8/27: '13 Cavalry, Petey's Contract; Dock's Day, Tiny's Last W, Gems, Maxie Wheels, Game Tales, Sauer Goes, SI Pops, 7 Straight, NL-ASG; HBD Nick, Jordy, Mikes, Cholly, Eddie & David

• 1875 - RHP David Wright was born in Dennison, Ohio. He had a slim MLB resume, working one game for the Bucs in 1895 and giving up six runs in two innings featuring a pair of wild pitches, then tossing a barely more successful outing for the Chicago Colts two years later. 
• 1887 - The Alleghenys gave up the most runs in club history when they were bombed by the Boston Beaneaters 28-14 at North Side's Recreation Park. It was the sixth season of the franchise and its first in the NL, with the Alleghenys finishing sixth with a record of 55–69. 
• 1894 - IF Eddie Mulligan was born in St. Louis. Mulligan had a long minor league career with short MLB interludes. He made his big league debut with the 1915-16 Chicago Cubs, then returned to the minors. In 1921, he joined the Chicago White Sox after the Black Sox scandal and after two seasons there, he went back to the minors with the San Francisco Seals. Five years later in 1928, Mulligan spent his final season in the majors as a utility infielder for the Pirates, batting .233. Eddie returned to the Pacific Coast League for another decade. Overall, he spent 17 years in the PCL for eight teams, banging out 2,574 hits. He was elected to the PCL Hall of Fame and was later recognized when honored with the King of Baseball award given by Minor League Baseball. 
• 1903 - IF Charlie “Cholly” Engel was born in New York City. Cholly had a couple of cups of coffee in the show, then got his only real taste of the bigs with Pittsburgh in 1930 when he got into 67 games, playing 2B, SS & 3B while hitting .264. Cholly played in the minors for eight years after that, then managed on the farm through the 1950 season. Engle went on to run a bar/restaurant in San Antonio for 25 years after his baseball days. 
• 1917 - In the fourth inning in New York at the Polo Grounds, Max Carey beat out a bunt and moved to second on a single by Tony Boeckel. Both runners stole on the next pitch from Rube Benton and when Boekel and the Giants 2B Buck Herzog got jumbled up at second, Carey steamed home before they could untangle themselves. Wilbur Cooper made that one run stand up to top Benton and the G-Men, 1-0. It was Carey’s 13th swipe of home; he would set the National League standard of 33 steals of home during his career. The loss didn’t slow down the Gotham nine, which won the NL title with 98 victories. The Pirates went the opposite way, winning just 51 times and finishing in the cellar. 

Vic Aldridge - 1925 Mears/TSN

• 1925 - The Bucs tossed their second straight shutout against Boston at Braves Field, winning 1-0. The Pirates Vic Aldridge and Boston’s Larry Benton traded four-hitters; Pie Traynor drove in Eddie Moore with the game’s only run with a bases-loaded walk. Aldridge won 15 games during the season with two dubs in the World Series, topping Stan Coveleski both times. The day before, Lee Meadows threw a nine-hit, 2-0, whitewash of the Braves, and did it without striking out a soul. 
• 1936 - The Pirates beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 6-3, at Forbes Field. The highlight came after the game, when losing pitcher Van Lingle Mungo, in a snit because of the four errors the Dodgers made that led to four unearned runs, left the team and returned to Brooklyn (he got over it and tossed through 1941 for the Dodgers). The righty would later become famous for another 15 minutes when the 1969 song "Van Lingle Mungo" by Dave Frishberg hit the charts. 
• 1939 - Game Two of the Negro League East-West All-Star game was held at Yankee Stadium. The East won, 10-2, behind Homestead Gray C Josh Gibson’s four RBI. Teammate Buck Leonard also started. Held in addition to the All Star Game played in Chicago each year, the second ASG gave fans an added opportunity to eyeball the action in the pre-TV days. 
• 1948 - The Philadelphia Phillies lost on a walk-off homer by Bucco pitcher Kirby Higbe. Kirby went long in the ninth frame at Forbes Field to give himself and the club a 4-3 win after working a scoreless inning of relief. It was the last of three career homers for Higbe. 
• 1949 - Pitcher Ernie “Tiny” Bonham won his last MLB start by an 8-2 count over Philadelphia. The ten year vet had complained of stomach problems, and died September 15th at the age of 36 after surgery performed the week before at Presbyterian Hospital uncovered intestinal cancer. His wife Ruth was the first baseball widow to collect a death benefit under the new player pension plan, receiving $90 a month for the next 10 years. 

