Monday, May 1, 2023

5/1 From 1960: Bad Mad Dog; Dock - Duck!; Bonds POTW; TSN Manny; Streakin', Game Tales; HBD Chico

  • 1960 - The Pirates won their ninth straight game, their longest victory string since 1945, by defeating the Cincinnati Reds by a 13-2 count at Crosley Field. Roberto Clemente had a grand slam and Maz added a three-run shot to back Vern Law’s mound work. The streak would end the next day against the St. Louis Cards and ex-Bucco Ronnie Kline by a 4-3 count at Busch Stadium. 
  • 1964 - Jose Lind was born in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. In six seasons with the Pirates (1987-92), the 2B hit .255 and appeared in three NLCS bouts. Chico was considered a top flight defender and won a Gold Glove in 1992. A coke addiction drove him out of the game and into several clashes with the law, but Chico came clean and now even participates in the Bucco fantasy camps. 
  • 1966 - The Bucs pounded the Mets, 8-0, at Forbes Field. Roberto Clemente led the attack with four hits, but it was a true team effort as every starter but the pitcher reached base, seven different Buccos scored, and five drove in runs. Of the Pirates 12 hits, five went for two bases and two more were triples. Lefty Bob Veale went the distance, tossing a four-hitter while fanning nine. 
  • 1971 - Manny Sanguillen was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Pirate Treasure.” The Roadrunner hit .319 with a career-high 81 RBI, made his first All-Star appearance and was also a Top Ten MVP finisher, so TSN hit paydirt with their cover boy. 
  • 1973 - Bob Moose was working on a five-hitter against the Giants with two outs in the ninth, a runner on first and a 7-1 lead at Candlestick Park. In one of the franchises biggest meltdowns, he walked the next two batters, and Ramon Hernandez was called in. He gave up a grand slam to Chris Arnold and left the bases loaded after a double and two more walks (Bill Virdon was ejected for beefing about plate ump Doug Harvey’s strike zone) for Dave Giusti. He gave up a gapper to Barry Bonds, and when Willie Stargell couldn’t field the shot cleanly, three runs scooted home to give the G-Men a stunning 8-7 win. When asked why he stuck with Hernandez so long, Virdon said he liked the matchups but admitted “I guess I was wrong.” For the Pirates, it was their sixth straight loss, but Giusti came back the next day to fan a pair of Giants in the ninth to save a 2-1 win. 
  • 1974 - Dock Ellis plunked the Reds’ Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen in the top of the first inning while Tony Perez ducked a couple of tight ones to draw a walk as Ellis tied a MLB record for consecutive beaned batters before Danny Murtaugh yanked him in a 5-3 loss to Cincy at TRS. Ellis said he was trying to counter what he saw as the Reds' intimidation of the Pirates. As Manny Sanguillen recalled later on a Twitter post: “The Reds challenged us and put comments in the newspapers. Remember Pedro Borbon bit Patterson, our teams fought. Dock had enough and said ‘Sangy, don’t give me any signs they are all going down.’ He laughed b/c he missed Tony Perez saying he was dancing the Cha-Cha!” It didn’t move the needle; the Bucs finished the season 4-8 against the Reds even as they won the National League East division with 88 victories. 
  • 1977 - Al Oliver's stick was double-dutch clutch on this day - he knotted the game in the ninth and then walked it off in the 10th against the Houston Astros. Down 3-2 at TRS in front of 25,371 fans, Scoops homered to lead off the final frame and send the game into extras, then singled home Omar Moreno with the game-winner in the following inning. That feat would go unmatched for 40 years until John Jaso pulled it off against the New York Mets in 2017. Goose Gossage earned a big high five too, tossing three scoreless innings of one-hit ball in relief of John Candalaria, and ditto for Pops Stargell, who bombed a pair of solo homers to keep the Bucs afloat before Scoops' heroics. 
Goose Gossage - 1977 Hostess
  • 1980 - Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock was fined $5‚000 and suspended 15 games by National League president Chub Feeney for jabbing ump Jerry Crawford in the face with his mitt when he took the field after being called out on strikes with the bases loaded. Madlock appealed, but withdrew the protest and accepted his medicine after the NL umpires threatened their own brand of justice by promising to eject him from every game he tried to play while fighting the penalty. 
  • 1990 - Barry Bonds was named the NL Player of the Week. BB went 10-for-17 (.588) in five games with three homers, six RBI and eigh runs scored. He was especially hot during a three-game San Diego weekend set, going 9-for-12 and posting most of his counting numbers for the week. 
  • 1991 - Bobby Bonilla scored the winning run Honus Wagner-style; he stole home in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie with the Reds at Riverfront, capping a successful if unintended delayed double steal. Barry Bonds was on first and broke for second, but Cincy pitcher Randy Myers caught this movement, wheeled and zipped a throw to first. Bobby Bo saw Barry trapped and dashed for home. The Redlegs first sacker froze a second when he caught sight of Bo on the go and hesitated just long enough to allow Bonds to beat his throw to second; the relay to home was a hair too late to catch a sliding Bo. The Bucs went on to win, 6-4. After the game, Bonilla told Press writer Bob Hertzel “The way I figure, I only got about 900 more to go before I catch Rickey (Henderson). 
  • 1994 - The Pirates completed a three-game sweep of the first-place Braves as Paul Wagner defeated Atlanta’s Tom Glavine, 4-1, for his second career complete game in front of 30,614 fans at TRS. Wagner allowed three hits, losing his shutout in the ninth inning on a homer by David Justice. The Bucs scored all four runs in the sixth inning, with Wags helping himself with a two-out, two-run double. 
Miguel Yajure - 2021 Select Rookie
  • 1998 - RHP Miguel Yajure was born in Cabimas, Venezuela. He was signed by the Yankees in 2015 and got into three games in 2020 before being part of the package sent to Pittsburgh for Jameson Taillon. He was assigned to the Pirates alternate camp after impressing during the spring, and was called up as the 27th man on April 21, 2021, to make his MLB starting debut against Detroit. He was banged around by Motown, but bounced back in his next outing against the Giants. He missed June and July with a forearm injury and was called back up in late September. He broke camp with the big team in 2022, but mostly worked at Indy. He was 1-1-1/8.88 in 12 Pirates appearances (four starts), with a not-very-strong six K/six BB per nine during his Bucco mound visits. The Pirates released him in the off season and he was picked up by the San Fran Giants. 
  • 1999 - Brian Giles went 3-for-4 with a home run/three RBI and Kevin Young batted 2-for-4 with a homer/three runs chased home to back Todd Ritchie in Pittsburgh’s 9-3 win over Colorado at Three Rivers Stadium. Al Martin added three knocks while Scott Sauerbeck and Jason Christenson mopped up the win in front of 18,599 in a game that took 2:38 from first pitch to last. 
  • 2001 - Craig Wilson became the first Pirate whose first hit was a pinch-hit homer when he went long against the SF Giants Kirk Rueter at PNC Park; it was one of the few highlights of the day. His dinger cut the deficit to 9-2 as the Bucs went on to absorb an 11-6 drubbing before 22,962 fans. Wilson held his mark alone until 2021 when Rodolfo Castro matched the feat against the Mets at Citi Field. His blast likewise was in the midst of a beatdown, with Pittsburgh losing, 13-2.

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