To Absent Friends - Bill Mazeroski

 

Maz

1936 -2026

Bill Mazeroski died two days ago at the the age of 89.  He authored the single most dramatic and important sports moment in Pittsburgh sports history with his 1960 World Series Game 7 walk off home run that defeated the mighty New York Yankees. If you were alive and a sports fan in Pittsburgh back then, it is a moment that you will never forget, so why do I lead this post with a picture, albeit a posed one, of Maz taking a throw at second base instead of THIS picture?

Well, I do so because Bill Mazeroski is probably the single greatest defensive player, certainly the greatest defensive second baseman, that baseball has ever known. If you were lucky enough to have been a Pirates fan through the 1960's, as I was, and you got to watch Bill Mazeroski play second base day-after-day, year-after-year, as I did, then you know, you simply just KNOW, that there was no one better in the field than Maz was at second base.

He won eight Gold Gloves, led the league in put outs five times, assists nine times, and double plays eight times. His 1,706 double plays is still the all-time record for second basemen in history.  He was selected to ten all-star teams.  His batting stats are certainly not noteworthy.  He was a career .260 hitter with an OPS of .667. Pro-rated over 162 games, he averaged 10 HR and 64 RBI, which is probably why he often batted eighth in the batting order.  Still, he DID hit that Game 7 walk-off HR (he also homered in Game 1 of that Series), and that made him immortal, and for the person who just looks at stats, the temptation became to dismiss him as just another player who was lucky to have lightning strike him at one opportune time in his career. Like I said, though, if you SAW Maz play over the course of his career, you don't need any fancy advanced SABRmetrics to know that he was a Hall of Fame player on his defensive merits alone, and 29 years after he played his last game, the Veterans Committee of the Hall of Fame bestowed upon him the honor that he deserved.

Sports fans in the city of Pittsburgh have been fortunate over the years to have been able to  watch so many greatest-of-the-great players perform for the local teams - Clemente, Stargell, Bradshaw, Greene, Harris, Lemieux, and Crosby just to name a few - but I would have a hard time coming up with anyone who may have been more beloved than Bill Mazeroski.  That '60 Series winner was a big reason, but Maz was always so humble about it.  While I can't say that I ever had what could be called a conversation with him, I was in his company on several occasions over the years at charity golf outings, and he was just about the most unassuming guy you could imagine.  And he was always a presence in town at  any Pirates related event over the years.  I would guess  that a "Bill Mazeroski" autograph, like this one that I own 

can't be worth very much, because Maz had to have signed hundreds of thousands of them over the course of his life.

They built a statue of Bill Mazeroski outside of PNC Park not long after the Park was opened.  Of course, it depicts him circling the bases after that 1960 World Series home run.  I wish that the designers would have taken a different route when designing that statue.  It should be a statue of Maz turning double play, something like this:

And while researching photos for this post, I came across this great one.  It shows Maz at his position at second during the last game played at Forbes Field in June, 1970.   That section of the wall that has been stripped of the ivy with the "406" marker?  Yes, that is the part of the left field wall over which THAT home run traveled.

With Bill Mazeroski's passing, only two members of the 1960 World Champs remain, Bob Skinner and Vernon Law.  Maz was also a member of he Bucs' 1971 World Series winners, and now only ten of those players are still with us (see list at end of post).

RIP Bill Mazeroski.

	1971
Pitchers	Steve Blass
	Nelson Briles
	Dock Ellis
	Dave Guisti
	Bob Johnson
	Bruce Kison
	Bob Miller
	Bob Moose
	Bob Veale
	Luke Walker
Catchers	Manny Sanguillen
	Milt May
	Charlie Sands
Infielders	Gene Alley
	Dave Cash
	Jackie Hernandez
	Bill Mazeroski
	Jose Pagan
	Richie Hebner
	Bob Robertson
Outfielders	Roberto Clemente
	Gene Clines
	Vic Davalillo
	Al Oliver
	Willie Stargell
Manager	Danny Murtaugh
	Deceased	16
	Still With Us	10