7/20 From 1985: Williams-Brooks; Frontier ASG; Starg Stamp; Streak Snapped; Hot Hyzdu; U-S-A; Game Tales; RIP John; HBD Duane & Anthony

• 1988 - 90-year-old John Galbreath passed away in Galloway, Ohio. He owned the Pirates from 1946-85, buying them from the Barney Dreyfuss clan for $2.5M. Galbreath put a price tag of $35 million on the Pirates after the 1984 season, but accepted the $22M offer of a coalition put together by Mayor Richard Caliguiri to assure that the team remained in Pittsburgh. He made his fortune in construction & real estate, and besides baseball was an avid racing fan, owning the Darby Dan stables which produced Triple Crown winner Chateaugay and Kentucky Derby champ Proud Clarion. 
• 1993 - Randy Tomlin outdueled old Bucco ace Doug Drabek as the Pirates squeaked by the Astros, 2-1, at TRS. Jeff King was the man of the hour. With two outs in the fourth, Al Martin blooped a double and King singled him home, then Jeff scored the insurance run when Don Slaught singled him home in the seventh. Tomlin gave up just four hits, with his only miscue a home run ball served to Jeff Bagwell in the ninth to add a bit of drama to the win. 
• 1994 - OF Anthony Alford was born in Columbia, Mississippi. A college quarterback, he signed a deal after being drafted by Toronto to allow him to play both sports (he quit football after the 2014 season). He was fairly highly rated by the prospect gurus, but inconsistent in limited MLB opportunities, with a pretty high K rate. He was waived and claimed by the Bucs, joining the club in September of 2020 with the team hoping to turn his potential into performance. He won the 2021 starting job in camp, holding off challenges by Brian Goodwin and Dustin Fowler. None of the trio lasted long; Goodwin was released in May and the other pair ended up at Indy in late April after failing Pirates job auditions. Alford broke camp with the team in 2022, was DFA’ed in late April, signed with Cleveland and then jumped to the Korean League. 

Anthony Alford - 2022 Topps Heritage

• 1996 - In the opening game at the Olympics in Atlanta, the US team topped Nicaragua, 4-1, behind future Pirate pitcher Kris Benson’s seven-hitter. Benson was 2-1 during the games in three outings with 17 strikeouts in 17 IP as the US won the bronze medal. 
• 1999 - RHP Duane Underwood Jr. was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was a second-round pick of the Cubs in 2012 out of high school. Duane debuted in 2018, but only got into 30 games in the next three seasons, slashing 1-1/5.20. Chicago traded him to the Bucs for Shendrik Apostel in March, 2021. The Pirates were intrigued enough to take a rider on him and DFA’ed another project, Carson Fulmer, to add Underwood to the MLB roster. He went 2-3/4.33 and earned a spot as a mid-inning guy for 2022. 
• 2002 - OF Adam Hyzdu had a day to tell his grandkids about at PNC Park. He drove in seven runs on four hits, including a pair of HR, in a 15-6 pasting of the first-place St. Louis Cards. Hyzdu became the first Buc since Don Slaught nine years earlier with seven RBI, and the crowd of 35,101 called him out of the dugout after his second blast. The performance came on top of a four-RBI game the day before. It was the Pirates eighth win in 10 games, attracting a walkup sale of 7,650 (over 35,000 attended) to catch Kris Benson’s third straight victory. 
• 2003 - The Mike Williams era ended in Pittsburgh when he was sent to the Phils for LHP Frank Brooks, who had a cup of coffee in the show. Williams, a righty closer, went from setting the Pirate saves record in 2002 with 46 closeouts and back-to-back All Star appearances to a guy with 25 saves but a 6.27 ERA in 2003, his last MLB season. Williams saved 140 games in six seasons for Pittsburgh. 

Big Mack Attack - 2004 Topps Total

• 2004 - Montreal’s Livian Hernandez made one early mistake, a first-inning change up to the Pirates three-hole hitter, Rob Mackowiak, with Jason Kendall on first. Mack whacked the ball 430’ over the wall in right center at PNC Park, and that was the difference in a 2-1 Bucco win. Hernandez only gave up two more hits after that, but Sean Burnett hop-scotched through eight hits and three walks to hold the Expos to one run in seven frames, with Brian Meadows, Mike Gonzalez and Jose Mesa keeping the gate shut. 
• 2009 - The Bucs finally broke a 17-game losing streak to the Brewers with an 8-5 victory at PNC Park. Cutch had three hits and Delwyn Young tacked on three RBI with a homer. Jesse Chavez had the fans on the edge of their seats by giving up three runs in the ninth, but struck out Prince Fielder to ice the win. 
• 2010 - The Pirates scored nine runs in the first inning during their 11-9 victory over the Brewers at PNC Park. The scoring in the opening frame was highlighted by Pedro Alvarez’s first career grand slam, one of two Alvarez long balls smacked during the game. El Toro finished with five RBI and Neil Walker went 5-for-5 with a double against Milwaukee. They needed the quick start as the Brewers cut the lead to 10-9 by the sixth, but were blanked on two hits in the final three frames by Evan Meek, Joel Hanrahan and Octavio Dotel. 
• 2012 - The US Postal Service issued a set of four commemorative stamps depicting Willie Stargell along with Ted Williams, Larry Doby and Joe DiMaggio. The release was held in Cooperstown as part of the Hall's annual induction week-end celebration. 

• 2017 - The Pirates rallied to take a 4-2 win from the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park and sweep the four-game visit. For the Bucs, it was their 11th win in 13 games and 6-of-7 during a two-set homestand, pulling the club to .500 for the first time since mid-April and three games behind the front-running Brew Crew. Pittsburgh was adept at playing nine innings; all six of their victories on the Allegheny were after the foe had drawn first blood with three being walk-off wins. Jameson Taillon got the victory. Gregory Polanco homered while Chris Stewart went 3-for-3 (and threw out a wanna-be base stealer) to lead the attack. 
• 2022 - The Frontier League Washington Wild Things hosted the league All-Star Game at Wild Things Park. The club, formed in 2002, featured a five-day program of events including celebrity softball, a concert and even a wrestling show to benefit various charities. The ASG players donned jerseys to represent Negro League teams from their area and fans got to bid on the jerseys through an auction for the Josh Gibson Foundation. The Frontier League is independent but is loosely affiliated with Major League Baseball as an MLB Partner League to take advantage of potential mutual marketing and promotional opportunities.