4/23 From 1950: Brrr, GOTW, Big Finishes, Awards, Game Days; RIP Art, HBD Evan & Dave

• 1959 - The Pirates were awarded trophies like it was Little League appreciation day at Forbes Field - Joe Brown was presented with The Sporting News’ GM of the Year honor, Bill Mazeroski and Harvey Haddix were given Golden Gloves, and the local Baseball Writers named Danny Murtaugh the Outstanding Sportsman of the Year with George “Red” Witt winning the Rookie of the Year nod. The team, with Witt on the hill, didn’t win any prizes for their performance on the awards day though, eking out just five hits in a 5-2 loss to the Reds in front of 18,819 fans. 
• 1966 - The Pirates homered three times in the ninth inning to pull out a 5-4 win against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Pittsburgh trailed 4-2 heading into the ninth before Bob Bailey (his second on the day), Jim Pagliaroni, and Jose Pagan each homered off Dennis Aust and Hal Woodeshick to power the Bucs past the Cards. Pete Mikkelson got the win after tossing two scoreless frames and ElRoy Face worked the ninth for the save. The Bucs were hot; the win pumped their record to 9-2. They won 92 games, but finished third, three games off LA’s pace. 
• 1982 - C Tony Peña went 2-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI in the Pirates 12-10 victory over Chicago at Wrigley Field. The Pirates kept the Cubbies alive with three errors that led to four unearned runs, but the Buc bats atoned for the threadbare leather by banging out 17 hits as every starter tallied at least one rap, including starting pitcher Eddie Solomon, who came away with the victory. Kent Tekulve pitched the final 1-1/3 innings to earn his first save of the season. Bill Madlock and Mike Easler each had three hits while Jason Thompson homered to pace the attack. Pena (3), Easler (3) and Omar Moreno (4) combined to chase home 10 of the 12 runs. 

Tony Pena - 1982 Donruss

• 1984 - LHP Dave Davidson was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The Pirates drafted him out of HS in 2002 and he got a September call up in 2007, giving up five earned runs in two innings. He was sent to Altoona, playing in the Summer Olympics and the 2009 WBC for Canada before the Pirates released him. He was picked up by the Marlins, where he had a sore arm and was let go after the 2009 campaign, ending his career in the indie leagues before retiring in 2011. 
• 1988 - The Pirates-Cubs match at TRS was the NBC Game of the Week, the Buccos first GOTW slot since 1985. The network brass knew what they were doing as the game ended up a 5-4 squeaker in favor of the Buccos. Pittsburgh overcame a 2-0 deficit when Bobby Bonilla and RJ Reynolds homered in the sixth to put the Buccaneers up by a run. The Cubs struck back quickly in the next frame, putting up a pair off Jeff Robinson to retake the lead. The Bucs loaded the bases with an out in the eighth, and Spanky LaValliere came through, dropping a two-run single into short center to give the club the lead. Jim Gott made it hold up to claim the win, the Pirates 12th in 16 games. 
• 1994 - The Pirates broke open a 1-1 pitching battle started by Randy Tomlin and Steve Avery with five runs in the ninth inning to beat the Braves 6-1 in front of 49,350 fans in Atlanta. The Bucs banged out five straight singles with one away to plate five times in the final frame. Jeff Ballard earned up his only win of the campaign; he was the third of four Pittsburgh pitchers. 
• 1996 - Ballpark announcer Art McKennan passed away at age 89. Starting out as a Forbes Field errand boy, he did odd jobs around the park, eventually working his way up to bat boy and scoreboard runner. Art got a job in the real world while moonlighting as an usher. In 1930, he was diagnosed with polio, but it didn’t stop him. Art was the voice of the Pirates at Forbes Field from 1948 until it closed, and then at Three Rivers Stadium until 1987 (he did Sunday games after that until 1993). He also had stints with the Penguins, Pitt football & Duquesne hoops along with a 30-year career in Pittsburgh’s Parks Department, becoming the director of the City-sponsored youth sports organizations. 

Art McKennan - 1960 photo/Press Roto

• 1997 - Lefty reliever Evan Sisk was born in Chester, South Carolina. Sisk was drafted by the Cards in 2018 from the College of Charleston in the 16th round and bounced around in the St. Louis, Minnesota and KC systems. Sisk made his MLB debut for KC in 2025, getting five April/May outings and posting a 1.69 ERA with 11 K & five walks in 5-1/3 IP. He came to Pittsburgh at the deadline as part of the Bailey Falter package with a rep as a high strikeout, high walk guy with closer experience. Evan was called up by the Bucs in mid-August and earned his first MLB dub against Toronto. He started ‘26 in AAA and was recalled to the big club in mid-April after posting a 1.17 ERA at Indy. 
• 2005 - The Pirates rallied to win 4-3 against Chicago at Wrigley Field. The game-time temperature was 36 degrees with a wind chill of 24, and the Buc bats were almost as cold as the weather, with the Pirates down by a 3-2 count going into the ninth after the Cubs broke a two-all tie in the eighth on Corey Patterson’s dinger. Then came the needed thaw: a one-out homer by Jason Bay knotted the score and an out later, Freddy Sanchez banged a pinch hit triple to right center, chasing home Craig Wilson, who had walked and stole second, with the eventual game-winner. John Grabow picked up his first win of the season and Jose Mesa earned his sixth save of the campaign, stranding Cubbies on the corners by whiffing Patterson on three pitches.
• 2022 - The Pirates had taken the first two games of the Chicago series at Wrigley, and the Cubs were having no more of it. They laid the worst defeat in franchise history on the Bucs, walloping them, 21-0. Four Pittsburgh pitchers, the last being utilityman Diego Castillo, gave up 23 hits (and oddly enough, only one left the yard), four walks and a bopped batter while Kevin Newman booted a pair of DP balls to allow four unearned runs to plate. The Pirates had no answer; they were held to three hits, and that’s all the runners they had aboard during the game. Prior to today, the worst Bucco loss was a 20-0 beating at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2010. Starter Zach Thompson took the loss while Miguel Yajure and poor Diego just took some lumps.