5/25 From 1960: Freddy's Sixer, JK #1,000, Cooke-ing, Rick's #100, Jim's #200; OT, Big Frames, Game Tales; Quail Statue, Freak Show, Barger Bust; HBD Brad, Randall & Will

• 1968 - OF Will Pennyfeather was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Pennyfeather turned down a football scholarship with Syracuse to play baseball for the Orangemen, and after his sophomore year signed with the Pirates in 1988. Will played in short stints for the Bucs in 1992-94, getting into 40 games and batting .196. Afterward he played in the minors, in Taiwan & Mexico, and notably in the indie leagues, where he carved out a long local career before retiring after the 2006 season. He runs the Sweet Spot in his native New Jersey. 
• 1969 - Jim Bunning won his 200th game, scattering five hits and striking out eight in a 2-1 victory over Gaylord Perry and the Giants at Candlestick Park. It was a good day for the Bucs as they also took the twin bill's nightcap by a 6-2 score behind Bob Moose. Matty Alou was the catalyst in both games. He scored the winning run in the eighth inning of the opener, chased home by a Willie Stargell double, and had three hits, including a double and triple, while scoring twice in the nightcap. Carl Taylor added a two-run long fly and Bill Mazeroski poked a solo shot in the second game to give Moose breathing room. 
• 1975 - 1B Randall Simon was born in Willemstad, Curaçao. He played for six teams in eight big league seasons, including stops in Pittsburgh in 2003 and 2004. He hit .245 as a Bucco and received more acclaim for his sausage-swatting episode in Milwaukee than he did on the field. He played briefly for the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies after his Pirates days, finishing his career with stops in the minors, Mexico, Japan and the indie leagues. 
• 1979 - Due to fog, the Buc-Met match ended in a 3-3 tie after 11 innings and a 73-minute delay. The umps gave up when Bill Robinson lost a routine fly ball in the Shea Stadium mist. The runner ended up on third, Robinson chewed out second base umpire Billy Williams over the playing conditions, and the boys in blue called everyone in. After trying to outlast the mist unsuccessfully, the arbiters declared the game a tie (player stats counted) that was to be replayed in its entirety. 

Bill Robinson - 1979 photo/AP

• 1983 - In the third inning of an eventual 6-0 loss to the Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Pirates' starter Jim Bibby (4) and reliever Jim Winn (3) combined to walk seven consecutive batters to tie a major league mark set back in 1909 by Washington’s William Gray and establish the NL high water mark. The free passes all came after two were out and accounted for four of the Bravos’ six tallies, all chased home by bases-loaded free passes. 
• 1985 - Rick Rhoden won his 100th career game and SS Bill Almon hit his first grand slam while driving in five runs as the Pirates thumped the Braves, 8-2, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Rick tossed a seven-hitter with three whiffs, earning his fourth victory of the year and lowering his ERA to 3.12. As for the Pirates eighth hitter’s big day, Almon was probably due for a breakout match: Bill had entered the game with no homers and seven RBI in 108 bats. 
• 1985 - RHP Brad Lincoln was born in Lake Arthur, Texas. A first round (fourth overall - $2.75M bonus) draft pick of the Bucs in 2006 with Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum and Max Sherzer selected behind him, his career was detoured by TJ surgery in 2007. He came back to toss for the Pirates from 2010-12, slashing 7-9-1/4.62 for Pittsburgh in 51 outings before being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Travis Snider, both highly rated but underachieving prospects (he was also a 2006 #1 pick) in need of a change of scenery. It didn’t help Brad much, and in the next three years he made 48 appearances before his MLB career ended in 2014. He tried to come back with the Bucs and spent 2015 at Indy where he had pedestrian numbers and hasn’t tossed professionally since. 
• 1993 - Steve Cooke threw the first shutout of his big league career, only giving up four hits, in the Pirates 2-0 victory over the Florida Marlins at TRS. It was truly Cooke’s day as he also hit a two-run double, his first hit since August of ‘92, to provide his own victory margin. 
• 1993 - A bronze bust in memory of Carl Barger was unveiled at TRS’ Allegheny Club during Florida’s visit to the ‘Burgh. Barger helped keep the Pirates in Pittsburgh as John Galbreath’s attorney and served as Bucco prez from 1987-91, when he left to join long-time friend and Marlin owner Wayne Huizenga as their first president. Barger died of an aneurysm at the GM meetings in December. 

