8/1: Benji Signs; '16 Deadline Dealing; Crackin' Cutch; Wicked Willie; No Giles- Yet; 20 Zeroes; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Freddy, Pete, Milt, Pep & Roy

• 1892 - RHP Roy Sanders was born in Stafford, Kansas. Roy yo-yoed between the Reds and the minor league American Association Kansas City Blues in 1917, then landed in Pittsburgh in 1918 as the PTBNL in a deal with KC for Fritz Mollwitz. Roy had a decent year, getting in 28 games (14 starts) with a 7-9/2.60 slash, but it would be his last in MLB as he lost his job to the flood of ball players returning from WW1. He went by the monikers of “Butch” and “Pepe.” 
• 1893 - Pittsburgh crushed St. Louis, 25-2, in game one of a twinbill, then won the second contest, 6-1, while banging out 17 hits at Robison Field. Frank Killen won both games against the Browns (he started both, but got a blow from reliever Tom Colcolough in the first game) en route to a 36-win season and even had a homer. Jake Beckley had six hits during the day while Jack Glasscock and Denny Lyons added five more apiece. 

Charlie Case - 1904 Pgh Press photo

• 1904 - Charlie Case gave up 11 hits but shut out the Cubs 4-0 at Exposition Park. The difference was in the fielding; Chicago made four errors, all leading to Pittsburgh scores, while the Pirates played flawlessly and occasionally brilliantly behind Case. Ginger Beaumont had three hits for the Bucs, while Tommy Leach and Honus Wagner each added a pair of knocks. 
• 1906 - After pitching 10-2/3 innings of no-hit ball at Washington Park, Brooklyn’s Harry McIntyre was touched for a single by Pirates 2B Claude Ritchey. Only 31 Bucs faced McIntyre in the first 10 frames, but Pittsburgh beat the Superbas in the 13th when Bob Ganley singled, went to third on Honus Wagner’s double, and scored on Joe Nealon’s knock to take a 1-0 decision behind Lefty Leifield, who went the distance while tossing a nine-hitter. 
• 1916 - RHP Elmer “Pep” Rambert was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Pep’s MLB career consisted of two cups of joe with the Bucs from 1939-40, working 12 IP and going 0-1/8.25. He did have a long shelf life in the minors where he both hurled and played outfield, winning 68 games and putting up a career .307 BA, then managed in the bushes after retiring. 
• 1918 - Pittsburgh and Boston played a record 20 scoreless innings (it was tied in 1967) before the Pirates won in the 21st frame by a 2-0 score at Braves Field. Art Nehf went all the way for Boston, while Erskine Mayer worked the first 15 frames for Pittsburgh, followed by Wilbur Cooper. Cooper scored on Max Carey’s two-out knock and Billy Southworth doubled Carey home with an insurance tally. 
• 1943 - Rip Sewell won his 11th straight start (he did drop a decision as a reliever during that streak) by a 7-1 count over Boston at Forbes Field, tossing a three-hitter. Every outing during the skein was a complete game victory. Rip was an All Star that year and posted his career-best season with a slash of 21-9/2.54. 

Milt May - 1984 Topps

• 1950 - C Milt May was born in Gary, Indiana. May began (1970-73) and ended (1983-84) his career as a Pirate, batting .261 as a reserve catcher. He was a member of the 1971 World Series club and 1972 pennant winners, and hit .400 (2-for-5) as a pinch hitter in the postseason. Milt also made the record books when he drove in the one millionth run in MLB history on May 4th, 1975, with a three-run home run as a Houston Astro. May became the hitting coach for 10 seasons in Pittsburgh (1987–96) with stints with the Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and as pitching coach for the Colorado Rockies. May was a scout for the Rockies in 2000, then spent the 2001 season as a Pirates minor-league hitting coordinator and is now a minor league coach for the Orioles. 
• 1951 - Pete Mackanin was born in Chicago. He never suited up for the Bucs as a player, but spent several seasons with the club as skipper and coach. After managing the Hickory Crawdads and Lynchburg Hillcats in 2001 and 2002, he became the Bucco bench coach in 2003. After Lloyd McClendon was fired, Mackanin served as the Pirates' interim manager for the last month of 2005, leading the team to a 12–14 record. He spent the next season managing in the Pirates' minor league system at Bradenton before moving on to work for other clubs. He was the Phils manager until 2017, when he was relieved and moved to a front office job. 
• 1951 - The Dodgers took a 7-2 lead after three innings against Murry Dickson at Forbes Field, but it wasn’t enough as Brooklyn lost to the Bucs 12-9. The Pirates scored four in the fourth and four more in the eighth, sparked by Ralph Kiner's 27th homer, and snapped da Bums’ winning streak at 10 games. George Strickland drove home three and homered. The win went to Bill Werle and the save to Ted Wilks. 
• 1970 - Willie Stargell smoked three doubles and two home runs against the Braves at Fulton County Stadium. Captain Willie had six RBI and tied a MLB record with five extra base knocks as the Bucs won 20-10. The team set a club record with 14 extra-base hits and 47 total bases. Bob Robertson added five more knocks, making Pops and Big Red the first Bucco duo to collect five hits in a game. 

