- 1971 - Dock Ellis won his 12th straight game to run his record to 14-3, the most wins by a Pirates pitcher before the All-Star break, when he whipped the Reds 5-2 at TRS. Roberto Clemente had two hits and a walk, scoring twice, Al Oliver added a pair of raps, touching the dish once and chasing home a pair, while Manny Sanguillen added two RBI. Dock went seven innings with Mudcat Grant and Dave Giusti finishing up, and Ellis would end the year 19-9/3.06 and an All Star for the only time in his career.
- 1977 - OF and coach Mike Ryan was born in Indiana, PA. Ryan played parts of five MLB seasons and he made a stop at AAA Indianapolis in 2007. In 2013, Ryan was named the manager of the West Virginia Power in the Sally League and after a couple of seasons there, he was chosen as skipper for the Pirates' High-A club, the Bradenton Marauders. Two seasons later in 2016, Mike was named as the boss man for the AA Altoona Curve, replacing Joey Cora who joined the big team’s coaching staff. After the 2019 campaign, Ryan was let go without explanation despite 500 career wins as a minor-league manager for the Pirates, with 221 of those victories/two titles as the Curve skipper.
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| Mike Ryan - Indiana Tribune Democrat photo |
- 1980 - Eight Cub pitchers held the Pirates scoreless for 14-1/3 innings (and had a 12-⅔ IP string of hitless frames!) at TRS but Pittsburgh took home a 5-4, 20-inning victory. Cliff Johnson's two-out homer in the ninth off Bert Blyleven tied it for Chicago‚ but Omar Moreno's single hours later (it was a 5-1/2 hour affair, the longest contest in TRS history) was the game winner. Jim Bibby (11-1) earned the win with three scoreless innings, but lost a probable start in the All Star game because of his unexpected relief outing. The Chicago pen was brilliant, but the Pirates guys were stout, too - four Bucco hurlers (Kent Tekulve, Rick Rhoden, Grant Jackson & Bibby) tossed 10 scoreless frames even though they danced through some raindrops.
- 1983 - The AL broke out of a two-decade long slumber and pummeled the NL 13-3 at Comiskey Park in the All Star game, keyed by Fred Lynn’s grand slam, the first ever in AS competition. 3B Bill Madlock, the only Bucco AS, went 0-for-1.
- 1985 - The Pirates blew a three-run lead at TRS, allowing the Padres to tie the game in the ninth inning, but came back in their half to take an 8-7 decision. Steve Kemp homered (he lost another hit when Tony Gwynn threw him out from right for the always embarrassing 9-3 putout) and the Bucs added a triple and five doubles during the contest, but Pittsburgh needed three consecutive two-out singles against Craig Lefferts, with the game-winner from Marvell Wynne, to walk off the victory.
- 1992 - If you like pitching, this was your kind of game. Zane Smith and Houston’s Jimmy Jones started in a game that ended up 1-0, with Orlando Merced’s sixth inning homer the only run scored in front of the 15,385 fans at TRS. Smith worked 8-⅓ innings of five hit ball with Stan Belinda coming on to record the final two outs. Belinda inherited Jeff Bagwell at second and walked the first hitter he faced, but got a pair of pops to ice the game.
- 1997 - The Pirate “Freak Show” completed a four game sweep of St. Louis, 6-3, at Busch Stadium to go into the All-Star break with a one-game lead in the NL Central standings after winning seven straight. Steve Cooke won the game backed by Jose Guillen’s first big league homer and four RBI, the first multi-RBI game of his career.
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| Bobby Bradley - 2000 Bowman Rookie |
- 1999 - The Pirates signed RHP Bobby Bradley (their #1 pick and eighth overall in the draft) to a contract worth an estimated $2.3M, with additional potential college money as a sweetener. The 18-year-old was a Wellington (FL) HS grad who had committed to Florida State. Bradley was a Top 20 Prospect and pitched in the Futures Game on the farm, but two TJ surgeries derailed his career; he was out of baseball by 2006 without having reached the big leagues.
- 2001 - Pittsburgh put up a five spot in the eighth inning to rally past the White Sox 10-6 at Comiskey Park. Jack Wilson had three hits and John Vander Wal added a homer with two stolen bases to pace the attack. Josias Manzanillo benefitted from the offensive outburst; he was charged with a blown save and then credited with the comeback win.
- 2002 - Houston's Daryle Ward became the first player to put a baseball in the Allegheny on the fly when he homered off Kip Wells during a 10-2 Astro win. The ball traveled an estimated 465-480'. Ward would join the Pirates a little later, playing for Pittsburgh from 2004-05.
- 2002 - The Pirates traded RHP Mike Fetters to the Arizona Diamondbacks for RHP Duaner Sanchez in a swap of relievers. Sanchez pitched poorly for the Bucs and was released after the 2003 season, but found success with the Dodgers and Mets until a mid-season car accident in 2006 caused career-wrecking shoulder damage. Fetters was at the end of his road; he pitched one more season and then retired at age 39.
- 2007 - Kevin McClatchy announced that he would step down as CEO after the 2007 MLB season, resulting in the September hiring of Frank Coonelly, He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Dejan Kovacevic that “You start to get burned out a little bit...in all honesty, it’s a natural time for a change. It’s the right thing to do for the team and for me.”
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| Kevin McClatchy - photo Richard Piling/Getty |
- 2015 - AJ Burnett, who was named to the All-Star team a half hour before game time for the first time in his 17th & final season, and James Shields hooked up in an epic pitching duel at PNC Park that was eventually decided by the bullpens. Both starters went into the eighth inning, leaving a 1-1 match for the relievers to decide. Jared Hughes tossed the final 1-⅓ frames for the win after Brandon Mauer gave up a two-out, full-count, pinch single to Pedro Alvarez that scored Andrew McCutchen, who had walked and moved up on Jung-Ho Kang’s single. It was El Toro’s second career walk off hit; the first was back in 2010.
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