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9/8 From 1960: Cobra & Jose Slams, Scoop Swats, Game Days, Lonnie & Ramon Go, Bonds POTW, SI Cutch, HBD Gerrit & Mike

Tuesday, September 8, 2026 7:01

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1960 – A special meeting of the County Commissioners set the estimated date for a new North Side stadium for 1964 after talks with the railroad to relocate its yards, with an estimated price tag of $18M. That was just a little off; it took until 1970 for TRS to open, and the bill was $55M.

1966 – RHP Mike Dyer was born in Upland, California. He spent the middle of his four-year MLB tenure with the Pirates in 1994-95, getting a lot of work in the second campaign (55 appearances, 74+ IP) but put up a disappointing line of 5-6-4/4.60 as too few K’s and too many BBs took their toll. Mike got one more chance with Montreal in 1996, put up another so-so slash and that ended his big league run, with his last year (2000) spent in the indie leagues.

1967 – The Pirates and Cardinals were in frustration mode, combining for 23 hits and 13 walks while stranding 25 runners and going 2-for-24 with RISP. But they put together a pretty interesting ballgame at Forbes Field, with the Bucs taking a 10-inning 4-3 decision from the Redbirds. Trailing 3-1 going into the seventh, Manny Jimenez doubled Billy Maz home to cut the lead to one and then Gene Alley tied it in the eighth, doubling home Roberto Clemente. Pittsburgh left the bases loaded in the ninth and the Cards stranded a pair in the 10th. Alley was the hero again in the Pittsburgh half. He led off with a triple and two intentional walks loaded the bases before Maury Wills singled to give Bruce Dal Canton the win.

1968 – Bob Veale outdueled the Mets Tom Terrific at Forbes Field, scattering six hits in a 3-0 Bucco victory. His main support came from an unlikely source – 33-year-old Jose Pagan, batting just .212, banged a solo homer and singled home Donn Clendenon, whose triple had plated Willie Stargell, to push the attack.

Jose Martinez – 1970 Topps

1969 – The Bucs fell behind 2-0 in the first against Montreal at Jarry Park and it stayed that way for most of the chilly night. The Pirates warmed up just in time, plating an unearned run in the eighth and scoring five times in the ninth to rally past the Expos, 6-4. A single, intentional walk and two errors tied the game for Pittsburgh and loaded the bases for rookie utilityman Jose Martinez, who entered the game as a pinch runner and stayed to play short. He banged his first (and only) big league homer into the left field seats to give Chuck Hartenstein the win, with Bruce Dal Canton picking up the save. Gene Alley stretched his hitting streak to 21 games; it reached 22 before the Cards ended his run.

1971 – Steve Blass provided the arm and Al Oliver the muscle as the Bucs rolled over the Cub 10-1 at TRS for their ninth win in 10 games. Blass tossed a complete game six-hitter while Scoops drove in the first four runs – he had five RBI on the night with three hits, including a homer and double – as the Pirates whittled their magic number against the Cards down to 13.

1974 – Dave Parker broke up a tight game with an eighth-inning grand slam off Tom Walker (yep, Neil’s dad; he pitched in six MLB campaigns for five different teams, although never for the Pirates) as the Bucs beat the Montreal Expos 8-2 at TRS. It was the Cobra’s only at-bat; he came in as a pinch hitter for Frank Taveras. Jim Rooker tossed a six-hitter for the win. It marked the Pirates sixth straight victory and 25th win in the past 31 games.

1976 – 35-year-old LHP Ramon Hernandez, who was dangled on waivers after being a Bucco backend bullpen mainstay since 1971, had his contract sold to the Chicago Cubs. He was on his way out the MLB door; the Cubs traded him to the Red Sox and he was released in 1977.

