- 1960 - Things looked bleak after six innings for the Bucs at Wrigley Field with the score 7-2, Cubbies. But the Buccos put up a five spot in the seventh (Roberto Clemente’s two-run homer was the big blow) to tie it and Bill Virdon won the game with a two-out, two-on triple in the ninth as the Pirates rallied for a 9-7 win over the Cubs. The real heroes were pitchers Jim Umbricht, Fred Green and ElRoy Face who combined to hold Chicago to one run on four hits over the final seven frames.
- 1965 - Roberto Clemente made the front page of the Post Gazette when he told the beat gang “I wouldn’t care if they traded me. I’m unhappy here...because the team is going badly (they were 7-13) and I seem to be getting blamed for it because I’m not hitting.” The trigger for the outburst was being held out of the lineup for a game at Chicago by manager Harry Walker. Clemente had a bout of malaria in the off season and lost 20 pounds, and The Hat decided a respite would help him, with the down time giving Roberto three straight rest days because of a break in the schedule. Clemente thought he was being benched. The pair got together the next day and cleared the air during a breakfast meeting, and the time off seemed to help. Clemente was hitting .264 at the time, but after a slow week or two, he regained his strength and was batting over .300 by the end of the month, finishing the campaign with a .329 BA, tops in the league.
- 1968 - Thanks to a three-run eighth inning, the Pirates defeated the Phils, 5-2, at Connie Mack Stadium behind Luke Walker, Dave Wickersham (the winner), and Bob Moose, backed by a 12-hit attack that saw every position player except for Donn Clendenon collect a hit. Jerry May led the offense with two hits and two RBI; Roberto Clemente, Maury Wills and Manny Mota also added a pair of knocks. The game ended an unusual losing streak - Pittsburgh had dropped its first six televised games of the campaign before finally winning a broadcast contest.
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| Jerry May - 1968 Topps |
- 1972 - Dock Ellis, Rennie Stennett and Willie Stargell missed the team bus to Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. They arrived late and separate from the rest of the team, so the gate security guard asked for identification. None of the trio had any on them, but they all had their World Series rings engraved with their names and tried to use that as ID. When the guard refused to accept that as legit, Dock verbally abused the officer (“I gave him a thousand bleep-bleeps” he told the Pittsburgh Press), had a gun pulled on him (quickly holstered) to quiet him down and then was maced when the guard claimed Ellis cocked his fist at him. The guard also alleged that Ellis was drunk and had a bottle of wine with him; Dock denied that charge. They all eventually got into the clubhouse, though Dock was later hauled in front of Cincinnati Municipal Court for disturbing the peace (the charges were later dropped). GM Joe Brown said the players didn’t have team ID with them because the club had never issued any, not seeing a need for them. Needless to say, Pittsburgh quickly issued photo identification cards to all the players. To make it a perfect day, the Pirates lost the game to Cincy, 5-4, for their eighth defeat in the past 10 outings.
- 1973 - The Pittsburgh Press floated trade rumors with San Diego, who dangled C Pat Corrales and then P Steve Arlin for OF Gene Clines, but that balloon proved leaden. Corrales called it a career after hitting .208 while Arlin lasted until ‘74, posting to a 5.51 ERA while Gene hit .263 in 107 games. He remained a Buc through 1974 (he remained open to being traded as he was buried on the bench) before he was swapped to the Mets in the off season for C Duffy Dyer.
- 1985 - The Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2, at TRS by using their eyes more than their bats as Joe Orsulak and Johnny Ray drew bases-loaded walks off Tom Niedenfuer in the eighth inning to plate the tying and winning runs. Bill Madlock went 3-for-3 with a walk while Bill Almon and Orsulak had a pair of raps. Rick Rhoden got the win over Jerry Reuss after allowing two runs in eight innings with John Candelaria pitching a clean ninth for his fifth save.
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| Bill Madlock - 1985 Topps |
- 1987 - Behind the long ball, the Bucs defeated the Padres, 10-8, at Jack Murphy Stadium. The four-baggers were smacked by the usual suspects, Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke & RJ Reynolds, with the surprising addition of Rafael Belliard, who banged his first career shot. Rafe had two hits and three RBI, and wouldn’t hit his second and final MLB home run until a decade later in 1997.
- 1988 - 3B Bobby Bonilla was named the National League Player of the Month after batting .341 with seven long balls and 18 RBI as the Buccos went 16-6 during April. He was the first Pirate to take home the award in two years, since Johnny Ray in April of 1986. It was Bobby Bo’s breakout year, and he made his first All-Star team with a batting line of .274 BA/24 HR/100 RBI.
- 1994 - RHP Beau Sulser was born in Escondido, California. Beau was drafted by the Bucs in 2017 from Dartmouth in the 10th round. He got the call to the show in April, 2022, and made four appearances (0-0/3.72) before being DFA’ed and claimed by Baltimore. After six outings there, he went to Korea (1-7/5.62) in 2023, was released in mid-season and re-signed with the Pirates. He declared for free agency at the end of the year and hasn’t found any takers this season.
- 1998 - Feliz Cinco de Mayo! The Pirates defeated St. Louis, 5-2, at Three Rivers Stadium as Francisco Cordova became the first Mexican born Pirate pitcher to start a game on Cinco de Mayo for the Bucs since Vicente Padilla (who didn’t factor in the decision that day) in 1992. Francisco got the win and his Veracruz amigo Ricardo Rincón picked up a hold over the Cards. Jermaine Allensworth had a pair of hits and two RBI to go with Jose Guillen’s homer.
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| Francisco Cordova - 1998 Finest |
- 2003 - Matt Stairs homered off Houston’s Wade Miller, launching a blast that was estimated to travel 461’ to become the longest ball hit in the history of Minute Maid Park. It was Pittsburgh’s only bright spot as the ‘Stros mauled Kris Benson on the way to an 8-1 victory. Miller carried a perfect game into the sixth until it was broken up and tossed an eight inning three-hitter for the win.
- 2019 - Jordan Lyles and Oakland’s Frankie Montas hooked up in a great pitching duel at PNC Park. The Bucs scored in the second inning by manufacturing a run off a Josh Bell two-bagger, ground out, and Colin Moran sac fly. The Pirates missed a sixth-inning golden opportunity, blowing a first-and-third, no-out set up before the A’s then tied it in the seventh with two outs when the eight hitter doubled and former Bucco farmhand Robby Grossman singled him home. Each team’s bullpen kept the zeroes coming through the 12th inning without any major uprisings. Tyler Lyons, in the second inning of his Pittsburgh debut, walked the first two batters in the 13th; they both scored and he avoided more damage when a bases loaded, one-out shot up the middle deflected off him to Jung Ho Kang, who stepped on third and threw to first for an inning-ending DP. Fernando Rodney got the first out, then sandwiched a walk between two singles, making it 3-2 with Bucs on the corners. His next pitch was hammered by Starling Marte into the left-center field bullpen, and the Bucs walked off with a 5-3 win in a game that morphed from a pitcher’s delight to a slugfest in the blink of an eye. It was Starling’s fifth walk-off long ball, one shy of the franchise mark.
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