7/20 From 1980: Mike Goes; Bam A-Ram, 9-Run Opener, Holy Hyzdu, Berra Bash, Game Tales; Wild ASG, Willie Stamp, Olympics; RIP John; HBD Duane & Anthony

• 1980 - After scoring four times in the first, the Pirates had to plate a pair in the bottom of the ninth to salvage an 8-7 split against the Dodgers at TRS. Lee Lacy was 5-for-5 and a homer away from the cycle, while Bill Robinson homered and Ed Ott had the walk-off, bases-loaded single to earn Grant Jackson the win. Pittsburgh lost the opener, 4-2, as LA’s Burt Hooton and Steve Howe kept the Bucco bats under control. The double dipper was a big to-do in other ways, too. It was Willie Stargell Day with a ceremony between games, and was also the game that Dave Parker, fresh off signing his $1M/year contract, had a Duracell battery tossed at him while in the outfield. 
• 1983 - Dale Berra did the heavy lifting by driving in five runs with a homer and single as the Bucs dropped the Dodgers, 7-3, at TRS. Rick Rhoden was tagged for 12 hits in eight innings but dodged most of the raindrops before Kent Tekulve took care of the ninth. With the victory, Pittsburgh moved into first place by .001 percentage points over the Cards but would finish the season six games behind the Phils, which lost the “I-95” World Series to the O’s in five games. 
• 1988 - 90-year-old John Galbreath passed away in Galloway, Ohio. He owned the Pirates from 1946-85, buying them from the Dreyfuss clan for $2.5M. Galbreath put a price tag of $35 million on the Pirates after the 1984 season, but accepted the $22M offer of a coalition put together by Mayor Richard Caliguiri so that the team remained in Pittsburgh. He made his fortune in construction & real estate, and was an avid racing fan, owning the Darby Dan stables which produced Triple Crown winner Chateaugay and Kentucky Derby champ Proud Clarion. 
• 1993 - Randy Tomlin outdueled old Bucco ace Doug Drabek as the Pirates squeaked by the Astros, 2-1, at TRS. Jeff King was the man of the hour. With two outs in the fourth, Al Martin blooped a double and King singled him home, then Jeff scored the insurance run when Don Slaught singled him home in the seventh. Tomlin gave up just four hits to earn the dub, with his only miscue a home run ball served to Jeff Bagwell in the ninth to add a bit of drama for the fans. 

Anthony Alford - 2022 Topps Heritage

• 1994 - OF Anthony Alford was born in Columbia, Mississippi. A college quarterback, he signed a deal after being drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays to allow him to play both sports (he quit football after the 2014 season). He was fairly highly rated by the prospect gurus, but proved to be inconsistent in limited MLB opportunities, with a pretty high K rate. He was waived and claimed by the Bucs, joining the club in September of 2020 with the team hoping to turn his potential into performance. He won the 2021 starting job in camp, holding off challenges by Brian Goodwin and Dustin Fowler. None of the trio lasted long; Goodwin was released in May and the other pair ended up at Indy in late April after failing Pirates job auditions. Alford went north with the team in 2022, was DFA’ed in late April, signed with Cleveland, jumped to the Korean League and is now in Mexico. 
• 1996 - In the opening game at the Olympics in Atlanta, the US team topped Nicaragua, 4-1, behind future Pirate pitcher Kris Benson’s seven-hitter. Benson was 2-1 during the games in three outings with 17 strikeouts in 17 IP as the United States won the bronze medal. 
• 1999 - RHP Duane Underwood Jr. was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was a second-round pick of the Cubs in 2012 out of high school. Duane debuted in 2018, but only got into 30 games in the next three seasons, slashing 1-1/5.20. Chicago traded him to the Bucs for Shendrik Apostel in March, 2021. The Pirates were intrigued enough to take a rider on him and DFA’ed another project, Carson Fulmer, to add Underwood to the MLB roster. He went 2-3/4.33 and earned a spot as a mid-inning guy for 2022. The results were pretty similar as he slashed 1-6-1/4.40 in 51 games, although he had a bit of bad luck as his FIP was a career-best 2.92. He got off to a rough start in 2023 (1-0-2/5.18 in 20 outings) and was sent down to Indy in late May. Duane was released after the season and is now toiling in the New York Yankee organization. 
• 2002 - OF Adam Hyzdu had a day to tell his grandkids about at PNC Park. He drove in seven runs on four hits, including a pair of HRs, in a 15-6 pasting of first-place St. Louis Cards. Hyzdu became the first Buc since Don Slaught nine years earlier to chase home seven runs, and the crowd of 35,101 called him out of the dugout. The performance came on top of a four-RBI game the day before. It was the Pirates eighth win in 10 games, attracting a walkup sale of 7,650 rooters (over 35,000 fans attended) to witness Kris Benson’s third straight victory. 

