5/24 From 1950 Through the 1970’s: #21 Debut; Streak Snapper; Sweep; Big Bats; Game Stories; Gravedigger TSN; HBD Jeff

• 1955 - The Bucs broke an 11-game losing streak in style by pounding the Brooklyn Dodgers 15-1 at Forbes Field. Jack Shepard had four hits, Preston Ward had a single‚ triple & HR while Gene Freese added three raps to lead the attack. Ward, Freese and Roberto Clemente each had three RBI with Bob Friend getting the win in relief of Vern Law by tossing 4-1/3 innings of no-hit ball. One of the Dodger relievers the Corsairs tortured was future manager Tommy Lasorda, who gave up five runs in two innings of work. The Pirates had 19 hits and batted around three times. However, the good times were fleeting; the club lost six of its next seven games. A highlight: it was the debut of Roberto Clemente wearing #21; he had been #13 but claimed OF’er Earl Smith’s old number after Smith was sent down. 

#21 Makes Its Bow - Topps Project 2020/oldmanalan

• 1959 - The Bucs swept a pair from the Reds at Forbes Field by 2-1 and 5-4 scores; both games were won by walk-off, pinch hit doubles. Danny Kravitz drove home Don Hoak to give Ron Kline, who had surrendered a go-ahead unearned ninth inning run on a Ducky Schofield boot, the win. Pittsburgh had tied the game a batter before when Bill Mazeroski beat Johnny Temple’s throw home to knot the score. The Pirates were down 4-2 in the nightcap and down to their last out when Rocky Nelson tied the game with a two-run homer. Pittsburgh won it in the tenth when Smoky Burgess doubled home Roman Mejias to give Ron Blackburn the win. The Bucs took the four game series from Cincinnati, winning by a run each time. 
• 1961 - Roberto Clemente homered in back-to-back at bats against Dick Ellsworth and drove in four runs to lead the Pirates to a 7-3 win at Wrigley Field. Dick Stuart also went long and added a triple to help Vinegar Bend Mizell to the victory, closed by a Clem Labine save. The Bucs needed Clemente’s big day; they hit into three twin killings and committed a pair of errors during the afternoon. 
• 1966 - Coach Jeff Livesey was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Livesey was a catcher in the Yankees system for eight years, retiring in 1995 and spending two years with Montreal as a minor league coach. He joined the Pirates as an organizational hitting coach, becoming the skipper of the GCL club in 2005. After that, he went to Japan for five years as a bench coach, returning to the Pirates in 2011. After three seasons as the Minor League Hitting Coordinator, he was called up to the big team as an assistant hitting coach in 2013 until he was replaced after the 2018 campaign. He’s with Miami now. 
• 1969 - Richie Hebner was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Pirates Pin-Up Prize.” In his first full season as a Pirate, he hit .301 after inheriting the hot corner from Maury Wills. The Gravedigger would play through 1976 for Pittsburgh, then return again in 1982-83 during his 18-year career. 
• 1978 - The Mets banged out 13 hits and had the lead three times, but couldn’t hold off the Pirates. Pittsburgh scored twice in the 10th inning to flip Kent Tekulve from a loser after giving up a dinger to a winner in a 6-5 victory at TRS. Rennie Stennett’s bases-loaded bloop into right was the game winner; Frank Taveras scored the final run uncontested as RF’er Bruce Boisclair inexplicably threw the ball to second instead of home; third base coach Joe Lonnett and Taveras were both expecting a close play at the dish. Stennett had three RBI on the day and Dave Parker added two doubles that chased home a pair of runs, offsetting two homers by NY’s Willie Montanez. 

Jim Bibby - 1981 Fleer

• 1981 - A lot of little oddities occurred in the Bucs 7-1 win over the Phils at TRS: the Pirates drew four intentional walks, stole five bases in six tries and got a two-run homer from pitcher Jim Bibby. With all that, they didn’t put the game away until the eighth when one of the intentional walks backfired. They went into the frame up 2-1 on the strength of Bibby’s bomb and added another on Phil Garner’s one-out triple and a Dale Berra single. With runners on second and third and two gone, Philadelphia put Lee Lacy aboard to get to Omar Moreno. The Antelope singled home a pair off Sparky Lyle and Bill Madlock followed with a two-run two-bagger to ice the game. Bibby got the win and Victor Cruz worked two innings for the save in front of 21,771 fans. 
• 1983 - The Bucs built a 6-0 lead on the strength of Larry McWilliams arm and two-run shots by Lee Mazzilli and Jason Thompson (Lee’s left the yard; Jason’s was a two-bagger), then hung on as the Braves scored five times in eighth after blowing earlier chances by twice leaving the bases loaded with an out in the second and fourth frames. Kent Tekulve nailed it down in the ninth thanks more to the baseball gods than good stuff; Atlanta ripped three bullets off him, but two of them found gloves to send the 17,447 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium home frustrated.