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The First Time · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:00
SPEAKER_04: Hi, everybody.
0:01
SPEAKER_04: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
0:04
SPEAKER_04: My name is Tim Hannon, and I have a co-host with me.
0:07
SPEAKER_03: My name is Steve Wirt.
0:09
SPEAKER_04: How's it going, Steve?
0:11
SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's going well.
0:13
SPEAKER_04: So in this episode, Steve and I are going to talk about the first time that a bunch of things in Pittsburgh Sports History happened.
0:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, they say you never forget your first time, so I guess we'll find out.
0:40
SPEAKER_04: So, Steve, do you remember your first time going to a Pittsburgh sporting event?
0:46
SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, I think we've covered this in another podcast, haven't we?
0:51
SPEAKER_04: Uh we're covering it again.
0:57
SPEAKER_03: That's that's some uh fine insight there.
0:59
SPEAKER_03: That's why we keep you on the program.
1:06
SPEAKER_03: Um boy, I'm trying to think.
1:10
SPEAKER_03: Like, first, like like pirates, penguins, the yeah, something like probably a pirate game.
1:17
SPEAKER_03: I remember wearing a hat with Star Drill stars on it that my mom had put on it.
1:21
SPEAKER_03: And I'm thinking we went with my grandmother.
1:24
SPEAKER_03: I remember really young, like somebody had like Bill Madlock, somebody had home run late in the game and the pirates won, and then it rained.
1:32
SPEAKER_03: And I remember waiting outside the Clark building for us for my dad to pick us up.
1:37
SPEAKER_03: And I was thinking I was there with like my family and my grandmother, my on my my mother's mother.
1:43
SPEAKER_03: She loved baseball.
1:45
SPEAKER_04: Okay, okay.
1:46
SPEAKER_03: She was a Phillies fan though, so I I don't know.
1:48
SPEAKER_04: Was it against the Phillies?
1:50
SPEAKER_04: Do you remember that?
1:50
SPEAKER_03: I don't I don't remember who it was, but I do remember somebody in the night I don't know it was Mike Easter, Bill Madlock, somebody like that.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: So you're talking like eighty, eighty-one, probably.
1:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, maybe eighty-two, like hit a home run to win it in the ninth inning, I'm pretty sure.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: I mean, don't I mean, come on, I was like seven years old, six or seven, yeah.
2:10
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
2:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I had a similar experience.
2:13
SPEAKER_04: I I went to a game, the Pirates, I think it was against the Cincinnati Reds, and I don't remember really anything about it except that I think we left in like the fifth or sixth inning because my brother and I were getting restless.
2:26
SPEAKER_04: Um and and I and I and I only remember some of those details because I literally just very recently had this conversation with my dad about it.
2:34
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
2:34
SPEAKER_04: And I was asking him, I'm like, do you remember that?
2:37
SPEAKER_04: And he said, Yeah, and I think you're right we left early.
2:40
SPEAKER_04: So nothing nothing too memorable, but hopefully we have some more memorable uh firsts for you in this episode.
2:47
SPEAKER_04: So let's kick off this list of Pittsburgh Sports Firsts by talking about the first ever games played by each of the city's three pro sports teams.
2:59
SPEAKER_04: So the first ever Pirates game takes place on May 2nd, 1882, in Cincinnati.
3:09
SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness.
3:10
unknown: Wow.
3:10
SPEAKER_04: The world's a very different place in 1882, Steve.
3:13
SPEAKER_04: That's the year Thomas Edison opened the first power plant, so people are just starting to use electricity.
3:18
SPEAKER_04: Chester A.
3:19
SPEAKER_04: Arthur is the president of the United States in 1882.
3:23
SPEAKER_03: So this is after Garfield?
3:26
SPEAKER_04: Is that the first one?
3:27
SPEAKER_04: This is this is at after Garfield.
3:29
SPEAKER_04: By the way, like totally unnecessary plug, folks.
3:32
SPEAKER_04: If you haven't watched the uh Death by Lightning miniseries on Netflix, I would highly recommend it.
3:38
SPEAKER_04: But we're not here to talk about James Garfield and Caspery Arthur.
3:42
SPEAKER_04: We're here to talk about the first Pirates game.
3:44
SPEAKER_04: Uh and a lot of stuff was different in baseball back then, too.
3:48
SPEAKER_04: The Pirates were known as the Alleghenies, the Reds were known as the Red Stockings.
3:53
SPEAKER_03: Oh, this is this is when you didn't have a mound, you just had like that box you pitched from and all the crazy rules.
4:00
SPEAKER_03: Like there was no catch the catchers didn't wear a glove.
4:03
SPEAKER_03: Like Oh, I didn't know that.
4:06
SPEAKER_04: That's that doesn't sound that sounds painful.
4:09
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like you go through like nine catchers.
4:11
SPEAKER_03: Like because the catcher, like when a guy wasn't on base, I remember reading that in that eight remember we did that uh the worst pirates team ever.
4:18
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, the 1890 team, yep.
4:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and they would stand like way back, and then when a guy got on base, then they would move forward and actually catch the ball.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: So I think the umpire stood by the pitcher, I I think.
4:34
SPEAKER_03: But that's why you ever heard of oh hit back through the box, that's where that expression comes from.
4:39
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
4:39
SPEAKER_04: I did not know that.
4:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
4:42
SPEAKER_04: Uh the the those two teams, the Pirates and Reds, also were not part of the National League yet.
4:46
SPEAKER_04: They were part of the American Association, which was the beer and whiskey league, which I think was called that because they were allowed to serve beer.
4:56
SPEAKER_04: I think the National League was more stringent about that.
4:59
SPEAKER_04: They didn't want their games to become, you know, drunken you know, riots.
5:04
SPEAKER_03: I didn't realize that yeah, the Pirates hadn't joined I always thought they were just were in the National League.
5:09
SPEAKER_04: I no, that was 1887 because remember the only reason I remember that, Steve, is because in 1987.
5:15
SPEAKER_03: That was the hundred years.
5:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:17
SPEAKER_04: But it wasn't the hundred years of the team, it was hundred years of being in the National League.
5:20
SPEAKER_03: National League.
5:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, in 1890, that that not to reference that team again, the Allegheny.
5:26
SPEAKER_03: They were still the Alleghenies, and that that was that team that won like, what, 20 games?
5:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
5:32
SPEAKER_03: Something like that, something ridiculous.
5:33
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and had the attendance of like 12 people to one game or whatever.
5:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
5:38
unknown: Yeah.
5:38
SPEAKER_04: So so this first ever Pirates game, the Pirates beat the Reds by the score of 10 to 9.
5:45
SPEAKER_04: So 19 runs scored in that game total.
5:48
SPEAKER_04: Steve, any guesses as to how many of those 19 runs were earned?
5:52
SPEAKER_03: Earned?
5:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:53
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
5:54
SPEAKER_03: Five?
5:55
SPEAKER_04: Six.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: Six.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: Ah, it was class.
5:57
SPEAKER_04: That's because there were fourteen errors.
6:00
SPEAKER_03: Well, when you can't wear a glove, Tim, you try and catch a baseball.
6:04
SPEAKER_04: Apparently so.
6:06
SPEAKER_04: So so here's the headline from the Cincinnati Inquirer uh for that game.
6:12
SPEAKER_04: Quote, the lads from Pittsburgh outfield and outbat their rivals from Porkopolis.
6:17
SPEAKER_04: That's a nickname for Cincinnati, apparently, because they were they had a huge pork industry.
6:22
SPEAKER_03: Oh, porkopolis?
6:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
6:24
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's interesting.
6:25
SPEAKER_04: I had to look that up.
6:25
SPEAKER_04: I'm like, what the heck is porkkopolis?
6:28
SPEAKER_04: But it's like it's like the steel city.
6:30
SPEAKER_04: Pittsburgh's a steel city, Cincinnati's porkopolis.
6:33
SPEAKER_03: Well, I guess they hadn't started putting, you know, chili on top of French fries yet or whatnot.
6:39
SPEAKER_03: Maybe not.
6:40
SPEAKER_03: Or no, on top of uh no chili on top of uh noodles that's noodles, yeah.
6:44
SPEAKER_04: Spaghetti, right?
6:44
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
6:46
SPEAKER_04: Uh the paper also says this about the buccos.
6:48
SPEAKER_04: Quote, the Alleghenies did themselves proud.
6:51
SPEAKER_04: They are a team of giants, and if they continue to do as well during the summer as they did yesterday, they will by no means linger about the tail.
7:01
SPEAKER_03: I love 19th century newspaper articles.
7:06
SPEAKER_04: Me too.
7:07
SPEAKER_04: Fast forward 143 years, by the way, and the pirates are still lingering about the tale.
7:11
SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately.
7:15
SPEAKER_04: All right, how about the first ever Steeler game?
7:18
SPEAKER_04: That's against the New York Giants on September 20th, 1933.
7:23
SPEAKER_04: 20,000 people show up to Forbes Field on a Wednesday night.
7:28
SPEAKER_04: Yes, that's correct.
7:29
SPEAKER_04: A Wednesday night to watch the Giants beat the Steelers by the throwing score of 23-2.
7:36
SPEAKER_03: Well, at least the Steelers scored a safety somewhere along the way.
7:40
SPEAKER_04: They did.
7:40
SPEAKER_04: They did.
7:41
SPEAKER_04: That safety was a punt blocked out of the end zone by the immortal Capular.
7:46
SPEAKER_03: Would that be another feat first for the Steelers?
7:49
SPEAKER_04: Their first safety?
7:50
SPEAKER_03: Their first score.
7:51
SPEAKER_04: Oh, their first score, yes.
7:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
7:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
7:53
SPEAKER_04: Punt.
