“Pittsburgh in 1960 was the wildest [celebration] I had ever seen,” wrote Joe Falls, longtime sportswriter for The Detroit Times, in his book, 50 Years of Sports Writing and I Still Can’t Tell the Difference Between a Slider and a Curve, describing the scene after the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the mighty New York Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series. “After leaving the Yankee dressing room, I walked back to my hotel, which wasn’t too far away. Already the streets were filled with debris . . . By the time I got to the hotel, the newspapers were up to my knees. . . Everyone was dancing. . . The noise in my room was deafening.”
“Too Happy to Think”
The Pirates won Game 7 by a 10-9 score when second baseman Bill Mazeroski led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run off Yankees right-hander Ralph Terry. According to Pirates first baseman Rocky Nelson, as relayed to author Jim O’Brien for his book, Maz and the ’60 Bucs, Nelson told Mazeroski, “Terry always throws sliders until he gets ahead of you.” Mazeroski connected with a 1-0 pitch and sent a fly ball to deep left field. At various times, he’s said he hit a high slider or a high fastball. Yankees left fielder Yogi Berra raced to the wall. Berra told O’Brien, “I didn’t think the ball was going out. I turned around and was going to play it off the wall. I was going to play the ‘ca-rome’ off the wall. It skimmed the ivies out there.” Nelson continued, “After he hit that ball, he jumped up as he was running to first base, and he shouted, ‘Rocky told me! Rocky told me!’” After the game, when asked what he was thinking, Mazeroski, a man of few words, told Ray Kienzl of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “I was too happy to think. I was really happy. I don’t know what I thought. I thought it would go over. . . I was hoping it would. But I was too happy to think.”
On October 13, 1960, the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees in Game 7, 10-9, on a home run hit by Bill Mazeroski.⚾
After Game 7, in the Pirates’ raucous clubhouse, they tried to match the noise outside when outfielder Gino Cimoli told broadcaster Bob Prince, “They broke all the records, and we won the game!” In the seven games, the Yankees outscored the Pirates, 55-27, hitting .338 with 10 home runs to the Pirates’ .256 and four homers. The Series Most Valuable Player was Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, who was 11-for-30 with a grand slam, two doubles, two triples, and 12 RBI. He remains the only member of a losing team to be named Series MVP. In his book, All My Octobers, Yankees star center fielder Mickey Mantle wrote, “The worst disappointment of my baseball career, and one that hurts to this day, was our loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series. The better team lost, the only time I truly felt that way. It wasn’t even close.”
Trader Joe
Before there was the popular health-food grocery chain, there was Pirates general manager Joe L. Brown. At age 37, Brown was named GM on October 25, 1955, when Branch Rickey stepped down from the post and agreed to stay on as the Pirates’ farm director. The Pirates’ board of directors approved the appointment unanimously, although conspicuous in his absence was part owner Bing Crosby, who reportedly was “disgusted with the handling of the team.” Indeed, from 1951-55 with Rickey as GM, the Pirates were 269-501, finishing as high as seventh in the eight-team National League only once. Brown had his work cut out for him.
Brown played football at UCLA before breaking into organized baseball. He served in front offices in the minor leagues at Lubbock, Texas, Waterloo, Iowa, Hollywood, Zanesville, Ohio, Waco, Texas, and New Orleans. He became a Pirates employee in Waco in 1950 and the next year was promoted to New Orleans, where he became the Pelicans’ business manager until the franchise was sold in 1954. He then moved up to the big club and served as Rickey’s right-hand man. He set about improving the Pirates right away.
Wheelin’ and Dealin’, Part 1
In a trade that had the biggest impact on the 1960 champs, on January 30, 1959, Brown traded slugging third baseman/outfielder Frank Thomas, a popular Pittsburgh native, along with Whammy Douglas, Jim Pendleton, and John Powers to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for catcher Smoky Burgess, left-handed starter Harvey Haddix, and third baseman Don Hoak. While the others Brown included in the deal were expendable, Thomas hit 161 home runs from 1953-58. But playing primarily at third base, Thomas led the majors with 29 errors in 1958 and had a reputation for being hard to take.
The trade was headline news on the front page of the Post-Gazette. Brown told Lester J. Biederman of The Pittsburgh Press, “We’re sorry to give up Thomas, but when you get something in a trade, you should be prepared to give up something. We have long needed a catcher who could hit and a left-handed starting pitcher.” From his home in Chester, Pennsylvania, manager Danny Murtaugh told United Press International that he was “well satisfied” with the deal and looked forward to “stronger defense” from Hoak.
Game 1
The Series opened at Forbes Field. Murtaugh tabbed eventual National League Cy Young Award winner, right-hander Vern Law, 20-9 during the regular season, to start. Yankees manager Casey Stengel bypassed his left-handed ace, Whitey Ford, in favor of righty Art Ditmar, who was 15-9, despite the Yankees having clinched the American League pennant 10 days before, giving Stengel the luxury of lining up his pitching any way he wished. Wrote Mantle, “When Ditmar was announced as our starter for the opener, we [the Yankees] were all buzzing about it. What about Whitey, who had won more World Series games than any pitcher in history? How could he not go with Whitey?”
