Weekly Report: 4-3 Home Stand, Bullpen Shuffle, Skenes & Kells K-Men, Lowe & Cruz Rampagin', Paul's Cy Award & Bobblehead

Home standing... 

Pirates Stuff:

• The Pirates recalled LHP Evan Sisk from Indy and optioned LHP Hunter Barco (0-1/6.43) to the Tribe. Hunter was used as a bulk inning long man here and will stretch out as part of the rotation at Indianapolis; the Bucs believe that his future is as a starter and that he was just treading water in the Pittsburgh pen. 
• Pittsburgh called up RHP Cam Sanders from Indy; they've had a long stretch of games and it's taking its toll on the pen. Cam had a not very strong six-game call up last year, walking more men than he K'ed. Not too surprisingly, RH longman Jose Urquidy was the guy optioned back to AAA.
• Cam didn't last long. On Sunday, RHP Wilber Dotel joined the Pirates (he worked the ninth in his debut outing the same day) and Sanders was optioned back to Indy. Not adding a serviceable mid-inning long guy or two has bitten the Bucs.

Brandon Lowe - 2026 image/Sportsnet Pgh.

• On Monday night against the Nats, Paul Skenes became the first Pirates pitcher in the Modern Era (1901 on) with 400 or more strikeouts in his first 59 career starts. He now has 404 punchouts on his resume. That same night, Brandon Lowe became the first Pirate since RBI became a stat in 1920 to record five+ RBIs in back-to-back games. Only Honus Wagner (1901) and Jimmy Williams (1899) are in that club.
• And just to hang another red letter on the night, the Pirates scored 10 times in the sixth inning in the 16-5 romp, their first 10-run frame since 2017 during a 14-3 beatdown of the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Bucs last scored 16 runs in 2023, and it was also v Washington at Nationals Stadium.
• Mitch Keller has moved into 10th place on the Pirates all-time strikeout list, passing Rick Rhoden (852) on Sunday. Keller has posted 856 career strikeouts after a five-punchout start against Tampa Bay.
• The yearly breakdown of Konnor Griffin's nine-year/$140 M deal: Signing Bonus - $12M; $1M - 2026; $2M - 2027; $4M - 2028; $6M - 2029; $12.5M - 2030; $21M - 2031; $26.5M - 2032 and $27.5M - 2033-34 with escalators that pump up his salary (max potential total $7.5M) for a Top Ten MVP finish per Jon Heyman.
• Oneil Cruz's hitting steak ended at 12 games on Tuesday; it marked a personal best for the CF'er.

Oneil Cruz - 2026 photo/Pirates

• And talking abotu hitting streaks, Spencer Horwitz is 10-for-10 lifetime against Tampa's Nick Martinez after Friday night.
• Injury report: Jared Jones is back in Florida and began tossing sim games, the final step to getting into live action with a minor league rehab stint. No real news on Jared Triola's rehab schedule yet, and Mike Clevinger will be out for an extended period with an MCL knee sprain.
• The NL Central is about as tight as it can be; the five teams were within 1-1/2 games from top to bottom going into Monday.

Game Stuff:

• The Bucs were 11-5 against the Nats at PNC since 2022 and Paul Skenes was on the hill...so yah, the good guys romped Monday, 16-5. Paul went six one-hit, one-run frames with six K, Brandon Lowe & Spencer Horwitz homered, Bryan Reynolds had three hits (he & Lowe combined for nine runs chased home) and Oneil Cruz kept his hitting streak alive with two more knocks to go with two walks + a steal.
• Rain delayed the start of Tuesday's match a bit. Too bad it didn't pour; Mitch Keller was clocked in the first inning, being both wild and hittable. He lasted four frames and left with the Pirates in a 5-1 hole (yes, Lowe homered again). The Bucs cut the lead to one when Joey Bart went deep. They loaded the bases with an out in the seventh and Lowe up, but Don Kelly decided to match up and bat Nick Yorke for him, and he bounced into a DP. Jake Magnum kept it at a run with a strike to Bart to cut down an insurance tally at the dish in the eighth, but the Bucs stranded a pair in the ninth to go down 5-4.
• Wednesday was a bullpen game for the Bucs, kinda. Carmen Mlodzinski was the middle man and went six two-hit, no-run innings with five K, only two walks and 81 pitches as Pittsburgh took a 2-0 win home. The Pirates had five hits; Ryan O'Hearn had three of them, matching the Nat's hit total.

Carmen Mlodzinski v the Nats - photo/MLB

• he series ended up split; the Pirates lost 8-7 on Thursday, not so much beaten by Washington   (the boys did rally from a four-run deficit to take the lead) as beaten by themselves, with too many misplays, mental & physical (four errors) plus a bases-loaded wild pitch/bopped batter sequence to lose the lead. It was a series they should have won. 
• PNC Park hosted a big night for 24,198 fans - Doug Drabek presented Paul Skenes with his Cy Young Award, AJ Burnett threw out the first pitch, it was Fireworks Night and the Bucs debuted their new City Connect unis as Tampa Bay came to town. The Bucs needed some good mojo as the Rays were on a six-game road win streak, and they got it. Bubba Chandler shoved, going six innings and giving up a run on three hits with a walk & three K’s, Oneil Cruz banged a two-run homer, Brandon Lowe doubled home a pair with his third hit, Spencer Horwitz went three-for-three with an RBI and Marcell Ozuna also posted three knocks and a run scored to his stat sheet in a 5-1 Bucco dub.
• Saturday was a sold out Paul Skenes bobblehead night, and guess who was hurling? It was a marquee matchup between Skenes and Drew Rasmussen. With rain on the way, the first pitch was jumped up to 3:30 (it was a scheduled 6:45 start). Ryan O'Hearn & Marcell Ozuna must be mudders; both banged two-run homers before a 2-1/2 hour rain delay that came with two out in the bottom of the fourth. Cam Sanders and Evan Sisk took over for Skenes, and in a flash it was 5-4 Tampa. Isaac Mattson stopped the bleeding from the bump and Nick Yorke tied it with an RBI knock in the eighth. In extras, the Bucs loaded the bases with an out, but couldn't put another ball in play. In the 11th, Yohan Ramirez gave Tampa the lead via a goofed-up pickoff try, but Konnor Griffin singled Yorke home in the Buc half to keep it alive. Ramirez was apparently the last arm left; he went three innings and gave up a two-run dinger in the 13th. The Bucs got one back but fell short after leaving runners on second and third with two away (they were 2/17 w/RISP) and fell to the Rays 8-7.

Isaac Mattson - 2026 photo/Pirates

• This series has been played in spring weather, a rainstorm and now a sunny but windy & chilly day as Mitch Keller tried to win the set for the Bucs. Kells was back to his workmanlike self for seven pen-friendly frames, Bryan Reynolds cashed in three Buccos and Spencer Horwitz & Nick Yorke went deep as the Pirates took the series with a 6-3 dub. Now a day off and on to Texas and Andrew McCutchen...

MLB Stuff: 

• RHP Gerrit Cole, recovering from TJ surgery, is a step closer to returning as he began a rehab assignment at AA Somerset on Friday.
• RHP Miguel Yajure , who spent parts of two not very solid years (2021-22) with the Bucs as part of the Jamison Taillon trade return before joining the Giants org and then going to Japan for two years, signed a minor league deal with the Astros.

