- 1908 - RHP Bill Swift was born in Elmira, New York. He tossed eight seasons (1932-39) for the Bucs, with a 91-79/3.57 record. Swift was a staff workhorse, going 200+ innings and picking up double-digit wins in his first five seasons, topping out with 16 W in 1936. He wasn’t a power guy, with just 3.4 K/nine during his Pittsburgh career, but gave up less than two walks per game and a homer just once every 18 frames.
- 1927 - Paul Waner doubled twice in a 14-7 loss to the Cubs to extend his NL record extra base hit streak (12 doubles‚ 4 triples‚ 4 homers) to 14 straight games. The streak ended the next day but has held up well, being matched only by Chipper Jones in 2006.
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| Paul Waner 1927 image Spaulding Die Cut |
- 1939 - Arky Vaughan hit for his second career cycle, going 5-for-5 against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. He scored four runs and had two RBI in a 10-3 Pirate win.
- 1942 - Paul “Big Poison” Waner‚ now 39 and a Boston Brave‚ joined Cap Anson and Honus Wagner as the only NL players with 3‚000 hits with a fifth inning single to center off Rip Sewell, appropriately at Forbes Field. The game was stopped as the ball was presented to him, and both teams gathered round to offer their congratulations. Pittsburgh won the game in 11 innings, 7-6. Waner’s hit should have been 3,001. Two days earlier, he was given a hit on a ball that glanced off a glove; Waner had the scorer change it to an error so his 3,000th would be a clean knock.
- 1949 - Jerry Reuss was born in St. Louis. The lefty spent six seasons with the Pirates (1974-78, 90) and put up a 61-46/3.52 line as a rotation mainstay. He won 220 games in a 22 year big league career. Jerry spent time as a coach and major/minor league announcer after his playing days ended, also writing his 2014 autobiography “Bring In the Righthander.”
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| Jerry Reuss 1976 Topps |
- 1972 - Roberto Clemente’s two-run homer off Mike Strahler in the eighth inning of a 13-3 romp over the Dodgers at 3RS gave him the franchise lead in RBI with 1,274. He would finish his career with 1,305 runs batted in, third on the all-time Pirate list.
- 1975 - Jerry Reuss gave himself a birthday gift by shutting out the Cards 5-0 at TRS, tossing a complete game six-hitter with seven K. Homers by Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Bill Robinson gave the southpaw all the run support he needed.
- 1993 - GM Ted Simmons resigned after suffering a heart attack on June 8th. He was succeeded by Cam Bonifay.
- 2010 - 38,008 fans showed up at PNC Park to take part in the 1960 World Series team reunion. The old champs provided some inspiration for the new crew, who broke a 12-game losing streak by beating the Cleveland Indians 6-4. Lastings Milledge was a homer short of the cycle and had four RBI while Andrew McCutchen had a pair of hits, drew three walks and scored four runs.
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| Lastings Milledge 2010 Topps Heritage |
- 2010 - The Pirates fired racing pirogi Andrew Kurtz after he criticized John Russell and Neal Huntington’s secret contract extensions on his Facebook page. The 24-year old, who was reinstated by Pittsburgh after much media ado, was offered a position by the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League to become one of its racing hot dogs.
- 2014 - The Bucs scored three times in the fifth on a balk and two out singles by Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen, but it took them 12 innings to subdue the Reds 4-3 at PNC Park. A single, balk, intentional walk and hit batter loaded the bases for Russ Martin with two outs, and he drew a walk-off walk for the win. Justin Wilson, the sixth Pirate pitcher of the day, got the win.
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