7/12: Cordoba/Rincon No-No; TRS ASG; Pud Joins Up; HBD Dave Ricketts, Gorzo; Bonds Hits #100

• 1885 – The Buffalo Bisons sold P Pud Galvin to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys for $5,000. Galvin won 138 games pitching for the Alleghenys, Burghers and Pirates through 1892. From the HOF (he was inducted in 1965): “Jim 'Pud' Galvin was baseball's first 300-game winner. Short and stocky, The Little Steam Engine was a tireless worker with a deceptive pick-off move. The gentlemanly Galvin pitched for 14 Major League seasons, earning 20 or more victories 10 times and twice topping the 40-win mark. When he retired in 1892, he was the all-time Major League leader in wins, innings pitched, games started, games completed and shutouts. He was nicknamed Pud because his pitching process supposedly turned opposing batters into pudding.”

Pud Galvin 1872 Old Judge series

• 1894 - Lee Meadows was born in Oxford, NC. The righty spent the last seven seasons (1923-29) of his 15 year career with the Pirates, going 88-52/3.50 for the Pirates. He was hardly used his last two seasons, but in the first five was a workhorse, leading the NL with 20 wins in 1926 and winning 19 games twice. Meadows was part of two World Series teams, the winning 1925 club and the losing 1927 squad.
• 1902 - Jack Chesbro pitched a five hit shutout and struck out 11 Giants to beat Christy Mathewson, 4-0 at Exposition Park despite the Buccos losing five straight runners via baserunning errors. With two outs in the third, Ginger Beaumont was on second base and was tossed out trying to advance to third on a grounder to short. In the fourth, Honus Wagner led off with a triple, but was thrown out at the plate on Kitty Bransfield's grounder to first; Bransfield was then caught trying to steal second. Claude Ritchey drew a walk and got picked off first. Jimmy Burke led off the fifth with a double and tried to stretch it into a triple, but was tagged out by Matty, covering the bag.
• 1933 - The Pirates blew an 8-0 lead in the ninth as the Boston Braves rallied to tie the score at Forbes Field, leading to Larry French’s "Soap Game." Per Bob Fulton’s 1999 Pittsburgh Pirates History: “French figured he could duck out of the bullpen and hit the showers early. Little did he know as he was getting clean that the Braves had rallied to make the score 8-7. When the call came for French to pitch, he didn't even have time to rinse off. He put on his uniform and hustled out to the mound with soap trickling down his neck.” French tossed 1-⅔ IP perfectly and earned the win as the Bucs came back to take a 9-8 decision. Arky Vaughan helped, too - he doubled, banged two triples and drove in five runs.

Larry French (The Sporting News Collection)

• 1935 - Dave Ricketts was born in Pottstown. At Duquesne, he was a two-way star, playing on a pair of Duke NIT teams. He spent most of his MLB career as a back-up catcher for St. Louis, spending 1970 with the Bucs. Ricketts retired after that and coached in Pittsburgh from 1971-74 and was part of the World Series team.
• 1938 - The Pirates won their 13th straight game, 14-6 over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, as C Al Todd homered and drove home five runs. With their 40th victory in their last 54 games‚ the Bucs were in the NL lead for the first time that season. Ed Brandt got the win and Rip Sewell notched a save.
• 1949 - Pittsburgh sent OF Ralph Kiner to Ebbet’s Field for the All-Star Game, won 11-7 by the AL. Kiner went just 1-for-5, but his hit left the park for a two run homer.
• 1955 - OF Frank Thomas was the only Pirate player in the All Star Game at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. He went 0-for-1 in a 6-5 NL win.
• 1959 - Roberto Clemente kept ElRoy Face’s win streak alive when he cracked a bases loaded single off the right field wall in the tenth to rally the Bucs to a 6-5 win over the Cards at Forbes Field. Face had blown the save in the ninth, but settled down and was on the hill for the win. Dick Groat and Danny Kravitz carried the attack with three hits.

