9/8 From the 40s Forward: HBD Jimmy, Mike & Gerrit; Cobra Granny, Lonnie Dealt; Andrew Cover Boy; Game Stories...

• 1940 - The Pirates brought their sticks to Sportsman’s Park, taking a doubleheader from the Cardinals by 16-14 and 5-4 tallies. Pittsburgh banged two homers (Maurice Van Robays & Debs Garms), and triple and seven doubles (two by Frankie Gustine) to overcome Johnny Mize’s three homers to take the opener. The Pirates scored five in the shortened five inning nitecap, tallying three times in the last frame for the win. Bob Elliott and Arky Vaughan went 4-for-6 in tandem, with a double, two triples and all five RBI, driving in Garms, who went 3-for-3 with two doubles, three times before darkness ended the game. 

Jimmy Smith 1983 Topps

• 1954 - SS Jimmy Smith was born in Santa Monica, California. After six years in the minors with Baltimore and the Mets, he was purchased by the Bucs in 1981. After a year at Portland, the 28-year-old spent the 1982 campaign as the Pirates back-up shortstop to Dale Berra and pinch-runner, batting .238. He played with the White Sox at AAA Denver the following year before hangin’ up the spikes. 
• 1958 - Roberto Clemente tied a modern day record held by many with three triples against Cincinnati at Forbes Field, leading the Pirates to a 4-1 win. He was stranded after the first three-bagger, thrown out at home trying for an inside-the-park HR after the second, and finally scored after the third when Dick Stuart singled him home. Curt Raydon got the win, his last in MLB, and banged out his only major league hit in 49 plate appearances. Arm troubles kept him out of the majors after a solid 8-4/3.62 debut, and after treading water in the minors for three seasons, he hung ‘em up after the 1961 campaign. 
• 1966 - RHP Mike Dyer was born in Upland, California. He spent the middle of his four-year MLB tenure with the Pirates in 1994-95, getting a lot of work in the second campaign (55 appearances, 74+ IP) but put up a disappointing line of 5-6-4/4.60 as too few K’s and too many BBs took their toll. Mike got one more chance with Montreal in 1996, put up another so-so slash and that ended his big league run, with his last year (2000) spent in the indie leagues.

Jose Martinez 1970 Topps

• 1969 - The Bucs fell behind 2-0 in the first against Montreal at Jarry Park, and it stayed that way for most of the chilly night. The Pirates warmed up just in time, plating an unearned run in the eighth and scoring five times in the ninth to rally past the Expos 6-4. A single, intentional walk and and two errors tied the game for Pittsburgh and loaded the bases for rookie utilityman Jose Martinez, who entered the game as a pinch runner and stayed to play short. He banged his first (and only) big league homer into the left field seats to give Chuck Hartenstein the win, with Bruce Dal Canton picking up the save. Gene Alley stretched his hitting streak to 21 games; it would reach 22 before the Cards ended his run. 
• 1974 - Dave Parker broke up a tight game with a an eighth inning grand slam off Tom Walker as the Bucs beat the Montreal Expos 8-2 at TRS. It was the Cobra’s only at-bat; he came in as a pinch hitter for Frank Taveras. Jim Rooker tossed a six hitter for the win. It marked the Pirates sixth straight victory and 25th win in the past 31 games. 
• 1990 - RHP Gerrit Cole was born in Newport Beach, California. The UCLA grad was selected by the Pirates with the first overall selection in the 2011 MLB Draft and signed to an $8M bonus minutes before the deadline. He made his debut in the show on June 11th, 2013, going 6-⅓ IP to beat the Giants 8-2 and now is the top gun in the Bucco rotation with double-digit wins posted in four of his five Pirates campaigns. 

Lonnie Smith 1993 Upper Deck

• 1993 - OF Lonnie Smith (.286, six HR) was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for PTBNL OF/1B Stanton Cameron and LHP Terry Farrar. Lonnie, who the Bucs had signed in January as a $1M free agent, did next to nothing for the O’s and was out of baseball after the 1994 season while the Bird’s duo were both playing indie ball by 1996. 
• 2000 - Pittsburgh swept the Reds 7-3 and 3-1 to run their season-best winning streak to eight games at TRS (it ended the next day, beginning a nine-game losing streak). Todd Ritchie won the opener and Marc Wilkins, one of seven Pirate pitchers, took the nitecap victory. Alex Hernandez had three hits on the day, including a homer and triple. 
• 2014 - Andrew McCutchen was the cover boy on Sports Illustrated for the second time in his career. He was featured in Albert Chen’s article “Andrew McCutchen Goes Deep.” It was almost a year to the day after his first SI cover shot on September 9th, 2013. 

• 2015 - In the first game of a doubleheader against the Reds, Aramis Ramirez made his first career start at the first base. Before that, A-Ram had played 18 seasons and 2,096 games at third base and nowhere else other than DH or pinch hitter. He lasted six innings, going 3-for-3 in chances fielded and appeared at first base four more times during the campaign.