7/21 Through 1984: Flash HoF; Willie's Last Whack, Lynch In A Pinch, Game Tales; Hot Spell, Cobra Cover, All-Timers, Roberto - 18 In A Row, Waner 22 - Gamer; HBD Kimera, Dick & Cy

• 1877 - LHP Irv “Young Cy” Young was born in Columbia Falls, Maine. Irv worked on the railroad and played amateur ball; he didn’t join a pro team until he was 27 and was good enough to be in the majors the following year. He was a star pitcher for a terrible team, the Boston Beaneaters, and the Pirates had interest in him even then; they offered to buy him in September of his 1905 rookie campaign for $7,500 but were turned down. They persisted and finally in 1908 he was traded to the Pirates for pitchers Tom McCarthy and Harley Young. In 16 games for the Bucs, Young was 4-3-1/2.01. Sadly for Irv, the 1909 Bucs were loaded with pitchers - their top six starters were Vic Willis, Howie Camnitz, Nick Maddux, Lefty Leifield, Babe Adams & Deacon Phillippe - and despite Irv’s strong showing, he was on the outside looking in. Young Cy returned with the White Sox in 1910 and pitched well, but after the following season, his age 34 campaign, he was done. Something Out Of Nothing: in 1905, Irv went 20-21 for the Boston Beaneaters to become one of two pitchers (Ned Garver of the 1951 St. Louis Browns was the other at 20-12) in the post–1900 era to win 20 games for a team that lost 100 games (the Hub’s record was 51-103), and the lefty also posted the most wins earned by a pitcher with an overall losing record. 
• 1927 - IF Dick Smith was born in Blandburg, Cambria County. The Bucs signed him out of Lock Haven, and from 1951-55 he yo-yoed back and forth between Pittsburgh and the minors. In 70 games over that span, he hit .134, never reaching the Mendoza Line in any of his five campaigns. But he was a decent minor league hitter, and his pro career spanned from 1949-60 with the last seven years spent mainly in the Pacific Coast League before he retired at age 32. 
• 1932 - The Pirates tied the Cubs in the seventh frame on a Dave Barbee triple and Gus Suhr sac fly, then with the bases empty and two outs in the ninth inning, rallied for a 3-2 win at Forbes Field. Pie Traynor singled to keep the contest alive and then came all the way around when Lloyd Waner, who had entered the game in the eighth inning, doubled on the next pitch to plate Pie with the game winner. Ray Kremer tossed a complete game seven-hitter, retiring the last eight hitters, for the win. Little Poison’s walkoff knock kept alive his 22-game hitting streak, with Lloyd posting hits in 31-of-32 contests. 

Lloyd Waner - Helmar Big League Brew

• 1942 - At Forbes Field, in front of 11,500 fans in a game under the new Forbes Field lights, KC Monarchs (and ex-Pittsburgh Crawfords) pitcher Satchel Paige intentionally walked Howard Easterling with Grays on first and second and set up a battle with Homestead’s Josh Gibson. Years earlier, Paige had told Gibson that one day he would strike him out with the bases loaded, and the showman decided now was that time. Well, he didn't fan him (Josh did K tweice), but Satch did coax a soft fly to left with the same result. Still, the Grays rallied from a 4-0 deficit, tying the game with a four-spot in the eighth and won, 5-4, in 11 innings. Paige got his revenge when he later won three Negro League World Series games against Homestead to lead KC to the title. 
• 1947 - Frankie “The Fordham Flash” Frisch was enshrined in the Hall of Fame. He never played for the Bucs but managed the club from 1940-46. His teams were usually competitive (539-528/.505) but never serious contenders, and Frankie's years of steering the Pirates were remembered more for his colorful on-field antics than claiming clutch victories. 
• 1950 - 19-year-old Bob Friend, who had been signed out of Purdue as a freshman and was working his first minor league campaign at Class B Waco, tossed a no-hitter against Wichita Falls, fanning eight and walking a pair, to win his 12th game as a pro. After the game, the youngster was promoted to Indianapolis, the Bucs top farm club, and made his debut in 1951 with the big club. 
• 1956 - All-Star RHP Brooks Lawrence took his 13-game winning streak into the ninth with a 3-1 lead over the Bucs, but his string was snapped by Roberto Clemente, who hit a three-run homer as the Pirates edged the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3, at Crosley Field. Lawrence gave up just six hits, but three of them were bunched up in the ninth. The first run was chased home by Frank Thomas, who had two hits. Winner Elroy Face tossed two scoreless innings in relief of Bob Friend. 

