- 1901 - The Pirate faithful saved the day for the Bucs in a 4-0 win at Exposition Park over Christy Mathewson and the NY Giants. Thunderstorms were predicted for the area, and by the start of the fifth a deluge began, with the Giants pleading for a rain-out. But umpire Hank O’Day followed a league directive that games not be called until the fans in the uncovered parts of the park deserted their seats, as the NL figured if the paying customers could brave the elements, so could the players. He pointed to the mass of Pirate rooters packing the bleachers (they drew 7,000, a huge showing, for the highly anticipated Matty/Schoolmaster Sam Leever match, of which 4,000 seats were in the open) and said play on - and no stalling shenanigans either, he warned. The G-Men went down in order, and with the game safely in hand the soggy crowd headed for shelter as the game was called, ending in the Buccos favor. Wee Tommy Leach had three RBIs and scored the other run while Leever gave up two hits in his short outing.
- 1903 - Deacon Phillippe tossed his third straight whitewash, a three-hitter, to defeat Brooklyn, 9-0, at Exposition Park for the Pirates ninth consecutive win. The Pittsburgh Press wrote “Deacon Phillippe was the artist and he has never been in finer form.” Phillippe posted 2.43 ERA and won 25 games that season, but only ended up with one more shutout. Eddie Phelps spanked three hits and Claude Ritchey added a pair against the Superbas.
- 1909 - Player/Manager Fred Clarke banged out five hits to lead the Pirates to an 8-1 win over the Brooklyn Superbas at Forbes Field for Pittsburgh’s 11th straight victory. Clarke had a double, triple, a pair of stolen bases and three runs scored. Lefty Leifield claimed the win.
- 1913 - Len Levy was born in Squirrel Hill. The Allderdice grad did about everything you could do for the Pirates without playing. He was a batboy, a Forbes Field ticket-taker, a minor league player, bullpen catcher, PR man, scout and coach in both the Pirates system and for the big league Bucs; he’s the guy that you saw in the first base box as Maz galloped by after his Series-winning homer in 1960. Older yinzers will remember him from his later days when he ran an Oakland car lot, Forbes Field Auto, that was popular with the players. After he retired, he was inducted into the W PA Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Len died at age 79 in 1993.
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| Len Levy - 1973 TCMA ('60 Pirates) |
- 1918 - Pittsburgh’s Roy Sanders and Boston's Bunny Hearn battled for each other for 16 innings before the Bucs won, 3-2, on a bases-loaded squeeze play by Howdy Caton. Sanders allowed just one hit over the last eight innings at Braves Field after Boston had taken an early 2-0 lead in the second, tossing 14 consecutive goose eggs. The Braves had plenty of chances early on, with 11 hits but they stranded 13 runners during the contest.
- 1925 - Emil Yde did it all. The multi-tasking lefty scattered nine hits and went 3-for-4 with a double and triple, three runs and three RBI to carry the Pirates to an 11-3 win over the Boston Braves at Forbes Field. He did have some help with the lumber - Johnny Rawlings had three hits while Max Carey, Kiki Cuyler and Johnny Gooch each collected a pair of knocks.
- 1927 - The Brooklyn Robins crashed Big Poison’s party to take an 11-10 win at Forbes Field by scoring four runs in the ninth. Waner had just been married the day before, and the Pirates held a “Paul Waner Day'' for him, where he was gifted with a car and then celebrated with three hits. He was joined in the hit parade by LF Clyde Barnhart, who also collected three knocks to run his multi-hit streak to 10 games. That string was snapped the next day when he could only manage a double against Brooklyn in another run-and-gun 11-10 loss.
- 1929 - OF/3B Frank Thomas was born in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. The local kid spent half of his 16 year career as a Pirate (1951-58) before being traded to the Reds, starting an eight-team journey during the second half of his MLB days. His Bucco line was .275/.363/.562 and he was a three time All-Star. Frank was as noted for his contract fights as he was for his 286 career homers. When he retired, he settled in Ross Township with his wife Dolores and eight kids, participating in old-timer games and fantasy camps. He passed away in 2023 at the age of 93.
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| Frank Thomas - 1958 Press/Berger |
- 1933 - The Bucs had lost 8-of-11 and that trend looked like it would go on as they went into the ninth at Sportsman Park down, 7-1, to St. Louis. But the Pirates were game to the finish, sending 14 batters to the plate (10 of the first 11 batters reached), resulting in seven hits, three walks, and three gifts: an error, a passed ball, and a wild pitch. When the smoke cleared, they had tallied 10 times, with Little Poison Waner driving in four runs on two singles and the final three runs charged to reliever Dizzy Dean; all unearned, as the Cards fell, 11-7. The Redbirds were equally frustrated in the second game of the twin bill - they collected eight hits off Larry French, but stranded 11 runners as they were dropped, 3-0. Tony Piet scored twice. The sweep tightened up a National League horse race as just 1-1/2 games separated the New York Giants, St. Louis Cards and Pittsburgh.
- 1938 - Bill Swift went the distance in a 4-3 win over the Phillies at Forbes Field. Not only did he go wire-to-wire to claim the win, he provided the muscle behind the victory when he bopped a two-out, three-run homer in the second, sending a curve ball over the wall in left center. It was his third and final MLB long fly - though a hurler, he posted a .227 BA for the Bucs over eight seasons to go with his 91-79-18/3.57 slash line from the bump.
- 1948 - Dave Cash was born in Utica, New York. Drafted in 1966, he played his first five seasons in Pittsburgh (1969-73) and replaced Bill Mazeroski at second base in 1970; he in turn was bumped off the position by Rennie Stennett. Cash hit .285 as a Bucco and was in the league for a dozen campaigns, having three All-Star seasons with Philly. Dave coached/managed for the Oriole organization and is now retired and living in Tampa. Dave Parker said that Cash had a locker room nickname, explaining that “...he was so cool, we nicknamed him ‘A.C.’”
- 1958 - Birthday boy Frank Thomas hit two homers, one a grand slam, and drove in seven runs as the Pirates pounded the Giants, 14-6, at Seals Stadium. Bill Mazeroski also went long and had three hits with three runs chased home; Roberto Clemente and Bill Virdon added three raps as the Pirates rolled up 18 hits. Vern Law got the win with ElRoy Face finishing up.
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| Dick Stuart - 1962 Topps |
- 1962 - Dick Stuart hit two homers with five RBI (he actually drove in all six runs; one scored on a DP ball) to lead the Bucs to a 6-1 victory at Wrigley Field against the Cubs and Don Cardwell. Big Stu knew it was his day from the start - his first homer was a 250’ flare that hopped into the Chicago bullpen (then on the field in foul territory) and lodged under a bench; Billy Williams couldn’t find it until Stuart, with Bill Virdon ahead of him, crossed the plate. Cardwell said afterwards that he was hoping one of the boys in the pen would have casually dropped a warm up ball for Williams to play, but alas, no Chi-town improvisers thought that fast. It was Stuart’s first inside-the-park circuit; he would repeat the deed one more time in his career. Stu’s second dinger was a legit three-run bomb to left in the sixth. Joe Gibbon went seven frames for the win.
- 1964 - Pirates owner John Galbreath came out in support of unifying the leagues under one roof and run by the MLB commissioner while eliminating separate league control of umpire crews, PR, legal, and other administrative functions. It took awhile, but in 2000, the National League and American League merged into a single entity known as Major League Baseball. The most obvious result to the fans was the umpiring consolidation, but as we’ve seen over the intervening years, the business clout of a single entity has proven to be potent.
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