A man named Bill Mazeroski died late last month.
Some BOOMers will know the name. He was 89.
Mazeroski was a Hall of Fame second baseman for Pittsburgh’s Pirates.
He was a very good- not great- player, but is remembered for one game, one moment, and that moment is the single fantasy of every kid who has played baseball.
The game is tied. It is the bottom of the 9th inning, and you can end the game and win the World Series with one swing. The announcer in our mind’s eye calls the play: “It’s a long fly ball. Back, back, back- “HOME RUN! It’s over!”
Mazeroski is the only player in a century and a quarter of modern Major League Baseball to have accomplished the dream.
Baseball was life in Chicago growing up.
When I posted Mazeroski’s passing on Facebook, few took note. That home run he hit in October 1960 is my earliest baseball memory. Back then, the World Series games were all played during the day. I remember rushing home from school to watch the end of Game 7 with my buddies. We all expected the Yankees to win it because, well, they were the Yankees, a mythical team that had legends like Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, AND Yogi Berra. The Pirates were a fluke team that had one of those special years.
But this particular baseball after-school special- the last game of the season before another long, cold Chicago winter featured two teams engaged in a crazy game. We tuned in just in time to see the Yankees- on the brink of defeat- come back with 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning to tie the game.
Mazeroski came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th. The entire situation was SO unlikely. The mighty Yankees had won 3 of the first 6 games in blowout fashion. They dominated 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0. Somehow, the Pirates managed to win the other 3 by close scores.
In this wild game 7, both teams had their offenses rolling in a see-saw affair that saw the Yankees come from 2 runs down to tie it in the top of the 9th/, 9-9. Up comes Maz.
He was not known as a power hitter. Maz hit 11 homers during the 1960 season. Fans at Forbes Field that afternoon- and the tens of millions watching on TV- thought he might get on base to be driven in by one of Pittsburgh’s better hitters.
The first pitch was a ball.
Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry threw the next pitch into history. Mazeroski, all 5 feet and 7 inches of him, swung hard at the next one and clobbered it. Faded film from that game shows the great Yogi Berra travelling back towards the vine-covered left field wall, figuring there was “no way” the diminutive Pirate second baseman had just won it all with one swing.
But he had.
David just hit the ball over 420 feet, and Goliath collapsed as he rounded the bases.
Maz was 89 when he left this world, so the math says he was 23 when he hit baseball’s only World Series “walk-off” home run. He ran the bases like an excited child filled with unrestrained glee- his right arm, cap in hand, rotating in circles because the energy of the moment had to manifest somewhere. Today, Maz’s joy is manifested in a statue outside Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.
Forbes Field is long gone. Just days before Mazeroski’s death, a big-time pitcher for that same Pirates team- Elroy Face, had passed at 93. Odd timing. Both men had 66 years to re-celebrate The Home Run.
I never had the pleasure of meeting Bill Mazeroski. I would have asked the same question he was asked thousands of times over the years.
“What was it like to live that moment? Your teammates went crazy. So did the fans at the park. You did it. You sent the Yankees home in tears (true)! Your entire city will love you forever! What’s it like to be that guy?”
We all wanted to be that guy when we were kids. The thrill. The adoration.
Baseball resumes this month. You can have the Super Bowl. You can have the Olympics. As MLB 2026 launches, though, a dark cloud looms at the season’s conclusion.
Labor strife.
Please don’t call playing a game “labor”. Mega-millionaire players and billionaire owners have to work out a new agreement, and both sides are digging in. Screw the fans.
When Bill Mazeroski played the 1960 season, he was paid about $12,000- an entire year’s worth of games for what today’s players make in one at-bat. His game-winning home run guaranteed a World Series winner’s check for $8,714.
That extra money was a big deal.
All I know is that owners and players should figure it out. There’s enough revenue in Major League Baseball for everyone to be happy.
LA Dodger superstar Shohei Otani will make $70 million for the upcoming season. He’s the Babe Ruth of this era. Great as he is, however, he will never be “that guy” unless he’s given a moment like Mazeroski was and delivers. All the money in the world can’t buy that.
So, as the weather warms and the season unfolds, I hope they work it out behind the scenes. Do it for Bill, and Elroy, and me, and every kid who imagined himself in the bottom of the 9th inning with a chance to win the game.
Do it for the love of the game.
Play ball!
Greg Budell has lived in Montgomery for 20 years. A 50+ year veteran of radio, TV and writing, Greg hosts the Newstalk 93.1FM Morning Show with Rich Thomas and Jay Scott, 6-9 AM Monday – Friday. He returns weekday afternoons from 3-6 PM for Happy Hour with Pamela Dubuque and a variety of sidekicks. His favorite topic is life! Greg can be reached at gregbudell@aol.com.