7/20 Through 1984: Dale, Lee, Rennie Big Days; Serious Biz; 1st Walk Off; Game Tales; HBD John, Heinie & Harry

• 1880 - RF Harry Cassady was born in Bellflower, Illinois. Out of Illinois Wesleyan, he got into 22 games in the show; 12 of them were with the 1904 Pirates, hitting .205 in 44 at bats. Cassady went on to spend three years in the American Association (1905-07) and then six seasons with Denver of the Western Association (he was a much better hitter in the high minors), retiring after the 1912 campaign at age 31. 
• 1882 - Nearly 3,000 fans watched the Pittsburgh Alleghenys earn the first home walk off win in franchise history when they defeated the Cincinnati Red Stockings, 3-2, at Exposition Park. Down 2-1 in the ninth, Billy Taylor drilled a one-out, game-tying homer. Rudy Kemmler’s single would become the game-winning run when Chappy Lane’s two-out rap sent him home. Denny Driscoll got the win with a complete game three-hitter. 

Mike "Elmer" Smith - photo via Uniondale Cemetery

• 1894 - Cincinnati defeated Pittsburgh, 7-6, in 10 innings when George "Germany” Smith homered with two outs. Pirate OF Elmer Smith was prevented from retrieving the game-winning hit in the field-level LF bleachers, as permitted per Cincinnati’s League Park ground rules, by zealous Reds fans. One of them allegedly pulled a revolver on Smith after he wrestled with several other rooters in an attempt to reach the ball, per Charlton’s Baseball Chronology. The Pittsburgh Press wrote diplomatically that Germany “...drove one into the seats." Quite a finish to the NL’s first extra-inning game of the year. 
• 1901 - Hall of Fame LF Heinie Manush was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Manush spent the last two years of his career (1938-39) in Pittsburgh as a pinch hitter, getting just 28 PA (four hits, three walks) before being released, ironically enough for another future HoF’er, Chuck Klein. He was a .330 hitter during his 17-year career with 1,183 RBI and 1,287 runs scored. 
• 1905 - Club baseball was serious biz (especially for the men in blue) back in the day, like the big rivalry game between the local nines of the Western Union and the Postal Telegraph Co, played at Bedford Park in the Hill District. The Pittsburgh Press description: “The rival managers had bowed gravely to each other as befitted the leaders of baseball gladiators. The umpire had made his will and left it with his wife...it was time to play. There was some terrible slugging (and) thus the battle went on until the 11th inning…” Then a couple of spectators got into a brawl, the ballplayers intervened, and a riot ensued as bricks flew (“The women screamed and fled”) until police calmed things down. The game was called a draw, and the Press reported that “...the umpire has sent word to the managers of the two clubs that if there is another game to be played, he wants time to take out an accident insurance policy and get it mentioned in his will.” 
• 1946 - RHP John Lamb was born in Sharon, Connecticut. John came from a Northeast prep powerhouse, Housatonic Valley HS, which produced several players including the Pirates Steve Blass (John was his brother-in-law) and Tom Parsons; Pittsburgh had a bit of an edge as their coach, Ed Kirby, was also a part-time Buc scout. He was signed out of high school in 1964 and debuted in 1970, working parts of three seasons (1970-71, 1973) with a slash of 0-2-5/4.07 and was part of the Bucs triple entree of Moose, Veale and Lamb. It’s hard to tell where his career may have gone if he hadn’t suffered a brutal camp accident - in 1971, he fractured his skull when a Dave Cash liner found him during spring training. 

