- 1901 - The Bucs lost to the Reds 4-3, following a disputed call by umpire Bert Cunningham, a pitcher whom the Pirates got in an offseason trade and then cut, ending his playing career and creating a bit of conflict of interest. Cunningham ruled Kitty Bransfield out at first on a questionable bang-bang call, costing the Pirates the tying run, to end the game. 2,000 fans stormed the field at Exposition Park after the decision, and Cunningham had to led to the locker room by Fred Clarke and Honus Wagner to escape mob justice.
- 1939 - Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia in the Phillies’ first night game at Shibe Park, 5-2, as Rip Sewell took the W. The Bucs only had seven hits, but eight walks and a beaned batter gave them plenty of runners. Bill Brubaker homered while Paul Waner & Arky Vaughan scored the other four runs from the top of the order.
Rip Sewell 1949 Bowman series
- 1943 - For the first time that we can find, Rip Sewell tossed the ol’ eephus in a MLB game during a 5-4 win against the Boston Braves at Forbes Field. He first unveiled it during the 1942 exhibition season against Detroit’s Dick Wakefield. The pitch went by the names blooper, LaLob, dew drop, moon ball and many other less flattering titles. It’s name legendary came from Pirate OF Maurice Van Robays, who said an "'Eephus ain't nothing, and that's a nothing pitch." It’s thought that his reference was from the Hebrew word "efes,” meaning "nothing.” The Bucs won the game thanks to Huck Geary and his 14th inning steal of home. 1954 - Montreal Royals OF’er Roberto Clemente, who the Dodgers had sent to Canada to keep from other team’s prying eyes, was nevertheless found out by Pirate scout Clyde Sukeforth. Sukeforth, ironically, wasn’t even a scout but a Pittsburgh pitching coach on special assignment in Richmond, where the Royals were playing, to check out pitcher Joe Black. Sukeforth recommended quite strongly that the Bucs take him in the upcoming minor league draft, and the rest is history.
- 1965 - Bob Veale set the Pirate nine inning strikeout mark when he K'ed 16 Phillies at Forbes Field in a 4-0 victory, even though he sat through two rain delays that added two hours to the game. The five-hitter was the Bucs 12th consecutive win. The big lefty also struck out 16 Reds in 12 innings on September 30th, 1964. Back before the gun, the 6’6” lefty was estimated to throw a heater in the 97-98 MPH range.
- 1978 - The Pirates released back-up infielder Jim Fregosi at the request of California Angels’ owner Gene Autry. Fregosi, 36, replaced Dave Garcia as Angels manager the next day.
- 1979 - The Pirates scored four times in the ninth inning to rally past the San Diego Padres 9-8 at TRS. Dave Parker cranked a one out, three run homer off John D'Acquisto to tie it, and Lee Lacy drew a bases loaded free pass with two away off Rollie Fingers for the win after Ed Ott had been intentionally walked before him. Phil Garner went 4-for-5 and scored twice for the Bucs.
- 1988 - The Pirates drafted prep SS Austin Manahan first in the draft (his bonus wasn’t released; Manahan said in an interview that it was “six figures”); he never made it past AA, and in fact their first five picks never made the show. They did hit on a couple of later selections, selecting Tim Wakefield, Randy Tomlin, John Wehner and Blas Minor.
- 1992 - Prep C Jason Kendall was selected in the first round (#23) of the draft and signed for a $336K bonus in one of Pittsburgh’s more enlightened picks. He spent nine of his 15 MLB seasons with the Pirates, hitting .306 and earning spots on three All-Star teams. After him came a group of reserves - OF’ers Adrian Brown and Trey Beamon, pitcher Marc Wilkins, and infielders Lou Collier and Kevin Polcovich.
Jason Kendall 1993 Pinnacle series
- 1996 - Paul Wagner tossed a one-hitter with ten K for seven innings at TRS, but lost to Colorado 2-0. He couldn’t find the plate in the third; two walks followed by a wild pitch cost him as Dante Bichette hit a ball through the shortstop hole to score the pair. The Bucs had nine hits, but stranded 10 in the whitewash.
- 2005 - Florida lost its ninth straight game at PNC Park‚ 9-1. Rob Mackowiak hit his second career grand slam and Jack Wilson went 4-for-4 to pace the attack behind Josh Fogg and Salomon Torres’ pitching. The last Marlin win in Pittsburgh was September 8th‚ 2002; they snapped the streak the next day by a 6-3 count.
- 2006 - The Pirates swept the Milwaukee Brewers in a four game set by scoring twice in the ninth to take a 4-3 decision at PNC Park. With two away, Jose Castillo doubled home Jeremy Burnitz, followed by the game winning knock by Ryan Doumit, both off Derrick Turnbow. The Pirates outscored the Brew Crew 34-8 in the series.
- 2010 - Pittsburgh fell behind Chicago 2-0 on a two run, third inning blast by ex-Pirate Xavier Nady. A homer by Garrett Jones in the next frame halved the lead and in the eighth inning, a blast to left center by Neil Walker with Cutch on ahead of him gave Joel Hanrahan a 3-2 win over the Cubs at PNC Park. Octavio Dotel earned the save for his set-up man (and future closer) Hanny thanks to The Pittsburgh Kid’s first MLB homer.
- 2013 - Francisco Liriano tied the franchise record by striking out seven consecutive Reds, but Mike Leake won the duel at PNC Park by a 2-0 count. Liriano went six innings, giving up a run on four hits and a walk, punching out 11. Not a ball left the infield in the inning he surrendered the run, and only a disputed two-out call at first allowed Cincy to score at all off Frankie.
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