Freddy Garcia - 1998 Pacific On Line

• 1972 - 3B/LF Freddy Garcia (not to be mistaken for the veteran AL pitcher) was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic. He played for the Bucs in 1995 and then from 1997-99 as bench depth, hitting .221 over that span. He was traded to Atlanta for a minor league pitcher and finished his career the following season. 
• 1982 - They say that the best way to not hit a home run is to swing for one, but Bill Madlock laid that to rest with a 10th inning game winner against the Mets at Shea Stadium. Mad Dog told the Pittsburgh Press’ Russ Franke that “...I was definitely looking for a home run with two out and nobody on. It was either be a hero or a bum...I just stepped in the bucket and swung.” His blast into the LF bleachers against Terry Leach gave the Bucs a 4-3 victory over New York. Pittsburgh battled back from a 3-1 deficit with a pair in the seventh scored on knocks by Lee Lacy, Dale Berra (he had two RBI on the night) and Willie Stargell. They almost won it in the ninth, but a potential rally was squashed by some happy feet by Berra. Tony Pena blooped a hit into right, but was picked off going to second when a hesitant Berra rounded second late (“I thought the right fielder caught the ball”) and fell down trying to get back to the bag, leaving Pena hung out to dry. But all’s well that ends well. Kent Tekulve got the win and Rod Scurry the save of the game that Ross Baumgarten started. 
• 1998 - Per Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette, the Pirates had a conditional deal with Seattle set up that would have landed Brian Giles in Pittsburgh, but it was inadvertently blown up by the Houston Astros. The Mariners were set to deal Randy Johnson to the Indians, and part of the return would have been Giles, who was then supposed to be flipped to the Bucs (GM Cam Bonifay understandably refused to name who was part of the foiled trade). But the Tribe lost the bidding war five minutes before the midnight deadline to the ‘Stros, and there was no time for them and the Pirates to reach a side deal. It would wait until the offseason when Ricardo Rincon went to Cleveland for Giles, who became a Bucco for the next 4-1/2 years. To add a little salt to the wound, the Big Unit pitched the next night against the Buccos and whipped them 6-2. 

Mike Benjamin - 2000 MLB Showdown

• 2000 - The Pirates announced that they had signed IF Mike Benjamin to a two-year contract extension with $1.85M guaranteed with another $600K available in bonuses. The 34-year-old Benjamin hit .270 for the Pirates in 2000, then missed all of the 2001 season with a bad elbow. He came back in 2002 to bat just .150 in 108 games before retiring. 
• 2003 - Trailing the Rockies 11-6 with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates rallied for the win at PNC Park. With one out, Craig Wilson, Reggie Sanders and Jose Hernandez packed the sacks. Jack Wilson’s single scored one run and a grounder brought home another Bucco. With two down, a passed ball made it 11-9 before pinch hitter Jeff Reboulet walked. Tike Redman, who had just been called up, tripled home a pair to tie the game, and Jason Kendall lined a single to left for the win. Duaner Sanchez, the Pirates fourth pitcher, got the victory. 
• 2009 - Andrew McCutchen tied a club record by homering three times in Pittsburgh’s 11-6 victory over the Washington Nats at PNC Park. Cutch became the 10th player in club history to go long three times in the same game, the first since Aramis Ramirez did it on April 8th, 2001, and the first Buc rookie to collect three bombs in a single game. He added six RBI. He hit a solo home run in the first inning to lead off the game against starter Craig Stammen, a two-run shot in the fourth inning off Tyler Clippard and then a three-run homer in the sixth off Logan Kensing, falling a grand slam short of a natural home run cycle. 
• 2014 - Behind 4-0 in the fifth, the Pirates went on a late rampage to bury the Arizona D-Backs 9-4 at Chase Field. Pittsburgh scored three runs in the eighth, keyed by Pedro Alvarez’s two-run pinch hit double. The Bucs exploded for five more tallies in the ninth. Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer led off with doubles, Andrew McCutchen was intentionally walked and four of the next five Pirates connected for singles. Harrison, Mercer and Cutch batted 1-2-3 and had six hits, two walks and seven runs scored in the win. Tony Watson claimed the victory. 

Ivan Nova - 2016 Topps Update

• 2016 - Given an extra 24 hours to deal because the usual 7/31 deadline fell on a Sunday, the Bucs FO burned the phone lines. First, they got rental RHP Ivan Nova from the Yankees for two PTBNL (OF Tito Polo and P Stephen Tarpley). After going 5-2/3.06, they made the relationship more permanent by signing the Dominican to a three-year contract. They returned Jon Niese to the Mets (he was traded to Pittsburgh before the season for Neil Walker) for LH reliever Antonio Bastardo (who was a Pirate in 2015 and left as a FA), and finally sent Francisco Liriano along with prospects OF Harold Ramirez and C Reese McGuire to Toronto for RHP Drew Hutchison; Francisco returned to the fold in 2019. The Blue Jays picked up the approximately $17M left on Frankie’s contract for 2016-17, hence the prospect package.