9/2 Through The 1960s: Roberto's #2,000, Stu Will Do, Vern's 1st 0, In 1st, 8 Straight, Lovey-Doves, Game Days, HBD Luke, Milo & Ben

 1907 - IF Ben Sankey was born in Nauvoo, Alabama. His MLB career lasted for 72 games from 1929-31, mainly at SS and all as a Bucco, and he hit .213 over that span. Ben stuck at it, playing minor league ball until 1941, waiting until he was 33-years-old before unlacing the spikes. After his Pittsburgh stay, the slick fielder spent six years with Montreal and three more with Baltimore of the International League, earning a spot in the IL Hall of Fame in 1947.

1909 - Boston's Cliff Curtis pitched his first MLB game and beat the Pirates 1-0 to give the Doves their only win against Pittsburgh that year. The Pirates, who would claim the NL pennant with 110 victories and then win the World Series, took the twin bill’s nightcap at the South End Grounds, 5-3. Pittsburgh swept all the remaining September games against Beantown and finished the season 20-1 against last-place Boston. Indeed, the only team that could compete with them that year was the NY Giants, who finished 11-11 against the Buccos. 

1917 - The Pirates won a wild one at Redland Field as they held off the Cincinnati Reds by an 8-7 count. Hans Wagner had three hits, including his final MLB two-bagger to send home Max Carey in the ninth with what proved to be the game-winning run. Bill Evans got the win in relief of Burleigh Grimes with Bob Steele saving it by working the final two frames. 

1925 - The Pirates won their eighth straight game by defeating the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 at Forbes Field. It was scoreless going into the sixth inning when the bats woke up. The Redlegs put up a pair and the Bucs answered in spades with seven tallies of their own. George Grantham led the attack, going 4-for-4 and falling a homer short of the cycle while Eddie Moore chipped in with three raps. Glenn Wright added two hits, two runs and two RBI to the cause. Johnny Morrison went the distance; he was touched up for 12 hits but stranded 11. The Pirates streak ended at nine against the Cardinals, who rallied in the ninth two days later to top the Bucs. Pittsburgh took the National League pennant and then the World Series in seven games from the Washington Senators.

Ray Kremer - 1927 Exhibits

1927 - The Pirates took over first place with a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cards at Forbes Field. Ray Kremer won the day against Grover Cleveland Alexander, and added an RBI to aid the effort. The Waner brothers went 7-for-10 with two runs scored and two RBI. The Bucs never relinquished first place after the victory, and nosed out the Cards for the title by a 1-1/2 game margin.

1927 - Leland Milo Hamilton was born in Fairfield, Iowa. Milo had the unenviable and ultimately untenable job as Bob Prince’s replacement in the booth. His smooth “broadcast school” delivery was a stark contrast to the Gunner’s homespun boosterism; it didn’t take long for the gig to wear thin on both Hamilton and the City. He moved on to the Cubs job in 1980 and discovered that working with Harry Caray wasn’t much easier than replacing Prince. Milo finally found a home in Houston in 1985, where he broadcast for 28 years until his retirement in 2012. Hamilton was the 1992 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award and was also inducted into the National Radio and Texas Radio Halls of Fame.

1933 - Pittsburgh won its eighth straight game by a 4-1 tally over the St. Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field. Woody Jensen and Tommy Thevenow each had a pair of hits with a triple each and together drove in three runs to give Heinie Meine enough backing to claim the win. The Cincinnati Reds ended the streak convincingly the next day at Redland Field by a 9-3 score.

1943 - LHP Luke Walker was born in DeKalb, Texas. He worked eight years (1965-66, 1968-73) for the Bucs, with a line of 40-42-9/3.47. Walker had a breakout 1970, going 15-6 with a 3.04 ERA and was a member of the 1970-72 championship teams. He started, closed and did everything in between for Danny Murtaugh and Bill Virdon. The lefty worked just one more MLB campaign after leaving Pittsburgh after being sold to the Tigers before the 1974 season.

1944 - The Pirates slid by the first-place St. Louis Cards 5-4 at Forbes Field, giving the Redbirds’ Ted Wilks his first loss following a string of 11 straight victories. The Bucs walked it off in the bottom of the ninth when Bob Elliott, who was 4-for-5 with a homer, singled home Jim Russell to give Max Butcher the victory. The lead switched hands several times during the game; Dick Fortune of the Pittsburgh Press called the contest “...a ding dong battle all the way.”

