6/20 From 1960: El Toro Gores Reds; Haak Signs; Batavia Baker; No-Play Zone; Sweeps, Gems & Game Tales; HBD Rob & Gary

• 1961 - OF Gary Varsho was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin. He played three years for the Bucs, in 1991-92 and 1994 with a .251 BA as a pinch-hitter/spare outfielder, appearing in the 1991 and 1992 NLCS. He was the Pirates bench coach during manager John Russell’s regime, serving from 2007 - 2010, then returned to the club in 2016 as a scout. 
• 1961 - Gene Baker was released from the active roster and became the first African-American manager of an MLB-affiliated team when the Pirates named him skipper of their Batavia Pirates farm club in the Class D New York-Penn League. A couple of seasons later, he moved up as a Bucco coach and was credited with being the first black manager in MLB when he took over for ejected skipper Danny Murtaugh on September 21st, 1963 against LA. (Frank Robinson became the first full season Black manager in 1975). Gene finished his off-field career as a midwest Pirates scout. Baker was an eight-year MLB vet as an infielder after starting out with the KC Monarchs, and he spent 1957-58 & 1960-61 with Pittsburgh. 
• 1968 - The Pirates extended their winning streak to nine games with a 7-3 win over the Dodgers at Forbes Field in the opener of a twin bill. Steve Blass went the distance, carried by Donn Clendenon, who scored three times, and Billy Mazeroski, who chased home three runs. But the magic disappeared in the nightcap, with LA taking a 3-2, 10-inning decision. Rookie Ron Fairey hit his first MLB homer off ElRoy Face with two outs for the game winner. Maury Wills and Gene Alley set the table with five hits in the 1-2 spot, but the rest of the Bucs could only come up with three more raps. 
• 1971 - Richie Hebner homered, doubled and had four RBI while Pops Stargell added a homer in a 7-1 win over Montreal at TRS in the opener of a twin bill. Steve Blass went the distance for the victory. Stargell hit a grand slam (one of four in the majors on this day) and Al Oliver went 4-for-4 to lead the Pirates to a 7-3 sweep over the Expos in the second game with Nellie Briles earning the victory. 

Willie Stargell - 1984 Sports Authority

• 1976 - Rob Mackowiak was born in Oak Lawn, Illinois. A 53rd round draft pick in 1996, he played five years (2001-05) for the Pirates, hitting .259. 2004 was his highlight season, when he had a career high of 17 home runs/75 RBI. He had a career day on May 28th during a DH against the Cubs at PNC Park, hitting a walk-off grand slam in the first game and a game-tying ninth inning home run in the second, on the same day that his son was born. Rob later played for the White Sox, Padres and several AAA clubs, ending his career in 2010 playing indie ball. 
• 1983 - The Bucs swept the Cubs at TRS, taking a 5-4, 10-inning triumph in the opener and a 6-5, 13-inning win in the nightcap, drawing just 5,839 fans to the twilighter. Richie Hebner’s pinch hit homer against Bill Campbell to lead off the 10th gave Kent Tekulve the win in the first game; Jason Thompson also homered. The Cubbies made the second game exciting by scoring twice in the ninth on a two-out single by Ron Cey off Don Robinson. The potential lead run was cut down at the plate when Robby retrieved an errant throw home and got the ball to Steve Nicosia in time to nail Bill Buckner. Robinson later settled in and tossed shutout ball the rest of the way, getting the win when Marvell Wynne singled home Dale Berra to broom Chicago. Berra, Lee Lacy and Jim Morrison went long during the contest, with Berra collecting four hits. The Bucs were floundering at this point (even with the sweep, they were 11 games under .500), but got their act together to hold a share of first in mid-September. Then Philly caught fire and the Bucs went 6-8 down the stretch to finish second, six games off the pace. 
• 1983 - The 71-year-old “King of the Caribbean Scouts,” Howie Haak, signed a three-year contract with the Bucs as their scouting supervisor. He lasted in that position until 1988, when he left for Houston after a disagreement with GM Syd Thrift, severing a Steel City relationship that began in back 1950. Howie retired in 1993 and passed on in 1999. 

