April 22, 1925: Championship-bound Pirates win home opener with record-setting 7 triples

Perennial contenders during the New York Giants’ four-year National League reign of the early 1920s, the Pittsburgh Pirates began 1925 by getting outclassed by the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds on the road. Championship qualities finally surfaced in the Pirates’ home opener on April 22, when a crowd of 31,000 saw Johnny Morrison limit the Cubs to five hits and contribute two of Pittsburgh’s then-record seven triples in a 6-1 win.

Though names and circumstances changed year-to-year, the Pirates kept a consistent profile from 1921 through 1924. They’d get within striking distance of first place in September, then finish a handful of games behind the pennant-winning Giants.1 Among National or American League clubs, only the New York Yankees and Giants topped Pittsburgh’s four-season .573 winning percentage.2

But three losses in four games in Chicago and two more defeats in Cincinnati had the Pirates in the NL cellar after the 1925 season’s first week. The Cubs and Reds battered Pittsburgh by a 47-23 aggregate in those six games, erupting for 10 innings of three or more runs.

A trip-concluding win over one of the NL’s top pitchers, Cincinnati’s Eppa Rixey, hinted at brighter times ahead.3 Fans arriving at the home opener beheld an even more definite sign of the future, rising in concrete and steel from what the Pittsburgh Post called “a gaping hole” beyond Forbes Field’s right-field wall.4 Construction of double-deck stands, a 12,000-spectator boost to the 16-year-old ballpark’s seating capacity, had begun.5

In the meantime, hundreds of fans were packed behind rope cordons in the outfield.6 For the third season in a row, a standing-room turnout at Pittsburgh’s home opener required a special ground rule: Balls hit into the roped-off areas were triples.7

The Pirates and Cubs had made one of the 1924-25 offseason’s biggest trades, sending three prominent Pirates to Chicago: Hall of Fame-bound second baseman Rabbit Maranville, starting first baseman Charlie Grimm, and all-time franchise wins leader Wilbur Cooper. The return was two members of the Cubs’ major-league roster – infielder George Grantham and starting pitcher Vic Aldridge – and first baseman Al Niehaus, a well-regarded prospect.8  

All but two of the traded players were inactive for the home opener. Grimm played first for the Cubs and Niehaus, recently recovered from a leg injury,9 made his major-league debut for the Pirates. But Maranville had broken a bone in his ankle and was not expected to play until May.10 Grantham, 1-for-19 so far on the season and stricken with a cold, was on Pittsburgh’s bench,11 and Aldridge, who held out during spring training, had not yet pitched.12

Gameday newspapers listed Cooper as the Cubs’ possible starter,13 but manager Bill Killefer chose righty Tony Kaufmann during warm-ups, a twist the Pittsburgh Post described as “sort of a disappointment to the big crowd.”14 The 24-year-old Kaufmann had gone the distance in a 9-6 win over the Pirates in the fourth game of the season.

Forecast thunderstorms stayed away, and the afternoon was warm and sunny.15 Local bandleader Danny Nirella’s red-clad musicians performed the “Star-Spangled Banner,”16 and the NL’s Golden Jubilee flag waved under the United States flag.17 More than 100 wounded Great War veterans watched from the first-base stands.18

Pittsburgh’s Morrison had sandwiched two relief appearances around allowing eight runs – including homers by Chicago’s Gabby Hartnett and Hack Miller – in his 3⅓-inning start in the season’s fourth game. The 29-year-old Kentuckian had been one of the staff’s most dependable members from 1921 through 1923 but declined with an 11-16 record and 3.75 ERA in 1924.19

He began the game with three straight one-two-three innings, vexing the Cubs with his curveball.20 Hartnett – who slugged four homers and drove in 10 runs in the season-opening series at Cubs Park – struck out in the second on “three wide hooks,” according to the Pittsburgh Post.21 When Grimm batted in the third, the crowd greeted him with an enthusiastic ovation, but he struck out looking at another curve.22

Kaufmann, wearing the Cubs’ new road grays,23 held Pittsburgh hitless in the first two innings. In the bottom of the third, Morrison led off with a long fly to right center. Center fielder Arnold “Jigger” Statz ran back and reached up, but the ball cleared his glove and crossed the rope for the game’s first ground-rule triple.24

