T here have been many famous home runs in baseball history Bobby Thomson’s Shot Heard Round the World Babe Ruth’s Called Shot Kirk Gibson’s I Don’t Believe What I Just Saw But many baseball fol lowers believe that it was a Pittsburgh Pirate who hit the most important homer ever Bill Mazeroski ended the 1960 World Series with a home run The only other time a player homered on the final play of a Series occurred in 1993 That year Joe Carter accom plished the feat for the Toronto Blue Jays But unlike Carter whose shot came in Game 6 Mazeroski hit his home run in the final possible game of the Series Game 7 How did the Pirates even get to that point They had gone decades without even a National League NL pennant Their previous World Series appearance had been in 1927 However the 1960 team came together in a magical Pittsburgh fans rush onto the field to greet Bill Mazeroski after he hit a Pittsburgh fans rush onto the field to greet Bill Mazeroski after he hit a game-winning homer in Game 7 of the World Series on October 13 1960 game-winning homer in Game 7 of the World Series on October 13 1960 WORLD SERIES DRAMA 5
BILL MAZEROSKI Though Bill Mazeroski became famous for hitting a home run what really set him apart was how good he was defensively as a second baseman Some baseball experts say he was the best fielder ever at the position Still Maz kept getting over looked for the Hall of Fame because he was a much better fielder than he was a hitter But he finally was voted into the Hall in 2001 Mazeroski was picked by a special group of voters called the Veterans Committee One of the members of the committee was Yogi Berra a player for the 1960 Yankees team that lost to the Pirates in the World Series I'm glad we elected him He belongs there Berra said Mazeroski a native of West Virginia played his entire big-league career with the Pirates from 1956 to 1972 He was a seven-time All-Star and won eight Gold Glove Awards for his fielding 6 PITTSBURGH PIRATES way Branch Rickey had acquired several of the play ers years earlier when he was the Pirates general manager Rickey the man responsible for breaking baseball’s color barrier with Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers was gone from Pittsburgh by 1960 A new general manager Joe L Brown collected the rest of the pieces for the Pirates It turned out that those pieces fit together well Pittsburgh had terrific defense The infield featured the sure hands of second base man Mazeroski shortstop Dick Groat and third base man Don Hoak Bill Virdon and Roberto Clemente were outstanding in the outfield Clemente possessed a very strong throwing arm Vernon Law who won 20 games and the Cy Young
The Pirates Bill Mazeroski shown in 1962 is most famous for his World Series-winning home run in 1960 but the second baseman had a long career with many highlights Award as the major leagues best pitcher led the pitch ing staff It also included Bob Friend Wilmer Vinegar Bend Mizell and Roy Face The Pirates received power hitting from first base man Dick Stuart He slugged 23 home runs The two play ers who shared the catching job Smoky Burgess and Hal Smith combined for 18 homers and 84 runs batted in RBIs Stuart and outfielder Bob Skin ner each drove in more than 80 runs Clemente collected 94 WORLD SERIES DRAMA 7