Ramon Hernandez – 1976 Topps

1988 – The Pirates fell into a September swoon that continued at TRS with a 5-4 loss to Montreal despite Barry Bonds homering on the first pitch as the Bucs leadoff guy. But the fans never gave up on their 85-win (NL East runnerup to the Mets) Buccos, breaking the 1960 attendance record when 1,707,481 rooters spun the turnstiles (1,866,713 was the season-ending total). The record was short lived; the 1990 playoff team became the first Pirates club to draw over 2M fans.

1990 – RHP Gerrit Cole was born in Newport Beach, California. The UCLA grad was selected by the Pirates with the first overall selection in the 2011 MLB Draft and signed to an $8M bonus minutes before the deadline. He made his debut in the show on June 11th, 2013, going 6-1/3 IP to beat the Giants, 8-2, and found a home in 2020 tossing for the Yankees after being traded to Houston in early 2018 for RHP Joe Musgrove, 3B Colin Moran, RHP Michael Feliz and OF Jason Martin. In five years, he posted a Pirates slash of 57-42/3.50.

1992 – OF Barry Bonds was named the NL Player of the Week. He went 7-for-14 with four homers and 13! walks, scoring 10 runs and chasing home seven Buccos while swiping two sacks. BB had an OBP of .741, reaching base 20 times in 27 appearances. He continued to be hot by collecting three hits, including a homer, on the same day his award was announced to lead the Pirates to a 5-3 win over Chicago and a streak of six wins in seven games.

1993 – OF Lonnie Smith (.286, six HR) was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for PTBNL: OF/1B Stanton Cameron and LHP Terry Farrar. Smith, who the Bucs had signed in January for $1M, did next to nothing for the O’s and was out of baseball after the 1994 season while the Bird’s duo were both playing indie ball by 1996.

Lonnie Smith – 1993 Upper Deck

1998 – Things looked bad for the Buccos; after four innings at TRS, it was already 7-0 in favor of Milwaukee. But the Pirates pen was stellar, spinning five innings of two-hit, seven-K work in relief of Francisco Cordova and allowed the bats time to warm up. Pittsburgh tallied a pair in the fifth and then got serious in the seventh, scoring four times (Emil Brown’s two-out, bases-loaded double was the big blow) to make it a 7-6 contest. In the eighth, a double steal put Pirates at second and third with two gone, and Jose Guillen’s first-pitch knock sent them both home. Rick Loisell tossed a scoreless ninth to save the 8-7 win for Mike Williams.

2000 – Pittsburgh swept the Reds 7-3 and 3-1 to run their season-best winning streak to eight games at Three Rivers Stadium (it ended the next day, beginning a nine-game losing streak). Todd Ritchie won the opener and Marc Wilkins, one of seven Pirate pitchers, took the nitecap victory. Alex Hernandez had three hits on the day, including a homer and triple. Adam Hyzdu made his MLB debut in the second game, going 1-for-3 and banging out his first MLB hit, a third-inning single off Ron Villone in his first at bat.

2005 – Jason Bay hit a two-run homer with one away in the ninth frame to knot the count after Arizona scored three times in their half to take a 7-5 lead. The Bucs took advantage when Humberto Cota delivered a walk-off single in the 12th inning to score Rob Mackowiak as the Pirates defeated the Diamondbacks, 8-7, at PNC Park. Nat McLouth added three hits and Rick White, Pittsburgh’s seventh pitcher, stranded a runner at third to claim the victory.

2014 – Andrew McCutchen was the cover boy on Sports Illustrated for the second time in his career. He was featured in Albert Chen’s article “Andrew McCutchen Goes Deep.” It was almost a year to the day after his first SI cover shot on September 9th, 2013. And he did go deep 25 times in ‘14.

2015 – In the first game of a doubleheader against the Reds, Aramis Ramirez made his first career start at first base. Before that, A-Ram had played 18 seasons and 2,096 games at third base and nowhere else other than DH or pinch hitter. He lasted six innings, going 3-for-3 in the field and later appeared at first base four more times during the campaign.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2026/09/98-from-1960-cobra-jose-slams-scoop.html

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