7/14 From 1970: Slug City; Basebrawl; Cutch, Arriba & ASG's; Game Tales; HBD Ben & Jack

• 1970 - Roberto Clemente was booed by the All-Star crowd at Riverfront Stadium (then all of two weeks old) after earlier saying he would only play if the game was held in Pittsburgh instead of Cincinnati. He changed his tune (GM Joe Brown provided a bit of arm twisting), and though resting a chronically sore neck, the Great One was used late in the game. Clemente, the only Buc rep on the roster, hit a sac fly to tie the contest and held Willie Horton to a 375’ single off the wall in right as the NL won 5-4. The game is better remembered for the brutal collision between Pete Rose and Ray Fosse at the plate, with Rose jarring the ball loose to score the winning run while Fosse suffered a broken shoulder. 
• 1974 - The nitecap of a twinbill against the rival Reds at TRS erupted into a donnybrook. The action started after a fourth inning beanball of Bruce Kison by Jack Billingham, causing both teams to rush the field. When Sparky Anderson stepped on Ed Kirkpatrick's foot, the Buc catcher shoved the Reds skipper and was rewarded with a sock from Andy Kosko. The most memorable bit of mayhem was when Cincy’s Pedro Borbon bit Daryl Patterson after a little hair-tugging. Patterson got a tetanus shot after the chomp (Borbon told the media afterward for Patterson not to worry about tetanus, but rabies; Patterson countered by saying Borbon "fights like a woman.") The Pirates won the spirited contest 2-1 after dropping the opener 3-2. The victory began an eight-game Bucco winning streak and the Pirates stormed through the second half of the season to take the NL East title, but lost the NLCS to the LA Dodgers three games to one. 

Daryl Patterson - 1974 Topps Custom

• 1974 - Pirates GM Ben Cherington was born in Meriden, New Hampshire. He replaced Neal Huntington (they had been teammates on Amherst’s baseball team in college) after the 2019 season. He began as a scout for Cleveland in 1999, moved on to Boston the following year and rose through the ranks to become GM in 2011. He held that spot until 2015, took a year off to teach, and then spent three years as Toronto’s VP of Baseball Operations before taking the Pittsburgh rebuild job. 
• 1980 - Vets Stadium in Philly was the scene of a smokin’ shootout between the Bucs and Phils, with Pittsburgh finally taking the slugfest by a 13-11 tally after Dave Parker's two-run homer in the ninth. The two teams combined for 36 hits (21 by the Pirates), and there were no 1-2-3 innings for either side during the contest. The game was bitterly fought to the end. The Phillies left a runner on third in the eighth and the tag team of Lee Lacy-to-Tim Foli-to Phil Garner cut down Lonnie Smith at second in the ninth; a successful stretch by Smith would have put Philadelphians at second and third with one out. The Cobra had two homers, three hits, four RBI and three runs scored; Foli and Bill Robinson each had four hits. The Bucs’ fifth pitcher, Grant Jackson, dodged enough raindrops to get the win after posting two scoreless but rambunctious frames. 
• 1987 - The NL used plenty of pitching to take a 2-0 win over the AL in the Midsummer Classic held at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum; it took 13 innings before a run was scored. Tim Raines hit a two-run, two-out triple to win the game and the MVP. Rick Reuschel represented the Bucs and tossed 1-⅓ frames of scoreless ball, giving up a hit and striking out one. 
• 1990 - LHP Jack Leathersich was born in Beverly, Massachusetts. After seeing some time with the Mets and Cubs, Leathersich was claimed by the Bucs from Chicago in September, 2017, after recovering from TJ surgery. He tossed well during a short stay (4-1/3 IP, no runs on three hits with six K) but was DFA’d after the season. Jack last pitched for the Texas organization in 2019 and now is retired from baseball. 
• 1992 - Lotta lumber being swung at the Midsummer Classic as the AL took a 13-6 victory from the senior circuit at Jack Murphy Stadium. The junior circuit banged out 19 hits with two leaving the yard. Outfielders Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke started; Bonds went 1-for-3 with a double and a run while AVS went 0-for-2 and hit into a DP. Barry also took part in the home run derby, hitting two dingers in the first round. 

