6/11: HBD Len, Frank & Dave; Cole Train Debuts at PNC; A-Ram, Clyde Streaks, 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.
• 1909 - Player/Manager Fred Clarke banged out five hits to lead the Pirates to an 8-1 win over the Brooklyn Superbas at Forbes Field. Clarke had a double, triple, a pair of stolen bases and three runs scored. Lefty Leifield claimed the win.

Fred Clarke circa 1900 (photo via Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

• 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 Maz galloped by after his Series-winning homer in 1960. Older fans will 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.
• 1925 - Emil Yde did it all. The multi-tasking lefty scattered nine hits and went 3-for-4 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 in the hit parade 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.

Paul Waner 1936 Goudey

• 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. Frank was as noted for his contract fights as he was for his 286 career homers.
• 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.
• 1977 - Dave Parker was featured as the cover story of The Sporting News in an article titled “Wham.” He was a whammer-jammer that campaign, leading the league with a .338 BA, 215 hits and 44 doubles to go with 21 HR, 88 RBI and 107 runs scored to earn his first All-Star berth with six more to follow (three with Pittsburgh).

• 1990 - Jay Bell went 2-for-2 with two triples and two RBI to lead the Pirates to an 8-7 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The Bucs took a 6-0 in the third inning before allowing St. Louis to tie the score in the seventh inning. In the eighth Jeff King untied it with a run-scoring single to plate Jose Lind to give Stan Belinda the win in relief, saved by Bill Landrum. King and Barry Bonds had three hits each to pace the attack.
• 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.
• 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 A-Ram's string the next day.

Aramis Ramirez 2003 Topps Series 1

• 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 for 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.