- 1870 - LHP Jake Hewitt was born in Maidsville, West Virginia. He tossed for WVU in 1895, and joined the Pirates for four games (two starts). He worked 13 innings and slashed 10-2/4.15, also tossing for Rochester in the Eastern League and Warren of the Iron and Glass League in a pretty busy season. Jake’s last stat line was in 1898 hurling for New Castle in the Interstate League.
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| Jake Stenzel - undated photo Find-A-Grave |
- 1894 - The Pirates set a club record by scoring 27 runs when they routed the Boston Beaneaters, 27-11, at Exposition Park in the North Side. Boston actually led 2-0 in the second inning and was tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the third, until Pittsburgh scored 21 runs in the third and fourth innings. Jake Stenzel homered twice in the third inning off Henry Lampe, a Bucco first that wouldn’t be duplicated again until 1995 by Jeff King. (The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette wrote “Stenzel made two home runs in the third to relieve the monotony of crackling singles and sharp doubles.”) The Bucs hit four homers and scored 12 times in the that frame, sending 15 players to the dish and setting a HR record of seven bombs in a single game (Stenzel - 2, Lou Bierbauer - 2, Mike Smith, Connie Mack & Denny Lyons) that wouldn’t be matched until 1947. Tom Colcolough got the win; he apparently was used to big run support, notching eight victories during the year despite a 7.23 ERA.
- 1902 - 2B Lafayette Fresco “Tommy” Thompson was born in Centerville, Alabama. He first planted his MLB roots in Pittsburgh, playing 14 games and batting .286 for the World Champion 1925 Pirates club before moving on to spend eight more years in the show, notably with Philadelphia. But Tommy made his name after his playing days, managing in the minors and then becoming a big wheel for the Dodgers, rising from assistant farm director to head of minor league operations under Buzzy Bavasi (he even replaced him as GM briefly) and putting together the 1968 draft that netted Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Bill Buckner, Bobby Valentine, Joe Ferguson and Tom Paciorek. Sadly, he didn’t get to enjoy the fruits of his labor as he passed away a few weeks later.
- 1925 - The Pirates held their Golden Jubilee celebration, bring back old stalwarts like Jack Chesbro, Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke, Kitty Bransfield, Deacon Phillippe, Ginger Beaumont, CL Zimmer, Tom McCreedy, Jess Tannehill, George Yeager, Jimmie Burke, Tommy Leach and Claude Ritchey. The 1901 team played the 1925 vets in a special, pre-game exhibition that lasted three innings, with the current club beating the old timers by a 5-3 score. Pittsburgh went to work afterwards, beating the Phils 9-3 at Forbes Field behind Emil Yde in the game that counted. Eddie Moore homered, Pie Traynor had a double and triple and Glenn Wright contributed a pair of knocks, including a two-bagger, to lead the Pirate attack.
- 1940 - The Bucs fell behind Boston 5-0 in the second, then put up a six-spot of their own in the third and hung on for a 7-6 win at Forbes Field. It was an all-hands-on-deck performance with six of the eight Pirates position players having hits with runs and/or RBI on the score sheet. Rip Sewell tossed eight innings for the win in relief; he gave up 10 hits but just two runs.
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| Rip Sewell - undated photo Hall of Fame/Getty |
- 1941 - The New York Giants became the first team to wear headgear in a game against the Pirates at the Polo Grounds as Pittsburgh swept the doubleheader, 5-4 and 4-3. They really didn’t need the protection; no one was beaned in either contest. The Pirates made batting helmets mandatory a decade later under Branch Rickey’s direction. In the nitecap of the twin bill, Rip Sewell flashed some golden glovework as he set a NL record with 11 assists as a pitcher.
