8/13 From 1950: LaPointe Deal; Jamo TJ; Roberto Muscles Up; Scoops Hot; Pops PoW; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Jonah, Tom & Jeff

• 1950 - Pittsburgh took a twin bill from the Chicago Cubs by 7-4 and 2-0 scores at Forbes Field. The Bucs rode a six-run fifth inning to victory in the opener. Gus Bell had three hits, including two doubles, while Ralph Kiner (#200) and Danny O’Connell homered. Cliff Chambers went the distance for the win. Mel Queen was the story in the nitecap, tossing a complete game five hitter with 11 K. Johnny Hopp went 4-for-4 and was a homer shy of the cycle. 
• 1953 - The Pirates fell behind three times but overcame the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 at Forbes Field when Hal Rice’s eighth inning fly scored Cal Abrams with the game winner. Frank Thomas had a pair of solo homers to back Lefty LaPalme’s pitching. For the Bucs, it was a rare bright spot. The victory was their only win in a dozen game stretch. 

Frank Thomas - 1953 Topps Archive

• 1957 - Bob Friend was dealing as he tossed a two-hit shutout against the Phillies, winning 6-0 at Connie Mack Stadium. He was hooked up in a 2-0 duel with Warren Hacker through six innings before Bill Mazeroski chased Hacker with a two-run two-bagger in the seventh. Pittsburgh iced it in the eighth on a run-scoring error and Hank Foiles two-out RBI knock. Maz had a big day, with his two-run, second-inning homer with two gone giving Friend some early breathing room. The pitcher said after the game that he had fallen in love with his curve “...but now I’ve learned that the fastball is my best pitch.” 
• 1958 - Though nicked by three-run pinch-hit homers off the bats of Rip Repulski and Bob Bowman, the Pirates nosed the Phils 10-9 at Connie Mack Stadium for their seventh straight victory. Roberto Clemente had two homers (his first ever multi-homer game), Maz added one more, and Ted Kluszewski doubled and tripled. 
• 1963 - LHP Jeff Ballard was born in Billings, Montana. After five years with the Orioles, he worked for Pittsburgh from 1993-94, getting into 43 games and going 5-2-2/5.42 to close out his career. Ballard didn’t exactly end up on the street afterward. He had earned a degree in geophysics from Stanford University and plied his trade in Montana, spending his spare time as an organizer for the Billings American Legion baseball program. 
• 1964 - C Tom Prince was born in Kankakee, Illinois. Prince started his career in Pittsburgh (1987-93) as a backup catcher behind Mike LaValliere and Don Slaught. In 177 games for the Pirates, he hit .177. Despite his bat, he played for five teams and parts of 17 seasons in the show before hanging up his spikes in 2003. He was a Buc minor league manager beginning in 2005 and in 2017 was promoted to the show as Clint Hurdle’s bench coach. When the new regime took over in 2019, Prince was hired by Detroit to manage their AAA club, Toledo. 

Roberto Clemente - 2018 Topps Flashback 1969

• 1969 - Roberto Clemente hit three homers for the second time in his career to lead the Bucs to a 10-5 win over the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park. He had four hits, four RBI and four runs to back Jim Bunning’s win, saved by Bob Moose. And to keep his run of fours going, he used four different bats during the game. Roberto made the Pirates' prior protest a moot point; manager Larry Shepherd had filed one early in the game after the umpires reversed a call to give the Giants a run. 
• 1973 - The Pirates hung on to take a 3-2 win from the rival Reds at TRS. Willie Stargell had three hits, including a homer, and started a two-out, two-run rally with a single in the fourth. He was busy; Pops was also thrown out at home repping an insurance run in the eighth when ump Bob Engel said he missed home with his slide, a charge Willie and manager Bill Virdon argued unsuccessfully. The three runs proved enough for Nellie Briles, Ramon Hernandez and Dave Giusti. There was some off-field action, too - Stargell was named the NL Player of the Week and extended his 13-game hitting streak (it ended the next day), while for the second straight trip to Pittsburgh, Johnny Bench received a death threat over the phone and was escorted around town by security guards. 
• 1974 - Al Oliver had three hits, including a two-run homer, and drove home five runs as the Pirates pounded the Reds 14-3 at Riverfront Stadium. Larry Demery spun a complete-game win as Pittsburgh edged over .500 and moved to 1-1/2 games of first-place St. Louis. Richie Zisk had four knocks, three runs plated & scored twice, Richie Hebner added four more raps with an RBI & three runs, Rennie Stennett touched home three times on three hits and Ed Kirkpatrick banged a homer as the Bucs swatted out 21 hits. For Zisk, it was his 10th straight game with an RBI, a streak that would end the next day. 
• 1980 - RHP Jonah Bayliss was born in North Adams, Massachusetts. Bayliss came over to Pittsburgh as the key figure in the Mark Redman trade, but never panned out. He spent 2006-07, the last two seasons of his three-year career, in Pittsburgh and went 5-4 with a 7.22 ERA in 16 outings from the pen, showing good stuff but poor control. He’s now a pitching coach/trainer with his own hometown baseball academy. 

