8/1 Through the 1970s: Pops Goes Off, Rip Off 11, Goose Eggs, 2-In-1 For Lefty, Game Days, HBD Freddy, Pete, Milt, Pep & Roy

1892 - RHP Roy Sanders was born in Stafford, Kansas. Roy yo-yoed between the Cincy Reds and the minor league American Association Kansas City Blues in 1917, then landed in Pittsburgh in 1918 as the PTBNL in a deal with KC for Fritz Mollwitz. Roy had a decent year, getting in 28 games (14 starts) with a 7-9/2.60 slash, but it would be his last in MLB as he lost his job to the flood of ball players returning from WW1. He went by the monikers of “Butch” and “Pepe.” 

1893 - Pittsburgh crushed St. Louis 25-2 in game one of a twinbill, then won the second contest 6-1 while cranking out 17 hits at Robison Field. Frank “Lefty” Killen won both games against the Browns (he started both contests, but got a blow from reliever Tom Colcolough in the first game) en route to a 36-win season and even belted a homer. Jake Beckley banged out six hits during the day while Jack Glasscock and Denny Lyons added five more apiece.

1904 - Charlie Case gave up 11 hits but still shut out the Cubs 4-0 at Expo Park. The difference was in the fielding; Chicago made four errors, all contributing to Pittsburgh scores, while the Pirates played the field flawlessly and occasionally brilliantly. Ginger Beaumont had three hits for the Bucs, while Tommy Leach and Honus Wagner each chipped in a pair of knocks.

1906 - After pitching 10-2/3 innings of no-hit ball at Washington Park, Brooklyn’s Harry McIntyre was finally touched for a single by Pirates 2B Claude Ritchey. Only 31 Bucs faced McIntyre in the first 10 frames, but Pittsburgh finally wore Mac down to beat the Superbas in the 13th when Bob Ganley singled, went to third on Honus Wagner’s double and scored on Joe Nealon’s knock to take a 1-0 decision behind Lefty Leifield, who went the distance while tossing a nine-hitter.

Lefty Leifield - 1905 Harlan Collection/Detroit Public Library

1916 - RHP Elmer “Pep” Rambert was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Pep’s MLB career consisted of two cups of joe with the Bucs from 1939-40, working 12 innings with a line of 0-1/8.25. He did have a long shelf life in the minors where he both hurled and played outfield, winning 68 games and putting up a career .307 BA, then managed in the bushes after retiring.

1918 - Pittsburgh and Boston played a record 20 scoreless innings, a benchmark for futility that lasted until 1967, before the Pirates won in the 21st frame by a 2-0 score at Braves Field. Art Nehf went all the way for Boston, while Erskine Mayer worked the opening 15 frames for Pittsburgh, followed on the slab by Wilbur Cooper. Cooper scored on Max Carey’s two-out knock and Billy Southworth doubled Carey home with an insurance tally for the overtime victory.

1943 - Rip Sewell won his 11th straight start (he did drop a decision as a reliever during that streak) by a 7-1 count over the Boston Braves at Forbes Field, tossing a three-hitter. Every outing during Sewell’s skein was a complete game victory. Rip was an All Star that year (his first of four straight appearances) and posted his career-best season with a slash of 21-9/2.54. He dropped his next outing to the Cardinals and faded after that loss, finishing 4-5 for the remainder of the year, although he did post three saves (he worked 265-1/3 innings) to keep busy.

1950 - C Milt May was born in Gary, Indiana. May began (1970-73) and ended (1983-84) his career as a Pirate, batting .261 as a reserve catcher. He was a member of the 1971 World Series club and 1972 pennant winners, and hit .400 (2-for-5) as a pinch hitter in the postseason. Milt also made the record books when he drove in the one millionth run in MLB history on May 4th, 1975, with a three-run home run as a Houston Astro. Despite having one of the weirdest set-ups in baseball, wagging his bat high above his head, May became the hitting coach for 10 seasons in Pittsburgh (1987–96) with stints with the Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and as pitching coach for the Colorado Rockies. May was a scout for the Rockies in 2000, then spent the 2001 season as a Pirates minor-league hitting coordinator and is now Orioles minor league coach.

Milt May - 1984 Donruss

1951 - Pete Mackanin was born in Chicago. He never suited up for the Bucs as a player, but spent several seasons with the club as skipper and coach. After managing the Hickory Crawdads and Lynchburg Hillcats in 2001 and 2002, he became the Bucco bench coach in 2003. After Lloyd McClendon was fired, Mackanin served as the Pirates' interim manager for the last month of 2005, leading the team to a 12–14 record. He spent the next season managing in the Pirates' minor league system at Bradenton before moving on to work for other clubs. He was  the Phils manager until 2017, when he was pulled from the dugout and moved to a front office job.

1951 - The Dodgers took a 7-2 lead after three innings against Murry Dickson at Forbes Field, but it wasn’t enough padding as Brooklyn was eventually overwhelmed and lost to the Bucs, 12-9. The Pirates scored four in the fourth inning and four more in the eighth frame, sparked by Ralph Kiner's 27th homer, and snapped da Bums’ winning streak at 10 games. George Strickland drove home three runs and homered. The win went to Bill Werle, save to Ted Wilks.

