- 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. In 1918, Leifield became a player-coach for the St. Louis Browns, turning full-time by 1920. Lefty helped lead the 1922 Browns squad to the best season in team history with 93 wins (still a game shy of the Yankees, who won the flag). He also coached for the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox.
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| Lefty Leifield 1909 Pittsburg Press |
- 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. Maz has two high school fields named in his honor, belongs to several HoF’s, had his number retired, has a statue & street at PNC Park and still goes to Pirates camp every spring as an instructor and keeper of the flame.
- 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 after 1950 he played as a bench piece through the 1952 season.
- 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 after chasing Warren Spahn in a 9-7 win earlier in the day. Diomedes was in the show until 1963 between the Pirates and Cardinals; his brother, Chi-Chi, also tossed in the big leagues.
- 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’s mug graced the cover of Sports Illustrated for the story “Pittsburgh Pirates: Very Good to Excellent.” It ended up they were just very good; they finished 92-70, three games behind the LA Dodgers.
- 1974 - Coach Andy Barkett was born in Miami. The former 1B had a major league career of one month, spent in Pittsburgh (he did hit .305) in 2001. After a long tour of duty in the minors, Andy started coaching in the Marlins system in 2010, moved on to Detroit and then became the minor league hitting coach for the Pirates in 2016. He got the manager’s job at Indy when Dean Treanor left to become the Marlins bullpen coach in 2017.
- 1975 - C Rod Barajas was born in Ontario, California. Rod played for a dozen seasons, closing out his career in 2012 in Pittsburgh. He hit .206 in 104 games and surrendered 93 stolen sacks in 99 tries after signing a $4M FA contract at age 36. Hot Rod was released by Arizona in camp the following season, took a year off and has been managing in the Padres system since.
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| Rod Barajas 2012 Topps |
- 1991 - While presenting her Six-Year Development Plan address, Mayor Sophie Masloff said 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.
- 2007 - A 1909 T206 American Tobacco baseball card of Honus Wagner was sold for a record $2.8M to an anonymous buyer. 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. Jeff Robinson first turned the feat for the Bucs in 1987 against the Cubs Leon Durham, Andre Dawson and Rafael Palmeiro. Juan Nicasio became the third Pirate to toss an immaculate inning in 2016. As for the game, Ohlie’s effort went for naught when Albert Pujols bopped a 10th-inning pinch-hit homer off Matt Capps.
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| Ross Ohlendorf 2009 Tops Update |
- 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 for PNC Park.
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