Roger Maris gave New York an early 1-0 lead with a solo homer off Law in the top of the first. The Pirates went to work in the bottom of the first. Bill Virdon led off with a walk. The next batter was NL batting champion and eventual MVP Dick Groat. The Yankees’ scouting report said that Groat never missed a pitch when the hit-and-run was on and directed that infielders hold their positions. In what should have been an omen for the rest of the Series, a nervous Groat unwittingly gave Virdon the hit-and-run sign from the batter’s box. Virdon took off. Groat took the pitch. When no infielder broke to take catcher Berra’s throw to second, Virdon continued on to third. (The Yankees and the press thought it was merely a delayed steal and the Pirates didn’t say otherwise.) By the time five Pirates had batted, four reached base, and three runs were in, ending Ditmar’s day early.
With Pittsburgh ahead, 3-2, in the fourth, Mazeroski connected off Jim Coates for a two-run homer. This should have been a second omen, as it was the eventual margin of victory in a 6-4 Pirates win. Relief ace and forkball specialist Roy Face wrapped up the game to earn his first save of the Series.
Stengel was in an ornery mood after the game. He noted that Virdon was originally Yankees’ property and told reporters, “I hope he puts it in the paper that I taught him the delayed steal.” Stengel got angry when one bold reporter asked him if he thought the Pirates could win it in four straight. “If you think we’re going to lose four straight, why don’t you write it?” he growled. “Then if we lose four in a row, you’ll be the slickest thing around.”
Game 2
Stengel passed over Ford again, sending right-hander Bob Turley to the hill against the Pirates’ durable right-hander Bob Friend. This one didn’t go as well for the Pirates, who lost, 16-3. Friend was knocked out of the box after four innings, and a procession of relievers – Fred Green, the old ex-Brooklyn Dodger Clem Labine, Red Witt, Joe Gibbon, and Tom Cheney didn’t fare much better. Mantle hit a two-run homer off Green in the fifth inning and a three-run home run off Gibbon in the seventh. Both pitchers were left-handed. His shot off the left-hander Gibbon had everybody talking; it cleared the 15-foot wall at the 436-foot mark in right-center and traveled an estimated 475 feet. The switch-hitting Mantle thus became the first right-handed batter ever to hit a home run in that spot. Turley gave the Yankees 8.1 innings, during which he scattered 13 hits and three walks without striking out a batter. Diminutive left-hander Bobby Shantz finished the game and was awarded a save under the unusual criteria of the time, although the save wasn’t yet an official stat.
The Pirates played without left fielder Bob Skinner, who jammed his thumb in Game 1. Cimoli replaced him in the field, and Roberto Clemente assumed Skinner’s No. 3 spot in the batting order. Post-Gazette writer Myron Cope revealed that Hoak had been playing in “absolute agony” due to an inflamed prostate gland. After Game 1, Hoak had a fever of 103 degrees, which three doctors treated with antibiotics. Cope reported that trainer Danny Whelan was treating Hoak’s prostate with massages. That’s as far as I read. I didn’t want to know anything more about that.
Wheelin’ and Dealin’, Part 2
Brown called the May 28, 1960 deal that brought left-handed starter Vinegar Bend Mizell to Pittsburgh his greatest trade, because it added the last missing piece that propelled the Pirates to the pennant. Mizell was acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for minor league second baseman Julian Javier, a top prospect and the fastest runner in the organization. Haddix, Mizell’s teammate when both were in St. Louis, gave Jack Hernon of the Post-Gazette a detailed scouting report on the new hurler. Briefly, it went like this: Hard thrower, who in his early years was wild and had a slow delivery that base-stealers took advantage of. He got better recently when he came up with a good curve. He’s had back trouble but will be a good pitcher if sound. “He was always tough for me to hit,” added Hoak. Mizell was 13-5 for the Pirates in 1960.
Game 3
At last, Stengel unleashed Ford on the Pirates, who countered with Mizell as the Series shifted to Yankee Stadium. Mizell lasted just a third of an inning, during which he was charged with four runs on three hits and a walk. Labine relieved, allowed a run-scoring single, and then a grand slam to Richardson. After two more hits, Green relieved and settled things down, although he would later be the victim of another Mantle home run. Witt, Cheney, and Gibbon finished the game, which New York won, 10-0. Ford pitched a complete-game four-hitter, spoiling Murtaugh’s birthday.
The five-foot-nine Richardson also hit a two-run single, giving him a Series-record six RBI for the day. In a guest column for United Press International, Richardson wrote that when he came to bat against Labine, the bunt sign was on, not for a suicide squeeze, but for a run-scoring drag bunt. “After the count went to 3-and-2 on me, though,” he wrote, “the bunt sign was off of course. Then I was just looking to meet the ball. Frankly, after I hit it, I thought the left fielder had caught it.”
