The story behind Maz's thrilling World Series walk-off

There have been a handful of exciting walk-off hits to end World Series games, from Kirk Gibson’s Roy Hobbs moment in Game 1 against the Athletics in 1988 to Joe Carter’s Game 6 series-winning bomb against the Phillies five years later.

But nothing tops the game-winning home run Bill Mazeroski hit in the bottom of the ninth inning against the mighty Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series at Forbes Field. It was the first walk-off home run to end a World Series, giving the Pirates their first title since 1925. The Yankees, who were heavily favored in the series, outscored the Bucs, 55-27.

“I felt we were going to win,” Mazeroski said via telephone. “You have to think that way. You are done before you start [if you don’t]. We thought we could win. We had been doing it all year. We had that kind of year. We won a lot of ball games coming from behind. The team just jelled.”

In the final game, New York and Pittsburgh were in a slugfest. The game was tied at 9 going into the bottom of the ninth. Mazeroski was scheduled to lead off, but he forgot he was supposed to be on the on-deck circle as Yankees right-hander Ralph Terry was warming up.

“I was just sitting on the bench and thinking that the Pirates have to find a way to beat the Yankees. I forgot I should have been on-deck,” Mazeroski said. “Then somebody yelled, ‘Hey Maz, you’re up.’ I go, ‘Ooh!’ I grabbed my helmet, walked to home plate and said, ‘All I have to do is get something started here. Get a base hit, line drive somewhere.’”

The first pitch Mazeroski saw from Terry was a high fastball for ball one. Catcher Johnny Blanchard, who knew Maz was a high fastball hitter, was alarmed at what he saw. He stepped out in front of the plate, according to Mazeroski, and told Terry to get the ball down. Terry got the ball down a little bit, but Mazeroski hit the ball hard enough to left field.

Mazeroski wasn’t sure if he hit the ball over the wall because left-center field was 406 feet from home plate.

“I’m busting my tail to first base, going into second and then all of a sudden, the crowd roared and the umpire down the line signaled home run,” Mazeroski recalled. “I go, ‘Holy cow.’ I don’t think I touched the ground from second base to home.”

As he was rounding third, Mazeroski noticed that the fans were coming on the field to celebrate with the Pirates, one fan accidentally scratching his neck amid the jubilation. As he reached home plate and was mobbed by his teammates and fans, umpire Bill Jackowski called to him.

“[Jackowski] said, ‘Maz, give me something to keep,’” Mazeroski recalled. “So I gave him my helmet. He had the helmet for a while until just before he died [in 1996]. He gave it to the Hall of Fame, so they have it now.”

Mazeroski doesn’t even have the home run ball. He said there were several people in the clubhouse who gave him six balls and he knew it wasn't a famous ball. According to MLB.com’s Matt Monagan, a 14-year-old named Andy Jerpe retrieved the ball outside the stadium and Mazeroski let him keep it.

"I picked it up and I thought, 'Well, somebody just hit a home run,'" Jerpe told Monagan. "I didn't know whether it was Mickey Mantle or Yogi Berra or Clemente -- I had no idea. The last person I thought in the world would do that was Mazeroski."

During the postgame ceremony, Mazeroski learned that Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson was named the series MVP for driving in a record-setting 12 runs. But being MVP isn’t all Richardson remembers from that World Series. Richardson didn’t like the way New York skipper Casey Stengel managed that series, and he remembers looking at teammates crying in the locker room after Mazeroski ended it. In tears, Mantle told his teammates, “We were the better team.”

“Stengel was fired after the series,” Richardson told MLB.com last year. “He said he was fired because he was 72 years old. But really he was fired because he didn’t start Whitey Ford [in the first game]. We never understood that. Whitey pitched two shutouts that series. … I would bet you $100 that he would have pitched another shutout. He would have been on top of his game for that first game. It had to be something I don’t know about.”

Mazeroski agreed that the series would have been different had Ford pitched Game 1.

“I’m glad he didn’t pitch Game 1. He would have had three shutouts against us. He would have done it.” Mazeroski said.

Mazeroski would play 12 more years in the big leagues. He thought the biggest hit of his career wasn't a big deal and was forgotten until after he retired following the 1972 season.

“The [moment] just got bigger,” Mazeroski said. “I still had 12 more years to play in the Major Leagues, and it was hardly even mentioned during that time. I said, ‘That’s over with now. But I still have the memory.’ Now I get a lot of fan mail and just about every one of them mentions [the home run].

“It thrills me that they do.”