9/5 Through 1974: Hopp Hops; Old Man Olivo; Clemente, The Hat Covers; Honus Night; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Maz, Andy, Chris, Lefty & Darby

• 1883 - LHP Paul “Lefty” Leifield was born in Trenton, Illinois. From 1906 to 1911, Leifield was part of the Pirate starting rotation, winning 15 or more games each season. In 1909, he went 19-8 as Pittsburgh won the NL pennant. Lefty was a Bucco for eight years from 1905-12, and his Pirates line was 109-84/2.38 before he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. In 1918, Leifield became a player-coach for the St. Louis Browns, turning full-time by 1920. Lefty helped lead the 1922 Browns squad to the best season in team history with 93 wins (still a game shy of the Yankees who won the flag). He also coached for the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. 

Lefty Leifield - 1909-11 Sweet Caporal/American Tobacco

• 1886 - 1B/3B Jimmy “Darby” Knowles was born in Toronto, Canada. He was a true journeyman, playing for six different teams during five MLB seasons from 1884-92. His Pittsburgh stop was in 1884 for the Alleghenies; he hit .231 and was released in July, to be claimed by Brooklyn. Jimmy had a long minor league career that ended in 1897 as a 41-year-old player/manager 
• 1929 - Pittsburgh banged out a homer, two doubles and four three-baggers in a 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Redland Field. Lloyd Waner went 3-for-4 with two triples, two runs, and two RBI. His partner in crime was winning pitcher Erv Brame, who not only went the distance but also batted 3-for-4 with a homer, double, two runs and two RBI. 
• 1936 - Bill Mazeroski was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. The Hall-of-Fame second baseman was one of the defensive wizards of his time and will be remembered forever in Pittsburgh baseball lore for his walk-off homer in the 1960 World Series. Maz had two high school fields named in his honor, belongs to several HoF’s, his number retired, a statue & street at PNC Park dedicated to him and attended Pirates camp every spring as an instructor and keeper of the flame through 2020, when he was 83. 
• 1950 - The Bronx Bombers bought 1B Johnny Hopp, who was second in the NL in hitting with a .340 mark, from the Pirates for an undisclosed amount of cash. Hopp was at the end of his career, and after 1950 he played as a bench piece through the 1952 season for New York and Detroit. 
• 1945 - The Bucs held a Honus Wagner night at Forbes Field. The Gunner MC’ed the pre-game ceremony which included old teammates, his Carnegie Elks buddies and an appearance by Al Schacht, the “Clown Prince of Baseball.” They could have used Hans in the lineup, even if he was 71-years-old, losing to the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5-3, in 10 innings before 19,504 faithful. 

Bill Virdon - 1958 Topps

• 1958 - Bill Virdon hit a leadoff 10th-inning walk-off homer to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 win over Milwaukee in a classic pitching duel between the Braves Carlton Willey and George “Red” Witt, who tossed a five-hitter, at Forbes Field. They were both on cruise control; nobody advanced past second for either club until Virdon’s long ball. Red ran his record to 9-2 in front of 30,319 home fans. 
• 1960 - At the age of 41, LHP Diomedes Olivo made his MLB debut, pitching in relief of Harvey Haddix for the Pirates. The oldest rookie in NL history other than Satchel Paige tossed two goose eggs against Milwaukee at Forbes Field, giving up a hit to Eddie Matthews and a pair of walks. The Bucs lost 7-1, splitting a doubleheader with the Braves after chasing Warren Spahn in a 9-7 win earlier in the day. Diomedes was in the show until 1963 between the Pirates and Cardinals; his brother, Chi-Chi, also tossed in the big leagues. 
• 1960 - LHP Chris Green was born in Los Angeles. The Bucs’ 1979 fourth-round pick, his MLB stay consisted of four games with the 1984 Pirates, giving up two runs in three frames. The Kentucky pitcher unfortunately had a problem with the bottle, and he was sent from 1985 spring training into rehab, then to AAA Hawaii. He spent 1986 in the Angels system and his last pro year in ‘87 was with the Oriole organization. 
• 1964 - Roberto Clemente was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Confidant Corsair.” Though the Pirates were a disappointing 80-82, Roberto led the NL with 211 hits and a .339 BA. 
• 1966 - Harry “The Hat” Walker’s mug graced the cover of Sports Illustrated for the story “Pittsburgh Pirates: Very Good to Excellent,” teased as “The High Price of a Pennant.” It ended up that they were just very good; they finished 92-70, three games behind the LA Dodgers. 

• 1969 - Steve Blass beat the Cubs 9-2. Blass helped his own cause with his only MLB homer, a three-run blast off Ken Holtzman, and three singles. His kryptonite was Billy Williams, who had all four Chicago hits, including two homers. The win was Pittsburgh's first at Wrigley since July 5th, 1968, ending a string of 13 straight losses at the yard. 
• 1971 - The Pirates flexed their muscles in an 8-2 win over the Expos at TRS. Rennie Stennett was a triple shy of the cycle as was Pops, who had a homer and two-bagger among his three hits, while Milt May had a long ball and Richie Hebner doubled and tripled. Billy Maz celebrated his B-Day with a pinch hit rap as Bruce Kison rolled to his fifth win with Ramon Hernandez mopping up. There were a combined 20 hits and seven walks, yet the game was done in 2:20. 
• 1974 - Coach Andy Barkett was born in Miami. The former 1B had a major league career of one month, spent in Pittsburgh (he did hit .305) in 2001. After a long tour of duty in the minors, Andy started coaching in the Marlins system in 2010, moved on to Detroit and then became the minor league hitting coach for the Pirates in 2016. He got the manager’s job at Indy when Dean Treanor left to become the Marlins bullpen coach in 2017, then worked with Boston for three years. At last look, he’s now coaching in the college ranks for Central Florida.