June 3, 1998: Aramis Ramírez’s first major-league hit secures Pirates’ sweep of Mets

Struggling at third base during the first two months of the 1998 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates summoned their top-rated prospect, 19-year-old Aramis Ramírez, from Triple A. Ramírez, who had just 40 games of professional experience above Class A, went hitless in his first 24 big-league at-bats before breaking through with a game-clinching two-run double on June 3 at Three Rivers Stadium as the Pirates capped a three-game sweep of the New York Mets with a 3-0 win.

Dominican-born Ramírez signed with the Pirates at age 16 in November 1994 and quickly emerged as one of the game’s top young talents. After Baseball America ranked him first among the short-season New York-Penn League’s prospects in 1996,1 Ramírez earned MVP honors in the Class A Carolina League by hitting 29 home runs and driving in 114 runs in 137 games in 1997.2 The Pirates assigned him to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds for 1998, skipping over Double A entirely.3

In Pittsburgh, the Pirates had lost 1997’s regular third baseman, Joe Randa, in the expansion draft.4 Freddy García, who had hit 45 total home runs in the minors in 1996 and 1997, started at third on Opening Day 1998 but was sent to Triple A after a 3-for-32 slide.5

Coverage of García’s April 29 demotion speculated that Pittsburgh might “go without a designated starter at third for the time being.”6 Four more Pirates cycled through third over the next few weeks, with little success. Veteran utility infielder Doug Strange was the most frequent starter,7 but he had a 25 at-bat hitless stretch.8

A trade to bring back Randa was rumored.9 An even hotter topic in Pittsburgh was whether – and how soon – Ramírez would fill the Pirates’ third-base void.10 In 1997 general manager Cam Bonifay had jumped right fielder José Guillén, Ramírez’s Dominican countryman, directly from Class A to the majors, but he urged caution with Ramírez.11 “I’m not bringing him up until I’m convinced he’s ready,” Bonifay said after watching Nashville play in mid-May.12

By May 26, Pirates third basemen had a collective .176 batting average and two home runs in 51 games.13 With Pittsburgh on the fringes of the National League Central Division race, 7½ games out of first, Bonifay decided to call up Ramírez, who had hit his second home run of the season two days earlier and was batting .288 at Nashville.14 Ramírez became the youngest player in the majors, a month before his 20th birthday.

Playing third and batting seventh, Ramírez started six games in a row after his call-up – and did not get a hit in any of them. On May 31 against the Montreal Expos, he popped up a 2-and-0 pitch with the bases loaded and slammed his helmet in frustration.15 Ramírez was 0-for-22 to begin his career, and manager Gene Lamont rested him for the Pirates’ June 2 home game against New York.

A night later, Ramírez returned to the lineup for the third game of the Mets series. New York had arrived in Pittsburgh on a nine-game winning streak that dated to May 21,16 the day before a blockbuster trade landing All-Star catcher Mike Piazza from the Florida Marlins.17 The Pirates, however, had snapped the Mets’ surge with wins in the first two games, and were themselves on their first four-game win streak of the season.18

Pittsburgh righty Jon Lieber retired the Mets in order in the first, and New York’s Rick Reed took the mound. Reed had begun his career with the Pirates, appearing in 31 games from 1988 through 1991.19 By spring training in 1997 he had spent at least part of each of the previous nine seasons in Triple A for five different organizations, and he had been ostracized by fellow players for crossing the picket line during the 1994-95 strike.20

But Reed turned an opportunity in the ’97 Mets’ rotation into 13 wins and a 2.89 ERA, sixth best in the NL.21 The 33-year-old right-hander was doing even better in 1998, with a 6-2 record and a 2.44 ERA through 10 starts.22

Three pitches into the first in Pittsburgh, however, Reed and the Mets were trailing. Leadoff hitter Jermaine Allensworth hit Reed’s first offering down the right-field line. Butch Huskey slipped on the wet turf while trying to keep the ball from going into the corner; the swift Allensworth reached third with a triple.

