- 1885 - Pop Smith, slick fielding but weak hitting Alleghenys 2B, hit into a 4-3-2 triple play against Baltimore in the 11th at Oriole Park. It marked the beginning of an accursed stretch of baseball: Pittsburgh would go on to lose the game 11-10, beginning a drop that saw them fall from second to finishing 17-1/2 games back. losing ground every remaining month.
- 1904 - C John O’Connell was born in Verona. The Duquesne Duke’s MLB career lasted three games played in 1928-29; he doubled once in nine appearances with a walk. O’Connell was the first Red & Blue ballplayer to reach the big leagues since Johnny Miljus in 1915; the next Bluff product to appear in the show was pitcher Dick Ricketts in 1959 with the Cards. He also multi-tasked by playing pro hoops until he retired from roundball after the 1958 season.
- 1954 - It was a forgettable day for the Bucs, dropping a twin bill to the Cards at Busch Stadium by 5-0 and 5-3 scores. But it was a rags-to-riches tale for 1B Preston Ward. He wore the golden sombrero in the opener, K’ing four times while facing Harvey Haddix. He sat in the nightcap, but pinch hit in the eighth, and smacked a solo homer off Stu Miller. It would take 61 years for another Pirate to whiff in all four at-bats in the first game of a double header and then drill a homer in the second before Starling Marte turned the trick in 2014.
- 1968 - Pittsburgh won a wild one, 8-7, over the Giants at Candlestick Park. San Francisco scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth and loaded the bases with two down, but had used up their bench and had to send Ray Sadecki, a good hitting hurler, to the dish to bat for reliever Bill Henry. Roy Face took over and whiffed Sadecki to close out the victory. The play of the game was made in the sixth when Roberto Clemente took a home run away from Willie Mays, making a grab over the RF railing as he was crashing into the fence with two on and two out.
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| ElRoy Face - 1968 KDKA promo photo |
- 1972 - LHP Darrell May was born in San Bernardino, California. He spent seven seasons with six teams in MLB, getting a brief look in Pittsburgh in 1996, getting five outings (two starts) and going 0-1/9.35 as a 24-year-old. The Pirates had acquired him off waivers from the Braves; Pittsburgh released him in September and California claimed him. He pitched in the show and in Japan through 2005. He did some high school and college coaching and now runs DMay Baseball School and is in charge of player development for TWC Sports Management.
- 1975 - Al Oliver was the man of the hour with a grand slam and five RBI as the Pirates dispatched the Atlanta Braves, 10-3, at Atlanta Stadium. Richie Zisk also went deep, and Rook helped himself with a hit, two runs scored and an RBI. Rooker was the winner, but was pulled in the ninth (he gave up nine hits, walked five and told the media “I was terrible tonight...” But he was solid for the ‘75 Bucs, posting a 13-11/2.97 line at the season’s end.
- 1980 - It was Willie Stargell’s day as Pops went 4-for-4 with two homers, both off Joe Niekro, a double and all five RBI (he drove in Tim Foli three times) in a 5-3 Bucco victory against the Houston Astros at Three Rivers Stadium. Eddie Solomon got the win with Kent Tekulve finishing up.
- 1985 - The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority announced that it had a pair of groups ask about the availability of the Meadowlands should the Pirates relocate there, per the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. The Bucco FO denied the rumors, saying that they hadn’t talked to any potential Jersey buyers and had made remaining in Pittsburgh, at least during the TRS lease that ran through 2011, one of their sale conditions. But the storm clouds were gathering…
- 1988 - The Pirates shut out the Cubs, 8-0, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Bobby Bonilla homered and went 3-for-5 with three RBI while Barry Bonds went 2-for-4 with a dinger and scored three times. Bob Walk pitched a complete game for the win while dodging raindrops - he threw 121 pitches and gave up eight hits with four walks but left 12 Cubbies stranded on the bases.
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| Bonds/Bo - 1988 Topps Pirates Leaders |
- 1994 - The Bucs avoided becoming no-hit victims when Carlos Garcia singled off Expo pitcher Jeff Fassaro’s glove with two outs in the ninth. Fassaro, with his bubble burst, then served up a gopher ball to Jay Bell. Jay’s bomb was way too little and way too late to move the needle as Montreal won the contest running away, 10-2, at Stade Olympique.
