6/12: Dock's No-No,10,000 Wins, HBD Willie, HoF Opens, Hitman's Cycle, Kitten's Night & More

• 1904 - LHP Willie Foster was born in Lorman, Mississippi. He pitched for the Homestead Grays in 1932 (8-1, 2.08) and the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1-2) in 1936 on his way to the Hall of Fame. The southpaw later coached at Alcorn State.
• 1928 - The Pirates set a record, later tied, by having seven batters collect three hits or more in a game when they beat the Phillies 15-4 at the Baker Bowl. Ray Kremer, the Bucco pitcher, led the parade with four knocks. Pittsburgh had 25 hits, with every starting player chipping in. 

Ray Kremer 1925 (photo The Sporting News Collection)

• 1939 - The Baseball Hall of Fame opened to the public in the greatest gathering of baseball starpower ever put together. The Hall named its first five inductees in 1936 (Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner, and Christy Mathewson) and added on until the building was ready. Hans, in the first HOF vote, tied for second with the Babe. They were outpolled only by the Georgia Peach, Cobb.
• 1956 - Roberto Clemente's fifth inning, two-out, two-run homer into Crosley Field's right-centerfield bleachers gave Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. An out earlier, pinch hitter Jack Shepherd launched a two run shot that cut Cincy’s lead to one after the Reds had scored three times in the first off Bob Friend. Roy face pitched 4-1/3 shutout innings of relief for the win. The victory put the Pirates ½ game ahead of the Reds in the standings.
• 1959 - In the start after his 12 perfect innings against the Braves, the Pirates held Harvey Haddix Night at Forbes Field. The Cardinals Don Blasingame, the leadoff hitter, singled on the third pitch, but The Kitten rolled to a 3-0, complete game shutout of St. Louis in front of 28,644 fans.

Harvey Haddix Panini Golden Age 2014

• 1969 - SS Freddie Patek’s boot led to two unearned runs in a three run third for Houston, but Roberto Clemente’s game tying two run shot in the sixth and pinch hitter Carl Taylor’s two out single in the ninth to score Manny Sanguillen gave the Bucs a 4-3 win. Jim Bunning went the distance for the W at the Astrodome.
• 1970 - During the first game of a twin bill at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, Dock Ellis walked eight batters but no-hit the Padres, 2-0, to become the fourth Pirate pitcher to accomplish the feat. He later claimed he was high on LSD while pitching that day. SD took the nitecap 5-2.
• 1980 - Mike Easler, The Hit Man, lived up to his name by hitting for the cycle as the Bucs won 10-6 over the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium. John Milner and Dale Berra homered while Phil Garner drilled a pair of doubles to give Jim Bibby, with help from Enrique Romo, the win.
• 1999 - Ed Sprague, Kevin Young and Jason Kendall homered, Al Martin had four hits and the Bucs banged out five doubles to edge the KC Royals 9-8 at TRS. Sprague singled home Adrian Brown in the ninth for a walk off win to earn Jason Christiansen the W.
• 2001 - The Pirates put up nine runs in the fourth inning to run away with a 13-3 win over the Tigers at Comerica Park. Abraham Nunez had a bases loaded triple, Rob Mackowiak banged a two run homer and John Van Der Wal added a two run single in the big frame. Brian Giles homered and doubled for four RBI to match Nunez’s game total as the Bucs hammered seven extra base hits.

Abraham Nunez 1999 SP Signature

• 2013 - The Pirates collected their 10,000th franchise win when they beat the Giants 12-8 at PNC Park. 236 wins were collected as the Alleghenys of the American Association and 9,764 W were notched in the NL (which are the only ones the team officially recognizes). The top of the Pirate order (Starling Marte - Jordy Mercer - Andrew McCutchen - Gaby Sanchez) propelled the win against SF, going 13-for-19 and scoring eight runs while driving in four. It marked the fourth time in the last 59 seasons that the top four hitters in the Bucs starting lineup each had at least three hits (last happening in 2004), and Marte became only Pirate leadoff hitter since 1916 with a four-hit, four-run, two-steal day.
• 2015 - The Pirates took 13 innings, along with an 86 minute rain delay, to defeat the Phils 1-0 at PNC Park. It wasn’t much of a pitching duel, actually - the teams were a combined 1-for-19 with RISP and stranded 30 runners; the Phils had at least two men aboard in six of the innings and the Bucs in five. Both sides used seven pitchers, with Antonio Bastardo getting his first Pirate win thanks to Starling Marte single that scored Chris Stewart.