Bedford & Sullivan Podcast: Talking Baseball with National League Greats, Carl Erskine and Frank Thomas

From the desk of: BEDFORD & SULLIVAN

A SAM MAXWELL PRODUCTION

A Journey Into the Golden Age of Baseball 

with National League Greats

BROOKLYN/LA DODGERS STANDOUT
CARL ERSKINE   
&
PITTSBURGH PIRATES SLUGGER 
and ORIGINAL 1962 AMAZIN' MET   
FRANK THOMAS

A Conversation Between

PITCHER vs. HITTER

Thank you, Sam, for inviting me!

Amazin' Date 9/20/1969: Pittsburgh's Bob Moose Tosses No-Hitter at Shea Stadium

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

AMAZIN'

THE MIRACLE METS

50th ANNIVERSARY

Game #152: Saturday, September 20, 1969 - BR
Pittsburgh Pirates @ New York Mets
Shea Stadium

Pittsburgh hands New York their third straight loss at Shea Stadium.  Yet the Chicago Cubs seem disinterested in taking advantage as they fall to the Cardinals at Wrigley.  It marks the Cubs 14th loss over their last 18 games.  Despite Pittsburgh Pirates starter Bob Moose's stellar near perfect no-hitter Saturday afternoon at Shea the Mets lose no ground in the standings and one step closer to clinching the division flag.

Mets starter Gary Gentry yields three earned runs on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts through six innings.  However, he suffers a meltdown in the fourth, yielding a hit and two walks, hitting a batter, and unleashing two run scoring wild pitches.  Gentry sees his record fall to 11-12 for the season with a 3.67 ERA.  Tug McGraw also gives up a run on two hits and one walk with three strikeouts through three innings pitched.  He too unleashes a wild pitch in the top of the ninth permitting Bob Moose to score Pittsburgh's fourth run of the game.

Bob Moose, Pittsburgh's young 27-year old right-hander, improves to 12-3 with a 2.99 ERA.  He faces three batters over the minimum while allowing no runs, no hits, and just three walks with six strikeouts.  The Pirates commit no errors.

• Mets Record: 91-61
• N.L. East: 1st Place; 4 Games Up

Road Trips 2017: Pittsburgh Part II ~ Forbes Field

Finally!  My first road trip of the season...

I visited Pittsburgh's PNC Park once before in 2005 for an inter-league series against the eventual World Series champion, Chicago White Sox.  I made that trip a few years before launching this blog, and so accounts and pictures went unpublished.  Twelve years later, I finally made my return trip to Steel City over the Fourth of July weekend.

Without further adieu, it's my pleasure to finally present you PNC Park, and revisit the site of old Forbes Field.

PART ONE 

PNC PARK, 

Pittsburgh

PART TWO

FORBES FIELD

Images taken inside Posvar Hall, 

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Crawfords

Homestead Grays ~ Josh Gibson

Horacio "the rabbit" Martinez

HOME PLATE

Posvar Hall

*         *         *

July 18, 1951

Jersey Joe Walcott vs. Ezzard Charles

II

Forbes Field

The Pittsburgh Kid Billy Conn 

greets former champ Jack Dempsey at Forbes Field

Road Trips 2017: Pittsburgh Pirates

PART ONE:

PNC Park

home of the 

Pittsburgh Pirates

Finally!  My first road trip of the season.

I visited Pittsburgh's PNC Park once before in 2005 for an inter-league series against the eventual World Series champion, Chicago White Sox.  I made that trip a few years before launching this blog, and so accounts and pictures went unpublished.  Twelve years later, I finally made my return trip to Steel City over the Fourth of July weekend.

Without further adieu, it's my pleasure to finally present you PNC Park, and the site of old Forbes Field.

Even if you drive and park in one of the back lots, at some point a visitor must walk across the Roberto Clemente Bridge.  After all, it's these very kind of quirks that truly distinguish one ball park experience from another.  Am I right?

Plaque on bridge

Greeting visitors on the other side is the statue immortalizing

Roberto Clemente

Further ahead, Federal Street 

is a fine pre-game gathering area.

Willie Stargell's statue neighbors Clemente's alongside the left field gates

Honus Wagner guards the home gate from atop a pedestal

Bill Mazeroski's statue is the newest edition, and can be 

found on the river front beyond PNC's right field corner

Ralph Kiner's bronze hands reside inside the park, 

tucked in a corner next to the left/center bleachers

GAME TIME

San Francisco Giants @ PIRATES

June 30 - July 2

The gate off General Robinson Street featured seven statues commemorating Pittsburgh's Negro League greats during my previous visit in 2005.  But I do not know if the statues were on loan, perhaps making a limited appearance, or if they were ever part of a permanent display at PNC Park.   All I can say is that on this trip these banners adorned the walls and marked the positions where those respective statues once stood.

EXTRA INNINGS

NEXT  STOP

PART TWO 
FORBES FIELD