- 1970 - Willie Stargell homered off the RF roof at Forbes Field off Hoyt Wilhelm, the second time he'd done it in a week, as the Pirates edged the Braves, 8-7. Eighteen balls carried over the Oakland yard’s roof, with seven launched by Stargell. No one else hit more than a pair. Roberto Clemente had three hits (two were doubles) and four RBI as he shared some of the offensive thunder with Cap’n Willie. Dave Giusti got the win in relief of Dock Ellis and Joe Gibbon, with Al McBean closing it out. For McBean, who had been claimed off waivers from the LA Dodgers, it was his last Pirates clincher as he was released in May, finishing with 59 Bucco saves.
- 1971 - RHP John “Brad” (Bradley was his middle name) Clontz was born in Stuart, Virginia. Brad worked six MLB seasons, with the last two (1999-2000) in Pittsburgh, where the submarine-style sidearm reliever appeared in 61 games, going 1-3-2/3.04. It would be his last stop in the show, although he hung in through the 2006 season at the AAA level until retiring. His claim to fame: Clontz led the NL in games pitched in 1996 with 81 while with the Braves.
- 1971 - The half-hour WIIC-TV special “The Whistling Irishman,” a bio of Danny Murtaugh, was aired. The star of the show was Murtaugh, with a big cast of Pirate connections/cameos by Katie Murtaugh, Joe Brown, Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Bill Virdon, Frank Oceak, Casey Stengel, Bob Prince, Nellie King, Al Abrams and Charley Feeney, narrated by Channel 11 sportscaster Sam Nover. If you’d like a showing, it’s still floating around on YouTube.
- 1978 - Buc righty Don Robinson picked up his first MLB victory by tossing a complete game five-hitter with seven whiffs against the Mets at Shea Stadium to book a 2-1 win. He survived a couple of Bucco misplays and worked out of a third inning jam (New York was 0-for-7 with RISP) after Bill Robinson‘s misplayed single following two walks gave the Bucs a 2-0 lead in the top of the frame; Pittsburgh only had four hits off Mike Bruhert and two relievers.
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| Vicente Palacios - 1992 Pinnacle |
- 1991 - Vicente Palacios posted his first career complete game and shutout (he would toss the same combo once more in 1994 as a Card) as the Bucs finished a three-game sweep of the Expos in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium with an 8-0 whitewashing. Barry Bonds went deep in back-to-back at-bats during the sixth inning, going 3-for-4 with three RBI to help the Pirates stretch their winning streak to six games. The club went 12-6 v the Expos in ‘91 on the way to a 98-win season that ended with a seven-game loss to the Braves in the NLCS.
- 1992 - In the Pirates 1-0 win over the host Cubs‚ the Bucs were helped by a wayward hat. With Kirk Gibson on first, Jay Bell hit a potential DP grounder that struck Gibson's bouncing helmet, which had flown off as he headed to second, and the Cubs had to settle for a force. Andy Van Slyke noted “the play goes 7-1/2 to 4 to 5 to 6" on your scorecard. Bell then scored when Van Slyke followed with a double for the game’s only run. Randy Tomlin was the winner over Greg Maddux.
- 1992 - RHP Trevor Williams was born in San Diego. He was a second round draft pick of the Marlins in 2013 and came to Pittsburgh for a career minor-league player, Richard Mitchell. Many thought the seemingly one-sided deal was de facto compensation for the Fish signing the Pirates pitching assistant Jim Benedict earlier. His brief initial cruise in 2016 wasn’t all that smooth; after mowing down hitters in AAA, he went 1-1/7.83 for the Pirates in a handful of outings. In 2017, he broke camp with the team after a strong spring and slashed 7-9/4.07 in 25 outings as a solid back-end starter. Willy broke out the next year, going 14-10/3.11 with a career high in innings (170-1/3) and starts (31), then faded in the next couple of campaigns (9-17/5.60). He went 31-37/4.43 in five Pirates seasons before signing with the Cubs in 2021; he’s with the Nats now.
