5/7 From the 40s Forward: Little Poison Trade; Five Solos; Three-In-One; Pop's 20th Year; Game Stories; HBD Mark & Keon

• 1941 - Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner was traded to the Boston Braves for pitcher Nick Strincevich, where he rejoined his brother Paul who had been released in the off-season. Afterward, he bumped around the NL, playing for four teams over four years before re-signing with Pittsburgh as an insurance policy in 1944. He retired after 1945, with 17 years and .319 BA as a Bucco on his way to the Hall of Fame. 

Little Poison 2006 Topps/Allen & Ginter

• 1944 - The Bucs beat the Cubs at Wrigley 3-2‚ Chicago's 12th loss in a row‚ to spoil Charlie Grimm's return as Cubs manager. The Pirates scored twice in the ninth to tie it off Hank Wyse and won it in the 11th frame for Xavier Rescigno, who relieved Preacher Roe. Pittsburgh also took the opener 6-5, and that one took 14 frames after the Cubs put up a pair to tie the game in the ninth. 
• 1958 - Bob Skinner‚ Ted Kluszewski (who hit another in the seventh) and Frank Thomas hit HRs in the fifth inning (Thomas also had a pair during the game) against the Giants at Seals Stadium‚ but it wasn’t enough firepower as SF won 8-6. 
• 1965 - The Pirates scored three times in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Reds, 5-4, at Forbes Field. Manny Mota delivered a two-out, walkoff single that brought home Gene Freese to complete the comeback. Tommie Sisk picked up the win in relief of starter Bob Friend. 
• 1970 - OF/1B Mark Smith was born in Pasadena, California. He only played for the Bucs for two seasons (1997-98) with a .249 BA and 11 HR in 366 PA, but delivered one of the franchise’s clutch blows when his pinch hit home run in the bottom of the 10th won the combined no hitter of Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon of July 12th, 1997 at TRS against Houston. 

Mark Smith 1998 Pacific Invincible

• 1973 - For the first time in baseball history, one team scored its five runs on five solo homers in a 5-4 Pirates win over LA at Dodger Stadium. The long balls were launched by Willie Stargell, Dave Cash, Richie Hebner, Manny Sanguillen, and Al Oliver. 
• 1977 - In a start-to-finish slugfest, the Pirates beat the Reds, 12-10 at TRS to improve their record to 16-7. Trailing 4-0 after a half-inning of play, Willie Stargell hit his first of two home runs in the bottom of the first, a three-run shot, and the game was afoot. Dave Parker extended his hitting streak to 18 games and Al Oliver went 2-for-4 with a home run. The two clubs combined for 26 hits of which 14 went for extra-bases, half of them homers. Terry Forster got the win with help from Grant Jackson and a save by Kent Tekulve. 
• 1981 - Still gimpy with a balky knee, 41-year-old Willie Stargell made his first appearance of the season playing 1B against the Reds at Riverfront Stadium in the second game of a twin bill. It was a big outing in that Pops became just the fourth player in MLB history to play 20 years for the same team he began with (the others were Cap Anson of the Cubs, Mel Ott of the Giants, and Stan Musial of the Cardinals), a streak that began in 1962. The bad wheel limited him to 38 games that season and 1982 would be his big league swan song. 

Willie Stargell 1981 Fleer

• 1990 - OF Keon Broxton was born in Lakeland, Florida. The Pirates purchased his contract from Arizona in 2013, and he was called up in September, 2016. He got into seven games and went 0-for-2, but scored three runs and stole a base as a pinch-runner. In December, Broxton was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers along with Trey Supak for 1B/3B Jason Rogers. Rogers became redundant when the Pirates signed David Freese while Broxton is trying to earn a regular spot in Milwaukee, featuring speed and flashing leather but having issues reaching base while decent power but with a sky-high K rate. 
• 2008 - The Pirates whipped the Giants, 3 - 1, at PNC Park. Second-year man Phil Dumatrait won his first MLB decision while vet Barry Zito lost his seventh game in seven starts. The game’s big blow was a two-run homer in the fourth by Xavier Nady. Dumatrait was a promising 26-year-old who tossed 5-2/3 IP of two-hit, shutout ball on this day, but would be cut down by arm surgery later in the year. He came back late in 2009, was ineffective in two starts and refused an assignment to the minors, ending up in Korea in 2010. He worked for the Twins in 2011 and retired the following season. 
• 2013 - Andrew McCutchen recorded his second four-hit outing in six games to lead the Pirates to a 4-1 win against the Mariners at PNC Park. Garrett Jones added a two-run homer in the eighth inning to ice it for the Buccos. Starter Jeanmar Gomez got the win and Jason Grilli the save in a game that saw five Bucco pitchers cover the final four frames. 

Cutch 2013 Panini Select Thunder Alley

• 2015 - The Pirates ended a five game skid (part of a 7-of-8 games losing string) as their bats came alive in a 7-2 win against Cincinnati. Pittsburgh had scored just five runs during their slide, dropping three walk-off losses to St. Louis and a shutout the day before. AJ Burnett got the win; the club had scored just five runs behind him in his first five starts. To add the cherry on top, AJ picked up strikeout #2,401, putting him among the top 40 whiff artists in baseball history. Andrew McCutchen broke out of a season-long slump with three hits to lead a balanced Bucco attack at PNC Park.