This Day in Pirates History
October 13, 1960
The 1960 World Series, Yankees/Bucs, Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Game 7, bottom of the ninth, the score knotted at nine. The Bombers have seized the momentum back from the Bucs after Pittsburgh's five-run eighth, tying the score in the top half of the ninth on RBI's from the dynamic duo, Mantle and Berra. In the bottom frame, the Pirates' diminutive second baseman Bill Mazeroski leads off against Yanks' hurler Ralph Terry. He looks at a ball, and on the next pitch launches a shot over the ivy-covered left-field fence, the first Series-winning walkoff home run in history (we won't go into the second). It was a shot that made Maz an instant legend, probably got him into the Hall of Fame, and definitely got him a slew of righteous endorsement deals.
October 13, 1971
The 1971 World Series, Orioles/Bucs, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Game 4 of the Series is an momentous event, the first night game in the history of the Fall Classic. The Pirates win 4-3 to tie the Series at two games a piece. The Bucs come-from-behind victory features a clutch pitching performance in relief from 21-year-old Bruce Kison, key RBI's from Al Oliver and Willie Stargell (playing in left field), and a three-for-four evening from Roberto Clemente, the hands-down star of the Series and the eventual MVP (click here for a montage of Clemente's heroics in '71).
2 Comments:
Someone should explain to me why Maz is in the hall, and Joe Carter didn't survive his first year on the ballot. Post haste.
Maz doesn't belong in the Hall, everybody knows it, but he was a popular guy and he hit a legendary home run (George Will's line that Maz being excluded from the Hall was prejudice against good fielding is bullshit). Then again, let's not convince ourselves that Carter is a Hall candidate either. He's a lifetime .260 hitter with under 400 home runs. He never won an MVP. The bright side is, he also is popular, so he could get in the same Veterans back door that Maz did. I don't see it happening, but it's not impossible. Once it gets into the Vet. Committee it's a popularity contest anyway.
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