9/2 From 1965: Veale Goes; Roberto's 2,000 & 2,971; Shawon Shines; Jim Jaws; AAA Flip; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Gaby, Yamid & Sean

• 1966 - The Pirates claimed first place by topping the Cubs, 7-5, on a Roberto Clemente homer, his 2,000th career hit. Clemente's long fly gave him 101 RBI for the year, the first time he reached the century mark. He ended up with a career high of 119 RBI in 1966, and collected 110 the next season, the only other time he drove in 100+ runs. Arriba won the MVP and the Bucs finished third with 92 wins, three games behind the LA Dodgers. 
• 1970 - LHP Sean Lawrence was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Drafted by the Pirates in the 6th round of the 1992 draft out of the College of St. Francis, his seven games in 1998 as a Bucs was the extent of his big league career, finishing with a slash of 2-1/7.32. He later pitched in the San Diego and Arizona systems, retiring in 2002 to become a police officer. 
• 1970 - The Pirates AAA team, the Columbus Jets, announced this would be their last season due to attendance woes. The Jets franchise relocated to Charleston and the Charlies became the Bucs top farm club through 1976. In 1977, the Columbus Clippers were organized and the Pittsburgh franchise returned to Columbus again, although for only two seasons. 
• 1972 - With his 2,971st knock as a Bucco (he ended up with 3,000), Roberto Clemente broke Honus Wagner's record for the most hits in the history of the franchise. The record-setting blow was a single off Giant hurler Sudden Sam McDowell. Roberto then chased Sam from the game with a three-run homer in the fourth during an 6-3 victory at Three Rivers Stadium. 

Bob Veale - 1972 Topps

• 1972 - LHP Bob Veale, 36, was sold to the Boston Red Sox after an 11-year career in Pittsburgh that saw him win 116 games and save six more, starting 255 times in his 341 Pirates outings. His 1,652 strikeouts are still the Pirate mark for a LHP and second overall in Bucco history. 
• 1977 - C Yamid Haad was born in Cartagena, Colombia. He got into one game with the Pirates in 1999 as a pinch hitter; he was called up after Jason Kendall broke his ankle. Yamid also got a taste with the Giants in 2005, but mostly served as depth because of an inconsistent bat. He spent 13 years in the minors (nine in AAA) and ended his career in 2016 in Mexico. 
• 1978 - Willie Stargell blasted a three-run homer in the first, but the Braves chipped away to tie the game at TRS and send it into extra innings before Dave Parker’s 12th-inning rap past a drawn-in infield gave the Pirates and Grant Jackson a 4-3 win. Phil Garner was on third with an out when the Braves worked around Frank Taveras and intentionally walked Omar Moreno to get to The Cobra (Atlanta manager Bobby Cox feared the squeeze was on with Frankie & Omar, and so took his shot with Parker, who had hit into two DPs during the contest). Kent Tekulve & Stargell almost became the goats in the 10th. With pinch-runner Rod Gilbreath on, Teke threw wildly to first. Gilbreath made it all the way to third, but held up as 1B Pops ran the ball down and Rod decided not to challenge his arm. Good thing - as Willie went to turn and throw home, he slipped and fell, but the runner had already hit the brakes. It was the Pirates sixth straight win over the Bravos and their 11th-of-12 at TRS, finishing second in the NL East by 1-1/2 games to Philly. 

Gaby Sanchez - 2013 Topps

• 1983 - 1B Gaby Sanchez was born in Miami, went to the U of Miami and played for the Marlins til the Bucs traded for him in 2012 as the right-hand half of a first base platoon with Garrett Jones and then with Ike Davis. He played for the Bucs through 2014, hitting .241, before going to Japan. He spent a year there and then dropped off the pro ball radar after the Mariners released him in camp the following spring, and was an analyst for the ACC Network at last peek. 
• 1988 - After a 2-1 loss to the Braves, Jim Leyland lit into his players in a 15-minute scolding of which “...six minutes were spent throwing nachos all over the place, three minutes were devoted exclusively to expletives and six minutes were the sermon” per Press beat man Bob Hertzel. Vet Andy Van Slyke, for one, thought it was due, telling the Post Gazette's Paul Meyer "After the way we've played the last month, you can tell the people of Pittsburgh to start following the Steelers." The tirade centered on paying attention to the details of the game and to quit listening to their agents. It didn’t particularly light the fire Leyland hoped it would, although the team did finish 14-12 during the rest of the season. 
• 1992 - Tim Wakefield, who tossed 129 pitches, came one out away from a complete game win as the Pirates beat the Giants, 3-2, at TRS. Bob Patterson came in to get the final out while picking up his ninth save. The Bucs took the lead for good in the sixth inning on a two-run homer from Barry Bonds after Don Slaught’s blast in the fifth provided the first score. The victory was in the midst of a seven game Pirate winning streak and kept the Bucs comfortably in first place by a three game margin; they won the Eastern Division by nine games over the Nats. The game had a little extra spice as two strippers, wearing just G-strings while serving drinks in a private box during a bachelor-party, were escorted out after peep-show complaints from other fans. 

Tim Wakefield - 1992 Donruss Rookie

• 1993 - Jim Leyland returned from a five-game suspension for “provoking a melee” in the last series against LA just in time for a TRS visit from the City of Angels. For his part, Tommy LaSorda didn’t quite get suspended during the prior melee, but umpire Eric Gregg did give him the heave-ho this time around as the Pirates rode Paul Wagner and Al Martin to a “welcome home Jimmy,” 5-1, victory. Wagner tossed his third complete game (the team had just eight), giving up a run in the opening frame before settling in for an eight-hit complete game win. Martin provided the offense with a three-run homer and four RBI as Tom Candiotti met defeat for the first time in 16 starts. 
• 1997 - In front of 43,380 at TRS, newcomer Shawon Dunston (he had been acquired from the Cubs two days earlier and was making his Bucco debut) hit a pair of homers to lead the Freak Show Bucs to a 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. His four RBI powered Jose Silva, with help from the bullpen, to his first MLB victory and helped pull the Pirates to within 1-1/2 games of first, the closest they would come to the top spot during the last month of the campaign. 
• 2009 - The Pirates were swept by the Reds, 5-3, the first time they were broomed in Cincinnati since 1975. But it wasn’t all gloom (although in a 99-loss season, there weren’t many highlights) as Garrett Jones hit the club's 10,000th home run since the Bucs joined the NL in 1887.