ElRoy Face 1953 Topps series

• 1966 - The NL edged the AL 2-1 at Busch Stadium in the All-Star game. OF Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4 with a double, OF Willie Stargell 0-for-1 and P Bob Veale sat.
• 1982 - Tom Gorzelanny was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois. The lefty was a second round draft pick of the Pirates in 2003, and spent the first 4-1/2 years (2005-09) of his career in Pittsburgh with a 25-26/4.79 line before being traded to the Cubs.
• 1988 - The AL pitchers outdid their senior circuit counterparts in a 2-1 victory in the All Star game at Riverfront Stadium. 3B Bobby Bonilla went 0-for-4 and OF Andy Van Slyke was 0-for-2. Bob Walk pitched to one batter, Carney Lansford, with two outs in the seventh and a runner on second and got him to ground out.
• 1990 - Barry Bonds hit his 100th career home run off Andy Benes in the first inning in a 4-3, 15-inning win over the San Diego Padres. Jeff King drilled a two-out single to right to score Dan Bilardello for the win at TRS after the Friars bullpen had tossed 9-⅔ innings without giving up a run. Bob Patterson got the victory after tossing three scoreless frames; the Bucco relief corps put up 7-⅓ frames of shutout ball.

Barry Bonds 1990 Upper Deck series

• 1994 - The largest crowd in Pittsburgh baseball history, 59,568, turned out as Three Rivers Stadium played host to baseball's 65th All-Star Game. It was one of the most exciting All-Star games ever held. Tony Gwynn led off the 10th with a single and came around to score the game-winning run on a double by Moises Alou as the NL posted an 8-7 victory. 2B Carlos Garcia was the Pirates lone representative, and went 1-for-2 with a single. Bucco legend Willie Stargell tossed out the ceremonial first ball.
• 1997 - Mark Smith's pinch-hit, three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th off John Hudek capped a no-hitter by Francisco Cordova (nine innings) and Ricardo Rincon (one inning) against the Houston Astros. (Lanny Frattare’s call: "Home run! No hitter! You've got it all!") It was the first combined, extra-inning no-hitter in MLB history, and the first time that TRS was sold out for a game other than a home opener, drawing 44,119 fans for fireworks night. Little did they know...

Francisco Cordoba & Ricardo Rincon 1998 Upper Deck series

• 2002 - The Pirates rode two-run homers by Brian Giles, Kevin Young and Jack Wilson to a 9-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Sean Lowe got the win in relief of Jimmy Anderson, who was yanked in the third after giving up his seventh hit.
• 2005 - The AL whipped the NL at Comerica Park 7-5 in the All Star game. The Pirates sent Jason Bay as their rep and was the only position player for either side not to play, though he did get some swings in as a participant of the home run derby.
• 2008 - The Pirates scored four times in the ninth and twice in the 10th to outlast the St. Louis Cardinals 12-11 at PNC Park in a game. They were losing 9-3 going into the seventh inning, but scored in that frame, the eighth, ninth and tenth to rally for the victory. Nate McLouth hit a three run homer and Jay Bay later drove in the tying run in the final frame on a first-and-third force out that the Cards couldn’t convert into a DP. Jason Michaels ripped a two-run shot in the 10th to walk off a winner. Bay had two long balls and five RBI to lead the offense. Adam LaRoche also had a dinger, as the Bucs launched five balls over the fence during the game.

Jason Michaels 2009 Topps Black Border series

• 2011 - The NL took a 5-1 decision from the AL All-Stars at Chase Field. OF Andrew McCutchen and pitchers Joel Hanrahan and Kevin Correia were named to the team. Cutch went 0-for-1, Hanny pitched to two batters with a strikeout and single, and KC didn’t get in.
• 2013 - Pittsburgh scored twice in the first on Pedro Alvarez’s homer (he had been selected to play in the All-Star Home Run Derby as an injury replacement just days before by NY’s David Wright, who was booed mercilessly by the PNC Park crowd for ignoring El Toro the first time around) and then went nine more frames before posting another run, but it all worked out as the Bucs took a 3-2, 11 inning win from the Mets. Jordy Mercer singled home Andrew McCutchen after two outs with the winning run to give the Pirates’ sixth pitcher, Vin Mazzaro, the victory.
• 2014 - The Bucs blew a 4-0 lead to the Reds at GABP after Charlie Morton was touched up for a five-spot in the sixth inning, but managed to tie the game in the ninth on Andrew McCutchen’s solo homer off Jonathan Broxton and won it in the 11th when clutch Cutch homered again off JJ Hoover to deliver a 6-5 victory. McCutchen had three hits, as did Jordy Mercer and Travis Snider. Six Pirate relievers shut the door on Cincinnati, with Justin Wilson picking up the W and Jeanmar Gomez earning his first MLB save.