4/20 Through 1984: Willie the Roofer, Rip Roarin', Gus-to, Sweet Steve, Game Days All-MLB; HBD Chris, Steamer & Sam

• 1869 - OF Sam Nicholl was born in County Antrim, Ireland (recently, John Dreker of Pirates Prospects has found the date to be 4/18/1865). After a strong year at Wheeling, Nicholl finished out the 1888 campaign with the Alleghenys. He went 1-for-22, but his BA was considered bad ball luck as he hit the ball well, and he was also a plus defender. He was a late cut in camp the next season and sent back to Wheeling. Sam got one more shot in 1890 with Columbus, then closed out with five years in the Western Association before a leg injury effectively ended his career. 
• 1881 - OF Jim “Steamer” Flanagan was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania, across the Susquehanna River from Wilkes-Barre. He was rumored to have turned down a scholarship to Notre Dame to turn pro in 1901. He played for the Pirates briefly in 1905 as September insurance, and showed well, hitting .280 with seven runs scored and three stolen bases in seven games. Steamer was considered a five-tool guy, but for reasons unknown, he never got another shot at the majors, playing in the minors through the 1915 season. After his ball-playing days, he lived in Wilkes-Barre as a cop, sandlot player, manager and umpire, while also serving as a bird dog for the Red Sox and Athletics. Per Jack Smiles of SABR, “he ran, it was said, like a steam locomotive” and hence his nickname. 
• 1916 - The Pirates lost the Home Opener at Forbes Field to St. Louis 5-0, held to five hits by Harry “Slim” Sallee in front of 20,000 or so. But there was some early excitement. With two on and a 3-1 count on the batter, manager Jimmy Callahan, coaching third, stepped out of the box to talk with base runner Doc Johnston between pitches. He apparently placed his hand on Johnston during the chat and plate umpire Ernie Quigley called Doc out on coaches interference due to Callahan’s contact. The Bucs protested to no avail, and owner Barney Dreyfuss protested the game to NL President John Tener. Ralph Davis of the Pittsburgh Press wrote that at a smoker that evening, Dreyfuss went on about a conspiracy with the boys in blue having secret league instructions (he didn’t disclose their nature) and went so far as to call them “...pin-headed umpires.” Tener rejected the protest, though he did clarify that the rule was to be in effect only when the player was physically assisted leaving or returning to a base by a coach. 

Hans - 1983 Sports Design West Collection

• 1930 - Long-time baseball writer Irwin Howe of the Chicago Tribune picked his all-time MLB team (baseball was young enough that the Hall of Fame was still a twinkle in the eye), and it included SS Honus Wagner and 3B Pie Traynor. Howe had the background for the job - he was a baseball historian, the secretary for the Chicago chapter of BBWAA and the AL’s official statistician. 
• 1932 - Mt. Pleasant native and Pitt grad Steve Swetonic came as close as any Pirate pitcher (Bob Moose matched his feat in 1968) to tossing a no-hitter at Forbes Field. He surrendered a two-out knock in the eighth to the Card’s George Watkins that spoiled his bid. Though he gave up a couple of anti-climatic ninth inning singles, he cruised to a 7-0 victory in the Home Opener before 16,000 fans. His career was short circuited after five years when he retired at 28 because of a chronic sore arm. 
• 1936 - The Bucs’ Gus Suhr slugged a two-out, three-run homer in the ninth off Roy Henshaw to erase an early six-run deficit and give Pittsburgh a 9-8 win over the Cubs at Forbes Field. Pep Young and Cookie Lavagetto also went long, and Bill Swift worked the final four frames for the win. 

Rip Sewell - 1947 Sports Exchange

• 1946 - Rip Sewell spun a four-hitter to win a duel against the Cards Bucky Walters, 2-1. Walters was a one-man show, scoring his clubs’ only run by stealing home, but RBI doubles banged out by Bob Elliott and Elbie Fletcher sent the Forbes Field crowd of 27,891 (and Rip) home happy. 
• 1948 - Rip Sewell did it all; he tossed a complete game six-hitter and homered as the Bucs won their Home Opener 3-2 over the Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field. Rookie second baseman Monty Basgall had the game-winning rap, his first big league homer, in the sixth inning. 
• 1970 - Willie Stargell belted a sixth-inning homer off Jim Bouton that cleared the RF roof at Forbes Field as the Pirates took a 3-1 decision from Houston; Pops drove in all three Bucco tallies. Dock Ellis went six innings for the win, with Dave Giusti covering the last three frames while fanning four. The deed wasn’t witnessed by very many; there were only 4,015 fans in the house. 
• 1980 - CF Chris Duffy was born in Brattleboro, Vermont. Duffy hit .269 in his three Buc years (2005-07) but butted heads with manager Jim Tracy who wanted him to change his batting style. Duffy stormed home after a closed-door session with the skipper and his career pretty much sank after that affair. He played one more season for Pittsburgh, and in 2008 was injured and released. He would play just 13 more MLB games as a Milwaukee Brewer in 2009.

4/20 From 1985: Teke Traded, B-Rey & Tuck Debut, Wakefield Gone, 9-In-9th, Basebrawl, Odd Datelines, Game Days, '23 Pgh HoF, Hans Marker

• 1985 - Kent Tekulve’s Pirate career ended after 11+ seasons when he was traded to the Phils for Al Holland. He wasn’t happy with the swap, but the next day, he pitched two shutout innings for Philadelphia after traveling overnight to join his new club. The 38-year-old became a set-up man there and remained rubber-armed, appearing in 291 games in four years with a 24-26-25/3.01 line in Philly before finishing out his final campaign with the Cincinnati Reds. 
• 1986 - The Pirates and Cubs played 13 innings, only to have their game at Wrigley Field suspended due to darkness after four hours and 48 minutes and the score tied 8-8 after the Cubs scored three times in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings. The contest was completed on August 11th with the Bucs winning 10-8 in 17 innings. The total game time from start-to-finish was six hours and nine minutes. Johnny Ray & Joe Orsulak combined for seven hits and five runs while Sid Bream and Steve Kemp homered. Barry Jones picked up the win, going four scoreless innings while whiffing eight. Oddly, though Jones wasn’t called up until July, he set the MLB record for whiffs in a debut as a reliever (tied in 2016 by then-Astro Joe Musgrove). It was in actuality his 10th appearance, but the game date reverted back to when the contest’s first pitch was tossed, making it his first outing in the record books. In another similar oddity, rookie Barry Bonds got his first actual hit on May 31st, but was credited by MLB with his first knock on this date (it was actually his 51st hit of the year) when he pinch hit and banged the game-winning single during the makeup date. That at bat, like Jones's appearance, reverted to the match’s original scheduled date. 
• 1987 - It was the kind of game to drive a fan to drink, both to boo-hoo and party. The Pirates had a 5-2 lead over the ‘86 World Series champs, the Mets, at TRS going into the seventh when John Smiley came on to replace Rick Reuschel. A home run and back-to-back two-out walks sent John to the showers and Barry Jones was called in for that third out; instead he served Gary Carter a fat one that he sent over the wall to give New York a 6-5 lead. Hey bartender... But the Buccos proved to be adept copy-cats. Sid Bream smacked his second dinger of the day (he went 4-for-5 with three RBI) off Randy Myer to knot the score and then the Pirates drew consecutive two-out walks. Sound familiar? And the script played out - Doug Sisk was waved in to close the frame and watched Mike Diaz loft a ball into the stands for another two-out, three-run blast. That gave Pittsburgh its pad back at 9-6 and Logan Easley took care of business for the final two innings to get credit for the win, his first MLB victory, while breaking a 15-game losing streak to the Big Apple club to turn it into happy hour. Johnny Ray also homered while RJ Reynolds had a three-hit night. 

Randy Tomlin - 1992 Topps Stadium Club

• 1992 - The Pirates turned a pitching duel between Randy Tomlin and Montreal’s Ken Hill on its ear with a nine-run outburst in the ninth to defeat the Expos at Olympic Stadium, 11-1. The inning was highlighted by a Kirk Gibson grand slam and a three-run shot by Barry Bonds, only the second time in MLB history that a team has swatted a grannie and a three-run dinger in the ninth frame. Tomlin earned the win with help from Dennis Lamp and Stan Belinda. 
• 1995 - Pittsburgh released knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. He was picked up a week later by Boston, where he spent the next 17 seasons, tossing over 3,000 innings and winning 186 games. He was a wild child for the Buccos, but mastered the flutterer in the Red Sox system under the tutelage of Phil and Joe Niekro. They also sent 1B Kevin Young & C Angel Encarnacion to the AAA Calgary Cannons and placed pitchers Steve Cooke and Rick White on the DL. Later in the week, 3B John Wehner and RHP John Ericks were also bumped down to Calgary. 
• 1998 - Pennsylvania placed a state memorial plaque, sponsored by the local historical society, at 605 Beechwood Avenue in Carnegie, near the site of Honus Wagner's birthplace, to honor the Pirates Hall of Fame shortstop. Hans had been born in Chartiers, now part of Carnegie, in 1874 to an immigrant coal mining family, playing for local sandlot and company teams until he joined the local semi-pro Mansfield Indians and began his road to Cooperstown. 
• 2009 - Ross Ohlendorf tossed the Bucs’ fourth shutout of the season (in 13 games), giving up two hits in seven innings, in an 8-0 win over Florida to end the Marlins’ seven-game winning streak. The Bucs had recorded just two shutouts in all of 2008. Nate McLouth gave Ohlie all the support he needed by driving in four runs, three touching home after a sixth-inning homer. 

Ohlie - 2009 Upper Deck

• 2014 - Milwaukee topped the Pirates 3-2 in 14 frames on Easter at PNC Park, but the game took a back seat to the on-field action in the third inning. Brewer Carlos Gomez admired a ball that didn’t quite get out of the yard. He made it to third and Gerrit Cole let him have it verbally for hot-dogging it. Gomez went after Cole, the benches emptied and a basebrawl broke out. Travis Snider went after Gomez, Rickie Weeks grabbed him by the arms and Martin Maldonado took advantage to poke a defenseless Lunch Box, leaving him with a shiner. Maldonado was suspended five games, Gomez received a three-game suspension (he also threw his helmet at the Bucco mob), and Snider was suspended two games. Fran Cervelli later challenged pugilist Maldonado to an off season boxing match for charity, but was never taken up on the offer. As for the game, Neil Walker had three hits, including a homer, but Khris Davis’ extra-inning blast off Jeanmar Gomez carried the day (all three Milwaukee runs were solo dingers, including the ninth-inning game-knotter by Ryan Braun off Jason Grilli) to overcome eight strong innings of six-hit, one-run ball spun by Cole. 
• 2019 - A couple of Bucs made their MLB debuts, starting in a 3-1 win v the Giants at PNC, and both collected their first big league hits. Leadoff hitter/SS Cole Tucker’s swat was the game-winner in the fifth when he banged a two-out, two-strike, two-run homer just before a lightning storm accompanied by a downpour shortened the match. A former Giant farmhand, Bryan Reynolds, also took his bow in left field, batting fifth, and went 1-for-2. Though Cole’s day was more auspicious, in the long run B-Rey proved to be the keeper. Jameson Taillon was the victor. 
• 2023 - The Pirates rode some early two-out lightning, Ke'Bryan Hayes’ mitt and Roansy Contreras' arm to a 4-3 victory against the Reds at PNC Park. With two on and two away in the first, Connor Joe hammered a full-count heater into the bullpen and Jack Suwinski followed with another blast to make it 4-0. Contreras kept the string of strong starting pitching going, going 6-2/3 innings and giving up one run on five hits with eight K while tossing the staff’s 10th straight quality start. Key’s glove saved a potential big inning when he dove into the hole and threw a strike to second from his knees to begin a DP, with Carlos Santana making a nice scoop to complete the twin killing. The Reds picked up a pair in the eighth to add some drama, but David Bednar tucked them away in the ninth to earn his sixth save. The 13-7 Buccos were on a roll, winning their fourth straight game and fifth-in-six. Just before the first pitch, the Bucs announced their second class of team Hall-of-Famers: pitchers ElRoy Face, Bob Friend and Kent Tekulve, along with shortstop Dick Groat.

4/19 Through the 1960s: Arky Clutch, Cy One-Hitter, Openers, Game Days, Boot-Ball, Brawling In Cincy, Showtime, In the Cards, HBD RJ

• 1890 - Pittsburgh, which had lost a boatload of players to the upstart Players League, still had enough to win their Opener at Recreation Park by a 3-2 tally over the Cleveland Spiders in front of 1,000 fans. The North Side nine jumped ahead in the first frame when Billy Sunday advanced three bases on a misthrow by the Cleve catcher to score and the Allies added in the next inning when Sam LaRocque tripled and came home on Henry Youngman’s single. The Spiders tied the game in the fifth against Pete Daniels, but Pittsburgh took home the win in the ninth when Daniel’s bases-loaded rap proved the game-winner. Daniels tossed an eight-hitter with two K and a walk; it would be his only victory of the year. He was released after four games, and the team itself finished with a 23-113 mark. The Player League nine also had its Opener at Exposition Park and the Burghers were thumped 10-2 despite a crowd of 9,000 who came to see James "Pud" Galvin pitch. Both local clubs opened with a parade to their respective ballparks, but they avoided one another and any rooter ‘tudes. 
• 1900 - Pittsburgh lost their opener to St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 at Robison Field as Cy Young pitched a five-hitter and K’ed nine. The game was auspicious because it marked the Pirates debut of 26-year-old Honus Wagner (in right field), who had played with Louisville for the past three seasons. He didn’t disappoint, getting two of the Bucs hits, though he did manage to get picked off once. Hans went on to hit a league-leading .381 with 22 triples and 176 OPS+, the second of fifteen consecutive seasons that The Flying Dutchman would bat .300 or better. 
• 1902 - The Cardinals booted 11 balls in a 10-4 loss to the Bucs at Sportsman Park, setting an NL record. The Pirates mishandled four more plays to help set a single game NL record for errors. The Pittsburgh Gazette aptly described the affair as a “game that would make amateurs blush.” 
• 1903 - The Pirates, NL pennant winners in 1901-02, let the rest of the league know they weren’t resting on their laurels by sweeping the Reds at Cincinnati’s Palace of the Fans (and there was a huge crowd of 12,000 fans) in a season-opening four-game set, taking the series finale by a 6-4 score. The top three in the Buc lineup - Ginger Beaumont, Fred Clarke and Tommy Leach - scored all six runs to back up Sam Leever’s pitching. The club finished the season as Senior Circuit champions with 91 wins, and then met Boston in what’s considered the first World Series. 

Sam Leever - Helmar T205

• 1912 - The Pirates and Cardinals spent the evening at the Lyceum Theater on Penn Avenue taking in “George Evans’ Honey Boy Minstrels” show per the Pittsburgh Press. Evans was born in Wales, became a popular entertainer in America, and like many young immigrants, developed a jones for baseball. He awarded a loving cup to the "World's Championship Batsman" from 1908-12, with Hans Wagner earning the first and Ty Cobb then running the table. 
• 1935 - Cy Blanton threw a complete game, one-hit, one-walk, shutout against the St Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field, only giving up a second-inning single to Spud Davis (who would end his career as a Bucco). The Bucs won 3-0, scoring all their runs in the third inning against Wild Bill Hallahan; Blanton chipped in with an RBI. Arky Vaughan and Tom Padden backed up Cy’s gem with three hits apiece. Beat man Edward Ballinger of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote “Blanton’s fireball worked so beautifully and his curves worked so artistically that the Redbirds expressed disgust by throwing down their bats after missing strikes.” Posing, it seems, is not a modern phenomenon. 
• 1938 - Trailing 3-2 entering the ninth inning, SS Arky Vaughan hit a two-run homer to give the Pirates a 4-3 season-opening victory at St. Louis’ Sportsman Park. Paul Waner went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and two runs scored. The win marked the beginning of a seven-game winning streak to open the season. Alas, they needed that winning touch at the end of the year. Instead, they dropped 6-of-7 in the closing days of the campaign to finish two games behind the Cubs. 
• 1948 - The Reds opened the season with a 4-1 win over the Pirates at Crosley Field in a game delayed by a shower of bottles in the eighth frame. The Bucs went down fighting when Cincy’s Babe Young doubled after Hank Sauer’s homer and got tangled with Buc SS Stan Rojek. Young went after Rojek, failing to note that the ball was back in play, and was tagged out. The players jostled and a fan jumped the railing to go after ump Jocko Conlin, who had rung Young up. First base ump Beans Reardon came over to help get things in order, but instead got into a fight with the riled rooter. Police restored peace while the Queen City faithful pitched a few bottles the Buccos’ way. The fighting fan, btw, was thrown out but escorted back to his seat. The game was noteworthy in a couple of other ways - it marked the Pirates switch to black & gold trim from the traditional red and blue piping along with cleaner lettering instead of cursive, and it marked Billy Meyer’s debut as manager. Despite the bumpy baptism, he would become 1948’s The Sporting News Manager of the Year. 

