By Bobster

July 18, 1960---The Pirates (51-33) were off as they traveled to Los Angeles to start a western road trip. The Bucs had a 2½ game lead over the second-place Braves. Groat (.326) and Clemente (.324) led the Pirates in hitting. Clemente and Skinner led the team with 55 RBIs. Though hitting only .242, Stuart had begun to assert his power and led the Pirates with 13 HRs, despite often platooning at 1B with Rocky Nelson. Now seeing significantly more playing time, Nelson had responded with a .317 average, 6 HRs and 22 RBIs. Catchers Burgess (.301) and Smith (.284) remained valuable offensive contributors and Virdon was riding a hot streak that had raised his average to .266. Virdon and Skinner tied for the team lead in SBs with 7.

By Bobster

July 17, 1960---The Pirates and Reds split a doubleheader. The Reds took game 1 behind Bob Purkey when they scored 1 in the 5th and 5 in the 6th against Vern Law (11-5) to take a 6-0 lead. That was all the runs the Reds would get, as Green, Gibbon and Face combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. The Pirates made it 6-1 in the 6th when Reds second baseman Billy Martin-the future Yankees manager-booted Nelson’s grounder after the Bucs had loaded the bases on singles by Virdon and Groat and a walk to Skinner.

By Bobster
July 16, 1960

Having scored just 1 run in their last 18 innings, the Pirates wasted no time, taking a 2-0 lead in the home half of the 1st inning against Jay Hook and the Reds. Roberto Clemente doubled home 2 runs after Hook had walked Groat, Skinner and Nelson in succession to load the bases. But the Reds came back in the 4th against Vinegar Bend Mizell. The Reds’ rally started with back-to-back doubles by Eddie Kasko and Vada Pinson. Pinson attempted to steal third and appeared to be out, but Burgess’ throw was dropped by Hoak for an error. Pinson scored the tie run on a ground out. Later in the inning, Mizell walked Frank Robinson and gave up a single to Ed Bailey before Roy McMillan’s 2-run double made it 4-2

July 15, 1960
By Bobster

July 15, 1960---A day after being shutout by the Braves, the Pirates were blanked for the first 7 innings against Cincinnati and lost 4-1 to the Reds.

By Bobster
July 14, 1960

Addendum to July 11 note: Bob Skinner started the first of the two All-Star games (along with Friend and Mazeroski). I inadvertently left him out when mentioning the Pirate starters for that game. Skinner was 1 for 4 in that game, getting an RBI single in the first inning following Willie Mays’ lead-off triple.

July 14, 1960---The All-Star break was cut short for the Pirates and Braves, who had to make up the rainout of the second game of their Memorial Day doubleheader. As the second half of the season began, the Pirates were clearly the team to beat in the NL

By Bobster

July 13, 1960---The second 1960 All-Star game featured a shutout by the N.L. pitchers. It also featured a matchup of Vern Law against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

By Bobster

July 12, 1960---The All-Stars traveled to New York for the second game, which would be played on July 13th. The rosters:

N.L.- Chicago-Ernie Banks (SS). Cincinnati-Ed Bailey (C), Bill Henry (P), Vada Pinson (OF), LA-Norm Larker (1B), Charlie Neal (2B), Johnny Podres (P), Stan Williams (P). Milwaukee-Hank Aaron (OF), Joe Adcoch (1B), Bob Buhl (P), Del Crandall (C), Eddie Mathews (3B). Phil-Tony Taylor (2B), Pitt-Smoky Burgess (C), Roberto Clemente (OF), Elroy Face (P), Bob Friend (P), Dick Groat (SS), Vernon Law (P), Bill Mazeroski (2B), Bob Skinner (OF). SF-Orlando Cepeda (1B), Willie Mays (OF), Mike McCormick (P). St.L.-Ken Boyer (3B), Larry Jackson (P), Lindy McDaniel (P), Stan Musial (OF), Bill White (1B).

By Bobster

July 11, 1960--- At the All-Star break, the Pirates led the N.L. by 5 games. The New York Yankees led the A.L. by 2½ games over Chicago. There was no day off prior to the All-Star game. Between 1959 and 1962, two All-Star games were played each year. The same teams met in two different cities with a day off for travel in between. The Pirates had 8 All-Stars to lead the NL.

By Bobster

July 10, 1960---The Pirates (49-30) gained a split of the 4-game series with a 6-2 win over the Phillies. The Bucs took a 1-0 lead against Robin Roberts (5-8) in the 2nd when Clemente got an infield hit, took second on a throwing error by Roberts, took third on a ground out and scored on a sac fly by Hoak. The Bucs made it 2-0 in the 3rd inning when Virdon singled and scored on a double by Skinner.

By Bobster

July 9, 1960 Gene Conley out-dueled Vern Law in a 2-1 game in Philadelphia. Both pitchers went the distance. Law (11-4) gave up an unearned run in the 6th when Phils’ pitcher Conley doubled and scored from second on a 2-out error by Hoak. The Bucs (48-30) tied it in the 7th when a Burgess doubled to drive in Rocky Nelson, who had singled. But with the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th, a 1-out triple by Tony Taylor (who had 3 hits) was followed by Pancho Herrera’s single to win the game 2-1.Law gave up 8 hits with no walks and 4 Ks. Conley pitched a 5-hitter for the Phillies with a walk and 3 Ks.