Clyde Barnhart followed with a hard-hit ball over third; it bounced off left fielder Miller’s hands and into the crowd for another triple. Morrison scored, and the Pirates led, 1-0.25

Pittsburgh looked for more after Max Carey walked and stole second.26 Eddie Moore’s fly ball, caught by Statz near the infield, was too shallow to score Barnhart. The Pirates’ left fielder did try for home on Pie Traynor’s bouncer to short, but former Pirate Ike McAuley threw to catcher Hartnett to trap Barnhart in a rundown, and Kaufmann escaped without further damage.27

The Cubs went down in order again in the fourth inning, and Hartnett and Bernie Friberg’s foul popups in the fifth made it 14 in a row for Morrison. But Miller broke the perfect string with a single, and Statz’s single pushed Miller to second.

Grimm hit a bouncer up the middle. The ball hit off second baseman Moore’s glove and deflected straight into the air. Moore grabbed it with his bare hand and fired to third, where Miller had rounded the bag. Traynor threw home, and the Pirates retired Miller in a rundown, preserving the one-run lead.28

Pittsburgh had a runner on third and no outs after Barnhart’s second triple of the game, into the crowd in deep left, in the bottom of the fifth.29 Carey, however, was called out on strikes, and Moore popped up a bunt to Kaufmann, who doubled off Barnhart.

Leading off the sixth, Kaufmann helped his own cause with a drive to left; Barnhart’s running stop held him to a double.30 McAuley’s sacrifice moved Kaufmann to third, and Cliff Heathcote walked. Bob Barrett, holding down second base while Sparky Adams recovered from a boil on his leg,31 hit a hard bouncer to Niehaus, who knocked it down and took the force at second, while Kaufmann scored the tying run.32

On-field tensions materialized by the bottom of the fourth, when Kaufmann, according to the Chicago Daily News, “was becoming disgusted” with home-plate umpire Cy Pfirman after walking Kiki Cuyler, and cantankerous Pittsburgh catcher Earl Smith threw his bat at Pfirman’s feet after striking out.33

As the Pirates were preparing to bat in the sixth, manager Bill McKechnie shouted at Kaufmann, accusing him of brushing back Pittsburgh’s hitters. Kaufmann responded to McKechnie, who made what the Pittsburgh Post called “a threatening move.” All of the Cubs came out of their dugout. “For a minute, it looked like a fight,” the Post reported. “[A]nd the crowd was with McKechnie, although they had no idea what the argument was about.”34

Soon after tempers cooled, the Pirates went back ahead. Traynor led off with a liner to right. Heathcote attempted to make a diving catch but came up short, rolling on the outfield grass. By the time Heathcote retrieved the ball, Traynor had a triple.35

One out later, Cuyler’s single drove in Traynor. Niehaus singled for his first major-league hit,36 and Smith’s single brought in Cuyler for a 3-1 Pittsburgh lead, to the spectators’ delight.

“[T]he crowd just turned into a gleeful mob, kidding the Cubs, razzing the police, stealing balls, throwing peanuts and otherwise disporting themselves as youngsters who had just heard about Santa Claus,” the Pittsburgh Post reported.37

Morrison dominated the Cubs in the late innings. Backed by Carey’s running catch of Grimm’s long fly and Traynor’s quick throw on Kaufmann’s grounder, he retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth.38

Pittsburgh’s three-run eighth put the game away. Traynor’s two-out triple in the seventh had been fruitless, but Cuyler opened the eighth by tripling into the crowd near the right-field corner.39 Preferring to take their chances with Morrison, the Cubs walked Smith intentionally.

