- 1952 - The Bucs stopped the Cards 2-1 at Forbes Field behind Howie Pollet. The game went just five frames as a thunderstorm washed away the final 12 outs. The rain also pulled the plug on Donora’s Stan Musial’s 24-game hitting streak; he walked and lined out in his only two at-bats before the weather turned soggy.
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| Howie Pollet - 1952 Topps |
- 1965 - 28,589 fans got their fill of baseball at Forbes Field when the Bucs split a twilight twin bill with the Reds. The contests started at 6:05 and ended at 1:42 AM, with the Pirates taking the opener 2-1 in 16 innings and dropping the second game 7-5. Cincy had 11 hits in the first game but went 1-for-11 w/RISP; the last of the Buccos six hits was a two-out rap by Roberto Clemente that scored Bob Bailey, making a winner of Steel City’s fourth hurler, Don Schwall. The Reds broke out of their malaise with a five-run fourth frame in game two to overcome two-hit outings by Clemente, Manny Mota and Donn Clendenon to hang the L on Joe Gibbon.
- 1967 - John Wehner was born in Carrick. The Rock was drafted out of Indiana University by the Pirates in the seventh round of the 1988 draft and the infielder spent nine seasons (1991-96, 1999-2001) with the Bucs as a utilityman, hitting .250. On October 1st, 2000, Wehner hit the final home run smacked at TRS. He played every position except pitcher during his career. John shares the major league record of 99 consecutive errorless games at third base with Jeff Cirillo and has a 1997 World Series ring won with the Florida Marlins under Jim Leyland. After a couple of years as a Bucco hitting coach at Altoona, he became an analyst on the Pirates’ TV team.
- 1968 - The Pittsburgh Press sports page lede was “M-000 000 000-se Blanks Phils” after Bob Moose twirled a two-hit, one walk, eight-K performance at Veterans Stadium to claim a 1-0 win. Both of the hits were weak, with one being a bad-hop single off Maury Wills’ mitt and the other a ball through the box that Moose didn’t react quickly enough to glove. His eight whiffs were of three Phillies - Dick Allen (4 times), Johnny Briggs (2) and pitcher Larry Jackson (2 - both on foul third strike bunts). The Buccos only score came in the ninth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Matty Alou hit a two-hopper to seven-time Gold Glove winner Bill White at first; it went through his wickets to allow Wills to score the game’s only run.
- 1977 - Pops Stargell became the first Pirates player to hit 400 career home runs when he connected in the fifth frame off Eric Rasmussen in a 9-1 win at Busch Stadium. Bill Robinson had a four-bagger and double while Phil Garner added a long ball against the Cards. Bruce Kison and Goose Gossage combined for a seven-hitter. Captain Willie finished his career with 475 bombs, far and away the most by a Bucco - Ralph Kiner is a distant second with 301.
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| Willie Stargell - 1993 Ted Williams |
- 1977 - RHP Tony McKnight was born in Texarkana, Arkansas. Tony was a big righty who was a first round draft pick and pitched modestly well for Houston (5-1, 3.91 in nine starts) in limited work. The Pirates took a dice roll on the 24-year-old by swinging a deadline deal that sent reliever Mike Williams to the ‘Stros for him. They rolled snake eyes; Tony went 2-6/5.19 in 12 starts with a 1.572 WHIP, then spent two years in the minors before moving on. He’s now a coach at Texas A&M at Texarkana.
- 1978 - Rennie Stennett, gimpy but game with a bum ankle, came off the bench in the eighth and tripled in Phil Garner to give the Bucs a 4-3 win over the Mets at TRS. The drive gave Grant Jackson the win with a ninth-inning save by Ed Whitson after they took over for Bert Blyleven and Kent Tekulve. Willie Stargell had three knocks, including a homer and double, and Kenny Macha added three more, one a triple, to account for half of the Pirates 12 hits.
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