Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski turns 76 today.

Ten Notes on Bill Mazeroski

1. Bill Mazeroski is famous for three things. He is most famous for his home run in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series that won the Series for the Pirates over the Yankees. This was probably the strangest World Series ever. The Yankees were the much better team on paper. The 3 games in which they beat the Pirates they not only beat them they destroyed them. The Yanks won game 2 by the score of 16-3, game 3 by the score of 10-0 and game 6-12-0. The Pirate wins were all close. Game 1 was 6-4 Game 4 was 3 to 2, Game 5 was 5 to 2 and Game 7 was 10-9. Maz led off the 9th with the score 9-9 and won the series on a home run over the left field wall at old Forbes Field. Forbes Field was demolished decades ago but the section of the wall where the ball went over still stands. Every October 13th fans gather there and listen to a re-broadcast of that game.

2. Second thing Bill Mazeroski was noted for was his excellent defensive play at second base. They called Maz “No-Hands” for how quickly he would turn a double play. His defensive stats are the best of anyone who has ever played. He wasn’t flashy like say an Ozzie Smith was. He just made the play and as mentioned was great on turning the doubleplay.

3. Third thing Maz was famous for was he always seemed to have a big chaw of tobacco in his mouth. You don’t see that nowadays but back then a lot of ballplayers chewed tobacco and when I picture Maz in my mind he has that big chaw of tobacco in his cheek.

4. Bill Mazeroski was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. It was and remains a controversial selection. It is a great debate, how much should defense count? Maz would not have gotten in on his offense. During his career he had 138 home runs, 853 RBI’s and an average of .260. He was a 10 time All-Star and an 8 time Gold Glove winner. His last year as a regular player was at age 31. He retired at age 35. I started watching baseball in 1967 so I didn’t see Maz in his prime. He seemed old when he did retire. He didn’t age well as a ballplayer. When he retired he didn’t have anything left.

5. Bill Mazeroski played his entire career with the Pirates, a key part of their 1960 World Championship and a bench player in 1971 when they won it again. He was a local product, he was born and grew up an hour away from Pittsburgh. Born in Wheeling, West Virginia, he grew up across the river from Wheeling in Tiltonsville,Ohio.

6. By all accounts Bill Mazeroski grew up poor. He was gifted at baseball and it was his way out. He grew up in the same area and era as a couple other outstanding talents. Phil Niekro another Baseball Hall of Famer and John “Hondo” Havlicek. There have been no one from the area like them since. It didn’t take Maz long to break into the majors, he was called up by the Pirates at age 19 in 1956.

7. Bill Mazeroski will always be a hero in Pittsburgh. They have a statue of him outside of PNC Park {Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner, Pops Stargell are similarly honored, I do not see a Barry Bonds statue going up anytime soon!}

8. When Bill Mazeroski was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame his speech was short. He broke down crying and wasn’t able to continue. I was glad to see him finally make it because it really did mean a lot to him. I wish the old Cub Ron Santo had lived to see his day at Cooperstown. Luckily they put Maz in while he could still enjoy it. Maz always seemed to me to be a pretty modest man. Quiet, not someone comfortable in the spotlight. Kind of like Neil Armstrong in a way. Never heard a bad word about Maz.

9. How good a fielder was Maz? The famous baseball stats guru Bill James has said ” Bill Mazeroski’s defensive statistics are probably the most impressive of any player at any position”

10. Bill Mazeroski appeared briefly in the 1968 movie “The Odd Couple” grounding into a triple play. Roberto Clemente was supposed to be the one to do it but he was too proud to ground into a triple play, even in a movie. The scene was filmed before a Pirate-Met game at Shea Stadium in 1967. In reality Maz never grounded into any triple plays in his career, on the defensive side he was involved in two.