9/29 From 1955: Clint Canned; Teke For 2; Rosey Day; Buc Brownies; Quail Retires; Polo Grounds Close; Gems & Game Tales

• 1957 - The New York Giants played their final game at the Polo Grounds before pulling up their stakes and heading west, losing to the Pirates, 9-1. Bob Friend got the win; Johnny Antonelli took the loss. Roberto Clemente, Johnny Powers and Friend each had three hits; rookie Powers hit the last homer and tallied the final RBI ever at the yard. After the game, 11‚606 fans swarmed for keepsakes as both teams retreated to the center field clubhouses for safety. Pittsburgh was the final home opponent of both Brooklyn and New York before the Big Apple nines relocated to Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

Rosey - 1952 Topps

• 1960 - Mayor Joe Barr declared it “Rosey Rowswell Day” at his memorial dinner at the Penn Sheraton Hotel. Governor Davey Lawrence was the main speaker, and the newly-crowned NL champs, the Pirates, led by Danny Murtaugh, Bob Friend, Roy Face, Bob Skinner and others were in attendance. Though Rosey had passed on in 1955, the dinner tradition continued as a funder for his favorite charity, the Ward Home for Children in Mt. Lebanon. 
• 1968 - Ahead of Matty Alou by a razor’s edge on the season’s last day, Pete Rose went 1-for-3 to keep his average at .335 while the Pirates outfielder wore an 0-for-4 collar in a 5-4 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field, finishing the year with a BA of .332. The day before, the batting crown rivals were en fuego, combining to go 9-for-9 to set up the final day showdown. 
• 1978 - Kent Tekulve won both ends of a season-ending DH over the Phils at TRS in relief, 5-4 and 2-1. He pitched two innings in the opener and 1-1/3 frames in the nitecap, winning in the 10th. Both victories were gift wrapped; the Bucs won the opener when the relay to third on Ed Ott’s two-out, ninth-inning triple got away, and the Phils balked in the walkoff run in the 10th inning of the nitecap. Bruce Kison made the pitcher trivia rounds in the second game when he homered off Steve Carlton. That gave him a natural batting cycle of a single, double, triple and homer in that order over the season. Of course, for a hitter, a natural cycle consists of a game; with pitcher Kison, it started with a single on July 20th, with quite a few outs sprinkled in between that hit and his dinger two months later. The twilighter drew 45,134 fans as a September run by the Bucs cut the Phils lead to 1-1/2 games after their 24th straight win at TRS. Pittsburgh finished two games back, but the stretch run pointed the way to 1979. 
• 1990 - Bob Walk threw a four-hit complete game, winning an 8-0 decision over St. Louis at Busch Stadium in a match between the top dog Pirates and cellar-dwelling Cards. The 6-7-8 bottom of the order batters (Sid Bream, Mike LaValliere & Chico Lind) had two hits each and scored six runs, with even Walk contributing an RBI double from the nine-hole. The win almost put Pittsburgh over the top; they would clinch the division by eliminating the NY Mets the next day.

Bob Walk - 1990 Topps

• 1992 - The Pirates won their sixth straight game by a 3-0 score over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field as Zane Smith, Paul Wagner (the winner), Steve Cooke and Stan Belinda combined on a two-hitter to put the Bucs nine games up in the standings. Andy Van Slyke homered and drove in a pair of runs to spark the Pirate attack. The Buccos' other run came on a Carlos Garcia sac fly that scored Gary Varsho. 
• 1999 - In an oddity noted by BR Bullpen, the Bucs 1-2-3 hitters against the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium were Adrian Brown, Emil Brown and Brant Brown. Adrian had two hits and Brant drove in a run, but the Brownie troop wasn’t strong enough to carry the day as the Pirates fell, 5-2. 
• 2002 - Bill Virdon retired from baseball at age 71 after serving as Lloyd McClendon’s bench coach during the season. After 52 years as a player, coach and manager, the Quail said “I’ve just had all the travel I could handle.” But he didn’t completely burn his bridges - he agreed to return as a Bucco instructor and torch-bearer during spring training. 
• 2012 - Andrew McCutchen hit a walkoff homer to right center off Jonathan Broxton of the Cincinnati Reds with one down in the ninth inning for his 31st long ball of the season. It gave the Pirates a 2-1 win at PNC Park in front of a Saturday night crowd of 38,623. Alex Presley doubled home Chase d'Arnaud in the seventh for the Bucs first run. Kyle McPherson started the game, and Joel Hanrahan finished for the win. 

Cutch - 2012 Topps Museum Collection

• 2019 - 62-year-old skipper Clint Hurdle was let go just before the final game of the year, one that the Pirates lost to the Reds, 3-1, at PNC Park to finish 69-93 and last in the NL Central. Hurdle was hired as manager in 2011 and led the Pirates to winning seasons in four of his nine years, breaking a record string of 20 non-winning campaigns. They made the playoffs three times, the last ending in a 2015 NL wild-card loss to the Cubs. The 2019 Pirates had an injury list that was a mile long, locker room fights, their closer arrested, and went on a 25-48 tailspin after the All-Star game but overall, he finished with a 735-720-1 record over his Pirates tenure, winning 2013 NL Manager of the Year. Derek Shelton, bench coach of the Twins, was selected as his replacement.