7:55
SPEAKER_03: Double first.
7:56
SPEAKER_03: Double first.
7:56
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
7:57
SPEAKER_04: So that's how the Steelers scored their first points.
8:04
SPEAKER_03: Do you say at Forbes Field, too, huh?
8:06
SPEAKER_04: At Forbes Field.
8:07
SPEAKER_04: On a Wednesday.
8:08
SPEAKER_04: On a Wednesday.
8:09
SPEAKER_04: Well, well, that was the year, that was the year that the blue laws were being repealed, but they weren't repealed until like election day.
8:16
SPEAKER_04: So the first part of that season, they still couldn't play on Sundays.
8:19
SPEAKER_03: So they play on Wednesdays.
8:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
8:21
SPEAKER_03: Wednesday night football.
8:23
SPEAKER_04: I'm sure if Roger Goodell hears this, he's going to be like, huh, you don't say.
8:27
SPEAKER_03: Faction Tuesday.
8:31
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, Stewers, Steelers, uh 23-2 loss.
8:35
SPEAKER_04: Uh immediately after the game, those 20,000 fans who showed up, they all log on to Twitter to demand that head coach Cap Dowds be fired.
8:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
8:45
SPEAKER_03: Where they write maybe they write a letter to the editor, too.
8:51
SPEAKER_04: Alright, first penguin game.
8:53
SPEAKER_04: It's at the Civic Arena on October 11th, 1967.
8:56
SPEAKER_04: Coincidentally, also a Wednesday night.
8:59
SPEAKER_04: And this is against the Montreal Canadiens.
9:03
SPEAKER_04: Uh that attracts a pretty nice crowd, about 9,000 people.
9:06
SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately, Montreal wins 2-1.
9:09
SPEAKER_04: Andy Bathgate has the lone Penguins goal.
9:12
SPEAKER_03: Well, there's another first, Tim.
9:15
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
9:15
SPEAKER_04: First Penguin's goal.
9:17
SPEAKER_04: Andy Bathgate and a loss.
9:20
SPEAKER_04: Alright.
9:20
SPEAKER_04: How about some sports firsts for Pittsburgh?
9:24
SPEAKER_04: We know that the Pirates played in the first ever World Series in 1903.
9:28
SPEAKER_04: We did an episode about that.
9:30
SPEAKER_04: Did you know the Pirates also hosted the first ever World Series game played at night?
9:35
SPEAKER_03: Yes, I did know that.
9:36
SPEAKER_04: Well, do you know what year it was, Steve?
9:39
SPEAKER_03: Uh I want to say 1979.
9:44
SPEAKER_03: Or was it 71?
9:46
SPEAKER_03: It's either 71 or 79.
9:47
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was it was 71.
9:48
SPEAKER_04: It was Game 41 World Series at Three River Stadium.
9:52
SPEAKER_03: Three River Stadium, yeah.
9:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
9:53
SPEAKER_04: Steve, both my parents were there.
9:56
SPEAKER_03: Uh-uh.
9:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
9:57
SPEAKER_04: Wow, that's cool.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
10:00
SPEAKER_04: Um, here's a fun related trivia question.
10:03
SPEAKER_04: So 1971 was the first World Series Night game, but now all World Series games are played at night.
10:09
SPEAKER_04: So do you know, Steve, the last time they played a day game in the World Series?
10:13
SPEAKER_04: Any guesses?
10:15
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
10:15
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
10:16
SPEAKER_03: I'll say 2021.
10:18
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
10:18
SPEAKER_04: It was game six of the 1987 World Series.
10:22
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
10:23
SPEAKER_03: Really?
10:24
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
10:24
SPEAKER_04: That's the last time they played a day game, and that was at the Metrodome.
10:28
SPEAKER_04: So you wouldn't have even known it was daytime.
10:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's an odd choice.
10:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
10:33
SPEAKER_04: So.
10:34
SPEAKER_04: Alright.
10:34
SPEAKER_04: The first American woman to medal at both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics, it's Pittsburgh's Lauren Williams.
10:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:42
SPEAKER_04: She wins silver in the 100-meter dash in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
10:47
SPEAKER_04: She wins gold and the four by one hundred meter relay at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
10:52
SPEAKER_04: And then she wins a silver in bobsledding in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
10:57
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's so that's like kind of like the uh you know cool runnings thing.
11:02
SPEAKER_03: Or remember when they put Herschel Walker in the bobsled?
11:06
SPEAKER_03: Like they had him.
11:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
11:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
11:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:08
SPEAKER_03: It was like, let's get like the fastest people.
11:10
SPEAKER_03: And it doesn't really work though, because like it's such a discipline, different discipline.
11:15
SPEAKER_03: You have it really is about getting into the bobsled quickly.
11:18
SPEAKER_03: It helps being fast, but it's more important to like get into bobsled quickly.
11:24
SPEAKER_04: Well, it it worked for her.
11:26
SPEAKER_04: I mean, and and again, not many people have done that.
11:29
SPEAKER_03: So I don't know.
11:30
SPEAKER_03: Maybe she was able to be good at both.
11:32
SPEAKER_03: Some people are good at both.
11:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
11:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, she was.
11:36
SPEAKER_04: So uh speaking of Americans, the first US-born hockey player to score 500 goals was this guy.
11:45
SPEAKER_07: Jump back to the point.
11:46
SPEAKER_07: Jump!
11:47
SPEAKER_00: score.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: Joey Mullen has his 500 goal.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: The first American-born player ever to get it.
11:57
SPEAKER_04: That was against Patrick Watt, too.
12:00
SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, in the avalanche.
12:01
SPEAKER_03: Nice.
12:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
12:02
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
12:03
SPEAKER_03: I remember, I remember that.
12:05
unknown: Yeah.
12:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that happens in 1997.
12:07
SPEAKER_04: He's Joey Mullen's the first US-born hockey player to score 500 goals.
12:11
SPEAKER_04: There's been a a bunch of guys since then who who have done that, who are American, but he was the first.
12:16
SPEAKER_03: I've met Joey Mullen like a million times.
12:20
SPEAKER_03: Like he used to come through the drive-thru at Wendy's all the time.
12:23
SPEAKER_03: Like one time they got me an autograph, but it was on like a napkin.
12:26
SPEAKER_03: I was like, cost it.
12:29
SPEAKER_03: I don't think it's really was worth anything.
12:32
SPEAKER_03: He's very nice.
12:33
SPEAKER_03: Double, double cheese.
12:34
SPEAKER_03: He liked the the Dave's double.
12:39
SPEAKER_03: Maybe that's how he celebrated his 500th goal.
12:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
12:42
SPEAKER_03: It's like, give me a double at Wendy's West Liberty Avenue.
12:46
SPEAKER_03: I guess it's kind of on he probably lived in the South Hills, so it's probably on his way home from the arena.
12:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
12:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, maybe.
12:52
SPEAKER_04: Maybe.
12:54
SPEAKER_04: Duquesne's Chuck Cooper was the first African American player drafted by the NBA.
13:00
SPEAKER_04: The Boston Celtics selected Cooper with the 13th pick of the 1950 NBA draft.
13:05
SPEAKER_04: And when some of the other owners pushed back on them drafting a black player, Celtic Celtics owner Walter Brown said, quote, I don't give a damn if he's striped, plaid, or polka dot.
13:16
SPEAKER_04: We're taking him.
13:18
SPEAKER_03: Nice.
13:20
SPEAKER_03: Red Arbach was kind of the same way, I do believe.
13:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
13:24
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the floodgates certainly opened after that, I'm sure.
13:29
SPEAKER_04: The first the first live radio broadcast of a college football game, Steve, I think you know this one.
13:35
SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
13:36
SPEAKER_03: You know what I don't.
13:38
SPEAKER_03: I know the first one of the first radio broadcasts was a pirates game.
13:42
SPEAKER_03: I know that.
13:43
SPEAKER_04: Correct.
13:43
SPEAKER_03: Uh that's just that's like in general.
13:46
SPEAKER_03: That's like radio in general.
13:48
SPEAKER_04: It was 1921.
13:50
SPEAKER_04: It's a Pit WVU game on KDK radio.
13:54
SPEAKER_04: I do definitely do not have audio of that.
13:56
SPEAKER_04: But Pit Pitt does win that game 21 to 13.
14:00
SPEAKER_04: Uh Pitt's also the first college football team to travel by airplane.
14:04
SPEAKER_04: That's for a 1939 game against the University of Washington.
14:10
SPEAKER_03: Is that a regular season or is that one of the Rose Bowl games?
14:13
SPEAKER_04: No, that's go that's going up to the University of Washington for a regular season game.
14:17
SPEAKER_03: Yikes.
14:18
SPEAKER_03: Well, at least that's in Seattle.
14:19
SPEAKER_03: I'm thinking of Washington State.
14:21
SPEAKER_03: That's like in Pullman or the middle of nowhere, Washington.
14:25
SPEAKER_04: So it would have been a long train ride just to play a football game.
14:29
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, they take an airplane.
14:31
SPEAKER_04: They're the first college football team to do that.
14:35
SPEAKER_04: Uh here's a good one, Steve.
14:37
SPEAKER_04: On September 24, 2006, the Steelers are playing the Bengals at Hinesfield, and they have a 16-year-old girl from West Reading, Pennsylvania sing the national anthem and perform at halftime.
14:49
SPEAKER_04: Her name is Taylor Swift, and that performance marks the first time she performs for a crowd of thousands of people.
14:57
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
14:58
SPEAKER_03: You know, you know, just as a side note, Tim, I I am a member of the Taylor Swift fan club.
15:03
SPEAKER_04: So was that because you were trying to buy tickets or something?
15:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, when she she came like years and years ago, and um I had to buy tickets, I think, uh, for my uh stepdaughter, who was like 15 or 16, and obviously I bought the tickets, and when you bought the tickets, you were automatically enrolled in the Taylor Taylor Swift fan club, which I've just never hit the unsubscribe button.
15:26
SPEAKER_04: So 'cause you've never wanted to hit the unsubscribe button.
15:29
SPEAKER_04: That's right.
15:30
SPEAKER_03: It's me.
15:30
SPEAKER_03: Be honest.
15:31
SPEAKER_03: I'm the problem.
15:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
15:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, no, because it was I almost went to a Taylor Swift concert, which would have just been really creepy with like a 30-year-old guy in the stands of Hinesfield screaming, I love you, Diddy.
15:46
SPEAKER_03: But no, thankfully uh her cousin went with her, so I was off the hook for for that event.
15:52
SPEAKER_04: Well, that's cool that you got tickets because nowadays that would be really hard to do, I believe.
15:58
SPEAKER_03: Uh it was still not easy.
15:59
SPEAKER_03: It was like, I think a hundred or two hundred a ticket for I don't know, that's the upper deck of Heinz Field.
16:06
SPEAKER_04: So Well, Steve, I was there that day against the Bengals, so I got to see her for for you know the price of a Steor ticket.
16:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
16:14
SPEAKER_04: Not knowing at all who she was.
16:16
SPEAKER_03: No Kelseys were harmed in the making of that game.
16:21
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, that's the first, that's her first big performance.
16:24
SPEAKER_04: She releases her debut album a month later, and the rest, as they say, is history.
16:29
SPEAKER_04: Uh rewind 50 years before that for our next one, on July 25th, 1956, the Pirates are playing the Cubs at Forbes Field, and Roberto Clemente becomes the first, and at the time of this recording only, MLB player to hit a walk-off inside the park grand slam.
16:47
SPEAKER_04: And if that sounds like a very specific stat, well, that's baseball for you.
16:53
SPEAKER_03: While batting right-handed with a bat that weighed 24 ounces or more.
17:00
SPEAKER_04: When you have 150 years of a sport to cover, you tend to lock in on specifics like that, I think.
17:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
17:09
SPEAKER_04: Uh Steve, do you ever watch NFL films clips where they have the players mic'd up?
17:15
unknown: Yeah.
17:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
17:17
SPEAKER_04: Do you know who the first ever player to be mic'ed up was?
17:21
SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
17:22
SPEAKER_03: Um uh I don't know.
17:25
SPEAKER_03: Terry Bradshaw.
17:26
SPEAKER_04: It's Stewart's linebacker Bill Saul in 1967.
17:31
SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow, that's even earlier than that.
17:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
17:34
SPEAKER_03: I I I do remember Hang Stram being mic'd up, but he's not a player for the Chiefs episode.
17:40
SPEAKER_03: Matriculate that ball down the field.
17:42
SPEAKER_03: Like 22 trap, power trap's gonna hit, it's gonna hit.
17:45
SPEAKER_04: And that would have been after, that would have been 1969.
17:48
SPEAKER_04: But I I believe I believe they had mic'd up the coach of the Eagles the year before.
17:53
SPEAKER_04: Remember how they had that playoff bowl?
17:55
SPEAKER_04: Like the like the the the two teams that basically like Oh, yeah, the loser.
18:02
SPEAKER_04: Like played each other in like the loser bowl.
18:04
SPEAKER_04: It's like a consolation game.
18:06
SPEAKER_04: Right.
18:06
SPEAKER_04: And the Stewart was played in it once against the Lions in like '62.
18:11
SPEAKER_04: So I think they I think that was the first time they mic'd up a coach.
18:13
SPEAKER_04: They mic'd up the coach of the Eagles like the year before, but this was the first time they mic'd up a player.
18:18
SPEAKER_04: Player.
18:19
SPEAKER_04: And and NFL films chose Bill Saul because he wasn't a star player, and they thought he'd be more authentic.
18:26
SPEAKER_04: Because if they mic'd up, I don't know, um, like Johnny Unitis or Bart Star or somebody, they'd probably be like thinking about what they say, and you know, all these kids know me and all that, and Bill Saul was somebody that nobody knew who he was.
18:40
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and it's really entertaining.
18:41
SPEAKER_04: Bill Saul's like encouraging his teammates, he's getting frustrated over a bad place, he's swearing, he's yelling.
18:48
SPEAKER_04: And and NFL Films realizes like, hey, we we've got something here, and to this day, micing up players in in really all sports, not just football, becomes a big thing, and that's all thanks to Bill Saul.
19:01
SPEAKER_03: If you watch like baseball broadcasts, they're interviewing guys while the innings going on.
19:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:07
SPEAKER_03: That's crazy to me.
19:09
SPEAKER_04: That's just Yeah, it's getting really like you're getting more and more inside.
19:13
SPEAKER_03: The the ACC broadcasts, um They do the yeah, the uh what's it called, the instant replay now.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: You can hear them like, okay, so what are the names of these teams?
19:23
SPEAKER_03: Oh, Duke.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: Okay, yes, that is uh yeah.
19:29
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, it's getting more and more all access.
19:32
SPEAKER_04: Uh one footnote to that story.
19:34
SPEAKER_04: Back then the Steelers played at Pitt Stadium, and when the game ended at Pitt Stadium, fans could walk across the field to the exit, as Steve and I have talked about on the show before, and how you know you and I used to always do that.
19:47
SPEAKER_04: Remember, we talked about how we would do that.
19:50
SPEAKER_04: So there's a clip from that game that gets played over and over again where these kids who are walking across the field after the game come up to Bill Sall, and this is what you hear as he's still mic'd up.
20:01
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
20:02
SPEAKER_02: We're not allowed, boys.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: We're not allowed.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: Don't, don't, don't bug me.
20:06
SPEAKER_04: And and for decades, Bill Saw's really upset by that because it looks like these kids just wanted an autograph and he's being like all sorely because the Steelers had lost.
20:16
SPEAKER_04: But in fact, they were asking him for a piece of his equipment, and he was telling them, No, we're not allowed to give away our jerseys or shoulder pads or whatever.
20:25
SPEAKER_03: Because the runies are cheap and that would cost money.
20:29
SPEAKER_04: Probably.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: But he says he says he would have never denied a kid an autograph.
20:34
SPEAKER_04: In fact, there's even footage from that same day of him signing autograph for kids before the game.
20:40
SPEAKER_04: So that was something for years.
20:42
SPEAKER_04: He passed away about 20 years ago.
20:44
SPEAKER_04: Um, but but for years, um, he he always wanted people to know like I was not denying those kids an autograph.
20:50
SPEAKER_04: They wanted again a piece of his equipment, and he just was telling them, No, I I can't give you that.
20:56
SPEAKER_04: So cutting the record straight for for Bill Saul there.
21:01
SPEAKER_03: That's nice.
21:02
SPEAKER_03: Grass at Pitts Stadium.
21:04
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
21:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's very different.
21:10
SPEAKER_04: So so here's an interesting story.
21:12
SPEAKER_04: The first ever professional football game was played in Pittsburgh on November 12th, 1892, at Recreation Park on the north side.
21:20
SPEAKER_04: And I think, Steve, you were telling me this, I think, once that there's like a plaque on the north side commemorating this.
21:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there is, and there's a monkey buried over there somewhere under home plate.
21:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's at recreation park.
21:33
SPEAKER_03: Because there's exposition park, which was closer to the river.
21:37
SPEAKER_03: I think I found recreation park because I was looking at for that um that once again.
21:42
SPEAKER_03: Boy, this episode keeps coming up the 1890 Pirates that stunk the Alleghenies.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: And I was trying to find Recreation Field, and it was yeah, it's tough to find, it's not marked or anything.
21:54
SPEAKER_03: But I looked like on the internet and I kind of guessed where it was.
21:58
SPEAKER_03: So if you saw I'll be doing that Facebook short, and yeah, that's where all this happened.
22:05
SPEAKER_03: That's where the first professional game was and all that.
22:08
SPEAKER_03: But it's not there.
22:09
SPEAKER_03: It's not marked where this it's marked like over by the stadiums.
22:13
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
22:14
SPEAKER_04: I see.
22:15
SPEAKER_04: I see.
22:16
SPEAKER_04: Okay, well, the reason this was noted as the first professional football game is because it's the first time a player was paid to play football, and that player was a guy named William Pudge Heffelfinger.
22:28
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
22:31
SPEAKER_03: There aren't a lot of Heffelfingers around anymore, are there?
22:34
SPEAKER_04: No, no.
22:36
SPEAKER_04: No, not a not a lot of not a lot of Heffelfingers still playing football.
22:41
SPEAKER_04: Um this guy was a dominant offensive and defensive lineman for Yale.
22:46
SPEAKER_04: He was 6'3, 200 pounds, which was believe it or not, huge for a football player back then, so he could just kind of run.
22:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, I imagine the average height and weight of people was so much less, you know.
22:59
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
22:59
SPEAKER_04: 6'3, 200 was apparently large.
23:02
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, that's like Max Stark's in today's world, probably.
23:07
SPEAKER_04: He uh he also invents the pulling guard play.
23:10
SPEAKER_03: So he's pretty athletic, too.
23:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:12
SPEAKER_03: Like now he couldn't even be like a wide receiver.
23:15
SPEAKER_03: He'd barely be a tight end, barely.
23:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a good point.
23:19
SPEAKER_03: Six three could play quarterback or six three.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: He could play quarterback too, because he's six three.
23:25
SPEAKER_04: So that's true.
23:26
SPEAKER_04: Well, back then college football was king, football was strictly amateur.
23:31
SPEAKER_04: So you could you could play after college, but doing it for money, why that would be highly dishonorable, sir.
