6/3: Big Poison, Josh Gibson, Barry Bonds, Nate McLouth, Who-Dat Drafts

Waner's xtra base hit streak, Piet, Gibson, Skinner bombs, Barry Bonds, who dat drafts, McLouth trade...

• 1927 - Paul “Big Poison” Waner of Pittsburgh homered off the Phils’ Claude Willoughby of the in a 11-1 romp at Forbes Field. Waner’s homer ignited the start of a NL record 14 game streak with an extra base hit (12 doubles‚ 5 triples‚ 3 HR). 
• 1932 - Behind 5-2, the Pirates scored three in the bottom of the eighth and then got an inside-the-park homer from Tony Piet in the eleventh to defeat the Cubs 6-5 at Forbes Field. Piet had four knocks and four RBI to prime the attack. The Bucs had three triples during the game, two of which got past Chicago player-manager Rogers Hornsby, who then benched himself. 
• 1937 - Homestead Gray C Josh Gibson hit his most storied homer, reported by the Sporting News to have traveled 580’, catching the back rim at Yankee Stadium (if accurate, which is a point of debate, it would be longest home run ever hit; Mickey Mantle’s 565’ blast in 1953 is considered the longest), two feet short of clearing the center field bleachers, against the NY Black Yankees. 
• 1962 - During the nitecap of a double header, Bob Skinner hit a RF roof shot at Forbes Field, the second of his career, off Houston’s Ken Johnson during a 10-3 loss. The Bucs also lost the opener 10-6, giving the Colt .45s their first DH sweep in franchise history. 
• 1985 - Barry Bonds was drafted by the Pirates in the 1st round (6th pick overall) of the 1985 draft and signed two days later for a $125,000 bonus. 
• 1991 - JC catcher Jon Farrell was the Pirates first selection (#24) in the draft; he got as far as AA ball. The only noteworthy selection of the day was seventh round pick 2B Tony Womack, who spent 13 years in MLB, five as a Buc, for whom he hit .278 while stealing 122 bases. 
• 1993 - Pittsburgh pretty much missed the mark in this draft. They selected HS OF’er Charles Peterson first (#22 - $420K bonus), who never made it to the show, followed by second round OF Jermaine Allensworth (#34 - $194K bonus); he played 2-1/2 years for the Bucs, hitting .272 as a reserve. RHP Kane Davis was the only other big league contributor beyond a cup of coffee; his top season was 2001 for Colorado, when he made 57 appearances and went 2-4 with a 4.35 ERA. 
• 1997 - The Pirates drafted HS outfielder JJ Davis as their top pick (#8, $1.675M signing bonus); he would play 67 MLB games, getting 106 at-bats and hitting .179. But they did find bullpen arms later on, selecting LHPs John Grabow third and Mike “Gonzo” Gonzalez in the 30th round. 
• 2009 - The Bucs traded OF Nate McLouth to Atlanta for OF Gorkys Hernandez, LHP Jeff Locke and RHP Charlie Morton, clearing an everyday spot for Andrew McCutchen. Hernandez was later flipped for Gaby Sanchez while Morton and Locke filled rotation spots. McLouth was a flop for the Braves and during a brief return to Pittsburgh but revived his career with Baltimore.