7/20 From 1950 Through the 1980’s: Rallies & Gems; RIP John

• 1950 - The Philadelphia Phillies banged out a double, triple, and three homers on their way to eight runs; the Bucs answered with six two-baggers and a long ball of their own to outlast the Brotherly Love gang by a 10-8 score at Forbes Field. Six Pirates had multi-hit games, with three collecting a trio of knocks (Ted Beard, Gus Bell and Danny O’Connell) while Ralph Kiner went long and doubled with Stan Rojek and Johnny Hopp joining the two-hit parade. Murry Dickson, who followed Cliff Chambers and Vern Law, tossed the final 2-⅔ frames scorelessly to get the win while the Phils used five hurlers, with the Buccos scoring off four of them. 

Preston Ward - 1955 Topps

• 1955 - The bench to the rescue: the Bucs were down 3-0 in the seventh when pinch hitter Preston Ward smacked a three-run dinger off the Milwaukee Brave’s Ray Crone at Forbes Field. Another PH, Jack Shepard, singled off Dave Jolly with the bases loaded in the ninth to earn the Pirates and Dick Littlefield a 4-3 comeback win. 
• 1961 - Joe Gibbon tossed a four-hitter with nine whiffs as the Bucs beat the Chicago Cubs 4-0 at Forbes Field. The big blow was Bill Mazeroski’s two-run single in the fourth. The Bucs had lost three games prior to the win, and would drop six more afterward.  
• 1968 - Bob Veale spun a five-hitter and Matty Alou produced both runs as the Bucs eased by Phil Niekro and the Braves 2-1 at Atlanta Stadium. Alou tripled and scored the first run when the throw caromed off his leg, then singled home Maury Wills with the game winner with both hits coming with two strikes. Alou and Wills each had two hits to help snap Niekro’s four-game winning streak. 
• 1973 - The Bucs tied the first game of a twinbill against San Diego in the eighth and went on to win 5-4 in 10 innings at TRS. Rennie Stennett went 4-for-5 with a walk-off homer in the extra frame. The Pirates had an easier time with the Padres in the second game, winning 7-0. Stennett had three more hits, including another homer, and Jim Rooker tossed a six-hit complete game whitewash with eight whiffs. 
• 1974 - Willie Stargell homered in the 11th inning to give the Pirates a 7-6 win over the Braves at Atlanta Stadium. Pops also cranked out a double & single, scoring three times with two RBI. Richie Zisk came up big, too, with three hits and three runs chased home. Bruce Kison started and was chase in the second inning, but John Morlan, Ramon Hernandez and the eventual winner, Dave Giusti, tossed 9-1/3 IP of one-run, five-hit ball to take the contest. The game started off with plenty of fireworks - the Bucs scored four runs in the first frame and the Bravos answered with five in the second. 

Lee Lacy - 1980 Topps

• 1980 - After scoring four times in the first, the Pirates had to plate a pair in the bottom of the ninth to salvage an 8-7 split against the Dodgers at TRS. Lee Lacy was 5-for-5 and a homer away from the cycle, while Bill Robinson homered and Ed Ott had the walk-off, bases loaded single to earn Grant Jackson the win. Pittsburgh lost the opener 4-2 as LA’s Burt Hooton and Steve Howe kept the Bucco bats under control. The double dipper was a big to-do in other ways, too. It was Willie Stargell Day with a ceremony between games, and was also the day that Dave Parker, fresh off the first $1M/year contract in sports, was had a Duracell battery tossed at him while in the outfield. 
• 1988 - John Galbreath passed away at 90 years old in Galloway, Ohio. He owned the Pirates from 1946-85, buying them from the Barney Dreyfuss clan for $2.5M. Galbreath put a price tag of $35 million on the Pirates after the 1984 season, but accepted the $22M offer of a coalition put together by Mayor Richard Caliguiri to assure that the team remained in Pittsburgh. He made his fortune in construction & real estate, and besides baseball was an avid racing fan, owning the Darby Dan stables which produced Triple Crown winner Chateaugay and Kentucky Derby champ Proud Clarion.