23:39
SPEAKER_04: Uh Pudge Heffelfinger is no different.
23:42
SPEAKER_04: He plays for a team in Chicago for no salary after he graduates from Yale in 1892.
23:47
SPEAKER_04: But that fall there are two teams in Pittsburgh who have a very heated rivalry: the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club.
23:56
SPEAKER_04: They had played each other in October, but that game ended in a tie.
24:00
SPEAKER_04: So both of them really want to win the rematch in November, so much so that the Allegheny Athletic Association offers to secretly pay Heffelfinger$500 to come to Pittsburgh to play for them.
24:13
SPEAKER_03: Who's this Heffelfinger guy?
24:15
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
24:15
SPEAKER_03: Don't worry, he's part of the club.
24:16
SPEAKER_03: Just ignore him over there.
24:18
SPEAKER_04: But he's like huge.
24:21
SPEAKER_04: Well, and and the the the Pittsburgh Athletic Club isn't happy about that, and and nobody's admitting it, like you said.
24:30
SPEAKER_04: Uh, but they know Allegheny has to be paying this guy.
24:33
SPEAKER_04: And the reason they know this, Steve, because the Pittsburgh Athletic Club actually offered to pay him first and he turned them down because their offer was too low.
24:43
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
24:44
SPEAKER_04: That's hilarious.
24:45
SPEAKER_04: But hey, you can't prove that without implicating yourself.
24:48
SPEAKER_04: So game goes on.
24:51
SPEAKER_04: And can you imagine like$500 may not seem like a ton of money, but it's equal to I bet back then I bet that was like$10,000 now or something.
24:59
SPEAKER_03: $7,000.
24:59
SPEAKER_04: It's the equivalent of$17,000.
25:02
SPEAKER_04: And and that's a lot to play in a in one game of a recreational sport.
25:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
25:07
SPEAKER_04: Like imagine if somebody paid you$17,000 to play a game of pickleball.
25:11
SPEAKER_03: Right.
25:11
SPEAKER_03: Or like some pickup game somewhere.
25:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:14
SPEAKER_04: Yes, exactly.
25:15
SPEAKER_03: It's like I'm gonna I got a men's softball league and I want to pay you$17,000 to play in it.
25:21
SPEAKER_03: Just one game, though.
25:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, literally that's what it was.
25:24
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, pretty, pretty good deal for old Pudge.
25:28
SPEAKER_04: And and it's it's money well spent for the Allegheny Athletic Association because Heffelfinger scores the game's only points on a 25-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.
25:39
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
25:40
SPEAKER_03: Good old Pudge Heffelfinger.
25:42
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
25:43
SPEAKER_04: And it's it's actually not until the 1960s that all of this comes out.
25:48
SPEAKER_04: Someone digs up a ledger showing that Allegheny paid him.
25:52
SPEAKER_03: What's this the 500 bucks the Huffelfinger for?
25:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, literally, it was like an old ledger with that written in it.
25:59
SPEAKER_04: And and so that's when it becomes that that was the official first game when someone because before that they thought it was some other game with some other player.
26:09
SPEAKER_04: So that's pretty interesting, too.
26:11
SPEAKER_04: Nobody knew that that was the first pro game until what 70 years later.
26:16
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
26:16
SPEAKER_04: So pretty interesting.
26:18
SPEAKER_04: Uh the first Stanley Cup winning team invited to the White House is the 1991 Penguins, who were invited by President George Bush Sr.
26:29
SPEAKER_04: Uh now technically they were the first entire team invited.
26:33
SPEAKER_04: President Reagan did a like a meet and greet with some of the Islanders when they won the cup in 1983, but there was only like seven players there, and there were even a few guys from the Capitals.
26:42
SPEAKER_04: So 1991 is accepted as like the first official White House visit for a Stanley Cup winner.
26:48
SPEAKER_03: What happens if a Canadian team ever wins the Stanley Cup again?
26:52
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it might never happen.
26:53
SPEAKER_04: I was gonna say, I don't think you have to worry about it, Steve.
26:57
SPEAKER_03: You think it's just well, I mean, just as a purely theoretical exercise, Tim.
27:02
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it could happen.
27:03
SPEAKER_03: There are seven seven or eight of them.
27:06
SPEAKER_03: I guess they go to like meet Justin Trudeau or whoever the current prime minister of Canada is.
27:11
SPEAKER_03: No, he's not the prime minister, some other guy's prime minister.
27:14
SPEAKER_04: But that's probably what happens.
27:15
SPEAKER_04: They get invited to meet their leader instead of our leader.
27:18
SPEAKER_04: I would I I I think that would make the most sense, but I don't know.
27:23
SPEAKER_03: So if Toronto would have won the World Series, if they could have held on to their two-run lead in the seventh inning, they would be meeting whoever's in charge of Canada these days.
27:33
SPEAKER_04: Probably.
27:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
27:34
SPEAKER_04: Probably.
27:36
SPEAKER_04: Uh that visit in 1991 is hastily organized by local congressman Rick Santorum.
27:43
SPEAKER_04: The players all say they had to cut short vacations or other commitments, but it was worth it because they get to go to the White House.
27:49
SPEAKER_04: And that ceremony is probably best remembered for President Bush asking Mario Lemieux, and you are that's the most Bush moment ever.
28:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and his teammates apparently give him a lot of grief for that over the years of president not knowing his name.
28:08
SPEAKER_04: Phil Bork says to this day, he still walks up to Mario and goes, and you are.
28:16
SPEAKER_03: I do you think I mean, wow, do you think he was really that because there's that story about him not knowing what a scanner was in like a in like a grocery store?
28:25
SPEAKER_03: Do you think that's like a I guess it is an exact they always they that was kind of like a big thing in the next election, which was that was an election year, wasn't it?
28:32
SPEAKER_03: 91, they was going into 92, so yeah, yeah.
28:36
SPEAKER_03: That's uh and that was kind of like always the not one of the knocks on him that he was like this rich guy that was out of touch and really because didn't he go to like the the grocery store it's like oh the scanner thing, it's great, and people are like, what the heck are you talking about?
28:49
SPEAKER_03: It's been around for like years.
28:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
28:52
SPEAKER_04: I I mean to be fair, the hockey was a bit of a niche sport back then.
28:56
SPEAKER_04: Actually, you could argue that it's still a niche sport today.
29:00
SPEAKER_03: Bill Clinton definitely would have known who Mary Lemieux was, sure.
29:04
SPEAKER_03: But hey, you got any donuts or poutine?
29:09
SPEAKER_04: Uh I will say this though, the Bushes are pretty nice hosts.
29:12
SPEAKER_04: Barbara Bush gives the team a private tour of the White House.
29:15
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's nice.
29:17
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure the Canadian Russian players really gave a crap.
29:20
SPEAKER_04: Well, I'm sure it was still a nice thing.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's like Yarmer Yagar was like, wow.
29:31
SPEAKER_04: They uh they also invite goaltender Tom Barrasso and his family into the Oval Office because their three-year-old daughter Ashley was battling cancer and at one point was only given a 10% chance to live.
29:43
SPEAKER_04: And the Bushes had lost their daughter at the same age back in 1953 to cancer.
29:48
SPEAKER_04: So they wanted to really make them feel special.
29:50
SPEAKER_04: Apparently, Ashley got to play with Millie, the Bush's dog, and she was granted access to like a special playground that was off limits to everybody else.
29:58
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's really cool.
29:59
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so that's pretty nice.
30:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:02
SPEAKER_03: I forgot about Millie.
30:03
SPEAKER_03: I wonder what Millie's up to these days.
30:06
SPEAKER_03: Since a dog was like probably like fully grown in 1991, I think we all can know where Millie is right now.
30:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Millie's Millie's in heaven with George and Barbara, hopefully.
30:16
SPEAKER_03: George told me she went to a farm, Tim.
30:23
SPEAKER_04: Uh conversely, uh Ashley Barrasso is alive and well today.
30:27
SPEAKER_04: She lives in North Carolina and has a family of her own.
30:30
SPEAKER_04: Wow, that is really cool.
30:32
SPEAKER_04: So she she got through the cancer.
30:34
SPEAKER_03: Good for her, yeah.
30:35
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
30:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
30:36
SPEAKER_03: But amazing that the amount of like, you know, medical advancements they can make in cancer treatment, especially in children.
30:44
SPEAKER_03: So absolutely good for her and good for them.
30:47
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
30:49
SPEAKER_04: Uh here's here's one that's a little hard to believe.
30:52
SPEAKER_04: The Steelers were the first NFL team to have cheerleaders.
30:57
SPEAKER_04: This was from 1961 to 1969, and they were called the Steeler Rets.
31:02
SPEAKER_04: Steeler Rets.
31:04
SPEAKER_04: All all the tear leaders were from Robert Morris, which at the time did not have a football team.
31:09
SPEAKER_04: So this kind of like gave the Bobby Moe students a chance to be cheerleaders uh for for football.
31:15
SPEAKER_04: Requirements were that the girls had to maintain a 2.0 grade point average.
31:19
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
31:20
SPEAKER_04: They had to be single, and they had to pass a football test to prove that they knew enough about the game to know when to cheer.
31:28
SPEAKER_03: You know, and all that seems extremely reasonable, quite honestly.
31:32
SPEAKER_04: I'm not sure why they had to be single.
31:35
SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, that is uh whatever.
31:37
SPEAKER_03: I guess they didn't want them.
31:39
SPEAKER_03: I'm not even gonna go there.
31:40
SPEAKER_03: I I don't put it in the middle of the yeah.
31:42
SPEAKER_04: But the but the 2.0 grade point average and the and maybe the game.
31:47
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
31:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, and single, I I guess I I don't know.
31:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they don't either.