Francisco Cordova - 1997 Metal Universe

• 1997 - The Bucs came from behind three times, rallying from 1-0, 2-1, and 4-3 deficits, to finally beat the Mets 5-4 at TRS to take their 10th win in 12 games. Steve Cooke left after seven with a 3-2 lead, but New York scored twice off Clint Sadowsky in the eighth to leapfrog ahead. The Pirates tallied twice in the eighth for the victory on four straight hits: doubles by Al Martin, Kevin Young and Jason Kendall sandwiched around a knock by Dale Sveum. Rich Loiselle picked up his 12th save (he finished the year with 29), tying the club rookie record set by Francisco Cordova one year earlier. Ricardo Rincon got the win. It was also announced by the NL that Cordova was the Player of the Week following his shared no-hitter with Rincon. The “Freak Show” Bucs hung around to the final days of the season before finishing second, five games behind Houston. 
• 2009 - The AL continued its avalanche over the NL in All Star competition, taking a 4-3 victory at Busch Stadium. P Zach Duke and 2B Freddy Sanchez made the team, but didn’t get into the game. President Barack Obama, wearing a White Sox jacket, threw out the first pitch and later briefly joined Joe Buck and Tim McCarver in the Fox booth. 
• 2015 - Andrew McCutchen started and batted leadoff for the NL in the ASG played at Great American Ballpark. Cutch contributed a home run while going 1-for-3, but the AL won their third straight game 6-3. Gerrit Cole tossed a scoreless frame while Mark Melancon struck out a pair in his inning of work but was touched up for a two-out, two-strike homer by the Twins’ Brian Dozier. AJ Burnett, in his first All Star game after 17 years in the show, didn’t get into the fray. Commissioner Bud Selig allowed Pete Rose to be recognized before the game along with former teammates Johnny Bench, Barry Larkin, and Joe Morgan. 
• 2017 - The Bucs spotted the Cards a 2-0 first-inning lead at PNC Park but ground their way to a 5-2 win that was nowhere as easy as the score would indicate. Gerrit Cole recovered nicely after the rough opening while Tony Watson, Juan Nicasio and Felipe Rivero held the fort to allow the Pirates to tie the game at two going into the ninth. With Adam Frazier on second and an out, Andrew McCutchen was given an intentional pass so that Seung Hwan Oh could face rookie Josh Bell. He got ahead 1-2, then J-Bell went the opposite way for a walk off blast and a 5-2 win. Bell’s homer would be the first of three walk off wins in a six-day span for the Bucs. 

Josh rang the bell - 2017 Topps Gold Label

• 2018 - The Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers by 2-1 and 6-2 scores at PNC Park. Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco hit back-to-back homers in the first inning of the opener off Chase Anderson, and five Pirate pitchers, beginning with Ivan Nova and finishing with Felipe Vazquez, held off the Brew Crew. The nightcap featured stellar work by young Pirates: Clay Holmes tossed six shutout innings, Jordan Luplow homered twice & Max Moroff once while Marte & Polanco become the second Pirate duo to hit back-to-back homers in both ends of a twin bill (Frank Thomas and Dick Groat were the first in 1957; only one other MLB pair, Oakland's Sal Bando & Reggie Jackson in 1988, has matched the feat). Vazquez got the final out of the second game, earning a pair of saves on the day to run his total to 23 on the year. 
• 2020 - The 2020 All-Star Game was originally scheduled on this date, to be hosted by the Los Angeles Dodgers. But the match was canceled due to the corona virus-shortened 2020 season, the first bypassed Midsummer Classic since wartime travel restrictions scrubbed the 1945 game. Dodger Stadium was given the All-Star Game for 2022, the next available date as Atlanta was already selected for the 2021 showcase, later flipped to Denver.