John Lamb - Pirates promo photo

• 1950 - The Philadelphia Phillies banged out a double, triple, and three homers on their way to eight runs; the Bucs answered with six two-baggers and a long ball of their own to outlast the Brotherly Love gang by a 10-8 score at Forbes Field. Six Pirates had multi-hit games, with three collecting a trio of knocks (Ted Beard, Gus Bell and Danny O’Connell) while Ralph Kiner went long and doubled with Stan Rojek and Johnny Hopp joining the two-hit parade. Murry Dickson, who followed Cliff Chambers and Vern Law, tossed the final 2-2/3 frames scorelessly to get the win while the Phils used five hurlers, with the Buccos scoring off four of them. 
• 1955 - The bench to the rescue: the Bucs were down 3-0 in the seventh when pinch hitter Preston Ward smacked a three-run dinger off the Milwaukee Braves’ Ray Crone at Forbes Field. Another PH, Jack Shepard, singled off Dave Jolly with the bases loaded in the ninth to earn the Pirates and Dick Littlefield a 4-3 comeback win. 
• 1959 - As part of the Hall of Fame ceremonies, the Pirates played the KC Athletics in Cooperstown. The game only lasted until the sixth; a rainstorm washed out the rest of the contest with the score 5-5. The Bucs were in second place going into the exhibition; they returned to action the next day, lost nine straight matches and dropped 12-of-13. They straightened up in August and finished 78-76 on the year with their eye on the prize in 1960. 
• 1961 - Joe Gibbon tossed a four-hitter with nine whiffs as the Bucs beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-0, at Forbes Field. The big blow was Bill Mazeroski’s two-run single in the fourth. Gibbon’s win was a rare ray of sunshine for the Pirates - the club had lost three games prior to the win and would drop six more afterward. 

Joe Gibbon - 1961 Topps

• 1968 - Bob Veale spun a five-hitter and Matty Alou produced both runs as the Bucs eased by Phil Niekro and the Braves, 2-1, at Atlanta Stadium. Alou tripled and scored the first run when the throw caromed off his leg, then singled home Maury Wills with the game winner, with both hits coming with two strikes. Alou and Wills each had two hits to help snap Niekro’s four-game winning streak. 
• 1973 - The Bucs tied the first game of a twinbill against San Diego in the eighth and went on to win, 5-4, in 10 innings at TRS. Rennie Stennett went 4-for-5 with a walk-off homer in the extra frame. The Pirates had an easier time with the Padres in the second game, winning 7-0. Stennett had three more hits, including another homer, and Jim Rooker tossed a six-hit complete game  with eight whiffs. 
• 1974 - Willie Stargell homered in the 11th inning to give the Pirates a 7-6 win over the Braves at Atlanta Stadium. Pops also cranked out a double & single, scoring three times with two RBI. Richie Zisk came up big, too, with three hits and three runs chased home. Bruce Kison started and was chased in the second inning, but John Morlan, Ramon Hernandez and the eventual winner, Dave Giusti, tossed 9-1/3 IP of one-run, five-hit ball to take the contest. The game started off with plenty of fireworks - the Bucs scored four runs in the first frame and the Bravos answered with five in the second. 
• 1980 - After scoring four times in the first, the Pirates had to plate a pair in the bottom of the ninth to salvage an 8-7 split against the Dodgers at TRS. Lee Lacy was 5-for-5 and a homer away from the cycle, while Bill Robinson homered and Ed Ott had the walk-off, bases-loaded single to earn Grant Jackson the win. Pittsburgh lost the opener, 4-2, as LA’s Burt Hooton and Steve Howe kept the Bucco bats under control. The double dipper was a big to-do in other ways, too. It was Willie Stargell Day with a ceremony between games, and was also the game that Dave Parker, fresh off the first $1M/year contract in sports, had a Duracell battery tossed at him while in the outfield. 

Ed Ott - 1980 Topps

• 1983 - Dale Berra did the heavy lifting by driving in five runs with a homer and single as the Bucs dropped the Dodgers 7-3 at TRS. Rick Rhoden was tagged for 12 hits in eight innings but dodged most of the raindrops before Kent Tekulve took care of the ninth. With the victory, Pittsburgh moved into first place by .001 percentage points over the Cards but would finish the season six games behind the Phils, which lost the “I-95” World Series to the O’s in five games.