4/13 From 1980: In First; Networking; Cover Boy; Game Stories; HBD Steve

• 1983 - 1B Steve Pearce was born in Lakeland, Florida. An eighth-round pick in the 2005 draft, he spent bits and pieces of five seasons (2007-11) in Pittsburgh, hitting .232, and was a magnet for nagging injuries. He has since carved out an MLB role in the AL, playing for Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston. 
• 1986 - AT&T SportsNet first hit the air as the Pirates Cable Network, operated by TCI. Its first telecast was on that date, featuring a game between the Pirates and Chicago Cubs from Three Rivers Stadium, an 8-0 Bucco win announced by Mike Lange. It didn’t remain so for long. The network rebranded on April 24th as the KBL Entertainment Network to reflect that other sports besides baseball (mainly the Penguins) were to be included in the network. KBL’s first regular broadcast was against the New York Mets in early June. In 1994, it became Prime Sports KBL, then two years later Fox Sports Pittsburgh, followed by Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh and once more as FSN Pittsburgh. That whole Fox thing lasted until 2011, when it became Root Sports. In 2017, it flipped to its current network, AT&T SportsNet. 

• 1987 - Barry Bonds was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Blossoming Buc.” Although he was still a couple of seasons away from breaking out, he went on to hit .261 with 25 homers, 99 runs, 59 RBI and 32 stolen sacks in the 1987 campaign. 
• 1988 - The Pirates took over first place for the first time since 1983 with a convincing 7-0 win over the Phils at TRS. Brian Fisher took a five-hitter into the eighth, with Jim Gott coming on to coax the final four outs while Chico Lind and Spanky LaValliere had five hits between and scored five of the Bucco runs. Sadly, it was a long season, and the Bucs finished in second with 85 wins but far off the pace of the Mets 100-win campaign. Al Pedrique had an unidentified lady fan leap over the railing in the eighth, and she told Al “You’re a good looking guy and I’d like to shake you hand” and that’s what they did, leading to some joshing post-game by his teammates that he didn’t end up with a smooch. Fisher said “Al’s not married and in that situation...you’ve got to get a little peck at least.” Another unwritten rule... 
• 1996 - Carlos Garcia took Montreal lefty Jeff Fassero deep for the 8,000th home run in Pirate history during a 9-3 Buc win at TRS. His fourth-inning blast opened the floodgates - Jeff King, Jay Bell, and Mark Johnson all went yard after him. Garcia had three hits and Paul Wagner worked seven innings of five-hit shutout ball for the win, although the pen wasn’t exactly efficient in closing it out after him. 
• 2009 - Zach Duke pitched a four-hit, complete game shutout at PNC Park as the Pirates defeated Houston 7–0 in the home opener. Both the Bucs and the Astros wore Pittsburgh Police hats in honor of three officers who were shot and killed on April 4th. The pre-game ceremonies honored the trio, including a flyover by four Apache helicopters, as well as former pitcher and current broadcaster Steve Blass for his 50th season with the team. Adam LaRoche had three hits, including a homer, and Freddy Sanchez banged out three doubles. 

Zachster 2009 Topps

• 2010 - The Pirates flashed some leather to beat the Giants 6-5 at AT&T Park. Paul Maholm hit the ground to snag Aubrey Huff’s ball and in one motion shoveled it and his glove to 1B Jeff Clement to while doing a backflip. The game icer in the bottom of the ninth came when Garrett Jones, at 1B after a double switch, made a diving grab of Pablo Sandoval's liner to end the game after Octavio Dotel had already surrendered two ninth-inning runs. Jones had Kung Fu Panda’s number; he also threw him out at the plate from RF earlier in the game. Every win was precious; the Bucs only had 57 of them that campaign, costing John Russell his job. 
• 2012 - James McDonald spoiled Matt Cain’s perfect game bid with a sixth inning, two-out solid single to left. He was the only Bucco to reach base in a 5-0 loss as Cain fanned 11 at AT&T Park in San Francisco’s home opener. 
• 2015 - Josh Harrison became the third Pirate (RJ Reynolds & Billy Cox were the others) to hit a leadoff homer to begin the Home Opener and it set the tone in the Bucs 5-4 win over Detroit at PNC Park. Pedro Alvarez and Corey Hart also went long in the victory. Gerrit Cole got the win and Mark Melancon finished up, although the Shark was touched for three ninth-inning tallies and had the tying run aboard with nobody out before finally nailing it down.