Mike Edwards - 1977 Topps

• 1952 - IF Mike Edwards was born in Fort Lewis, Washington. Mike was drafted four times, finally signing with the Bucs in 1974 as a seventh-round selection from UCLA. He got his first taste of the bigs with Pittsburgh briefly in 1977 before he was shipped to the Oakland A’s as part of the Manny Sanguillen trade. He had a good year in ‘78, but 1980 would be his last MLB campaign. Edwards closed out his career in 1984, playing in Mexico and Japan. 
• 1961 - RHP Mike Maddux (Greg’s older bro) was born in Dayton, Ohio. Maddux had a 15-year, eight team MLB stay and spent a few weeks with the Bucs in 1995, getting in eight games and going 1-0/9.00. He was released in May and signed with the Red Sox. He retired in 2000 and has since coached in the Astros’ system and on the big league level with the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals; he’s now back with Texas.
• 1963 - The Pirates topped the Mets, 2-1, as Bob Friend went wire-to-wire with a seven-hitter while fanning six Mets, besting Grover Powell and Galen Cisco at Forbes Field. NY had a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth when Manny Mota’s little league homer walked off the game. With Ducky Schofield aboard after a one-out walk, Mota singled. The ball scooted past center fielder Duke Carmel, allowing Ducky to score. The ball was run down by right fielder and former Bucco Joe Christopher, who airmailed his peg over the plate. Mota sailed home for the win as Cisco, backing up the play, slipped while chasing down the wayward toss and his throw home was a step late. Ironically, Christopher was a late-inning defensive sub for Duke Snider. 
• 1965 - The Bucs scored six times in the ninth at Forbes Field to take the Astros into extra frames, eventually winning their seventh game in a row in 11 innings, 10-9. Andre Rodger’s one-out knock was the game-winning blow; Harry Walker sent him up to pinch hit for Willie Stargell against lefty Danny Coombs. Al McBean, the Pirates sixth pitcher, was credited with the victory and also crossed the plate with the winning run. Roberto Clemente threw out a runner going from first to third the hard way. The Pirates ran a wheel play with runners on first and second, and Bob Lillis rolled the ball through the vacant infield. Bill Mazeroski described what followed to Les Biederman of the Pittsburgh Press "Roberto raced in from right field, dove for the ball, and with his face in the dirt threw out the (back) runner going to third base!" Walker doubled the emotion, telling Biederman that “Clemente made the doggondest (sic) play I ever saw.” It kept the ‘Stros from running away with the game; Houston banged out just two more hits after his play. 

