Kirby Higby (11-17, 3.72) said to his manager Billy Herman, "I can't pitch when they're drunk out there." ... Billy Herman: "Who's drunk?" ... Kirby Higbe: "Everyone!". While it's a safe bet that not everyone was drunk it's also a safe bet that to the naked eye it might have looked that way. Herman himself played in 15 games as a spare middle infielder and hit .213, which didn't exactly help Herman the manager win many ballgames. The winning of ballgames would fall squarely on the shoulders of a 24 year old slugger named Ralph Kiner, who had a breakout year with 51 round trippers. Kiner wasn't exactly a gold glover in left, but when you hit .313 with 51 homers and 127 RBI's you don't have to be. Kiner would go on to lead the league in homers for the 2nd of his 7 consecutive seasons, which is a modern record, but still the Pirates lost. Over at first was the rapidly aging Hank Greenberg, who hit 25 round trippers himself, but batted only .249 and by this time was a complete liability with the leather. Greenberg's one major contribution was his ability to teach Kiner how to be a professional. Billy Cox would attempt to play short thanks to the fact that the Pirate brass was unable to recognize his prodigious fielding talent at third base. This would explain why the Dodgers were able to heist him and Preacher Roe a few years later. 
Speaking of ole Preach he suffered through a 4-15 season where his ERA ballooned to 5.25. At 31 years of age he looked to be completely washed up until he rediscovered how well saliva makes a baseball move. Of course he wouldn't discover that until 1948 when he arrived in Brooklyn and became a legend. Yes this Pirate team had some cast of characters. Fritz Ostermueller (12-10, 3.84) and Tiny Bonham (11-8, 3.85) had winning records amongst the starters. The pen offered very little help late in games, so manager Herman was forced to use Higbe as his fireman. The team ERA (4.68) was dead last in the NL. This is a team that will win or lose by way of the long ball and hopefully some decent leather.
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