5/1 Through 1964: Streaking, Stu Shot, Dale Dealt, Petit's Dub, Slam Duet, Hart 1-Hitter, Game Days; HBD Jose, Ray, Johnny, Heinie, Bill K, George, Bill W & Tom

• 1859 - IF Tom Forster was born in New York City. He played four big league seasons for three teams, including a stop with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1884, where he hit .222. Tom had a 10-year pro career, playing his last campaign in 1891 for Hartford of the Atlantic Association at age 31. 
• 1860 - SS Bill White was born in Bridgeport, Ohio. He played five years in the big leagues for four different clubs, spending 1884 with the Alleghenys as a bench infielder and hitting .227. He played until 1889 with a reputation as a good gloveman. Bill’s last minor league season was 1894, and he later managed the Wheeling minor league clubs on three different occasions. 
• 1885 - RHP George McQuillan was born in Brooklyn. He was a decent pitcher for low-scoring teams (10 MLB years with four clubs), going 29-33-6 from 1913-15 with a 3.06 ERA for the Pirates. In 1907 he set one of the longest-lived records in MLB history when he pitched 25 innings for the Philadelphia A’s before giving up his first earned run. The mark stood for 101 years before being broken by Oakland Athletics reliever Brad Ziegler, who extended the record to 39-1/3 IP. 
• 1886 - C Bill Kelly was born in Baltimore. He came to the Pirates from minor league St. Paul in 1911, becoming their third catcher and serving as the personal caddy for Marty O’Toole. He played here through 1913, hitting .293 with 20 RBI’s in 102 games; he was known as a good hit, bad glove backstop. 

Bill Hart (Little Rock) - 1909/11 Sweet Caporal

• 1895 - Bill Hart hurled a one-hitter in a 4-1 victory over Cincinnati at Exposition Park. CF Jake Stenzel and C Joe Sugden each had a pair of knocks to lead the Pirates while SS Monte Cross made several nice running catches of short outfield flares. C Joe Sugden and CF Casey Stengel both outhit the Reds with a pair of knocks each, with Stengel driving in three runs and scoring twice. As the Pittsburgh Press noted of the Cincy club: “One hit will not win many games.” 
• 1896 - RHP Heinie Meine was born in St. Louis. The twirler spent six seasons with Pittsburgh (1929-1934), going 66-50 with a 3.95 ERA. Between 1931-33 he was a workhorse, throwing 663-2/3 frames in 96 games, going 46-30. In 1931, he led the NL in wins (19), innings pitched (284), and was fourth in ERA (2.98). He was a popular guy, known as "The Count of Luxemburg" because he ran a hometown speakeasy/tavern in the Luxembourg section of St. Louis. The watering hole in fact, was his ticket to the show. A successful pitcher in the minors, he failed a couple of big league tryouts and retired from the slab to behind the bar. Of course, baseball was a hot topic when Heine was pouring the suds, and his customers dared him to put up or shut up on the premise that he was an MLB-caliber pitcher. He finally took them up on the challenge, caught on with AA Kansas City in ’28 and next season, at 33 years old, proved himself in Pittsburgh. 
• 1917 - 2B Giovanni “Johnny” Berardino was born in Los Angeles. He made stops with the Bucs in 1950 and 1952 (.187 BA in 59 games), but his claim to fame wasn’t at the ballyard but in the back lots as he went on to become a TV soap opera star playing the role of Dr. Steve Hardy of General Hospital. 
• 1933 - The Pirates banged a pair of grand slams to back Bill Swift’s nine-hit, complete game shutout pitching and throttled the Philadelphia Phils 10-0 at the Baker Bowl. Arky Vaughan hit an inside-the-park grannie when his ball caromed wildly off the scoreboard in the third frame, then the Bucs iced the game with a five spot in the seventh, primarily fueled by Earl Grace’s grand slam over the right field wall. Vaughan and Grace became the first pair of Pirates to hit grand salamis in the same game, with Bill Madlock & Richie Hebner matching their feat in 1982. 