Arriba - 2012 Gypsy Queen

• 1974 - Dock Ellis went gate-to-gate pitching and swung a mean stick, going 1-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored, in Pittsburgh’s 13-2 win over San Francisco at Candlestick Park. The Giants scored two runs in the first inning before the Bucs put the game away with nine runs (on three hits - the rest of the Bucco runners were aboard via five free passes, two HBP and a pair of boots; Giant hurler Ed Halicki walked two guys with the bases loaded) in the third. Al Oliver went 3-for-5 with five RBI and Ed Kirkpatrick added three knocks and two walks, plating three times. Richie Hebner had three RBI without a hit, walking twice with the bases packed and lifting a sac fly. The Bucs had 12 hits (10 were singles) but were helped greatly by 13 gift runners. 
• 1979 - Willie Stargell shared the cover of Sports Illustrated with a gang of grizzled all-stars for the feature “Golden Oldies.” Pops was 39 but still hit .281 with 32 long balls. He won the NLCS & World Series MVP awards, was co-winner of the MVP award with St. Louis' Keith Hernandez and shared SI's "Sportsmen of the Year" award with the Steelers’ Terry Bradshaw. 
• 1983 - Lee Tunnell and Ken Dayley tossed five-hitters at TRS with the Bucs coming out on top, 2-0, behind a two-run blast by Bill Madlock in the third inning. Both hurlers were in complete command. Tunnell, who went the distance, faced down his only real threat to his first MLB whitewash in the second when he left the bases loaded with an out by whiffing the pitcher and coaxing a Brett Butler bouncer to escape. Lee Lacy had two hits for Pittsburgh and scored ahead of Mad Dog’s dinger. The two teams were leading their divisions at game time but both finished the race in second place, behind the Phils and Dodgers. 
• 1986 - SS Jordy Mercer was born in Seiling, Oklahoma. He was a third-round draft choice in 2008, and the Oklahoma State product also played for Team USA. Mercer rode the pine in 2012, saw more playing time in 2013 and won the starting job the next season. He was a dependable if not particularly rangy fielder with a slow-starting bat (he usually ended the year hitting .255-.260) and occasional pop. Jordy signed with Detroit in 2018, moved to the Yankees briefly and later joined the Nats. He retired after the 2021 campaign after a decade spent in MLB. 

Jordy Mercer - 2018 AT&T SportsNet

• 1990 - RHP Nick Tropeano was born in West Islip, New York. He was a fifth-round draft pick of the Astros in 2011 out of SUNY-Stony Brook and debuted in 2012 with Houston. He was sent to LA in 2014 and tossed for parts of four seasons with the Halos with a line of 11-11/4.51 in 38 outings, then had TJ surgery in 2017. Nick signed with the New York Yankees in 2020, was released in early August and claimed by Pittsburgh, getting a call up on August 23rd and tossing four shutout innings in his Bucco debut. He became a FA after the season and joined the Mets system. He then tossed for four more organizations and last pitched in Mexico in 2023 before being released in July. Nick’s now pitching affiliated ball for Long island of the Atlantic League. 
• 1996 - Pittsburgh Pirates president Mark Sauer, eased out of running day-to-day operations following Kevin McClatchy’s takeover in February, resigned. His five-year tenure saw the sell-off of the Pirates star players, the manager’s departure, a strike and the team sale. Under McClatchy’s group, Sauer became the team’s point man with the City. McClatchy took over Sauer’s duties.
• 2008 - Pedro Alvarez was placed on the restricted list after the MLBPA filed a grievance against MLB over draft picks being signed minutes after the August 15th deadline (Petey had made a verbal agreement). On September 22nd, Álvarez and the Bucs settled on a four-year major league deal worth $6.4M that resolved the complaint to the satisfaction of all parties. 
• 2009 - The first and last Bucco hits left the yard, and that was enough for a 3-2 win against the Phils and future Bucco JA Happ at PNC Park. Cutch opened the game with a long ball, and Garrett Jones ended it with a two-run, game-winning shot in the eighth. Denny Bautista got the win against Philadelphia in relief of Charlie Morton, with Matt Capps earning a save. 

Marlon Byrd - 2013 photo Mike McGinnis/Getty

• 2013 - Looking to strengthen the roster down the stretch, the Pirates pulled off a waiver deal with the NY Mets for vets OF Marlon Byrd, C John Buck and $250K for minor league IF Dilson Herrera and a player to be named later (RHP Victor Black). The deal was triggered by Starling Marte’s hand injury, which kept him out of action for three weeks (he returned September 9th) Byrd (.318, three HR, 17 RBI in 30 games) helped the Bucs to a wildcard spot (he last played in 2016 for Cleveland prior to receiving a second PED suspension) while Buck hit well in Pittsburgh (.333 in nine games) before retiring after the 2014 campaign. Dilson has bounced around (he’s playing in Mexico now) and Black, after a good showing with the Mets in 2013-14, has been injury-bitten and ended his career playing indie ball. He’s now a farm coach for the Pirates.