Pirate History 5/16

Lotsa stuff went on today: rallies, Mathewson loses, Willis wins, streaks, b-days, squeakers, Leyland 's return...

• 1904 - The Pirates rallied from a 5-0 deficit against the NY Giant's great Christy Mathewson by scoring a run in the fifth and five more in the sixth for a 6-5 win. The big blow was Claude Ritchey’s three-run, bases loaded double. Starter Sam Leever hung in for the win at Exposition Park.
• 1906 - Vic Willis started a three game shutout streak with an 11-0 win over the NY Giants at Exposition Park. Willis led the staff with 23 wins and tossed six shutouts.
• 1923 - Charlie Grimm extended his hitting streak to 25 games, the NL record for starting off a season, against the NY Giants’ Jack Scott in a 6-2 loss at the Polo Grounds. Grimm hit .416 during the span, which ended the next day against the Boston Braves’ Dick Rudolph.
• 1937 - The Pirates drew MLB’s largest crowd of the day (39,571) to Forbes Field on a Sunday afternoon to watch Joe Bowman pick up a 2-1 win over the Cards.
• 1953 - Rick Rhoden was born in Boynton Beach, Florida. The righty spent eight seasons (1979-86) with the Pirates, going 97-93/3.51 during that span. He was an All-Star in 1986 (15-12, 2.84) and won three Silver Slugger awards (1984–1986). A talented golfer, Rhoden also became quite a hit on the Celebrity Players Tour, becoming its all-time leading money winner.
• 1957 - The Pirates beat the Braves 2-1 at County Stadium behind Bob Friend and a Roberto Clemente homer. The Braves got the tying run aboard via an error in the ninth, but future Bucco skipper Chuck Tanner missed a bunt sign and bounced into a 4-6-3 DP. The next pair of Bravos singled, but Del Crandall flew out to close out the contest.
• 1959 - Bob Patterson was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He pitched from 1986-92 for the Bucs, filling many roles, and putting up a record of 25-21-17/3.97 in Pittsburgh. The righty appeared in five NLCS games, with a save and 1.93 ERA.
• 1970 - Bill Mazeroski's ninth inning single sparked a 4-3 Pirate win over the Expos. It was Maz's first ever pinch hit knock in a big league career that began in 1956.
• 1995 - Denny Neagle, Jim Gott and Dan Maceli combine to shut out LA at Dodger Stadium 2-0 at Dodger Stadium. Dave Clark drove in both runs with a homer and single. The game was one of four scoreless contests in the NL, the first time there had been that many goose eggs posted in a single day in the past five years.
• 1997 - Jim Leyland returned to TRS for the first time since leaving the Bucs last season. Leyland, who spent 11 seasons as skipper in Pittsburgh, and his Marlins beat the Pirates, 3-1 on the way to a three game sweep, the Fish’s first ever at Pittsburgh. The Bucs weren’t the only team he beat up that year; Florida won the World Series, a feat Leyland couldn’t accomplish in the Steel City.