8/3 Games From 1956 Through 1974: ASG; Murtaugh for Bragan; Game Stories; HBD Jim, Sid, Mackey & Kevin

• 1956 - Dick Groat’s single up the middle chased home a pair of Buccos in a 4-3 walkoff win against the Milwaukee Braves at Forbes Field. The Pirates had lost eight straight games, but manager Bobby Bragan said before the game that the streak would end this night. The first eight innings were a duel between Vern Law and Warren Spahn with Pittsburgh holding a 2-1 edge. With two gone in the ninth, the Braves got back-to-back singles and took the lead when Del Crandall doubled them home. Groat, who scored the Bucs first run, cancelled that shot with his base-loaded knock, plating Bill Virdon and Dick Cole. Most of the 17,479 fans went home happy; a group of about 100 Brave fans who had spent the afternoon snake-dancing through the ballyard presumably went to their hotel to cry in their beer. 

Dick Groat - 1956 Topps

• 1956 - During the NL meetings, the Pirates were awarded the 1959 All-Star game as they and the Giants switched home dates. The Bucs original 1961 All-Star slot was swapped out to the G-Men, who were scheduled to host the ASG at the Polo Grounds in New York; the Giants would leave that yard after the 1957 campaign for the Bay and eventually Candlestick Park. The flipped date was quite copacetic for Pittsburgh, falling during the City’s bicentennial celebration. The Pirates had last hosted an ASG in 1944. 
• 1957 - The news that Danny Murtaugh replaced Bobby Bragan as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates leaked to the press ahead of time‚ and Bragan heard it on the radio before GM Joe L. Brown could reach him. It wasn’t much of a surprise; the quirky Bragan had greased his own skids with an outre incident in Milwaukee when he strolled onto the field sipping a drink through a straw and offered it to the umps a couple of days earlier.  
• 1958 - The Cards finally scored against Pittsburgh in a 2-1 loss in the second game of a twin bill at Forbes Field as George “Red” Witt beat Vinegar Bend Mizell. Bob Skinner had both RBI. The Bucs took the lidlifter 2-0 as Bob Friend outdueled Sal Maglie, supported by a Bill Virdon homer and run producing knock from Frank Thomas. St. Louis had nine hits in each game, but found home plate a difficult destination to reach. The day before, Vern Law beat Sam Jones 1-0 on a three-hitter, making a lone first-inning run stand. In the series opener, Ronnie Kline beat Bob Mabe 2-0, tossing a four-hitter in a game that was scoreless until Pittsburgh plated in the eighth. The Bucs whitewashed the Cards for 33 straight innings in the four-game set, and gave up one run on 25 hits. 
• 1959 - The second All Star Game of the year was held at LA Memorial Stadium with P Roy Face, C Smoky Burgess, SS Dick Groat and 2B Bill Mazeroski representing Pittsburgh. The AL won 5-3. Face went two innings, striking out two but was touched up by a solo shot off Rocky Colavito’s bat. Burgess and Groat both went 0-for-1 and Maz was planted on the bench. 
• 1959 - RHP Jim Gott was born in Hollywood. Obtained from the Giants off waivers in mid-1987, the Bucs used him as a closer, and he saved 13 games with a 1.45 ERA. In 1988, he broke Teke’s franchise record with 34 saves. But he only appeared once the following year after an elbow injury, and signed with the Dodgers as a free agent for 1990. Gott came back to Pittsburgh for his final season in 1995. 

Sid Bream - 1988 Score

• 1960 - 1B Sid Bream, the harbinger of the Bucco dark ages, was born in Carlisle, PA. Sid played first from 1985-90 for the Pirates with a .269 average, having three pretty solid years from 1986-88. He signed with the Braves in 1990, and in 1992...let’s not talk about it. Sid played into 1994, retiring during the player’s strike. Despite that soul-crushing slide, he sank roots in the area and lives in the northern suburbs. He’s now a Christian motivational speaker. 
• 1961 - The Pirates ran away with a 19-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium for the largest shutout score in an NL night game. The Bucs banged out 24 hits against Al Cicotte, Bob Miller and Lindy McDaniel while Harvey Haddix tossed a four-hitter for Pittsburgh. It was the most lopsided shutout in modern NL history at the time, tying a record first set in 1906. Smoky Burgess had six RBI with a pair of homers and Dick Stuart drove in five more, adding a long ball. Bob Skinner and Roberto Clemente scored four times. Clemente had five hits and Bill Mazeroski four. 
• 1962 - C Mackey Sasser was born in Fort Gaines, Georgia. He joined the Pirates in 1987 as the return from the Giants for Don Robinson, got into a dozen games (.217 BA), and was moved in the offseason as a piece of the Randy Milligan swap with the Mets. There he developed a case of the yips, known as Sasser Syndrome, when returning the ball to the pitcher (although oddly enough not on steal attempts) and it stayed with him through the rest of his career. Sasser re-signed with the Pirates for the 1995 season but played in only fourteen games, getting four hits in 26 at-bats before being released in mid-May. He retired and became the coach at Wallace JC in Alabama. 
• 1964 - IF Kevin Elster was born in San Pedro, California. The 13-year vet spent 1997 with the Bucs, hitting .225. He had just won the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award as a Texas Ranger in 1996 and signed a $1.65M contract with the Pirates as a free agent, but he broke his left wrist in a collision at first base with and missed all but 39 games of the season. Kevin returned to the Rangers the following year. 

Kevin Elster - 1997 Circa Thunder

• 1972 - In the 10th inning of a 1-1 game, the Cards shifted the opposite way to the NL’s top hitter, Vic Davalillo, and he answered by banging the ball up the middle to chase home Gene Alley and give the Bucs a 2-1 win at Busch Stadium. The game was a duel between eventual winner Steve Blass and the Cards’ Rick Wise, with Ramon Hernandez coming in to nail down the save. The first Bucco run came in the second frame when with two outs Dave Cash tripled home Willie Stargell, who had walked to open the inning. 
• 1973 - John Morlan won his first MLB game and it was memorable as he tossed a five-hitter over seven innings to beat Steve “Lefty” Carlton 3-1 at the Vet. Ramon Hernandez tossed the last two innings to bring it home. Morlan got all the support he needed from a two-run Willie Stargell homer & a solo shot by Manny Sanguillen, and was helped by glovework robberies by Richie Zisk and Bob Robertson.