5/20: Home Sweet Cutch; Walker Rollin'; Ward/Bay Bop; Willie Boo'ed; Lawton, Pops Long Balls; Teke Bow; Dale Dongs; Paul 2-Bags; Big, Small & Rally Ball; Game Tales; HBD Tony, George, Moon & Horace

• 1856 - Horace Phillips was born in Salem, Ohio. He was the manager of the Alleghenys from 1884-89, and led them to their first winning season in 1885. His best finish was second the next year, when his team went 80-57. He shepherded the club from the American Association into the NL in 1887. Phillips was yellow rag fodder during the era for some financial peccadilloes, and it took its toll. After he quit managing, Phillips spent the rest of his years in various insane asylums. 
• 1891 - 1B Joe “Moon” Harris was born in Coulter (now part of South Versailles Township). Harris was a war hero, and recovered from serious injuries (in fact, his war record won him reinstatement to the majors after he had been suspended for jumping to an indie team) to play MLB ball for five teams over 14 seasons, including the Pirates in 1927-28. He hit .329 in 145 games as a Buc and was part of the 1927 WS club; he was also an opponent of the Corsairs in the 1925 Fall Classic as a member of the Senators A local kid, Joe got his start playing for the McKeesport Tubers, and when he retired, he ran a pool hall/bowling alley in Renton. He went by the nicknames of “Coulter Joe” and “Moon,” one for his birthplace and the other a moniker he picked up in the service. 
• 1896 - Pittsburgh played Brooklyn at Exposition Park in a match that featured some cat-and-mouse tactics that backfired on the Bucs. Pittsburgh fell behind, 6-0, after three innings when it began to rain and manager Connie Mack's team set a leisurely pace in the field, hoping that the game would drag on and be called. Pirate pitchers started lobbing the ball over the plate, although Brooklyn caught on quickly enough and tried to make outs to make sure the game reached five innings. It was never called as the weather cleared up, leaving the Pirates down,17-0, after five innings. The Pirates turned serious and scored six runs in the last two innings, but they had dug themselves way too deep a hole to climb out of. They took a thumping, dropping a 25-6 decision. 
• 1900 - 2B/1B George Grantham was born in Galena, Kansas. He played seven years (1925-31) for the Bucs, hitting .315 with a .410 OBP; he never fell below .300 in any of his Bucco campaigns. Grantham played for the 1925 and 1927 World Series clubs, hitting .364 against the Yankees in the 1927 match-up. His biggest season was 1930, when he hit .324 with 18 homers, 99 RBI and 120 runs. In 1951, Grantham was honored at an Old Timers Day at Forbes Field when the city of Pittsburgh named a North Side street in his honor (it ran across Lacock Street and was lost when I-279 was built). 

George Grantham - undated photo/Conlon Collection

• 1932 - Paul Waner tied the MLB record with four doubles in five at bats during the Pirates 5-0 win over the Cards at Sportsman’s Park. Other Buccos to later match the four-doubles feat were Adam Frazier (2019) and Kevin Newman (2021). Big Poison set an National League record that season with 62 two-baggers and holds the Pirates franchise record for doubles with 558, seven more than Hans Wagner banged out. Larry French fired a two-hitter for the win. 
• 1947 - Talk about your small ball: The Bucs beat Milwaukee, 4-3, at Forbes Field as the teams combined for 22 hits, and every one was a single. Hank Greenberg knocked home the winning run in the 10th, making Tiny Bonham, who took the ball from Ed Bahr in the seventh, the winner. The teams added nine walks, too, and stranded 20 runners between them. 
• 1948 - The Bucs bombed Boston, 13-0, behind a big eight-run fourth frame primed by a Ralph Kiner homer and double, while Elmer Riddle tossed a four hitter at Braves Stadium. Six Bucs had multiple hits, five had multiple RBI (led by Kiner’s three), and eight different players scored. 
• 1956 - The Pirates drew their biggest crowd in five years (32‚326) and celebrated with a DH sweep over the first-place Milwaukee Braves‚ 6-5 and 5-0, at Forbes Field. Dale Long homered in each game and drove in seven runs; he was three games into his eight-game homer streak. Bob Friend won the opener over Ray Crone and Ron Kline tossed a six-hitter to best Warren Spahn in the nitecap. 
• 1960 - The Pirates stretched their NL lead to 1-1/2 games by edging the Giants, 5-4, on Roberto Clemente's 12th inning single. Clemente had three hits to raise his average to .378. Willie McCovey's homer in the ninth tied it for San Francisco, and a score in the 12th put them ahead. Don Hoak's single and a run-scoring double by Dick Groat set the stage for Arriba’s game winner at Forbes Field. 