31:55
SPEAKER_04: Well, and and and and they were also prohibited from fraternizing with the players.
32:00
SPEAKER_04: So you would think if they were married, that would make that easier.
32:02
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
32:03
SPEAKER_04: Or maybe more complicated.
32:05
SPEAKER_04: Uh who knows.
32:06
SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, maybe I'm stealing your like you know, thunder here, but isn't that why they got rid of the Steelerettes?
32:12
SPEAKER_03: Because they were fraternizing with the players.
32:15
SPEAKER_04: No.
32:16
SPEAKER_04: No, I think they just I I I couldn't find any good reason why they stopped it, they just stopped it.
32:22
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
32:23
SPEAKER_03: Maybe they should bring them back, bring back the Steelerettes.
32:26
SPEAKER_03: That would be a mess.
32:28
SPEAKER_03: With the same rules as 1960, whatever.
32:32
SPEAKER_04: Have to be single.
32:33
SPEAKER_04: Well, and and and and and they wanted them to be pretty wholesome.
32:37
SPEAKER_04: They they wore like longer skirts, they wore turtlenecks.
32:41
SPEAKER_04: Right.
32:41
SPEAKER_04: So definitely a far cry from what you would see today.
32:43
SPEAKER_04: And that that that did, as you can imagine, create some conflict given that these are college-age women in the 1960s.
32:51
SPEAKER_04: Uh, but anytime that they do a retrospective on that group of women that were part of that, they they always seem to speak pretty highly of the experience.
32:58
SPEAKER_03: So are any of them still I mean, they have I mean, not to be I mean, if they were twenty in what year was this?
33:06
SPEAKER_04: The sixties.
33:06
SPEAKER_04: They'd yeah, a lot of them are still around.
33:08
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
33:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they'd be in their seventies or eighties.
33:11
SPEAKER_04: I mean, yeah, there's there's there's a bunch of them that are still still with us.
33:15
SPEAKER_04: So that's living history, Tib.
33:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you can you can go, they've done a bunch of retrospectives on that over the years, uh, where they've interviewed them, and again, they always they just always speak pretty highly of it.
33:27
SPEAKER_04: So uh here's one we hit on in a previous episode.
33:31
SPEAKER_04: Pitt's Bobby Greer is the first African American to play in the sugar bowl.
33:36
SPEAKER_04: That was against Georgia Tech in 1956.
33:40
SPEAKER_04: And the governor of Georgia doesn't like that a whole lot, and he says that Georgia Tech would elect to forfeit the game if Pitt doesn't bench Bobby Greer for that game.
33:50
SPEAKER_04: But but he's surprised when Georgia Tech is like, uh no, we won't be doing that.
33:56
SPEAKER_04: Uh the students and the players from that school largely support Greer playing in the game, and the president of Georgia Tech says to the governor, quote, either we're going to the sugar bowl or you can find yourself another damn president of Georgia Tech.
34:09
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
34:09
SPEAKER_03: Good for him.
34:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:11
SPEAKER_04: And Bobby Greer plays in the game.
34:14
SPEAKER_03: Nice.
34:15
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
34:17
SPEAKER_04: So there's some sports firsts.
34:20
SPEAKER_04: How about some firsts for each of our teams?
34:23
SPEAKER_04: And let's start with the first touchdown for some Steelers Hall of Famers.
34:28
SPEAKER_04: Terry Bradshaw's first touchdown comes on a 67-yard bomb to Ron Shanklin against the Oriers in 1970.
34:36
SPEAKER_03: There's there's there's a Hall of Famer.
34:40
SPEAKER_04: Well, 1970 is not prime Steeler time at this point yet, but 67-yard bomb.
34:46
SPEAKER_04: It's the only score of the game for the Steelers as they win seven to three because 1970 football.
34:52
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and here's here's a great trivia question, Steve.
34:54
SPEAKER_04: So the Steelers win that game seven to three.
34:57
SPEAKER_04: Do you know who scored the three points for Houston in that game?
35:01
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
35:02
SPEAKER_04: Uh it's future Steelers kicker Roy Garella.
35:06
SPEAKER_03: Oh, really?
35:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
35:07
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
35:08
SPEAKER_03: I was gonna say like Tony Zendejas or somebody like soccer star kicker.
35:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, good guess.
35:15
SPEAKER_04: Uh Franco Harris, his first touchdown is a short rush also against the Oilers in 1972.
35:22
SPEAKER_04: Glynn Swan scores in his first ever NFL game against the Colts in 1974.
35:27
SPEAKER_04: It's a 54-yard pass from do you know who the quarterback is, Steve?
35:32
SPEAKER_03: In 1974?
35:34
SPEAKER_03: Early in 1974.
35:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, first game of the season.
35:37
SPEAKER_03: That would be Joe Gillam.
35:38
SPEAKER_04: Correct.
35:39
SPEAKER_04: Joe Gillum.
35:41
SPEAKER_04: Uh John Stallworth is was also a rookie that season.
35:44
SPEAKER_04: He scores his first touchdown in a game against the Bengals on a five-yard pass from what what what ye what week was it, Tim?
35:52
SPEAKER_03: Was it late in the season?
35:54
SPEAKER_03: It was later, yeah.
35:56
SPEAKER_03: Terry Bradshaw, maybe?
35:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, correct.
35:58
SPEAKER_04: Okay, that was Bradshaw.
36:00
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
36:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
36:01
SPEAKER_04: Uh Jerome Bettis scores his first ever touchdown against the Steelers in 1993.
36:08
SPEAKER_04: We talked about that in our episode we did about that '93 Stewart's team.
36:11
SPEAKER_03: Was it that Rams game?
36:13
SPEAKER_04: Oh man.
36:13
SPEAKER_04: Where they won 27-0.
36:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like Bettis had like a million yards rushing.
36:17
SPEAKER_03: He had a lot of yards rushing in his first release.
36:20
SPEAKER_04: In his first touchdown.
36:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
36:22
SPEAKER_04: Uh Ben Roethlisberger's first ever touchdown pass comes against the Ravens in 2004, and it greatly upsets another Hall of Famer.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: Rotlisberger got the goal.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: line.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: We got a Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown, and that is the motion man, Antoine Randall.
36:40
SPEAKER_06: And it reads the sucker again.
36:44
SPEAKER_06: Reed misses the tackle down there and then takes his helmet off in disgust.
36:49
SPEAKER_06: Which was the line conduct.
36:51
SPEAKER_06: Number 20 of the defense.
36:55
SPEAKER_03: That was Ed Reed.
36:56
SPEAKER_03: Nice.
36:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
36:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Ed Reed pretty frustrated, but it's okay.
37:01
SPEAKER_04: He'll get burnt by Ben a whole lot more the rest of his career.
37:04
SPEAKER_04: So I love what Myron was still announcing then.
37:09
SPEAKER_04: That was like his last couple of games.
37:11
SPEAKER_04: You can hear in his voice.
37:12
SPEAKER_04: He's definitely like nearing the end there.
37:15
unknown: Yeah.
37:16
SPEAKER_03: Because, yeah, because later in that season, uh, that's there's the Eagles game where he doesn't just doesn't show up.
37:23
SPEAKER_03: He just doesn't show up for work.
37:25
SPEAKER_03: It's like, where's Myron?
37:26
SPEAKER_03: Maybe somebody should check his house.
37:28
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
37:28
SPEAKER_04: That's yeah, that was that season.
37:30
SPEAKER_04: You're right.
37:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
37:32
SPEAKER_04: Uh Willie Stargil is the Pirates' all-time leader in home runs.
37:36
SPEAKER_04: He hits his first home run on May 8th, 1963.
37:39
SPEAKER_04: It's a three-run home run against Cubs all-star pitcher Lindy McDaniel.
37:44
SPEAKER_04: Uh, unfortunately, the Cubs win that game after a four-run rally.
37:49
SPEAKER_04: That was not Stargil's first ever at bath, but there are five Pirates who have homered in their first ever at bath.
37:57
SPEAKER_04: Want to hear them, Steve?
37:59
SPEAKER_03: I think I know one of them.
38:00
SPEAKER_03: Is it Josh Bell?
38:02
SPEAKER_04: Good guess.
38:02
SPEAKER_04: Josh Bell is not one of them.
38:05
SPEAKER_03: Well then I don't know.
38:06
SPEAKER_04: The five guys are Billy Gumbert in that horrible 1890 season that you referenced.
38:11
SPEAKER_04: There's one bright spot.
38:13
SPEAKER_04: Uh Walter Moller in 1922, Don Leppard in 1961, Sterling Marte in 2012.
38:21
SPEAKER_04: I believe that was the first pitch.
38:23
SPEAKER_04: And Matt Gorsky in 2025.
38:26
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
38:27
SPEAKER_03: There you go.
38:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:28
SPEAKER_04: So there's your five Pyro 2 homer in their first at bat.
38:31
SPEAKER_03: Sterling Marte is really the only guy of any note so far out of any of those.
38:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:37
SPEAKER_04: Pretty much.
38:38
SPEAKER_03: And that's Marte was pretty good.
38:40
SPEAKER_03: He still is pretty decent.
38:41
SPEAKER_04: He's a decent moments.
38:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
38:44
SPEAKER_04: Like his first ever at bat.
38:48
SPEAKER_04: We all know that Mario Lemieux scored his first goal on his first ever shift.
38:54
SPEAKER_04: But what about Sidney Crosby?
38:56
SPEAKER_04: When was his first goal?
38:57
SPEAKER_04: Let's hear it.
38:58
SPEAKER_06: Crosby looking.
38:59
SPEAKER_06: Loose and flights.
39:00
SPEAKER_06: Just a loose buck picked up by Ricky.
39:02
SPEAKER_06: Jumps and scores.
