Wednesday, June 11, 2014

6/11: Deacon, Len Levy, Frank Thomas, Dave Cash, Brian Giles Clutch, Bye-Bye Cam, A-Ram, Gerrit Cole Debut & More...

Deacon, Len Levy, Frank Thomas, Dave Cash, Brian Giles Clutch, Bye-Bye Cam, A-Ram, Gerrit Cole Debut & More...
  • 1903 - Deacon Phillippe tossed his third straight whitewash, defeating Brooklyn 9-0 at Exposition Park. Phillippe won 25 games that season, but only ended up with one more shutout. 
  • 1913 - Len Levy was born in Squirrel Hill. The Allderdice grad did about everything you could do for the Pirates without playing. He was a batboy, a Forbes Field ticket-taker, a minor league player, scout and coach in both the Pirate system and for the Bucs; he’s the guy that you saw in the first base box as Bill Mazeroski galloped by after his Series-winning homer in 1960. Older fans might remember him from his days after baseball when he ran an Oakland auto lot. 
  • 1918 - Pittsburgh’s Roy Sanders and Boston's Bunny Hearn battled for each other for 16 innings before the Bucs won 3-2 on a bases-loaded squeeze play by Howdy Caton. Sanders allowed just one hit over the last eight innings at Braves Field after Boston had taken an early 2-0 lead.

Howdy Caton
  • 1925 - Emil Yde did it all. The lefty scattered nine hits from the mound and went 3-for-4 at the dish with a double and triple, three runs and three RBI to carry the Pirates to an 11-3 win over the Boston Braves at Forbes Field. 
  • 1927 - The Brooklyn Robins crashed Big Poison’s party to take an 11-10 win at Forbes Field by scoring four runs in the ninth. Waner had just been married the day before, and the Pirates held a “Paul Waner Day” for him. He was gifted with a car and celebrated with three hits. He was joined by LF Clyde Barnhart, who also collected three knocks to run his multi-hit streak to 10 games. That string ended the next day when he could only manage a single against Brooklyn. 
  • 1929 - OF/3B Frank Thomas was born in Pittsburgh. The local kid spent half of his 16 year career as a Pirate (1951-58) before being traded to the Reds. While a Buc, his line was .275/163/562 and he was a three time All-Star. 
  • 1948 - Dave Cash was born in Utica, New York. Drafted in 1966, he played his first five seasons in Pittsburgh (1969-73) and replaced Bill Mazeroski at second base in 1970. He hit .285 as a Bucco and was in the league for a dozen campaigns, having three All-Star seasons with Philadelphia. 
  • 1958 - Birthday boy Frank Thomas hit two homers‚ one a grand slam‚ and drove in seven runs as the Pirates pounded the Giants 14-6 at Seals Stadium. 
  • 2000 - The Bucs scored three runs in the first and five in the tenth and not much in between, but it was enough to down the KC Royals 10-6 at Kauffman Stadium. Warren Morris and Adrian Brown combined for eight hits, three RBI and six runs at the top of the lineup while Brian Giles drove in three clutch runs with a game-tying double in the ninth and a two run homer in the tenth. 
Adrian Brown 2001 Fleer Tradition series
  • 2001 - Kevin McClatchy fired GM Cam Bonifay after seven losing seasons and several costly and questionable free agent signings. Dave Littlefield was named his replacement a month later. 
  • 2003 - Aramis Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 22 games by going 3-for-5 against the Blue Jays at the Sky Dome in an 8-5 loss. Toronto pitching would end his string the next day. 
  • 2005 - The Pirates exploded for 20 hits to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 18-2, tallying the most runs scored by the club at PNC Park. The Bucs led 12-0 after six innings and cruised to the victory. Jose Castillo homered and knocked in a team-high five runs. Daryle Ward had four RBI and Ryan Doumit had three hits and three RBI. Ollie Perez struck out 10 batters in seven innings while picking up the win. 
  • 2013 - First overall pick of the 2011 draft, RHP Gerrit Cole, made his MLB debut at PNC Park and picked up an 8-2 win over the SF Giants in front of 30,614 fans. Cole pitched to contact, giving up two runs on seven hits with two K in 6-1/3 innings, needing just 81 pitches and registering 99 on the gun a couple of times during the evening. Pedro Alvarez went 3-for-3 with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI to spark the attack.

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