Bill
Mazeroski's World Series Homer, October 13, 1960
By
Harvey Frommer
With
the Fall Classic 2016 in all the sports headlines now, a flashback to
one of
most dramatic moments in World Series history is in order. So come
along and
re-live that time - -New York Yankees versus Pittsburgh Pirates.
After slipping to
third place in 1959,
the Yankees were back in the World Series again. The Pirates won the
first game
of the series. Then Yankee bats took over .The New Yorkers won Game Two
16-3,
Game Three 10-0. Behind the pitching of Vern Law and Harvey
Haddix,
Pittsburgh won the next two to take a three games-to-two lead. The
see-saw
series saw New York tie things up with a 12-0 shutout from Whitey Ford.
All
of that set the stage for
Game 7, a contest that stands as one of the most memorable games in
World
Series history.
The Yankees rallied from a 4-0
deficit to take a 7-4 lead going into the bottom of the eighth.
The Bucs
scored five runs in the eighth inning, the final three on Hal Smith's
homer, to
take a 9-7 lead. A Yankee two-run rally in the top of the ninth
tied the
score, 9-9. Forbes Field was a madhouse.
Pittsburgh second baseman Bill
Mazeroski led off the home ninth against Yankee right-hander Ralph
Terry. The
count on Maz was 1-0. At 3:36 P.M. it seemed there was no other sound
in the
ballpark except for the crack of the bat of Mazeroski against the
ball served
up by Terry. Maz thought the ball would reach the wall so he ran all
out of the
batter's box.
Yogi
Berra backed up in left field, then
he circled away from the wall, watching the ball go over his head and
over the
wall. Then Yogi dropped to his knees in despair and anger.
Yogi’s
sour mood was the
opposite of the sweet one at Forbes Field. It rocked. The Pittsburgh
Pirates
had their first World Championship since 1925. Bill Mazeroski became
the first
player to end a World Series with a home run.
"It's
hard to believe it
hadn't been done before," Mazeroski, the greatest fielding
second baseman
in Pirate history, said "Every day of my life I think of that home run.
Wouldn't you if you had hit it? People always are reminding me of it. I
suppose
it must be the most important thing I've ever done."
"I was an 8 year-old
Yankee fan in 1960," Bob Costas mused." I literally wept when
Bill Mazeroski's home run cleared the ivy-covered wall of Forbes Field.
I
believe I have come to terms with it, and can see Mazeroski for what he
really
was: one of baseball's all-time great players.
Mickey Mantle batted .400
with three homers, 11 RBI's, eight runs scored and eight walks in the
series.
It was not enough. "We outscored them 55-27," Mantle complained,
"and that was not enough. The best team lost."
The Yankees of New York lost
more the series. Five days after their defeat they fired their beloved
manager Casey
Stengel.
“I’ll
never make the mistake of being
70 years old again,” the grizzled Casey snarled. He never did.
****************************************************************
Dr.
Harvey Frommer, a professor at
Dartmouth College in the MALS program, is in his 40th year of writing
books. A
noted oral historian and sports journalist, he is the author of 42
sports books
including the classics: best-selling “New York City Baseball,
1947-1957″ and
best-selling Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball,as well as his acclaimed
Remembering Yankee Stadium and best-selling Remembering Fenway Park.
His highly
praised When It Was Just a Game: Remembering the First Super Bowl was
published
last fall.
His
Frommer Baseball Classic –
Remembering Yankee Stadium (Second Edition) is his newest sports
effort. A link
to purchase autographed copies of Frommer Sports Books is at: http://frommerbooks.com/
The
prolific author is at work on
THE ULTIMATE YANKEE BOOK (2017) http://frommerbooks.com/advance-praise.html