39:03
SPEAKER_06: I think it's on Crosby.
39:05
SPEAKER_06: Crosby does get the goal.
39:10
SPEAKER_06: And Sidney Crosby has scored his first goal ever in a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform.
39:16
SPEAKER_06: Oh, slap me, silly, Sidney.
39:19
SPEAKER_03: Wow, against Boston, ironically enough.
39:23
SPEAKER_04: I was at that game, Steve.
39:25
SPEAKER_03: Wow, good for you.
39:26
SPEAKER_03: Was that the uh student rush tickets or just No, I had season tickets that year, unfortunately.
39:31
SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately.
39:33
SPEAKER_04: That was the X4 tier that we talked about in the previous episode.
39:37
SPEAKER_03: They were pretty bad.
39:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's a uh that's a power play goal from Zygmunt Palfey and Mark Reckey.
39:44
SPEAKER_04: Steve, that's how long Sid's been playing for the Pans.
39:46
SPEAKER_04: The guy who got an assist on his first ever goal was part of the 1991 Stanley Cup team.
39:52
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
39:53
SPEAKER_04: He was at the White House with George Bush.
39:55
SPEAKER_03: And you are Hacky.
39:59
SPEAKER_03: Well, I think he's an American, isn't he?
40:01
SPEAKER_03: I think he is.
40:03
SPEAKER_03: No, he's Canadian also?
40:05
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
40:06
SPEAKER_04: Uh Pitt basketball, their first ever appearance in the Final Four is 1941.
40:14
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
40:15
SPEAKER_04: Uh only eight teams in the entire tournament that year, so all you had to do to make it to the Final Four was win one game, and Pitt beats North Carolina to make it there.
40:23
SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately, they lose to eventual champion Wisconsin by the exciting score of 36 to 30 because 1940s basketball.
40:31
SPEAKER_03: Well, there's no shot clock then.
40:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I guess not.
40:36
SPEAKER_03: I think you had to I do I don't no, you didn't have and there was no over and back either.
40:42
SPEAKER_03: Like you could do like the four corners, like Dean Sm, you know, Dean Smith stuff if you wanted to.
40:48
SPEAKER_04: Okay, I'm surprised they scored that many points then.
40:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
40:53
SPEAKER_04: Uh so 1941 was the first time Pip made it to the Final Four.
40:57
SPEAKER_04: Steve, for bonus points, can you also name the last time that they made it to the Final Four?
41:01
SPEAKER_03: They've never made it since.
41:04
SPEAKER_04: You are correct.
41:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
41:05
SPEAKER_04: 1941 is also the answer is zero.
41:09
SPEAKER_04: It's the first time and the last time that they made it to the Final Four, unfortunately.
41:13
SPEAKER_03: They liked it so much in 1941, they said that's enough for us.
41:17
SPEAKER_04: Maybe on the hundredth anniversary.
41:19
SPEAKER_04: It's coming up.
41:21
SPEAKER_04: Uh the Steelers, we talked about safeties before.
41:24
SPEAKER_04: The Steelers scored the first ever safety in Super Bowl history.
41:28
SPEAKER_04: And fun fact, someone actually predicted that would happen right before the play.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: And you have the way the feeling that the way this football game is going, the two defenses bugging it up, then a break could very well be started.
41:41
SPEAKER_01: For example, a nice fumble here on the second time to 10 yard line.
41:47
SPEAKER_05: All right, let's see what we can do now.
41:49
SPEAKER_05: from his own 10-yard line.
41:50
SPEAKER_05: And here's Tarkenden handing it off.
41:52
SPEAKER_05: There's a fumble.
41:52
SPEAKER_05: The ball is loose.
41:53
SPEAKER_05: Tarkenden goes for it in the end zone.
41:54
SPEAKER_05: It's an automatic safety.
41:56
SPEAKER_05: Two points.
41:56
SPEAKER_05: And the Steelers have a 2 0 lead in the Super Bowl.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: And what did I say?
42:00
SPEAKER_01: I said a break would then very well decide this game.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: I said, for example, a nice weak fumble on this second down place at the 10 yard line.
42:10
SPEAKER_03: Boy, he sounded a lot more coherent there.
42:13
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
42:14
SPEAKER_03: It was like 40 years earlier.
42:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
42:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:17
SPEAKER_04: I I love how you reminded everybody right after the play, too, that he had said that.
42:22
SPEAKER_04: Well, you gotta toot your own horn.
42:24
SPEAKER_04: You do.
42:24
SPEAKER_04: I mean, he did.
42:25
SPEAKER_04: He like he called that.
42:26
SPEAKER_04: He literally called that.
42:27
SPEAKER_04: He said, you know, fumble and then they fumble, and it's a safety.
42:31
SPEAKER_04: And that was you have an interesting story about that play, Steve, because Dwight White was the guy that the t that he just kind of taps him in the end zone, so he gets credit for the safety.
42:42
SPEAKER_04: And he didn't realize that, right?
42:43
SPEAKER_03: That he had Oh, yeah.
42:44
SPEAKER_03: No, yeah, they asked him who scored the first points in the Steelers' history in a Super Bowl.
42:49
SPEAKER_03: And like Stan Savern, the late Stan Savern, was asking, you know, Dwight White the question.
42:54
SPEAKER_03: Dwight was like Franco, Terry.
42:58
SPEAKER_04: It was you.
43:00
SPEAKER_03: Really?
43:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
43:01
SPEAKER_02: I did.
43:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's pretty cool.
43:05
SPEAKER_04: Uh at the time of this recording, there have been nine safeties total in Super Bowl history, and the Steelers were involved in three of them.
43:13
SPEAKER_03: I know one.
43:14
SPEAKER_04: The one you just heard is one of them.
43:16
SPEAKER_04: The Steelers also blocked a punt through the back of the end zone in Super Bowl 10.
43:20
SPEAKER_03: I remember I know the next one, yeah.
43:22
SPEAKER_04: What's the next one, Steve?
43:23
SPEAKER_03: The holding call in the end zone.
43:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Justin Hartwig in Super Bowl 43 gets called for holding in the end zone, so they have one scored against them as well.
43:32
SPEAKER_04: Uh the first Pirates player to win a gold glove award, Steve.
43:36
SPEAKER_04: I'll I'll I'll I'll give you a hint on this one.
43:39
SPEAKER_04: They only started handing out gold glove awards in 1957.
43:43
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
43:46
SPEAKER_03: Well, in 1957, uh maybe Klemene.
43:49
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what Klemene.
43:50
SPEAKER_04: That's a good guess.
43:51
SPEAKER_04: It's it's second baseman.
43:53
SPEAKER_03: Mazarovski.
43:54
SPEAKER_03: Bill Mazarovsky.
43:55
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
43:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
43:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
43:58
SPEAKER_04: The first pirate's battery.
44:00
SPEAKER_04: To win a gold glove.
44:01
SPEAKER_04: That's where the pitcher and the catcher.
44:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:04
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I don't know.
44:04
SPEAKER_04: That's a really hard one.
44:05
SPEAKER_04: You're not going to get this one, but you can take a guess if you want.
44:08
SPEAKER_03: It's after 1957?
44:10
SPEAKER_04: It's about 30 years later.
44:14
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
44:15
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
44:16
SPEAKER_03: Michael Vaulier and Doug Dravick.
44:18
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
44:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, good guess.
44:19
SPEAKER_04: It's Rick Rushel and Tony Pena in that god-awful 1985 season that we did an episode on.
44:25
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
44:26
SPEAKER_03: Rick Rushel.
44:27
SPEAKER_03: I didn't realize Rick Rushel got a gold glove as pitcher.
44:30
SPEAKER_03: That's weird.
44:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:32
SPEAKER_04: Yep, he did.
44:33
SPEAKER_04: Big Daddy Rushel and Tony Pena, probably the only two like even better than average players on that team.
44:44
SPEAKER_04: In 2017, Mike Sullivan became the first coach to win a Stanley Cup with the Penguins after having been their coach prior to that season.
44:54
SPEAKER_04: So the other four cups were won by coaches who were all in their very first season as Penguins head coach.
44:59
SPEAKER_04: Three of those guys were interim coaches.
45:02
SPEAKER_03: So you're saying there's a good chance that this uh new guy for the Penguins could win a Stanley Cup?
45:06
SPEAKER_04: Well, it's his first season.
45:08
SPEAKER_04: So he's got, you know, he's got a chance.
45:12
SPEAKER_04: Uh the Stewart's first pick in the 1959 draft was Tom Barnett, who is a running back for Purdue.
45:19
SPEAKER_04: So why why is that significant?
45:21
SPEAKER_04: Because he was drafted in the eighth round.
45:24
SPEAKER_04: The Stewart's had traded their first seven picks away.
45:28
SPEAKER_03: That was their first pick.
45:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
45:30
SPEAKER_03: And so Buddy Parker.
45:31
SPEAKER_03: That has to be Buddy Parker.
45:32
SPEAKER_03: That was Buddy Parker, yeah.
45:34
SPEAKER_04: Buddy Parker doesn't like rookies.
45:35
SPEAKER_04: And yeah, he trades away his first seven draft picks.
45:39
SPEAKER_04: And so the first pick that they have is in the eighth round, which doesn't even exist anymore.
45:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
45:44
SPEAKER_04: Uh Barnett only lasted in Pittsburgh for a couple of seasons.
45:47
SPEAKER_04: Two fun facts about him.
45:48
SPEAKER_04: Uh one, he was in the National Guard while he played for the Steelers.
45:52
SPEAKER_04: And two, at the time of this recording, he's still alive and well at the age of 88.
45:57
SPEAKER_03: Nice.
46:00
SPEAKER_04: Uh we all know that Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947.
