Pirates Fireworks History - 4th of July Review!

This year’s 4th of July fell on a Friday. That meant every team in Major League Baseball would be playing home and away. Independence Day means a lot to many people and fireworks displays are always the highlight of the day. At every ballpark hosting a game on this day, rest assured fireworks will be going off and not just in the air. 

There will most likely be some memorable games played on July 4th but with the Pittsburgh Pirates they found themselves out on the west coast for a matchup with the Seattle Mariners. Fourth of July baseball games in Major League Baseball has been a tradition for an exceptionally long time. To memorialize every game the Pittsburgh Pirates have ever played on the 4th might require writing a book.

Instead of picking any one game played by the Bucs on the 4th of July, what follows are summaries of 4th of July games played by Pittsburgh 10, 15, 25, 50, 75, and 100 years ago. The first game up is one played on July 4, 2015, 10 years ago.

July 4, 2015. Cleveland Indians at PNC Park on a Saturday afternoon. A near capacity crowd witnessed a fast played pitching duel as the hometown Pirates shutout the Indians 1-0 in just over two hours of playing time. Jeff Locket pitched two hit ball over eight innings of work to earn the victory for the Pirates striking out six while reliever Mark Melancon picked up his 26th save. Cleveland’s Cody Harrison went the distance, taking the loss. Of the six hits by Pittsburgh Josh Harrison picked up two of them both doubles. Harrison also scored the game’s only run.  Neal Walker had the RBI to bring Harrison home. The Bucs starting lineup looked like this:

1. Josh Harrison-3B
2. Neil Walker-2B
3. Andrew McCutchen-CF
4. Starling Marte-LF
5. Pedro Álvarez-1B
6. Francisco Cervelli-C
7. Gregory Polanco-RF
8. Jordy Mercer-SS
9. Jeff Locke-P

July 4, 2010. This one was at PNC Park and played on a Sunday with a first pitch at 1:36 p.m. The attendance was 28,698. The Buccos prevailed 8-5 but this was only their 30th victory with52 defeats in the standings. A big six run seventh inning provided the margin of victory over their cross-state rivals. Of the eight runs Pittsburgh scored those came on just nine hits, two by Pedro Alvarez who added a home run to boot. Philadelphia’s Joe Blanton and Jose Contreras were the pitchers of records that gave up the eight runs. On Pittsburgh’s pitching side, starter Jeff Karstens got touched up for five runs and nine hits but Even Meek in relief earned the victory. The Pirates’ starters:

 José Tábata-LF

 Neil Walker-2B

 Andrew McCutchen-CF

 Garrett Jones-1B

 Pedro Álvarez-3B

 Ryan Doumit-C

 Ryan Church-RF

 Ronny Cedeño-SS

 Jeff Karstens -P

July 4, 2000. No one can control when the 4th of July lands so in 2000 it came om a Tuesday afternoon. This game took place in Chicago at Wrigley Field and Pittsburgh’s success on Independence Day showed through in a big way in this game. A 10-4 thrashing by the Bucs saw 12 hits banged out by Pirates hitters as Jason Kendall, Kevin Young, Aramis Ramirez, and Pat Meares all had two hits. Kendal and Meares went yard on one of their at-bats. Meares finished the game with four RBIs. The Pirates were losing 4-3 heading into the ninth inning when they erupted for a seven-run inning to make a comeback by the Cubs difficult. Jose Silva went six innings for Pittsburgh and Marc Wilkins picked up the win in relief. Chicago pitcher Rick Aguilera was the victim of five of the seven final frame runs. For the Pirates on this day this is who came to the plate:

1 Adrian Brown-RF

2 Jason Kendall-C

3 Wil Cordero -LF

4 Brian Giles-CF

5 Kevin Young-1B

6 Warren Morris-2B

7 Aramis Ramírez- 3B

8 Pat Meares-SS

9 José Silva-P

July 4, 1975. Growing up in the 1970s, double header baseball games were popular and often played. I’ve been to many, and boy were they fun! Two games for the price of one and in 1975 on Independence Day the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs played one such double header. The games were played in Chicago obviously at Wrigley Field and in game one, it was the Cubs winning 6-1. The Pirates had won the World Series just four years ealier. A handful of the Pirates players have passed away since 1975, most recently Dave Parker. Willie Stargell died years ago, Rennie Stennett and Bruce Kison as well. Kison was Pittsburgh’s starting pitcher and Dave Giusti came in relief. The Pirates managed only five hits off of winning pitcher Steve Stone who went the distance, logging a complete game which is something r-re these days. The Pittsburgh lineup:

