The debut of Billy Cox

Billy Cox with the Pirates

Billy Cox, the pride of Newport, Pa., makes his major league debut 84 years ago today, batting eighth and playing shortstop in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2-1 loss at Cincinnati.

Billy Cox in the early 1940s with Honus Wagner

Cox picks up two of Pittsburgh’s five hits off Reds right-hander Bucky Walters.

Cox finishes with a single – in his first at-bat, thank you – and a double off Walters.

Cox – seen here in the 1940s with the great Honus Wagner, then a Pittsburgh coach – plays nine more games for the Pirates in 1941 before serving four years with the Army in World War II.

After the war, he spends two full seasons for Pittsburgh in 1946 and ’47 before playing seven seasons in Brooklyn and a final season in 1955 with Baltimore.

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