Kevin Young - 1997 Skybox Thunder

• 1997 - The Pirates used a five-run eighth inning to rally past the Montreal Expos, 8-6, at Olympic Stadium. The frame’s big blast was Kevin Young’s first career grand slam, and it gave Ricardo Rincon enough pad to survive giving two runs back to the Expos in their half. Marc Wilkins earned his fourth win on the season after tossing a scoreless inning of work and Salomon Torres earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth. Dale Sveum added a homer and three RBI to keep Pittsburgh in it until KY’s launch. Fun fact: As Young’s grand slam left the yard, announcer Greg Brown coined the call “It’s a freak show!” and that moniker became the team catchphrase as they overachieved in 1997, staying alive into September and finishing second to the ‘Stros in the Central Division with a 79-83 record. 
• 2003 - Aramis Ramirez drove in three runs and St. Louis committed a bases-loaded error which led to a four-run sixth inning and an 8-7 comeback win for Pittsburgh in front of nearly 26,000 at PNC Park. Jason Kendall appeared in the 1,000th game of his career and banged out a pair of hits. Kenny Lofton’s double in the seventh inning plated the game winner while extending his hitting streak to 23 games. Birthday boy Randall Simon had three hits, including two doubles, to help Brian Boehringer earn the win, saved by Mike Williams. 
• 2007 - The Pirates, mired in a hitting slump and losers of five straight games, used some small ball, soft raps and Cincy gifts to score eight runs in the 10th inning as they collected six hits and took advantage of a hit batter, walk and error to sent twelve players to the plate in a 10-4 victory over the Reds at Great American Ballpark. Ronny Paulino and Xavier Nady each had a pair of RBI in the extra frame, while Nady and Jay Bay added regulation homers. Jonah Bayliss, the fourth of five Pirates pitchers, picked up the win after facing two batters in the ninth.
• 2008 - The Bucs came from behind to take a 6-5 win from the Cubs at PNC Park, scoring with two outs in the ninth to knot the score when Nate McLouth’s two-bagger plated Brian Bixler, and then again in the 11th on Jason Bay’s two-out knock scoring Chris Gomez with the winner. To add insult to injury, the Cubs intentionally walked McLouth to get to Bay for a righty matchup. There were lots of hitting heroes - McLouth had three hits, Bay two, Luis Rivas homered twice, Adam LaRoche had two doubles, Jose Bautista added two more raps and Xavier Nady went deep, although with 11 stranded, the Pirates left a lot of ducks on the pond. Damaso Marte got the win; Frankie Osorio and Paul Maholm worked ahead of him. It was the Bucs second straight walk-off win against the Cubs; both times the Baby Bears were done in by Bay after a McLouth intentional walk. 

Nate McLouth - 2008 Topps E-Topps

• 2009 - The Pirates beat the Cubs, 10-8, at Wrigley Field. Freddy Sanchez went 6-for-6 with four runs, three RBI, a double and a homer to become the first Pirate in 19 years, since Wally Backman in 1990, to have six hits in a game. The Bucs had just finished an interleague set against the White Sox, and became the first team in major league history to play back-to-back series against the Cubs and White Sox in Chicago (they lost 2-of-3 to both clubs). 
• 2013 - The Bucs hit four homers, two by Pedro Alvarez, and Jeff Locke ran his scoreless streak to 14 frames in a 5-2 win at Milwaukee’s Miller Field. For Locke, it was his sixth start out of the last seven giving up three or fewer hits. The 25-year-old finished the first half of the campaign with a slash of 8-2/2.15, an opponent BA of .202 and earned his only All-Star appearance. 
• 2016 - David Freese’s two-run homer capped a four-run fifth inning and proved the game-winner as the Pirates squeaked past the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-4, at PNC Park, overcoming an early 3-0 deficit in front of 20,696 fans. Clint Hurdle earned his 475th win as manager of the Pirates, tying him with skipper (and Hall of Fame 3B) Pie Traynor for the sixth-most victories in franchise history. Gregory Polanco had three hits and Sean Rodriguez also homered for the Pirates, while Mark Melancon earned his 16th save to ice Jeff Locke’s win. 
• 2017 - The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame unveiled a statue of the 1955 National League Rookie of the Year, 1960 World Series Champion and West Plains native CF’er Bill Virdon on its Legends Walkway. The Springfield HoF statue was created by St. Louis artist Harry Weber, depicting Virdon as a Bucco making a catch of a Yogi Berra drive during the 1960 Fall Classic.