50 years later, Maz still amazed

By John Perrotto
Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
Tuesday October 12, 2010 11:52 PM

PITTSBURGH — Not a day has gone by in the last half-century that Bill Mazeroski has not thought about the moment, if just for a few seconds.

Baseball fans, especially those who follow the Pirates, are those who will most frequently remind him. They will reminisce about what it meant to them and many will tell him exactly where they were when it happened.

Occasionally, he will be reminded when watching television and it is replayed for approximately the 23,717th time.

Mazeroski, once in a great while, will think of the moment when he is alone. He will wonder why of the more than 17,000 men who have worn a major-league uniform he is the only one to experience such a moment.

Of course, we are talking about the Hall of second baseman's leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning that lifted the Pirates to a 10-9 victory over the heavily favored New York Yankees in the decisive Game 7 of 1960 World Series. It was the ultimate walk-off home run, more than four decades before the term "walk-off" became part of the baseball lexicon.

Nobody had ever hit a game-ending home run in the seventh game of a World Series before. Nobody has since.

And today marks the 50th anniversary of Maz's drive off Ralph Terry that carried over Yogi Berra's head and the left-field wall at Forbes Field and into Schenley Park, touching off a spontaneous celebration in Pittsburgh unlike any the city has ever seen.

"It's really taken on a life of its own," Mazeroski said last month before the Pirates unveiled a statue of the Hall of Fame second baseman outside PNC Park. "When I hit the home run, I knew it was a big deal. Heck, it won the World Series. But never, ever, did I think people would still be making such a big deal about it 50 years later. It really amazes me."

Mazeroski then paused for a moment.

"The best part about it is how many people it made happy," Mazeroski said. "It's nice you did something that meant so much to that many people. It makes you feel good."

The ironic part is that Mazeroski was not a power hitter. He hit just 138 home runs in 17 seasons and his single-season high was 19 in 1958. Defense was Maz's game as he won eight Gold Gloves.

Yet Mazeroski went to the plate looking to hit a home run after grounding into a double play against Terry in his previous at-bat.

"I rarely ever thought about hitting a home run but I knew it was a special situation because one swing could win the series," Mazeroski said. "I overswung at Terry's fastball earlier and I told myself to just go up and put a nice easy stroke on the ball and it could out. Son of a gun, if that isn't what happened."

And fifty years later, the memory remains as vivid as ever.

Photo credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette