9/1 From 1970: First Black Lineup; Flycatcher Teke; ROTG; MLBSB; Game Stories

• 1971 - The Pirates fielded baseball's first all-black lineup 24 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color line in a 10-7 win over the Phillies at TRS. The card read: Rennie Stennett (2B), Gene Clines (CF), Roberto Clemente (RF), Willie Stargell (LF), Manny Sanguillen (C), Dave Cash (3B), Al Oliver (1B), Jackie Hernández (SS) and Dock Ellis (P). Richie Hebner (3B) and Gene Alley (SS) were both injured, with Stennett (Cash moved from 2B to 3B) and Hernandez filling in. The usual 1B, Bob Robertson, got a rest day, so Scoops moved to the infield and Clines took center. They played pretty well; six starters had two hits and every position player reached base during the game. The historic lineup went almost unnoticed in Pittsburgh as both newspapers were on strike. Bob Prince and Nellie King, the radio announcers, mentioned it in passing, and Bill Guilfoile, the Pirate PR man, said they had to check the records after the game to see if it really was the first all-black lineup (in 1967, Harry Walker had a lineup with eight black position players, but Dennis Ribant was on the hill). Even Al Oliver said "When we took the field we didn’t give it any thought. It was probably about the third inning when I finally looked at Cash and said, ‘We’ve got all brothers out here, man.’" 

• 1973 - Bruce Kison and some timely glovework by his mates put the Pirates into a virtual first-place tie (they were actually .0001 percentage points ahead of St. Louis) with a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at TRS. Kison went eight innings, giving up four hits & four walks, while Dave Giusti worked the final frame for the win. Chi-town’s Burt Hooton was equally tough, having surrendered just three hits going into the ninth before the Bucs struck. With an out, Richie Hebner singled and Al Oliver doubled. An intentional walk loaded the bases for Richie Zisk, who got ahead 2-0 before banging the next pitch over a shallow outfield for the walk off win. The Pirates fielders bailed the Pirates hurlers out several times during the game, when three times they turned DP’s (one a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out, twin killing) with two Cubbies aboard and threw out another Bruin trying to go from first-to-third against LF Willie Stargell. 
• 1974 - The Major League Scouting Bureau, the offspring of the Central Scouting Bureau, was founded (Pirates GM Joe Brown was one of its early proponents) to cut costs and centralize scouting. Membership wasn’t mandatory until 1984 when the bureau was made a part of the Commissioner’s Office. 
• 1979 - Chuck Tanner sent reliever Kent Tekulve from the mound to left field and brought in southpaw Grant Jackson to face lefty Darrell Evans against the Giants with two down in the ninth. (He wanted Tekulve available in case Evans got aboard.) Evans hit a fly to Teke, who waved his arms to call off a distant but closing Omar Moreno and made the catch to finish the game, a 5-3 Bucco win in the opener of a DH at Candlestick Park. It was Teke’s only appearance in the field anywhere but on the mound during his entire pro career. Willie Stargell had two homers and Dale Berra added another in support of the Bruce Kison win. Jim Bibby pitched the Bucs to a 7-2 sweep in the nitecap, backed by Lee Lacy’s three hits, including a homer, two runs scored and three RBI. 
• 2000 - The Pirates had a textbook Jekyll and Hyde performance in September. They began the month with a 3-2 win at San Diego, starting a six-game winning streak while on the West Coast and running the skein up to eight straight victories before returning home and falling to the Reds after taking the first pair of a four-game set, which triggered a nine-game losing funk. They closed out the month hot again, winning eight-of-twelve. It was apropos of nothing, though - they finished the year with 69 wins and then lost 100 games in 2001. 
• 2004 - The sputtering Bucco offense was rescued by Craig Wilson, who drilled a two-out homer in the ninth off closer Dan Kolb to tie the Brewers 2-2 at Miller Field. The Pirate attack woke up in the 10th when Ty Wigginton’s two-out, bases loaded infield knock plated a run and Jose Castillo provided the insurance with a two-run two-bagger. Ryan Vogelsong started for Pittsburgh, with the 5-2 win going to Salomon Torres and the save to Jose Mesa. The Pirates' first run was scored by Jack Wilson, who was chased home by Daryle Ward’s double. 

Now pitching... photo Children's Museum

• 2013 - The opening pitch was tossed out not by a human celebrity, but by a trebuchet (a catapult), designed by the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. The first machine to ever toss a ceremonial ball at PNC Park (it was named “Rookie of the Gear”), it delivered a strike to the designated catcher, the Pirate Pirate, 10 minutes before the game against the St. Louis Cards was to begin. The Bucs might have been better off keeping the contraption on the mound to pitch, as they lost to the Redbirds, 7-2. 
• 2019 - Steven Brault had a day to remember against the Rox at Coors Field. He got a 6-2 win, lasting 6-2/3 IP and starting the game off with 69 consecutive fastballs (77 of his 82 pitches would be heaters) to help counter a rough second half of the season. To add the cherry on top, he belted a 441’ homer, his first big league long fly, to cap off a year that saw Steven bat .333 (he was used a pinch hitter eight times during the campaign).