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7/28 Through the 1980s: Gunner Nite, Josh Jack, Tony Rolls 7, Game Days, Gus-Max, SI Frank, Cobra Out, Arky HoF, HBD Carmelo, Chet the Jet, Bill & Duke

Tuesday, July 28, 2026 7:33

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1867 – LHP Duke Esper (birth name: Charles H. Esbacher) was born in Salem, New Jersey. Duke spent nine seasons in the show and made a pair of brief stops, once with the Alleghenys (1890, 0-2/5.29) and another with the Pirates (1892, 2-0/5.40). In between those stints, Duke won 36 games, including 20 with Philadelphia in 1891, in 59 outings (both Pittsburgh years were split seasons). He posted a 101-100/4.39 lifetime slash before retiring after the 1898 campaign.

1867 – RHP Bill Day was born in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. Bill had a 14-game MLB career with the Phils from 1889-90 and the ‘90 Alleghenys, going 0-6/5.52 in six starts after the North Siders sent OF Billy Sunday to the Quakers for him and $1,000 in an early salary dump. He hung around pro ball until 1904, closing out his ballplaying days in the Connecticut League.

1908 – Vic Willis and the NY Giants Hooks Wiltse battled to a 2-2 tie at the Polo Grounds, working 16 frames before the game was called because of darkness. The Pittsburgh Press called it “A fitting finish to a great baseball series. Willis and Wiltse pitched high class baseball and their comrades supported them in grand style. The twirlers were cheered to the echo on leaving the slab after innings of excitement where they had baffled their foes.” The Pirates took 2-of-3 while drawing 70,000 fans during the four-game series, a huge gate for the era.

1932 – Scout Chet Montgomery was born in Warsaw, Kentucky. The Western Kentucky alum was known as “Chet the Jet” for his speed on the diamond and basketball court, but never played organized pro ball. After graduation, he became a high school hoops coach, then scouted for the Bucs (1963-67), Cincinnati Reds, and Cleveland Indians before returning to the Pirates as Special Assistant to the General Manager and Director of Player Development for a decade.

1932 - Pittsburgh swept a twin bill from the New York Giants, winning the matches by 10-7 and 9-1 counts. Earl Grace had three hits and three RBI during the lidlifter to pace the Pirate attack. Paul Waner and Adam Comorosky also had three raps as the Bucs banged out 16 hits, 14 of which were singles. Erv Brame got the win in relief of Steve Swetonic while Larry French picked up the save. In the nitecap, Tony Piet smacked a grand slam and three-run homer to go along with two more hits for a seven RBI, three-run day to allow Heinie Meine to cruise to the win despite giving up 10 hits.

Josh Gibson – 2005 Topps Pristine Legends

1938 – At Zanesville, Ohio’s Mark Grey Park (admittedly a bandbox), Josh Gibson led the Grays to a 17-4 win over the Memphis Red Sox with four home runs (two in one inning), the only four-homer game ever recorded in the Negro Leagues. The Negro National League champion Homestead Grays absolutely dominated the Red Sox, going 10-0 against them, including nine wins in a late July barnstorming series through the Midwest that included this game. Because no official box score or score card has been found, the game wasn’t counted in Gibson’s statistics.

1939 – The Pirates traded veteran 1B Gus Suhr to the Phillies for RHP Max Butcher. Suhr was nearing the end of his career (he was released after playing just 10 games in 1940, his last MLB season), but Butcher became a mainstay for the Bucs. He pitched for seven years, made 154 starts and won 67 games in Pittsburgh before hanging ‘em up after the 1945 campaign.

1940 – The Pirates won their eighth of nine games and fifth in a row by sweeping Boston at Braves Field by 5-2 and 7-3 scores. Maurice Van Robays was the white knight of the opening match, homering and driving in three runs to give Dick Lanahan all the support he needed. The Bucs used a balanced attack to support Max Butcher’s four-hit victory in the nitecap.

1958 – Frank Thomas was featured as the cover story of Sports Illustrated in an article titled “Nobody Knows Him But Everybody Wants Him.” In case you’re among the gang that doesn’t know him, the Pittsburgh native hit 163 homers in eight years as a Bucco (1951-58) and 286 bombs in his 16 seasons in the majors. He was an All Star three times during his Bucco career.

1960 – 1B/OF Carmelo Martinez was born in Dorado, Puerto Rico. Carmelo (he’s Edgar’s cousin) spent parts of the tail end of his nine-year career with the Pirates. The Pirates got him in 1990 as part of the Wes Chamberlain deal with the Phillies and then sent him to Kansas City for Victor Coles in May of the following year. Martinez didn’t see much action in that span, getting in 23 games and hitting .229. He worked in the Cubs system before becoming a Mexican League coach. Carmelo entered the Puerto Rico Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025 and is a coach with the Senadores de San Juan per Tony Menendez.

