4/12 Happenings & Games: Waner Debut; Triple Play; Tanner's 1st; Pickoff; Dead Ball; Scout Ike; Sosa Bomb; Game Stories

• 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. 

Spoiler: He could (Pittsburgh Press 1928)

• 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 Pirates helped christen brand-new Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium by beating the Braves, 3-2, in 13 innings before a crowd of 50,671. The game-winning blow was a two-run dinger by Willie Stargell off Tony Cloninger to give Don Schwall the win behind starter Bob Veale and fireman ElRoy Face. Face in the ninth and Schwall in the 11th had to work their way out of bases-loaded jams to secure the victory. All five runs were driven in by homers; Jim Pagliaroni went long for the Pirates and Joe Torre hit a pair of solo shots for Atlanta. 

Chuck Tanner 1978 Topps

• 1977 - Chuck Tanner won his first game as Bucco skipper (in his fourth try) as the Bucs edged the Montreal Expos 2-1 at TRS. Duffy Dyer chased home the first tally in the fifth and Rennie Stennett’s walk-off double with one out in the ninth won it; Phil Garner scored both runs. Jerry Reuss started for the Bucs; Kent Tekulve came on in the seventh to calm a rally and Goose Gossage finished for the win. The big story was the Pirates continued lack of support among the fans; only 4,042 faithful showed up on a day that was sunny with 80-degree temps. 
• 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 in 10 innings. The Bucs had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the 10th, but Madlock hit a comebacker 1-2-3 DP and Gene Tenace flew out to turn out the lights. They blew another golden chance in the sixth with the bases juiced and one out when Tony Pena banged into a 4-6-3 DP. 
• 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 of a game started by Larry McWilliams while Doug Frobel and Tony Pena led the attack with a pair of hits each. 

Jason Thompson 1985 Fleer

• 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. It was a dismal showing all around; the Pirates were held to five hits while the Cubbies cranked out three homers. 
• 1993 - Dave Otto won his first start as a Buc (he was taken as a minor league draft pick from the Indians during the winter) by a 4-2 count over San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium. He gave up two runs and four hits over six innings after being staked to an early 3-0 lead, keyed by a Kevin Young triple. Dave also got his first MLB hit and RBI to help himself. He made a good first impression as a spot starter, place-holding the injured Zane Smith’s place in the rotation, but ended the year 3-4/5.03 in his only Pittsburgh campaign. 
• 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.