Bob Elliott - 1944 Exhibits

1948 - The Bucco hand was caught in the cookie jar... Commissioner Happy Chandler fined the Pirates $2‚000 for violating the NL bonus rule when the Pirates signed ML Lynch as a scout while offering his son Danny a $6,000 contract. Chandler saw the deal (and probably rightly so) as an attempt to sway the second baseman's decision. Lynch was declared a free agent and signed with the Cubs. It ended up much ado over nothing; he played just seven MLB games.

1950 - 20-year-old rookie Vern Law tossed the first of his 28 career shutouts, a 6-0 whitewash of the St. Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field. The Deacon surrendered five hits with four whiffs and no walks to the Redbirds. He got all the offense he needed in the third inning when Wally Westlake banged a grand slam, the seventh of his career, and Law took care of business from there.

1958 - Bob Friend and the Pirates held off the Phils at Forbes Field by a 3-2 count. The Bucs built an early lead via homers by Bill Virdon & Frank Thomas, along with a Ted Kluszewski rap that chased home Roberto Clemente after a triple. Philadelphia scored singletons in the eighth and ninth, but Friend fanned the last two batters to nail down his 19th win. Friend won 22 games before the campaign ended, the only time in his career that he would post twenty victories. The victory moved the once sad-sack Buccos into second place, albeit eight games behind Milwaukee, and that’s how they’d finish the season as they went through the growing pains of a young lineup that paid off in 1960.

1961 - Dick Stuart had a pair of homers, but his biggest hit was a broken-bat single that went off the pitcher’s mitt in the eighth to plate Dick Groat. That knock proved the game winner in a 5-4 Buc victory over the St. Louis Cards at Busch Stadium. Big Stu had all five RBI and ElRoy Face shut the door in the last two frames to earn the win. OF’er Joe Christopher threw out Stan Musial in the sixth, trying to go from first-to-third on a single to right. That toss-out was followed by a pair of knocks, so Joe’s arm may have saved the game for the Buccaneers.

1966 - The Pirates claimed first place by topping the visiting Cubs 7-5 on Roberto Clemente’s homer off Fergie Jenkins, his 2,000th career hit. Roberto's long fly gave him 101 RBI for the year, the first time he reached the century mark. He ended up with a career high of 119 RBI in 1966, and collected 110 the next season, the only other time he drove in 100+ runs. Arriba won the MVP and the Bucs finished third with 92 wins, three games behind the LA Dodgers.

9/2 From 1970: Martin Mash, Dunston Debut, Pops Pounders, Roberto Hits Leader, Game Days, Bye Bob, Jim Jeremiad, BA Konnor, HBD Gaby, Yamid & Sean

1970 - LHP Sean Lawrence was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Drafted by the Pirates in the 6th round of the 1992 draft out of the College of St. Francis, his seven games in 1998 as a Bucs was the extent of his big league career, finishing with a slash of 2-1/7.32. He later pitched in the San Diego and Arizona systems, retiring in 2002 to become a crime closer as a police officer.

1970 - The Pirates AAA team, the Columbus Jets, announced this would be their last season due to attendance woes. The Jets franchise relocated to Charleston and the Charlies became the Bucs top farm club through 1976. In 1977, the Columbus Clippers were organized and the yo-yo Pittsburgh franchise returned to Columbus again, although for only two seasons. 

1972 - With his 2,971st knock as a Bucco (he ended up with 3,000), Roberto Clemente broke Honus Wagner's record for the most hits in the history of the franchise. The record-setting blow was a single off Giant hurler Sudden Sam McDowell. Roberto then chased Sam from the game with a three-run homer in the fourth during a 6-3 victory at Three Rivers Stadium.

1972 - LHP Bob Veale, 36, was sold to the Boston Red Sox after an 11-year career in Pittsburgh that saw him win 116 games and save six more, starting 255 times in his 341 Pirates outings. His 1,652 strikeouts are still the Pirate mark for a southpaw and second overall in Bucco franchise history.

1974 - The first-place Pirates broomed the Phillies in a twin bill at TRS, 7-4 and 11-1. Willie Stargell went 4-for-4 with two dingers in the opener and added a double in the second game, posting four RBI on the day. Bob Robertson also homered and drove in three runs as Jerry Reuss bested Lefty Carlton. Richie Zisk hit a granny while Al Oliver went 3-for-3 with three runs scored in the nitecap to help Bruce Kison to victory and push the Bucs 2-1/2 games up on the Cards.