Roberto Clemente - 1960 Topps

• 1960 - The Pirates were still looking for pitching but lost out on free agent LHP Curt Simmons, who had been cut loose by the Phils. He signed with the Cards, who offered him a major league contract, spurning the Bucs offer of a minor league deal. The 12-year vet still had eight seasons left in the tank and went 59-42/3.10 from 1960-64, starting 136 games and tossing 982 IP. 
• 1962 - The seven and eight hitters for Pittsburgh, Don Hoak and Bill Mazeroski, went 4-for-7 with a walk, double, triple and homer, four runs scored and five RBI to carry the Bucs and Vern Law past the Reds, 8-2, at Forbes Field. They had been 0-for-8 in the series opener. 
• 1970 - Pittsburgh beat the Phils, 3-2, in 14 innings at Forbes Field. Roberto Clemente's third-inning triple, a 440-footer off the left-centerfield light tower, plated Freddie Patek. In the eighth, John Briggs dropped an Al Oliver fly, allowing Matty Alou to score the tying run. Alou later scored the game-winner courtesy of two consecutive wild pitches by Philadelphia’s Dick Selma. After a two-out knock, Matty moved up 90’ on the first wayward toss and then scored when the next took a wild bounce off the cement beneath the backstop screen, giving Alou the time to scoot home from second base. Bob Veale started the marathon, followed by five innings of two-hit relief from Dave Giusti before Bruce Dal Canton finished off the last two frames to get credit for the win. 
• 1974 - 27-year-old RHP Kent Tekulve took his MLB bow, tossing a scoreless, one-hit ninth inning at Jarry Park against Montreal in a 4-2 loss. Teke spent a dozen campaigns (1974-85) with the Bucs, posting a line of 70-61-158/2.68. The Rubber Band Man appeared in 722 games, slinging over 1,000 frames with one All Star selection and finishing in the Top Five of Cy Young voting twice. 
• 1978 - Batting against Wayne Twitchell of the Montreal Expos, Willie Stargell hit the only fair ball ever to reach the upper deck of Olympic Stadium. The red seat where the ball landed, 535’ away, was painted yellow to mark the spot (and though baseball has long left, the seat memorial still remains). The Bucs won, 6-0, as Bert Blyleven tossed a three-hitter with eight strikeouts, backed by Pops’ five RBI. 

Mike Easler - 1981 Topps

• 1981 - Mike Easler lived up to his “Hitman” nickname by going 3-for-4 with two homers, a double and four RBI in a 6-1 win over the Atlanta Braves at TRS. Rick Rhoden went six innings to get credit for the win, with Enrique Romo tossing three hitless frames to close it out. 
• 1988 - Former Pirates MVP Willie Stargell was booed at TRS for coaching rival Atlanta, managed by Chuck Tanner, who consoled Pops by telling him “They didn’t deserve to have you.” The Bucs won rather handily despite facing their old legends by a 10-3 score as Junior Ortiz and Mike Diaz teamed up to drive home six runs. Mike Dunne got the win in a game finished by Jim Gott. 
• 1988 - C John Anthony “Tony” Sanchez was born in Miami. He was drafted in the first round (4th pick) of the 2009 draft out of Boston College and first appeared as a Bucco in 2013. Tony hit .259 from 2013-15, serving as a call-up third catcher. He was DFA’ed after the 2015 season and then bounced around, last playing in the Ranger’s system through 2019. 
• 2000 - C Keith Osik made the second mop-up relief appearance of his career, allowing five runs on five hits, two hit batters, a wild pitch and a home run in the ninth inning of a 19-4 loss to the Cards at TRS. Osik became the second position player since 1900 to both give up and hit a home run in the same game when he took Pat Hentgen deep in the eighth inning before serving a long ball to Thomas Howard. The 19 runs were the most the Redbirds had posted since 1977. 
• 2001 - The Pirates did it the hard way at PNC Park - they fell behind the Brewers, 7-0, but had two big innings left in them to rally for an 8-7 victory in front of a Sunday crowd of 35,728. The Bucs mounted their first surge in the fifth frame, small-balling three runs across the dish but leaving the bases jammed. Still down by a 7-3 count in the eighth inning, Pittsburgh again did it by hitting the ball where they ain’t, cashing in on five hits (four were singles; Abraham Nunez’s double was the game’s only extra-base hit for the Corsairs out of their 12 raps) and an error to plate five runs and claim the 8-7 comeback win. The real heroes were the five guys called from the pen, who worked 5-1/3 IP of three-hit, one-run ball. Josias Manzanillo got the win and Mike Williams earned a save. It was the first time since 1998 the Pirates had overcome a seven-run deficit, and it was deja vu all over again: that was also an 8-7 decision over Milwaukee at TRS. 

Josias Manzanillo - 2000 photo Jonathan Ferey/Getty

• 2004 - The Bucs were down, 6-0, after an inning and 7-1 after two frames, but Daryle Ward and Jason Bay each bopped a pair of homers with three RBI each to lead the Bucs to a 9-7 comeback win (the biggest since overcoming a seven-run deficit against the Minnesota Twins in June, 2001) over the San Diego Padres at PNC Park. Mike Gonzalez claimed the win and Jose Mesa posted the save. Despite the homers and nine runs scored, the Bucs went 0-for-7 with RISP. 
• 2005 - Matt Lawton hit the longest Pirate homer to date at PNC Park, blasting a 463’ rocket off Colorado’s Jamey Wright in a 9-4 Bucco victory. Lawton and Rob Mackowiak had three RBI each and Tike Redman went 4-for-4. Starter Mark Redman was credited with the win with four relievers filling in behind him to tag team the final eight outs against the Rox. 
• 2011 - Neil Walker hit a homer and double while driving in five runs to lead Pittsburgh to a 10-1 win against Detroit at PNC Park. Jeff Karstens picked up the win, followed by a trio of relievers who carried it home. Jose Tabata and Garrett Jones added two knocks each while Lyle Overbay went long. 
• 2016 - Andrew McCutchen claimed the all-time hits record at PNC Park in front of 23,248 with a first-inning double off the Clemente Wall for career hit number 613 (and still counting...) at the home grounds, passing Jack Wilson’s mark of 612 knocks. It set up the Bucs first run by sending John Jaso to third, who scored a batter later. Gerrit Cole earned the 2-1 win against the Rockies after allowing one run in seven innings while Mark Melancon picked up his 14th save.