8/7 From 1955: Sojo Deal; Arriba Show; Ding Dong; Pops Signed; #9 Retired; Buc HoF; Josh, Buck HoF; Moves; FF Fire; Game Tales; RIP Coop; HBD Michael, Ryan, Frenchy & Tyler

• 1958 - The Pirates signed Willie Stargell as a free agent out of Encinal HS in Alameda, California, after just three workouts. Pirate scout Bob Zuk got the 17-year old’s name on a contract for a very well spent $1,500 bonus, a bargain bin price tag for a Hall of Famer who belted 475 HR and chased home 1,540 runners in his 21-year Pirates career. 
• 1962 - Forbes Field, which was plagued by a pair of fires after its closing in 1970, also had a blaze delay on this day, stopping the Pirates-Cardinals game for 26 minutes when some materials stored under the right field seats burst into flames during the seventh inning. Some 200 fans had to be moved, but the fire was contained to the storage area and didn’t cause any damage to the stands. But the fire needed to be lit under the Buccos instead of the rooters as Pittsburgh went up in smoke, 5-0, to Saint Louis. 
• 1966 - Roberto Clemente put on a one man show at Forbes Field with four hits, two homers and five RBI, but it wasn’t enough in a 9-7 loss to the Reds. Clemente had a chance to win the game in the ninth with two on and two out, but his flare to center was run down, ending the day’s magic for Arriba and the Buccos. 
• 1972 - Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard were inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with Sandy Koufax, Yogi Berra, Early Wynn, Lefty Gomez, Ross Youngs and former American League president Will Harridge. Josh and Buck, who played for the Homestead Grays and were known as “the Black Babe Ruth” and “the Black Lou Gehrig,” were the fourth and fifth Black players to enter the Hall of Fame, following Jackie Robinson (1962), Roy Campanella (1969) and Satchel Paige (1971) and were the first to spend their careers entirely in the Negro League (Buck, at age 45, played 10 games for the unaffiliated minor-league Portsmouth team). 

Buck Leonard - 1993 Ted Williams Negro Leagues

• 1973 - RHP Wilbur Cooper passed away at the age of 81. Wilbur tossed for 13 years (1912-24) for Pittsburgh, slashing 202-159/2.74 and winning twenty or more games four times. He’s the only pitcher to win 200+ games as a Pirate, is second in career IP with 3,199, behind only Bob Friend, and also in games pitched with 469, also trailing Friend. 
• 1977 - RHP Tyler Yates was born in Lihue, Hawaii. He pitched for the Bucs from 2008-09 after coming over in a deal with the Braves. The reliever went 6-5-1/5.06 in 87 appearances over that span, but 2009 was his swan song as he underwent a second TJ surgery and never made it back to the show. After retiring from baseball, Tyler became a police officer in Kauai. 
• 1984 - LHP Wade “Frenchy” LeBlanc was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Pirates picked up the 31-year-old, eight-year veteran long man/spot starter from Seattle in 2016 and he worked two campaigns as a long/middle man from the pen. The Bucs were his eighth team, and they took a chance on him after he rejuvenated his career in 2015 with a strong season in Japan. After impressing the FO, he signed as a FA in 2017 ($750K) with a $1.25M option for 2018. The option wasn’t picked up as the southpaw went 5-2 but with a 4.50 ERA in 2017. He signed with Seattle and had success as a member of their rotation, a return to his original roots, and closed out with the Cardinals before retiring in 2022 after 13 years in the show. 
• 1987 - Bill Mazeroski’s # 9 was retired during a copacetic 9-3 victory over the Expos at TRS in front of 24,093 fans. C Spanky Lavalliere and SS Al Pedrique celebrated by collecting three hits, two runs and a pair of RBI each. Bob Walk went six innings for the win. Bob Gideon, who worked the last three frames, got the save. The Pirates also swung a deal when they traded 3B Jim Morrison to the Detroit Tigers for OF Darnell Coles and a PTBNL (LHP Morris Madden). Coles played 108 games in 1987-88, batting .230, Madden pitched 14 times for the Pirates (2-2/5.91), and Morrison was about at the end of his MLB career. 

