7/9 From 1985: Cutch, Big Daddy AS, Dovy, Paul Sign; Cervy, Bell, Jack Grannies, Bay Day, Game Tales; '23 Draft; Sausage Slam, ASGs; RIP Bill

• 1987 - RHP Rick Reuschel (7-4/2.32), the National League’s ERA leader, was selected as the Pirates sole rep in the All-Star contest by manager Davey Johnson. It was Reuschel’s second ASG, and he was called on to work 1-1/3 innings, giving up a hit and picking up a whiff. 
• 1991 - The AL took home a 4-2 win from the Nationals in the All-Star game played at the Skydome. Bobby Bonilla started at DH and went 2-for-4 with an RBI while pitcher John Smiley faced one batter, Joe Carter, who singled off him. 
• 1993 - Two Pirates pitchers were let go, and for John Candelaria, it was the end of his MLB road. He was a Bucco for 11 years, then went on an eight-year, seven-team odyssey before returning to Pittsburgh as a 39-year-old. The Candy Man slashed 0-3-1/8.24 in 24 relief outings and was waived. Wakefield was on the opposite end of his journey. The knuckleballer was sent to AA Carolina (the team wanted Spin Williams, the Mudcats pitching coach, to tinker under Tim’s hood) and would get a final look as a Buc in September, ending 1993 with a line of 6-11/5.61. The converted infielder was released by Pittsburgh in April of 1995 after spending all of 1994 with the AAA Buffalo Bisons (5-15/5.84) and was signed a few days later by the Boston Red Sox. Wakefield kicked off a 17-year, 3,000+ IP, 186-win run in Beantown. To replace them, starter Randy Tomlin was recalled from the DL and reliever Tony Menendez was promoted from AAA Buffalo. 
• 1996 - The National League shut down the American League nine, 6-0, at Veterans Stadium to claim the ASG victory. C Jason Kendall was the Pirates All-Star and came in to catch the ninth. 

Mike Williams - 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man

• 2002 - This was the day of the infamous Nationals-Americans tied 7-7 All-Star game, when Commissioner Bud Selig and the managers, Joe Torre & Bob Brenly, threw in their towels after burning through the pitchers and accepting an 11-inning draw at Miller Park despite the crowd’s howls of “let them play.” MLB decided the following year to award the World Series home field advantage to the winning league, partially to assure the fans that games would be played to a conclusion and partially to provide an impetus for a game effort by the players. That format survived through 2016. The Buccos’ only ASG rep, reliever Mike Williams, worked the third inning cleanly, striking out a pair. 
• 2003 - Inexplicably during a 2-1 Pirate loss, 1B Randall Simon swatted a racing sausage with his bat from the dugout at Miller Park in Milwaukee as it waltzed around the stadium, causing a collision that left the mascots looking like a heaping plate of schnitzel. Simon was questioned by police and later fined $432.10 for disorderly conduct, stupidity not being a crime. Additionally, MLB suspended him for three games and fined him $2,000 while the Bucs traded him away a few weeks later. He issued an apology and gave an autographed bat to Mandy Block, the college student stuffed into the sausage costume. She ended up with a scraped knee, but it ended well for her. Mandy received a free trip to Curaçao, (Simon's home island) for two from the Curaçao Tourism Board. When Simon returned to Miller Park later that season as a Chicago Cub, he purchased Italian Sausages as munchies for an entire section, and during the wurst race, his teammates playfully held him back until all the sausages had safely raced past the dugout. 
• 2003 - The Pirates signed LHP Paul Maholm, their first-round pick and the eighth overall selection in the draft from Mississippi State to a contract with a $2.2M bonus. He worked from 2005-11 for the Bucs, making 185 starts and posting a 53-73/4.36 slash. He won 77 games for four teams with a 4.30 ERA during his career, which ended after the 2014 season. 
• 2004 - Jason Bay went 4-for-5 with two homers, a double, four RBI and four runs scored as the Pirates blanked the Expos, 11-0, in San Juan’s Estadio Hiram Bithorn, the Expos’ part-time home until their migration to Washington. Sean Burnett scattered 10 hits for a complete game shutout (his only MLB CG and zippo as he went to the pen the next season) in front of 8,780 fans. 

