By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/?m=1
Bob Donaldson / Post-Gazette
His eyes welling with tears, Bill Mazeroski speaks to the crowd attending the dedication ceremony for the statue outside PNC Park depicting his 1960 World Series-winning home run.
Bill Mazeroski called it a "perfect day." But if perfection generally is represented by a 10 on the numerical scale, this one was all about No. 9, the digit he wore and the digit the Pirates retired long ago.
"I'm overwhelmed," he said following the ceremonies and festivities surrounding the dedication of his statue outside PNC Park on Sunday. "I can't believe this could happen to me, a little guy from a coal town on the Ohio River. Geez, who could have ever dreamed of something like this?"
On the day he turned 74, surrounded by his family and friends and teammates on the 1960 World Series championship team, he saw the veil come off a 14-foot high monument of him in joyful stride after the home run that beat the Yankees 50 years ago.
Although his voiced faltered throughout his speech, the man known by the single syllable name Maz actually made it through his prepared remarks, som ething he couldn't manage when he was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame. He sat down next to Milene, his wife of 52 years, before he broke down and sobbed.
In his 17-year career with the Pirates, during which he established himself as the best defensive second baseman in baseball history, Maz seldom dropped the ball. But the wellspring of tears, flowing like a fourth river, didn't stop until former Pirate Bobby Del Greco stepped from a row of dignitaries and handed him some tissue.
"I brought it for myself," Mr. Del Greco said, "but I figured he needed it more than I did."
The poignancy began building early. About 90 minutes before the 12:45 p.m. ceremony, the Mazeroski family strolled down Mazeroski Way, a street that ends with a cul de sac where the statue is located. The honoree held the hand of his 5-year-old grandson, Billy, who wore a jersey with the name Maz and a gold No. 9 on it. The rest of the clan, including two other grandkids, followed their lead.
Billy was among those who helped take the wraps off the statue. Darren and David Mazeroski, sons of the Hall of Fame second baseman, pitched in. And Bob Friend, ElRoy Face, Dick Groat and Bill Virdon -- all members of the 1960 champions -- teamed up again to help honor Maz.
Among the dignitaries and former Pirates in attendance was James Klingensmith, 99, the Post-Gazette photographer who snapped the picture on which the statue is based. He gave Maz the framed sequence of photographs he shot from atop the Forbes Field grandstand.
After the unveiling, Maz and Milene were whisked into PNC Park for more honors. They were driven around the warning track in a 1960 Bentley convertible. His feet didn't touch the ground until he emerged to throw out a ceremonial first pitch prior to the game against the Washington Nationals. Neil Walker, heir to the second base position, caught the ball and exchanged pleasantries with his predecessor.
The only downer on a sunny afternoon was the current state of the Pirates, who lost, 8-1, and have the worst record in baseball as they conclude their 18th consecutive losing season.
Oh, yes, and a smattering of boos greeted team chairman Bob Nutting prior to his remarks at the statue dedication.
When he and the players arrive at the ballpark for each home game, Mr. Nutting said, they will be reminded of the lofty status baseball once enjoyed in this town.
"We need to get back to the pride you have demonstrated," Mr. Nutting said in his remarks. "Thank you for reminding us what [baseball] can mean to this city."
All in all, though, the day resounded with Maz moments.
In an availability with the media, Maz repeated how much he dislikes having to stand in front of a crowd and talk about himself.
"I hate it," he said flatly.
Still to come is the 50th anniversary of that Oct. 13 day, when at 3:36 p.m., his home run disappeared over the red brick wall at Forbes Field and delivered the city's first championship in more than three decades.
"Maybe after the 13th, I'll fade away," he said with a bit of wishful thinking.
In a familiar refrain, he repeated that he gets too much credit for hitting the Game 7 home run because one of his teammates would have stepped up if he hadn't.
"We'd have found a way somehow. I just know it in my heart," he said. "We were destined to win that game."