Al McBean – 1968 Topps

1968 – Al McBean had one of those can-do-no-wrong Sundays. He gave up 13 hits to the Cards at Forbes Field, but still went the distance for a 7-1 win as the Redbirds stranded a dozen baserunners and went 1-for-14 with RISP. The big blow? McBean’s grand slam, coming with two down after Milt May was walked to get to Alvin. He also had fun on the hill, tossing several blooper pitches to the Giants in the ninth. Donn Clendenon added a two-run blast. McBean became one of six Pirates pitchers in franchise history to bang out a grannie.

1971 – Luke Walker spun a four-hit, complete game whitewash at Los Angeles in a 4-0 win at Dodger Stadium. Bob Robertson homered and had a sac fly to bring home two runs. The Bucs nickeled and dimed the Dodgers; every position player had a hit, four different guys scored and three had RBI as the club put up their runs one at a time in four different frames.

1972 – It was “Bob Prince Night” at TRS and 39,035 fans turned out for the event. As Bob Smizik wrote in the Pittsburgh Press “…he is listened to by just about everyone. And there are some who don’t like him. But many, many more see through his exterior to the man inside.” The Gunner requested that any money raised go to his pet project, the Allegheny Valley School for Exceptional Children, and Pirates nation kicked in over $75,000. The Bucs defeated Tom Seaver and the Mets 3-1 behind Dock Ellis’ complete game seven-hitter, a Willie Stargell homer and a timely DP started by Dave Cash off an Ed Kranepool smash to bail the Docktor out of his biggest jam.

1976 - Richie Hebner cracked a homer in the 13th frame to top the Mets 1-0 at Shea Stadium to cap a 3-for-5 day. The big fly to right decided a pitching duel started by Tom Seaver and Doc Medich and ended with relievers Ken Sanders and Dave Giusti getting the decisions. Hebner was playing out his option year without a new contract after rejecting Joe Brown’s 20% cut offer in March, and it was part of a hot finish that saw the Gravedigger raise his BA from .192 on May 31st to .249 at season’s end. It didn’t bridge the gap as Richie signed a $550,000 multi-year deal with the Phils after the season, a bid that easily beat the Bucs offer.

Bill Robinson – 1977 Burger Chef

1977 – Twelve Bucco batters reached against Dan Larsen of the Astros in the first two innings (Pittsburgh rattled off six straight hits in the first frame) to open up a 5-1 lead and then added on via a Bill Robinson grand slam to claim a 9-4 decision over Houston at TRS. Robinson had three hits while Phil Garner, Dave Parker, Al Oliver and Ed Ott added a pair of knocks to back a sometimes shaky Jim Rooker (he gave up nine hits, including a pair of long balls), who went tape-to-tape for the win. Pittsburgh was en fuego at home; the victory gave them a 38-14 record at Three Rivers for the year. It was also the beginning of a Robby big blast bash – he hit another granny on the 30th, then started off August with a pair of three-run blasts on the 2nd and 5th.

1982 – The Pirates were dealt a heavy blow when Dave Parker ruptured a thumb ligament while legging out a hustle double against the Phils. The Cobra required surgery and was out of action until September 11th. Even then, he only played two complete games and had little power, getting into just 12 contests and managing 20 at bats, with two doubles and no homers.

1985 – SS Arky Vaughan was enshrined at the Hall of Fame. After missing out on the writers’ vote, the Veterans’ Committee paid Vaughan his dues. Arky was an MVP in 1935 when he hit .385, was a six-time All Star, hit .318 during his decade with the Bucs, never hitting under .300.

1987 – Barry Bonds hit 176 homers while wearing the Bucco colors, but only one was an inside-the-park base circle. In an otherwise blah 5-2 loss to the Phillies at TRS, rookie Bonds drilled a two-out liner to right off Shane Rawley that kicked around, allowing him and Junior Ortiz to score the only Pirates tallies of the day. “Glenn Wilson tried to cut the ball off and missed it,” Rawley recalled for the AP. “It rolled around the corner and ricocheted all the way around. By the time he got the ball, there was no way to get Barry.” The hit was payback for Bonds, who Rawley had plunked twice. It was the first of three Bonds’ homers that didn’t clear the fence among his 762 long flies, with the other two hit in 1997 with the Giants.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2026/07/728-through-1980s-gunner-nite-josh-jack.html

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