Rip Sewell - 1949 Eureka Sports Stamp

• 1949 - Rip Sewell whipped Dutch Leonard 1-0 in front of Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson and Chicago Mayor Martin Kennelly at Wrigley Field, marking the third time Sewell blanked the Cubbies on Opening Day. The Pirates scored in the ninth when pinch-hitter Les Fleming’s grounder scored pinch runner Jack Cassini for an unearned run; the bases were loaded with one away and the Cubby infield tried to turn an inning-ending DP instead of taking a sure out at home. SABR’s John Fredland added some game trivia - Sewell, 41, and Leonard, 40, were the first pair of 40-somethings to go head-to-head on Opening Day. The only other Opening Day matchup of starters in their 40s didn’t happen until 4/3/2005 when New York’s 41-year-old Randy Johnson met 41-year-old David Wells of the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium (NY won, 9-2). Also, future Bucco catcher Smoky Burgess made his first MLB appearance, pinch-hitting with a deep fly out. 
• 1959 - Robert James “RJ” Reynolds was born in Sacramento. The switch-hitter spent six seasons with the Pirates, hitting .269 as a platoon outfielder and pinch hitter from 1985-90. He often played with Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke, but age and Bobby Bo’s emergence marked the beginning of the end for RJ, who finished his pro career playing in Japan and Mexico. 
• 1960 - The newspapers sniffed out a proposed deal with the Phils; the Pirates were looking for pitching (specifically Don Cardwell) and Philly needed help behind the plate and in the outfield, where the Pirates were deep. The rumors didn’t pan out (the Phils liked Bill Virdon, which was a deal-breaker), and swapped Cardwell to the Cubs three weeks later. But the Pirates FO’s interest didn’t fade; they got the righty in the 1962 offseason as part of the Dick Groat deal with the Cards.

4/19 From 1970: Foli-Taveras, Wandy-ful, Reynolds Rap, Game Days, Bonds POTW, Big Hurt; HBD Zach, Denny & Joe

• 1977 - Joe Beimel was born in St. Mary’s in Elk County. The lefty from Duquesne University started his career in Pittsburgh (2001-03) and made another stop in 2012. He was 11-20 in his four campaigns with the Bucs, pitching to a 5.03 ERA. The Bucs released him after he had TJ surgery in 2012. Joe last pitched in the majors in 2015 and retired in 2017 after 13 MLB campaigns; he made an unsuccessful 2021 comeback with San Diego. And he pitched without a safety net - Beimel never had a contract that was for longer than one year. 
• 1977 - LHP Denny “Big Sweat” Reyes was born in Higuera de Zaragoza, Mexico. Denny spent 15 years in the majors with 12 very forgettable outings as a Pirate in 2003, when he gave up a dozen runs in 10+ innings. The Bucs waived him in May and he bounced around until catching a second wind in 2006 with the Twins; he put up five solid seasons with them and the Cards before tossing his last outing in 2011 for the Red Sox. As for his nickname - at 6’3” and 250 pounds, Denny worked up plenty of big sweats while tending to his job on the hill. 
• 1979 - The Mets traded Tim Foli and minor league prospect Greg Field to the Pirates in exchange for SS Frank Taveras. Foli solidified the infield for the eventual World Champs, batting .291 and appearing in 133 games. He stayed with the Bucs through 1981, went to the AL for three seasons and spent his last year as a Pirate in 1985. Frank was solid offensively through 1980, and in three years with the Mets hit .253 with 90 swipes before closing it out in 1982 with the Expos. 
• 1983 - LHP Zach Duke was born in Clifton, Texas. He spent the first six years of his career in Pittsburgh and put up a line of 49-75/4.99. Called up in July of 2005 after being named the Bucco Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2004, he went 8-2/1.81, but never posted an ERA south of four afterwards as a Pirate, leaving the club after the 2010 season. Zachster had TJ surgery in 2017, coming back in late July to work for the Cards. He last pitched in 2019 and became a co-founder of Framework Athletics, a baseball/softball training academy located in Nashville.

RJ Reynolds - 1986 Fleer

• 1986 - Happy birthday to me! Leadoff hitter RJ Reynolds celebrated his 27th birthday with a grand slam off Chicago’s Scott Sanderson in the fourth inning at Wrigley Field during a 14-8 Pirates win. The game featured six home runs (three by each team) and 28 hits (14 by each team). 
• 1988 - The Pirates announced that OF Barry Bonds won the NL Player of the Week award. BB batted 7-of-23, and four of those hits left the yard. He was tied for the league lead in homers, triples and home runs while holding down the fifth spot in batting average race with a .354 BA. 
• 1991 - The Pirates took a 3-0 lead into the ninth against Chicago at TRS behind one-hit pitching by Vincente Palacios, Bob Patterson & Stan Belinda and a two-run Andy Van Slyke bomb and a sac fly, but it went by the wayside in a hurry. Belinda went an inning too long, giving up a hit, walk and beaning before allowing a pinch-hit grand salami to Andre Dawson. But Pittsburgh had a rally left in them; old Cubbie Curtis Wilkerson and Gary Redus opened with back-to-back singles. A wild pitch tied it and a couple of batters later, Jeff King dumped a single off the end of his bat into center to walk it off, 5-4. King and Don Slaught had a pair of hits and Belinda, despite having his cage rattled in the ninth, got the victory to snap a six-game win streak by the Cubs. 
• 1999 - Leadoff batter Jason Kendall had two singles, stole three bases and scored twice as the Bucs blanked San Diego 3-0 at Qualcomm Stadium. Five Pirates pitchers spun a five-hit shutout as starter Pete Schourek picked up his first win of the season while Jason Christiansen recorded his first save of the year. People sometimes forget how good a runner Kendall was, even as a catcher. He was injured on July 4th and lost for the rest of the campaign, but up to that point he had swiped 22 sacks in 25 tries in 78 games and batted leadoff in 15 of the outings. 

Wandy Rodriguez - 2013 Topps

• 2013 - Wandy Rodriguez tossed seven innings of one-hit ball as the Bucs beat the NL-leading Atlanta Braves 6-0 at PNC Park in front of 18,705 Friday night fans. The Bravos ended up with two hits, with both runners erased on DP balls. There were no walks or errors, allowing the three Pirate hurlers (Wandy, Mark Melancon and Vin Mazzaro) to face the minimum 27 batters. 
• 2017 - The Pirates were swept by the St Louis Cardinals in a three-game set at Busch Stadium by identical 2-1 scores. It was the first time since 1888 that the Pirates (then the Alleghenys) had given up six or fewer runs in a three-game series and lost all three times (1-0, 1-0, 2-0, v the Philadelphia Quakers). The hard-luck losers were Ivan Nova, Chad Kuhl and Gerrit Cole. It also continued an odd pattern of sweeps in April - the Pirates were swept by Boston, took three from Atlanta, then blanked by Cincinnati, won a three-gamer against the Cubs and were broomed by the Redbirds. Bucco historian John Dreker of Pirates Prospects noted that the 1890 Pirates/Alleghenys were involved in six straight sweeps from Aug 13th-Sept 2nd. Technically, that streak reached eight sweeps if you count a series that was just one game due to bad weather. 
• 2019 - Ouch: SS Erik Gonzalez and CF Starling Marte crashed into one another chasing down a Texas Leaguer during the Pirates 4-1 win over the Giants at PNC Park. Gonzo broke his collarbone, went on the 60-day IL and was out until August; Starling bruised his abdominal wall and went on the 10-day list. That meant the Pirates top two SS’s (Gonzalez and Kevin Newman) were on the IL and their top four outfielders (Marte joined Gregory Polanco, Corey Dickerson & Lonnie Chisenhall) were out of action. To boot, starting second baseman Adam Frazier was out with back spasms. Despite being battered and bloody, the Pirates were on a four-game winning streak and at 11-6 were off to the best start of anyone in the NL as the “next man up” process was working just fine. But the club quickly lost energy and finished the campaign with a 69-93 mark.

