9/5: HBD Maz, Lefty; Sophie's Stadium; Cover Boys; $2.8M Baseball Card; Immaculate Inning; Maz's Statue

• 1883 - LHP Paul “Lefty” Leifield was born in Trenton, Illinois. From 1906 to 1911, Leifield was part of the Pirate starting rotation, winning 15 or more games each season. In 1909, he went 19-8 as Pittsburgh won the NL pennant. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1912. Lefty was a Bucco for eight years from 1905-12, and his Pirate line was 109-84/2.38.
• 1929 - Pittsburgh banged out a homer, two doubles and four triples in a 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Redland Field. Lloyd Waner went 3-for-4 with two triples, two runs, and two RBI. His partner in crime was winning pitcher Erv Brame, who not only went the distance but also batted 3-for-4 with a homer, double, two runs and two RBI.
• 1936 - Bill Mazeroski was born in Wheeling, WV. The Hall-of-Fame second baseman was one of the defensive wizards of his time and will be remembered forever in Pittsburgh baseball lore for his walk-off homer in the 1960 World Series.

We agree (photo George Silk/Life Magazine)

• 1945 - The Bucs held a Honus Wagner night at Forbes Field. They could have used him in the lineup, losing to the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-3 in 10 innings in front of 19,504 faithful.
• 1950 - The Bronx Bombers bought 1B Johnny Hopp‚ who was second in the NL in hitting with a .340 mark‚ from the Pirates for an undisclosed amount of cash. Hopp was at the end of his career, and played through 1952 as a bench piece.
• 1958 - Bill Virdon hit a leadoff tenth inning walk-off homer to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 win over Milwaukee in a classic pitching duel between the Braves Carlton Willey and George “Red” Witt, who tossed a five hitter, at Forbes Field.
• 1960 - At the age of 41, LHP Diomedes Olivo made his MLB debut, pitching in relief of Harvey Haddix for the Pirates. The oldest rookie in NL history other than Satchel Paige tossed two goose eggs against Milwaukee at Forbes Field, giving up a hit to Eddie Matthews and a pair of walks. The Bucs lost 7-1, splitting a doubleheader with the Braves.

Diomedes Olivo (uncredited news clip)

• 1964 - Roberto Clemente was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Confidant Corsair.” Though the Pirates were a disappointing 80-82, Roberto led the NL with 211 hits and a .339 BA.
• 1966 - Harry "The Hat" Walker was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the story “Pittsburgh Pirates: Very Good to Excellent.” It ended up they were very good; they finished 92-70, three games behind the LA Dodgers.
• 1969 - Steve Blass beat the Cubs 9-2. Blass helped his own cause with his only MLB homer‚ a three run blast off Ken Holtzman‚ and three singles. The win was Pittsburgh's first at Wrigley since July 5th‚ 1968‚ ending a string of 13 straight losses. 1975 - Montreal and Pittsburgh use a record 15 pinch hitters in their doubleheader split. The Expos claim the opener 4-3 in 10 innings, and Pittsburgh won the nitecap 5-2 behind Jim Rooker.

Steve Blass (photo via UK Times)

• 1990 - The Pirates beat the Mets 1-0 and 3-1 at TRS to open a four game lead over New York in the NL East. Zane Smith pitched a one-hitter in the twilight DH’er opener for the Bucs and Neal Heaton won the nitecap. Barry Bonds drove in the first game’s only run in the ninth, singling home Gary Redus. Jeff King homered twice in the nightcap to account for all three Bucco runs. Pittsburgh swept all five of its doubleheaders that season.
• 1991 - Mayor Sophie Masloff said while presenting her Six-Year Development Plan address that the City would like to build a 44,000 seat baseball stadium “...so we will finish the job of securing the Pirates’ future in this City.” She planned to locate it on the North Shore, to be ready by the turn of the century, and wanted to call it Clemente Field. She may not have got all the details right, but became the prime mover, often against stiff opposition, for the eventual building of PNC Park, pushed through by her successor, Mayor Tom Murphy.
• 1992 - The Pirates won for the ninth time in ten games behind Bob Walk’s six hitter to defeat the LA Dodgers 6-1 at TRS. Barry Bonds did the heavy lifting with a three run homer in the third to give Walk all the runs he’d need.

Bob Walk 1992 Donruss series

• 2007 - A 1909 T206 American Tobacco baseball card of Honus Wagner was sold for a record $2.8M. The card is such a rarity because Wagner refused to license his image to the tobacco company, and only between 50-200 of the cards were ever printed.
• 2009 - In seventh inning of the Pirates' 2-1 loss to St. Louis at PNC Park, Ross Ohlendorf tossed the Bucs’ second-ever “immaculate inning,” striking out the side on nine pitches. He fanned Kevin Greene, Julio Logo and Jason LaRue, all who were thrown out at first after swinging at pitches in the dirt.
• 2010 - Bill Mazeroski’s statue was dedicated at PNC Park outside the RF gate, located on Mazeroski Way (where else?) and unveiled on his 74th birthday. Pittsburgh sculptor Susan Wagner created the likeness. Susan also molded the Clemente and Stargell monuments at PNC Park.