6/7 - Busy Day In Buccoland

Busy day in the annuls...

• 1907 - Les Beiderman was born in Wlkinsburg. He was the Pittsburgh Press' Pirates beat reporter for 31 years (1939-69) and served as The Sporting News' Pittsburgh correspondent. 
• 1911 - Talk about pitch to contact: Pirates pitchers had the Giants beating the ball into the dirt all day as Pittsburgh fielders handled the horsehide for a MLB record 28 assists on 55 chances. Unfortunately, there were more than a couple that got away, as the Bucs committed seven errors on their way to a 9-4 loss to New York at Forbes Field. 
• 1939 - The Bucs signed former All-Star/Triple Crown winner and future Hall-of-Famer OF Chuck Klein, who was released by Philadelphia. Klein, 34, hit .300 in 85 games for Pittsburgh and then returned to the Phils next season as a free agent. 
• 1946 - An hour before the game, the Pirates voted against a walkout in support of the American Baseball Guild, an early union that was pushing for a minimum salary of $7‚500‚ arbitration of salary disputes‚ and players sharing in 50 percent of any team sale price. The motion actually carried by a 20-16 vote, but needed a ⅔ majority to win. The Bucs took it out their frustrations on the poor baseball, beating the New York Giants 10-5 behind a 15 hit attack. 
• 1966 - Bob Gibson K’ed four Pirates in the fourth inning - Jerry Lynch, Jim Pagliaroni, Bill Mazeroski and Don Cardwell - to tie a record held by several (Maz reached on a wild pitch third strike). He struck out 12 in seven innings, but also gave up 11 hits as the Pirates laid a 9-1 whipping on him at Forbes Field. 
• 1967 - HS outfielder Joe Grigas was the Pirates first (#16) pick in the draft, and never advanced past Class A ball. They had better luck with OF Richie Zisk in the third round. He spent six of his 13 big league seasons with the Pirates, hitting .299. The second half of his career was in the AL, where he earned a pair of All-Star berths. 
• 1969 - Manny Sanguillen hit his first MLB homer and added a double to drive in three runs as the Bucs whupped the Braves 10-2 at Atlanta Stadium. Roberto Clemente went 4-for-5 with a three run homer and triple, scoring three times. 
• 1969 - The Bucs picked HS righty John Morlan first (#10) selection in the draft; he won two games over two seasons. The rest of the draft was a washout. 
• 1972 - The Bucs can beat ya with a hammer or with small ball, as they proved to SD in a doubleheader sweep at Jack Murphy Stadium. They won the opener 12-5 behind Willie Stargell’s two homers and five RBI, then took the nitecap 1-0 in 18 innings with two infield singles, a double steal, and two walks. Maz was walked intentionally to get to Gene Alley, who drew a free pass from Mike Corkins to force home Al Oliver.
• 1973 - The Pirates selected HS catcher Steve Nicosia first (#24) in the draft. He spent eight years in the show, six as a Bucco reserve with a Pittsburgh BA of .248. In the third round, they chose 1B Mitchell Paige, who had a couple of strong years as the starter in Oakland. 
• 1976 - The Pirates and Reds combined for seven solo homers bombed out of TRS. Al Oliver, Willie Stargell and Bill Robinson connected in the seventh off Jack Billingham while Richie Zisk hit the game-winner in the eighth for a 5-4 Buc victory.
•  1977 - HS outfielder Anthony Nicely was the Pirates first pick (#18). He never made it to the show, but two of his draft mates did - SS Wayne Tolleson (12th round), who spent ten years in the league mostly as a reserve for Texas and the Yankees, and LHP Dennis Rasmussen (18th round), who pitched 12 seasons of MLB ball for five teams. 
• 1982 - High school SS Sammy Khalifa was the first (#7) Pirate pick in the draft. The good glove, bad bat infielder would play 186 MLB games. They also drafted LHP Joe Magrane in the third round, but he didn’t sign with Pittsburgh, going to the Cards in 1985 as a first-rounder. 
• 1986 - The Pirates selected University of Arkansas's Jeff King‚ The Sporting News college player of the year‚ as the first overall pick of the draft, giving him an $185K bonus. The Bucs selected other MLB talent in OF Tom Goodwin (.268 over 14 years), SS Mike Mordecai (.244 over 12 years) and pitchers Stan Belinda (who spent his first four plus seasons as a Pirate) and Rick Reed, who started as a Pirate but bloomed as a Met and Twin. 
• 2005 - The Pirates selected Fort Meade, Florida, HS outfielder Andrew McCutchen in the first round (#11 - $1.9M signing bonus) in one of their more inspired choices of the decade. Later, they also added UT Brent Lillibridge in the fourth round and 1B Steve Pierce in the eighth. 
• 2010 - Pittsburgh drafted high school ace RHP Jameson Taillon, inking the second overall pick for a $6.5M bonus. They also signed preppie RHP Stetson Allie in the second round for $2.5M, who fizzled as a pitcher because of massive control issues and was converted to a position player. The club spent $11.9M on their draft class overall.
• 2012 - Clint Barmes and Mike McKenry hit back-to-back doubles off Aroldis Chapman in the 10th inning to give the Pirates a 5-4 win against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Chapman hadn't allowed an earned run in 24 appearances covering 29 innings prior to the game and hadn't even allowed a hit since May 17th while Barmes and McKenry were both batting under .200. It was especially sweet coming right after Joel Hanrahan had blown the save by allowing Ryan Ludwick’s homer to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.