http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Monday, September 6, 2010
While Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski is best known for his 1960 World Series winning home run, his humble persona helped endear him to Pittsburghers.
William Stanley Mazeroski was born in Wheeling, W.Va., and grew up in a one-room house in Ohio with his mother and sister, living on about $10 a week. He was signed by the Pirates in 1954 at age 17 and spent his whole career with the Pirates organization.
Bill Mazeroski rides past the Pirates dugout with his wife Milene after the Pirates unveiled a statue honoring the 1960 World Series hero.
Christopher Horner Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"Maz is a sort of personification of Pittsburgh, even though he's not from here. He's the son of a coal miner ... and somebody who let his acts speak more than his words," said University of Pittsburgh sports historian Rob Ruck.
"He is such an enduring human being. He is humble ... he really is an everyman," said Anne Madarasz, museum division director and director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the Senator John Heinz History Center.
In the five decades since Mazeroski knocked a belt-high slider over Yankee outfielder Yogi Berra's head at Forbes Field, he's been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and had a street near PNC Park named for him. Labor Day weekend brings more honors. On Sunday, the Pirates dedicated a statue commemorating his Wold Series-winning homer, and the Heinz center will dedicate a figure of him this morning.
Mazeroski, 74, who lives in Westmoreland County, is overwhelmed by all the attention.
"Geez, how could anybody ever dream of something like this?" he said. "All I wanted to be was a ballplayer. I didn't need all of this."
Ruck said Mazeroski came along as a sort of perfect storm of social, cultural and economic factors converged in Pittsburgh. His homer helped lift the city out of the doldrums of post-war economic declines, labor strife and three decades of losing sports franchises.
The advent of sports on television put Pennsylvania sports heroes such as Mazeroski and Arnold Palmer in living rooms all across the country, Madarasz said.
Another part of Mazeroski's appeal is that he, like Franco Harris, Mario Lemieux and other sports heroes, came to Pittsburgh and stayed here.
"Once they come here, they don't leave. They became part of the fabric of the city," Ruck said. "That's special. Look at Franco, living on the North Side. Look at Art Rooney and then Dan Rooney never leaving the North Side. Billy Conn moves from East Liberty to Squirrel Hill. I think Maz, he's got that Pittsburgh personality."
Former Pirates players pose next to the statue of Bill Mazeroski after it was unveiled yesterday outside PNC Park.
Christopher Horner Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Sport is a reflection of who we are -- hard-working, hard-playing people who persevere, Ruck said.
"Pittsburgh is a city that tells its story to the world through sports. And it's a fairly incredible story. ... But what I think is particularly important to a lot of people around here is that a lot of that story is homegrown," Ruck said.
Retired state Superior Court Judge John G. Brosky said Mazeroski was always accessible.
"If I asked him to come to this function, he didn't have to check with his agent. He just showed up," said Brosky, 91, a member of the board of directors of the Polish Cultural Council.
Mazeroski's prowess on the field earned him the respect of players and fans. Sports broadcaster Bob Prince nicknamed him "No Touch" because of the speed in which he turned a double play. He was a seven-time All-Star, won a Gold Glove eight times and has a career total of 1,706 double plays -- including 161 in a season.
John Canning, 70, a retired Mt. Lebanon history teacher and lifelong North Side resident, was a senior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1960.
Mazeroski was right for the times, he said.
"It was a different world then. He's a down-home guy and he's done well," Canning said.
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