- 1885 - In perhaps the earliest “knot hole” day promotion in the City, William Nimick, part-owner and president of the Alleghenys, announced in the Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph that all Saturday games at Recreation Park (nee Union Park) in Northside would feature dime admissions for children. The yard was the Alleghenys home until 1891, when the team moved to Expo Park. The concept was carried over to Forbes Field games. (S/O to @19thCenturyBucs).
- 1894 - SS James Howard “Howdy” Caton was born in nearby Zanesville, Ohio. He spent his four year MLB career (1917-20) with Pittsburgh, hitting .226 as a reserve infielder. Howdy never did hit a homer, but he did leg out 16 triples. After his Bucco tenure, he played for local teams in the Midwest League including his hometown Zanesville Greys squad for several years and had a day job as a city worker for Zanesville. Howdy also answered to the nickname Buster.
- 1910 - Chief Wilson had three hits, including two triples, and the Bucs scored three times in the eighth off Christy Mathewson to sweep a four game set from the NY Giants at Forbes Field by a 6-3 score. With two outs in the eighth frame, Fred Clarke and Honus Wagner banged back-to-back doubles for the lead. The insurance markers came on a John Flynn RBI knock followed by Bill McKechnie’s drive that glanced off a glove to score Flynn. Deacon Phillippe got the win.
- 1918 - The Bucs sent reserve 3B Gus Getz to Indianapolis of the American Association for minor-league vet SS Roy Allam. It ended up a minor deal. For the Pittsburgh-born Getz, it was the end of his seven-year MLB career. Ellam auditioned for the shortstop spot but hit just .130 in 26 games, and the stint was the last of his brief big league career (he played 10 games for the Reds).
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| Earl Hamilton - photo March, 1920 Press |
- 1920 - Lefty Earl Hamilton pitched 16 shutout innings before running out of gas and losing, 7-0, to the New York Giants. NY’s Rube Benton went the distance for the win at Forbes Field, tossing a seven hitter. The game featured outstanding defense, with the Pittsburgh Press citing “remarkable work in the field” and “fielding thrills” provided by both nines. It spotlighted Pirates birthday boy SS Howdy Caton’s lunging grab behind second and spin-a-rama toss to first to retire Frankie Frisch as “the greatest play witnessed on the local lot in several years.”
- 1950 - The Bucs scored three times in the eighth and once in the ninth inning to edge the Boston Braves, 6-5, at Forbes Field. Ted Beard (whose ball hit the right field roof and bounced over it, making him the first batter since Babe Ruth in 1935 and just the second in Forbes Field's 41-year history to clear the stadium's 89-foot-high roof), homered. Then Gus Bell went long after Ralph Kiner was intentionally walked with two down in the eighth to tie it. Earl Turner cracked another two-out dinger in the final frame to win it for Hank Borowy. Pittsburgh dropped the opener of the twin bill, 9-5. MLB set a record of 37 HR launched on this day; the Bucs contributed five long balls to the cause - Bell (2), Beard, Turner and Danny O’Connell’s blast in the first game.
- 1953 - Pittsburgh’s happy feet and a day by Carlos Bernier snapped the Pirates 10-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Milwaukee Braves at Forbes Field. In the fourth, the Bucs set up shop when Eddie O’Brien and Danny O’Connell inadvertently ran a double steal. Caught off base after a missed bunt, O’Brien redeemed himself by dancing into third after the Braves tried to pick him off at second, with O’Donnell steaming into second during the festivities. Bernier singled them both home and went to third on Paul Smith’s knock. Smith stole second without a throw, and then Carlos stole home, drawing a wild throw to the plate during his dash that allowed Smith to come around, too. Bernier later tripled and scored to help Bob Friend to a complete game victory.
