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9/2 From 1970: Martin Mash, Dunston Debut, Pops Pounders, Roberto Hits Leader, Game Days, Bye Bob, Jim Jeremiad, BA Konnor, HBD Gaby, Yamid & Sean

Wednesday, September 2, 2026 7:01

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1970 – LHP Sean Lawrence was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Drafted by the Pirates in the 6th round of the 1992 draft out of the College of St. Francis, his seven games in 1998 as a Bucs was the extent of his big league career, finishing with a slash of 2-1/7.32. He later pitched in the San Diego and Arizona systems, retiring in 2002 to become a crime closer as a police officer.

1970 – The Pirates AAA team, the Columbus Jets, announced this would be their last season due to attendance woes. The Jets franchise relocated to Charleston and the Charlies became the Bucs top farm club through 1976. In 1977, the Columbus Clippers were organized and the yo-yo Pittsburgh franchise returned to Columbus again, although for only two seasons.

1972 – With his 2,971st knock as a Bucco (he ended up with 3,000), Roberto Clemente broke Honus Wagner’s record for the most hits in the history of the franchise. The record-setting blow was a single off Giant hurler Sudden Sam McDowell. Roberto then chased Sam from the game with a three-run homer in the fourth during a 6-3 victory at Three Rivers Stadium.

1972 – LHP Bob Veale, 36, was sold to the Boston Red Sox after an 11-year career in Pittsburgh that saw him win 116 games and save six more, starting 255 times in his 341 Pirates outings. His 1,652 strikeouts are still the Pirate mark for a southpaw and second overall in Bucco franchise history.

1974 – The first-place Pirates broomed the Phillies in a twin bill at TRS, 7-4 and 11-1. Willie Stargell went 4-for-4 with two dingers in the opener and added a double in the second game, posting four RBI on the day. Bob Robertson also homered and drove in three runs as Jerry Reuss bested Lefty Carlton. Richie Zisk hit a granny while Al Oliver went 3-for-3 with three runs scored in the nitecap to help Bruce Kison to victory and push the Bucs 2-1/2 games up on the Cards.

Willie Stargell – 1974 Kelloggs 3-D

1977 – C Yamid Haad was born in Cartagena, Colombia. He got into one game with the Pirates in 1999 as a pinch hitter; he was called up after Jason Kendall broke his ankle. Yamid also got a taste with the Giants in 2005, but mostly served as depth because of an inconsistent bat. He spent 13 years in the minors (nine in AAA) and ended his career in 2016 in Mexico.

1978 – Willie Stargell blasted a three-run homer in the first, but the Braves chipped away to tie the game at TRS and send it into extra innings before Dave Parker’s 12th-inning rap past a drawn-in infield gave the Pirates and Grant Jackson a 4-3 win. Phil Garner was on third with an out when the Braves worked around Frank Taveras and intentionally walked Omar Moreno to get to The Cobra (Atlanta manager Bobby Cox feared the squeeze was on with Frankie & Omar, and so took his shot with Parker, who had hit into two DPs during the contest). Kent Tekulve & Stargell almost became the goats in the 10th. With pinch-runner Rod Gilbreath on, Teke threw wildly to first. Gilbreath made it all the way to third, but held up as 1B Pops ran the ball down and Rod decided not to challenge his arm. Good thing – as Willie went to turn and throw home, he slipped and fell, but the runner had already hit the brakes. It was the Pirates sixth straight win over the Bravos and their 11th-of-12 at TRS.

1983 – 1B Gaby Sanchez was born in Miami, went to the U of Miami and played for the Marlins til the Bucs traded for him in 2012 as the right-hand half of a first base platoon with Garrett Jones and then with Ike Davis. He played for the Bucs through 2014, hitting .241, before going to Japan. He spent a year there and then dropped off the pro ball radar after the Mariners released him in camp the following spring, and now is an analyst for the Fish and the ESPN-ACC Network.

1988 – After a 2-1 loss to the Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Jim Leyland lit into his players in a 15-minute scolding of which “…six minutes were spent throwing nachos all over the place, three minutes were devoted exclusively to expletives and six minutes were the sermon” per Press beat man Bob Hertzel. Vet Andy Van Slyke, for one, thought it was overdue, telling the Post Gazette’s Paul Meyer “After the way we’ve played the last month, you can tell the people of Pittsburgh to start following the Steelers.” The tirade centered on playing the game the right way and to quit listening to their agents. It didn’t particularly light the fire Leyland hoped it would, as the team muddled to the finish line, going 14-12 during the rest of the season to finish a distant second to the Mets.