He became the fourth Pirates Hall of Famer to be immortalized with a statue. When it was pointed out that Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell are all depicted with their bats while he is shown running with his batting helmet in hand, Maz chuckled softly.
"I'm not known for my bat," said Maz, who won eight Gold Glove awards and still owns the single season and career records in double plays. "I would have rather made an out, I would have rather made 10 outs in a row, than make an error."
And he repeated the line that if he had a chance to live his life over, he'd want to return as himself because he lived out his dreams.
"I'd want to be me again," he chuckled.
Funny thing. A lot of other people would like to come back as him, too.
Robert Dvorchak: bdvorchak@post-gazette.com.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10249/1085394-63.stm#ixzz0yku2uCpb
Mazeroski teary-eyed at PNC Park statue unveiling
By The Associated Press
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/pirates/
Sunday, September 5, 2010
At left, Bill Mazeroski and his wife Milene watch with Pirates owner Bob Nutting as teammates from the 1960 World Series team unveil a statue in his honor outside PNC Park today. The statue depicts Maz rounding the bases after homering in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to defeat the Yankees.
Christopher Horner Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Bill Mazeroski, an elite fielder who made it to the Hall of Fame because of his many Gold Gloves and one big swing, now has a bronze statue honoring that most memorable moment.
Four of Mazeroski's 1960 Pirates teammates tugged away a protective cover Sunday to unveil a 14-foot, 2,000-pound statue depicting the second baseman, the only player to end a World Series Game 7 with a home run.
Mazeroski is portrayed during his jubilant dash around the bases after his homer off Ralph Terry decided the Pirates' 10-9 victory in Game 7 against the favored New York Yankees that season.
Mazeroski is the fourth Pirates player honored with a statue, joining Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. Mazeroski's likeness is located near PNC Park's right field grandstands along a street known as Mazeroski Way.
The statue is rimmed by a brick wall designed to resemble that in Forbes Field and includes the actual section of wall over which Mazeroski homered at the 406-foot mark in left-center field on Oct. 13, 1960. The 50th anniversary will occur next month.
Not surprisingly, Mazeroski was teary-eyed, just as he was during the 2001 Hall of Fame ceremony in Cooperstown and a 1987 tribute at Three Rivers Stadium at which his No. 9 was retired by the team.
"It's great," Mazeroski said. "But I probably get too much credit. We would have won that game if I'd hit that home run or not, I know it in my heart."
Former Pirates pitcher Bob Friend isn't so sure. Friend said many forget Mazeroski's two-run homer carried the Pirates to a 6-4 victory in Game 1, and how nearly every one of Mazeroski's 11 regular-season home runs that year came in key situations. The Pirates won one of the strangest World Series in history despite being outscored 55-27 by the Yankees.
"Nobody gave us a chance facing the top franchise for forever," Friend said.
Both Friend and former Pirates pitcher Steve Blass, a star in the 1971 World Series, referred to Mazeroski as "the greatest second baseman of all time," reflecting the fielding records the eight-time Gold Glove-winning second baseman still holds.
"I learned that Bill Mazeroski is a man of few words, but that statue speaks volumes," Blass said.
Friend, Roy Face, Dick Groat and Bill Virdon took part in the ceremony, which began at the statue site and continued inside the ballpark. Mazeroski was driven around the warning track in a 1960 Bentley convertible.
Mazeroski also threw the ceremonial first pitch to Pirates second baseman Neil Walker, who received spring training instruction from Mazeroski on playing a position unfamiliar to Walker until this season.
The statue was sculpted by Susan Wagner, who also created the Clemente and Stargell statues. It was modeled after a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette photo by James Klingensmith that depicted Mazeroski joyously rounding second base with his batting helmet in his hand. Klingensmith, 99, attended the ceremony.
Mazeroski was voted into the Hall of Fame by a veterans committee headed by the late Joe L. Brown, the former Pirates general manager who died at age 91 last month.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press
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