Morrison, however, punctuated his big day with a drive into the spectators in front of the left-field wall.40 Cuyler and Smith scored on the triple. Since 1901, 13 teams had hit six triples in a game, but the Pirates were the first with seven.41

After Barnhart walked, Carey singled home Morrison, making it 6-1. Morrison pitched around Barrett’s ninth-inning single to close out the win.42

“There’s little to worry about if they keep up the same gait as yesterday,” the Pittsburgh Post concluded.43

The Pirates won 51 more regular-season games at home in 1925. They unseated the Giants for the pennant and defeated the defending champion Washington Nationals in an exciting seven-game World Series.44

Along the way, they broke their own record for triples in a game. The Pirates hit eight triples in the second game of a doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals on May 30, as another overflow crowd at Forbes Field witnessed a flurry of ground-rule triples.45 As of 2025, the 1925 Pirates are the only National, American, or Federal League team since 1901 with seven or more triples in a game.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Mike Huber and copy-edited by Len Levin. SABR members Gary Belleville and Kurt Blumenau provided insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Photo credit: Johnny Morrison, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. He also reviewed game coverage in the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Pittsburgh Post, and Pittsburgh Press newspapers.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT192504220.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1925/B04220PIT1925.htm

Notes

1 The Pirates came in second in 1921 and third in the next three seasons. Their closest finish in the final standings was three games behind New York in 1924.

2 The Yankees had a .620 winning percentage and the Giants were .612.

3 Edward F. Balinger, “Pirates, Winning Second of Seven Games, Defeats [sic] Reds, 4 to 2: Lee Meadows Wins Pitching Battle over Eppa Rixey,” Pittsburgh Post, April 21, 1925: 14. Rixey, who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963, had a 21-11 record and a 2.88 ERA in 1925; his 6.5 Wins Above Replacement, as determined by Baseball-Reference.com, led all NL pitchers. But he was just 1-3 against the Pirates, with a 4.37 ERA.

4 William Peet, “Treat ’Em Rough,” Pittsburgh Post, March 25, 1925: 10; Regis M. Welsh, “Crowd Waxes Enthusiastic at Forbes Field Opener,” Pittsburgh Post, April 23, 1925: 11. On the day before the home opener, a steel beam fell on the worksite, harmlessly, while the Pirates took batting practice. “Workman Grins as Beam Drops at Ball Field,” Pittsburgh Post, April 22, 1925: 10.

5 William Peet, “Dreyfuss Will Enlarge Forbes Field to Seat 40,000 Fans: Bucs’ Owner Plans Two-Decker Stands of Steel, Concrete,” Pittsburgh Post, January 25, 1925: 3, 3.

6 Edward F. Balinger, “Pirates, Opening Home Season Today, Meet Cubs at Forbes Field: Morrison or Kremer Slated to Oppose Cooper in Opener,” Pittsburgh Post, April 22, 1925: 9.

7 Edward F. Balinger, “Pirates Crush Cubs Before Monster Crowd by 7-3 Score: Tierney’s Triple Is Deciding Swat in Season Opener,” Pittsburgh Post, April 26, 1923: 11; Edward F. Balinger, “Reds Nose Out Pirates, 5-4 in Opening Baseball Game at Home: Screaming Finish by Corsair Crew Is One Point Shy,” Pittsburgh Post, April 25, 1924: 13; Edward F. Balinger, “Pirates Demolish Bruin Defense and Capture Opening Clash, 6-1: Dewdrop Delivery of Kentucky Star Bewilders Bruins,” Pittsburgh Post, April 23, 1925: 11.

8 Irving Vaughan, “Grimm, Cooper, And Maranville Traded to Cubs: Pirates Get Grantham and Aldridge,” Chicago Tribune, October 28, 1924: 23; Edward F. Balinger, “Pirates Trade Maranville, Cooper and Grimm to Cubs: Bucs Get Aldridge, Grantham, Niehaus in Drastic Shakeup,” Pittsburgh Post, October 28, 1924: 1; “Trade Profit to Bucs, New Yorkers Say: Need of Discipline Is Motive Seen by Experts in Gotham,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, October 30, 1924: 14.

9 Edward F. Balinger, “Niehaus Pulls Charleyhorse; Likely to Be Lost for Opening Game: New First Sacker May Be Kept Out Week or 10 Days,” Pittsburgh Post, April 11, 1925: 11.

10 “Maranville Plans to Play on May 4,” Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1925: 15. A Pittsburgh hotel was hosting a testimonial dinner in Maranville’s honor after the game. “Maranville Dinner Scheduled Tonight; Big Crowd Assured,” Pittsburgh Post, April 22, 1925: 12.

