9/2 From 1970: Veale Sold; Roberto Record; Leyland Hot; 10,000 Bombs; Game Stories; HBD Sean & Gaby

• 1970 - LHP Sean Lawrence was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Drafted by the Pirates in the 6th round of the 1992 draft out of the College of St. Francis, his seven games in 1998 as a Bucs was the extent of his big league career, finishing with a slash of 2-1/7.32. He later pitched in the San Diego and Arizona systems, retiring in 2002 to become a police officer in the Village of Westmont. 

Sean Lawrence - 1995 Signature Rookie

• 1972 - With his 2,971st knock as a Bucco, Roberto Clemente broke Honus Wagner's record for the most hits in the history of the franchise. The record-setting blow was a three-run homer off Giant hurler Sudden Sam McDowell in the bottom of the fourth inning during an 6-3 victory at Three Rivers Stadium. 
• 1972 - LHP Bob Veale, 36, was sold to the Boston Red Sox after an 11-year career in Pittsburgh that saw him win 116 games and save six more, starting 255 times in his 341 Buc outings. His 1,652 strikeouts are still the Pirate mark for a LHP and second overall in Bucco history. 
• 1978 - Willie Stargell blasted a three-run homer in the first, but the Braves chipped away to tie the game at TRS and send it into extra innings before Dave Parker’s 12th-inning rap past a drawn-in infield gave the Pirates and Grant Jackson a 4-3 win. Phil Garner was on third with an out when the Braves worked around Frank Taveras and intentionally walked Omar Moreno to get to The Cobra (Atlanta manager Bobby Cox feared the squeeze was on with Frankie & Omar, and so took his shot with Parker, who had hit into two DPs during the contest). Kent Tekulve & Stargell almost became the goats in the 10th. With pinch-runner Rod Gilbreath on, Teke threw wildly to first. Gilbreath made it all the way to third, but held up as 1B Pops ran the ball down, not wanting to challenge his arm. Good thing - as Willie went to turn and throw home, he slipped and fell, but the runner had already hit the brakes. It was the Pirates sixth straight win over the Bravos and their 11th-of-12 at TRS. 
• 1983 - 1B Gaby Sanchez was born in Miami. He joined the Pirates from the Marlins in 2012 as the right-hand half of a first base platoon, first with Garrett Jones and then with Ike Davis. He played for the Bucs through 2014, hitting .241, before going to Japan. He spent a year there and then dropped off the pro ball radar after the Mariners released him in camp the following spring. 
• 1988 - After a 2-1 loss to the Braves, Jim Leyland lit into his players in a 15-minute scolding of which “...six minutes were spent throwing nachos all over the place, three minutes were devoted exclusively to expletives and six minutes were the sermon” per Press beat man Bob Hertzel. Vet Andy Van Slyke, for one, thought it was due, telling the Post Gazette's Paul Meyer "After the way we've played the last month, you can tell the people of Pittsburgh to start following the Steelers." The tirade mostly centered on paying attention to the details of the game and to quit listening to their agents and their emphasis on individual stats rather than team performance. It didn’t particularly light the fire Leyland hoped it would, although the team did finish 14-12 during the rest of the season after replenishing their nacho stash. 

Tim Wakefield - 1992 Score

• 1992 - Tim Wakefield came one out away from a complete game as the Pirates beat the Giants 3-2 at TRS. Bob Patterson came in to get the final out while picking up his ninth save. The Bucs took the lead for good in the sixth inning on a two-run homer from Barry Bonds after Don Slaught’s blast in the fifth provided the first score. The victory was in the midst of a seven game Pirate winning streak and kept the Bucs comfortably in first place by a three game margin. 
• 1997 - In front of 43,380 at TRS, newcomer Shawon Dunston hit a pair of homers to lead the Freak Show Bucs to a 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. His four RBI powered Jose Silva, with help from the bullpen, to the victory and helped pull the Pirates to within 1-½ games of first, the closest they would come to the top spot for the rest of the season. 
• 2009 - The Pirates were swept by the Reds 5-3, the first time they were broomed in Cincinnati since 1975. But it wasn’t all gloom (although in a 99-loss season, there weren’t many highlights) as Garrett Jones hit the club's 10,000th home run since Pittsburgh joined the NL in 1887.