When veteran left fielder Al Martin – who had counseled Ramírez after the helmet-slamming incident23 – cued a grounder to the right side of the infield, first baseman John Olerud took the putout unassisted, Allensworth scored, and the Pirates had a 1-0 lead.

The Mets threatened to strike back in the top of the second. Carlos Baerga singled with one out and took second on a balk. But Lieber retired Huskey and Rich Becker on fly balls to strand him there.

For the next four innings, New York’s offense and Lieber’s pitching settled into a pattern. The first two Mets batters were retired in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Each time, a two-out New York baserunner reached first, but Lieber set down the next Met for a scoreless inning.

“It was almost like he was on a mission,” Lamont said of Lieber afterward. “He wanted the sign, and he wanted to throw.”24

Reed was even more efficient. Clean innings in the second – including Ramírez’s inning-ending groundout – and third made it nine outs in a row after Allensworth’s triple. Martin singled to lead off the fourth but was erased when Jason Kendall grounded into a double play.

With one out in the fifth, Guillén ripped Reed’s pitch over Becker’s head in right-center. Stumbling in the first-base sliding pit, Guillén fell to the ground, then regained his footing and pulled into second with an apparent double. But Reed threw to Olerud on an appeal play, and first-base umpire Angel Hernández called Guillén out for missing the bag.25

Ramírez fanned to end the fifth, making him 0-for-24, and Reed retired the side in order on seven pitches in the sixth. He had completed six innings on just 62 pitches, but the Mets still trailed, 1-0.

Huskey’s single to start the seventh gave New York its first leadoff baserunner of the game. Huskey stole second one out later, then took third on Rey Ordóñez’s fly ball to right. The Mets had the tying run on third, two outs, and the pitcher’s spot due.

Manager Bobby Valentine sent up lefty Matt Franco to bat for Reed. Lieber’s first pitch was a hanging slider, but Franco, the Mets’ top pinch-hitter in 1998, popped it up to Ramírez at third.

“[Franco] should have hit it hard,” Valentine said afterward.26 “[It was] one of the worst pitches [Lieber] made all night.”27

Righty Greg McMichael was the new Mets pitcher in the bottom of the seventh. Kendall singled with one out, and Kevin Young walked. Strange, playing second to give Tony Womack a rest,28 fanned for the second out, bringing up Guillén.

Even with his earlier bid for an extra-base hit denied by baserunning misadventure, Guillén, who had celebrated his 22nd birthday in May, was batting .333 on the season and slugging .516.

Mets pitching coach Bob Apodaca visited the mound. With Ramírez on deck, Apodaca instructed McMichael to pitch cautiously to Guillén. A five-pitch walk loaded the bases.

“I just knew [Ramírez] wasn’t Guillén, who was hitting .350 [sic],” McMichael said after the game.29

Ramírez stepped to the plate. Fans stood, applauded, and yelled, a spontaneous vote of confidence from the crowd of 17,691.30

“I was surprised,” Ramírez said about the ovation. “I’m not doing all that well up here.”31

He took the first pitch for a strike. The fans continued to cheer in encouragement.

McMichael threw a changeup, and Ramírez clubbed a line drive to left. The ball hit the artificial turf and reached the fence on one bounce. Kendall and Young scored on the double. Ramírez had his first big-league hit, and Pittsburgh’s lead was 3-0.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that,” Lamont said of the crowd’s support for Ramírez. “It gives you chills.”32

“The people were real happy – like me,” Ramírez said. “I wanted to smile, but this is the big leagues. I acted real serious, but I was real happy.”33

Lieber retired the Mets in order in the eighth; Piazza’s inning-ending groundout left him hitless for the first time in 10 games with New York.34 Jason Christiansen earned his first major-league save and completed Pittsburgh’s sweep with a scoreless ninth.35

Nine days later, Ramírez hit his first home run in the majors.36 He was the Pirates’ most frequent starter at third for the rest of the season, finishing with a .235 average in 72 games.37 Pittsburgh signed veteran Ed Sprague for 1999 to give Ramírez a full year of development in Triple A. By July 2000 Ramírez was the Pirates’ full-time third baseman, and he went on to 369 home runs and 2,303 hits in an 18-season career with the Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Milwaukee Brewers.

