8/18 From 1960: Hatcher Deal; LL Classic; Clemente Honored; Ambi-Dale; Pitch Switch; Prince-ly Move?; E5; Game Tales; HBD Justin & Spanky

• 1960 - C Mike “Spanky” LaValliere was born in Charlotte, NC. Spanky caught for the Bucs from 1987-93, putting up a .278 BA, and was part of three Jim Leyland-led division winning teams (1991-93) that couldn’t get past the NLCS. LaValliere is now an instructor at the IMG Academy in Bradenton. He picked up his nickname because his teammates thought he looked like Little Rascal Spanky from “Our Gang.” 

Spanky - 1993 Fleer (reverse)

• 1966 - Oooops! 3B Jose Pagan tied the modern NL record for errors in an inning with three in the fourth frame, booting four balls overall, as Pittsburgh lost to Mets 9-5 at Shea Stadium. Jose’s bad mitt day led to six unearned runs charged to loser Woodie Fryman. To make things a little worse, Pagan also went 0-for-4 with two whiffs. 
• 1969 - The Pirates showed some late inning two-out lightning at Crosley Field by scoring three times in the ninth to tie the Reds 5-5 and then ringing up seven more runs in the 10th to seal a 12-5 win that was anything but a romp. The Buccos juiced the sacks with two gone, with two runners reaching on Cincy errors and another on a bunt single, before the extra-innings floodgate opened. Carl Taylor cleaned the bases with a double, a knock set up Pirates at the corners and Al Oliver’s double followed by Gene Alley’s homer added up to the seven spot. Alley had four hits during the contest while Alou and Roberto Clemente each chipped in with three. Bruce Dal Canton tossed the final three frames for the win. 
• 1969 - Bucco broadcaster Bob Prince announced that he had a lucrative offer to switch booths and take Harry Caray’s place in St. Louis as Caray was in the Busch doghouse and was fired after the campaign. The Gunner didn’t sound like a man ready to move, though, as he told the Pittsburgh Press that “I wouldn’t quit a job where I’m #1 for one where I’d be #2 or #3. He stayed but his announcing teammate Jim “The Possum” Woods did accept a job there as the sidekick to Jack Buck, though he left after a year because the two didn’t get along particularly well. 
• 1974 - The Bucs completed a three game sweep of the Dodgers at TRS, winning 10-3 behind the big sticks of Bob Robertson and Richie Zisk. The pair combined to go 7-for-10 with five runs and five RBI, each collecting a homer and banging out three doubles together. Rennie Stennett and Manny Sanguillen went 6-for-9 at the top of the order and scored three runs as Larry Demery cruised to the win with help from Dave Giusti. The game concluded a 25-of-35 streak; after a pair of losses, the Bucs then won 14-of-17 on their way to a division title. They ran into LA again in the NLCS, dropping the best-of-five series three games to one. 

Richie Zisk - 1976 Topps

• 1976 - Bucco bats were smokin’ against the Giants John “The Count” Montefusco and Mike Caldwell as Pittsburgh ran away with a rain shortened 12-1 win over San Francisco at Candlestick Park. Every player in the lineup had a hit, and four different Pirates either scored or drove in two or more runs. Richie Zisk led the way with a 4-for-4 day; five of his teammates had a pair of knocks. Jim Rooker rolled to victory, giving up four hits in six innings before the rain fell. 
• 1985 - Bill Madlock went 4-for-4 and swatted a pair of homers to lead the Pirates to a 5-0 win over the Mets at TRS. Mad Dog was on a roll; he had long balls in each of his past two games, too. Don Robinson and Pat Clements didn’t need a lot of help; Robby went six innings for the win and Pat spun the last three, combining on a five-hitter. 
• 1987 - LHP Justin Wilson was born in Anaheim, California. A fifth round pick in 2008 from Fresno, he didn’t sign him until two days before the deadline. A starter throughout his career (he was involved in a pair of no-hitters at AAA Indy), he was converted to a multi-purpose pen arm in the show, making his debut in 2012. He went 9-5/2.99 during his Pirates stint (2012-14) before being traded to the Yankees for Fran Cervelli, and is now with the Reds, his sixth different club. 
• 1989 - The Pirates traded OF Glenn Wilson to the Astros for OF Billy Hatcher. Wilson had hit well (.274) for the Bucs before the deal, but flopped with Houston. Hatcher didn’t do much at the plate for Pittsburgh (.244 BA/68 OPS+) and was traded after the season. 
• 1992 - LHP Zane Smith’s bum wing had a dominoes effect on Pirates pitching. After tendinitis landed Smith on the DL for the second time, Bob Walk, who had been a spot starter working out of the bullpen, took his place in the rotation and Danny Cox, who had been fighting his own arm woes, was brought up from Buffalo to replace Walk. It worked out pretty well - Walkie and Smith won 18 games between them and Cox slashed 3-1-3/3.33 out of the pen. 

Both sides now -  A. Behrman AP/Pgh Post Gazette

• 1999 - Dale Sveum became the second Pirate (Bobby Bonilla was first) to homer from both sides of the plate during a game, the third time he accomplished the feat in his career, during a 12-6 win over the Reds at TRS. Also going deep for the Bucs were Brian Giles, Ed Sprague and Al
  Martin. Giles had three hits, three runs scored and three RBI in the Francisco Cordova win. 
• 2007 - The 2-3-4-5 hitters for the Bucs (Freddy Sanchez, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche) combined to go 10-for-17 with a homer, four doubles, three walks, six RBI and eight runs scored to lead Pittsburgh to an 11-6 romp over the Philadelphia Phillies at PNC Park. Paul Maholm took home the victory. 
• 2015 - The Bucs won a game they tried hard to give away by a 9-8 count over Arizona at PNC Park. The Bucs were cruising along in the eighth with an 8-3 lead, built by Pedro Alvarez’s homer and some timely hitting, but a couple of walks let the D-Backs back in with three runs in that inning and then two errors in the ninth led to a pair of unearned runs (also ruining Mark Melancon’s 35 game streak of converted save opps) to tie the game. But the bullpen regained its mojo and behind scoreless three-inning stints turned in by Arquimedes Caminero and Joe Blanton, ground out the win. With two out in the 15th, Fran Cervelli singled and scored on Pedro Florimon’s triple off the Clemente Wall. Florimon was hitting under .100 coming into that at bat and had failed in a bunt try his last at-bat to become an unlikely hero. Blanton got the win; Cervy had four hits during the long (five hour plus) contest - and caught the next night. 
• 2019 - The Pirates traded a home game for the second time in three years for an appearance in the Little League Classic in Williamsport. The Bucs didn’t do much to teach the 2,500 Little Leaguers and fans at Bowman Field, the home of the Class A Williamsport Crosscutters, about how the game should be played, surrendering three homers in a 7-1 loss to the Cubs. But they did show the kids some big league sportsmanship during the pregame, spending hours mixing with the small fry for autographs, selfies and some general chat, then formed a fraternal handshake line with Chicago postgame. 

Little League Classic teams - photo Pgh Pirates

• 2021 - Roberto Clemente became the sixth person honored with a statue at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, joining Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Derek Jeter. His 39-ounce, 35” Hillerich & Bradsby U1 Louisville Slugger bat was also added to the companies’ permanent “Hold a Piece of History” exhibit; before that, the war club had been shown as part of its Walk of Fame display since 2006.