Pete Reiser - 1951 Bowman

• 1951 - Ex-Dodger Pete Reiser went 3-for-4 with two doubles (he also reached on an error & was walked) and Ralph Kiner added a double & homer as the Pirates beat Brooklyn 6-2 at Ebbets Field. Cliff Chambers gave up six hits, walked five, hit a batter and tossed a wild pitch but still went the distance to even his slate at 2-2 as Da Bums stranded 10 runners. The Pirates were just as wasteful on the bases - they went 3-for-16 w/RISP, hit into four DPs and had a runner picked off. 
• 1953 - The Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 at Forbes Field for their third win in a row, their longest streak since August, 1951. 22-year-old bonus baby Paul Pettit was the winner in his first MLB start. It was his only big league win, as he never recovered from arm injuries suffered the previous year on the farm, and spent most of his remaining career as a minor league outfielder. Pete Castiglione had a big day to help back Pettit with three hits, including two homers. 
• 1955 - Pirate pitching coach Ray Searage was born in Freeport, NY. The West Liberty State grad coached for the Williamsport Crosscutters in 2003-04, the Hickory Crawdads in 2005, the Altoona Curve in 2006-07 and the Indianapolis Indians in 2008-09. In 2010, he replaced Joe Kerrigan during John Russell’s final season and remained through 2019 during Clint Hurdle’s tenure. He was a reliever in his seven-year MLB career, spinning the cowhide for four different clubs, and coached for the Miami Marlins & St. Louis Cards before joining the Pirates. 
• 1957 - The Cubs sent 1B Dee Fondy and 2B Gene Baker to the Bucs for 1B Dale Long and OF Lee Walls. Fondy hit .313 and Baker .266 as Bucs while Walls and Long combined for 44 Chicago HRs in 1958. Fondy’s last season was ‘58 while Baker lasted through 1961, but as a bench piece, he only collected 119 plate appearances after starting in ‘57. Long played through 1963, but ‘58 would be his last 20-homer campaign. Walls became an All-Star with 24 bombs in ‘58, and that campaign was the last season that he posted double-digit dingers. He played 10 seasons, his last being 1964, for five clubs. 

Frank Thomas - 1958 Topps

• 1958 - Frank Thomas banged a pair of homers in the Pirates 8-3 win over the Dodgers at the Los Angeles Coliseum. It was the Bucs sixth straight win, including three-in-a-row in LA, with Thomas tagging four dingers in the three games before the Bucs were dropped the next day. The biggest blow was delivered by winning pitcher Vern Law, who smacked a three-run homer to pull away from the Dodgers. 
• 1959 - Dick Stuart hit one of the longest shots ever launched at Forbes Field, carrying well over the scoreboard and landing in the Schenley Plaza parking lot as he caught all of an 0-2 curve off Jim Brosnan. Alas, the almost-500’ two-run, two-out drive in the ninth only made it close as the Bucs went down to the Cards 7-6. Big Stu had three hits, including a double, in the loss. 
• 1960 - The Pirates won their ninth straight game, their longest victory string since 1945, by defeating the Cincinnati Reds by a 13-2 count at Crosley Field. Roberto Clemente had a grand slam and Maz added a three-run shot to back Vern Law’s mound work. The streak would end the next day against the St. Louis Cards and ex-Bucco Ronnie Kline by a 4-3 count at Busch Stadium. 
• 1964 - Jose Lind was born in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. In six seasons with the Pirates (1987-92), the 2B hit .255 and appeared in three NLCS bouts. Chico was considered a top flight defender and won a Gold Glove in 1992. A coke addiction drove him out of the game and into several clashes with the law, but Chico came clean and now even participates in the Bucco fantasy camps.

