9/8 From 1960: TRS Sked; Smith Traded; Cutch Cover; Game Stories; HBD Cole Train & Mike

• 1960 - A special meeting of the County Commissioners set the estimated date for a new North Side stadium for 1964 after talks with the railroad to relocate its yards, with an estimated price tag of $18M. That was just a little off; it took until 1970 for TRS to open, and the bill was $55M. 

Mike Dyer - 1994 Topps

• 1966 - RHP Mike Dyer was born in Upland, California. He spent the middle of his four-year MLB tenure with the Pirates in 1994-95, getting a lot of work in the second campaign (55 appearances, 74+ IP) but put up a disappointing line of 5-6-4/4.60 as too few K’s and too many BBs took their toll. Mike got one more chance with Montreal in 1996, put up another so-so slash and that ended his big league run, with his last year (2000) spent in the indie leagues. 
• 1967 - The Pirates and Cardinals were in frustration mode, combining for 23 hits and 13 walks while stranding 25 runners and going 2-for-24 with RISP. But they put together a pretty good ballgame at Forbes Field, with the Bucs taking a 4-3, 10-inning decision from the Redbirds. Trailing 3-1 going into the seventh, Manny Jimenez doubled Billy Maz home to cut the lead to one and then Gene Alley tied it in the eighth, doubling home Roberto Clemente. Pittsburgh left the bases loaded in the ninth and the Cards stranded a pair in the 10th. Alley was the hero again. Leading off with a triple. Two intentional walks loaded the bases before Maury Wills singled to right with an out to give Bruce Dal Canton the win. 
• 1968 - Bob Veale outdueled Tom Terrific at Forbes Field, scattering six hits in a 3-0 Bucco victory. His main support came from an unlikely source - 33-year-old Jose Pagan, batting just .212, banged a solo homer and singled home Donn Clendenon, whose triple had plated Willie Stargell, to account for all the Pittsburgh scoring. 
• 1969 - The Bucs fell behind 2-0 in the first against Montreal at Jarry Park, and it stayed that way for most of the chilly night. The Pirates warmed up just in time, plating an unearned run in the eighth and scoring five times in the ninth to rally past the Expos 6-4. A single, intentional walk and two errors tied the game for Pittsburgh and loaded the bases for rookie utilityman Jose Martinez, who entered the game as a pinch runner and stayed to play short. He banged his first (and only) big league homer into the left field seats to give Chuck Hartenstein the win, with Bruce Dal Canton picking up the save. Gene Alley stretched his hitting streak to 21 games; it would reach 22 before the Cards ended his run. 
• 1974 - Dave Parker broke up a tight game with an eighth-inning grand slam off Tom Walker (yep, Neil’s dad) as the Bucs beat the Montreal Expos 8-2 at TRS. It was the Cobra’s only at-bat; he came in as a pinch hitter for Frank Taveras. Jim Rooker tossed a six-hitter for the win. It marked the Pirates sixth straight victory and 25th win in the past 31 games. 

Gerrit Cole - 2013 Panini Hometown Hero

• 1990 - RHP Gerrit Cole was born in Newport Beach, California. The UCLA grad was selected by the Pirates with the first overall selection in the 2011 MLB Draft and signed to an $8M bonus minutes before the deadline. He made his debut in the show on June 11th, 2013, going 6-⅓ IP to beat the Giants 8-2 and now is tossing for the Houston Astros, traded in early 2018 for RHP Joe Musgrove, 3B Colin Moran, RHP Michael Feliz and OF Jason Martin. In five years, his Pirates slash was 57-42/3.50. 
• 1993 - OF Lonnie Smith (.286, six HR) was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for PTBNL, OF/1B Stanton Cameron and LHP Terry Farrar. Lonnie, who the Bucs had signed in January as a $1M free agent, did next to nothing for the O’s and was out of baseball after the 1994 season while the Bird’s duo were both playing indie ball by 1996. 
• 2000 - Pittsburgh swept the Reds 7-3 and 3-1 to run their season-best winning streak to eight games at TRS (it ended the next day, beginning a nine-game losing streak). Todd Ritchie won the opener and Marc Wilkins, one of seven Pirate pitchers, took the nitecap victory. Alex Hernandez had three hits on the day, including a homer and triple. 
• 2014 - Andrew McCutchen was the cover boy on Sports Illustrated for the second time in his career. He was featured in Albert Chen’s article “Andrew McCutchen Goes Deep.” It was almost a year to the day after his first SI cover shot on September 9th, 2013. 

• 2015 - In the first game of a doubleheader against the Reds, Aramis Ramirez made his first career start at first base. Before that, A-Ram had played 18 seasons and 2,096 games at third base and nowhere else other than DH or pinch hitter. He lasted six innings, going 3-for-3 in chances fielded and appeared at first base four more times during the campaign.