Maz - Bobblehead

• 1987 - C Ryan Lavarnway was born in Burbank, California. Ryan spent parts of seven seasons of MLB ball with four different teams before he signed with the Pirates in 2018 as a depth option. He didn’t make the team out of camp and went to Indianapolis, getting the call to Pittsburgh in September after the Indy season finished. Since, he’s played for six organizations, the latest being Miami. Lavarnway got his start at Yale. He also played for the 2017/23 Israeli teams in the WBC and on their 2020 Olympic club. Ryan retired after the 2022 season. 
• 1994 - SS Jay Bell went 5-for-6 with a pair of doubles to lead the Pirates to a 6-5 win over the Cardinals at TRS, the second five-hit game of his career. His bases-loaded single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth plated Tim Foli for the walkoff win. Carlos Garcia homered and Paul Wagner worked the ninth for the win. 
• 1999 - C Michael Perez was born in Catano, Puerto Rico. He was a fifth-round pick of the D-Backs in the 2011 draft and traded to Tampa Bay, where he was a reserve for three years. They waived him after the 2020 campaign and the Bucs claimed the good glove, bad bat (.221 career BA) backstop. He won the caddy job behind Jake Stallings by beating out Tony Wolters in the spring. He was the backup in ‘21, and started the next season at Indy before he was called up due to injury. Despite a three-homer day that belied his Pittsburgh career BA of .145, Perez was bumped out of a job by Jason Delay, DFA’ed in July and sold to the Mets. 
• 2000 - The Pirates sent IF Luis Sojo to the Yankees for RHP Chris Spurling. It was a return home for Sojo and he lasted three more seasons as a utility guy for the Bronx Bombers. Spurling was lost to the Braves in the 2002 Rule 5 draft and went on to pitch four MLB seasons as a reliever for Detroit and Milwaukee (6-8-3/4.82). 

Petey - 2010 eTopps Pro Debut

• 2010 - Colorado scored three runs in the ninth to tie the game and two more in the 10th to take the lead, but the Bucs rallied at PNC Park to claim an 8-7 victory. With runners at first and second and two down in the extra frame, Pedro Alvarez took Huston Street deep for the walk off win, giving Sean Gallagher the W even though he was tagged for two runs in his inning of work. 
• 2013 - Petrina McCutchen, Andrew’s mom, sang the National Anthem before the Miami Marlins’ game at PNC Park. Her son responded with a 2-for-3 night including a walk and a homer. So did the team, as they won, 4-2, behind Charlie Morton, Tony Watson and Mark Melancon. 
• 2021 - The Pirates recalled OF Anthony Alford, 27, from Indy, who was on fire with the bat since June 1st (.356 BA/12 HR). It was a short reunion. He broke camp with the team in 2022 but was released in late April; he caught on with Cleveland but moved on to the Korean League three weeks later. They DFA’ed veteran IF Erik Gonzalez, 29, who they picked up in the 2018 offseason from Cleveland. In three years, he hit .236, was snake bitten with injuries and ultimately became the victim of a logjam of young IFs moving through the pipeline. He cleared waivers and was sent to Indy; he’s with Miami now. They also optioned utilityman Phil Evans, 28, to Indy, and he’s now in the Yankees’ farm system. He was signed as a free agent in the winter of 2019 and batted .232 in his two years with Pittsburgh. 
• 2022 - The inaugural class of the long-promised Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame was announced. It consists of 19 members: Jake Beckley, Steve Blass, Ray Brown, Max Carey, Oscar Charleston, Fred Clarke, Roberto Clemente, Josh Gibson, Ralph Kiner, Buck Leonard, Bill Mazeroski, Danny Murtaugh, Dave Parker, Willie Stargell, Pie Traynor, Arky Vaughan, Honus Wagner, Lloyd Waner, and Paul Waner. The team was inclusive, as promised. Four of the inductees - Brown, Charleston, Gibson and Leonard - played for the Homestead Grays/Pittsburgh Crawfords. The ceremony was on September 3rd.