Willie Stargell - 1974 Kelloggs 3-D

1977 - C Yamid Haad was born in Cartagena, Colombia. He got into one game with the Pirates in 1999 as a pinch hitter; he was called up after Jason Kendall broke his ankle. Yamid also got a taste with the Giants in 2005, but mostly served as depth because of an inconsistent bat. He spent 13 years in the minors (nine in AAA) and ended his career in 2016 in Mexico. 

1978 - Willie Stargell blasted a three-run homer in the first, but the Braves chipped away to tie the game at TRS and send it into extra innings before Dave Parker’s 12th-inning rap past a drawn-in infield gave the Pirates and Grant Jackson a 4-3 win. Phil Garner was on third with an out when the Braves worked around Frank Taveras and intentionally walked Omar Moreno to get to The Cobra (Atlanta manager Bobby Cox feared the squeeze was on with Frankie & Omar, and so took his shot with Parker, who had hit into two DPs during the contest). Kent Tekulve & Stargell almost became the goats in the 10th. With pinch-runner Rod Gilbreath on, Teke threw wildly to first. Gilbreath made it all the way to third, but held up as 1B Pops ran the ball down and Rod decided not to challenge his arm. Good thing - as Willie went to turn and throw home, he slipped and fell, but the runner had already hit the brakes. It was the Pirates sixth straight win over the Bravos and their 11th-of-12 at TRS.

1983 - 1B Gaby Sanchez was born in Miami, went to the U of Miami and played for the Marlins til the Bucs traded for him in 2012 as the right-hand half of a first base platoon with Garrett Jones and then with Ike Davis. He played for the Bucs through 2014, hitting .241, before going to Japan. He spent a year there and then dropped off the pro ball radar after the Mariners released him in camp the following spring, and now is an analyst for the Fish and the ESPN-ACC Network.

1988 - After a 2-1 loss to the Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Jim Leyland lit into his players in a 15-minute scolding of which “...six minutes were spent throwing nachos all over the place, three minutes were devoted exclusively to expletives and six minutes were the sermon” per Press beat man Bob Hertzel. Vet Andy Van Slyke, for one, thought it was overdue, telling the Post Gazette's Paul Meyer "After the way we've played the last month, you can tell the people of Pittsburgh to start following the Steelers." The tirade centered on playing the game the right way and to quit listening to their agents. It didn’t particularly light the fire Leyland hoped it would, as the team muddled to the finish line, going 14-12 during the rest of the season to finish a distant second to the Mets.

Jim Leyland - Not Always Smilin'/1988 Pirates promo

1991 - “The game had a little bit of everything...” wrote Press beat man Bob Hertzel “...except good baseball.” The Pirates blew three-run-or-better leads three times and a one-run edge in the eighth, but had the last comeback of the night in the ninth when a two-out, two-strike wind-blown fly by Lloyd McClendon kept drifting and clanged off a glove to score Jay Bell. Mac got to be the hero because ump Eric Gregg had run Bobby Bonilla earlier in the game (BB was hot, claiming Gregg brought up his contract during their debate; Bo even flung Barry Bonds halfway to LA when Bonds tried to restore some calm) and so Lloyd was batting in his spot. Stan Belinda and Rosario Rodriguez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, with Belinda getting the 9-8 win and Rodriguez the save at Candlestick.

1992 - Rookie Tim Wakefield, who tossed 129 pitches, came one out away from a complete game win as the Pirates beat the Giants 3-2 at TRS. Bob Patterson came in to get the final out while picking up his ninth save. The Bucs took the lead for good in the sixth inning on a two-run homer from Barry Bonds after Don Slaught’s blast in the fifth provided the first score. The victory was in the midst of a seven game Pirate winning streak and kept the Bucs comfortably in first place by a three game margin; they won the Eastern Division by nine games over the Nats. The game had a little extra spice as two strippers, wearing just G-strings while serving drinks in a private box during a bachelor-party, were escorted out after peep-show complaints from the baseball-only fans in the stands. 

1993 - Jim Leyland returned from a five-game suspension for “provoking a melee” in the last series against LA just in time for a TRS visit from the Dodgers. For his part, Tommy LaSorda didn’t quite get suspended during the prior hubbub, but umpire Eric Gregg did give him the heave-ho this time around as the Pirates rode Paul Wagner and Al Martin to a “welcome home Jimmy” victory, 5-1. Wagner tossed his third complete game (the team had just eight), giving up a run in the opening frame before settling in for an eight-hit complete game win. Martin provided most of the Pirates' points with a three-run homer and four RBI as Tom Candiotti lost for the first time in 16 starts.