Jack Wilson - 2005 Fleer Ultra

• 22005 - Sparked by Jack Wilson’s first career grand slam, the Bucs broke open a tight game against the New York Mets with a seven-run seventh inning to take an 11-4 win at PNC Park in front of a Saturday night sellout crowd of 36,708. Dave Williams got the win with the finishing touches applied by Ian Snell and Soloman Torres. The two teams played in throwback Negro League uniforms, donning the colors of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and New York Cubans. 
• 2009 - Joel Hanrahan won his first game of the year while sitting in a hotel room in Philadelphia. He was credited with the dub when Washington won a game suspended on May 5th by defeating the Houston Astros, 11-10. Hanrahan, later traded to Pittsburgh, was the pitcher of record when the game was postponed. The winning Nat run was scored by Nyjer Morgan, who was one of the players that the Pirates sent to Washington as part of the Hanny deal. 
• 2009 - RHP Dovydas Neverauskas was signed by the Bucs and international scout Tom Randolph as a 16-year-old. On April 24th, 2017, he became the first Lithuanian-born player to appear in a MLB game. In four years with the Bucs, he slashed 1-4/6.81, was DFA’ed after the 2020 campaign and is now pitching indie ball. At least three other Lithuanians have played in the show - Joe Zapustas, who was born in Latvia and raised in Boston, reached the majors in 1933 for two games, pitcher Joe Krakauskas (1937-42, 1946) was born in Quebec and 1B Eddie Waitkus (1941, 1946–1955) was the child of immigrant parents. 
• 2011 - Andrew McCutchen, passed over in the ASG voting, was named as a first-time NL All-Star, replacing the injured Ryan Braun. The Pirates announced the honor on the PNC Park jumbotron during the fourth inning, drawing an ovation and a curtain call from the crowd of 39,235. Unfortunately, he suffered through an 0-fer night as the Bucs fell to the Cubs, 6-3. 
• 2016 - Former Pirates public relations director Bill Guilfoile passed away at the age of 84. Starting with the Yankees in 1960, Guilfoile worked for the Pirates from 1970-78 before leaving for greener pastures as the head of the National Baseball Hall of Fame's PR office from 1979 to 1996. Bill was part of many memorable moments, from the World Series to the 1961 Mantle/Maris home run chase, Roberto Clemente’s 3,000th hit and the Hall of Fame’s 50th anniversary. 

Josh Bell - 2016 Topps Now

• 2016 - The Pirates pounded out four homers as they took a 12-6 decision from the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. Pinch hitter Josh Bell, in his second MLB at-bat, crushed a hung change over the right field stands and into the Allegheny River for a grand slam as his first MLB long ball while Andrew McCutchen, Sean Rodriguez and Jordy Mercer also left the yard. Starter Chad Kuhl only lasted 2-1/3 frames for Pittsburgh and reliever Juan Nicasio was also bumped around (Chi-town starter Jon Lester was also hit hard, managing just three frames before being chased), but game winner Arquimedes Caminero and Jared Hughes with the save combined for 4-2/3 shutout innings to close the book. During a miserable June stretch, the Pirates had fallen 15-1/2 games behind the Cubs; this win cut the lead to 6-1/2 with Pittsburgh on a roll of winning 12-of-15 games. 
• 2017 - The Pirates ruined Jon Lester’s day by scoring 10 runs in the first inning off the lefty on the way to a 14-3 victory at Wrigley. The Bucco vibe was shaky before the game when scheduled starter Jameson Taillon was scratched a half-hour before first pitch with the flu, but the bats, sparked by Fran Cervelli’s two-out grand slam, were hale and hearty. Cervy's five RBI tied his career-best for a single game. Every Pirates starter reached base safely and scored and/or drove in runs as Pittsburgh collected 14 hits, seven walks and a pair of plunks to go with two Cubbie errors. AJ Schugel, the third of four Pirates pitchers, got the win. Game notes: The last time the Pirates had a 10-spot in an inning was against the Rox in 2007 during an 11-4 win. The last time they plated 10 in the first frame was in 1989 against the Phils; that's the game that Jim Rooker said he'd walk home if they lost. They did, so Rook took a charity walk between Pittsburgh and Philly after the season. The contest topped the Bucs' previous first-inning mark against the Cubs of nine runs in 1975, when Rennie Stennett collected seven hits during a 22-0 romp. Over 12 years and 334 starts, this was the first time Jon Lester didn't make it through the first inning. He was just the fourth pitcher in the last 100 years to allow 10+ runs and not make it out of the first inning. 
• 2019 - The American League hung on to take a 4-3 victory over the Nationals in the All-Star game at Progressive Field. The Pirates reps were 1B Josh Bell and LHP Felipe Vazquez. J-Bell started at DH and went 1-for-2 with an infield single; he was in the Home Run Derby the night before, losing his first-round match to Ronald Acuna, 24-18, in a slugfest. The NL was never ahead in the Midsummer Classic, and closer Vasquez wasn’t called on from the pen. 
• 2021 - The Bucs went through a long rain delay and a 10-run New York inning while being shellacked, 13-2, by the Mets at Citi Field, but there were a couple of bright rays poking through the gloom. Altoona injury call up Rodolfo Castro, 22, became just the second Bucco to bang a pinch-hit homer for his first MLB hit, joining Craig Wilson, who was the first to do the deed in 2001. Newly acquired John Nogowski, who was hitting .096 when the Pirates purchased his contract, tied a franchise record first set in 1913 with his 10th hit in his first four games with the team as the fresh blood provided a couple of positive short-term sidebars to an otherwise dismal game story. 

Rudy Castro - 2022 Panini

• 2023 - The Pirates selected LSU RHP Paul Skenes (12-2/1.69 with 209 strikeouts in 122 2/3 IP) with the first pick in the MLB amateur draft. He was an enlightened pick and an All-Star starter the following year. Next, they selected SS Mitch Jebb from Michigan State in the second round (#42 overall). He hit .337 with 14 steals for the Spartans. In the Competitive Balance B Round (#67), they picked RHP Zander Mueth from Belleville East (IL) High. A Mississippi commit who hit the mid-90s, the 6'6" Mueth opted to go pro. The Pirates chose Oregon State 1B Garret Forrester (3rd round - #97). The 21-year-old hit 10 HRs/12 2Bs/w 52 RBIs in 61 games. The bonus deals for the first five rounds: Skenes signed for $9,200,000, which breaks the 2020 MLB draft bonus record of $8,416,300 of the Tigers' Spencer Torkelson, but is still under the slot value $9,721,000; Mueth signed for $1.8M (slot value $1,128,200), and Forrester signed for $775K (slot value $990,300). They followed with RHP Carlson Reed (4th round - #104), West Virginia’s closer with a line of 2-1-7/2.61 with 60 strikeouts in 38 innings who signed for $646,900 and RHP Patrick Reilly of Vandy, (5th round - #140), who signed for $455,600. All were inked without drama. 
• 2023 - The Bucs had a good day on the field before the draft began, whipping the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-2, as Ji Man Choi, a couple of days removed from a 60-day IL stint and rehab assignment, homered, doubled and drove in two runs. In a bullpen game going into the All-Star break (seven different Pirates hurlers gave up just four hits), Carmen Mlodzinski made his first MLB start, Osvaldo Bido won his first big league game and David Bednar posted his 17th save.