http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Friday, June 18, 2010
The slogan that captured a city began as a song whose title resonated more as a demand than a request: "Beat 'em, Bucs."
In fact, they did.
A half-century ago, the Pirates beat 'em all. They swamped their National League competition to win the pennant by seven games and took down the mighty New York Yankees in a World Series that ended with the most famous postseason home run in history.
"It was a team of destiny," said Bob Friend, 79, a right-hander who won 18 games for the 1960 championship team that will be honored this weekend during a three-game series at PNC Park between the last-place Pirates and the Cleveland Indians.
"So many things went our way," said Bill Virdon, 79, who roamed center field with skill and grace and caught just about everything. "It seems like the big reason you win is to take advantage of the breaks. Our club seemed to have that knack. Whenever something materialized, we took advantage of it."
Double Play Combo: Bill Mazeroski and Dick Groat
Friend and Virdon are scheduled to participate in the festivities. Others include pitchers Vern Law, 80, the 1960 Cy Young Award winner, and relief ace Elroy Face, 82; captain and shortstop Dick Groat, 79, who won the NL batting title and league MVP honors; and, of course, "Maz" -- Bill Mazeroski, 73, the second baseman whose World Series homer in the ninth inning of Game 7 brought the city and the Pirates their first championship in 35 years.
Also expected is 92-year-old Joe Brown, the former general manager who mixed most of the ingredients and tinkered with the recipe to produce a masterpiece.
The Pirates finished second in 1958 and were supposed to contend the next season, but little went right, and the team finished fourth. Groat and Friend experienced down seasons. Right fielder Roberto Clemente, one of two future Hall of Famers on the club (along with Mazeroski), got hurt and missed considerable action.
"It just didn't work out in '59," said Groat, who helped build Champion Lakes golf course in Ligonier and has been the Pitt basketball radio analyst for 21 years. "But it all came together in 1960."
Several players had their best seasons for the Pirates.
Law won 20 games. Groat switched to a heavier bat, and his average soared 50 points to a league best .325. The flashy, supremely-talented Clemente stayed healthy and was outstanding. Fiery third baseman Don Hoak and outfielder Bob Skinner also were better.
Friend turned an 8-19 record into 18-12 and the league's fifth-best earned run average. Face, the prototype of the modern relief pitcher, won 10 games and saved another 24 (this when a pitcher had to do more than show up to get a save). Just before Memorial Day, Brown traded for right-hander Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell, who proceeded to win 13 games.
From the dugout, manager Danny Murtaugh skillfully platooned at several positions and used the entire 25-man roster. Everyone contributed. When Groat broke his wrist in September, Dick "Ducky" Schofield filled in at shortstop and hit close to .400.
"Every person on the club had a big hit somewhere down the line," Groat said.
"Murtaugh was a great manager," said Law, who will throw out the first pitch Saturday. "He was fair with everybody, and everybody knew their role. They knew what was going on, and why."
Starting in late April, the Pirates lived in first place most of the year. They fell into a tie July 24, and then pulled away. Absent a prodigious slugger, Pittsburgh led the league in batting average, on-base percentage and runs. The pitching staff was third in earned run average.
But what set the team apart was its penchant for winning the close ones. The Pirates were 19-2 in extra-inning games and 36-19 in games decided by one run. They repeatedly came from behind, notably in an Easter Sunday game against Cincinnati. Trailing 5-0 in the second game of a doubleheader, the Pirates scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth.
After that, "We felt like we had a club that could win this thing," Friend said.
Groat said Murtaugh often complained: "You guys are killing me. I could stay home and not come out here until the seventh inning."
By all accounts, the team was close on and off the field. Players lingered in the clubhouse after the game, talking baseball. Occasionally, Face and pitcher Harvey Haddix would break out their guitars.
Fueled by talent and confidence, a relaxed Pirates club headed into the World Series convinced they could beat the powerful Yankees, even though the rest of the world gave them little chance.
"We knew we were the big underdog," Groat said. "It didn't make any difference to us."
Why should it? The Pirates won 96 games in what was considered the superior league. "We beat some very good ballclubs," said Friend. "That Milwaukee club was sensational. We knew if we could handle Milwaukee, we could handle any team."
The Yankees and their glittering cast of stars led by Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford won three games by scores of 10-0, 12-0 and 16-3. The Pirates won their three by considerably closer margins. But a win's a win. With the Series knotted at three games apiece, the teams found themselves tied at 9 in the bottom of the ninth when Mazeroski hit Ralph Terry's second pitch over the 406-foot sign on the left field wall at Forbes Field.
The blast remains the only home run to end a Game 7, and it touched off a raucous, citywide celebration that lasted into the night, and beyond. The moment is observed annually at a remnant of the wall that remains standing in Oakland.
"There's something of a David and Goliath scenario to the story that makes beating New York, in what was then a baseball town, huge," said Anne Madarasz, director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the Senator John Heinz History Center.
The timing was significant, she said. The city, the nation and the world were on the cusp of great political, social and economic changes. Pittsburgh had an unaccustomed winner. It would take another decade, but more success was ahead -- for the Pirates, the Steelers and eventually the newest team, the Penguins.
"It was a pinnacle moment," Madarasz said. "Coming out of (World War II) we were the arsenal of democracy. We were still expanding our capacity to make steel. A decade later, we were starting to see the decline. This in many ways was a plateau, but almost a beginning of the City of Champions ideology."
No comments:
Post a Comment