46:05
SPEAKER_04: So what about the Pirates?
46:06
SPEAKER_04: When did they sign their first black player?
46:08
SPEAKER_04: It should have been pretty easy, given that you had two really good Negro League teams in town, right?
46:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, the Pirates didn't roll like that.
46:16
SPEAKER_04: No, yeah, they're a little slow to modernize.
46:18
SPEAKER_04: Uh by 1954, this is seven years after Jackie Robinson, they're still an all-white team, and the black community in Pittsburgh starts to openly protest and boycott games.
46:29
SPEAKER_04: Fortunately, the general manager of the Pirates is a guy named Branch Rickey.
46:33
SPEAKER_03: Oh, he'll never do that.
46:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
46:35
SPEAKER_04: Who is the same guy that signed Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers?
46:39
SPEAKER_04: And he makes second baseman Kurt Roberts, the Pirates' first ever African American player.
46:44
SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately, Roberts doesn't have a great career.
46:46
SPEAKER_04: He's a 223 hitter, and he eventually loses his job to that Bill Mazarowski guy we talked about earlier.
46:54
SPEAKER_04: Also unfortunate, Kurt Roberts is changing a flat tire on the side of the road in 1969 when he's struck and killed by a drunk driver.
47:01
SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness.
47:02
SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
47:04
SPEAKER_03: You'd think with all those great players on the Grays and the Crawfords, pick one of them, any of them.
47:12
SPEAKER_03: Josh Gibson.
47:13
SPEAKER_03: How good was the catcher?
47:14
SPEAKER_03: The catcher couldn't have been any better than Josh Gibson was.
47:17
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
47:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the Pirates could have had a a dynasty in the 30s and 40s easily.
47:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:24
SPEAKER_04: But uh the Pirates do make some history later when they field the first ever all black lineup in 1971.
47:31
SPEAKER_04: I think that's something that usually you know gets noted.
47:36
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, it's pretty well known.
47:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
47:39
SPEAKER_04: All right, the first penguins goaltender to score a goal.
47:44
SPEAKER_04: Steve, you want to guess who that was?
47:48
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
47:49
SPEAKER_03: Tristan Jari?
47:51
SPEAKER_03: Tristan.
47:52
SPEAKER_03: he's going for the empty net, bouncing towards the door.
47:55
SPEAKER_00: He stores.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: You have witnessed history.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: Tristan Jari becomes the first goaltender.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: in Pittsburgh Penguins history to actually score a goal.
48:11
SPEAKER_03: You know what's so funny about that is Flurry for years wanted to do this.
48:16
SPEAKER_03: He wanted to score a goal so bad.
48:20
SPEAKER_03: And he never, because he's so bad at handling the puck, he never can pull it off.
48:27
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
48:27
SPEAKER_04: Uh but Tristan Jurry does it in 2023.
48:31
SPEAKER_04: So there you go.
48:32
SPEAKER_04: First penguins goaltender to score a goal.
48:35
SPEAKER_03: Too bad he's not better at stopping goals.
48:42
SPEAKER_04: He's always got that going for him.
48:44
SPEAKER_04: Uh here's a really hard one that I don't I honestly I think if you would have given me 10 guesses, I wouldn't have got this one.
48:49
SPEAKER_04: It's the first Steelers quarterback to throw for 300 yards in a game.
48:56
SPEAKER_03: Oh gosh, I don't know.
48:57
SPEAKER_03: Bobby Lane?
48:58
SPEAKER_04: That's I would have guessed Bobby Lane.
49:00
SPEAKER_04: It's a little bit before that.
49:01
SPEAKER_04: It's Jim Finks.
49:03
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
49:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, against the Browns in 1952.
49:06
SPEAKER_04: He throws for 306 yards and four touchdowns, but the Steelers still lose 29 to 28.
49:14
SPEAKER_04: Uh Finks and Browns quarterback Otto Graham combine for a then league record, 89 pass attempts.
49:21
unknown: Wow.
49:21
SPEAKER_04: Post Gazette complains that all of that passing drags the game out to an unbearable two hours and 50 minutes.
49:27
SPEAKER_04: Can you imagine an NFL game going almost three hours long, Steve?
49:31
SPEAKER_04: Never.
49:32
SPEAKER_04: Wow, how horrible.
49:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, terrible.
49:35
SPEAKER_04: Uh Finks later becomes a successful general manager for the Vikings and the Saints.
49:41
SPEAKER_04: As I think you detailed in our Dark Ages episode.
49:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
49:45
SPEAKER_04: Uh speaking of things that are long, do you know when the first time was that a Steelers kicker made a field goal of 50 yards or longer?
49:55
SPEAKER_03: Ah, go with Matt Barr in the late 70s.
49:58
SPEAKER_04: It is not Matt Barr.
49:59
SPEAKER_04: I actually would have guessed Gary Anderson, but it's Lou Michaels in the season opener at Franklin Field in Philadelphia in 1963.
50:07
SPEAKER_03: Wow, didn't see that coming.
50:09
SPEAKER_04: I would not have guessed that that somebody kicked a 50-yard field goal that long ago.
50:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, what's his name had that 63-yarder forever, but the Saints.
50:18
SPEAKER_03: Tom Dempsey, yeah.
50:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
50:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's true.
50:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so long field goal.
50:21
SPEAKER_03: And he was a pendulum kicker.
50:23
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
50:24
SPEAKER_04: With his, I mean he had half a foot, but yeah, I th I think the the the pendulum kicking, it wasn't that they couldn't kick far, it was just the accuracy.
50:32
SPEAKER_04: Accuracy.
50:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because if it goes off, you don't know if it's gonna go off your big toe or like like that's why kicking with the side of your foot, it's easier to control where the ball goes.
50:41
SPEAKER_03: Right.
50:42
SPEAKER_04: So that's the first 50-yard field goal.
50:44
SPEAKER_04: How about the first time a Stewart's player kicked one 60 yards or longer?
50:48
SPEAKER_03: It has to be Boswell.
50:49
SPEAKER_03: It has to be Boswell.
50:50
SPEAKER_04: It's Chris Boswell to beat the Jets in 2025.
50:54
SPEAKER_03: Wow, I knew it.
50:55
SPEAKER_03: I knew it was both why are why are we getting all these long fields?
50:58
SPEAKER_03: Did they change?
50:59
SPEAKER_03: I think they let you know what they did, and I saw I've read this, somebody they they're giving them the balls, like they're letting them and so now we're back to putting the footballs back in the washing machine again.
51:11
SPEAKER_03: Right.
51:11
SPEAKER_03: Or the dryer.
51:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because that's what Gary Anderson used to do.
51:14
SPEAKER_03: He used to take the footballs and put them in the dryer to round them out.
51:17
SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure, I'm sure Chris Boswell is not doing that at all.
51:21
SPEAKER_04: They they for years they did that K-ball thing.
51:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
51:24
SPEAKER_04: Where they basically get a new one out of the box to kick with.
51:27
SPEAKER_04: And this year, this this past year is the first year they stopped doing that, and that's why you're, like you said, you're seeing all these long field goals.
51:35
SPEAKER_03: I wonder, I wonder what dryer.
51:36
SPEAKER_03: Do they have a special dryer for Chris?
51:38
SPEAKER_03: That's Chris Boswell's dryer for his for his football.
51:44
SPEAKER_04: That would be funny to see on the sidelines.
51:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
51:47
SPEAKER_04: Uh continuing on the long theme, there have been seven times in Stewart's history where they have completed a pass of 90 or more yards.
51:57
SPEAKER_04: And the first time they completed a pass of 90 or more yards was this play in 1981.
52:04
SPEAKER_04: I know who you think.
52:06
SPEAKER_00: Red Shaw throwing down the sideline.
52:09
unknown: There he goes.
52:10
unknown: Hold on.
52:18
unknown: Number one draft choice tonight.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: He's the best athlete that this team has.
52:22
SPEAKER_00: He can play all positions.
52:23
SPEAKER_00: You see him playing wide receiver.
52:25
SPEAKER_00: This might change Chuck's mind about getting him back to quarterback.
52:30
SPEAKER_03: That's crazy.
52:31
SPEAKER_03: That that was the longest pass play in CR history for years.
52:34
SPEAKER_03: It was, yeah.
52:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
52:36
SPEAKER_03: I think Ben and Mike Wallace broke it eventually.
52:39
SPEAKER_03: Or Bobby Shaw.
52:40
SPEAKER_03: There was that Bobby Shaw play with Cordell, too.
52:43
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
52:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
52:43
SPEAKER_04: And Juju had a 97-yard one against Detroit.
52:47
SPEAKER_04: The Colt.
52:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
52:48
SPEAKER_04: But that was the first time that they ever threw that the Stewards ever threw 190 or more yards.
52:53
SPEAKER_04: Uh and that's to to Terry Bradshaw to Mark Malone, who was like the OG slash.
52:59
SPEAKER_04: They had him playing wide receiver.
53:01
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and it's funny hear the announcers say this might maintain this might change Chuck's mind about putting him at uh quarterback, but unfortunately it did not change Chuck's mind, and he did go to back to quarterback, and well, we all know what happened.
53:17
SPEAKER_04: From long plays to long ball, four pirates have led the National League in home runs.
53:24
SPEAKER_04: The first guy to do it was Tommy Leach with a whopping six home runs in 1902.
53:30
SPEAKER_04: Led the National League.
53:32
SPEAKER_03: No one could ever hit seven, Tim.
53:35
SPEAKER_04: That's crazy.
53:36
SPEAKER_04: They have they'd have to be like goosed to be able to hit that many.
53:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
53:40
SPEAKER_04: Imagine if they ever got into double digits.
53:42
unknown: Yeah.
