Connie Mack in Pittsburgh, 1896

The 1896 Pittsburgh Pirates were led by a youthful yet patrician string bean of a man, a former professional catcher by the name of Cornelius McGillicudy, also known as Connie Mack (seen above, second row, center, in his last year as the team's manager).

A baseball tactician of the first order, Mack helped define the game as few have. Known as "the Grand Old Man of Baseball," he ended his active Major League tenure in 1950, at age eighty-seven, after a half century as manager and team owner of the American League's Philadelphia Athletics.