Shawon Dunston - 1998 Fleer Tradition

1997 - In front of 43,380 at TRS, newcomer Shawon Dunston (he had been acquired from the Cubs two days earlier and was making his Bucco debut) hit a pair of homers to lead the Freak Show Bucs to a 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. His four RBI powered Jose Silva, with help from the bullpen, to his first MLB victory and helped pull the Pirates to within 1-1/2 games of first, the closest they would come to the top spot during the last month of the campaign.

2009 - The Pirates were swept in a four-game set by the Reds 5-3, the first time they were broomed in Cincinnati since 1975. But it wasn’t all gloom as Garrett Jones hit the club's 10,000th home run since the Bucs joined the NL in 1887. It was a brutal stretch, though - the Pirates were in a 4-22 summer swoon on the way to a 99-loss season. 

2024 -  The Bucco ship was taking on water; they had gone 9-19 since August 1, lost five of their last six games and had their ninth-inning fireman, Dave Bednar, demoted, to be replaced by a closer committee. And they were at Wrigley Field after the Cubs had just buried them three days before, scoring 41 runs and sweeping a three-game set at PNC Park. They went into the eighth inning looking like the same ol’ Buccos, down to Chicago by a 3-0 count. But the baseball gods smiled; a bloop, a bleeder and a Bryan Reynolds blast tied the game, and Cutch followed B-Rey with a long ball of his own to give Pittsburgh the lead (and to keep his 14-game hitting streak alive). Nick Gonzales added an insurance run in the ninth and Dennis Santana, following a scoreless eighth tossed by Aroldis Chapman, put the game to bed for the second save in three days by the reshuffled bullpen now w/o the Renegade.  

2025 - CF/SS Konnor Griffin, the Pirates #1 pick of the 2024 draft (#9 overall) out of Jackson (Mississippi) Prep, was the cover boy for Baseball America’s summer magazine. As BA’s top-ranked prospect (KG was also #1 per MLB Pipeline), he was featured by the article “Bang For The Bucs. In his first year of pro ball, Konnor jumped three minor-league levels and ended the year at AA Altoona; he would be on the big team the following season.

2025 - The Pittsburgh Pirates unveiled a permanent marker at the former site of Three Rivers Stadium (General Robinson Street/Gold Lot 1) to commemorate the first all-minority lineup in MLB history v the Phils on September 1, 1971. The event brought out Greg Brown, Travis Williams, Roberto Clemente, Jr., Dave Cash, Al Oliver, Manny Sanguillen, Steve Blass, Danny Murtaugh’s family, the Heinz History Center, state & local politicos and the PA Historic & Museum Commission.

9/1 Through 1964: Quail Bake, On Top, 5-Game Sweep, 3-A-Day, Pud Run, Game Days, HBD Dave, Vic, Jim, Joe L, Shoemaker & Sam

1877 - Jim “Pud” Galvin and the Alleghenys edged St. Louis in 15 innings, 1-0. Two days earlier, they had beat Milwaukee by the same score in 12 innings. Both games were played in the International Association, making the Alleghenys the first local minor league club; the other area nines were independent/sandlot teams. The Alleghenys finished the season with a 13-6 record, the second best record in the league. The club rostered twelve players in 1877, all of whom later made it to the majors, and was managed by Denny McKnight, a lifelong Pittsburgh native who also served as the International Association's president. The team folded the next season, not to return in name until the 1882 campaign as an American Association club, unrelated to the old Alleghenys but the forebears of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1890 - On Labor Day at Washington Park, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, who later became the Dodgers, won all three games against Pittsburgh in the first tripleheader ever played. The home team swept the visiting Alleghenys, who were rebranded as the Pirates next season, 10-9 (The Alleghenys scored nine times in the ninth inning with Doggie Miller tossed out at home trying to stretch a triple into a game-tying homer), 3-2, and 8-4. Allegheny hurler Dave Anderson went the distance for games two and three and took both losses (ouch). The Alleghenys then lost to them the next day 5-4 to run their losing streak to 23 games. The Pittsburgh franchise would also play MLB’s last tripleheader in 1920 against the Cincinnati Reds, doing a bit better by winning one of the contests.