Jim Leyland – Not Always Smilin’/1988 Pirates promo

1991 – “The game had a little bit of everything…” wrote Press beat man Bob Hertzel “…except good baseball.” The Pirates blew three-run-or-better leads three times and a one-run edge in the eighth, but had the last comeback of the night in the ninth when a two-out, two-strike wind-blown fly by Lloyd McClendon kept drifting and clanged off a glove to score Jay Bell. Mac got to be the hero because ump Eric Gregg had run Bobby Bonilla earlier in the game (BB was hot, claiming Gregg brought up his contract during their debate; Bo even flung Barry Bonds halfway to LA when Bonds tried to restore some calm) and so Lloyd was batting in his spot. Stan Belinda and Rosario Rodriguez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, with Belinda getting the 9-8 win and Rodriguez the save at Candlestick.

1992 – Rookie Tim Wakefield, who tossed 129 pitches, came one out away from a complete game win as the Pirates beat the Giants 3-2 at TRS. Bob Patterson came in to get the final out while picking up his ninth save. The Bucs took the lead for good in the sixth inning on a two-run homer from Barry Bonds after Don Slaught’s blast in the fifth provided the first score. The victory was in the midst of a seven game Pirate winning streak and kept the Bucs comfortably in first place by a three game margin; they won the Eastern Division by nine games over the Nats. The game had a little extra spice as two strippers, wearing just G-strings while serving drinks in a private box during a bachelor-party, were escorted out after peep-show complaints from the baseball-only fans in the stands.

1993 – Jim Leyland returned from a five-game suspension for “provoking a melee” in the last series against LA just in time for a TRS visit from the Dodgers. For his part, Tommy LaSorda didn’t quite get suspended during the prior hubbub, but umpire Eric Gregg did give him the heave-ho this time around as the Pirates rode Paul Wagner and Al Martin to a “welcome home Jimmy” victory, 5-1. Wagner tossed his third complete game (the team had just eight), giving up a run in the opening frame before settling in for an eight-hit complete game win. Martin provided most of the Pirates’ points with a three-run homer and four RBI as Tom Candiotti lost for the first time in 16 starts.

Shawon Dunston – 1998 Fleer Tradition

1997 – In front of 43,380 at TRS, newcomer Shawon Dunston (he had been acquired from the Cubs two days earlier and was making his Bucco debut) hit a pair of homers to lead the Freak Show Bucs to a 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. His four RBI powered Jose Silva, with help from the bullpen, to his first MLB victory and helped pull the Pirates to within 1-1/2 games of first, the closest they would come to the top spot during the last month of the campaign.

2009 – The Pirates were swept in a four-game set by the Reds 5-3, the first time they were broomed in Cincinnati since 1975. But it wasn’t all gloom as Garrett Jones hit the club’s 10,000th home run since the Bucs joined the NL in 1887. It was a brutal stretch, though – the Pirates were in a 4-22 summer swoon on the way to a 99-loss season.

2024 - The Bucco ship was taking on water; they had gone 9-19 since August 1, lost five of their last six games and had their ninth-inning fireman, Dave Bednar, demoted, to be replaced by a closer committee. And they were at Wrigley Field after the Cubs had just buried them three days before, scoring 41 runs and sweeping a three-game set at PNC Park. They went into the eighth inning looking like the same ol’ Buccos, down to Chicago by a 3-0 count. But the baseball gods smiled; a bloop, a bleeder and a Bryan Reynolds blast tied the game, and Cutch followed B-Rey with a long ball of his own to give Pittsburgh the lead (and to keep his 14-game hitting streak alive). Nick Gonzales added an insurance run in the ninth and Dennis Santana, following a scoreless eighth tossed by Aroldis Chapman, put the game to bed for the second save in three days by the reshuffled bullpen now w/o the Renegade.

2025 – CF/SS Konnor Griffin, the Pirates #1 pick of the 2024 draft (#9 overall) out of Jackson (Mississippi) Prep, was the cover boy for Baseball America’s summer magazine. As BA’s top-ranked prospect (KG was also #1 per MLB Pipeline), he was featured by the article “Bang For The Bucs. In his first year of pro ball, Konnor jumped three minor-league levels and ended the year at AA Altoona; he would be on the big team the following season.

2025 – The Pittsburgh Pirates unveiled a permanent marker at the former site of Three Rivers Stadium (General Robinson Street/Gold Lot 1) to commemorate the first all-minority lineup in MLB history v the Phils on September 1, 1971. The event brought out Greg Brown, Travis Williams, Roberto Clemente, Jr., Dave Cash, Al Oliver, Manny Sanguillen, Steve Blass, Danny Murtaugh’s family, the Heinz History Center, state & local politicos and the PA Historic & Museum Commission.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2026/09/92-from-1970-all-black-lineup-martin.html

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