1970 - Willie Stargell smoked three doubles and two home runs against the Braves at Atlanta - Fulton County Stadium. Captain Willie posted six RBI and tied a MLB record with five extra base knocks (it’s the only five extra-base hits in a game in franchise history) as the Bucs rolled over the Bravos by a 20-10 tally. Pittsburgh set a club record with 14 extra-base hits and 47 total bases during the match. Bob Robertson added five more knocks to the pot, making Pops and Big Red the first Bucco duo to collect five hits in a game.

1972 - 3B/LF Freddy Garcia (not to be mistaken for the veteran American League pitcher) was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic. He played for the Bucs in 1995 and then from 1997-99 as a bench depth guy, hitting .221 over that span. He was then traded to the Atlanta Braves for a minor league pitcher and finished his MLB career the following season.

8/1 From 1980: Big First Not Enough, Lee Debut, Cutch Hammer, Wild Rallies, Game Days, Almost A Deal.., Benji Signed, Q, Nova & Bastardo Deals

1982 - They say that the best way to not hit a home run is to swing for one, but Bill Madlock laid that to rest with a 10th inning game winner against the Mets at Shea Stadium. Mad Dog told the Pittsburgh Press’ Russ Franke that “...I was definitely looking for a home run with two out and nobody on. It was either be a hero or a bum...I just stepped in the bucket and swung.” His blast into the left field bleachers against Terry Leach gave the Bucs a 4-3 victory over New York. Pittsburgh battled back from a 3-1 deficit with a pair of scores in the seventh strung together by Lee Lacy, Dale Berra (he had two RBI on the night) and Willie Stargell. They almost won it in the ninth, but a potential rally was squashed by some happy feet by Berra. Tony Pena blooped a hit into right, but was picked off between the bases when a hesitant Berra rounded second late (“I thought the right fielder caught the ball”) and fell down trying to get back to the bag, leaving Pena hung out to dry. But all’s well that ends well; Kent Tekulve got the win and Rod Scurry the save.

1998 - Per Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette, the Pirates had a conditional deal with Seattle set up that would have landed Brian Giles in Pittsburgh, but it was inadvertently blown up by the Houston Astros. The Mariners were set to deal Randy Johnson to the Indians, and part of the return would have been Giles, who was then supposed to be flipped to the Bucs (GM Cam Bonifay tactfully refused to name the Pirate player who was part of the foiled trade). But the Tribe lost the bidding war five minutes before the midnight deadline to the ‘Stros, and there was no time for them and the Pirates to reach a side deal. It would wait until the offseason when Ricardo Rincon went to Cleveland for Giles, who patrolled the Bucco outfield for the next 4-1/2 years. To add a little salt to the wound, the Big Unit pitched the next night against the Buccos and whipped them, 6-2.

2000 - The Pirates announced that they had signed IF Mike Benjamin to a two-year contract extension with $1.85M guaranteed and another $600K available in bonus bucks. The 34-year-old Benjamin hit .270 for the Pirates in 2000, then missed all of the 2001 season with a bad elbow. He came back in 2002 but hit just .150 in 108 games before retiring.

2003 - Trailing the Rockies 11-6 with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates rallied for the win at PNC Park. Craig Wilson, Reggie Sanders and Jose Hernandez packed the sacks. Jack Wilson’s single scored one run and a grounder brought home another Bucco. With two down, a passed ball made it 11-9 before pinch hitter Jeff Reboulet walked. Tike Redman, who had just been called up, tripled home a pair to tie the game, and Jason Kendall lined a single to left for the win. Duaner Sanchez, the Pirates fourth pitcher, got the victory.

Cutch - 2009 Topps Victory

2009 - Andrew McCutchen tied a club record by homering three times in Pittsburgh’s 11-6 victory over the Washington Nats at PNC Park. Cutch became the 10th player in club history to go long three times in the same game, the first since Aramis Ramirez launched a trio on April 8th, 2001, and the first Buc rookie to swat three bombs in a single game. His blasts accounted for six RBI as Andrew hit a solo home run in the first inning to lead off the game against starter Craig Stammen, a two-run shot in the fourth frame off Tyler Clippard and then a three-run tater in the sixth inning off Logan Kensing, falling a grand slam short of hitting for a natural home run cycle.

2011 - At 54-53, the Pirates were making a run to at least break the .500 mark, something they hadn’t accomplished in 18 years. They strengthened the roster and brought in 1B Derek Lee, who debuted on this date. He did his part, banging two homers and driving in all three Bucco runs in a 5-3 loss to his old club, the Chicago Cubs, at PNC Park. Pittsburgh’s luck continued to run cold though, as the veteran 1B broke his wrist two days later after being hit by a pitch, and the Pirates went 8-20 in the weeks that he missed. He did get into 28 games overall, batting .337 with seven homers and 18 RBI, and then, not finding a deal to his liking, retired at age 36.

