9/28 From 1950: Blass Day; 6 Pack; Key ROTM; JJ Cycle; Andy Awesome; Bad Years; SI Irishman; Milo & Lanny; Gems & Game Tales

• 1952 - The Post Gazette lede told the story: “The Pittsburgh Pirates wound up the clubs losingest (sic) season in modern baseball history by doing just that - losing.” The Bucs put up a fight at Crosley Field as Gus Bell dinged a two-run homer in the ninth to tie the game briefly before the Cincinnati Reds stormed back in the ninth to claim a 3-2 win from Forrest Main. The Pirates finished the year with a 48-106 slate. Still, it was a profitable day for a couple of Pirates - in a pre-game set of contests, Brandy Davis won $100 as the fastest player while Joe Garagiola ($50) and Frank Thomas ($25) came in 1-2 in the distance-hitting event. 
• 1966 - Pittsburgh swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies by 2-1 and 4-2 scores at Connie Mack Stadium. The strong mound work of Steve Blass and Bob Veale pulled the club within 1-1/2 games of first place LA. In the first game, Donn Clendenon homered and Manny Mota sent Matty Alou home for the Bucco offense. The big blows in the nightcap were a triple by Bill Mazeroski, chasing home a run, then scoring on a bad relay, and a two-out Roberto Clemente double that plated Matty Alou, who came around after a single and error. It was their last hurrah; the SF Giants swept the final three-game set at Forbes Field and the Bucs finished third, three games off the pace. 

• 1970 - Danny Murtaugh was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the story “The Desperate Race.” It actually wasn’t that desperate; the Bucs’ lead had grown from two games into five by the time the issue was published after winning 6-of-7 down the stretch. That was the final margin over the Cubs before the Bucs dropped the NLCS to Cincinnati’s 102-win Big Red Machine. 
• 1978 - KDKA rehired Milo Hamilton and Lanny Frattare, who were rumored to be on thin ice, to one-year contracts. Milo, who had a hard time filling the Gunner’s shoes, moved along after the 1979 season, relocating to the Cubs booth. He left there and found a long-term gig in Houston. That job led Hamilton to the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award, the National Radio Hall of Fame and the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. Lanny became a lead announcer in 1980 after Hamilton left and broadcast 5,000+ Bucco games before retiring after the 2008 campaign to become a prof at Waynesburg College. 
• 1986 - The Pirates Bob Patterson and the Mets Bob Ojeda were involved in a dandy duel at TRS in front of 30,606 fans. The Bucs Jim Morrison added some drama with a two-out homer off Ojeda in the ninth to tie it, 1-1, before Darryl Strawberry launched an 11th inning, three-run bomb off Bob Walk to give NY the win. There was even a little more drama after the game. The Four Tops & Chuck Berry were scheduled to perform after the home season finale. Berry was scheduled to start at 5 but when the game ran long, he refused to take the stage as showtime was pushed back 45 minutes and left TRS, despite having already been paid $10K up front. The Four Tops, a pro act, played a longer set to make up for Berry’s walkout. The Pirates went on to sue him for $20,000 and ended up recouping the deposit and some of the damages. 
• 1997 - The Freak Show ended its run with the club’s 79th victory, 5-4, over Houston in 11 innings at the Astrodome. Jose Guillen swung the hot bat with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI to give Jason Christiansen the win, saved by Rich Loiselle. The club wouldn’t match that victory total again until 2012. 

Andy LaRoche - 2009 Topps

• 2009 - The Pirates won their home finale, 11-1, against the Dodgers, with Andy LaRoche hitting two homers and driving in six runs. John Russell drew the ire of the 16,696 fans in attendance when he inexplicably pulled starter Zach Duke (103 pitches) with two outs in the ninth after a sac fly spoiled his shutout bid. 
• 2012 - The Bucs drew 34,796 fans to PNC Park, but the star of the show was Reds pitcher Homer Bailey, who tossed a no-hitter to outduel AJ Burnett and earn a hard-fought, 1-0, complete game win. Bailey walked one and fanned 10 as the Pirates were no-hit for the first time since 1971. It was the year of the no-hitter; Bailey’s was the seventh of the season, tying a modern-day MLB record that was matched in 2015 and broken in 2021 when nine no-nos were posted. 
• 2013 - Behind a six-home-run barrage (Neil Walker-2, Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Marlon Byrd and Andrew Lambo), the Pirates won home field advantage for their wild card game against the Reds by defeating Cincinnati, 8-3, at GABP. It was the first time since August, 2007, versus the Rockies at Coors Field, that Pittsburgh banged out that many long balls in a game. It was his first career multi-homer game for Walker and the first career MLB home run for Lambo. Alvarez became the first Pirate third baseman to drive in 100 runs since Aramis Ramirez chased home 110 in 2001, and his 36 homers were a club record for a third baseman. Vin Mazzaro came on in the fifth inning and was credited with the win. 
• 2016 - Although eliminated from playoff contention the day before, the Pirates still had some spunk left in them and whipped the 100-win Cubs and Jake Arrieta, 8-4, at PNC Park. John Jaso led the attack by hitting for the first cycle in PNC Park history (it was the first Bucco cycle since Daryle Ward’s in 2004 and the first at home since Jason Kendall’s in 2000 at TRS) while chasing home five runs and scoring twice. Rookie Jameson Taillon spun a one-hitter through six innings and survived some occasionally shaky bullpen work to earn the win. Josh Bell, Sean Rodriguez and Eric Fryer each added two knocks with S-Rod scoring three times. 

Steverino behind the Mayor's desk - 9/28/2019 photo City of Pgh

• 2019 - The Pirates and Mayor Bill Peduto declared it “Steve Blass Day,” and the Bucs helped celebrate it by announcing during a pregame ceremony that Steve would be part of the initial franchise Hall of Fame class, as selected by the fans and located in PNC Park in 2020. Blass retired the following day, after announcing the Pirates final home broadcast of the season. The Pittsburgh HoF has been placed on hold because of Covid uncertainty. 
• 2020 - It was a dismal campaign for the Bucs, and beset by injuries and underperformance, they finished the year at 19-41, the worst record in MLB. But there was one shining Steel City star; 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes, who was promoted to the big team on September 1st, hit .376 w/5 HR, 17 runs scored, 11 RBI and an OPS+ of 202 in 24 games per Baseball Reference to go with some dazzling glove work at the hot corner (+4 DRS). Although he was promoted too late in the year for serious consideration as RoY, he was named the NL Rookie of the Month for September.