Benjamin Hochman | Post-Dispatch

Sports columnist

This rare moment in Major League Baseball history occurred, as they do, in Altoona.

In the Pennsylvania town that’s home to the Pirates’ Class AA team, Paul Skenes met a fellow pitcher who was, like Skenes in 2023, the first overall pick in the MLB draft — former Cardinals standout Andy Benes.

“Yeah, he was one of the first guys I met, and I was just able to pick his brain there,” said Skenes, Pittsburgh’s pitching supernova and the presumptive Cy Young winner, who’s in St. Louis this week for a series with the Cardinals. “It’s kind of just a connection that’s gone on since. It’s definitely unique.”

The first meeting of the “1-1s” — baseball jargon for the first pick in the first round — happened on Aug. 25, 2023, which was three years

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