5/1 From 1965: Tag Team, Bad Dog, Scoops, Sweep, Dock Rock, Game Days, Renegade, TSN Sangy; HBD Miguel, Andre & Jose

• 1966 - The Bucs pounded the Mets 8-0 at Forbes Field. Roberto Clemente led the attack with four hits, but it was a true team effort as every starter but the pitcher reached base, seven different Buccos scored, and five drove in runs. Of the Pirates 12 hits, five went for two bases and two more were triples. Lefty Bob Veale went the distance, tossing a four-hitter while fanning nine. 
• 1971 - Manny Sanguillen was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Pirate Treasure.” The Roadrunner hit .319 with a career-high 81 RBI, made his first All-Star appearance and was also a Top Ten MVP finisher, so TSN hit paydirt choosing Manny as their cover boy. 
• 1973 - Bob Moose was working on a five-hitter against the Giants with two outs in the ninth, a runner on first and a 7-1 lead at Candlestick Park. In one of the franchises biggest meltdowns, he walked the next two batters, and Ramon Hernandez was called in. He gave up a grand slam to Chris Arnold and left the bases loaded after a double and two more walks (Bill Virdon was ejected for beefing about plate ump Doug Harvey’s strike zone) for Dave Giusti. He gave up a gapper to Barry Bonds, and when Willie Stargell couldn’t field the shot cleanly, three runs scooted home to give the G-Men a stunning 8-7 win. When asked why he stuck with Hernandez so long, Virdon said he liked the matchups but admitted “I guess I was wrong.” For the Pirates, it was their sixth straight loss, but Giusti came back the next day to fan a pair of Giants in the ninth to save a 2-1 win. 
• 1974 - Dock Ellis plunked the Reds’ Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen in the top of the first inning while Tony Perez ducked a couple of tight ones to draw a walk as Ellis tied a MLB record for consecutive beaned batters before Danny Murtaugh yanked him in a 5-3 loss to Cincy at TRS. Ellis said he was trying to counter what he saw as the Reds' intimidation of the Pirates. As Manny Sanguillen recalled later on a Twitter post: “The Reds challenged us and put comments in the newspapers. Remember Pedro Borbon bit Patterson, our teams fought. Dock had enough and said ‘Sangy, don’t give me any signs they are all going down.’ He laughed b/c he missed Tony Perez saying he was dancing the Cha-Cha!” It didn’t move the needle; the Bucs finished the season 4-8 against the Reds even as they won the National League East division with 88 victories. 

Al Oliver - 1977 Kelloggs 3-D

• 1977 - Al Oliver’s stick was double-dutch clutch on this day - he knotted the game in the ninth and then walked it off in the 10th against the Houston Astros. Down 3-2 at TRS in front of 25,371 fans, Scoops homered to lead off the final frame and send the game into extras, then singled home Omar Moreno with the game-winner in the following inning. That feat would go unmatched for 40 years until John Jaso pulled it off against the New York Mets in 2017. Goose Gossage earned a big high five too, tossing three scoreless innings of one-hit ball in relief of John Candalaria, and ditto for Pops Stargell, who bombed a pair of solo homers to keep the Bucs afloat before Scoops’ heroics sealed the deal. 
• 1980 - Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock was fined $5‚000 and suspended 15 games by National League president Chub Feeney for jabbing ump Jerry Crawford in the face with his mitt when he took the field after being called out on strikes with the bases loaded. Madlock appealed, but withdrew the protest and accepted his medicine after the NL umpires threatened their own brand of justice by promising to eject him from every game he tried to play while fighting the penalty. 
• 1991 - Bobby Bonilla scored the winning run Honus Wagner-style; he stole home in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie with the Reds at Riverfront, capping a successful if unintended delayed double steal. Barry Bonds was on first and broke for second, but Cincy pitcher Randy Myers caught his movement, wheeled and zipped a throw to first. Bobby Bo saw Barry trapped and dashed for home. The Redlegs first sacker froze a second when he caught sight of Bo on the go and hesitated just long enough to allow Bonds to beat his throw to second; the relay to home was a hair too late to catch a sliding Bo. The Bucs went on to win 6-4. After the game, Bonilla told Press writer Bob Hertzel “The way I figure, I only got about 900 more (steals) to go before I catch Rickey (Henderson). 
• 1994 - The Pirates completed a three-game sweep of the first-place Braves as Paul Wagner defeated Atlanta’s Tom Glavine 4-1 for his second career complete game in front of 30,614 fans at TRS. Wagner allowed three hits, losing his shutout in the ninth inning on a homer by David Justice. The Bucs scored all four runs in the sixth inning, with Wags helping himself with a two-out, two-run double. 

