7/8 From 1970: Bevacqua, Maxville Deals; Clemente Statue; ASGs; Wild Finishes & Game Tales; HBD Josh & John

• 1971 - Bruce Kison made his second start and earned his first MLB victory, going into the eighth inning while defeating the Reds, 7-1, at TRS. His teammates helped to chase away the butterflies by scoring four times in the opening frame. His plate support came from Dave Cash and Gene Clines at the top of the order, who reached base eight times and plated after five, Roberto Clemente, who chased the pair home four times, and Bob Robertson’s two-run homer. Buster slashed 81-63-6/3.49 with the Pirates in nine seasons (1971-79), went 4-1 in the postseason, and won 115 games during his 15-year big league career. 
• 1973 - The Pirates bought SS Dal Maxville from Oakland with the intention of making him their starting shortstop. “We didn’t get him for his bat,'' said manager Bill Virdon. “We felt we needed to stabilize our infield.” Good glove or no, Dal hit just .189 for the Pirates in ‘73 and was released in April of 1974 after going 4-for-22; 1975 was his last MLB campaign. 
• 1974 - The Pirates sent IF Kurt Bevacqua, who was hitting .114, to the KC Royals for AA IF Calvin Meier after the Bucs had shipped Nellie Briles and Fernando Gonzalez to the Royals for Bevacqua, Ed Kirkpatrick and Winston Cole (who never made it past Class A ball) during the winter. Shaler grad Art Howe was called up to take Bevacqua’s place on the roster; after a couple of challenging years as a Buc, he went on to have a solid career with the Astros and later managed Houston, Oakland and the Mets. Kurt played through 1985, even returning to Pittsburgh in 1980-81, but he never reached the 300 at bat mark in his 15 MLB campaigns. 

Buster & Schmidt - photo 7/8/1977 AP

• 1977 - The Bucs and Phils had a pair of bench-clearing dances after Mike Schmidt and Willie Stargell were beaned. Per Chuck Tanner, after Kison hit Schmidt in the back, Mike said, while heading to first, “Next time that happens I’ll come and get you.” Kison replied “Why wait til next time?” They didn’t; Schmidt missed with a roundhouse, then Kison landed a couple of jabs before Ed Ott finished it by tackling Schmidt and keeping him pinned to the ground until peace was restored. Pop's confrontation was better policed; the umps got between him and Tug McGraw before any fists flew. Pittsburgh won the slugfest that counted, 8-7, overcoming a 7-3, eighth-inning deficit at TRS. The victory was anti-climatic; after tying the game in the eighth, the Pirates won when pinch hitter Jim Fregosi drew a bases-loaded, ninth-inning walk off Warren Brusstar to earn a hard fought victory for Pittsburgh and Goose Gossage. 
• 1980 - The Nationals topped the Americans, 4-2, at Dodger Stadium in the All Star game with Chuck Tanner as manager. 2B Phil Garner went 1-for-2 with a run, walk and stolen base while RF Dave Parker went 0-for-2. Ex-Buc Jerry Reuss earned the win while Jim Bibby pitched a clean seventh inning, as teammate Kent Tekulve watched the game from the bullpen. 
• 1982 - The Reds entered the ninth trailing the Pirates, 4-2, at TRS, and rattled off a six-spot against Manny Sarmiento and Kent Tekulve to take an 8-4 lead and seemingly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But the Pirates didn’t mail it in - they answered with a two-run homer by pinch hitter Willie Stargell and a bases-clearing double by Jason Thompson to take home a pulse-pounding 9-8 win. Between Pop's long ball and Thompson’s double, the Pirates banged out five straight one-out hits against Tom Hume and Joe Price. Dave Parker had three hits, including two big flies, and Bill Madlock also went deep. Teke got the blown save/win combo after being roughed up for three runs in 2/3 of an inning. Post Gazette writer Charlie Feeney called it “...the wildest ninth inning in the 12-year history of Three Rivers Stadium.” 

