4/12 Happenings & Games: Little Poison Debut; Starg, Thompson Winners; Veale Gem; Dead Ball & More...

• 1927 - Lloyd Waner made his Pirate debut in left field for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His brother Paul, was in right field in the Bucs' 2–1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Redland Field. Little Poison collected his first hit and scored the winning run, driven in by his brother to back Ray Kremer’s six-hitter. 

Lloyd had his own playing card as a 1927 rookie.

• 1937 - The Pirates and White Sox played an exhibition game with a new experimental “dead ball.” The score ended up 9-6 Chicago, though all but one hit was a single (that was a double) so it was a sort of a “glass half full” result.
• 1958 - On a recommendation from former GM Branch Rickey’s bud President Dwight D. Eisenhower‚ the Pirates signed RHP Preston Bruce‚ the son of the White House doorkeeper, and assigned him to Salem in the short-season Class D Appalachian League. DDE was a better general than scout; Bruce put up a 15.60 ERA and his pro career ended the following season.
• 1965 - Bob Bailey hit a lead-off, walk-off homer to give Bob Veale a 1-0 win in 10 innings over the Giants’ Juan Marichal (both guys went the distance) at Forbes Field in the Bucco Opener. The two big boys on the hill were spectacular, combining to surrender just eight hits total and a walk apiece while whiffing 19 batters.
• 1966 - The first MLB game played in Atlanta featured Braves' hurler Tony Cloninger pitching 13 innings and fanning 12 in a losing effort to the Pirates, 3-2. Willie Stargell hit a two-run, two out homer in the 13th to provide the winning runs for Don Schwall and disappoint the 50,671 fans at Fulton County Stadium.

Willie Stargell 2014 Topps Archive

• 1983 - In the eighth inning of the home opener, Bill Madlock took a long lead off first with 1B Keith Hernandez playing well behind him. Bruce Sutter checked the runner and spun off the mound to chase him back - and beat him to the bag for an unassisted pickoff! The Bucs lost to the Cards 4-3.
• 1985 - In their first night home opener, the Bucs prevailed over the Cards 6-4. A crowd of 47,335 watched Maz throw out the first pitch and Jason Thompson mash a two-run homer. Starter John Candelaria came on to earn the save of Don Robinson’s win.
• 2002 - Cubbie Sammy Sosa set the PNC Park long-distance record with a 484’ home run off Dave Williams during a 7-3 Chicago victory.

Jack Wilson turned a trio - 2009 Upper Deck

• 2009 - With runners on the move from first and second base, the Reds' Edwin Encarnacion's soft liner liner to Pirates' SS Jack Wilson was turned into a triple play (Wilson-Sanchez-LaRoche), the Bucs' first since 1993. Pittsburgh still lost at Great American Ball Park by a 2-0 score on Aaron Harang’s three-hitter, the first MLB shutout of the year. The game’s only runs came on a first-inning, two-out, two-run homer by Brandon Phillips off Ian Snell.