Jonah Bayliss - 2006 Fleer Ultra Rookie

• 1988 - The Pirates sent RHP Barry Jones to the White Sox for LHP Dave LaPoint. LaPoint tossed well as a rental for the Bucs, going 4-2/2.77 in eight starts before signing with the Yankees in the offseason. Jones lasted in the league until 1993, with a strong four-year stretch with the White Sox and the Mets as a setup man. 
• 1998 - The Reds jumped on the Pirates for five first-inning runs at Cinergy Field, but the Bucs had the last laugh by roaring back to take a 9-6 win and sweep the three-game series. The Pittsburgh comeback started in the fourth with a Tony Womack solo shot, with two more tallies in the fifth keyed by back-to-back doubles by Al Martin & Freddy Garcia, a four-spot in the sixth behind a two-run Al Martin homer & Lou Collier’s triple that chased another pair home, and finally Jason Kendall & Martin RBI knocks in the seventh for insurance. The Pirates used six pitchers during the contest, with Jeff McCurry getting the win and Ricardo Rincon earning a save. 
• 2003 - Pittsburgh scored twice in the eighth to take the lead, then the Cards came back to tie it 5-5 in the ninth at PNC Park. But with two away and the bases empty in their half, Pittsburgh, thanks to some off-the-book strategy by Tony LaRussa, walked away with the win. After two routine outs, Jason Kendall doubled, and St. Louis intentionally walked both Brian Giles and Reggie Sanders to load the bases for Randall Simon. Simon fell behind Pedro Borbon 0-2, then shot a single through the left side to plate Kendall with the game winner as the walks blew up in LaRussa’s face. Craig Wilson had a big day, too, with a pair of homers. 
• 2005 - Kip Wells dueled Roger Clemens at Minute Maid Park as the Bucs nosed the Astros 1-0. The game eventually became a battle of the bullpens, and Jack Wilson’s ninth-inning, 0-2 count homer off Brad Lidge was the difference. Salomon Torres claimed the win, saved by Jose Mesa. The Bucs hurlers dodged some raindrops to frustrate the ‘Stros - although Houston put up six hits and drew four walks, they stranded 11 runners. 

Kip Wells - 2005 Donruss Throwback

• 2007 - Paul Maholm tossed a three-hit complete game to lead the Bucs past the Giants 3-1 at PNC Park. The big blow was a two-out, two-run double by Jose Castillo off San Francisco’s Matt Cain in the first inning on an 0-2 pitch. The win was in the opener of a twilight doubleheader and pushed the Bucs winning streak to four, which ended with a 10-3 whipping in the second game. His rotation partner, Tom Gorzelanny, was named co-NL Player of the Week with Troy Tulowitzki after winning two games, including a shutout, and giving up two runs in 16 IP on nine hits. 
• 2019 - RHP Jameson Taillon went under the knife; it was hoped the operation would be just to repair an elbow flexor, but ended up his second career TJ surgery once the arm was opened and the damage determined. After a 14-10/3.21 2018 campaign, he was counted on to lead the staff in 2019, but instead the 27-year-old worked just seven starts and was placed on the IL on May 1st. It appeared that conservative rehab was turning the trick, but he felt pain while throwing in July and underwent the surgical procedure. He was back in action in 2021, but with the Yankees after NY swung a January prospects deal for him.