This week in Pittsburgh Pirates history -
July 12
1994 The largest
crowd in Pittsburgh baseball history, 59,568, turns out as Three Rivers Stadium
plays host to baseball's 65th All-Star Game. In a Midsummer Classic that is
truly a classic Tony Gwynn leads off the 10th with a single and comes around to
score the game-winning run in dramatic fashion on a double by Moises Alou as
the National League posts an 8-7 victory.
Fred McGriff is named MVP, earning the honor with his dramatic two-run
home run off Lee Smith that tied the game in the bottom of the ninth.
1997 In front of a
sellout crowd at Three Rivers Stadium on Jackie Robinson Night, two Pirates'
pitchers throw the first extra-inning combined no-hitter in major league history.
Ricardo Rincon takes over in the tenth inning to preserve starter Francisco
Cordova's effort and gets the win when Mark Smith pinch hits a three-run walk-off
homer in the bottom of the inning.
July 13
1943 Thanks to a
three-run home run by Red Sox second baseman Bobby Doerr, the American League
defeats the National League in the first night All Star game, 5-3. In a game
broadcast to GIs via shortwave radio, Pirates' outfielder Vince DiMaggio shines
for the Senior Circuit hitting a single, triple and home run.
1983 With the Pirates down to their final out, back-to-back home
runs by Johnny Ray and Mike Easler in the top of the ninth inning lifted the
Bucs to a 7-6 win over the Giants at Candlestick Park.
July 14
1962 In the
seventh inning of the nightcap of a twin bill split with the Pirates at Forbes
Field, Cardinal left fielder Stan Musial establishes a new National League
record with his 10,428th time at bat. 'Stan the Man' who will finish his
22-year career with 10,972 plate appearances, surpasses Honus Wagner's mark set
in 1917. (Two more at-bats will be credited to the The Flying Dutchman upon
further research)
1967 Cardinals'
pitcher Bob Gibson's right fibula is fractured by a Roberto Clemente line drive
during a 6-3 loss to the Pirates. The injury will sideline the Redbird
right-hander until Labor Day, but he will recover well enough to allow only
three earned runs in three complete World Series game victories over the Red
Sox.
1974 Attempting to
avert a doubleheader loss, a five-game series sweep at
Three Rivers Stadium, and a descent into the National League East cellar—the
Pirates engaged the Reds in an intense bench-clearing brawl in the second game
of a Sunday twinbill. The fight and resulting 2-1 victory over their sparring
partners suggested a turning point for the Bucco campaign.
2000 The American
Tobacco Company's near-mint condition 1909 Honus Wagner card goes for $1.1
million in an eBay online auction. The high bidder will pay $1.265 million
including a 15 percent buyer's premium for the 91-year old card of the Hall of
Fame Pirate shortstop.
July 15
1971 Three times
within two outs of losing to the Padres, the first-place Pirates tied the game
in the ninth, thirteenth and sixteenth innings, before Roberto Clemente’s
seventeenth-inning home run gave the Bucs a 4-3 victory at Three Rivers
Stadium.
1975 The only time this has ever occurred, two players share the All star game MVP:
Bill Madlock (Pittsburgh Pirates) and John Matlock (NY Mets).
July 16
1920 After
pitching 16 scoreless frames, Earl Hamilton and the Pirates lose to the Giants
in the 17th at Forbes Field, 7-0. New York starter Rube Benton tosses 17
shutout innings to get the victory.
1970 On precisely
the same spot as Exposition Park, the home of the Pirates from 1891-1909, Three
Rivers Stadium makes its debut. Cincinnati’s first baseman Tony Perez hits the
park's first home run as the Pirates lose to the Reds, 3-2. In this first game at Three Rivers Stadium,
the Pirates took the field in revolutionary double knit uniforms.
2006 Chipper Jones
ties a major league record by collecting an extra-base hit in his 14th straight
game. The Braves third baseman's fourth-innng home run equals the mark
established in 1927 by Pirates outfielder Paul Waner.
1890 For the first time in baseball
history, two 300-game winners are opponents as Tim Keefe of
the Giants faces Pittsburgh's Jim 'Pud' Galvin in a Players League match-up.
New York beats the Burghers, 8-2, in the first of four historic confrontations
between the two future member of the Hall of Fame.
1914 Against the
Giants, control artist Babe Adams of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches an entire
21-inning game without issuing a single walk. The contest, which is the longest
game in big league history without a base-on-balls, is decided by Larry Doyle's
home run in the top of the frame giving Rube Marquard, who also goes the
distance, the 3-1 victory.
1979 Dave Parker was named the All-Star game MVP.