8/22 From 1920 through the 1970s: Kiner Threat; Whiff Parade; Nellie 1-Hitter; Sad Day; Game Stories; HBD Doug

• 1925 - Pittsburgh swept a doubleheader from the second place NY Giants by 8-1 and 2-1 scores at the Polo Grounds behind the pitching of Lee Meadows and Vic Aldridge to take a five game lead in the NL race. Kiki Cuyler had three hits, including a homer, three RBI and two runs scored in the opener, while Glenn Wright’s two run homer in the seventh was the difference in the nitecap. The Pirates pulled away from the Giants and won the pennant by 8-1/2 games.
• 1928 - The Bucs big three of Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner and Pie Traynor led Pittsburgh to a 10-3 win over the Boston Braves at Forbes Field. Big Poison and Pie had three hits and three RBI apiece while the Waner brothers each scored three runs. Erv Brame tossed a six-hitter for the win.  

Doug Bair - 1990 Score

• 1949 - RHP Doug Bair was born in Defiance, Ohio. Doug was a second round pick of the Bucs in 1971 out of Bowling Green and began and finished his 15-year career in Pittsburgh. The middle reliever tossed for a minute in 1976 and closed out in 1989-90 with the Pirates, posting a line of 2-3-1/3.12 in 70 outings.
• 1952 - Ralph Kiner found a letter threatening his life unless $6,200 was stashed in cab the next evening. Ralph called the police and then went out and hit his 27th homer of the year. He was under police guard for a while, and though the authorities suspected and questioned a taxi driver who they believed cooked up the plot, no one was ever charged and the situation faded.
• 1962 - Tom Sturdivant’s knuckler fluttered its way past the Colt .45 bats for eight whiffs as he tossed a three-hit, complete game whitewash against Houston at Forbes Field, winning 3-0. Bob Skinner’s two-run triple followed by Roberto Clemente’s sac fly in the third provided all the Bucco runs. Clemente preserved the shutout by making a wall-crashing grab of Jim Pendleton’s ninth inning drive with a runner on second.
• 1969 - Dock Ellis became the third straight Bucco starter to strike out 10> hitters in a game for the first time in club history when he K’ed 10 in a 8-2 win over Cincinnati at Forbes Field. Roberto Clemente tripled and had four RBI while Al Oliver added a homer. The streak started when Luke Walker whiffed 11 in a 5-1 win against Houston on the 19th, followed by Bob Veale winning a 1-0 decision with 10 punch outs the next day against Denny Lemaster and the Astros, with both performances also tossed at Forbes Field. The whiff run ended in the second game of a twilight doubleheader when Steve Blass and Bruce Dal Canton came close but only could punch out nine, though the result was still good - the Bucs swept the twin bill by a 5-3 score on rookie Oliver’s two-run, ninth-inning homer over the right field screen to extend their winning streak to six games.

Roberto Clemente - 1970 e-Topps poster

• 1970 - The Pirates beat Los Angeles, 2-1, in 16 innings at Dodger Stadium. Roberto Clemente went 5-for-7 and scored the winning run when he led off the 16th with a single, stole second and came in on Jerry May’s two-out knock to left. Four Pirate pitchers scattered seven hits, with Bruce Dal Canton getting the W, but they kept it interesting by issuing 11 walks; they even allowed LA pitcher Don Sutton to steal the only base of his career. The Dodgers went 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
• 1972 - Nellie Briles tossed a one-hitter, giving up just a two-out, seventh inning single to Ken Henderson, to beat Juan Marichal and the SF Giants 1-0 at Candlestick Park. The game’s only score came in the first when Roberto Clemente reached on a two-out error by Tito Fuentes and came home on Willie Stargell’s double. Henderson was the only Giant baserunner; Briles didn’t walk anyone and whiffed six.
• 1974 - A sad day in Pirates history. The Salem Pirates of the Carolina League were playing the Rocky Mount Phillies at Salem's Municipal Stadium. Right fielder Edmead charged in on a Texas League bloop, while 2B Pablo Cruz drifted back for the play. Edmead collided with Cruz - who, coincidentally, had signed Edmead to his first pro contract as a part-time scout for the Pirates - striking his head on Cruz's knee, knocking Edmead unconscious. Phillies pitcher Jim Meerpohl related the incident to The Sporting News: "Cruz was seated on the ground, rolling up his pant leg, still very much in pain, but then we saw he had a knee brace, the old-fashioned kind with steel braces on each side. That damned steel had been like an axe to Edmead's head, with his left side of his skull from the frontal lobe across the top to the back of his skull sliced open about three-quarters of an inch and the bleeding was horrific." Edmead died an hour later from massive brain trauma and loss of blood at Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem. At the age of 17, Edmead remains the youngest death of any professional baseball player in history. (from Wiki) Cruz told Peter Gammons of Sports Illustrated in 2018 that “I have prayed for Alfredo every day since that night. I didn’t know that night how it happened. But it happened, and every day I think about Alfredo, I say a prayer for him, I grieve for him.”
• 1975 - Pittsburgh swept the Reds in a doubleheader at TRS by 7-2 and 4-2 tallies. In the opener, Richie Zisk homered twice and Rennie Stennett had three hits to support Larry Demery. John Candelaria spun a four-hitter in the second game, backed by homers smoked off the bats of Dave Parker and Richie Hebner. Both teams would go on to win their divisions, with the 108-win Reds sweeping the NLCS against the Bucs and then winning the World Series against the BoSox.

Tim Foli - 1979 Topps

• 1979 - The Pirates scored twice in the seventh and added two more in the eighth to rally past the SF Giants 8-6 at TRS. Tim Foli had four RBI, and his two-out, two-run single up the middle drove in the winning runs in the eighth. Dave Parker also collected his 1,000th hit. Kent Tekulve, the last of four Pirate pitchers, got the win after tossing two scoreless innings of relief.