7/13 From 1975: Todd Tuff, Long Sweep, Game Days, Team Talk, Hans All-Century, Littlefield Era, Seth Drafted, HBD Casey & Ryan

1978 – OF Ryan Ludwick was born in Satellite Beach, Florida. The 32-year-old vet was purchased from San Diego at the 2011 deadline and hit .232 with two homers in his brief Bucco stay. He left after the season to join the Reds, where he ended his playing days after the 2014 campaign. Ludwick is now a roving hitting instructor for St. Louis’ minor league teams.

1983 – The Bucs raced ahead of the Giants 5-0 but frittered away the lead by the ninth to fall behind 6-5 at Candlestick Park. With two down and Greg Minton on the hill, Johnny Ray bombed a tying homer to right, then the baseball gods smiled. Mike Easler hit a drive the opposite way that would have hit off the wall, but as LF Jeffrey Leonard tried for a leaping catch, the ball ticked off his glove and cleared the fence to give The Hit Man a game-winning four-bagger. Kent Tekulve pitched a clean ninth to save the game for Manny Sarmiento. The victory gave the Pirates a three-game sweep of San Francisco during a 9-1 West Coast swing.

1984 – The Pirates swept the Giants in a Three Rivers Stadium twilight (it started at 5:05) double-dipper by 8-2 and 4-3 scores. The first game featured four RBI from Lee Lacy and three hits from Lee Mazzilli as John Candelaria got the win with help from Kent Tekulve. For Candyman, it was his 12th consecutive July win. The second one, well, that victory was a little tougher to come by – it went 18 innings and five hours, 11 minutes before Jason Thompson’s knock chased Mazzilli home with the game winner. It was Thompson’s second RBI; Jim Morrison also had two RBI while Tony Pena collected three hits and scored twice. The two teams used nine pitchers; Teke gave up runs in the eighth and ninth to let the G-Men knot the score. The bullpens ruled; San Francisco’s pen tossed 10 shutout innings; the Bucco relief corps put up nine zippos, seven by Don Robinson. The game ended at 1:32 AM; the Zambelli fireworks were still shot off, much to the dismay of sleeping ‘Burgers, but per the Pittsburgh Press, most of the 22,176 at the yard happily stayed to the end for the show.

1990 – RHP Casey Sadler was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Drafted in the 25th round of the 2010 draft, he worked seven games (one start) for the Pirates in 2014-15, slashing 1-1/6.46. Sadler missed the 2016 season due to TJ surgery and after some bouncing around with five MLB stops through six seasons, he retired in 2024 after posting a 6-4-1/2.86 career slash for five clubs.

Casey Sadler – 2015 photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates

1998 – After dropping a twin bill for their sixth loss in a row and 13th defeat in 16 games, Kevin Young asked manager Gene Lamont for the OK to hold a players-only team meeting for the struggling Bucs. Permission was granted and he, Al Martin, Jason Kendall & Jose Guillen spoke, touching on the teams’ inexperienced but talented roster and the need to grow and progress. Martin said it was “It was more of a family talk…We wanted to get everything out in the open.” It worked that night as the Bucs beat the Cubs, 6-2, behind Jon Lieber and an inside-the-park homer by Tony Womack, the 500th in franchise history. It launched the club on an 8-of-11 victory run, but it was just a temporary fix as the Pirates still finished last in the division with 69 wins, 33 games back.

1999 – Honus Wagner was named to the All-Century team selected by fan vote and honored at the All-Star game. Locals included on the ballot of the were Negro League standouts Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson, along with Buccos Wagner, Hank Greenberg, Pie Traynor, Barry Bonds, Roberto Clemente, Ralph Kiner, Willie Stargell and Paul Waner.

2001 – Lotta pitching goin’ on: Todd Ritchie lost a no hitter against the Royals when Luis Alicea bounced a one-out, ninth-inning single through the infield. Todd shook it off and served up a DP ball to cruise out. He got his well earned dub in the bottom half of the frame when Aramis Ramirez singled through a drawn-in infield to score Brian Giles – it was A-Ram’s third walk-off hit of the campaign – for a 1-0 win at PNC Park and the Pirates second consecutive shutout win. It was a well-pitched series: Jimmy Anderson and Mike Williams had combined for a 2-0 whitewash against Kansas City the day before, with Kevin Young’s two-run homer being the only offense du jour. 

2001 – Dave Littlefield began his term as GM, replacing Cam Bonifay. Hampered by ongoing financial restraints, he was noted for a stretch of losing seasons, yo-yo rental players and the erosion of both the farm system and the Latino player market, although he did have some successes. He drafted Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker and hired Rene Gayo to scout Latin America. Littlefield was fired in 2007 and eventually replaced by Neal Huntington.

Starling Marte – 2019 Topps

2019 – The Chicago Cubs spanked the Buccos at Wrigley Field 10-4 but Starling Marte showed up, banging two homers. That pair of long balls made him the second speed/power (100 HR, 200 SB) club member of the Bucs franchise, joining 1991 founder Barry Bonds.