John Bowker - 2010 Topps Update

• 1983 - OF/1B John Bowker was born in Sacramento. A third-round pick of the Giants, he played for the Bay Bombers from 2008-10 and was traded to the Pirates at the deadline, along with Joe Martinez, in return for Javier Lopez. He hit .233 as a Bucco and was flipped in late 2011 to the Phillies. John spent 2012-14 in Japan, with a stint in the Mexican League. The Bucs brought him back in 2015, but he never got past AAA Indy and retired after the campaign. 
• 1986 - The Pirates were shaken but not stirred in San Diego when a 2:15 AM earthquake rocked them. Jim Leyland, trainer Kent Biggerstaff, sportswriter Ron Cook and nine Bucco players made it down to the hotel lobby while the 30-second, 6.0 Richter Scale tremor shook, rattled and rolled. But it caused minimal damage and no injuries as the Bucs went on to play that night, dropping a 4-2 decision to the Friars to fall 13 games (34-47) under .500. 
• 1987 - Jack-of-all-trades Josh Harrison was born in Cincinnati. The utility guy was up-and-down with the Bucs since 2011 after coming over in the John Grabow/Tom Gorzelanny deal with the Cubs in 2009. But in 2014, playing LF and later third base, he broke out, winning an All-Star berth with a .315 BA, second best in the NL (he won a second nod in 2017). He inherited second base after Neil Walker was traded to the Mets, and later signed with the Tigers as a free agent in early 2019 after being bumped by Adam Frazier. J-Hay collected his 1,000th hit with the White Sox in ‘22; now he’s with the Phillies. 
• 1994 - The statue of Roberto Clemente, located in front of Roberto Clemente Bridge and designed by sculptor Susan Wagner, was dedicated outside of Gate B at Three Rivers Stadium. When PNC Park opened in 2001, it was reinstalled just beyond center field. A neat factoid: under glass blocks representing first, second, and third base is soil from Puerto Rico, Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium, the three places most closely associated with Arriba. 

Roberto - 1994 Topps

• 1997 - The junior league short circuited the NL by a 3-1 score at the All Star game played at Jacobs Field. 2B Tony Womack was the Bucs’ sole representative and grounded out in his only at bat. Ex-Pirates on the NL side were Barry Bonds, Denny Neagle and Moises Alou. 
• 2003 - The Bucs nosed the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-7, in 10 innings at Miller Park to win their fifth game in six outings. Wes Helms hit a two-run homer off Mike Williams in the ninth to send the game to overtime; Jack Wilson answered with a two-run shot in the 10th frame. It wasn’t quite done; John Vander Wal singled to left center with two outs and two on in the Brew Crew half to chase a run home, but Geoff Jenkins was thrown out at third by Kenny Lofton to end the game. Matt Stairs and Jason Kendall had three hits. Stairs, Wilson and Lofton also homered.
• 2005 - Pittsburgh scored four times in the ninth to send the game into extras, then took a 6-5 win against the Mets in 10 frames at PNC Park. With two gone in the ninth, Tike Redman singled home a pair and Matt Lawton followed with a two-bagger to tie it. Humberto Cota lined a knock to left after a pair were gone in the 10th, scoring Rob Mackowiak who had reached second on an error. The Mets were just a pitch away; both Redman and Cota’s hits came with two strikes. 
• 2008 - The Pirates tallied three times after two outs and the bases empty in the eighth to top the Houston Astros, 4-3, at PNC Park. Adam LaRoche started with a homer, then a HBP, single and walk set up Nate McLouth. He dropped a liner into short right to plate Jose Bautista and Luis Rivas with the tying and winning runs. Damaso Marte saved the win for John Grabow. 

The Fort - 2011 Bowman

• 2011 - Pinch hitter Mike McKenry broke a tie with the Cubs in the eighth inning when he took an 0-2 pitch deep with two outs off Carlos Marmol for a three-run bomb to give the Bucs a 7-4 win at PNC Park. It was The Fort’s first MLB homer, and set the fans to rockin’ - they demanded (and got) a quick curtain call. Joel Hanrahan notched his 26th straight save of the season (although he did suffer a couple of losses in non-save situations) when he pitched a perfect ninth against the Cubs, striking out a pair. He would blow his next save opportunity 10 days later (the Pirates didn’t have many leads to protect in the second half of the 2011 season). The Bucs entered the All-Star break above the .500 mark for the first time since 1992 although the good times didn’t last.
• 2012 - The Pirates kept sole possession of first place in the NL Central for the last time with a 13-2 thumping of the Giants at PNC Park. Neil Walker went 5-for-5 with a double and a home run, drove in a pair and scored four times; Andrew McCutchen homered twice while collecting three hits, four RBI and three runs while Casey McGehee added three knocks to give AJ Burnett his 10th win. It was also the club’s 10th win in the past 12 games. The elation was short-lived as the Bucs collapsed in the dog days to finish with another losing record, but at last, wait ‘til next year wasn’t an empty slogan as the Corsairs won 94 games in ‘13 and made it to the Promised Land of the postseason.