6/28 Through the 1980s: Whitson-Madlock, Game Tales - Forbes Field Finale, Willie's #300, Hans #3,000, DH Dingers, TRS Packed; HBD Kevin, Orlando, Mike & Frank
- 1865 – IF Frank Scheibeck was born in Detroit. He spent parts of eight seasons in the show and sported the Bucco colors for 23 games in 1894, batting .353 as a utility guy who played five different positions. Frank stayed on in pro ball through 1906 and went on to umpire. He later held hometown day jobs as a real estate salesman and as an auto plant assembler.
- 1880 – RHP Mike Lynch was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The righty pitched four seasons (1904-07) for the Pirates, picking up 32 wins and working over 400 innings in his first two years. He was still effective in his final two years with the team, but the Bucs had juiced up their staff and he became the odd man out, going to the New York Giants during the second half of ‘07 and then retiring to go into business. His career Pittsburgh line was 40-26/3.01.
- 1914 – Honus Wagner became the first 20th century ballplayer to collect 3,000 hits when he singled off of Cincinnati’s rookie Pete Schneider in the second game of a twinbill at Redland Field. While a good day for Hans, it wasn’t such a good one for the Pirates. They lost both ends of the doubleheader to the Reds by 7-6 and 1-0 scores. The first loss was especially gruesome as the Bucs blew a 6-2 lead in the ninth triggered by a missed call. Up by a run with two outs and two aboard, a 3-2 foul tip was gloved by catcher Bob Coleman. The Reds on base started to run to the dugout, but the batter, Bert Niehoff, jogged innocently to first and the ump bought his act, calling it a check swing and ball four. A protest, made en masse by the Pirate infield and battery, was to no avail and a following single gave Cincy the game. The second was a pitching duel with Schneider’s three-hitter bettering the four-hit work of Marty O’Toole and Erv Kantlehner. In the long run, it made little difference as the Pirates finished seventh and the Reds last in the NL that season. (There have been a couple of June dates tossed around for Hans’ 3,000th hit. June 9th was the original consensus, but this date is the currently accepted one following research of old-timey box scores, which are generally kinda sketchy, and we cite both in the blog.)
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| Honus Wagner – 1914 Cracker Jack |
- 1916 – Cubs catcher Bill Fischer set a MLB record by catching all 27 innings of a doubleheader loss to the Bucs at brand new Wrigley Field. Pittsburgh won both games, 3-2, with the second game going 18 innings. The winning pitchers were Mike Prendergast and Tom Seaton, with Prendergast pulling double duty, coming on to get the save in the nitecap. Impressed with Fischer’s stamina, the Pirates traded for him at the end of July, and he played his last two seasons for Pittsburgh, batting .22 in 135 games as a semi-regular catcher and pinch hitter.
- 1938 – C Orlando McFarlane was born in Oriente, Cuba. Signed by the Bucs as an infielder in 1958, he was converted to catcher and got a cup of coffee with the Pirates in 1962, playing a bit more in 1964 and hitting .208 in his 45-game Bucco career. He was lost in the ‘65 Rule 5 draft to the Detroit Tigers and played three more years with Motown and the California Angels, but he battled nagging injuries while his impressive minor league bat never carried over to the show. Orlando played 10 years in the bushes with more stops in the Latin leagues.
- 1942 – It wasn’t a very good year for Pittsburgh, finishing in fifth place, 36-1/2 games behind the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, but it was a pretty good day for the boys. They swept a twin bill from the New York Giants, 8-7 and 9-3, at the Polo Grounds behind a seven-homer barrage, with Bob Elliot and Jimmy Wasdell each banging a pair of bombs. It was their only winning day that week; they lost the three games before and three more afterward.
- 1970 – SS Kevin Polcovich was born in Auburn, New York. He spent his brief MLB career of two years (1997-98) with the Pirates, hitting .234. The University of Florida Gator was drafted in the 30th round by the Bucs in 1992, getting his call when Kevin Elster was injured, and became a key member of the 1997 “Freak Show” that against all odds stayed in the divisional race until late September despite a $9M payroll. After he left the game, Kevin did some scouting for Florida and later established the Icrush Bat Company, a manufacturer of maple bats.
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| Kevin Polcovich – 1998 Pacific (reverse) |
- 1970 – The Pirates swept a twinbill from the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 and 4-1, in the last games played at 61-year-old Forbes Field in front of 40,918, the second largest crowd to gather at the Oakland field. Al Oliver hit the last home run in FF history and Jim Nelson got the final win, iced by a Dave Giusti save. Bill Mazeroski had the last Pirate hit there, a seventh inning double, and recorded the last put-out on a force play at second. It was a fitting finale; the Cubs were the first team the Pirates played to open Forbes Field in 1909, so the ballyard circle remained unbroken. The Bucs then went on the road and opened TRS on July 16th, after the All-Star break. Both clubs continued streaks – it was the Pirates seventh straight victory and the Cubs 10th straight loss.
- 1973 – Willie Stargell hit his 300th career home run as the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6–0, at TRS before a crowd of 39,932 fans. It was a first-inning blast, so the crowd didn’t have long to wait on Willie’s milestone. Al Oliver went 4-for-5 with a triple, two doubles and three RBI while Rennie Stennett added three hits to back Dock Ellis’ five-hitter.
- 1979 – The Pirates traded pitchers Ed Whitson, Al Holland and Fred Breining to the Giants for P Dave Roberts plus infielders Bill Madlock & Lenny Randle. Mad Dog solidified the Bucco infield at third and spent six seasons with Pittsburgh, winning batting titles in 1981 (.341) and 1983 (.323). Roberts was solid for the Bucs (5-3-1/3.29) in ‘79-80, though at 35 he was near the end of his journey; 1981 was the last of his 13 seasons. Randle wasn’t here long enough to find his way to the North Shore before he was sold to the Yankees. Whitson pitched through 1991, winning 126 games and saving eight more while Holland worked out of various bullpens for 11 more seasons. Breining lasted five MLB years as a multi-role hurler.
- 1988 – Pirates fans broke down the gates for a second straight night as 53,357 (45,011 paid) of the faithful came out to see the Bucs’ Brian Fisher tangle with Sid Fernandez and the Mets at TRS. They left disappointed as Darryl Strawberry, Howard Johnson and Kevin Elster all went deep to lead the New York’ers to a 5-2 victory. The Pirates managed just three hits, including a Bobby Bonilla blast.
Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/06/628-through-1980s-whitson-madlock-game.html
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