9/5 From 1960 Through the 1970’s: Cover Boys; Diomedes Debut; Game Stories; HBD Rod, Andy & Chris

• 1960 - At the age of 41, LHP Diomedes Olivo made his MLB debut, pitching in relief of Harvey Haddix for the Pirates. The oldest rookie in NL history other than Satchel Paige tossed two goose eggs against Milwaukee at Forbes Field, giving up a hit to Eddie Matthews and a pair of walks. The Bucs lost 7-1, splitting a doubleheader with the Braves after chasing Warren Spahn in a 9-7 win earlier in the day. Diomedes was in the show until 1963 between the Pirates and Cardinals; his brother, Chi-Chi, also tossed in the big leagues. 

Diomedes Olivo 1962 - photo Ted Russell/Getty

• 1960 - LHP Chris Green was born in Los Angeles. The Bucs’ 1979 fourth-round pick, his MLB stay consisted of four games with the 1984 Pirates, giving up two runs in three frames. The Kentucky pitcher had a problem with the bottle, and he was sent from 1985 spring training into rehab, then to AAA Hawaii. He spent 1986 in the Angels system and his last pro year in ‘87 was with the Oriole organization. 
• 1964 - Roberto Clemente was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Confidant Corsair.” Though the Pirates were a disappointing 80-82, Roberto led the NL with 211 hits and a .339 BA. 
• 1966 - Harry “The Hat” Walker’s mug graced the cover of Sports Illustrated for the story “Pittsburgh Pirates: Very Good to Excellent,” teased as “The High Price of a Pennant.” It ended up they were just very good; they finished 92-70, three games behind the LA Dodgers. 
• 1969 - Steve Blass beat the Cubs 9-2. Blass helped his own cause with his only MLB homer‚ a three-run blast off Ken Holtzman‚ and three singles. His kryptonite was Billy Williams, who had all four Chicago hits, including two homers. The win was Pittsburgh's first at Wrigley since July 5th‚ 1968‚ ending a string of 13 straight losses at the yard. 
• 1971 - The Pirates flexed their muscles in an 8-2 win over the Expos at TRS. Rennie Stennett was a triple shy of the cycle, Pops had a homer and two-bagger among his three hits, Milt May had a long ball and Richie Hebner doubled and tripled. Billy Maz celebrated his B-Day with a pinch hit rap as Bruce Kison rolled to his fifth win with Ramon Hernandez mopping up. There were a combined 20 hits and seven walks, yet the game was done in 2:20. 
• 1974 - Coach Andy Barkett was born in Miami. The former 1B had a major league career of one month, spent in Pittsburgh (he did hit .305) in 2001. After a long tour of duty in the minors, Andy started coaching in the Marlins system in 2010, moved on to Detroit and then became the minor league hitting coach for the Pirates in 2016. He got the manager’s job at Indy when Dean Treanor left to become the Marlins bullpen coach in 2017. 

Andy Barkett 2001 - photo Rick Stewart/Allsport

• 1975 - Montreal used a record 15 pinch hitters in their doubleheader split with the Pirates at Parc Jarry. The Expos claimed the opener 4-3 in 10 innings when Kent Tekuluve walked in the winning run (he had a tough inning with two walks, two more intentional passes, a wild pitch and passed ball). Pittsburgh won the nitecap 5-2 behind Richie Hebner’s two RBI, Willie Randolph’s two runs scored and a Captain Willie homer. Les Expos used six pinch-hitters in the first game (but none in the decisive 10th frame) and nine in the second contest. The Bucs burned four bench bats during the twin bill, all in the first match. 
• 1975 - C Rod Barajas was born in Ontario, California. Rod played for a dozen seasons, closing out his career in 2012 in Pittsburgh. He hit .206 in 104 games and surrendered 93 stolen sacks in 99 tries after signing a $4M FA contract at age 36. Hot Rod was released by Arizona in camp the following season, took a year off and has been managing in the Padres system since. 
• 1978 - Jerry Reuss extended his scoreless streak to 21-1/3 IP, the bottom four in the Bucco order generated the attack, and the Pirates won their 10th game in a row (and 22-of-25) by an 8-0 count over the Mets at TRS. Reuss tossed a complete-game four-hitter while the 5-8 hitters (Phil Garner, Manny Sanguillen, Dale Berra & Duffy Dyer) combined for seven hits, six RBI and three runs scored as the Bucs got within 1/2-game of the first place Phillies. Dan Donovan of the Pittsburgh Press called the Pirates current hot streak their “Resurrection stretch.”