- 1968 - 1B Ivan Cruz was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. He yo-yo’ed for four seasons in the show, getting 21 at-bats with the Bucs between 1999-2000 with a .238 BA while spending most of his time at AAA Nashville. After his Bucco days, he played a bit for the St. Louis Cardinals, continuing on in the Mexican and Japanese leagues until he retired at 35 after the 2003 season.
- 1973 - The Pirates trounced the San Francisco Giants, 14-5, at Candlestick Park. The G-Men were generous to a fault, allowing six unearned runs and missing a couple of other catchable balls. Al Oliver (who was 1-for-20 coming into the contest) had a day, homering twice and plating six runs while slowpoke Milt May added to the festivities with a three-run inside-the-park-homer. Nellie Briles staggered to a complete game victory even though he was touched up for 11 hits. The clubhouse was not all fun and games afterwards - manager Bill Virdon had a spat with Richie Hebner over dogging a play in the field that carried over into a post-game locked door discussion; when it was done, Virdon told the media he didn’t want to talk about it and The Gravedigger fired a stool at the wall after he left The Quail’s office. Gene Clines, the Pirates fourth outfielder, chimed in with a beef about lack of playing time (he played behind Oliver, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente and Richie Zisk during his Pirates tenure and saw roughly 300 AB/season). Dave Cash was also in a bit of a funk, but his blues tune was triggered by committing three errors at second during the day.
- 1985 - The Gunner, Bob Prince, returned to the booth after a 10-year absence following his dismissal by KDKA. Prince got a standing ovation from the crowd, and after he took over the mic in the fourth frame, the Pirates erupted for nine runs, earning him another O after the inning as the Bucs dropped LA, 16-2. It was a sadly short comeback as The Gunner died of cancer on June 10th.
- 1986 - A skunk wandered onto the field at San Diego in the seventh inning at Jack Murphy Stadium and held up the Padres-Pirates game for several minutes. It was thought that a family of polecats lived under the stadium, feeding on peanuts and other fan debris; apparently that was one rumor that proved true. It was the Bucs who stunk out the joint early on, but they scored three times in the eighth and added the game winner in the ninth to skunk the Padres, 7-6.
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| Cangy - 1988 Fleer |
- 1988 - The Bucs got bombed at Dodger Stadium, 14-6. The game started off well, with the Pirates putting up a three-spot in the first frame, but LA answered with four tallies in their half and it quickly went downhill from there as Pittsburgh committed four errors and gave up nine unearned runs. But the last two innings belonged to bench heroes John Cangelosi and Dave Hostletler. Cangy took the hill, becoming the first position player to pitch for the Bucs since Mario Mendoza in 1977, and Dave put on the tools of ignorance for the final two frames. They may have appeared to be an odd couple as a battery - both were making their debut at their new positions, and Hostetler (6’4”) towered over Cangelosi (5’7”), but it worked as John spun two scoreless innings, giving up one hit.
- 1990 - Bobby Bonilla was announced as the April National League Player of the Month. Bobby Bo hit .279 with seven homers, 21 RBI, 17 runs scored and 49 total bases, all but the BA leading the league for the opening month. It was back-to-back for honors Bo, who also won the September 1989 honor to go along with two other PoM awards that he earned in 1988.
- 1991 - The Pirates defeated the Astros, 1-0, in a one hour, 45 minute contest at TRS, the NL's shortest nine inning game since 1981. Zane Smith threw a complete game four-hitter while Pete Harnisch went the distance, giving up only two knocks, the crucial bop being Orlando Merced’s first MLB homer in the third inning. Zane put down 12-of-13 Astros he faced from the sixth inning on while tossing 92 pitches; Harnisch threw 89 pitches and retired the final 17 Buccos.
- 1991 - Pittsburgh traded 1B Carmelo Martinez to Kansas City for RHP Victor Cole. Jim Leyland platooned Orlando Merced and Gary Redus at first, making Martinez a third wheel. Carmelo, 30, finished his MLB career as a Red, which picked him up in July from KC. He hit .234 for the three teams combined in his last MLB hurrah and then played in Japan, Mexico and the minors through 1995. Cole, 23, got into eight games for the Buccaneers in 1992 in his only big league stint and spent the rest of his pro career with five organizations in the minors and a season in Taiwan.
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| Victor Cole - 1992 Coleman |
- 1995 - OF Austin Meadows was born in Grayson, Georgia. He was selected in the first round (ninth overall) by the Pirates in 2013, foregoing Clemson for a $3,029,600 signing bonus. He bubbled among the Top 100 Prospects, but had several injuries that delayed his journey to the majors. He got his call in May of 2018 when Starling Marte was placed on the DL and was then shipped to Tampa Bay later in the year as part of the Chris Archer deal. He blossomed into an All-Star in 2019 with 33 homers at age 24, but had trouble replicating the following campaign. He moved on to the Detroit Tigers in '22, then spent most of the '23 season on the IL while battling anxiety. He's now a free agent.
- 1998 - Turner Ward literally crashed through the right field wall at Three Rivers Stadium while running down Mike Piazza’s long fly in a 10-5 loss to the Dodgers. And yes, he hung onto the ball in a play that is still considered one of the great all-time MLB catches and an ESPN go-to clip, though he had to leave the game with bruises and some fiberglass splinters. The kid was a gamer; he crashed through the wall while LA was ahead, 9-0. Oddly enough, he was the second player to flatten the wall on this day. Dodger backup outfielder Trenidad Hubbard was shagging flies before the game, backed up to the wall to snag one, and the fence gave in, leaving him flat on his back.
- 1999 - The Bucs scored four times in the ninth on homers by Warren Morris & Brian Giles, polished off by a two-out, walkoff single by Brant Brown to stun the Giants, 9-8, at TRS. Giles had three hits and five RBI while Jason Kendall went 5-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Rich Loiselle went three innings for the win after Marc Wilkins put up a pair of goose eggs in relief of Chris Peters.
- 2012 - The Pirates set a club mark by striking out 17 batters in nine innings during their 6-3 win over the Cards at Busch Stadium. Erik Bedard did the heavy lifting, whiffing 11 in five frames and setting a franchise record with seven consecutive K’s. Four Pirate relievers added six more sit downs in the final four innings, with Jason Grilli and Joel Hanrahan each notching a pair of punch outs.
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| Erik Bedard - 2012 Topps Update |
- 2014 - Despite making four errors and falling behind, 5-0, the Pirates scored six times against the Toronto Blue Jays in the seventh and eighth innings to come all the way back for an 8-6 victory at PNC Park. Jordy Mercer’s double on an 0-2 pitch tied the game with two outs in the seventh inning and Neil Walker’s two-bagger off the top of the center field wall in the eighth frame chased home the game winners. Mark Melancon picked up the save of Bryan Morris’ win.
- 2015 - The Bucs ended one of the most frustrating series in their history by losing their third straight extra-inning, walkoff contest to the Cardinals by a 3-2 score following a pair of 2-1 losses. The Bucs had the lead in the 12th thanks to Pedro Alvarez’s homer, but Radhames Liz gave up a tally in the St. Louis half and then a homer to Kolten Wong in the 14th to absorb the defeat. The Pirates scored just four runs in 35 innings against the Redbirds, stranding 37 runners while going 2-for-25 with RISP. The Cardinals swept a three-game series with all the victories coming in extra innings for the first time in franchise history and became the first team to do that deed since June of 1925, when the Cincinnati Reds broomed the Boston Braves thrice in overtime.
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