9/5 From 1990: Sophie's Field; Maz Statue; Game Stories; HBD Pablo & Jason

• 1990 - The Pirates beat the Mets 1-0 and 3-1 at TRS to open a four-game lead over New York in the NL East. Zane Smith pitched a one-hitter in the twilight twin bill opener for the Bucs and Neal Heaton won the nitecap. Barry Bonds drove in the first game’s only run in the ninth, singling home Gary Redus. Jeff King homered twice in the nightcap to account for all three Bucco runs. Pittsburgh swept all five of its doubleheaders that season. 
• 1991 - While presenting her Six-Year Development Plan address, Mayor Sophie Masloff said that the City would like to build a 44,000 seat baseball stadium “...so we will finish the job of securing the Pirates’ future in this City.” She planned to locate it on the North Shore, to be ready by the turn of the century, and wanted to call it Clemente Field. She may not have got all the details right, but became the prime mover, often against stiff opposition, for the eventual building of PNC Park, pushed through by her successor, Mayor Tom Murphy. 

Bob Walk - 1992 Pinnacle

• 1992 - The Pirates won for the ninth time in 10 games behind Bob Walk’s six-hitter to defeat the LA Dodgers 6-1 at TRS. Barry Bonds did the heavy lifting with a three-run homer in the third to give Walkie all the runs he’d need. 
• 1993 - Utilityman Pablo Reyes was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. After batting .289 at Indianapolis in 2018, he was among the first wave of call-ups. He’s one of the Swiss Army knife-type players the Pirates value, having played both middle infield positions and the outfield for the Tribe. He got his first MLB start on September 4th, one day shy of his 25th birthday, and collected two hits, including his first MLB knock. 
• 1995 - OF Jason Martin was born in Corona, California. He was an eighth-round draft pick of Houston in 2013, selected straight from high school, and joined the Pirates in 2018 as part of the Gerrit Cole trade. He was called up on April 5th, 2019, probably before his time due to big-league injuries; Martin only had 60 AAA & 68 AA games under his belt as a 23-year-old before he was promoted. He hit .250 off the bench in 20 games, rejoined Indy, and then broke camp with the Bucs in 2020. 
• 2003 - Reggie Sanders became just the sixth right-handed hitting Pirate to homer 30 or more times in a season with his solo homer in the seventh inning in the first game of a doubleheader at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium. Sanders joined Ralph Kiner (six times), Frank Thomas (twice), and one-timers Dick Stuart, Jeff King and Aramis Ramirez to accomplish the feat. His long fly tied the opener against the Bravos, which the Bucs eventually lost 3-2 in 10 innings. The Pirates won the nightcap 5-3 behind Craig Wilson’s three-run homer and Jeff Reboulet’s solo shot. Mark Corey split even on the day, losing the first game and winning the second. 
• 2009 - In the seventh inning of the Pirates' 2-1 loss to St. Louis at PNC Park, Ross Ohlendorf tossed the Bucs’ second-ever “immaculate inning,” striking out the side on nine pitches. He fanned Kevin Greene, Julio Logo and Jason LaRue, all who were thrown out at first after swinging at pitches in the dirt. Jeff Robinson first turned the feat for the Bucs in 1987 against the Cubs Leon Durham, Andre Dawson and Rafael Palmeiro. Juan Nicasio became the third Pirate to toss an immaculate inning in 2016. As for the game, Ohlie’s effort went for naught when Albert Pujols bopped a 10th-inning pinch-hit homer off Matt Capps. 

Immaculate Ohlie - 2009 Upper Deck

• 2007 - A 1909 T206 American Tobacco baseball card of Honus Wagner was sold for a record $2.8M to an anonymous buyer. The card is such a rarity because Wagner refused to license his image to the tobacco company, and only between 50-200 of the cards were ever printed. 
• 2010 - Bill Mazeroski’s statue was dedicated at PNC Park outside the RF gate, located on Mazeroski Way (it was the former Avenue of the Pirates, renamed in Maz’s honor in 2001) and unveiled on his 74th birthday. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in the lineup that afternoon and the Bucs were whipped by the Nats. Pittsburgh sculptor Susan Wagner shaped the likeness of Maz on his 1960 home run trot. Susan also created the Clemente and Stargell monuments for PNC Park.