Did you know?
Back on May 18 the Pittsburgh Pirates narrowly escaped being the victims of a no-hitter at the hands of the Detroit Tigers.
The Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander is, perhaps, the best pitcher in baseball. He’d managed to befuddle the hapless Pirates through eight innings, when utility infielder Josh Harrison punched a single into centerfield with one out in the ninth.
Until that hit, and with a possible no-hitter becoming increasingly probable, the Pirates TV announcers reported that the last time the Pirates had been the victims of a no-hitter was on Aug. 14, 1971.
I immediately went back to read about the day future Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson (St. Louis Cardinals) threw his first and only no-hitter against that season’s eventual World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates.
As it turns out, the 2012 Pirates would have had nothing to be ashamed of if Harrison hadn’t broken up Verlander’s no-hitter.
Those Pirates 41 years ago were loaded, but they still couldn’t avoid Gibson’s 11-0 masterpiece.
Pirates legends Bill Mazeroski, Willie Stargell and Al Oliver were held hitless that day. (Roberto Clemente had the day off)
Later Gibson, who would become a nine time All Star, remarked, “This is the best game I’ve ever pitched – ever.”
What does this have to do with local history? Nothing. I just had to get that off my chest.
While researching local news events that month, I did take a close look at what was happening in and around Fayette County 41 years ago.
As it turns out Fayette County had some pretty good baseball players making headlines, too.
On the front page of the Aug. 6 edition of the Uniontown Evening Standard it was reported that Connellsville’s Ron Connors, Lemont’s James Paul and Uniontown’s Ken Meadows had been selected to play in the upcoming American Legion state East-West All Star game that would be played in Harrisburg the following day.
They would be managed by Jerry Meadows.
Three days later, on Aug. 9, there was a front-page story about the lawsuit that had been filed by the Searights Softball Team, because they had been expelled from the Coolspring Slo-Pitch League.
The league had taken the action, because the Searights players had refused to sell lottery tickets. They contended such sales were illegal.
On that same front page, there was a picture of an occurrence that must have caused passing motorists to give a few double-takes.
Two beef cattle had fallen from a truck near the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and West Main Street.
They were being transferred from the Fayette County Fair when they’d been given their “freedom.”
They were shown grazing while cars were passing by.
On Aug. 7, it was reported that 3,000 pounds of old glass was collected in Uniontown as part of a cleanup project.
The project had only lasted for two days.
August of 1971 was a time for some unusually large plant life in Fayette County.
On Aug. 14, a Fairchance woman was shown posing next to her 10-year-old, 6- foot-tall fern. And on Aug. 25, Harry A. Kearns of Uniontown was pictured on the front page of the Evening Standard in front of his 20-foot-high beanstalk he’d grown in his backyard.
It was reported that Hollywood came to town on Aug. 26.
A documentary titled “Fort Necessity” was being filmed in the area for PBS. One of the stars of the film was George Montgomery, whose film credits included more than 80 films. His private life included being the onetime husband of singer Dinah Shore.
Rene Auberjonnis played George Washington in the movie. He’d starred in the film “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” and he would later become a series regular on the now-defunct ABC series “Boston Legal.”
When Hollywood wasn’t coming to Fayette County that month, Fayette County was busily meeting Hollywood.
On Aug. 19, Uniontown’s Joseph L. Vicites was pictured enjoying a laugh with Hollywood legend John Wayne on the Evening Standard’s front page.
Vicites and Wayne were in Dallas as part of the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention that was being held that week.
Vicites was the national senior vice commander of the VFW at the time.
But the following day, that had changed.
He was elected and installed as the national commander, with the Vicites family and the band from Uniontown’s VFW Post 47 accompanying him to the stage for the installation.
He was pictured warmly shaking the hand of a smiling President Richard Nixon.
The following day (on Aug. 21) it was reported that Uniontown would celebrate “Joe Vicites Day,” in the city.