- 1866 - OF Eddie Burke was born in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Eddie played eight years in the show, spending 1890 as an outfielder for the Alleghenys where he hit .210 in 31 games. Burke last played in the majors in 1897 for the Reds and then soldiered on through the 1901 campaign in the minor leagues. He passed away at the age of 41 in 1907 in Utica, NY.
- 1893 - OF Pat Duncan was born in Coalton, Ohio. He started his seven-year big league career with the Pirates in 1915, going 1-for-5. By 1920, after time in the bushes and the Army, he had matured into a starting outfielder for the Reds, playing for them until 1924. A strong hitter, his main claim to fame was being the first MLB player to hit a homer to clear the 12’ fence at his home yard, Cincinnati’s Redland Field (later Crosley Field). After his playing days, Duncan worked for the Ohio Highway Department and was a regular at Reds old-timer affairs.
- 1903 - A crowd of 7,500 filled Exposition Park as the Pirates defeated the Boston Americans, 5-4, in the first World Series game ever played in Pittsburgh, delayed a day by rainy weather. Boston even brought 200 fans, who sat in their own section and included a brass band that played between innings. Deacon Phillippe was the winner for the third time, pitching on two days' rest. It almost caught up to him as the Americans scored three times in the ninth until Phillippe finally got pinch hitter Jack O’Brien to pop out. Wee Tommy Leach knocked in three runs while Honus Wagner and Ginger Beaumont each collected three hits. Sadly, it would be the last game they’d win in this Series. The clubs socialized when they weren’t playing - both squads and the newspaper crowd went to the Grand Opera House that evening to see the Victor Hugo play “Notre Dame” and had a reception with the cast afterwards. The night before, both teams braved the rain to attend Frank Keenan’s 15-act vaudeville show at the Duquesne Theater.
- 1908 - C Tom Padden was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. A part-time catcher for Pittsburgh, he appeared in 399 games from 1932-37 and compiled a .272 BA. He might be best known for coin rather than horsehide flinging. On February 26th, 1936, surrounded by a large crowd, he tossed a silver dollar about 475 feet over the Merrimack River and into a snow pile. He pulled the stunt to copy pitcher Walter “Big Train” Johnson, who did it a few days earlier across the Rappahannock to emulate the legendary feat of George Washington. Tom retired to Manchester, where he coached local baseball and basketball teams before passing away in 1973 at age 64.
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| Tom Padden - 1936 Exhibits Wide Pen |
- 1912 - Owen “Chief” Wilson hit his 36th triple of the season, establishing a MLB record. Wilson tried to stretch the triple into an inside-the-park home run, but was thrown out at the plate in a 16-6 Pirates win against Cincinnati at Redland Field. He wasn’t a gap guy but a banger. As noted in SABR’s Mark Armour bio of Wilson “Spacious Forbes Field may have been the best park ever for triples, and the Pirates led the NL in that category 30 of the 62 seasons they played there. Wilson did hit 24 of his 36 triples at home, but it is likely that many of these triples would have been home runs at other parks.” Sporting Life pointed out that "Few of the smashes have struck in front of fielders. They have all been over the heads or between the fields, all juicy jams."
- 1927 - The Yankees’ George Pipgras quieted the Buc bats at Forbes Field as New York took a 2-0 lead in the World Series. Vic Aldridge was hooked up in a 3-2 game in the eighth when three singles, two walks (to #8 hitter Benny Bengough and then to Pipgras), a HBP and wild pitch gifted the Bronx Bombers three runs and ;lots of late breathing room on their way to a 6-2 victory. Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner scored both Buc runs, plated by brother Paul and Clyde Barnhart.
- 1929 - In the season finale, second place Pittsburgh beat league-leaders Chicago by an 8-3 tally at Wrigley Field. The Bucs collected 12 hits, led by Lloyd Waner’s 3-for-3 day, while Larry French earned the victory. The Pirates, with 88 wins, still finished 10-1/2 games behind the Cubs, but set the MLB record by banging out double-digit hits in 102 games during the season.
- 1946 - OF Gene Clines was born in San Pablo, California. A speedy center fielder with a good glove, he was a platoon outfielder for the Bucs from 1970-74, putting up a .287 BA as a contact hitter. He played for the 1971 World Series champs and the division winning teams of 1972 and 1974. Clines had a long career coaching and is a front office exec in the Dodger organization.
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| Jeff Zaske - 1984 photo George Gojkovich/Getty |
- 1960 - RHP Jeff Zaske was born in Seattle. Jeff was a 27th round pick of the Pirates in the 1978 draft out of high school, and made just three big league outings, pitching five shutout innings for the Bucs in 1984. He was noted for a 1980 incident when as a 19-year-old in camp, bored teammates egged him on to pitch Bill Madlock tight. He did, nicking him in the arm and earning a punch in the puss from a sore Mad Dog (who later apologized). Zaske spent most of his time as a AAA pitcher for four organizations, spending a decade on the farm, with six of those campaigns at the top level until leaving the game after the 1988 campaign.
- 1960 - The Yankees roared back from their opening defeat to win, 16-3, and knot the World Series at a game apiece. Mickey Mantle put on a show with a pair of blasts, one measured at 478’ that was thought to be the first homer that a right-handed batter hit out of Forbes Field to the oppo side of dead center. The Mick had five RBI and three runs scored as the Bronx Bombers pounded out 19 hits. Mantle was the only player to have a multi-homer playoff game in Pittsburgh until 2013 when Russell Martin hit a pair at PNC Park during the Johnny Cueto WC game.