Adam Hyzdu - 2002 photo/Sports Memorabilia

• 2003 - The Mike Williams era ended in Pittsburgh when he was sent to the Phils for LHP Frank Brooks, who had a cup of coffee in the show. Williams, a righty closer, went from setting the Pirate saves record in 2002 with 46 closeouts and back-to-back All Star appearances to a guy with 25 saves but a 6.27 ERA in 2003, his last of a dozen MLB seasons. Williams saved 140 games in six seasons for Pittsburgh; he only posted four more saves in his six non-Pirates seasons. 
• 2004 - Montreal’s Livian Hernandez made one mistake, a first-inning change up to Rob Mackowiak, with Jason Kendall on first. Mack whacked the ball 430’ over the wall in right center at PNC Park, and that was the difference in a 2-1 Bucco win. Hernandez only gave up two more hits after that, but Sean Burnett danced through eight hits and three walks to hold the Expos to one run in seven frames, followed by Brian Meadows, Mike Gonzalez and Jose Mesa with the save. 
• 2009 - The Bucs finally broke a 17-game losing streak to the Milwaukee Brewers with an 8-5 victory at PNC Park. Cutch had three hits and Delwyn Young tacked on three RBI with a homer. Jesse Chavez had the fans sweating it out on the edge of their seats by giving up three runs in the ninth, but he struck out Prince Fielder to keep the final result in the win column. 
• 2010 - The Pirates scored nine runs in the first inning and hung on for an 11-9 victory over the Brewers at PNC Park. The scoring in the opening frame was highlighted by Pedro Alvarez’s first career grand slam, one of two Alvarez long balls smacked during the game. El Toro finished with five RBI and Neil Walker went 5-for-5 with a double against Milwaukee. They needed the quick start as the Brewers cut the lead to 10-9 by the sixth, but were blanked on two hits in the final three frames by Evan Meek, Joel Hanrahan and Octavio Dotel, who worked the ninth to pocket the save. 

• 2012 - The US Postal Service issued a set of four commemorative stamps depicting Willie Stargell along with Ted Williams, Larry Doby and Joe DiMaggio. The stars’ USPS release party was held in Cooperstown as part of the Hall's annual induction week-end celebration. 
• 2017 - The Pirates rallied to take a 4-2 win from the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park and sweep the four-game visit. For the Bucs, it was their 11th win in 13 games and 6-of-7 during a two-set homestand, pulling the club to .500 for the first time since mid-April and three games behind the front-running Brew Crew. Pittsburgh was adept at playing on-the-edge contests; all six of their victories on the Allegheny’s shore were after the foe had drawn first blood, with three being walk-off wins. Jameson Taillon was credited with the victory and Felipe Vazquez posted the save. Gregory Polanco homered while Chris Stewart went 3-for-3. 
• 2022 - The Frontier League Washington Wild Things hosted the league All-Star Game at Wild Things Park. The club, formed in 2002, featured a five-day program of events including celebrity softball, a concert and even a wrestling show to benefit various charities. The ASG players donned jerseys to represent Negro League teams from their area and fans got to bid on the jerseys through an auction for the Josh Gibson Foundation. The Frontier League is loosely affiliated with MLB as a Partner League to provide mutual marketing and promo opportunities.