KY - 1993 Topps baseball's Finest

• 1993 - The Pirates scored twice in the ninth to edge the Mets, 3-2, at TRS. After an intentional walk to Jeff King loaded the bases, John Franco walked in the tying run, losing Kevin Young on a 3-2 pitch. It took some soul searching by Jim Leyland to allow the rookie left-handed hitter to face southpaw Franco with RH Lloyd McClendon available to hit, but he said “You’re trying to groom Kevin Young for the future” and let him bat. The next man up, Don Slaught, singled home the winner. Stan Belinda won in relief of Steve Cooke. With the victory, the Bucs swept the four-game set against the Mets. 
• 2003 - The Cleveland Indians raced ahead of Josh Fogg and the Pirates, 3-0, but a two-out error in the third by Tribe starter Brian Tallet opened the gates; Jason Kendall banged an RBI double following the boot and Aramis Ramirez slammed a three-run shot to give the Bucs the lead. Scott Sauerbeck allowed the Indians to tie it in the eighth, and the game was on. It took 15 innings, but behind four scoreless frames by Salomon Torres (although six hits in that span kept the drama bubbling) and Randall Simon’s homer in the 15th, the Pirates sent the the remnants of a crowd of 26,305 at PNC Park home happy after 4-1/2 hours of baseball. 
• 2008 - The Buccos outlasted Toronto, 1-0, in 12 innings at PNC Park. Tyler Yates, the last of four Buc pitchers, tossed two innings for the win. Pittsburgh claimed the game when SS John McDonald couldn't come up cleanly with Jason Michaels' weak bases-loaded grounder, scoring Doug Mientkiewicz. The two teams combined to strand 21 runners during the game that was started by Zach Duke and Roy “Doc” Halladay; both spun seven scoreless frames. 
• 2010 - The Pirates won their second in a row from the Indians, 5-3, at PNC Park when they scored twice in the eighth on a Pedro Alvarez sac fly and Bobby Crosby knock. Pittsburgh had lost 12 consecutive games before the modest streak, and began a six-game losing streak after the contest. Brad Lincoln started the game, but Brendan Donnelly got the win and Octavio Dotel picked up the save. 

Brendan Donnelly - 2010 photo John Grieshop/Getty

• 2013 - Pedro Alvarez smacked a single, double and homer to chase home all five runs in the Bucs 5-3 win over the Reds in front of nearly 41,000 fans at GABP. Brandon Cumpton started, reliever Bryan Morris booked the win and Tony Watson claimed the save as St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh continued their battle in the NL Central. The division rivals had the three best records in the major leagues on this day and were separated by four games. 
• 2015 - Max Scherzer no-hit the Bucs at Nationals Park and came within a strike of tossing a perfect game. With two outs in the ninth and an 0-2 count on Jose Tabata, a mini-battle began with JT fouling off several pitches. With the count 2-2, Scherzer tried to sneak a slider past Tabata; it backed up a bit and clipped JT on the elbow pad (Tabata didn’t make much effort to get out of harm’s way, actually leaning into the pitch) to spoil the perfecto. Josh Harrison flew out to the track in left to end it, with Washington claiming a 6-0 win. 
• 2016 - The Pirates took an unlikely 1-0 victory from the SF Giants at PNC Park. Jeff Locke, who had given up 18 runs in his previous two starts, pulled a U-turn and tossed 6-2/3 IP of five-hit ball against Giant ace Madison Bumgarner, who was on a seven-game winning streak and entered the game with a 1.91 ERA. To boot, the Bucs were on a five-game losing streak while the G-Men had claimed eight straight wins. The winning blow was a homer by Erik Kratz, who was hitting .045, a drive to left field that Angel Pagan’s leap almost pulled back, only to have the ball fall out of his mitt and back over the fence as he crashed into the wall. 
• 2020 - This date marked the 101st straight day without MLB/NHL/NFL/NBA games due to Covid cancellations, the longest stretch of inactivity since the four major pro sports coexisted. The previous record was a 100-day stretch from September through December, 1918, from the end of MLB season to start of NHL season due to World War I and the flu pandemic. (S/O Elias Stats) 

Bligh Madris - 2023 Topps

• 2022 - There was some excitement at PNC Park as SS Oneil Cruz and OF/1B Bligh Madris were called up from Indy as part of a month-long youth movement. And they both came through in spades during the Pirates 12-1 drubbing of the Cubs. In his 2022 debut, Cruz claimed the hardest throw by an MLB infielder this year (96.7 MPH), the hardest hit ball of the year by a Pirate (112.9 MPH) and the fastest sprint speed of the year by a Pirate (31.5 feet per second; 30’ is considered elite) to go along with two hits, four RBI and three runs scored. Madris went 3-for-4 in his MLB debut, first Pirate since Jason Kendall (4/1/1996 v. Florida) to have three hits in his opening outing. He also scored and singled home two runs in his first big league at bat. Daniel Vogelbach chipped in two more hits, and the big guy scored three times and plated a pair of teammates. JT Brubaker went six shutout frames for his first win of the season.