1890 - C Olaf “Sam” (his middle name was Selmar) Brenegan was born in Galesville, Wisconsin. He caught a couple innings for the 1914 Pirates, not long enough to get an at bat but long enough to allow a passed ball. Per Paul Dickson’s “Baseball Dictionary,” his passed ball came about when he was hit in the hand with the pitch, which popped out and allowed a baserunner to advance. For some time afterwards, any catcher who took a ball off his bare hand was said to have "pulled a brenegan." Even with that rep, he played pro ball until 1919, closing out his baseball days at St. Joseph’s in the Western League.

Pgh Dispatch 9/2/1892 via W. Pa History

1892 - The Homestead Messenger’s headline was “Baldwin Bagged - Pirates Prize Pitcher Charged With Riot.” The Pirates Mark "Fido" Baldwin was arrested in his hometown of Homestead (his dad sold real estate & insurance there) on charges of riot and providing the Carnegie Steel strikers with weapons. Baldwin posted a $2‚000 bond and claimed to be an innocent onlooker, not a participant, in the mill melee. Fido was indicted on the charges but never brought to trial. On the diamond, he finished the year with a 26-27/3.47 slash, pitching 440-1/3 IP in 56 games, but had a contract squabble and was released the following season after making just one outing. Following baseball, Fido became a MD and worked out of North Side’s Passavant Hospital.

1894 - OF Fred “Shoemaker” Nicholson was born in Honey Grove, Texas. Claimed from the Detroit Tigers, he played for the Bucs from 1919-20 as a platoon outfielder and pinch-hitter, putting up a .342/.389/.505 slash during those seasons. Nicholson left the team as part of the 1921 Rabbit Maranville deal and spent a couple of years with the Boston Braves before settling into a minor league career that lasted through 1935, when he was 40-years-old.

1905 - Per the Pittsburgh Press, on this date Honus Wagner gave Hillerich & Bradsby permission to brand his name on their Louisville Slugger bat. The Louisville-based company knew all about Hans and his rep as he had spent his first three seasons with the Colonels. This is thought to be the first equipment endorsement ever made by a player and opened a lucrative side gig for athletes.

1917 - The Pirates lost their third straight 1-0 game to the St. Louis Cardinals at Robison Field. The Cards, behind the pitching of Red Ames, Oscar Horstmann and Milt Watson, won their tag team match against Bob Steele, Wilbur Cooper and Hal Carlson. The back-to-back-to-back 1-0 wins tied the Redbirds for the MLB mark and set a new National League standard.

Joe Brown - 1985 photo George Gojkovich/Getty

1918 - GM Joe L Brown was born in New York City. Brown served as the general manager from November 1st, 1955, through the end of the 1976 season, replacing mentor Branch Rickey. Under his watch, the Pirates became world champions in 1960 and 1971. Ever a loyal Pirate, after a decade of serving as a Southern California-based scout for the Bucs, Brown was called back in 1985 to serve as acting GM when the Pirates, rocked by a drug scandal, poor play and falling attendance, were sold by the Galbreath family to a local group. He oversaw the transition and acted as a bridge between GMs Pete Peterson and Syd Thrift.

1919 - RHP Jim Hopper was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. His MLB career was spent with the 1946 Pirates; he gave up five runs in four innings. Jim could be forgiven - he won 30 games in two minor league seasons, but lost his edge after serving two years in the military, returning in ‘46. He was done with pro ball after the 1949 season, spent in Class D.

1922 - IF Vic Barnhart was born in Hagerstown, Maryland. Vic got cups of coffee in 1945 & 1947, seeing almost all of his playing time in 1946 for the Pirates. That was his MLB career - 74 games and a decent .270 BA. He spent five years in the minors (he refused a 1947 trade to the Dodgers) before retiring. He then worked for the Maryland Correctional Institute where he was the Athletic Director. Vic’s dad was Clyde Barnhart, who played nine years for the Bucs through the 1920s.  

1925 - The Buccos defeated the Philadelphia Phils 10-3 to sweep a five-game series at the Baker Bowl. The Pirates outscored Philadelphia 54-18 during the set, scoring 10 or more runs in every game. Pie Traynor had four hits while Earl Smith (w/four RBI) and winning pitcher Vic Aldridge added three knocks and a homer apiece. That Pittsburgh club won the National League title, the World Series and their 912 runs scored were the most tallied by the franchise in the modern era. (their predecessors, the Alleghenys of 1893-94, put up 970 & 965 runs, averaging over seven runs per game!)