Author’s Note

The author attended this game and was part of the crowd encouragement for Aramis Ramírez’s first major-league hit. In 2021 he wrote Ramírez’s biography for SABR’s Baseball Biography Project.

This article is dedicated to longtime Pittsburgh sports broadcaster and talk-show host Stan Savran, who died in June 2023, while the author was writing the article.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Tom Brown and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. He also reviewed coverage in the Newsday (Long Island, New York), New York Daily News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Rockland (New York) Journal-News newspapers; Thomas J. Brown Jr.’s SABR Baseball Biography Project biography of Rick Reed; and a video of game highlights from ESPN’s Sportscenter, posted on YouTube.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT199806030.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1998/B06030PIT1998.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_56_6X15nXc

Notes

1 Howard Herman, “Mets’ Erickson a Top-10 Prospect in New York-Penn League Poll,” Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), October 22, 1996: A-1.

2 Katrina Waugh, “Lynchburg Stands in Avalanche’s Way,” Roanoke Times, Wednesday, August 27, 1997: B8; Paul Meyer, “He’s the Man: It’s a Matter of When, Not If, for Aramis Ramirez,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 2, 1998: C-1.

3 Entering the 1998 season, Baseball America ranked Ramírez fifth on its list of baseball’s top 100 prospects. Ron Cook, “Marshal Planner: Bonifay Is Building the Pirates and His Own Place in the Game,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 29, 1998: C-1.

4 The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Randa in the third round of the November 1997 expansion draft, then traded him to the Detroit Tigers for Travis Fryman. Paul Meyer, “Great Escape: Pirates Lose Two Pitchers, Randa in Expansion Draft,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 19, 1997: C-1.

5 Paul Meyer, “Garcia Bound for AAA: Pirates 3B Demoted; Sanford Is Called up,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 30, 1998: C-1.

6 Alan Robinson (Associated Press), “Who’s on Third? Bucs Don’t Know,” Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, May 1, 1998: 20.

7 Strange started 15 of the Pirates’ 25 games between April 30 and May 24. During that stretch, Triple-A call-up Chance Sanford started five games and utilitymen Kevin Polcovich and Keith Osik started four times and once, respectively.

8 Paul Meyer, “Loaiza Sputters, Arizona Breezes: Squanders 2-0 Lead as Pirates Fall, 8-2,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 18, 1998: C-1.

9 Alan Robinson (Associated Press), “Bonifay May Make Trade to Fill Third-Base Void,” Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, May 11, 1998: 15; Ron Cook, “Randa Longs for Return to Third Base for Pirates,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 26, 1998: E-1.

10 From May 12 through May 17, for example, three different Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports columnists – Ron Cook, Stan Savran, and Bob Smizik – offered divergent opinions on a possible Ramirez call-up. Ron Cook, “A Vote to Wait for the Future,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 12, 1998: E-1; Stan Savran, “Deal or Wait for Kids? If Bonifay Trades for Third Baseman, It Could Stall Aramis,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 15, 1998: C-2; Bob Smizik, “Smith May Be Answer for Pirates,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 17, 1998: D-7.

11 Paul Meyer, “Leap of Faith: Pirates Will Make It Official Today and Name Guillen Their Right Fielder,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 26, 1997: C-1.

12 Cook, “A Vote to Wait for the Future.”

13 Paul Meyer, “No Escape: Blown 2-1 Lead in Ninth Overshadows Ramirez Debut,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 27, 1998: D-1.

14 Meyer, “No Escape”; John Callow, “Sounds Hold off Salt Lake,” Murfreesboro (Tennessee) Daily News Journal, May 25, 1998: 1B.

15 Paul Meyer, “No Bench Yet for Ramirez,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 1, 1998: D-3.

16 Thomas Hill, “Mets Land on Cloud 9: Flatten Phillies in 19-Hit Attack for 9th Straight,” New York Daily News, June 1, 1998.

17 The Los Angeles Dodgers had traded Piazza to the Marlins on May 14, just eight days before the Marlins sent him to the Mets. Hank Gola, “A Hot Piazza: Nab All-Star Catcher for 3 Prospects,” New York Daily News, May 23, 1998: 55.

