5/28 Through the 1970s: Dale Goes Long For 8th Straight, Crazy Hop, Protest Win, Game Days; HBD Alex, Kirk, Sarge, Steve, Reddy & King

• 1881 - RHP James “King” Brady was born in Elmer, New Jersey. King worked two of his five MLB seasons with the Bucs in 1906-07, and didn’t get much work, going 1-1/2.16 in four starts while giving up an average of 11.5 hits every nine innings before he was shipped to the minors early in 1907 after taking a liner off the bean. He spent eight years on the farm, winning 85 games. It’s thought that a Pittsburgh writer gave him his moniker after a good outing. 
• 1903 - OF Romer “Reddy” Grey, brother of author Zane Grey (they were both originally Grays; their dad allegedly changed the spelling to dodge some bills), made his MLB bow as a Buc. He went 1-for-3 in his only big league game as the Pirates beat Boston, 7-6. Grey scored a run, knocked in another, drew a walk, and caught the only ball hit his way in the OF. He played on loan from the nearby Worcester minor league club as the Pirates, due to some injuries and personal issues, found themselves short handed for the game against the Beaneaters at the South End Grounds. Grey was an early AAAA ballplayer; he never found a home in MLB but had a career .311 minor league batting average. His author brother was also a ballplayer in his younger days; he even played at Pitt briefly. They were teammates on both the Jaxons and Findlay Sluggers of the Interstate League in 1895, and Zane went on to pen several baseball themed stories. 
• 1919 - LHP Steve Nagy was born in Franklin, New Jersey. Steve was teammates with a couple of famous folk, TV star Chuck “The Rifleman” Connors (who played for the Dodgers and the Cubs before going on to Hollywood) at Seton Hall University and Jackie Robinson as a Montreal Royal. He pitched briefly in the majors for two years, spending 1947 as a Pirates reliever and going 1-3/5.79. Steve missed time during WW2 while in the navy, but still managed to play 14 minor-league campaigns before he retired from the game after the 1958 season. 

Steve Nagy - 1947 photo Baseball Hall of Fame

• 1921 - Pittsburgh protested their 10-inning 4-3 loss to the Reds and won. After Reds P Dolf Luque misfired the ball into the Cincinnati dugout, Clyde Barnhart was called out going to third when the ball was tossed back into the field. The Pirates said no way; it was a dead ball, and NL president Heydler agreed. The game was later replayed from that point (it was 3-3), and the Bucs took full advantage of their second chance, turning the tables to win 4-3 on June 30. 
• 1923 - LHP Bob “Sarge” Kuzava was born in Wyandotte, Michigan. Bob spent 10 years in MLB, stopping in Pittsburgh for four appearances lasting two innings in 1957. It was the last big league season for the 34-year-old; he was sold to the Cards and got three final outings. He began his career as a starter and finished it as a reliever/spot starter, with his highlights in 1952 when he went 2-2/3 no-hit innings for the Yankees to save the seventh game of the World Series against Brooklyn after closing out the clinching sixth game the year before with a perfect ninth inning to defeat the Giants, 4-3. Kuzava was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. He got his nickname of Sarge after spending three years during WW2 in Burma. 
• 1956 - 30-year-old first baseman Dale Long added to his major league mark by hitting a home run in his eighth consecutive game, a 3-2 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers at Forbes Field. The liner was hit off of Carl Erskine in front of 32,221 Forbes Field fans, the largest crowd for a night game in Pittsburgh in almost six years, who didn’t settle down after the record blast until the lefty slugger took a curtain call, said to be the first in Pirates history. Bob Friend also stood out, tossing a complete game two-hitter. Long was lauded in the US Senate by Carnegie Senator James Duff for his feat. The record was later tied by Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (1993). Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe closed out the book the next day as Long went 0-for-4. Dale finished the season with a career-high 27 long balls, the first of four 20+ HR seasons in five years, not a bad mark for a guy who didn’t get a chance to play every day until he was 29 years old. Long’s streak carried the Pirates, who won seven-of-eight during his run but still finished in seventh place (66-88 record). 

Kirk Gibson - 1992 Pinnacle

• 1957 - OF Kirk Gibson was born in Pontiac, Michigan. He spent 1992 as a Pirate toward the end of his 17-year MLB run, coming over from Kansas City in a swap for LHP Neal Heaton, and the 35-year-old was released in May after hitting .196. He closed out the final three years of his career with the Detroit Tigers after Sparky Anderson talked him out of retirement. The 1988 World Series hero has since worked as a coach, manager and announcer. 
• 1960 - Roberto Clemente was on third and Hal Smith on first with two outs in the eighth inning with Maz up at Forbes Field. He fanned, waving at a Rube Goldberg pitch that hit in the front of the plate, ricocheted off umpire Al Barlick and back to Phillies pitcher Jim Owens. Maz froze, Smith jogged to second and Clemente went halfway down the line. Owens chased Roberto as his bench called for him to throw to first, which he either didn’t hear or ignored. Caught in a run-down, Clemente knocked the ball out of C Jim Coker's glove to tie the score at 2-2, and the Pirates went on to win 4-2 in the 13th inning on Don Hoak's two-run dinger. 
• 1963 - Called out at first on a bang-bang play for the second time in the game, Roberto Clemente twice jostled umpire Bill Jackowski while arguing the decision. Clemente was ejected, and skipper Danny Murtaugh got his Irish up, challenging the man in blue to duke it out until the Irishman was pulled away. The Great One was fined $250 and suspended for five days by the league. To top the day off, the Pirates lost 5-1 to the Phils at Forbes Field. 
• 1977 - OF/1B Alex Hernandez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Alex was taken by Pittsburgh in the fourth round of the 1995 draft and spent two campaigns with the Pirates from 2001-02, getting into 27 games and hitting .183. After time in the Reds and Rays systems, he spent his last couple of pro seasons playing indie ball and in the Puerto Rican Winter League before retiring in 2006.