Sheridan's Fred Fussell, Pittsburgh Pirates Try to Climb Back in Race

 (Continued from Last Week)

The Pirates had good reason to believe they were turning the corner after their thrilling extra inning victory over the New York Giants. They felt like they were finally getting healthy and finally getting the kind of breaks they needed despite being 25-28 and several games out of first during the 1928 season. But reality took a turn for the worse at first. On June 21st, 1928, they dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker against the Reds, who were hot in pursuit of the first place Cardinals. They fell behind 4-2 in the second, with Cincinnati tagging the Pirates with four runs in the second, before Sheridan native Fred Fussell came on in relief in the second. He pitched brilliantly, as the Pirates caught up with the Reds and tied it 4-4. But in the ninth, the Reds pushed across one run to win it 5-4. Despite taking the loss, Fussell pitched 6 2/3 innings, gave up seven hits and one run, walked one, and struck out three. The Pirates were still in the hole, at 27-31 for the year, well behind the Cardinals, who were 40-23 at the time.

The perplexing stat was the fact that the Pirates outhit their opponents 603-542 at that point, yet were being outscored 284-274.

Fussell next pitched on July 1st. The Pirates had a golden opportunity to make up ground against the first place Cardinals on the road at Sportsman Park, and Fussell came through, pitching a gem and shutting down the first place Cardinals 2-0 in the first game of a double header. He outpitched Jess Haines in a good pitching duel that game. The Cardinals tagged Fussell for ten hits, yet had nothing to show for it. 

A key sequence happened in the fourth inning, when Fussell helped himself out with his glove. With Cardinals on first and second, Jim Bottomley tried to bunt them over to third, only for Fussell to grab the bunt and throw to third for the forceout. Later, the Cardinals tried a hit and run with a runner on second. The Card runner, Frankie Frisch, raced around third and attempted to score all the way from second on a routine groundout to shortstop, only to get cut down at the plate as the Pirates got out of the inning with their shutout intact.

But the Pirates gave it all back the second game, the kind of game which was a microcosm of their season so far. They had 17 hits, yet were beaten 8-6 by the first place Cards, who took three out of five. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s beat writer, Regis Welsh, summed up, “The inconsistent work of the last few weeks, when any day they look like the champions they should be, and the next day like a club of the Georges Creek League, must end shortly or all hope of being in the race will have been dissipated.” The Pirates were still stuck at 32-36, unable to make up ground.

***

After flogging the leaders two games out of five,

The champs to the sticks have vamoosed,

Convinced it will take some tall fireworks to drive

Those Cards from the uppermost roost.

–Edward Balinger

***

Fussell pitched again on July 6th against the New York Giants. But he was unable to replicate his earlier success against them, as he didn’t get out of the first inning and took the loss. The Pirates showed some life late, as they rallied for four runs in the ninth before falling short 11-7. But the Pirates were even deeper in the hole, at 32-40. 

But with their backs against the wall, and faced with the task of playing a double header against the Giants, including a game against their pitching ace Fred Fitzsimmons, the Pirates swept a double header July 7th and beat the Giants 8-6 and 5-2. Richards Vidmer, the Giants beat writer for the New York Times, lamented, “This was not only surprising, but also downright humiliating in view of the fact that no one, not even National Leaguers, believe in the Pirates anymore. It would have been disappointing and worthy of disapproval under any circumstances, but when one realizes that the losing pitchers were Larry Benton and Fred Fitzsimmons, it becomes absolutely abnormal.”

Fussell pitched in the first game of the double header despite having no rest. But it was all hands on deck after the Pirates’ starting pitcher, Carmen Hill, was knocked out of the fourth inning with the Pirates trailing 5-0. Making the most of his second chance, Fussell held the fort, pitching the rest of the game while allowing only two hits and one run. Meanwhile, the Waner brothers, Paul and Lloyd, led a rally that brought the Pirates back from the dead and they won 8-6. Fussell even helped himself out with his bat, getting a single and scoring a run in the pivotal sixth inning that saw the Pirates get five runs as they took a lead they could not relinquish as Fussell got credit for the win. The Pirates jumped Fitzsimmons in the second game, scoring three runs in the first and making it stand up. Fitzsimmons stayed in the game and did all he could, retiring 15 straight Pirates at one point as the Giants crept to within 3-2. But Pittsburgh scored two in the eighth to clinch the win, and they had at least stopped the bleeding.

That seemed to be the spark that the Pirates needed, and they proceeded to win eight straight to get back to 40-40. Fussell next pitched on July 17th as the Pirates and the cellar dwelling Boston Braves locked horns. The Pirates were seemingly in control of the game, up 7-3 after six. But a frantic Boston rally made it 7-6 in the seventh. The Pirates held in the eighth, but then a fluke play, when Braves pinch hitter Dick Burrus hit a ball into no man’s land behind the mound and beat it out to start the ninth, finished off starting pitcher Carmen Hill and Fussell was called on to pitch.

Fussell was brought in to face Lance Richbourg, a lefty versus lefty matchup, and the move paid off as Richbourg popped out behind the plate for the first out. But then Earl Clark hit a shot which looked like a routine single, but that caromed off left fielder Pete Scott’s knee for a bad hop double. Scott made a great play and throw to keep Earl Moore (running for Burrus) on third.

But there were runners on second and third with one out and hall of famer George Sisler was coming up to bat. He had been recently honored by the Cardinals the week before, and he still had pop in his bat. He had the single season record for most hits in a game with 257, a record that stood until Ichiro Suzuki came along.

But Sisler hit a grounder to Pirate second baseman Sparky Adams at second base. Instead of throwing to first, Adams made a perfect throw to catcher Charlie Hargreaves to cut down the tying run at the plate as Clark took third. Fussell still had to get another hall of famer, Rogers Hornsby, who would go on to hit .387 for the year. But Hornsby meekly grounded out to first to end the game, and Fussell got credit for the save that gave Pittburgh its eighth straight win and got them back to .500 at 40-40.

(Continued next week)