11 Lou Wollen, “Stage Set for Forbes Field Opener Today! Corsairs and Cubs Grapple,” Pittsburgh Press, April 22, 1925: 28.

12 Edward F. Balinger, “Dark Clouds Shadowing Bucs Fade as Aldridge Signs for One Year; Salary Boosted to $9,000, Gossip: McKechnie Expects to Use Vic in Few Days,” Pittsburgh Post, April 16, 1925: 13.

13 “Buccaneers to Open Season Here Today: Capacity Throng to See Bucs Meet Cubs in Inaugural,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 22, 1925: 11.

14 “What the Post Clock Saw,” Pittsburgh Post, April 23, 1925: 12.

15 “Thundershowers to Greet Baseball Opener Today,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 22, 1925: 1; Welsh, “Crowd Waxes Enthusiastic at Forbes Field Opener.”

16 Welsh, “Crowd Waxes Enthusiastic at Forbes Field Opener.”

17 Wollen, “Stage Set for Forbes Field Opener Today!”

18 Welsh, “Crowd Waxes Enthusiastic at Forbes Field Opener.”

19 Morrison’s 41 appearances tied teammate Ray Kremer for the NL lead in 1924.

20 “[T]he Cubs were sorely beset by Johnny Morrison’s dazzling curve ball,” the Chicago Tribune observed. Irving Vaughan, “Pirates Hit and Cubs Don’t; That Explains 6 to 1 Defeat,” Chicago Tribune, April 23, 1925: 17.

21 “Post Clock Ticks,” Pittsburgh Post, April 23, 1925: 12. Harnett went on hit 24 home runs in 1925, second in the NL to Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals, who hit 39.

22 “Post Clock Ticks.”

23 “Cub Notes,” Chicago Tribune, April 23, 1925: 17.

24 “Pirate Detail,” Pittsburgh Post, April 23, 1925: 11.

25 “Pirate Detail.”

26 It was the first of the 35-year-old Carey’s NL-leading 46 steals of 1925, good for his 10th stolen-base crown in 13 seasons.

27 “Pirate Detail.”

28 Balinger, “Pirates Demolish Bruin Defense and Capture Opening Clash, 6-1.”

29 “Pirate Detail.”

30 Balinger, “Pirates Demolish Bruin Defense and Capture Opening Clash, 6-1.”

31 “Baseball Gossip of the Major Leagues,” Pittsburgh Press, April 23, 1925: 34.

32 Balinger, “Pirates Demolish Bruin Defense and Capture Opening Clash, 6-1”; Chilly Doyle, “Chilly Sauce,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 23, 1925: 14.

33 William H. Becker, “Cubs Defeated 6-1 Before 31,000 Crowd: Morrison Is a Puzzle to Chicagoans, While Kaufmann Blows Up in Sixth,” Chicago Daily News, April 22, 1925: 27.

34 “What the Post Clock Saw.”

35 “Pirate Detail.”

36 Niehaus hit .217 in 17 games with the Pirates and was traded to the Reds on May 30 for Tom Sheehan. He never appeared in another major-league game after the 1925 season.

37 Welsh, “Crowd Waxes Enthusiastic at Forbes Field Opener.”

38 “Pirate Detail.”

39 Pirate Detail.” Cuyler finished second in the NL MVP voting to Hornsby in 1925. His 144 runs scored and 26 triples led the National and American Leagues.

40 Pirate Detail.”

41 Two of the six-triple games had occurred in Pittsburgh. The Pirates hit six triples against the Cubs in the second game of an Independence Day 1904 doubleheader at Exposition Park, Pittsburgh’s home field prior to Forbes Field. The Giants hit six triples in the second game of a doubleheader at Forbes Field on July 30, 1923.

42 Morrison finished with a 17-14 record in 44 appearances, the most in the NL.

43 “Post Clock Ticks.”

44 The Giants were second in the NL, 8½ games behind the Pirates. The Cubs finished last, 27½ games out. 

45 Edward F. Balinger, “Pirates End Perfect Week Jolting Cards 4-1 and 15-5: Complete Cleanup Brings Buccaneers Seventh Straight,” Pittsburgh Post, May 31, 1925: 3,2.