8/1 From 1970: Nova, Frankie, Bastardo Deals; Lee Debut; Cutch 3+6; Six Run Rally; Benjy Signed; Giles Deal Delayed; Pops - 5XB; Game Tales; HBD Freddy

• 1970 - Willie Stargell smoked three doubles and two home runs against the Braves at Fulton County Stadium. Captain Willie had six RBI and tied a MLB record with five extra base knocks as the Bucs won 20-10. The team set a club record with 14 extra-base hits and 47 total bases. Bob Robertson added five more knocks, making Pops and Big Red the first Bucco duo to collect five hits in a game.
• 1972 - 3B/LF Freddy Garcia (not to be mistaken for the veteran AL pitcher) was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic. He played for the Bucs in 1995 and then from 1997-99 as bench depth, hitting .221 over that span. He was traded to Atlanta for a minor league pitcher and finished his career the following season. 

Bill Madlock - 1982 Topps

• 1982 - They say that the best way to not hit a home run is to swing for one, but Bill Madlock laid that to rest with a 10th inning game winner against the Mets at Shea Stadium. Mad Dog told the Pittsburgh Press’ Russ Franke that “...I was definitely looking for a home run with two out and nobody on. It was either be a hero or a bum...I just stepped in the bucket and swung.” His blast into the LF bleachers against Terry Leach gave the Bucs a 4-3 victory over New York. Pittsburgh battled back from a 3-1 deficit with a pair in the seventh strung together by Lee Lacy, Dale Berra (he had two RBI on the night) and Willie Stargell. They almost won it in the ninth, but a potential rally was squashed by some happy feet by Berra. Tony Pena blooped a hit into right, but was picked off going to second when a hesitant Berra rounded second late (“I thought the right fielder caught the ball”) and fell down trying to get back to the bag, leaving Pena hung out to dry. But all’s well that ends well. Kent Tekulve got the win and Rod Scurry the save of the game that Ross Baumgarten started. 
• 1998 - Per Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette, the Pirates had a conditional deal with Seattle set up that would have landed Brian Giles in Pittsburgh, but it was inadvertently blown up by the Houston Astros. The Mariners were set to deal Randy Johnson to the Indians, and part of the return would have been Giles, who was then supposed to be flipped to the Bucs (GM Cam Bonifay understandably refused to name who was part of the foiled trade). But the Tribe lost the bidding war five minutes before the midnight deadline to the ‘Stros, and there was no time for them and the Pirates to reach a side deal. It would wait until the offseason when Ricardo Rincon went to Cleveland for Giles, who became a Bucco for the next 4-1/2 years. To add a little salt to the wound, the Big Unit pitched the next night against the Buccos and whipped them 6-2. 
• 2000 - The Pirates announced that they had signed IF Mike Benjamin to a two-year contract extension with $1.85M guaranteed with another $600K available in bonuses. The 34-year-old Benjamin hit .270 for the Pirates in 2000, then missed all of the 2001 season with a bad elbow. He came back in 2002 to bat just .150 in 108 games before retiring.

Mike Benjamin - 2000 MLB Showdown

• 2003 - Trailing the Rockies, 11-6, with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates rallied for the win at PNC Park. Craig Wilson, Reggie Sanders and Jose Hernandez packed the sacks. Jack Wilson’s single scored one run and a grounder brought home another Bucco. With two down, a passed ball made it 11-9 before pinch hitter Jeff Reboulet walked. Tike Redman, who had just been called up, tripled home a pair to tie the game, and Jason Kendall lined a single to left for the win. Duaner Sanchez, the Pirates fourth pitcher, got the victory.
• 2009 - Andrew McCutchen tied a club record by homering three times in Pittsburgh’s 11-6 victory over the Washington Nats at PNC Park. Cutch became the 10th player in club history to go long three times in the same game, the first since Aramis Ramirez did it on April 8th, 2001, and the first Buc rookie to collect three bombs in a single game. He added six RBI. He hit a solo home run in the first inning to lead off the game against starter Craig Stammen, a two-run shot in the fourth inning off Tyler Clippard and then a three-run homer in the sixth off Logan Kensing, falling a grand slam short of a natural home run cycle. 
• 2011 - At 54-53, the Pirates were making a run to at least break the .500 mark, something they hadn’t accomplished in 18 years. They strengthened the roster and brought in 1B Derek Lee, who debuted on this date. He did his part, banging two homers and driving in all three Bucco runs in a 5-3 loss to his old club, the Cubs, at PNC Park. Pittsburgh’s luck continued to remain cold though, as Lee broke his wrist two days later after being HBP, and the Pirates went 8-20 in the time that he missed. He did play 28 games, batting .337 with seven homers and 18 RBI, and then retired at age 36. 

Derrek Lee - 2011 Just Fair

• 2014 - Behind 4-0 in the fifth, the Pirates went on a late rampage to bury the Arizona D-Backs 9-4 at Chase Field. Pittsburgh scored three runs in the eighth, keyed by Pedro Alvarez’s two-run pinch hit double. The Bucs exploded for five more tallies in the ninth. Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer led off with doubles, Andrew McCutchen was intentionally walked and four of the next five Pirates connected for singles. Harrison, Mercer and Cutch batted 1-2-3 and had six hits, two walks and seven runs scored in the win. Tony Watson claimed the victory. 
• 2016 - Given an extra 24 hours to deal because the usual 7/31 deadline fell on a Sunday, the Bucs FO burned the phone lines. First, they got rental RHP Ivan Nova from the Yankees for two PTBNL (OF Tito Polo and P Stephen Tarpley). After going 5-2/3.06, they made the relationship more permanent by signing the Dominican to a three-year contract. They returned Jon Niese to the Mets (he was traded to Pittsburgh before the season for Neil Walker) for LH reliever Antonio Bastardo (who was a Pirate in 2015 and left as a FA), and finally sent Francisco Liriano along with prospects OF Harold Ramirez and C Reese McGuire to Toronto for RHP Drew Hutchison; Francisco returned to the fold in 2019. The Blue Jays picked up the approximately $17M left on Frankie’s contract for 2016-17, and that cost the Pirates the prospect package.