The World Series

1909 brought to the world just the 7th World Series. The championship game were very popular but did not always sell out. Pittsburgh was able in 1909 to show off its brand new $1 million state of the art stadium, Forbes Field in this years games. The stadium was wildly popular throughout baseball and with locals.

Pittsburgh's Forbes Field


and

Detroit's Bennett Park

The Series was a face off between two perennial power houses, The Detroit Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both teams boasted talented rosters. The Tigers had the now Hall of Famer Ty Cobb and Pittsburgh was bolstered by Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke. They both also were HOF inductees. Hughie Jennings was a HOF Player/Manager for Detroit. He was known as Hughie "Ee-Yah" Jennings. The nickname came from his unusual antics and shouting. Detroit fans love him and would yell his trademark "ee-yah" when he walked onto the field. Fred Clarke managed the Pirates as well as played. Both teams had excellent managers.

Bill Abstein

Pittsburgh Pirates

1B Bill Abstein
2B Dots Miller
SS Honus Wagner
3B Robert Byrnes
LF Fred Clarke

CF Tommy Leach
RF Chief Owens
C George Gibson
P Babe Adams, Vic Willis, Howie Camnitz, Sam Leever, Nick Maddox, Deacon Phillippe Lefty Leifield.

Others included: Ham Hyatt, Mike Simon, Paddy Occonner, Ed Abbaticchio, Harry Camnitz

Tiger's Manager Hughie "Ee-ah" Jennings ringing a bell in the dugout. He was known for these types of antics.

Detroit Tigers

C Boss Schmidt and Oscar Stanage (they split catching duties)
1b Tom Jones
2B Jim Delahanty
SS Donie Bush
3B George Moriarty
LF Davy Jones
CF Ty Cobb
RF Sam Crawford
P George Mullin, Ed Killian, Ed Willett, Ed Summers, "Wild Bill" Donovan, Ralph Works

Also in the dugout: Charley O'Leary, Matty McIntyre

Here are some stats

NL Pittsburgh Pirates (4) vs. AL Detroit Tigers (3)
Game Score Date Location Attendance
1 Tigers – 1, Pirates – 4 October 8 Forbes Field 29,264
2 Tigers – 7, Pirates – 2 October 9 Forbes Field 30,915
3 Pirates – 8, Tigers – 6 October 11 Bennett Park 18,277
4 Pirates – 0, Tigers – 5 October 12 Bennett Park 17,036
5 Tigers – 4, Pirates – 8 October 13 Forbes Field 21,706
6 Pirates – 4, Tigers – 5 October 14 Bennett Park 10,535
7 Pirates – 8, Tigers – 0 October 16 Bennett Park 17,562

The winning pitchers:

Pittsburgh-Babe Adams (3), Nick Maddox (1)
Detroit-Bill Donovan (1), George Mullin (2)

Home Runs:

Pittsburgh-Fred Clarke (2)
Detroit-Sam Crawford (1), Davy Jones (1)

Batting Averages:

Pittsburgh-Tommy Leach .360, Honus Wagner .333
Detroit-Jim Delahanty .346 and Donie Bush .318

Strike out, Pitchers:

Pittsburgh-Babe Adams (11)
Detroit-George Mullin (20)

I don’t know who is on third!

Jap Barbeau started the 1909 season for the Pirates. His hitting numbers were soft and his fielding was not the best either. He has been listed on some of the all time worst fielding lists for his 1909 performance. In order to increase the offensive numbers the organization made trade for Bobby Byrnes of the Cardinals while surrendering Jap and Alan Storke. Jap’s full name was William Joseph Barbeau. He played only 4 seasons of major league ball but did play 10 years in the American Assoication. He started with Cleveland Naps from 1905 to 1906. He ended up on the Pirates in 1909 for about half a season or so and went to the cardinals from 09-10. He spent two years with the Toledo Mudhens, a minor league team, from (07-08) and after the majors played with other minor league teams like the Amityville Golden Bears. He played for the first place Columbus Senators in 1905. When he was traded he was only hitting .220 for the season and had committed 29 errors. Despite the stats Jap was a fan favorite with the Pittsburgh faithful for his hustle and grit. He had 712 career at bats in the majors without a homer.
Bobby Byrnes or Robert Matthew Byrnes played major league ball for 11 years. He played with the Pirates from (09-13). His other clubs were St Louis Cardinals (07-09), Philadelphia Phillies 1(3-17), Chicago White Sox (1917). He joined the Pirates in late August in 1909. During that stretch he committed only 2 errors and aloud the Pirates to keep Tommy Leach in center field. Bobby was a solid addition to the team and bolstered an already powerful lineup.


August 28th 1909 Sporting Life
Byrne Captured By Pirates.
Manager Clarke threw a big surprise into
the fans Thursday evening just before the
Pirates departed for the East, when he an
nounced that he had traded Jap Barbeau
and Allan Storke to the St. Louis team for
Bobby Bywie. Barbeau has proven one of
the most popular players on the Pirates© ros
ter, and the fans will certainly miss this
popular little hustler. In Byrne Manager
Clarke is getting one of the best fielding
third basemen in the business, while as a
run-getter and base stealer, Byrne has few
equals. He is a great all-around player, and
Clarke has been after him since spring. The
trade was almost made last April, but Bresnahan
wanted more players than Clarke
would give up at that* time, but in getting
Barbeau and Storke Bresnahan thinks he is
strengthening his team. The players joined
their new teams at once, so Barbeau and
Storke have played their last game in Pitts
burg uniforms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M

Who was Louie Bierbauer?

Louie Bierbauer can partially be credited with getting the Pittsburgh team it's name. The "Pirates" weren't always the known by that name. Up until 1890 they were known as the Alleghenies. Louie was a star play for the Philadelphia Althletics from 1886-1889. Then he left that team to join another league known as the Players League. Back in those days professional baseball was quite unstable with teams folding and leagues popping up here and there. He played for the Brooklyn Ward's Wonder's for one season and then the Player's League folded. The Althletic's did not re-include him on their roster. So when the Alleghenies had a chance they grabbed him up. The Alleghenies had been rocked by exiting star players in the previous years so they were needing to get some quality talent. They found this in Louie. This move was not very popular with the Philly team so they sent it to arbitration. They accused the Pittsburgh team of "piratical" behaviors. Then the name stuck although you wont see it on a uniform until 1912. Louie played for the Pirates for 5 years then left to play for the St. Louis Browns to finish out his career. His career numbers were .267 batting average with 1521 hits.