2014 - Behind 4-0 in the fifth inning, the Pirates went on a late rampage to bury the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-4 at Chase Field. Pittsburgh scored three runs in the eighth frame, keyed by Pedro Alvarez’s two-run pinch hit double. The Bucs exploded for five more tallies in the ninth. Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer led off with doubles, Andrew McCutchen was intentionally walked and four of the next five Pirates bopped singles. Harrison, Mercer and Cutch batted 1-2-3 and had six hits, two walks and seven runs scored in the win. Tony Watson was the winner.  

2016 - Given an extra 24 hours to wheel and deal because the usual 7/31 deadline fell on a Sunday, the Bucs FO burned the phone lines. First, they got rental RHP Ivan Nova from the NY Yankees for two PTBNL (OF Tito Polo and LHP Stephen Tarpley). After going 5-2/3.06, they made the relationship more permanent by signing Nova to a three-year contract. They returned Jon Niese to the Mets (he was traded to Pittsburgh before the season for Neil Walker) for lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo (who was a Pirate in 2015 and left as a FA), and finally sent LHP Francisco Liriano, along with prospects OF Harold Ramirez and C Reese McGuire, to Toronto for RHP Drew Hutchison; Francisco returned to the Bucco fold in 2019. The Blue Jays picked up the approximately $17M left on Frankie’s contract for 2016-17, and that cost the Pirates the big prospect package. 

Ivan Nova - 2016 Topps Update

2022 - In a deadline deal, extended as 7/31 fell on a Sunday, the Pirates sent RHPs Jose Quintana, 33, and Chris Stratton, 31, to the St. Louis Cardinals for RHP Johan Oviedo and 1B/3B Malcom Nunez, a power-hitting AA prospect. Q, signed as a free agent in the offseason, went 3-5/3.50 in 20 starts as the Pirates most effective starter while Stratton, who joined the Bucs in 2019 and posted a Pittsburgh line of 15-7-10/3.98. Oviedo, 24, was 2-9/4.65 with 19 of his 33 MLB outings as a starter. The 21-year-old Nunez had 17 HRs and was converted from 3B to 1B when he arrived. Oviedo was optioned to Indy and Nunez to Altoona as RHPs Chase De Jong came off the IL and Colin Holderman was called up from Indy to replenish the active roster. Oviedo became part of the Pirates starting rotation in '23, but had TJ surgery and is near to returning from a long layoff while Nunez has spent the last four years in AAA.

2023 - 1B Ji Man Choi (.205/6/11) and LHP Rich Hill (7-10/4.76) were shipped to the San Diego Padres for prospects LHP Jackson Wolf, 1B/OF Alfonso Rivas and OF Estuar Suero in a deadline deal. Choi became a Buc via trade and Hill as a FA during the off season. Wolf, 24, was a 4th round pick in 2021 after tossing for WVU and was flipped back to San Diego. Rivas, 26, was a good-glove guy who got into 40 games (.237) and is now playing in Mexico. 17-year-old switch hitter Suero is a lotto ticket playing in the Florida Rookie League. Later in the day, Pittsburgh sent C Austin Hedges to Texas for international bonus pool space; he is currently with Cleveland. In a final minor swap, Pittsburgh traded IF Rodolfo Castro, 24, to the Philadelphia Phillies for LHP Bailey Falter, 26. Rudy has spent 2024-25 playing in AAA while Bailey claimed a rotation spot until he was flipped a year later to KC for Callan Moss and Evan Sisk.

2025 - The Pirates scored nine! first-inning runs v Colorado at Coors Field, keyed by an Oneil Cruz grannie and Andrew McCutchen three-run shot. It wasn’t quite enough; they lost 17-16 when new closer Dennis Santana yielded two homers and five runs in the ninth after Andrew Heaney and Thomas Harrington gave up a 10-spot over the first five frames. It was the first time since 1890 that the club has scored 16 or more runs and lost. Cutch finished the night with five RBI, Cruz had four and Isiah Kiner-Falena added three. All nine Pirates reached base and scored (Joey Bart was the sole hitless Bucco batter, but he had an excuse - he was walked four times and bopped once).

2025 - To refill the roster after the deadline (the FO dealt four rostered players in two days, but didn’t receive any MLB-ready talent in return), the Pirates recalled RHP Thomas Harrington, RHP Kyle Nicolas and IF Jared Triolo from Indy and LHP Ryan Borucki from the IL. Triolo wasn't a lock and there was some fan/media support for the call-up of UT Ronny Simon (.300 for two AAA teams) or IF Cam Devanny (.316 at Indy since being traded here for Adam Frazier) to take Key's spot on the big league roster, while RHPs Bubba Chandler & Johan Oviedo were considered possible next arms up, though Bubba has workload concerns and Johan was just finishing long-term lat strain rehab. Harrington only lasted an outing (he got toasted by Colorado), was optioned back and replaced by RHP Dauri Moreta, who had missed all of ‘24 after shoulder surgery and was knocking off the rust at Indy.