9/28 From 1950: Blass Day; Freak Finale; SI Danny; Chuck Berry Duck Walks Out; Game Stories

• 1952 - The Post Gazette lede told the story: “The Pittsburgh Pirates wound up the clubs losingest (sic) season in modern baseball history by doing just that - losing.” The Bucs put up a fight at Crosley Field as Gus Bell dinged a two-run homer in the ninth to tie the game briefly before the Cincinnati Reds stormed back in the ninth to claim a 3-2 win from Forrest Main. The Pirates finished the year with a 48-106 slate. Still, it was a profitable day for a couple of Pirates - in a pre-game set of contests, Brandy Davis won $100 as the fastest player while Joe Garagiola ($50) and Frank Thomas ($25) came in 1-2 in the distance-hitting event. 
• 1966 - Pittsburgh swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies by 2-1 and 4-2 scores at Connie Mack Stadium. The strong mound work of Steve Blass and Bob Veale pulled the club within 1-½ games of first place LA. In the first game, Donn Clendenon homered and Manny Mota chased Matty Alou for the Bucco offense. The big blows in the nightcap were a triple by Bill Mazeroski, chasing home a run & scoring on a bad relay, and a two-out Roberto Clemente double that plated Matty Alou & came around on a single and error. It was their last hurrah; the SF Giants swept the final three-game set at Forbes Field and the Bucs finished third, three games off the pace. 

Matty Alou - 1966 East Hills SC promo photo

• 1970 - Danny Murtaugh was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the story “The Desperate Race.” It actually wasn’t that desperate; the Bucs’ lead had grown from two games into five by the time the issue was published after winning 6-of-7 down the stretch. 
• 1986 - The Pirates Bob Patterson and the Mets Bob Ojeda were involved in a dandy duel at TRS in front of 30,606 fans. The Bucs Jim Morrison added some drama with a two-out homer off Ojeda in the ninth to tie it 1-1 before Darryl Strawberry launched an 11th inning, three-run bomb off Bob Walk to give NY the win. There was even a little more drama after the game. The Four Tops & Chuck Berry were scheduled to perform after the home season finale. Berry was scheduled to start at 5 but when the game ran long, he refused to take the stage as showtime was pushed back 45 minutes and left TRS, despite having already been paid $10K up front. The Four Tops, a pro act, played a longer set to make up for Berry’s walkout. The Pirates went on to sue him for $20,000 and ended up recouping the deposit and some of the damages. 
• 1997 - The Freak Show ended its run with the club’s 79th victory, 5-4, over Houston in 11 innings at the Astrodome. Jose Guillen swung the hot bat with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI to give Jason Christiansen the win, saved by Rich Loiselle. The club wouldn’t match that victory total again until 2012. 
• 2009 - The Pirates won their home finale 11-1 against the Dodgers, with Andy LaRoche hitting two homers and driving in six runs. John Russell drew the ire of the 16,696 fans in attendance when he inexplicably pulled starter Zach Duke (103 pitches) with two outs in the ninth after a sac fly ruined his shutout bid. 
• 2012 - The Bucs drew 34,796 fans to PNC Park, but the star of the show was Reds pitcher Homer Bailey, who tossed a no-hitter to outduel AJ Burnett and earn a hard-fought, 1-0, complete game win. Bailey walked one and fanned 10 as the Pirates were no-hit for the first time since 1971. It was the year of the no-hitter; Bailey’s was the seventh of the season, tying a modern-day MLB record. 
• 2013 - Behind a six-home-run barrage (Neil Walker-2, Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Marlon Byrd and Andrew Lambo), the Pirates won home field advantage for their wild card game against the Reds by defeating Cincinnati 8-3 at GABP. It was the first time since August, 2007, versus the Rockies at Coors Field, that Pittsburgh banged out that many long balls in a game. It was his first career multi-homer game for Walker and the first career MLB home run for Lambo. Alvarez became the first Pirate third baseman to drive in 100 runs since Aramis Ramirez chased home 110 in 2001, and his 36 homers were a club record for a third baseman. Vin Mazzaro came on in the fifth inning and was credited with the win.

Petey - 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter

• 2016 - Although eliminated from playoff contention the day before, the Pirates still had some spunk left in them and whipped the 100-win Cubs and Jake Arrieta 8-4 at PNC Park. John Jaso led the attack by hitting for the first cycle in PNC Park history (it was the first Bucco cycle since Daryle Ward’s in 2004 and the first at home since Jason Kendall’s in 2000 at TRS) while chasing home five runs and scoring twice. Rookie Jameson Taillon spun a one-hitter through six innings and survived some occasionally shaky bullpen work to earn the win. Josh Bell, Sean Rodriguez and Eric Fryer each added two knocks with S-Rod scoring three times. 
• 2019 - The Pirates and Mayor Bill Peduto declared it “Steve Blass Day,” and the Bucs helped celebrate it by announcing Steve would be part of the initial franchise HoF, which will be selected by the fans and located in PNC Park in 2020. Blass retired the following day, after announcing the Pirates final home broadcast of the season.