10/4 From 1980: '15 Home WC Clinched, '13 NLDS Win, '90 NLCS Rally, Rook & Kent Exit Booth, JR & Syd Axed; HBD Oneil, Shea & Lonnie
- 1987 – The Pirates finished the season by winning 27 of their final 38 games and Jim Leyland’s second edition ended the year with 80 wins after taking just 64 dubs in his first campaign at the helm. The club won the finale at TRS by scoring three times with two outs in the eighth with Mike Dunne picking up the dub after a Jeff Robinson save. Pittsburgh would win 85 games in ‘88, take some more lumps in ‘89 and then wear the Eastern Division crown from 1990-92.
- 1988 – The Pirates fired GM Syd Thrift. He and his Buc bosses weren’t often on the same page during his 1985-88 stint, but he hired Jim Leyland and laid the foundation for the early nineties playoff teams, adding Andy Van Slyke, Mike LaValliere, Doug Drabek and Jeff King while reacquiring Bobby Bonilla after Bo was lost via Rule 5. Thrift was ambitious and said to have his eye on Carl Barger’s club presidency while banging heads with Board Chairman Douglas Danforth over finances; both of those were battles he lost. He was replaced by Larry Doughty.
- 1988 – RF/3B Lonnie Chisenhall was born in Morehead City, North Carolina. The Pirates signed him to a $2.75M deal in the 2018 off season with $3M more available in bonus money based on at bats. He had spent seven years with Cleveland and was having a breakout year in 2017 when a strained calf laid him low; it continued to haunt him in 2018, as he got into just 111 games over those two years but put up a strong .272 BA/127 OPS+ line when healthy. But par for the course, he was hit by a pitch the day before the 2019 camp ended and broke a finger, then aggravated his calf during rehab. Chisenhall never played an inning for the Pirates, retiring after the season.
- 1990 – The Reds wasted no time jumping on the Pirates, who were making their first playoff appearance since claiming the Fall Classic crown in 1979, taking a 3-0 first inning lead at Riverfront Stadium in the opener of the NLCS. But the Bucs had the last laugh, rallying their way to a 4-3 victory. Starter and winner Bob Walk settled down to toss shutout ball, handing the game off to the bullpen in the seventh (Ted Power nailed down the save). The Pirates tied the game in the fourth inning thanks to Sid Bream’s two-run homer before Andy Van Slyke drove home the winner in the seventh with a two-out, ground rule double to score Gary Redus.
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| Bob Walk – 1990 Topps |
- 1992 – Tim Wakefield and three other Pirate pitchers spun a three-hitter to win a pitching battle against Bret Saberhagen and the New York Mets by a 2-0 count at Shea Stadium, ending the season with the Bucs pennant winners in the NL East, taking the pennant by nine games. Barry Bonds’ solo homer and Alex Cole’s sac fly drove in the hard-to-come-by runs.
- 1993 – The Pirates let go of half their broadcasting team when Jim Rooker and Kent Derdivanis didn’t have their contracts renewed. Neither had really caught on with the fans, and the Bucs said they wanted guys who would be more involved with promotions and ticket sales. Rooker, the color analyst, had worked in the booth for 13 years and Derdivanis, the #2 play-by-play voice behind Lanny Frattare, had put in four seasons. Rook caught on with ESPN from 1994-97 before he left broadcasting while Kent returned to Arizona and landed a variety of on-air gigs. Greg Brown and Bob Walk replaced them (and are still in the booth), joining holdovers Frattare and Steve Blass.
- 1994 – RHP Shea Spitzbarth was born on Staten Island. He was undrafted out of Molloy College, but showed well in the summer leagues and was signed by the Dodgers. He was dominant in the lower levels, but his AAA numbers were not so good (4-2/5.01).The Pirates selected him from LA in the 2020 minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft the light went on at Indy (3-2/1.41) as he became more of a contact than strikeout pitcher. He was rewarded with an August 3rd call up to the big team and debuted the same night. Shea moved on to Motown in 2022 and then was released by the Reds in 2023. At last look, he was a private instructor in Florida for prep players.
- 1998 – SS Oneil Cruz was born in Nizao, Dominican Republic. One of the Pirates touted minor league young guns and a Top 50 MLB Prospect, he was acquired in 2017 from the Dodgers as part of the Tony Watson deal. Oneil played in three levels in 2021, breaking out at AA Altoona, promoted for an eye-popping week at AAA Indy (six games/five HRs) and then called up to Pittsburgh to start the final two games of the year. He had three hits, homered and plated three RBI for a pretty good start. Cruz was called up in June of 2022 and put in his claim on the shortstop spot, where he was a lock to be the 2023 starter after banging out 17 homers until he was felled by a broken ankle sustained via an awkward April slide, costing him most of that campaign. OC came back strong in ‘24, with a long debated shift to CF made in September. He became the full-time CF and joined the 20/30 club in ‘25 but still has issues with K’s, BA and consistency in the pasture.
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| John Russell – AP photo |
- 2010 – John Russell was fired as manager of the Pirates. He equaled a franchise record for most losses by a manager in three seasons, compiling an 186-299 record to join Fred Haney, who posted a 163-299 record from 1953-55. JR was replaced by Clint Hurdle on November 14th. JR then coached for the Baltimore Orioles through 2018 and is now AAA Tacoma’s manager in the Seattle system.
- 2013 – After being trounced in the opener of the NLDS by the Cards, rookie Gerrit Cole fired two-hit ball for six innings in a 7-1 win over St. Louis at Busch Stadium to square the series. Pedro Alvarez and Starling Marte cracked home runs while Russell Martin added a pair of RBIs. Alvarez went 2-for-4 with a homer and a double, scoring twice and driving in a pair of runs. El Toro became the first Pirate since Willie Stargell in 1974 to go yard in back-to-back playoff games.
- 2015 – It went to the last day of the season, but the Pirates claimed home field advantage for the wild card game with a 4-0 win against the Reds. JA Happ went six frames giving up three hits, three walks and collecting seven K’s. Josh Harrison went 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored while Pedro Alvarez crushed a homer 479’ to right center. The Pirates ended with a 98-64 record, but finished second in the NL Central behind the 100-win St Louis Cardinals and barely nosed out the 97-win Chicago Cubs in a heart-thumping pennant/postseason battle royale.
Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/10/104-from-1980-15-home-wc-clinched-13.html
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