18 Paul Meyer, “Met Their Match: Schmidt Ends N.Y. Streak at 9 Games,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 2, 1998: E-1; Paul Meyer, “Young Gun: 3-Run Triple Sparks Pirates to Season-High 4th in a Row,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 3, 1998: D-1.

19 In Reed’s major-league debut, on August 8, 1988, he had pitched eight scoreless innings in the second-place Pirates’ 1-0 win over the first-place – and eventual National League East champion – Mets at Three Rivers Stadium. Paul Meyer, “Reed, Gott Handcuff Mets, 1-0,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 9, 1988: 25.

20 Thomas Hill, “Reed in Strike Zone: Regrets Crossing the Line,” New York Daily News, March 19, 1997: 60.

21 Marty Noble, “Earning Raves: From Pariah to Pro, Reed Comes Through,” Newsday, September 22, 1997: A46.

22 Marty Noble, “Fun and Gains: Offense Still on a Roll as Mets Win Seventh in a Row,” Newsday, May 31, 1998: C2.

23 Meyer, “No Bench Yet for Ramirez.”

24 Paul Meyer, “High Fives for Ramirez and Pirates: Rookie’s First Hit in Major Leagues Seals 3-0 Victory,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 4, 1998: D-1.

25 “I missed [the base],” Guillén said after the game. “I started to jump and messed it up right there. It was my mistake.” Kit Stier, “Bucs Sweep Mets: Lieber Earns Third Win of Season,” Rockland (New York) Journal-News, June 4, 1998: 1D.

26 Marty Noble, “Stalled in Steel City: Mets’ Hot Bats, Win Streak Turned off by Pirates,” Newsday, June 4, 1998: A88.

27 Thomas Hill, “Reed Helpless in Loss to Bucs,” New York Daily News, June 4, 1998: 84.

28 Meyer, “Young Gun.”

29 Hill, “Reed Helpless in Loss to Bucs.”

30 The Pirates had their monthly “Half-Price Night” promotion for this game, with tickets and parking at half-price and peanuts and soft drinks for $1. The Wednesday night crowd was significantly higher than the 11,274 at Three Rivers Stadium for the first game of the series and 9,040 for the second game, which was played on an evening when 14 tornados were observed in Western Pennsylvania, with several causing damage in the City of Pittsburgh within miles of the stadium and resulting in a 58-minute weather delay for that night’s game. Advertisement, “What Baseball’s All About,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 29, 1998: Weekend Mag, 9; Torsten Ove, “Torn Asunder,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 3, 1998: A-1; Meyer, “Young Gun.”

31 Meyer, “High Fives for Ramirez and Pirates.”

32 Meyer, “High Fives for Ramirez and Pirates.”

33 Meyer, “High Fives for Ramirez and Pirates.”

34 The Mets went 88-74 in 1998 and finished second in the NL East. Reed won a career-high 16 games and made the NL All-Star Team for the first of two times in his career.

35 Rich Loiselle, who saved 29 games for the Pirates as a rookie in 1997, started 1998 as Pittsburgh’s closer but was removed from that role in late May after blowing five saves in 16 opportunities. Left-hander Ricardo Rincón had saved the previous two nights’ games for Pittsburgh. Paul Meyer, “Loiselle Relieved of Duty,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 28, 1998: D-1.

36 Paul Meyer, “Brewers Hold off Pirates: 9th-Inning Rally Fizzles; Valentin Homers Twice,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 12, 1998: C-1.

37 Ramírez missed five games in July 1998 when the NL suspended him for charging the mound and throwing his batting helmet at Montreal’s Javier Vázquez after a hit batsman, and three weeks after hyperextending his left shoulder in August. The Pirates finished with a 69-93 record, in last place in the NL Central. Paul Meyer, “Ramírez Gets Five Games,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 23, 1998: D-1; Paul Meyer, “Squeaker: Peters Stifles Dodgers; Ramírez Injures Shoulder in Slide,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 10, 1998: C-3.