53:43
SPEAKER_04: So Tommy Leach is the first guy to do it.
53:46
SPEAKER_04: Steve, bonus points if you can name the other three pirates who have led the National League in home runs.
53:52
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
53:53
SPEAKER_03: Probably Willie Starjaw.
53:55
SPEAKER_04: That's one of them.
53:56
SPEAKER_03: Kiner, maybe?
53:57
SPEAKER_04: Ralph Kiner's one of them.
53:58
SPEAKER_04: Yep, that's two.
53:59
SPEAKER_04: Do you know who the third one was?
54:03
SPEAKER_03: Thinking it's somebody more recent.
54:08
SPEAKER_03: Go with McCutchin.
54:10
SPEAKER_04: That's a good guess.
54:11
SPEAKER_04: It's Pedro Alvarez.
54:12
SPEAKER_03: Ah.
54:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, other guy on that team.
54:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
54:15
SPEAKER_04: I would have guessed Barry Bonds, but Barry Bonds never led the National League in home runs when he played with the Pirates.
54:20
SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah.
54:22
SPEAKER_04: His head was too small back then to hit that many home runs.
54:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
54:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
54:28
SPEAKER_04: Speaking of home runs, Forbes Field was a place that saw a lot of home runs, including the first and as of the time of this recording, the only World Series Game 7 walk-off home run.
54:39
SPEAKER_04: That home run by Bill Masarowski was hit over the left field fence.
54:43
SPEAKER_04: And if you remember the design of Forbes Field, in left and center there was a uh there was just a wall, but in right field, there was an 86 foot high grandstand of seats.
54:55
SPEAKER_04: And in the history of Forbes Field, only 16 home runs ever cleared those right field seats altogether to like leave the stadium.
55:02
SPEAKER_04: Steve, do you know who hit the very first one?
55:05
SPEAKER_03: To leave the stadium?
55:07
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
55:09
SPEAKER_03: Very first one?
55:10
SPEAKER_03: Uh Willie Stargell.
55:12
SPEAKER_04: Good guess.
55:13
SPEAKER_04: Fabe Ruth playing for the Braves in 1935.
55:17
SPEAKER_03: That would have been one of his last home runs.
55:19
SPEAKER_04: It it actually is his last ever home run.
55:22
SPEAKER_03: That's 7.15?
55:24
SPEAKER_03: Or 714, I mean.
55:25
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
55:25
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
55:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
55:26
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
55:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, 714.
55:28
SPEAKER_04: Yep, that's his last home run.
55:30
SPEAKER_04: Uh Pirates pitcher Guy Bush, who gave up that home run, said, quote, it was the longest cock odd ball I ever hit saw hit in my life.
55:39
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
55:40
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
55:41
SPEAKER_04: Some guy actually finds the ball in his backyard.
55:44
SPEAKER_03: I wonder if he has it.
55:46
SPEAKER_04: Uh he give he gives it to the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown.
55:49
SPEAKER_04: You can actually go see it.
55:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but that's where it lands.
55:53
SPEAKER_04: It lands in somebody's backyard.
55:54
SPEAKER_04: That's pretty cool.
55:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
55:56
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
55:56
SPEAKER_03: I wonder if this baseball's worth anything.
56:01
SPEAKER_04: How'd this get here?
56:03
SPEAKER_04: Damn kids.
56:04
SPEAKER_04: Kids playing next door and throw it back into their yard.
56:08
SPEAKER_04: Uh well, and and if nobody had ever done that before, even if you lived close to the field, you wouldn't think it came from the field because Forbesfield was what, 25 years old at that point?
56:16
SPEAKER_04: Nobody had ever done that.
56:18
SPEAKER_04: So uh at the at the time of this recording, the Steelers have played 22 tie games in their history.
56:26
SPEAKER_04: The first ever tie game that they played was in 1933 against the now defunct Cincinnati Reds.
56:33
SPEAKER_04: Steve, want to guess what the score of the first ever Steelers tie game was?
56:38
SPEAKER_03: Oh, 3-3 or 0-0.
56:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, 0-0.
56:43
SPEAKER_04: In a game where it rained a lot, and according to the 1933 newspaper, everyone was trudging around in ankle-deep mud.
56:50
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
56:51
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
56:52
SPEAKER_04: So the Reds are kicked out of the NFL the following season for failing to pay their leak dues.
56:59
SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
57:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
57:03
SPEAKER_04: If only we could do that to the New York Jets.
57:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
57:06
SPEAKER_03: Sorry, Woody Johnson, you forgot the figure dude this week.
57:10
SPEAKER_03: You're out.
57:11
SPEAKER_04: Uh here's a random one, Steve.
57:13
SPEAKER_04: What's the highest number a player can wear on their uniform?
57:17
SPEAKER_03: In what sport?
57:19
SPEAKER_04: In any sport.
57:20
SPEAKER_04: What's the highest number you can wear on a uniform?
57:22
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
57:23
SPEAKER_03: Like I different sports have different roles.
57:26
SPEAKER_04: I really so somebody can wear like 105 on their uniform?
57:30
SPEAKER_03: I guess not.
57:31
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I guess you can wear 99, I guess.
57:33
SPEAKER_04: It's 99, yeah.
57:35
SPEAKER_04: So do you know who the first Pittsburgh Pro athlete to wear the number 99 was?
57:40
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
57:41
SPEAKER_03: Brett Geisel is the only 99 I can remember.
57:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
57:45
SPEAKER_04: It's it's Darrell Sims, the Stewart's first round draft pick in 1985.
57:49
SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
57:51
SPEAKER_03: Legendary.
57:52
SPEAKER_04: The first Pirates player to wear that number is another legendary, Todd Fraser, who's a pirate signed to a very unsuccessful stint at the end of his career in 2021.
58:03
SPEAKER_04: No Penguin has ever worn that number, and none ever will, because it's been retired across the NHL for some guy who wasn't as good as Mario Lemieux.
58:12
SPEAKER_04: So there you go.
58:13
SPEAKER_04: Not a lot of 99s.
58:15
SPEAKER_04: I I just think that's interesting after over all the years of and all the players that have played for Pacific Sports Sports teams, no Steeler had worn it until 1985, and Todd Fraser in 2021 was the first pirate to wear it.
58:29
SPEAKER_03: I guess it's not a popular number.
58:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I guess not.
58:34
SPEAKER_04: So okay, uh, we began this episode with each pro team's first game.
58:39
SPEAKER_04: Let's end this episode with each pro team's first ever draft pick.
58:44
SPEAKER_04: The first Steelers draft pick is William Shakespeare.
58:49
SPEAKER_03: I knew that, yeah.
58:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
58:51
SPEAKER_03: That was on my little Steelers calendar I used to have.
58:53
SPEAKER_03: I used to have a little tearaway Steeler count.
58:55
SPEAKER_03: That was one of my trivia questions on there.
58:57
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
58:58
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
58:59
SPEAKER_04: And of course, it's not you know that William Shakespeare.
59:02
SPEAKER_04: This is William Shakespeare, the running back from Notre Dame.
59:05
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I thought it was for sooth I see a touchdown.
59:10
SPEAKER_04: The Steelers select him third overall in the 1936 draft.
59:14
SPEAKER_04: So how does Shakespeare turn out for the Steelers?
59:17
SPEAKER_04: Well, we'll never know because he never plays for them.
59:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is odd, yeah.
59:22
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
59:22
SPEAKER_04: He says to play or not to play, and he chooses not to play.
59:26
SPEAKER_03: That is what a silly question.
59:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
59:29
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
59:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, in instead he takes a job with the Cincinnati Rubber Company and he eventually becomes the company president, so probably made the right call there.
59:38
SPEAKER_03: Probably made a lot more money at company president than he was in the National Football League.
59:42
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
59:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
59:44
SPEAKER_04: Especially playing for the Steelers in 1936.
59:47
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
59:48
SPEAKER_04: The first Pirates draft pick takes place in the 1965 draft, where the Bucks have the 10th overall pick, still on the board at that point, Steve.
59:57
SPEAKER_04: Johnny Bench, Nolan Ryan, and Tom Seaver.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_04: So the Pirates select outfielder Doug Dickerson.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_03: Thank God.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_03: Thank God for that.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_03: No one won any of those other guys.
1:00:10
SPEAKER_03: They stink.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_04: Dickerson, like old Bill Shakespeare for the Steelers, never plays for the Pirates.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_04: The first Penguins draft pick is goaltender Steve Rex taking second overall in the 1967 NHL draft.
1:00:29
SPEAKER_04: He also never plays for Pittsburgh.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_03: See, now that's kind of weird because I think you weren't allowed to pick Canadian players or something like that.
1:00:37
SPEAKER_04: So well he he opts to he is Canadian.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_04: He opts to join the Canadian national hockey team as an amateur instead of play for the Penguins.
1:00:45
SPEAKER_04: So he's he's like hardcore Canadian.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_04: Like I don't need your salary or professionalism.
1:00:51
SPEAKER_04: I'm going to serve the the Queen or whatever they do in Canada of another country by playing for the Canadian national hockey team.
1:01:01
SPEAKER_04: So so yeah, 0 for three, all three first picks never played.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_04: Never played for the for the Pittsburgh team.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_04: So that's that's some bad luck.
1:01:13
SPEAKER_04: Thanks everybody so much for listening.
1:01:15
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1:01:18
SPEAKER_04: You can find a list of all of our old episodes on our website.
1:01:21
SPEAKER_04: Those links are in the show description.
1:01:23
SPEAKER_04: Also a reminder that our Stewards Ravens book is 35% off for just a little while longer if you're looking for a late Christmas present or just a present for yourself.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_04: Last but not least, we just want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_04: Thank you all so very much for listening this year, and we will catch you with new episodes in 2026.