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| Carlos Bernier - 1953 Topps |
- 1960 - The Bucs jumped ahead of the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0, in the first inning, but found themselves down 5-2 going into the seventh at Forbes Field. Maz’s homer made it 5-3 and Don Hoak’s two-out, bases-loaded single an inning later tied it. The Pirates came all the way back when Dick Stuart drilled a pinch-hit, walk-off homer over the left field fence with an out in the ninth for a 6-5 victory, batting for reliever Earl Francis, who worked two scoreless frames for the win.
- 1969 - Willie Stargell cannon-balled a pitch 495’ into the municipal swimming pool behind Jarry Park Stadium in the eighth inning as the Bucs beat the Expos, 8-7. The Pirates scored three times in the eighth and three more times in the ninth to claim the win. Roberto Clemente had a two-run, two-out single in the final frame, followed by the eventual game-winning knock, a Richie Hebner single that scored Stargell. Chuck Hartenstein got the save, even though he gave up a ninth-inning homer (the Expos hit four long balls), to close the victory for Joe Gibbon. It was a win, but not one of the team’s finer outings - they committed three errors, hit into four double plays and lost a run when Manny Sanguillen left third base too soon on a tag. Fun fact: The Expos later presented Willie with a life preserver to commemorate “all the swimmers he chased out of the pool” (christened as “La Piscine de Willie” - Willie’s Pool) with his Jarry Park blasts.
- 1969 - Pirates scout Dick Coury signed 22-year-old RHP Kent Tekulve as an undrafted free agent out of Marietta College. The contract was offered following a tryout at Forbes Field, where Tekulve didn’t pitch during the audition but in a private bullpen session after the main event, per Bob Hurte of SABR, and then was sent to Geneva farm club. Teke was a late bloomer, not cracking the Bucco roster until 1974, but made up for lost time - he tossed for a dozen years for the Pirates, making 722 appearances with a 2.68 ERA, 70 wins and 158 saves as a rubber-armed reliever. He put together a 16-year MLB career with 1,050 outings and a line of 94-90-184/2.85, working 90+ games three times and once pitching nine straight games before hangin’ up the mitt at age 42. Telulve then worked for the Wild Things, as a Bucco scout, and finally a broadcaster before having a heart transplant in 2014 and retiring in 2017. He joined the Pirates Hall of Fame in 2023.
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| Press 7/16/1970 |
- 1970 - The first game at Three Rivers Stadium, located near old Exposition Park, the home of the Pirates from 1891-1909, was played. The Dukes of Dixieland played, Billy Eckstine sang the National Anthem, and Pie Traynor tossed out the first pitch. Cincinnati’s Tony Perez hit the park's first home run as the Bucs lost to the Reds, 3-2. Richie Hebner scored the first run in the stadium’s history when Al Oliver doubled him home in the first inning to chase in the yard’s first RBI; Pops hit the first Bucco homer and was rewarded for the baseball baptism with a $1,000 prize by a local retailer. Dock Ellis started and took the loss. The Pirates rocked their new uniforms of stretch cotton and nylon (they were the first MLB team to sport knit outfits) in front of 48,846 fans.
- 1971 - Bob Robertson became the first player to blast a shot into the upper left field deck of Three Rivers Stadium when he connected off of San Diego’s Steve Arlin in the seventh with the eventual game winner in a 2-1 Pirate victory. Al Oliver added three hits, Richie Hebner singled home a two-out run and Bob Johnson went the distance while tossing a six-hitter for the win.
- 1972 - Reliever Dave Guisti had a day every reliever dreams of as he got a win and save in a twin bill against the Astros at TRS in front of 49,341 fans. Guisti worked 2-1/3 IP, giving up two hits and fanning a pair in twin 3-2 Bucco wins. His victory came in the 10th inning after Bob Moose started the opener and he got the last out of the nightcap to save Bruce Kison’s win.