- 1944 - The Pirates joined Brooklyn (which hosted the only other MLB game scheduled for the day) by cancelling their game against the Reds at Forbes Field in tribute to D-Day. Pirates president William Benswanger said “...merely asking the audience to rise and offer silent prayer for the Allied armies who have just invaded the enemy’s stronghold would scarcely be sufficient for such a solemn occasion.” The game was pushed back 24 hours, with the Bucs taking a 4-2 decision behind Rip Sewell’s seven hitter and Vince DiMaggio’s two-run single in the eighth. The win cemented the Pirates hold on second place, where they would finish the year with a 90-63 record, 15 games behind the St. Louis Cards. The Redbirds went on to win the “Streetcar Series” against the St. Louis Browns.
- 1949 - RHP Kirby Higbe was traded to the New York Giants for P Ray Poat and IF Bobby Rhawn. It ended up a minor deal; Higbe was about at the end of his MLB days (he retired after the 1950 season) and the Giant pair played briefly for the Bucs in ‘49 but were gone the following season. Manager Bill Meyer said somewhat tartly but accurately of the deal “We didn’t get anything too much, but we gave away nothing.” The Bucs were cleaning house; pitcher Bob Moncrief was waived and sold to the Cubs for $10,000 on the same day.
- 1959 - Ron Blackburn had a good day even if his team didn’t. The reliever smacked the only longball of his MLB career off Moe Drabowsky and tossed four innings of perfect ball as a fireman in an 8-2 loss to the Cubs at Forbes Field.
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| Ron Blackburn - 1959 Topps |
- 1959 - OF Doug Frobel was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He played for Pittsburgh from 1982-85. Frobel looked ready to break out after hitting .286 in limited at-bats in 1983, but couldn’t match that pace in following campaigns, ending his Bucco career with a .213 BA.
- 1986 - The Bucs split a twinbill with the Mets at TRS but not without a little dancing. Rick Rhoden was cruising on his way to a 7-1 opening game win when ex-Bucco and New York coach Bill Robinson called him a cheater (Rhoden was often accused of scuffing a ball). Rick cussed back, Robby gave him a good shove and for five minutes the benches and bullpens did the baseball cha-cha around the mound. Order was restored; apparently the trigger point was when Rhoden threw a ball in the dirt that left a mark, causing Robinson to call on the ump to check the pitcher for foreign objects, which he did without success. RJ Reynolds did the most damage (with his bat, not his knuckles) with three hits, missing the cycle by a long ball. Barry Bonds had a pair of hits and a homer. The second game went the other way with the New York nine running up a 10-4 score as Jose DeLeon was chased in the fourth inning.
- 1998 - It took the Bucs awhile to get started, but a three-run seventh knotted the score against the Minnesota Twins at TRS and after four hours and 16 minutes, the Pirates squeezed out a 4-3, 12-inning decision. A Jose Guillen single, Aramis Ramirez triple and Turner Ward homer drove the big seventh, while four straight singles won the game in the 12th, the first by Chance Sanford and the last by Jason Kendall. Esteban Loaiza, the Bucs fifth pitcher, got the win. The Pirates hurlers worked out of the stretch all game; the Twinkies went 0-for-14 with RISP and stranded 14 runners.
- 2006 - Jason Bay was named the NL Player of the Month and Jose Castillo the Player of the Week. Bay banged away at a .321 clip with 12 HR and 35 RBI while Castillo hit .478 with four homers and 15 RBI and posted an impressive .366 average through May. Jason kept up the good work all season, winning his second straight All-Star berth with a .286 BA, 35 dingers and 109 RBI. Jose, not so much - he finished the year batting .253 with 14 home runs.
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| Russ Martin - 2014 Topps Heritage |
- 2014 - The Pirates scored eight times in the sixth inning to hand the Milwaukee Brewers a 15-5 thumping at PNC Park, the biggest Bucco frame since 2012 when they accomplished the feat against San Diego. The 15 runs were the most scored since 2010, also against Milwaukee. The Bucs parlayed six hits and four walks into their big inning. Seven Pirates had multi-hit outings, led by Russ Martin, who had three hits, four RBI and three runs scored to prime the 16 hit attack.
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