched well during that time, with his highest ERA being 3.63 in a season, but it took a bit of good timing to get back to the majors for one last time. In 1977, he made 13 appearances for the Toronto Blue Jays in their first year of existence. The Blue Jays purchased his contract from the Padres in November of 1976. Hartenstein pitched 187 Major League games over his 14-year pro career, all as a reliever. He went 17-19, 4.52 in 297 innings, with 24 saves.
Jack Cronin, pitcher for the 1898 Pirates. He began his pro career at 21 years old in 1895 and was in the majors by the end of the year, pitching for the Brooklyn Grooms. He got hit hard in two relief appearances, allowing ten hits and eight runs in five innings. Cronin then spent the next three years in the minors before getting his second chance at the big leagues with the 1898 Pirates. It’s no surprise that it took some time to get back because he had a rough 1896 season. While many of the runs ended up being unearned (poor field conditions, shoddy gloves and tougher official scorers will do that), he gave up 257 runs over 126 innings in 1896, while seeing time with three different teams. He pitched for Fall River of the New England League in 1897, where he’s credited with a 9-8, 1.05 record in 154.2 innings. In 1898, he went 8-9 in 171 innings for Fall River. His ERA isn’t available for that year, but he allowed 5.05 runs per nine innings. There was word that the owner of the New York Giants was seeing him play after a recommendation in mid-July, but apparently news didn’t travel fast because Cronin and his teammate Hi Ladd had already signed with the Pirates back on July 6th. Ladd played for the Pirates on July 12th and it ended up being his only game with the team. Cronin had to wait a little while to get his first shot. His first appearance for the Pirates came on September 20th and it was in Brooklyn against his former team. He pitched shutout ball, as the Pirates won 15-0 that day. He allowed five singles, three walks and he struck out five batters. The local Brooklyn paper said that he showed fair control and plenty of speed (aka a good fastball), while another paper noted how effective his curveballs were that day. Part of the reason Cronin was able to start for the Pirates is because one of the regular starters, Billy Rhines, had been suspended for leaving the team. Cronin ended up going 2-2, 3.54 in four starts for the 1898 Pirates over the final three weeks of the season.
In 1899, he went to Spring Training with the Pirates, but he opened the season in the minors after getting sold to the Detroit Tigers of the Western League on March 16th. The Cincinnati Reds gave him a late season trial before returning him to Detroit for the entire 1900 season. When the American League became a Major League in 1901, a move that made Detroit a big league team, Cronin remained with the Tigers and won 13 games. He was in the big leagues until 1904, then finished his career in the minors in 1912. He went 8-11, 3.09 in 207 innings in 1902 while playing for the Tigers, Baltimore Orioles (current day New York Yankees) and the New York Giants. Cronin spent the 1903 season with the Giants, going 6-4, 3.81 in 115.2 innings over 11 starts and nine relief appearances. He pitched for the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers) in 1904 and saw the most work of his career, while pitching for a team that finished 56-97. He went 12-23, 2.70 in 307 innings. He won 29 games while playing for Providence of the Eastern League in 1905. His big league career saw him go 43-58, 3.40 in 923.1 innings. He won a total of 181 games in pro ball.
The Debut
Sam Leever began a successful 13-year career during an 11-7 Pittsburgh loss to the Washington Senators on May 26, 1898. He was the third pitcher of the day for the Pirates, coming in during the second inning with his team down 5-2. He finished off the game, allowing six more runs, four of them coming in the seventh inning with Pittsburgh down 7-6 at the time. The local newspaper at the time praised his speed and control, saying “if he listened to instructions he should become a winner”. Leever went on to win 194 big league games, all for the Pirates. In a post-game interview, he promised to become a better hitter. The loss was a tough one for the Pirates that day. Washington was a last place team, coming into the game with a 6-22 record. The Senators manager was Tom Brown, a player for the Pirates/Alleghenys from 1885-1887. He lasted just nine more games at the helm before being replaced. The third baseman for Washington that day was Albert “Butts” Wagner, older brother of Honus Wagner, whose nickname has no apparent origin (I’ve searched, a lot).
The Great Game
On this date in 1959, Harvey Haddix pitched one of the most famous losses ever, going down 1-0 to the Milwaukee Braves in 13 innings. He retired the first 36 batters he faced that day, before the first batter in the 13th reached on an error. That was followed by an out, an intentional walk and an odd double. Joe Adcock homered, then passed Hank Aaron on the bases. Instead of a 3-0 loss, it was a 1-0 game and Haddix got credit for an extra out in his pitching line. Haddix struck out eight batters.
