10/3 From 1940 Through the 1970’s: NLCS '70, '71, '79; Game Stories; HBD Wil, Alex & Ismael

• 1948 - Vic Lombardi lost a duel to Johnny Vander Meer as the Reds took a 1-0 win at Crosley Field to end the season. It was scoreless into the bottom of the ninth when Bobby Adams walked, was bunted to second and came in on Steve Filipowicz’s single. Lombardi gave up five hits, Vander Meer just two. The loss cost the Bucs a chance to join Brooklyn in third; they finished fourth, 8-½ games behind the Boston Braves. 
• 1948 - Luke Easter's grand slam highlighted the Homestead/Washington Grays' 19-hit assault on the Birmingham Black Barons in the fourth game of the Negro World Series, played at Pelican Stadium in New Orleans. The Grays won the game 14-1 and the Championship in five games. This was the final Negro WS‚ as the Negro National League became a casualty of integration and folded during the winter, according to Charlton’s Baseball Chronology. 

Luke Easter - photo via Baseball Hall of Fame

• 1969 - Scout Ismael Cruz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The son of old Pirates scout Pablo Cruz, he trawled Colombia for the Bucs and Reds in the 1900s before moving up the international scouting ladder with the Mets, Toronto and his current organization, the Dodgers. 
• 1970 - Dock Ellis and Gary Nolan bent but refused to break at TRS until the Reds put up three runs in the 10th inning to take a 3-0, opening NLCS victory from the Pirates. Tony Perez’s double brought in the first score and the insurance runs were chased home on Lee May’s two out two bagger. Pittsburgh stranded nine runners, but only one Bucco reached third, and that was with two outs. Matty Alou had a tough day on the base paths; he was picked off in the first inning and caught stealing in the ninth, ending both frames. 
• 1971 - 1B Bob Robertson hit three home runs, the first time ever done in a playoff game, and added a double in a 9-4 NLCS win over the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park. He had five RBI and four runs scored to give Dock Ellis all the offensive support he’d need, although The Docktor lasted only five innings (his sore elbow would later limit him to one short WS outing). The Pirates launched a 15-hit barrage with Roberto Clemente and Dave Cash adding three knocks to square the series at a game apiece. 
• 1971 - OF Wil Cordero was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Cordero put in 14 big-league years, spending part of 2000 as a Bucco. He signed as a FA, hit .282 w/16 HR and was flipped at the deadline to Cleveland for Alex Ramirez and Enrique Wilson. 
• 1972 - Roberto Clemente made a ninth inning appearance in his 2,433rd game for the Bucs, tying Honus Wagner for the most regular season games played by a Pirate as Pittsburgh beat St. Louis 6-2 at TRS in the season finale (Roberto played 26 additional games in the postseason, including five in '72; Hans only got into 15 playoff games). The Bucs had the game in hand thanks to a pair of two-run, two-RBI performances by Richie Hebner, who homered, and Al Oliver, with a double, to back the twirling of Bob Moose, Steve Blass and Ramon Hernandez. 

Alex Ramirez - 2001 Topps Heritage

• 1974 - OF Alex Ramirez was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He came to Pittsburgh in a deadline deal with the Indians for Wil Cordero in 2000 and that was the end of his three-year MLB career. He hit .209 and took his game to Japan. He played in the Nippon League through the 2013 season, becoming the first non-Japanese player to collect 2,000 hits, and he’s coaching/managing there now. 
• 1976 - The Pirates shut out the St. Louis Cardinals by identical 1-0 scores in a season-ending doubleheader at Three Rivers Stadium. Jim Rooker threw a seven hitter in the opener and Jerry Reuss followed with a five hitter in the nitecap. The Pirates wouldn’t win back-to-back 1-0 games again until September, 2014, when they blanked the Brewers and then the Braves. The sweep gave them 92 victories for the season, good enough for second place, nine games behind Philadelphia. 
• 1979 - Pittsburgh won the second game of the NLCS, 3-2, over the Reds in 10 innings at Riverfront Stadium. The Bucs nursed a 2-1 lead into the ninth, built on Tim Foli and Bill Madlock RBI. But back-to-back one out doubles by Hector Cruz and Dave Collins off Kent Tekulve tied the match. The Pirates came right back. A leadoff single by Omar Moreno, a bunt by Foli and a game-winning knock by Dave Parker sent Doug Bair to defeat. Don Robinson got the win and the Pirates went up 2-0 in the series against Cincinnati.