5/25 TRS-PNC Park Era: Wild Children; Fog Out; Rhoden's #100; Quail in MO HoF; Game Stories; HBD Brad

• 1975 - 1B Randall Simon was born in Willemstad, Curaçao. He played for six teams in eight big league seasons, including stops in Pittsburgh in 2003 and 2004. He hit .245 as a Bucco and received more acclaim for his sausage-swat in Milwaukee than he did on the field. He played briefly for the Rays and Phils after his Pirates days, finishing his career with stops in the minors, Mexico, Japan and the indie leagues. 

Randall Simon 2002 Topps Heritage

• 1979 - Due to fog, the Buc-Met match ended in a 3-3 tie after 11 innings and a 73-minute delay. The umps gave up when Bill Robinson lost a routine fly ball in the Shea Stadium mist. The runner ended up on third, Robinson chewed out second base umpire Billy Williams over the playing conditions, and the boys in blue called everyone in. After a long wait, they declared it a tie to be replayed in its entirety. 
• 1983 - In the third inning of an eventual 6-0 loss to the Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Pirates' starter Jim Bibby (4) and reliever Jim Winn (3) combined to walk seven consecutive batters to tie a major league mark set back in 1909 by Washington’s William Gray and set the NL high water mark. The free passes all came after two were out and accounted for four of the Bravos’ six tallies. 
• 1985 - Rick Rhoden won his 100th game and SS Bill Almon hit his first grand slam while driving in five runs as the Pirates thumped the Braves 8-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. 

Brad Lincoln 2010 Topps Update

• 1985 - RHP Brad Lincoln was born in Lake Arthur, Texas. A first round (fourth overall - $2.75M bonus) draft pick of the Bucs in 2003, his career was detoured by TJ surgery in 2007. He came back to toss for the Pirates from 2010-12, slashing 7-9-1/4.62 for Pittsburgh before being traded to Toronto for Travis Snider, both highly rated prospects in need of a change of scenery. It didn’t help Brad much, and in the next three years he made 48 appearances before his MLB career ended in 2014. He tried to comeback with the Bucs and spent 2015 at Indy where he had pedestrian numbers. He hasn’t tossed professionally since. 
• 1993 - Steve Cooke threw the first shutout of his big league career, only giving up four hits, in the Pirates 2-0 victory over the Florida Marlins at TRS. It was truly Cooke’s day as he also hit a two-run double, providing the Pirates with their only scoring. 
• 2007 - The Pirates exploded for eight runs in the 10th inning as they banged out six hits and took advantage of a hit batter, walk and error. They sent twelve players to the plate in a 10-4 victory over the Reds at Great American Ballpark. Ronny Paulino and Xavier Nady each had a pair of RBI in the extra frame, while Nady and Jay Bay added earlier homers. Jonah Bayless picked up the win after facing two batters in the ninth. 

Steady Freddy 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter

• 2009 - The Pirates beat the Cubs, 10-8, at Wrigley Field. Freddy Sanchez went 6-for-6 with four runs, three RBI, a double and a homer to become first Pirate in 19 years (since Wally Backman in 1990) to have six hits in a game. The Bucs had just finished an interleague set against the White Sox, and became the first team in major league history to play back-to-back series against the Cubs and White Sox in Chicago. 
• 2013 - The Bucs hit four homers, two by Pedro Alvarez, and Jeff Locke ran his scoreless streak to 14 frames in a 5-2 win at Milwaukee’s Miller Field. For Locke, it was his sixth start out of the last seven giving up three or fewer hits. 
• 2016 - David Freese’s two-run homer capped a four-run fifth inning and proved the game-winner as the Pirates squeaked past the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 at PNC Park, overcoming an early 3-0 deficit in front of 20,696 fans. Clint Hurdle earned his 475th win as manager of the Pirates, tying him with skipper (and Hall of Fame 3B) Pie Traynor for the sixth-most victories in franchise history. Gregory Polanco had three hits and Sean Rodriguez also homered for the Pirates, while Mark Melancon earned his 16th save to ice Jeff Locke’s win. 

David Freese 2016 (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

• 2017 - The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame unveiled a statue of the 1955 NL Rookie of the Year and 1960 World Series Champion CF’er Bill Virdon on its Legends Walkway. The Springfield HoF statue was created by St. Louis artist Harry Weber and models Virdon as a Bucco making a catch of a Yogi Berra drive during the 1960 WS. The Quail is a native a West Plains, Missouri.