9/14 From 1970: Mudcat Deal; Dual Grannies; KY Confab; 3-For-1; TSN Zisk; 19 & Counting; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Gregory

• 1970 - The Pirates traded with Oakland for Jim “Mudcat “Grant, sending them a PTBNL (Angel Mangual). Mudcat made 50 appearances for Pittsburgh with a 7-4-7/3.41 line. He worked as a broadcaster and executive for the Indians and as a broadcaster for the Athletics after he retired. Grant also became a black baseball historian and wrote the 2006 book “The Black Aces.” Angel played six seasons for the A’s as a reserve outfielder. 
• 1974 - Richie Zisk was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Menacing Bat.” It certainly was; Zisk hit .313 with 17 HR and 100 RBI in his first full-time MLB season. 
• 1982 - Richie Hebner and Bill Madlock stroked grand slams to lead the Pirates to a 15-5 win over the Cubs at TRS. Mad Dog drove six runs home while Johnny Ray went 3-for-3 and scored three times with a RBI. The last pair of Bucs to hit grand salamis in the same game were Arky Vaughan and Earl Grace for the 1933 Bucs in a 10-0 romp over the Phils. 

Johnny Ray - 1984 Topps sticker

• 1984 - Jose DeLeon looked like he was cruising for his 10th straight defeat, but the Pirates overcame an early 7-2 deficit to rally past the Cards, 8-7, in 12 innings at Busch Stadium. Marvel Wynne and Johnny Ray fueled the comeback with three hits each; Ray’s leadoff homer off Bruce Sutter in the 12th was the game winner. After DeLeon and Lee Tunnell were roughed up, four Pirates relievers tossed eight innings of shutout ball. Don Robinson put up four of the goose eggs for the win, with Teke winning a two-out race to first against Willie McGee while making a bare-handed grab of Jason Thompson’s flip with the tying run on third to earn the save. 
• 1988 - Bobby Bonilla barely dropped a long fly over the right field fence at TRS, and the first-row blast was the walkoff winner in a 12-inning, 4-1, Bucco victory over the Montreal Expos at TRS. It was Bobby Bo’s first homer in a month and helped the Bucs keep pace with the Mets, although the clock was against them with NY’s magic number down to nine. Chico Lind had four hits to lead the Buccos; his two-out double was the genesis of the Pirates extra inning rally. Mike Dunne started the game; Jeff Robinson, Scott Medved and winner Brian Fisher retired 20 of the last 22 Expos to claim victory. 
• 1991 - OF Gregory Polanco was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He made his debut on June 10th, 2014, against the Cubs. In that game, he recorded his first MLB hit against Travis Wood. His first career home run, a two-run shot, against the Miami Marlins in the 13th inning was the game winner in an 8–6 victory. On June 18th, he became the first Pirate with a hit in each of his first eight games. Polanco developed into a .255, 20-HR right fielder when healthy before being released in 2021, landing with Toronto. He got his nickname of El Coffee as a Dominican teen baller; he reminded one of his coaches of an older player with that moniker. 
• 1992 - In a game that saw the lead go back and forth between the fourth and eighth innings, the Pirates prevailed barely by taking a 10-inning, 5-4, victory from the Cards at Busch Stadium. A leadoff error and two singles put the Bucs up in the extra frame with Cecil Espy plating Alex Cole, but Lee Smith fanned a pair with the insurance run on third to keep it close. The Redbirds came right back when a leadoff double and wild pitch sat the tying run 90’ away with no outs. Roger Mason got a roller to freeze Bernard Gilkey at third, Denny Neagle fanned Ray Lankford and the third pitcher of the inning, Stan Belinda, served a liner to center that was gloved by Andy Van Slyke to finally nail down the win. The Pirates had 14 hits on the day with five different Buccos banging out a pair of knocks but stranded 13 to make it a long day. 

Paul Wagner - 1994 Topps

• 1993 - Paul Wagner tossed a rain-shortened 1-0 shutout against the Florida Marlins at Joe Robbie Stadium, scattering four hits and three walks throughout the game’s six innings. The match was decided on the first pitch, a Chris Hammond fastball that Carlos Garcia knocked into the seats. The Pirates president Mark Sauer announced on the same day that they agreed to move into the new Central Division of the NL with Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Milwaukee & St. Louis rather than remain in the East for the upcoming 1994 realignment of the leagues from two to three divisions. 
• 1997 - Kevin Young snapped in the locker room, scolding his teammates for a few minutes before Gene Lamont herded him into a private corner to calm him down. The Pirates had been right in the race before a 4-13 streak derailed them, and KY felt that an overall lack of attention was throwing the season away. Young’s lecture righted the ship temporarily, but even though the team won seven of the next nine games (Young put his money where his mouth was by homering in the next game), they never got closer to the lead than 3-1/2 games and finished 79-83, five games off the pace. 
• 2007 - The Bucs scored three times in the eighth to defeat the Astros, 4-3, at Minute Maid Park as Jose Bautista bombed a two-run homer and Ronnie Paulino’s two-out single brought in Steve Pearce with the game winner. But the play of the game was made by CF Nyjer Morgan, who took a circle route to run down Ty Wigginton’s two-out, bases-loaded blast in the third, kissing the wall as he made the grab to prevent Houston from running away and hiding early in the contest. Romulo Sanchez got the win with a Matt Capps save. 
• 2011 - With a 3-2 loss to St. Louis, the Pirates extended their record streak of consecutive losing seasons to 19 straight years, adding to the longest in American professional sports history. And this was after leading the NL Central on July 20th! The streak would go on one more season until the wild card team of 2013 won 94 games. 

Neil Walker - 2014 Topps

• 2014 - The Pirates were sleepwalking against the Cubs, losing 3-0 in the fourth with Chicago runners at first and second with no outs and ready to run away with the contest. Matt Szczur hit a hot shot to third; Josh Harrison gloved it, stepped on the bag and fired a bullet to second, where Neil Walker made a strong turn and got the ball to Andrew Lambo at first for a triple play. Two innings later, the Pirates broke out of their stupor and surged ahead 6-3 on the way to a 7-3 victory at PNC Park. Walker hit his 20th homer, breaking the Pirate single season mark for 2B held by Bill Mazeroski (19), set in 1958. Triple play trivia: it was the first triple play turned by the Pirates since April 12th, 2009, at Cincy and the first ever turned by anyone at PNC Park. The last one in Pittsburgh was August 10th, 1993, vs. the Cardinals at TRS. There hadn't been a 5-4-3 around-the-horn triple play by the Bucs since July 23rd, 1979 (also at TRS), scored Bill Madlock to Phil Garner to Willie Stargell. It was the first triple killing that the Cubs had hit into since May 14th, 2000, at Montreal. Walker, btw, would be involved in another triple play against St. Louis the following season.