4/18 Through 1954: Ralph's 1st, Forbes Field Named, Openers & Game Days, HBD Steverino, Ron, Larry, Bob, Jack S, Jack R & Fred

• 1864 - RHP Fred Doe was born in Rockport, Massachusetts. Fred was a long-time minor league player (1886-1902) who got to twirl two MLB games, both in 1890 in the Players League. The first was with Buffalo and the second in Pittsburgh, where he tossed four mop-up innings and gave up two runs. Doe was a player, manager, and owner over several decades in the New England League and was known as the “Father of Sunday Baseball” due to his efforts to repeal state blue laws. 
• 1872 - 1B Jack Rothfuss was born in Newark. Rothfuss tore it up for the Atlantic League’s Newark Colts, was bought late-season by the Bucs for $2,000 and made his MLB debut on August 2nd, 1897. Jack hit .313 and was the frontrunner to become Pittsburgh’s next starting first baseman. Alas, Rothfuss never played in the majors again after contracting dysentery late in the season. (He blamed it on the city’s water, telling The Sporting Life “...the water in Pittsburgh is atrocious." And during that era, he was probably right.) He was loaned to minor-league Kansas City, recovered and bolted back home to play for Newark. Jack returned to KC the next year, but jumped back-and-forth among minor league/indie clubs until he finally hung up the spikes in 1907. 
• 1886 - The Alleghenys played the only Opening Day doubleheader in Pittsburgh baseball history at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, with the twinbill scheduled because of a rainout the day before. (it was actually two separate games with separate gates on the same day rather than a two-fer). The North Siders dropped both ends to the eventual American Association champion St. Louis Browns. They lost the opener 8-4 with Ed “Cannonball” Morris on the bump and went down 10-5 in the second game with Hall of Fame pitcher James “Pud” Galvin toeing the rubber. The Alleghenys team was pretty strong; they went 80-52 on the year, but still ended up 12 games behind the Browns. It was the last season the team played in the AA, moving on to the NL in 1887. 

Pud Galvin - Helmar Oasis

• 1892 · RHP Jack Scott was born in Ridgeway, North Carolina. Scott was a knuckleballer who got his start in Pittsburgh in 1916, where he got into one game for five innings, giving up six runs. But he got better and became a workhorse for four different teams over a dozen campaigns, leading the league in starts three times while slashing 103-109-11/3.85 (Scott was also a 20-game loser twice). He helped himself with the stick, banging out a .275 lifetime BA, and was known as “Lonesome Jack” because of two weeks he spent isolated in a hospital as a teen. 
• 1902 - C Bob Linton was born in Emerson, Arkansas. Bob’s MLB career consisted of 17 games with the 1929 Pirates, half of them behind the dish and half as a pinch hitter (not that his .111 BA got him many at bats). Bob did have a long career in pro ball, beginning in 1927 and ending in 1942, with a brief comeback in ‘45 and a spell of minor league managing in the forties. 
• 1909 - Howie Camnitz spun an eight-hit shutout (he was, as the Press noted, “a trifle wild” with six walks and a bopped batter) as the Bucs whipped the Cubs 1-0 in 12 innings, besting Three Finger Brown at the West Side Grounds. The run scored when “(George) Gibson hit to (Chicago SS Joe) Tinker, who bungled and (Bill) Abstein scored…” but the Pirates wouldn’t need much help that season - they won 110 games and the World Series from the Ty Cobb-led Detroit Tigers. 
• 1909 - The Pirates announced that their new Oakland ballyard, opening in a few weeks, would be called Forbes Field. The team and the Pittsburgh Press held a contest for the naming rights, and out of 100,000 entries, seven chose Forbes Field, winning season tickets. Owner Barney Dreyfuss’ name seemed to be the top vote-getter, but he passed on the honor, saying that his decision was reached after “I considered it from a historical, euphonious and appropriate viewpoint.” 

Larrys Foss - 1961 Custom One Year Wonders

• 1936 - RHP Larry Foss was born in Castleton, Kansas. After bouncing around the minors, he was called up as a 25-year-old by the Bucs in September of 1961. Danny Murtaugh threw him right into the fire, telling him that he was starting against Bob Gibson at Forbes Field that night. And while not exactly a classic duel, Foss outlasted him to earn an 8-6 win. He pitched a couple of more games (1-1/5.87), and was sent back to the bushes. In September of ‘62, he was waived after the minor league season and the Mets claimed him. He finished the last two weeks of the season with them, and after another year on the farm retired with arm woes. He went on to earn his daily bread in the oil and gas industry, saving enough to open a sporting goods store later. 
• 1942 - Ex-RHP & AT&T SportsNet talking head Steve Blass was born in Canaan, Connecticut. The Bucco announcer was an All-Star and World-Series-clinching pitcher for the Pirates from 1964-74. The righty won 103 games for Pittsburgh during his career to go with two Series victories against Earl Weaver’s Orioles in 1971, and has been associated with the Pittsburgh Pirates in one way or another for over 50 years, not retiring from the booth as a color commentator until after the 2019 campaign. Steverino was announced as a member of the first class of the Pirates Hall Of Fame in 2022. 
• 1946 - Rookie Ralph Kiner smacked his first big league homer off Howie Pollet in the eighth inning of a 4-2 loss to St. Louis at Sportsman Park. He would end his career with seven home run titles by banging 369 long balls, with 301 blasts while a Bucco. That was good for second place all-time in the Pirates record books, behind only Willie Stargell’s 475 bombs. 
• 1947 - The Pirates took the Home Opener from the Reds, 12-11. The Bucs had added Hank Greenberg to their roster and shortened LF at Forbes Field for him. Greenberg himself (and for that matter, Ralph Kiner) didn’t go long, though the other Bucs apparently took a liking to the short porch. Pittsburgh blasted five homers - rookie Wally Westlake had a pair while Billy Cox, Roy Jarvis & Jim Russell went yard too - and three of the balls landed in the new Greenberg Gardens plot. Cox became the first Pirate in history to lead off a Home Opener with a dinger when he took Joe Beggs deep. The season lidlifter at Forbes Field drew a record crowd of 38,216. The Gardens cut the distance to the fence by 30’ (365’ to 335’) for dead pull hitter Greenberg. It also moved the bullpens from the playing field (previously located in foul territory up the lines) to behind the new fencing. 

Wally Westlake - 1947 Exhibits

• 1948 - RHP/coach Ron Schueler was born in Catharine, Kansas. Schueler was selected in the 12th round of the 1966 draft by the Pirates, but never signed and was eventually taken by Atlanta the next season. He spent eight years in the show with four teams, and 20 years after he was drafted, he did join the Buccos in 1986 as Jim Leyland’s first pitching coach after stints with the White Sox and A’s. He lasted a year here; his wife was ill and he returned to his California home, hooking up with Oakland again. He became Chicago White Sox GM in 1991 (He had lobbied for the Bucco spot in 1988 when Syd Thrift was dismissed, but Larry Doughty got the job). After a decade, he became a special advisor to the owner and then bounced around with the Cubs, Cards, and Giants. 
• 1950 - Pittsburgh played the first MLB season opener under the lights at St. Louis' Sportsman Park. The Cards won 4-2 as Bob Chesnes gave up homers to Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst in the loss to Gerry Staley, who went the distance. Johnny Hopp had both Bucco RBIs. 
• 1952 - In their Home Opener at Forbes Field before 29,874, Bob Friend shut out the Reds 3-0 on five hits, with the help of three Bobby Del Greco knocks. It was the second win in a row for the Pirates, and at 2-2, it was the only time they reached .500. The sad sack “Rickey-Dinks” wouldn't put together a winning streak longer than two games all season (they finished 42-112), a 20th century MLB record for futility. They didn’t win consecutive contests again until May 30th-31st.

4/18 From 1955: Davis Deal, Pie's #20 Retired, B-2-B, Monster Monroe, Game Days, Marte Banged, Tony Retires, Awards, HBD Angelo

• 1955 - In his first major league appearance, 25-year-old reliever Al Grunwald got just one batter out. He gave up a single to Don Mueller‚ a double to Monte Irvin‚ a triple to Willie Mays‚ and a homer to Whitey Lockman. The NY Giants “cycle” led to an eight-run fourth frame and eventual 12-3 victory over the Pirates. But there was a bright spot. Rookie Roberto Clemente hit his first home run, an inside-the-park 445’ shot that the weirdly configured Polo Grounds kept in the yard. The Great One also gunned his first outfield assist; he threw out 266 runners during his career. As for Grunwald, he got two more outings with the Bucs, tossing seven-plus shutout innings, but was sent down in May. 
• 1957 - The Bucs lost to the Brooklyn Dodgers 6-1 at Ebbets Field. The game marked the last time a Pirates pitcher batted eighth (Luis Arroyo, with Bill Mazeroski behind him) for over 50 years, until June 30, 2008 when Paul Maholm batted ahead of Jack Wilson via a John Russell scorecard. Bobby Bragan sometimes batted pitchers eighth back in the fifties before Russell again adopted the concept briefly. The universal DH has put the double leadoff tactic to bed. 
• 1969 - C Angelo Encarnacion was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Angelo was a back-up/insurance policy catcher for the Bucs from 1995-96, batting .238 over that span. He’s best known for a 1995 blooper when he scooped up a short blocked pitch with his mask with a runner on third in extra innings. That’s a no-no by the rule book and the nonchalant play allowed the winning run to score on the technical foul. He played for the Angels in 1997 and then went the minor league/indie route, shedding the tools of ignorance after the 2003 campaign. 