- 1978 - The Bucs swept the Phillies by 3-2 and 10-6 scores in a Three Rivers Stadium twinbill, but the big news was that Dave Parker was back. The Cobra missed 15 games with a broken cheek suffered in a collision at home, but sporting a variety of masks (a goalie mask at bat and football face bar attachment for his helmet in the field), he returned to action. The Cobra drew an intentional walk in the 10th inning of the opener, setting up Bill Robinson’s game-winning knock, and his triple in the seventh frame of the nightcap tied the score and triggered an eventual five-run outburst to break the game open. Parker went on to take the NL MVP title, but the team was a couple of bricks shy, finishing second with 88 wins, 1-1/2 games behind Philly.
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| Cobra - 7/18/1978 |
- 1985 - The Senior Circuit took a 6-1 decision from the Americans at the Metrodome in the All-Star game. For the second season, C Tony Pena was the only Buc on the team, and he struck out against Dan Petry. There was a local connection: Ex-Buc Dave Parker won the first Home Run Derby. The honorary captains were players from the 1965 All-Star game, recognizing the first ASG held in Minnesota, with hometown hero Harmon Killebrew, who homered in the ‘65 Classic and Sandy Koufax, 1965’s winning pitcher, on tap.
- 1991 - UT Ildemaro Vargas was born in Caripito, Venezuela. 2020-21 was a busy time for the five-year D-Back reserve; he went from Arizona to Minnesota to the Cubs to Pittsburgh (seven games/.133 BA) and then back to Arizona within a 10-month period. The Pirates picked him up after injuries thinned the roster in May of 2021, sold him to Arizona in June when the wounded began to return, then he went to the Cubs and is now with the Washington Nationals.
- 1992 - Doug Drabek scattered four hits, and supported by a pair of two-out RBI hits - a homer by Andy Van Slyke and a single by Alex Cole - led the squad to victory as the Bucs defeated the Chicago Cubs, 2-1, at Three Rivers Stadium. The win kept the Pittsburgh lead over the Baby Bruins and Cards at six games in the NL Eastern Division as play resumed after the All Star break.
- 1999 - The middle men of the Pirate order - Brian Giles, Kevin Young and Ed Sprague - each banged a homer and together drove in a total of eight runs while scoring seven times in an 11-3 win against the Cleveland Indians at TRS in front of 43,519 mixed-crowd rooters. The Bucs ran away and hid from the Tribe early; they were up by a 10-0 count after four frames. Francisco Cordova got the win, lasting into the sixth before three relievers carried the game home.
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| Brian Giles - 2002 Donruss |
- 2002 - Brian Giles and Jack Wilson drove in all seven runs in a 7-3 Bucco win against the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Giles produced a homer and sac fly while Wilson collected three hits, including a triple, as the Pirates’ Josh Fogg outlasted Houston’s Roy Oswalt for the dub.
- 2005 - Behind Zach Duke, the Bucs shut out the Chicago Cubs and Greg Maddux, 3-0, at Wrigley Field. The Zachster gave up eight hits, but the Buc defense turned four DPs on his behalf. Duke even helped himself with a sac fly to chase home his first MLB RBI, with the other runs scoring on a Jason Bay homer and a double by Matt Lawton, both coming with two outs. Duke finished July en fuego with a 3-0/0.87 slash and was named the NL Rookie of the Month.
- 2013 - OF Andrew McCutchen, 3B Pedro Alvarez, and pitchers Jason Grilli, Mark Melancon and Jeff Locke were named to the All-Star game. It was a homecoming of sorts for Alvarez, as the game was played in Citi Field near his Manhattan home of Washington Heights, and he also participated in the home run derby. Petey didn’t make it past the first round, but his six homers were the most ever hit by a Bucco in that event until Josh Bell’s 18 in 2019. The Americans took the ASG match, 3-0, as El Toro went 0-for-1 and Cutch 0-for-2 while Grilli tossed a scoreless inning of relief. Melancon didn’t get in the game, and Locke was on ice, nursing a back injury. It was the first time since 1972 that the Pittsburgh Pirates had five players selected for the game
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