- 1971 - The Pirates rolled over the Giants, 9-5, at TRS to take the NLCS three games to one. The Gravedigger, Richie Hebner, and Al Oliver both homered and had three RBI, while Roberto Clemente drove in the other three runs. Bruce Kison took the win and Dave Giusti earned the save as they twirled seven innings of scoreless relief after Steve Blass was rocked by the G-Men in the second frame. The game was tied, 5-5, after the second inning as the Bucs banged Gaylord Perry early, too, before knocking him out of the box in the sixth frame.
- 1974 - The Pirates tied the Dodgers in the seventh inning on RBIs from Richie Hebner and Al Oliver, but LA rattled off four straight eighth-inning hits off Dave Giusti, who took the loss, and another off Larry Demery, scoring three times to take a 2-0 lead in the NLCS at TRS with a 5-2 victory.
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| Hanny - 2009 Topps Heritage |
- 1981 - RHP Joel Hanrahan was born in Des Moines, Iowa. A second round pick of the Dodgers, he was the Nat’s closer and hit a rocky patch, so in a mid-season change-of-scenery deal, he was traded to Pittsburgh in 2009. Pitching coach Joe Kerrigan pushed the right buttons and Hanny became the Pirates closer in 2011, earning two All-Star nods while collecting 76 saves from 2011-12 (his Pittsburgh line was 10-8-82/2.59, with 265 K in 229-1/3 IP). After the 2012 season, he was shipped to Boston (the FO was dumping his arb-year salary) for Mark Melancon. That worked out; Jason Grilli held the fort until The Shark was ready to claim the closer role. A string of injuries derailed Hanny after that and Joel returned to the Bucco flock in 2017 as a minor league pitching coach, leaving after the 2021 season and moving on to the Washington Nats organization.
- 1983 - RHP Radhames Liz was born in El Seibo, Dominican Republic. Liz tossed for three years for the O’s, then worked out of Korea for three more years. The Bucs signed him as a free agent for $1M in the 2014 off season. He went 1-4/4.21 for the Pirates in 2015, striking out 27 batters in 23-1/3 IP, but walked 12 and bopped three during that span. He spent 2016 in Japan, 2017 pitching in the Dominican Winter League and then signed with the Brewers in ‘18 but was released in May. Liz spent a year in China, took off the 2020 campaign with a herniated disc and pitched in the Mexican and Dominican Leagues since 2021 to add to his international resume.
- 1991 - In the last game of the year, John Smiley tossed a five-hit shutout with help from the pen to beat the Expos, 7-0, at TRS. It was Smiley’s 20th win of the year for the Pirates and capped a dog days run - he went 8-1/2.69 in 13 outings from August onward. He was backed by three RBI from Jose Lind and another pair from Barry Bonds, who also scored twice. In other news of the day, Jim Leyland announced his 25-man playoff roster; pitchers Neal Heaton and Vincentes Palacios were left off, along with catcher Tom Prince. The club also set an attendance record for the third time in four years with a total of 2,065,302 seats sold. The record was a little misleading, as they got three extra home dates because of an accident shutting down Olympic Stadium. That shifted the final Montreal series to Pittsburgh, and those bonus matches put them over the top. Finally, Jay Bell had a year - his 67 RBI and 90 runs scored were the most production by a Pirates shortstop since Arky Vaughan (95 RBI, 113 RS) in 1940.
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| John Smiley - 1991 Fleer |
- 1992 - John Smoltz and the Braves won the opening game of the NLCS at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium by a 5-1 count over Doug Drabek and the Pirates. The Bucs bats were silenced by Smoltz, who held the Bucs to just five hits, dented only by Chico Lind’s eighth-inning homer.
- 1997 - LHP Joey Wentz was born in Lawrence, Kansas. He was the #40 overall pick of Atlanta in the 2016 draft out of Shawnee Mission East HS. Joey was traded to Motown in 2019 but spent the entire 2020 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and was converted to the pen in 2024. After posting a 5-17-1/5.81 slash with the Tigers in three seasons, he was DFA’ed and claimed by the Pirates. Wentz was out of options and carried on the Bucs MLB roster
- 2013 - PNC Park had another record breaking crowd of 40,489 to watch the Pirates take a two-to-one lead in the best-of-five NLDC against the Cards, winning by a 5-3 score and celebrating the first postseason game held in the City since 1992. St. Louis rallied from behind twice against the Pirates, but the last comeback belonged to Pittsburgh. The Bucs went up 2-0 on a two-out, two-run Marlon Byrd single in the first, and the Redbirds tied it in the fifth on Carlos Beltran’s two-run single. The Pirates went ahead, 3-2, an inning later on Russell Martin’s sac fly. Beltran tied it again in the eighth with a homer to right center off Mark Melancon. Pittsburgh put up two in their half off Carlos Martinez, with RBI singles from Pedro Alvarez and Martin. Jason Grilli then closed out the see-saw game, with Melancon initially blowing the hold and then getting the win. Francisco Liriano and Joe Kelly started the game, but neither made it to the seventh inning.
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