- 1992 - LHP Wei-Chung Wang was born in Taitung, Taiwan. The Pirates signed him in 2011, found out he needed TJ surgery, voided the original contract and signed him to a new one to reflect the injury. That cost them; Milwaukee claimed him as a Rule 5 pick in 2013 as he was considered to be on his second contract. He tossed for the Brew Crew and then went to Korea in 2018 for a year. In 2019, the A’s signed him. The reliever was 1-0/3.33 in 20 games for them, but Oakland cut him loose at the end of August (four walks/five K per nine, .231 BABIP and 5.29 FIP peripherals belied his ERA) and the Pirates, with its mid-to-long bullpen in shambles beyond Bob Patterson, claimed him. He got into five games, giving up three runs in four frames and returned to Taiwan.
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| Cody Ponce - 2020 image/Pirates |
- 1994 - RHP Cody Ponce was born in Pompano, California. A second round pick for Milwaukee in 2015 from Cal Poly, he joined the Bucs in a deal for Jordan Lyles. A starter all his career, he was called up in 2020 and debuted from the bullpen. His first outing was a loss, but that can be forgiven - it was in the 10th inning, and the tally that beat him was the free runner on second, placed there thanks to a pace-of-play rules shuffle. Cody made another outing and was returned to the Altoona alternate site. He started 2021 on the IL, went to Indy and was released by the Bucs in November so that he could sign a deal with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese League. He’s still tossing in Japan, working now for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
- 2003 - Kip Wells became the second player and first pitcher to homer into the batter’s eye at PNC Park with a third-inning, 457’ tape-measure blast. But LA had the last laugh when they rallied for five ninth-inning runs off Wells and Mike Williams to snatch a 5-2 victory from the Bucs.
- 2007 - Pittsburgh held a 3-1 lead, built on a pair of run-producing outs and a Brad Eldred dinger, in the top of the ninth inning against the Astros, but Solomon Torres couldn’t hold it; John Grabow came in to put out the fire, but not until it was a tied game. The score stayed knotted until the bottom of the 16th, when with the bases loaded, Adam LaRoche poked a single past shortstop to send John Wasdin, the Bucs eighth pitcher, and the remnants of 8,208 fans home winners.
- 2012 - Pedro Alvarez homered in both games of Pittsburgh’s doubleheader split against Colorado, becoming the second Pittsburgh player to hit home runs for the Pirates in each end of a twinbill at PNC Park. El Toro joined Rob Mackowiak, who also went long twice in a DH on 5/28/04 against the Cubs on the memorable day his wife gave birth to their first child. Pittsburgh set an MLB record by playing its 18th straight game starting the season in which neither team scored more than five runs, passing the mark set by the 1943 Detroit Tigers with a 2-1 opening game loss, with Chris Resop taking the loss in relief of James McDonald. They finally showed some spunk by claiming the nightcap, 5-1, with Petey’s homer sparking a five-run fifth frame to back Charlie Morton on the hill. The Pirates and the Rockies also became the first teams in MLB history to add an extra player to the roster for their twin bill at PNC Park as the new CBA permitted teams to carry 26 on the active roster for doubleheaders to save the paper shuffling that a move entailed. The Bucs brought up Jared Hughes and he tossed a scoreless frame.
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| Justin Wilson - 2013 Topps |
- 2013 - The Bucs and Justin Wilson beat the Phillies by a 6-4 score for their third straight win at Citizens Bank Park. It was the first time in the eighteen outings that the Phils lost all three matches that Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee started back-to-back-to-back. The Pirates dropped the first contest of the four game set when they were beaten, 3-2, by unheralded Jonathan Pettibone, who was making his first MLB start; his career was derailed by shoulder surgery.
- 2023 - The off-and-on financial duel between the Pirates and Bryan Reynolds ended as the media reported that they agreed on an eight-year contract extension to run through 2030, with the team officially confirming the deal the next day. The numbers were: signing bonus: $2M; '23: $6.750M; '24: $10M; '25: $12M; '26: $14M; '27-'30: $15M; and in '31, it closed out with a $20M club option/$2M buyout. The guaranteed payout was $106.75M with an upper limit of $124.75M. There was also a six-team no-trade clause with no opt-out clause. It was the biggest contract in Pirates history and the club's first six-figure agreement, vaulting the previous largest payout, 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes' eight-year, $70M deal signed just last year. The Bucs also dropped off the “never gave out a $100M contract” list, with just the Athletics, Royals and White Sox left on that roster.
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