Jim Marshall - photo via Sports Memorabilia

• 1962 - Jim Marshall came off the bench in the 11th frame and delivered a bases-loaded single to vault the Pirates past his former club, the San Francisco Giants, by a 7-6 score at Forbes Field. Don Hoak led the attack with three hits, including a triple, and three RBI. Roberto Clemente ran his hitting streak to 18 games with two raps before the Giants shut him down the next day. Neither starter got through the third inning as Al McBean and San Fran’s Digger O’Dell were chased early. The teams combined to use nine pitchers, with ElRoy Face beating Don Larsen. 
• 1963 - Pinch hitter Jerry Lynch drilled a three-run home run off Chicago's Lindy McDaniel in the ninth inning to tie the Cubs, 5-5, at Forbes Field. Lynch’s homer was his 14th career round-tripper off the bench, tying the MLB mark set by former Cincinnati teammate, George Crowe (He became the then-leader in August. Lynch swatted 18 pinch hit homers in his career; Matt Stairs holds the current record with 23). The Bucs eventually won the contest in 14 innings, 6-5, on Bill Virdon’s two-out infield single to salvage a doubleheader split with the nightcap victory. In the lidlifter, the Pirates stranded nine runners and went 0-for-8 w/RISP during the game, dropping a 5-1 decision. Roberto Clemente hit into a 3-6 triple play in the second frame, lining out to first baseman Merritt Ranew, who stepped on first to force Manny Mota and then threw to second to retire Ducky Schofield, giving an early indication of what kind of day was on tap for the Bucs. 
• 1969 - The Baseball Writers Association selected an All-Time team that included old Pirates Hans Wagner and Pie Traynor. Local legend Stan Musial from Donora was chosen as a member of the All-Time Living Players team. The writers also voted on the ultimate All-Timers: Joe DiMaggio was selected as the greatest living player and Babe Ruth named as the greatest of all time. 
• 1972 - Coach Kimera Bartee was born in Omaha. After a six-year pro career as an outfielder, mostly with Detroit, Bartee was hired as the Bucs’ roving minor league outfield & baserunning coordinator in 2008 with a 2011 stint as short-season State College’s skipper. In the 2016 offseason, he was promoted to the Pirates as the outfield/baserunning coach and later became the Tigers first base coach. Kimera passed away young, at age 49, from a brain tumor. 

imera Bartee - 2018 photo/Pirates

• 1979 - Dave Parker was a cover boy of The Sporting News in the magazine’s All-Star issue along with George Brett, Fred Lynn & Pete Rose. The Cobra made TSN look prophetic as he showcased his powerful arm by throwing out Jim Rice at third base and Brian Downing at home while adding an RBI on a sac fly. Parker was named the game's MVP for his efforts. 
• 1982 - Willie Stargell hit his final bomb, his club record 475th home run, against the Reds’ Tom Hume, an eighth-inning, game-winning, pinch-hit solo shot in a 3-2 victory at Riverfront Stadium. Larry McWilliams claimed the win, backed by a two-inning save by Kent Tekulve. 
• 1983 - The Pirates walked off with a 5-4 decision over the Los Angeles Dodgers at TRS for their 10th win in 11 games, the opening shot of a 20-of-25 July winning streak that would carry them from fifth place on July 10th to first. (They finished with 84 wins, good for second, six games behind the Phils.) The City of Angels raced out to a 4-1 lead behind Fernando Valenzuela, but the Pirates chipped away with single runs in the seventh and the eighth to trim the gap to one. The Bucs had a runner on first in the ninth, thanks to a Dodger boot, with two down when Bill Madlock singled and Jason Thompson drew a walk off of Steve Howe to jam the sacks. Jim Morrison smacked one foul into the second level as a teaser, then became the hero in fact when his rap into left chased home two runs to give Kent Tekulve, the Pirates fourth pitcher, the victory.