Angelo Encarnacion - 1996 Collectors Choice

• 1972 - Pie Traynor’s number 20 was retired at TRS posthumously on Opening Day in front of 47,489, with his widow Eva getting his jersey from manager Bill Virdon and former #20 Richie Hebner. The Bucs could have used Pie, losing 6-4 to the Chicago Cubs despite Hebner’s homer and Manny Sanguillen’s double and triple. It was a packed pregame - Roberto Clemente received his 11th Golden Glove, Willie Stargell was presented with the Mel Ott Award for winning the 1971 HR title and Josh Gibson Jr. tossed out the opening pitch. There were also protesters who unfurled a giant “Stop the War” sign. The day ended tragically when a 17-year-old died trying to leap over 4’ rails between ramps (a stunt pulled off by several other youths during the game) and missed, falling to his death in the parking lot 80’ below, the second TRS fatality due to the low railing. Management finally added a high chain-link fence between the ramp ways to correct the deadly flaw. 
• 1980 - It was a day of baseball feats at TRS: before the game, Willie Stargell was presented with his 1979 Man of the Year Award by TSN, prompting Bucco owner Dan Galbreath to name one of his ponies Captain Willie, then both Bill Robinson and Bill Madlock collected their 1,000th hit during the game. The Bucs took home a 12-10 win, making it exciting by almost blowing a six-run first inning lead and then surviving a two-run, ninth-inning Redbird rally. Mad Dog and Robinson had three hits on their red-letter day, as did Dave Parker and Tim Foli. Grant Jackson got the win and Teke made the save after Jim Bibby. 
• 1987 - Mike Schmidt hit his 500th career home run, a three-run shot off Don Robinson in the top of the 9th inning, to give the Phillies an 8-6 win at TRS. Schmidt became the 15th MLB player to reach the 500-HR mark. And though the Pittsburgh-Philly rivalry was fierce during that era, the Steeltown fans gave Schmitty a warm ovation for his record-book bomb. 

Orlando Merced - 1996 Select

• 1996 - Al Martin and Orlando Merced homered in back-to-back at bats as part of a three-run fourth inning in Pittsburgh’s 6-2 win at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cards. Leadoff batter Nelson Liriano went 4-for-5 with two runs scored to set the Pirates table while starter Paul Wagner upped his record to 3-0 after allowing two runs in seven innings of work. 
• 2004 - Kris Benson tied a MLB record with four sacrifice bunts as the Bucs topped the Mets, 8-1. He became the seventh player to accomplish the feat, and only the second since 1920. For all of that effort, none of the four runners Benson advanced scored. Craig Wilson did the heavy lifting for the Pirates attack, going 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs and two RBI. 
• 2009 - In the first Saturday afternoon game in Pittsburgh since 2005, Craig Monroe hit three-run home runs in consecutive innings to give the Pirates their first back-to-back victories of the season, this one by a 10-0 count over the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park. Ian Snell went seven innings and gave up three hits for the win. Monroe only hit one more homer and was released in July to end his MLB career. 
• 2014 - The Brewer’s Martin Maldonado drilled a sixth-inning bullet to 3B Pedro Alvarez, hitting it so hard that the cover came undone. He beat El Toro’s flapping knuckleball to first, and the play eventually led to a two-out run in a 5-3 Pirates loss to Milwaukee at PNC Park. It kept a couple of bits of bad mojo alive - the Pirates dismal luck against the Brew Crew once again held true to form and it added yet another item in the long list of freak things that always seemed to happen when pitcher Charlie Morton was on the bump. 

Ike Davis - 2014 Topps Update

• 2014 - 1B Ike Davis was traded by the Mets to the Pirates for a PTBNL (LHP Blake Taylor) and RHP Zack Thornton. He hit .235 and was released at the end of the season, signing a deal with the Oakland Athletics and joining the Yankees for a brief MLB stop in 2016. Ike then joined the Dodger system and pitched some before retiring in 2018. Zach has bounced around in AAA, Latin baseball & the indie league, also playing for the 2017 Israeli nine in the WBC where he joined Ike as a teammate. He’s now UC-Davis’ pitching coach. Taylor has bounced around in the minors (13 teams so far) and is now a free agent; his last pro gig was in the Rangers organization in 2024. 
• 2017 - It was announced that CF Starling Marte was given an 80-game PED suspension after testing positive for Nandrolone, an old-school steroid used to treat anemia but with a history of sports abuse dating back to the sixties. With Marte out until July 18th and Jung-Ho Kang in South Korea due to legal entanglements resulting from his offseason DUI arrest, the Pirates were minus the planned middle of their 2017 lineup for much of the year (Marte returned; Kang didn’t until 2018) because of bad personal decision-making. Neither guy long remained with the club; JHK was released in 2018 (he re-signed) and Starling was Ben Cherington’s first big trade in 2020. 
• 2022 - Although his Pirate years were in the rear view mirror, Pittsburgh fans tipped their caps to 36-year-old LHP Tony Watson when he announced his retirement, finally conceding to an achy shoulder. The 11-year vet was drafted by the Bucs in 2007 and spent his first seven seasons here, moving on later to the Dodgers, Giants, Angels and finally back to San Fran. He posted a 47-29-32/2.90 line over his career with an MLB record 246 holds, and was Mark Melancon/Jason Grilli's setup man during the Pittsburgh playoff years (222 outings/17-4-5 record/97 holds/1.97 ERA/188 ERA+ from 2013-15), earning a 2014 All Star nod. And as a parting gift, his 2017 deadline trade to the Dodgers netted SS Oneil Cruz.

4/17 Through 1964: Joe, Hank & Arriba 1st's, Russ Signs, Eddie Joins, Roberto Bid, Wrigley Redo, Zippos, Openers & Game Days, HBD Bode

• 1902 - Tommy Leach scored the game’s only run in the third inning as Deacon Phillippe won a 1-0 duel against the Cards Stan Yerkes on Opening Day at Robison Field in front of 6,000 fans. Leach singled, went to third after a Redbirds boot and scored when St. Louis tried a tag ‘em out, throw ‘em out DP that was frustrated by the heady baserunning of Jack O’Connor, whose stop-and-go dance between bases eluded the tag. The Bucs were 103-36 that year and took the National League pennant, but there wasn’t a World Series until the following season because of bad blood between the leagues. For Phillippe, it was the first of three consecutive Season Opening wins. 
• 1903 - RHP Bob (his first name was John, but he was called by his middle name of Bode) Osborn was born in San Diego, Texas. Osborn was sold by the Cubs to the Pirates after a hot start in late April of 1931 when the Bucs were short on the hill with pitchers Ervin Brame, Remy Kremer and Steve Swetonic out of action. Osborn was a swingman, and the Bucs used him mainly out of the pen. He appeared in 27 games (64-2/3 IP), starting twice and slashing 6-1/5.01. During the off season, Osborn was traded and never played in the majors again. 
• 1908 - Sam Leever tossed a three-hit 3-0 shutout over the Cardinals at Robison Field to lead the Bucs to a series sweep. More importantly in the long run, though, was the signing of 34-year-old Honus Wagner, who had retired in March. Barney Dreyfuss made him the highest paid player in baseball (and the first to earn five figures) with a $10,000 deal after an initial $6K offer went nowhere, and The Flying Dutchman proved worth every penny. Bill James cited Wagner's 1908 campaign as the greatest single season ever for any player; the Dutchman hit .354 with 109 RBI in an era when half as many runs were scored as today. James wondered in his 2001 book Historical Baseball Abstract "if you had a Gold Glove shortstop like Wagner, who drove in 218 runs (109 x 2), what would he be worth?” Hans’ salary, btw, remained at $10K per year for nine of his final 10 seasons (Hans made $6K again for his last campaign in 1917 when he was a 43-year-old). 
• 1920 - The Bucs’ Elmer Ponder and the Cards’ Jesse Haines carried a scoreless ballgame into the 13th inning at St. Louis’ Robison Park. The Pirates finally broke the ice with three runs in what proved to be a lucky 13th, driven in by Max Carey/Billy Southworth, and Ponder finished up with an eight-hit goose egg. It was his first full big league season as Ponder was an airman in WW1 who became an aerial ace; Elmer was wounded in action and received the French Croix de la Valeur Militaire (Cross of Military Valor). He’s thought to be the first ballplayer to be awarded with a combat medal in the war. 