Paul Wagner - 1994 Leaf

• 1995 - RHP Jose Urquidy was born in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. He started his MLB career in 2019 with Houston and was a solid arm in 2021-22; in 2023, he was shelved by an arm injury, then came back only to undergo season-ending surgery in 2024. Jose got a September peek with Detroit after rehabbing and he became a FA at year’s end. The Pirates signed him to a $1.5M deal in February to build rotation depth, and he made the club as a long man when they broke camp. 
• 1996 - RHP Andre Jackson was born in Vail, Arizona. He was a 12th-round pick of the Dodgers in 2016 out of Utah with 15 MLB outings with LA from 2021-23 (0-1-4/4.15) before being DFA’ed, with his contract sold to the Bucs in June, 2023. He was stashed at Indy and called up in early August as an injury replacement for Dauri Moreta after posting a 3.38 ERA w/11 K per 9; he went 1-3/4.33 with the Bucs. After the year, he joined the Yokohama BayStars of the Japanese League, where he has not only pitched lights-out but hit the only Nippon pitcher homer of 2025. Andre’s now with the Chiba Lotte Marines.  
• 1998 - RHP Miguel Yajure was born in Cabimas, Venezuela. He was signed by the Yankees in 2015 and got into three games in 2020 before being part of the package sent to Pittsburgh for Jameson Taillon. He was assigned to the Pirates alternate camp after impressing during the spring, and was called up as the 27th man on April 21, 2021, to make his MLB starting debut against Detroit. He was banged around by Motown, but bounced back in his next outing against the Giants. He missed June and July with a forearm injury and was called back up in late September. He broke camp with the big team in 2022, but mostly worked at Indy. He was 1-1-1/8.88 in 12 Pirates appearances (four starts), with a not-very-strong six K/six BB per nine during his Bucco mound visits. The Pirates released him in the off season and he was picked up by the San Fran Giants. He later crossed the Pacific to sign with the Japanese League, then returned in ‘26 to sign with the Houston Astros organization. 
• 1999 - Brian Giles went 3-for-4 with a home run/three RBI and Kevin Young batted 2-for-4 with a homer/three runs chased home to back Todd Ritchie in Pittsburgh’s 9-3 win over Colorado at Three Rivers Stadium. Al Martin added three knocks while Scott Sauerbeck and Jason Christenson mopped up the win in front of 18,599 in a game that took 2:38 from first pitch to last. 

Craig Wilson - 2008 Topps 50th Anniversary

• 2001 - Craig Wilson became the first Pirate whose first hit was a pinch-hit homer when he went long against the SF Giants Kirk Rueter at PNC Park; it was one of the few highlights of the day. His dinger cut the deficit to 9-2 as the Bucs went on to absorb an 11-6 drubbing before 22,962 fans. Wilson held his mark alone until 2021 when Rodolfo Castro matched the feat against the Mets at Citi Field. His blast likewise was in the midst of a beatdown, with Pittsburgh losing, 13-2. 
• 2023 - Closer David Bednar was named a member of MLB’s Team of the Month (March/April). During that span, the Renegade slashed 2-0-9/0.69 in 13 outings with 17 K’s in 13 IP as the Pirates sprinted out of the gate to a 20-9 start and 1-1/2 game lead in the Central Division.