Earl Smith - 1925 Pgh Press

1927 - The Pirates tied for the NL’s top spot by beating the Cubs 4-3 at Forbes Field. Joe Harris homered and doubled with two runs & two RBI to back Lee Meadows. The Waner brothers cut down Chicago runners at home and third. The Bucs whipped the Cards the next day to take sole possession of first place and never looked back, winning a sizzling pennant race by 1-1/2 games.

1942 - IF Burgess Whitehead was traded by Toronto of the International League to the Bucs for a PTBNL (RHP Dick Conger). Whitehead was to finish out the season in the IL. But he joined the Army Air Corps in the offseason, and the Pirates lost him until 1946, after his service obligation ended. Burgess played one more season, batting .200 after his three-year layoff, and that dropped the curtain on his MLB days. Conger was a minor league ace but only had 19 games in the big leagues over four seasons for three teams; he was a Marine from 1944-46.

1950 - The sad-sack Pirates (they finished 57-96, last in the NL) had a rare day of dominance by blasting the St. Louis Cardinals by a 10-4 tally at Forbes Field in front of a crowd of 12,589 rooters. Bill Werle scattered nine hits with eight whiffs and was amply backed by a 14-rap attack. Johnny Berardino hit the only Pittsburgh homer of his career while Wally Westlake, Bob Dillinger and Jack Phillips (Wally, Jack & Johnny batted back-to-back-back in the 5-6-7 spots) joined Berardino with three hits during the day. It was the start of a sweep; the Redbirds were the only team that the Bucs claimed a winning record against in ‘50 at 12-9.

1957 - LHP Dave Rucker was born in San Bernardino, California. Rucker was a seven-year MLB vet who tossed his last campaign in 1988 for the Pirates with an 0-2/4.76 slash in 31 games. He joined Dan Quisenberry and Ewell Blackwell as LaVerne University Leopards that made it to the show. The hurler also tossed for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies, becoming a baseball/softball instructor after he hung ‘em up.

1963 - The “Quail,” CF’er Bill Virdon, hit a two-out walkoff grand slam, set up by a single sandwiched between two walks, to defeat the Reds 6-4 at Forbes Field. Al Worthington, Cincy’s third pitcher of the inning, was the victim of Virdon’s dramatic shot. Willie Stargell drove in the earlier tallies with a homer and double while Earl Francis, the third Buc pitcher, got the win.

9/1 From 1965: Key Debut, Brault Ball, Bucs Black Lineup, Aces Trumped, Game Days, Grants Goes, Cam Stays, Umps Out, HBD Antwone

1965 - The Bucs laid losses on aces Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale on the same day during a Forbes Field twinbill with last at-bat rallies. The Pirates defeated Koufax 3-2 in 11 innings in the opener and then beat Drysdale 2-1 in the nitecap. Joe Gibbon and Vern Law picked up the victories. Jim Pagliaroni doubled home Willie Stargell to walk off the opener while Bill Virdon scored on a two-out error in the eighth to take the nitecap. The day wasn’t a complete wash for da Bums as Sandy Koufax set a record for K’s by a lefty with 307 when he fanned Willie Stargell in the fourth inning of the lidlifter. It was the Bucs 12th win in 14 games, moving them within 2-1/2 games of LA in a tight, five-team NL flag chase. Alas, though they won 90 games, the Pirates finished third in the NL race, seven games behind LA, the eventual World Series champs.

1967 - Woodie Fryman had missed a good chunk of his second campaign and at 2-7 was a bit underwhelming when healthy, but the lefty showed his promise by fanning 15 Phils in a complete game three-hitter, winning 3-0 at Forbes Field. He fell one short of the team single-game record of 16 K held by Bob Veale, who had just set the standard a year earlier. Woodie added a hit to the cause and scored the Pirates second run; an error led to the first tally for Pittsburgh, with Maury Wills and Bill Mazeroski later chasing home the insurance markers. They also reinforced the big league roster with September call-ups that included pitchers Bob Moose, Dock Ellis & Luke Walker, outfielder Al Oliver and first baseman Bob Robertson. Adding another iron to the fire, UPI reported that the Pirates were looking to add Gil Hodges to their ‘68 manager candidate list, a job that eventually went to Larry Shephard.