Charlie Grimm - 1923 photo Bain/Library of Congress

• 1923 - The Cubs opened newly remodeled Wrigley Field in front of 33,000 faithful, but the Bucs took the honors 3-2 on Charlie Grimm’s three-run, bases-loaded double in the fourth. The Pirates only had three hits, but Johnny Morrison made them stand up, working a complete game and giving up just one earned run; all three runs off his mound opponent, Tiny Osborne, were unearned. 
• 1934 - The Pirates opened the season at Sportsman Park against the Cards, and their lineup was pretty loaded: Lloyd Waner, Freddie Lindstrom, Paul Waner, Pie Traynor and Arky Vaughan, all eventual Hall of Famers, hit 1-through-5 with dependable Gus Suhr behind them. It didn’t help as Dizzy Dean tamed them, 7-1. The club finished in fifth place with a disappointing 74-76 slate. 
• 1939 - The Pirates trailed 5-2 on Opening Day before scoring four times in the eighth inning and eventually taking a 7-5 decision from the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. Gus Suhr led the way for the Pirates by collecting three RBI while Cy Blanton started and hung around long enough to earn the win, with the save by Mace Brown. Suhr and Pep Young each collected three hits. 
• 1940 - RHP Russ Bauers signed his contract on Opening Day for an undisclosed amount, with the papers guessing it was more than Pittsburgh’s original offer but less than his ‘39 salary. Even though he had turned down the Pirates opening bid, Russ was invited to camp, allowing the Pirates to see how he looked and pegging his value on how he performed after coming back from arm woes in 1939 and a winter car accident. His arm appeared OK and he got his deal, but Russ may have come back from his bout with injuries too soon. Bauers only worked 68 innings over the next two years with a 6.49 ERA and 43 walks, was sent to the minors in 1942 and then spent three years in the service. He pitched in the show just two more seasons, posting 43 innings of work in 1946 with the Cubs and a single two-inning outing for the Browns in 1950. 

Russ Bauers - 1940 Play Ball

• 1945 - The Bucs came out on the short end of the stick, losing 7-6 in 11 innings on Opening Day to the Reds in a game filled with improbabilities. With the Bucs up 2-0 in the fifth and two runners aboard, baserunner Frankie Zak called time to tie his shoe, and got it from the ump. But Reds pitcher Bucky Walters had his back to the play and delivered a pitch to Jim Russell. He knocked out of the park, but it didn’t count. (He followed with an RBI knock and later scored, so no harm done). Next, Cincy’s Dain Clay drilled a grand slam that was his only HR of the year in 700 plate appearances. Finally, the win went to forty-six-year old Hod Lisenbee, who had been out of the majors for the past nine years, after he worked two innings of hitless relief to earn the last W of his career. The next day, Pittsburgh manager Frankie Frisch presented Zak with a pair of spikes that buckled rather than laced up to commemorate his ill-timed time out. The game featured three future Hall of Fame managers - Frisch for Pittsburgh, Bill McKechnie for Cincy and Pirates C Al Lopez, who went on to a 17-year career as skipper for Cleveland and the White Sox after his playing days ended. 
• 1947 - Hank Greenberg connected on his first Pirate homer as the Bucs whupped the Cubs 7-1 at Wrigley Field. Pirate starter Preacher Roe was on cruise control and didn't allow a hit until the seventh inning. Chicago starter Hank Wyse was victimized by back-to-back boots by SS Lennie Merullo in the seventh inning, allowing the Pirates to plate six unearned runs; the Bucs only had seven hits. 
• 1951 - 25,894 hardy souls braved the snow to watch the Bucs win their Home Opener 5-4 over the Cards at Forbes Field. Murry Dickson pitched six innings and homered in the win. Wally Westlake also went long while Bill Werle tossed three shutout innings for the save. It featured the first shooting of live footage for a movie tentatively titled “Angels And The Pirates” (it hit the theaters as “Angels In the Outfield”), starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh and was released in October. 
• 1953 - The Pirates claimed 35-year-old infielder Eddie Pellagrini off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds. For a giveaway, Eddie gave the Bucs a solid 1953, batting .253 in 78 games, but faded the following season when he hit .216 in his ninth and final MLB campaign. Pellagrini went on to become the baseball coach at Boston College from 1958 to 1990 and took the Eagles to three College World Series. 

Eddie Pellagrini - photo via Baseball Birthdays

• 1955 - Roberto Clemente, a 20-year-old rookie from Carolina, Puerto Rico, made his MLB debut in right field at Forbes Field during a double header (he patrolled center in the nightcap). In his first at bat, Clemente legged out an infield single off the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Johnny Podres, the first step on his journey to 3,000 career hits. Roberto collected two more knocks in the second game, including a double, but the Bucs lost both ends of the twinbill, 10-3 and 3-2. It was phase one of the Bucco rebuild, with guys like Roberto, Dick Groat, Bob Friend, Vern Law and ElRoy Face manning the roster, to be joined the following season by Bill Mazeroski, Bill Virdon and Bob Skinner. Roberto was wearing #13 to start the season; he didn’t get to claim his now-retired #21 until May after OF Earl Smith, who was originally issued the number, was sent to the minors. 
• 1958 - Les Biederman, the Pirates beat guy for the Pittsburgh Press, wrote that the Braves were renewing their push to pry Roberto Clemente away from the Pirates. They made an offer in the spring that GM Joe L. Brown thought was lowball, and the new lure of RHP Bob Buhl (an 18-game winner in 1957 who had several good seasons left), a reliever and a bench piece didn’t change Brown’s mind. As Biederman prophetically noted, “He’s (Clemente) on the doorstep of greatness now and there’s no telling how high he can go.” The Bucs did try the old switch-and-bait ruse by dangling Roman Mejias to Milwaukee instead of Roberto, but the Bravos wisely didn't bite. 
• 1960 - LHP Joe Gibbon made his MLB debut in the second game of a twinbill against the Reds at Forbes Field in front of 16,196 fans, coming in to mop up with the Pirates down 5-0 in the eighth. He tossed a pair of scoreless innings and the rambunctious Bucs scored six times in the ninth to give him the 6-5 win, his first big league victory. Bill Mazeroski had an RBI knock, Hal Smith banged a three-run pinch hit homer and Bob Skinner walked it off with a two-run, two-out blast off Ted Wieand after Dick Groat kept it alive with a single through the box. The Hound was mobbed at the plate by the fans (he told Les Biederman of the Press “They seemed to come from all directions and converged on home plate. They just about carried Dick Groat and me into the dugout. Or maybe I was just walking on air.”) while Reds skipper Fred Hutchinson broke several chairs after he stomped into the visitors' locker room. The Bucs won the opener, 5-0, behind Bob Friend's four-hitter; he K’ed six. Skinner, Groat, Roberto Clemente (HR & 3B) and Dick Hoak each had two hits; Dick Stuart tripled and chased home three runs. 
• 1964 - The Pirates defeated the Mets 4-3 before 48‚736 fans in the first game played at Shea Stadium, with Bob Friend going the distance to earn the win over Cuban righty Ed Bauta. In the second inning, Willie Stargell smacked the first home run ever hit at the ballyard off starter Jack Fisher for the first of Pops' four hits - he was a triple shy of the cycle - on the day. Roberto Clemente and Donn Clendenon added three raps apiece as the Bucs banged out 16 hits, but kept it interesting by stranding 13 runners.

