Maz’s homer still big after 50 years

By John Mehno
The Altoona Mirror
http://www.altoonamirror.com/
October 13, 2010


PITTSBURGH - Ralph Terry made a bad pitch, Bill Mazeroski took a good swing, and we're still talking about it, 50 years later.

The count was 1-0, the time was 3:36 p.m., and it's a moment frozen in Pittsburgh Pirates history.

Mazeroski slammed the high slider over the left field wall at Forbes Field on Oct. 13, 1960, and the Pirates won the World Series with a 10-9 victory over the New York Yankees in the seventh game.

Mazeroski lived everyone's back yard Wiffle ball fantasy: Bottom of the ninth, one swing to win the biggest game of the season.

Terry recovered from the pitch. He won 16, 23 and 17 games in the next three seasons and was the pitching hero of the Yankees' Series win over San Francisco in 1962.

Mazeroski learned to live with it. In real life, he was better known for his defense and he was no more a home run hitter (138 in 8,379 plate appearances) than Forbes Field was a friendly power park for righthanded hitters.

Mazeroski was just 24 in 1960 and he had a lot more baseball ahead of him.

"I couldn't live off the home run," he said. "I had to put my career in."

He would play through the 1972 season, experiencing one more World Series victory with the Pirates.

He was a utility player in 1971, having ceded second base to Dave Cash.

Mazeroski was in and out of baseball after that. He spent a season as the Pirates' third base coach, but left when the front office wouldn't grant him a $5,000 raise.

Mazeroski coached for the Seattle Mariners and Montreal Expos, two teams that didn't even exist in 1960.

He played a lot of golf, fished whenever he could and has lived a quiet life, splitting time between Greensburg and Florida.

He's cut back on autograph shows because he doesn't really need the money and he's uncomfortable with a lot of attention.

The most famous home run in baseball history wasn't hit by Reggie Jackson or some other "look at me" guy. Instead, it belongs to a guy who went to work every day and just tried to blend in.

While Pittsburgh became one big street party after the home run, Mazeroski headed in the opposite direction. He and his wife headed for Schenley Park, the only quiet place in the city.

"We were up there with the squirrels," Mazeroski said.

For a generation of fans, the home run is one of those moments that makes people recall exactly where they were and what they were doing.

The Pirates are having a 1960 team reunion tonight (the third since April) and people will gather to celebrate at the Forbes Field wall.

Mazeroski will take it all in with his usual bemusement.

The modest man who touched off all the parties doesn't even wear his World Series ring.

"It's in a safety deposit box," he said. "I wore it one time on my right hand, I shook hands with some woman and she squeezed it so hard, I went to my knees. I said, 'I can't wear this' and put it away. I never wore rings anyhow."

John Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.

Photo credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette