6/27 From 1960 Through the 1980’s: Juan Gone, Henry Here; Streakin'; Big Crowd, Big Win; Movie Maz; Game Stories; HBD AJ, Lee & Daryle

• 1967 - Bill Mazeroski hit into the only triple play of his career (although he participated in a pair as a fielder) at Shea Stadium. It didn’t hurt the Bucs, though - it was staged before the game and filmed in ten minutes as a scene for the film “The Odd Couple.” Roberto Clemente was first called on for the shot; there are two stories regarding that per Rob Edelman's 2018 "The National Pastime: Steel City Stories." First, he thought it was for a children's promotional film and agreed to the scene for the minimum fee, and pulled out when he discovered it was a regular Hollywood film. The second was that he couldn't help but beat the throw to first, either through pride or ability, and so they switched to Maz.
• 1967 - LHP Lee Hancock was born in North Hollywood, California. He got into 24 games from 1995-96 for the Pirates, with no decisions and a 4.45 ERA, and that was the extent of his MLB days. Lee joined the Pirates in 1990 from the Mariners, swapped straight up for Scott Medvin, but spent most of his Bucco time on the farm at Buffalo and Calgary. The Cal-Poly alum finished his pro career in 1997. 

Lee Hancock - 1996 Leaf Signature

• 1968 - The Bucs rearranged their bullpen by selling LHP Juan Pizarro to the Boston Red Sox and purchasing 40-year-old LHP Bill Henry from the San Francisco Giants. Pizarro pitched through 1974, closing out his baseball days as a Pirate, while Henry was released by the Bucs in mid-August and got three more outings in ‘69 with Houston before calling it a career. 
• 1971 - Roberto Clemente bombed a pinch hit homer in the eighth to give the Bucs a wild 11-9 win at Philadelphia. He became the first player to “ring the bell” as his drive hit the duplicate Liberty Bell in the second level of center field at Veterans Stadium, perhaps to celebrate his 1,200 RBI. But Jose Pagan earned the game’s gold star with a pair of home runs and five RBI. Dave Giusti saved the win (despite giving up a three-run homer to Tim McCarver) for Dock Ellis, who had been cruising after a slow start until a five-run outburst in the ninth by Philadelphia. 
• 1975 - 1B Daryle Ward was born in Lynwood, California. He played from 2004-05 for the Bucs, with a slash of .256/27/120. Ward joined his father, Gary, to become the first father-son combination in major league history to hit for the cycle after he matched his dad’s feat in 2004 against the Cards. Ward was also the first player to hit one into the Allegheny from PNC Park while he was a member of the Astros, launching his shot off Kip Wells in 2002. 
• 1983 - The Pirates ran their winning streak to nine games while the Cardinals dropped their seventh straight as Pittsburgh won 6-1 at Busch Stadium. The game did have some early excitement when Joaquin Andujar buzzed Marvell Wynne; payback came quickly when John Candelaria dusted him, earning an ejection from umpire Joe West and a near brawl. It devolved into a bench-clearing coffee clatch thx to Chuck Tanner’s peacemaking intervention with the Buccos lined up to take a shot at Andujar. Tanner was also booted (it was automatic; West had warned the clubs after Wynne bit the dust) as was Jim Bibby, who was a bit too rambunctious. A two hour and 20 minute rain delay gave both sides a chance to regain their cool, and Cecilio Guante’s work in relief kept the Cards at bay the rest of the way. The win capped the Pirates victory skein; they lost the next day at Wrigley Field. In other news, GM Pete Peterson announced that he wouldn’t talk contract during the season, leaving Kent Tekulve, Dave Parker and Bibby in the cold during their walk year; only Teke would return in 1984. 

Cecilio Guante - 1983 Donruss (and no, no one has ever figured out how Donruss came up with "Matt")

• 1988 - The Pirates squeaked by the Mets in front of the largest crowd at TRS in five years, 41,489 (on a Monday night yet!), by a 2-1 score despite losing a tally due to replay two decades before review legally existed. Up by a run after an RBI double by Andy Van Slyke in the fourth and a run-producing rap by Rafael Belliard in the fifth, a wild pitch seemingly brought home an insurance marker. The TRS scoreboard vid showed a replay that caught plate ump Paul Runge’s and Met’s manager Davey Johnson’s eyes. The ball seemed to change direction a bit on the vid, so Johnson came out to beef to Runge. He called together the boys in blue for a conference and they voted that it was a foul ball. Jose Lind, who was the batter Doc Gooden buzzed, said it ticked off his helmet and not his twig, but the umps stuck to their call. Commonplace today, replay review wouldn’t become legit until 2008 (and then just for disputed HRs; the current form began in 2014), and Jim Leyland protested the game. It never made it to the Commish as Mike Dunne, Barry Jones and Jim Gott made the two runs stand up. 
• 1989 - RHP AJ Schugel was born in Winter Haven, Florida. A waiver claim by the Bucs, he got into 36 games for Pittsburgh in 2016, going 2-2-1/3.63 as a long man in the pen with a nice 1.038 WHIP. He started 2017 at AAA Indy with a brief Pittsburgh stop in June and more permanent residence in August, but spent 2018 on the DL. He opted for free agency after the season and is still on the market, pitching indy ball.