1971 - The Pirates fielded baseball's first non-Negro League, all-black lineup 24 years after Jackie Robinson broke the NL/AL color line in a 10-7 win over the Phillies at TRS. The card read: Rennie Stennett (2B), Gene Clines (CF), Roberto Clemente (RF), Willie Stargell (LF), Manny Sanguillen (C), Dave Cash (3B), Al Oliver (1B), Jackie Hernández (SS) and Dock Ellis (P). Richie Hebner (3B) and Gene Alley (SS) were both injured, with Stennett (Cash moved from 2B to 3B) and Hernandez filling in. The usual 1B, Bob Robertson, got a rest day, so Scoops moved to the infield and Clines took center. They played pretty well; seven starters reached base, seven drove in a run or more and seven scored at least once. The historic lineup went almost unnoticed in Pittsburgh as both newspapers were on strike. Bob Prince and Nellie King, the radio team, mentioned it in passing, and Bill Guilfoile, the Pirate PR man, said he would have to check the records after the game to see if it really was the first all-black lineup (in 1967, Harry Walker had a lineup with eight black position players, but Dennis Ribant was on the hill). Even Al Oliver said "When we took the field we didn’t give it any thought. It was probably about the third inning when I finally looked at Cash and said, ‘We’ve got all brothers out here, man.’" It took the PA Historical Commission longer for the light to dawn; they didn’t OK a marker of the event until 2022.

Black Lineup - 1972 Topps

1973 - Bruce Kison and some timely glovework put the Pirates into a virtual first-place tie (actually, they were .0001 percentage points ahead of St. Louis) with a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at TRS. Kison went eight innings, giving up four hits & four walks, while Dave Giusti worked the final frame for the win. Chi-town’s Burt Hooton was equally tough, having surrendered just three hits going into the ninth before the Bucs struck. With an out, Richie Hebner singled and Al Oliver doubled. An intentional walk loaded the bases for Richie Zisk, who got ahead 2-0 before banging the next pitch over a shallow outfield for the walkoff win. The mittmen bailed out their hurlers, as they turned three DP’s (one via strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out) and cut down another Bruin trying to go from first-to-third.

1974 - The Major League Scouting Bureau, the offspring of the 60’s Central Scouting Bureau, was founded to cut costs and centralize scouting, with Pirates GM Joe Brown being one of its early movers. Membership wasn’t mandatory until 1984 when the bureau was made a part of the Commissioner’s Office, and it now supplements the individual teams’ scouting operations.
 
1979 - Chuck Tanner sent reliever Kent Tekulve from the mound to left field and brought in southpaw Grant Jackson to face lefty Darrell Evans against the Giants with two down in the ninth. (He wanted Tekulve available in case Evans got aboard.) Evans hit a fly to Teke, who waved his arms to call off a distant but closing Omar Moreno and made the catch to finish the game, a 5-3 Bucco win in the opener of a DH at Candlestick Park. It was Teke’s only showing in the field other than the hill during his entire 16-year MLB career. Willie Stargell had two homers and Dale Berra added another in support of the Bruce Kison win. Jim Bibby pitched the Bucs to a 7-2 sweep in the nitecap, backed by Lee Lacy’s three hits that included a homer with two runs scored and three RBI.

1981 - Pittsburgh sold 38-year-old LHP Grant Jackson to the Montreal Expos for $50,000. He had been with the Bucs since 1977 and posted a line of 29-19-36/3.23 in 278 outings during that span. Buck was at his best in the 1979 post season, giving up no runs and a hit in six outings against the Reds and Orioles. 1982 was his last campaign; he finished out his 18-year career with a final appearance with Pittsburgh before becoming a Pirates coach from 1983-85. 

Grant Jackson - 1981 Topps

1998 - GM Cam Bonifay, who had been rumored to be in line for the Dodgers job, squelched that speculation by signing a three-year contract extension with the Bucs, carrying him through the 2003 season. It was a big deal; after the 1997 campaign, The Sporting News had named Bonifay as the MLB Executive of the Year. Cam had been Pittsburgh’s GM since 1993, when he replaced Ted Simmons, who had left for health reasons.

