Maz was robbed

By Guy Junker
FOR THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, June 23, 2008

Roberto Clemente's widow, Vera, looks over a Gold Glove Award presented in honor of the Hall of Famer during a ceremony before Saturday night's game between the Pirates and Toronto at PNC Park.
Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review

It's always nice to see Roberto Clemente's widow Vera and her sons back in Pittsburgh as they were Saturday night, visiting PNC Park to accept an award by Rawlings.

Clemente was selected in a vote by fans to the all-time Gold Glove Team. He joined Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. as the three outfielders on the squad.

That's nice. And it's debatable as all of these "all-time" teams are. But what was not debatable is that Joe Morgan was a better fielding second baseman than Bill Mazeroski. And that's the way the final voting tallied it. In fact, Maz finished fourth. Fourth! Fourth?

I know how it happens. Maz has been retired a long time and Morgan has stayed in the spotlight with his broadcasting work. Even in the yearly Gold Glove voting the better offensive player often wins out. And there is no doubt that Morgan was a better offensive player than Maz. But the notion that he was a better fielder is downright laughable.

I'm not going to bore you with a lot of statistical evidence, just a little. Mazeroski had a lifetime fielding percentage of .983. Morgan's was close at .981. Maz played most of his career on the notoriously poor infield surface at Forbes Field while Morgan played almost exclusively on artificial turf in both the Astrodome and Riverfront Stadium.

But most impressive is that Maz played 433 fewer games than Morgan, yet he turned 201 more double plays. Talk to anyone who played with or against those two and they will tell you Maz was not only better, but the best they ever saw. It would have been nice to see him on the field with the Clementes getting the same award.

• Maz will be on the field to throw out the first pitch when the Yankees return to town tomorrow night. And by-the-way, it won't be the Yanks first game in Pittsburgh since the 1960 World Series. They played an exhibition game against the Pirates at Forbes Field in 1962.

• Glancing at the Major League Baseball stats a day last week, it was surprising to find the Pirates were fifth among all Major League teams in runs scored.

That was an eye-opener, shocking even. Especially when a further examination showed the Pirates between the middle to near the bottom of nearly every other major offensive category.

So what gives? How about the Pirates ranking fourth in the majors in batting with runners-in-scoring position. Clutch hitting has made up for a lack of total hits. In fact it's helped make up for disappointing pitching and fielding as well. Offensively, the Bucs have been a very efficient run producing ball club.

Guy Junker can be reached at guy@gopgh.com.