8/2 From 1970: Candy Traded; Gott Him; Robby RBI; TSN Cobra; SI Pops; Vasquez ROTM; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Mark

• 1970 - Pittsburgh outslugged the Braves, 10-7, at Atlanta Stadium behind the hot sticks of Bob Robertson and John Jeter. Robertson went long twice and drove home six runs; the other four runs were chased home by Jeter, who also went yard. Dock Ellis was credited with the win, although Dave Giusti made it interesting in the ninth by giving up three runs on back-to-back Bravo home runs. The victory moved the Bucs back into first place, a game ahead of the Mets. 
• 1971 - Willie Stargell was the cover boy for Sports Illustrated as part of the feature article “Pittsburgh Overpowers the East.” The Bucs did take the division crown, National League title and World Series championship with 31-year-old Captain Willie leading the way with 48 long balls, 125 RBI, .295 BA and a .628 slugging % as he lifted his game to another level. 
• 1974 - The Bucs took advantage of a couple of Redbird miscues to take a 3-2, 14-inning match from St. Louis at Three Rivers Stadium, snapping a six-game Cardinal winning streak. The Bucs legit run scored on an Al Oliver solo homer. Pittsburgh scored a second run when the Cards muffed a double play. The winner came home after the Cards had already cut down one run at the plate but blew the chance at a second. Richie Hebner singled with two outs and Ed Kirkpatrick at second; he scored uncontested when C Ted Simmons (a future Pirates GM) drifted up the line to track the throw home when he should have stayed at home. 1B Joe Torre had slid over to cut the offline peg and spun to relay the ball only to find Simmons nowhere near the dish, but still 10’ up the baseline. Ramon Hernandez got the win, following Larry Demery and Dave Giusti. 
• 1975 - Dave Parker was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Lethal Punch.” In his third season, the 24-year-old Cobra put up a .308/25/101 slash during his breakout season for the division-winning Pirates, beginning a streak of five straight .300+ campaigns. 

• 1977 - The Pirates scored twice in the ninth to tie the score, 3-3, against Houston at the Astrodome. keeping the blood pumping to set up Bill Robinson’s two-out, game-winning three-run homer off Dan Larson in the top of the 10th to win it. Robinson had tied the game with a single with Dave Parker aboard the frame before; the throw to third to try to get The Cobra went through third baseman Enos Cabell and both Parker & Robinson scored on the misplay. Larson threw a complete game in a losing effort, giving up just six hits, with five coming in the final 1-2/3 innings. Grant Jackson spun the final three frames, allowing just one hit for the win. 
• 1982 - It took 17 innings, but the Bucs rode a two-run triple by Johnny Ray to a 4-2 victory over the Cards at Busch Stadium. Rick Rhoden and John Stupor left with the game tied at two, with the Bucco tallies coming on a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth by Jason Thompson. Enrique Romo, who pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th, was credited with the win after Rod Scurry and Kent Tekulve put up zeroes. There was plenty going on - the game was the longest of the year to date, the Cards stranded 24! runners, going 2-for-23 w/RISP, and Chuck Tanner was tossed, then put on a skipper show by raging, stomping and finally flinging his cap into the ground in disgust. 
• 1985 - The last-place Pirates dumped a trio of players, trading pitchers John Candelaria and Al Holland along with OF George Hendrick to the Angels for OF Mike Brown and pitchers Pat Clements & Bob Kipper. The deal was triggered to add some youth to the roster while moving two veterans who were described by the media as “disgruntled” with the other in his walk year. 
• 1987 - One day before his birthday, the Bucs picked up RH reliever Jim Gott off waivers from the SF Giants. In a season plus, he saved 47 games for the Pirates, but an elbow injury in 1989 limited him to one outing, and Pittsburgh let him go in the off season as a free agent. Gott then pitched from 1990-94 for the LA Dodgers, ending his career back in Pittsburgh in 1995. He coached for both the Angels and Phillies but has been out of baseball since 2021. 

Jay Bell - 1990 Fleer

• 1990 - The middle four of the Pittsburgh order (Jay Bell, Andy Van Slyke, Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds) went 10-for-19 with a double, triple, and three homers, while driving in and scoring all eight of the Pirates runs to lead the Bucs to an 8-5 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Jon Smiley started and got the win despite some shaky relief work behind him; Bob Walk finally calmed Chicago down over the last two frames to stop the bleeding and pick up the save. 
• 1992 - The Bucs were down, 1-0, with two outs in the ninth frame to St. Louis at Three Rivers Stadium with Lee Smith on the hill and Andy Van Slyke on second before rallying for a 2-1 win. Jeff King singled AVS home to tie it and went to second on the play at the plate, then Don Slaught’s knock chased King around for the walkoff win. Randy Tomlin went eight six-hit innings, but Bob Walk notched the victory for putting up a final-frame zero. It also marked the beginning of John Wehner’s 99-game errorless streak at third base. The Rock wouldn’t make another error until October 1st, 2000, in a 10-9 loss to the Cubs, to share the MLB flawless fielding mark at the hot corner with Jeff Cirillo. It was deja vu all over again; his error in 1992 was a bad throw against the Cubs; his streak ended with another errant toss against Chicago nine years later. 
• 1993 - The Cubs beat the Pirates, 12-10, at Wrigley Field in a game marked by seven long balls, six ejections, three brushbacks and a brawl. Carlos Garcia had a pair of homers for the Bucs‚ and was beaned in his next at-bat by Bob Scanlon, eventually triggering a melee when Pirates pitcher Blas Minor took aim at Mark Grace as pay-back (Minor threw behind him; old-school Grace later said he expected to get drilled; if Minor had just hit him, he would jogged to first and there would have been no problems). Sammy Sosa led the Chi-town charge off the bench and several loud debates broke out until Kevin Young found Scanlan and gave him a love tap; Ryne Sandberg came to his defense and the dancing began in earnest. Lloyd McClendon and Al Martin also went long for Pittsburgh in the come-from-ahead loss. Paul Wagner had an 8-2 lead but tried to pitch through a hammy he injured fielding a bunt, allowing the Cubs to come back. 
• 1994 - UT Mark Mathias was born in Santa Clara, California. He was traded to the Bucs by Texas in March, 2023 for a PTBNL (minor league RHP Ricky DeVito). The 28-year old had played for the Brewers and Rangers and was a depth pick-up who fit into the Pirates utility role model by being able to play both corner infield and outfield. Mathias started the season at Indy, but was called up to the big team twice during the ‘23 campaign, waived in July and taken by Seattle. 

Brian Giles - 2002 Fleer Tradition Diamond Standouts

• 2002 - The Bucs walked off with a 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park. Down a run with two outs in the ninth inning, Jason Kendall lined a single and Jack Wilson followed with a bloop. Brian Giles then drilled Rob Nenn’s 1-2 pitch into left center for a double to plate them both for the win. All three batters were down to their last swing; the hits were all with two strikes. Adam Hyzdu and Rob Mackowiak homered while Brian Boehringer got the win. 
• 2003 - The Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies at PNC in front of 37,820 fireworks night fans by a 1-0 count. The shutout was spun by the unlikely trio of Brian Meadows, Brian Boehringer and Mike Lincoln. Meadows scattered five hits over seven innings and Bo followed with a clean eighth, but left in the ninth frame with an out and Rox on the corners. Lincoln’s first pitch to Jay Payton was tapped to short for a game-ending 6-4-3 that was hotly disputed by the Colorado manager Clint Hurdle (he was still a few years away from making PNC Park his home office), along with the first base coach and Peyton. The Bucco run was scored by Randall Simon in the second inning after a Jose Hernandez double and an RBI bounce out followed Simon’s leadoff walk. 
• 2018 - Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez was named National League Reliever of the Month for July while setup men Kyle Crick and Edgar Santana were also recognized by receiving votes. All-Star Vazquez had a win, eight saves, a 1.46 ERA and 22K in 12-1/3 IP. The Nightmare was the first Pirates RoM since Jason Grilli took the honors in both April and May of 2013.