1 Rennie Stennett 2B

2 Richie Hebner -3B

3 Al Oliver -CF

4 Willie Stargell-1B

5 Dave Parker-RF

6 Richie Zisk-LF

7 Manny Sanguillén-C

8 Frank Taveras-SS

9 Bruce Kison-P

In the nightcap of the doubleheader, the Bucs got swept when they lost 2-1. 30,355 fans watched both games and the Cubbie crowd went home happy with two straight wins. The second game began at 3:00 and took 2 hours 35 minutes to finish. The Buccos had just six hits, two by Al Oliver. Jerry Reuss went the distance for the Pirates in taking the loss, dropping his record at that time to 9-6. Geoff Zah started for Chicago, but Darold Knowles picked up the win as the game went 11 innings before the Cubs put the winning run across the plate in the bottom half of the final inning. Here’s who manager Danny Murtaugh sent to the plate for the Pirates in that second game:

1. Frank Taveras -SS

2. Bill Robinson-RF

3. Al Oliver-CF

4. Bob Robertson-1

5. Richie Zisk-LF

6. Richie Hebner-3B

7. Duffy Dyer-C

8. Paul Popovich-B

9. Jerry Reuss-P

July 4, 1950. Another doubleheader took place on this Tuesday afternoon in 1950. Pittsburgh’s opponents were the Cincinnati Reds who called Crosley Field home. In the opening game the Reds doubled up on the Bucs winning 8-4. On the season to this point Pittsburgh was not faring well, coming in with a record of 23-44. Future Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh was in the lineup for Pittsburgh playing second base and had one hit as well as scoring once in four plate appearances as his batting average was .324. Pitcher Cliff Chambers was the loser in this one with Vern Law throwing 1 1/3 innings of relief. For the Red, Herm Wehmeier earned the victory on the mound. 75 years ago, on July 4th here was Pittsburgh batting order for game #1:

1. Stan Rojek-SS

2. Johnny Hopp-1B

3. Ralph Kiner-LF

4. Gus Bell-RF

5. Wally Westlake-CF

6. Danny Murtaugh-2B

7. Pete Castiglione-3B

8. Earl Turner-C

9. Cliff Chambers -P

Swept again in game # 2, the Pirates lost a close one 5-4. The Reds were not much better than Pittsburgh with now a 25-42 record. Pittsburgh sent three pitchers to the mound, Hank Borowy as the starter and then Bill Macdonald (who took the loss) and Vic Lombardi. Howie Fox went the distance for Cincinnati to get the win. Crosley Field saw just 10,728 fans in the park for the double dip. In game two, here is who played for the Pirates:

1. Stan Rojek-SS

2. Ted Beard-CF

3; Dale Coogan-1B

4. Ralph Kiner-LF

5. Gus Bell-RF

6. Danny Murtaugh-2B

7. Pete Castiglione-3B

8. Ray Mueller-C

9. Hank Borowy-P

July 4, 1925. Again, as mentioned, doubleheaders were huge back in the day. Another took place in 1925 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the visiting team were the Cincinnati Reds as Forbes Field was the home in the ‘Burgh. 22,000 fans came to the stadium in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. As many games went back then, game #1 was done in under two hours (1:49). Pittsburgh won the opener 7-5 to improve to 42-26. Pitcher Emil Yde led the Pirates to victory as the starting pitcher with Cincinnati’s Harry Biemiller taking the loss. For game one, Pittsburgh’s lineup was:

1. Max Carey-CF

2. Eddie Moore-2B

3. Kiki Cuyler-RF

4. Clyde Barnhart-LF

5. Pie Traynor-3B

6. Glenn Wright-SS

7. George Grantham-1B

8. Johnny Gooch-C

9. Emil Yde-P

Pittsburgh got the sweep on July 4, 2025, winning the second game of the doubleheader 7-1 to improve to 43-26. Glenn Wright had three RBIs for Pittsburgh all coming on a home run in the third inning. Curt Walker of Cincinnati had three hits in four at bats. Lee Meadows was Pittsburgh’s winning pitcher pushing his season record to 12-4. 100 years ago, here was the lineup for the Pirates in the nightcap:



1. Max Carey-CF

2. Eddie Moore-2B

3. Kiki Cuyler-RF

4. Clyde Barnhart-LF

5. Pie Traynor-3B

6. Glenn Wright-SS

7. Stuffy McInnis-1B

8. Johnny Gooch-C

9. Lee Meadows-P