1999 -  A federal judge worked out a settlement that cost 22 umpires their jobs. They were among the 57 who resigned in mid-July in an effort to get negotiations between Richie Phillips’ ump union and MLB on a fast track; it backfired, and the gung-ho 22 who had quit (the others had rescinded their resignations when MLB hired permanent replacements for the missing boys in blue) found themselves without a job. The league said they’d pay their salary to the end of the season and they could grieve to get their jobs back, with the proviso that the costs of arbitrating the judges decision would be deducted from their final settlement. That was the final nail in Phillips’ coffin; his Major League Umpires Association was replaced by the World Umpires Association. As for the 22 umps, half returned to the field; the other half were permanently retired with a severance bonus. 

2000 - The Pirates had a textbook Jekyll and Hyde performance in September. They began the month with a 3-2 win at San Diego, igniting a six-game winning streak while on the West Coast and running the skein up to eight straight victories before returning home and falling to the Reds after taking the first pair of a four-game set, which triggered a nine-game losing funk. They closed out the month hot again, winning eight-of-twelve. It was apropos of nothing, though - they finished the year with just 69 wins and then lost 100 games in 2001.

2003 - RHP Antwone Kelly was born in Oranjestad, Aruba. The Pirates signed him in 2021; two years later he was pitching for the Dutch WBC team; he also tossed for the ‘26 club. He started at Indy for the Pirates in 2026, and Antwone made his big league debut on June 12, 2026 against the Marlins, giving up a two-run homer in 2-2/3 IP and then being optioned back to Indy. He became a Pirates yo-yo, bouncing back & fourth during the year. 

Craig Wilson - 2004 Fleer Ultra

2004 - The sputtering Bucco offense was rescued at the last minute by Craig Wilson, who drilled a last-gasp, two-out homer in the ninth inning off closer Dan Kolb to tie the Milwaukee Brewers 2-2 at Miller Field. The Pirate attack woke up in the 10th when Ty Wigginton’s two-out, bases-loaded infield knock plated a run and Jose Castillo provided the insurance with a two-run two-bagger. Ryan Vogelsong started for Pittsburgh, with the 5-2 win going to Salomon Torres and the save to Jose Mesa. The Pirates' first run was scored by Jack Wilson, who was chased home by Daryle Ward’s double.

2013 - The opening pitch was tossed out not by a human celebrity, but by a trebuchet (a catapult), designed by the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. The first machine to ever toss a ceremonial ball at PNC Park (it was named “Rookie of the Gear”), it delivered a strike to the Pirate Parrot 10 minutes before the game against the St. Louis Cards was to begin. The Bucs might have been better off keeping the contraption on the hill, as they lost to the Redbirds, 7-2.

2019 - Steven Brault had a day to remember against the Rox at Coors Field. He got a 6-2 win, lasting 6-2/3 IP and starting the game off with 69 consecutive fastballs (77 of his 82 pitches would be heaters) to help counter a rough second half of the season. To add the cherry on top, he belted a 441’ homer, his first big league long fly, to cap off a year that saw Steven bat .333 (he was used a pinch hitter eight times during the campaign).  

2020 - Scott Mitchell of The Sporting News reported that the Blue Jays were on the doorstep of a deadline deal to acquire Joe Musgrove from the Pirates with C Alejandro Kirk offered as part of an otherwise unspecified Toronto package, but the deal fell apart at the eleventh hour, with the kicker thought to be Musgrove’s health. Toronto instead acquired Robbie Ray and Ross Stripling to bolster their rotation and wisely held on to Kirk. The Pirates moved Big Joe during the ‘21 offseason to his hometown San Diego Padres for David Bednar, Endy Rodriguez, Omar Cruz, Drake Fellows, and Hudson Head.

Ke'Bryan Hayes - 2020 Panini Prizm Now On Deck

2020 - Ke’Bryan Hayes took his Bucco bow when he opened his career at PNC Park in front of zero fans as the ballyards were in Covid lockdown. He doubled in the sixth frame for his first MLB hit and then homered to tie the game in the eighth inning, becoming the first Pirates player since Walter Mueller in 1922 to debut with two extra-base hits. Key scored three times and drove in two runs, but it wasn’t enough as Pittsburgh lost 8-7 to the Chicago Cubs in 11 innings.

2021 - The Pirates were on the road, so the 50th anniversary of MLB’s first all-black lineup (non-Negro League) instead was celebrated locally at a round table event held at the Heinz History Center’s Sports Museum. The speakers, all who played that day, were Dave Cash, Al Oliver, Manny Sanguillen and Gene Clines, along with Roberto Clemente, Jr. Mayor Bill Peduto stopped by to speechify and presented the Pirates with a proclamation commemorating the event.