- 1997 - Ex-Pirate Jeff King hit a two-run homer for Kansas City but was answered by ex-Royal Joe Randa with a tying homer, a triple and three RBI as Pittsburgh and KC squared off. Tony Womack smacked the winning homer in the sixth off Royals reliever Mike Williams, who joined the Buccos the next season, in a 5-3 Pittsburgh win at Three Rivers Stadium. It was the Pirates’ first interleague game and the concept was an early hit in Pittsburgh as 108,536 turned out for the three-game set. The mix of old mates came about after a December trade sent Jay Bell and King to the Royals for Jeff Granger, The Joker, and Jeff Wallace.
- 2000 - Pittsburgh scored three times in the ninth and once again in the 10th to rally for a 7-6 win over the Atlanta Braves at TRS, redeeming themselves a day after blowing a five-run lead against the Bravos. Bruce Aven drove in Kevin Young to cut the lead to 7-5 in the final frame, then with two down, pinch hitter Mike Benjamin doubled and Warren Morris singled them both home on an 0-2 pitch to knot the score. Wil Cordero did it the easy way in the 10th by launching a leadoff bomb off Don Wengert for the walk-off win, credited to Jose Silva.
- 2001 - The Pirates traded infielder Enrique Wilson to the Yankees for journeyman relief pitcher Damaso Marte. The Bucs would later trade Marte away, get him again and then flip the lefty back to the Bronx Bombers with Xavier Nady for Jose Tabata, Jeff Karstens, Ross Ohlendorf and Daniel McCutchen, with all the dealing coming in a three-year span. In all, Marte spent four workmanlike seasons with Pittsburgh, posting a line of 7-8-5/3.52 in 210 outings.
- 2005 - The Pirates signed their #1 draft pick, CF Andrew McCutchen (#11 overall) from Fort Meade HS, to a $1.9 M deal and he began his pro journey at Bradenton in the Rookie League. Cutch gave up a commitment to Florida to turn pro and debuted with the Bucs in 2009. He played nine years in Pittsburgh, batting .291 with 203 homers while winning an MVP (2013) and five All-Star berths, took a hiatus and returned home this season.
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| Jeanmar Gomez - 2014 photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty |
- 2014 - The Pirates blew a ninth-inning, 6-2, lead to Miami by allowing the Fish to tie the score on one hit; three relievers walked six batters in a Friday the 13th nightmare. But Jeanmar Gomez pitched four frames of shutout bonus ball - he and starter Jeff Locke tossed 12 innings, giving up just two runs without yielding a single walk - and Gregory Polanco’s first MLB homer won it in the 13th, 8-6, at Marlins Park. Polanco had quite a coming-out party; he became just the second post-1914 era rookie to have a five-hit contest during his first four games in the league, going 5-for-7. The top of the Pirate order (El Coffee, Starling Marte, who also homered, and Andrew McCutchen) went 11-for-21 with six runs scored and five RBI. The Pirates snapped a 13-game Friday the 13th losing streak in the 13th inning in their Twilight Zone victory. The Pirates eerily almost played out the same scenario the next day by giving up four ninth-inning runs, but hanging on for another 8-6 seat-of-the-pants victory.
- 2017 - Andrew McCutchen went deep twice as the Pirates won their fourth straight game, a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies, while playing in front of 16,764 rooters and the NHL champion Penguins, who brought the Stanley Cup along for a visit to PNC Park. Cutch hit his 10th and 11th homers of the year to become just the fourth Pirate in team history to hit at least 10 home runs in nine straight seasons (Wille Stargell - 18 consecutive years, Roberto Clemente - 13 years & Al Oliver, nine years). His three RBI helped carry Gerrit Cole to victory.
- 2019 - After bursting onto the scene by tossing 6-2/3 innings of perfect ball in his April of 2018 MLB debut while on his way to a 5-0, nine-K, win over the Cards, 26-year-old Nick Kingham was DFA’ed and sold to Toronto. Projected as a mid-rotation arm, the fourth round, 2010 pick from Sierra Vista HS in Vegas couldn’t replicate the magic, and finished the year at 5-7/5.21 in 18 outings (15 starts). Flipping between the pen and starting in 2019, his line was 1-1/9.87, and out of options, he was released in early June after spending a decade in the Pirates system. Nick has since tossed for Toronto and in Korea, Mexico and China before retiring in 2023.
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