Remembering Bill Mazeroski and Baseball’s Biggest Home Run
I awoke this morning at The Oaklander Hotel on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, a night away from the kids with my wife. It was so ironic.
From my window I can see the William Pitt Student Union, where my wife and I met in 1989. I can also see Heinz Chapel, where we got married on May 22, 1993. It sits next to the majestic Cathedral of Learning.
I can also see the spot where the greatest home run in the history of baseball was hit on October 13, 1960, by Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski in the bottom of the ninth inning against the New York Yankees. It was game seven. Maz’s “shot” won the World Series, as the ball sailed over the head of another future Hall of Famer, Yankees legend Yogi Berra, who (no) wasn’t the catcher for that game.
The image of Maz’s hit flying past the 14-foot Longines clock above the wall at storied Forbes Field is iconic. I have an artist’s rendering of it hanging at my office at Grove City College. As do thousands around these parts.
Maz will always remain in the hearts of the people of the Pittsburgh region.
To this day, it sounds like millions rather than thousands of people from Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania were at that game. But of course, that wasn’t possible. Forbes Field — one of those sacred shrines of baseball that isn’t there anymore — held only about 36,000 fans. My Uncle Carl was there. He and a friend drove down the day before from Emporium, Pa. (a long drive) and slept in sleeping bags on the ground at Schenley Park behind the stadium. My dad wasn’t there, but he did what countless fans did after the game: he got in his car in nearby New Kensington, parked it on the lawn of the Pittsburgh Hilton, and celebrated like crazy late into the night.
Most people listened on radio or watched on TV. A small contingent glimpsed the game from the top floor of the Cathedral of Learning, which towered high above the field. There’s a classic photo taken from up there, which likewise has been framed and appears on the walls of many locals.
Notably, Forbes was torn down after the 1970 season, breaking the hearts of many. (Besides Mazeroski’s homer, Babe Ruth hit his last three home runs at Forbes Field, all in one game. The last homer was the first ever to clear the right-field roof. The crowd went nuts.)
But part of the brick wall in left-center field was left standing and remains preserved as a memorial to this day. It stands next to Pitt’s law school and outside the “Forbes Quad” building that inside retains the home plate from Forbes Field encased in glass. You can go there and stand where Maz stood when he belted that ball.
Beyond the wall is a small recreational baseball field, appropriately called Mazeroski Field.
That 1960 Word Series was quite a ride. The Yankees team vastly outscored the Bucs overall, trouncing them in blowouts in the three games they won. They had players such as Berra, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, pitcher Whitey Ford, and coach Casey Stengel. Of course, the Pirates were no slouches. A fellow Hall of Famer on Maz’s team was a fellow named Roberto Clemente. The team was loaded with stars, including the National League’s MVP that year, Dick Groat, who had been a standout in basketball (an All-American at Duke). It has been correctly argued that the forgotten Groat was one of the best athletes of the 20th century.
But though the Yanks outscored the Bucs overall, the latter won the requisite four games out of seven, thanks to Mazeroski’s shot heard round the world in the 9th inning of game seven. It remains the only walk-off home run to win a World Series in game seven.
After Mazeroski retired at the end of the 1972 season — playing all of his 17 seasons with the Bucs — an intense debate commenced over whether he merited being inducted into the Hall of Fame. The problem for Maz — ironic given that he was known for the greatest home run ever — was his offensive numbers. They were good but not great, though admittedly hampered by the massive distance of the Forbes Field left-center wall (he retired with 138 home runs and over 2,000 hits).
However, his defensive production was extraordinary, even unsurpassed — and made him a seven-time All Star. His ability to turn a double play was picturesque perfect. He holds the all-time record for double plays turned by a second baseman. When he retired, no player ever had as many double plays.
Conservative columnist and baseball pontificator George Will argued that if baseball was merely about offense, then pitchers shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. Defensive greatness ought to count. Will argued that Hall of Fame voters were guilty of “discrimination” against defensemen. He was right. When you combined Mazeroski’s phenomenal Gold Glove numbers with respectable offensive numbers — atop the 1960 home run — he deserved a spot in the Hall. And indeed, just that finally happened in 2001.
Mazeroski’s speech at the induction ceremony was quite the display. A humble, local Pittsburgh “yinzer,” he was so nervous and so emotional that he couldn’t get through his text and finally said something like “forget about this crap” and sat down to laughs and thunderous applause. It’s worth watching to get a feel for what the man was like and why he was beloved throughout the Pittsburgh region. The working-class Polish kid was as loved as other local legends who made their home here — folks like Fred “Mister” Rogers (who lived in a neighborhood down the street from where I’m writing right now.)
William Stanley Mazeroski passed away this past weekend at his home far removed from the wall of Forbes Field where he launched that baseball on October 13, 1960. Like the wall that remains on the Oakland campus today, Maz will always remain in the hearts of the people of the Pittsburgh region.
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