4/17 From 1965: AJ, Smiley, RJ & Game Days, Barbato Joins, SI Wills, TRS Markers; HBD Ronny, Deolis & Andy

• 1967 - Maury Wills was the cover boy for Sports Illustrated’s “Baseball 1967” issue. In his first year as a Buc, he hit .302 with 92 runs and 29 swiped sacks after coming to town from LA in exchange for Bob Bailey and Gene Michael. 
• 1968 - The Pirates ran wild on the Houston Astros, taking a 13-4 win at Forbes Field in front of 30,799 fans. The Bucs banged out 17 hits (Maury Wills and Milt May had three, while Gene Alley, Donn Clendenon, Billy Maz and Pops had a pair; everyone in the lineup had at least one rap and either scored or drove home a run, with six doing both) and stole five bases, with Clendenon swiping home while Wills took second and third in one trip. Manny Mota even got into the act, scoring from first on a single that dropped 30’ behind third base, running through coach Alex Grammas’ “whoa” and catching ‘Stro OF’er Jim Wynn napping. Al McBean was the recipient of the runfest, going the distance despite giving up 10 hits. 
• 1973 - Coach Andy Barkett was born in Miami, Florida. The former OF/1B had a major league career of one month, spent in Pittsburgh (he did hit .305) in 2001. After a long tour of duty in the minors, Andy started coaching in the Marlins system in 2010, moved on to Detroit and then became the minor league hitting coach for the Pirates in 2016. He got the manager’s job at Indy when Dean Treanor left to become the Marlins bullpen coach in 2017, then worked with Boston for three years. He’s now a minor league hitting instructor for the Chicago White Sox. 
• 1988 - R.J. Reynolds posted the first four-hit game of his career to lead the Pirates to a 12-7 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He had lots of help: Andy Van Slyke homered twice while Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla also went deep (a 30-MPH wind blowing out helped the cause); that trio collected three hits each. AVS, Bo and RJ had three RBI apiece while Bonds, Bonilla and Van Slyke scored three times. Jeff Robinson’s win in relief of Vincente Palacios left Pittsburgh with an 8-3 mark. 

Deolis Guerra - 2015 photo Ronald Modra/Getty

• 1989 - RHP Deolis Guerra was born in San Felix, Venezuela. The Pirates signed him as a minor league free agent in the 2014 off season and he made his MLB debut with the Bucs as a 26-year-old in June of the following year. He won two games in 10 outings, averaging a K per nine but also posting a 6.48 ERA. Pittsburgh re-signed him to a minor league deal, but he was lost to the Angels via the Rule 5 draft. Guerra has tossed for five teams in his six-year career and is now pitching in Mexico after undergoing TJ surgery in ‘22. 
• 1991 - LHP John Smiley retired the last 23 Mets he faced in front of 14,792 fans at TRS while spinning a one-hit 4-0 shutout. Smiley fanned four with no walks on 111 pitches with the only hit a fly-ball single that LF Gary Varsho misread. The Pirates finally broke away from Ron Darling thanks to Jeff King’s two-run shot (he also had seven assists from 3B, several of which were hot shots); the match was a 1-0 seventh inning duel before Jeff’s bomb. The first and last runs were unearned gifts from New York as the Bucs could only muster five hits themselves. 
• 1999 - The Pirates jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first at Cinergy Field, but it took them 10 frames to finally secure a 7-6 win over the Reds. The Pirates opening frame outburst was primed by a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double by Brant Brown. Cincy chipped away at four Bucco pitchers to tie it in the seventh only to see the Bucs reclaim the game when Warren Morris’ ground ball single to right scored Abraham Nunez. Brown led Pittsburgh with three hits; the Pirates had 11 knocks and were helped by 10 Redleg walks (Pirates pitchers issued seven free passes). Jason Christiansen tossed the last two innings for the win. 
• 2000 - OF Ronny Simon was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic. The versatile player (he can also play middle IF) was signed by the Cubs in 2018, then bounced around in the Arizona, Tampa Bay and Miami systems before debuting in 2025 with the Marlins. He hit .234 in 17 games and was DFA’ed; the Pirates claimed him in June of ‘25 and called him up in mid-August after Oneil Cruz suffered a concussion. He lost time to show his stuff when in late August, he slid home to squeak out a squeeze, dislocated his shoulder and landed on the IL instead of the field. An FA after the season, he re-signed with the Bucs, made it back for a taste of camp and is now playing at Indy. 

Dave Williams - 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man

• 2002 - Lloyd McClendon gave five regulars the day off and a later bit of snit cost him Aramis Ramirez, but he still had enough firepower to eke past the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 at Miller Park. Pitcher Dave Williams blooped a two-run, two-out flare in the second to provide the bulk of the Bucco attack, then bopped Geoff Jenkins in the Brew Crew half. Ben Sheets paid it back by drilling Ramirez in the butt in the following frame, triggering A-Ram to charge the mound while flinging his helmet at Sheets, who responded by zipping his mitt at the Pirates infielder. The teams met at the mound quickly for a little jaw session before the two protagonists were ejected. The Brewers tied it up in the fourth frame thanks to a walk and error before Brant Brown’s fifth-inning homer provided the final margin. Williams went five innings for the win, with help from Mike Lincoln, Brian Boehringer, Joe Beimel, and a save by Mike Williams. The three-game brooming of the Brew Crew gave the Buccos their first road sweep since 2000. 
• 2011 - Andrew McCutchen (3-for-3 w/two walks) and Jose Tabata led off the game with back-to-back home runs off Edinson Volquez, the third time that had been done in club history. The Pirates scored four times in the opening inning and outlasted the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 at Great American Ball Park. Garrett Jones also homered and had two knocks. The Bucs went through six pitchers in the game, with Chris Resop getting the win and Joel Hanrahan closing out for the save. 
• 2013 - AJ Burnett had a no-hitter going against the Cards at PNC Park, carrying the no-no into the seventh before Carlos Beltran banged a double. It was a big day for AJ; he also went over the 2,000 mark in career strikeouts with eight whiffs and no walks. The last two innings were closed out by Mark Melancon, Tony Watson and Jason Grilli as the Bucs won 5-0 behind a balanced attack - nine different Buccos had hits, with Cutch and Neil Walker collecting a pair of knocks each. 
• 2014 - The Pirates broke open an early pitching duel with the Brew Crew when they scored nine runs in the seventh and eighth innings to blow past Milwaukee at PNC Park, 11-2. The offense was primed by four long balls off the bats of Andrew McCutchen, Josh Harrison, Gaby Sanchez and Pedro Alvarez. Edinson Volquez went seven innings to claim his first victory as a Bucco. 

Edinson Volquez - 2014 Topps First Edition

• 2017 - RHP Johnny Barbato, 24, was traded by the New York Yankees to the Pirates for a PTBNL (RHP Matt Frawley). He broke camp with the Bucs, was sent to Indy in June and came back in August, pitching to a 0-1/4.08 line in 24 MLB outings. He was waived in the off season and claimed by the Tigers. Johnny later tossed in Japan for a year, was an indie league player/coach, tossed in Mexico and is now a free agent. 
• 2023 - The final score of 14-3 conjured up visions of a Steelers-Broncos clash, but it was the final count of the Bucs victory over the Rockies at Coors Field. 43-year-old Rich Hill won his first game as a Pirate with lots of help. Mark Mathias had a career-high four hits, and four other guys - Ke’Bryan Hayes (three RBI), Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen (homer) and Carlos Santana (three RBI) added a pair of raps while Ji Hwan Bae scored three times and drove home two. 
• 2025 - Three more memorial plaques were dedicated honoring the history of TRS. Located on West Robinson Street, they commemorated the spot where second base was in remembrance of Roberto Clemente’s cap tip after collecting his 3,000th hit, the pitcher’s rubber spot and a general overview placard. A marker for the home plate location was erected in 2023 in the Gold Lot and a state Historical marker was put up in 2006 on North Shore Drive noting the highlights from the stadium’s glory days. The date itself is historical - it was on the anniversary of Clemente’s first MLB hit in 1955. 
• 2025 - The Bucs claimed the series against the Nats at PNC with a 1-0 win when Andrew Heaney tossed shutout ball into the eighth to make Oneil Cruz’s leadoff homer stand up. It was the second time since 1900 that a leadoff Pirates homer led to a 1-0 win; Carlos Garcia’s opening dinger in 1993 against the Florida Marlins at Joe Robbie Stadium was the first. Heaney gave up five hits and K’ed four in 7-1/3 IP, with Ryan Borucki and Dennis Santana finishing it off. The effort was well timed; Pittsburgh only posted five hits during the day. For Heaney, it was a fitting celebration of his 10th MLB service year earned on this day after working for five teams. He finished out as a Dodger and then retired in 2025.