Happy 91st Birthday Bobby Richardson! ~ The Gold Glove winning, All-Star second baseman for the New York #Yankees was born in Sumter, South Carolina on this day in 1935! #MLB #Baseball #History #RepBX
— Baseball by BSmile (@bsmile.bsky.social) 2026-08-19T12:46:51.782Z
Back in Pittsburgh, David Kelly of The Press made the rounds in the local bars where patrons watched the game on TV. What he heard wasn’t different from what one would find today on the pages of some Pirates fans Facebook groups. “Murtaugh is the worst manager in baseball history,” said one. Another said, “Why put Green in there when he had Friend sitting on the bench?” (Maybe because when Green entered the game, it was already 6-0?) “The Pirates weren’t even trying,” said yet another.
Wheelin’ and Dealin’, Part 3
Brown swung his first major trade as Pirates GM on May 17, 1956, when he acquired Virdon from the Cardinals in exchange for pitcher Dick Littlefield and center fielder Bobby Del Greco. In 1955, Virdon hit .281/.322/.433, 17 HR, and 68 RBI for St. Louis and was named the NL Rookie of the Year. However, Virdon got off to a slow start in 1956, and on May 13, the light-hitting Del Greco hit two homers against the Philadelphia Phillies with Cardinals GM Frank Lane in attendance. That was good enough for Lane. Cardinals fans vilified Lane in the press. No fan of Clemente, Biederman wrote that Virdon would take over center field, flanked by Thomas and Lee Walls, pushing Clemente to the bench. We all know how that worked out.
Game 4
Bookies in Pittsburgh stopped taking action on the Series as Law took the mound against New York’s Terry. Throughout the Series, Stengel had been taking “sly digs” at Virdon, according to Cope, for playing a deep center field. In his book, Mantle was more gracious toward Virdon, calling him “the most underrated center fielder in the game. The managers and coaches voted in a newspaper poll in the 1960s on whether [Willie] Mays or [Duke] Snider was the National League’s best center fielder. The winner was Virdon.”
Virdon had the last laugh on Stengel on this day. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to Bill Skowron’s home run off Law. In the fifth, the Pirates scored three runs with two outs on Law’s RBI double and Virdon’s two-run single off Terry. Law got into trouble in the seventh. Skowron led off with a double and moved to third on Gil McDougald’s single. Skowron scored when Richardson hit into a force play. When Johnny Blanchard followed with a ground-ball single, Murtaugh signaled for his relief ace, Face. Bob Cerv greeted Face by smoking a long fly ball to deep right-center field. Virdon raced to the 407-foot mark at the wall and made a running, leaping, game-saving catch, falling and hanging on to the ball. It was the highlight of the Series so far and preserved the Pirates’ 3-2 win.
After the game, Virdon told Cope, “I just go out there to do a job, that’s all. I don’t worry about Casey’s comments, and I’m not interested in having the last laugh on him.”
Game 5
Haddix was the Pirates’ starter for the pivotal Game 5, while Stengel came back with Ditmar. Ditmar, who failed to get out of the first inning in Game 1, did better in Game 2. This time, he lasted until there was one out in the second inning, although an error by third baseman McDougald didn’t help. The Pirates scored three that inning on Hoak’s RBI fielder’s choice and Mazeroski’s two-run double. The teams traded runs for the remainder of the game, and the Pirates had a 5-2 victory.
In the seventh, Haddix gave up one-out singles to Tony Kubek and Hector Lopez. With McDougald and Maris, who homered off Haddix earlier in the game, due, Murtaugh turned to Face again. In 2.2 innings, the only blemish against Face was a walk. Afterward, Hernon asked Haddix about his reputation as a seven-inning pitcher. “Heck,” said Haddix, “they been calling me a seven-inning pitcher ever since I came to the majors. It don’t bother me one bit.”
The Yankees hitters praised Haddix, who gave up just five hits, but Stengel blamed the loss on the October shadows at Yankee Stadium. “You notice there wasn’t much hitting on both sides late in the game,” he told Associated Press. “I don’t know why they don’t turn those lights on quicker.” Mantle had a novel idea. “What’s wrong with night games in the World Series?” he asked.
Game 6
The Series returned to Forbes Field with a matchup between Friend and Ford. Friend lasted two innings, during which he gave up five runs. For the rest of the afternoon, the Yankees teed off on the law firm of Cheney, Mizell, Green, Labine, and Witt. Ford went the distance and held the Pirates to seven hits, and the Yankees evened the Series with a 12-0 triumph.
Afterward, a puzzled Berra told Joe Reichler of AP, “We flatten ‘em by scores of 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0 and we still need one more to win. How do you figure that? Don’t write this but even if they beat us tomorrow, we’ve got the much better club.” Nearby, Mantle said, “If you don’t want to be quoted on that, he can quote me.” Berra relented, saying, “Anyway, I don’t think I’m saying anything critical of the Pittsburgh fellers. They deserve a lot of credit sticking in there with us. But I still can’t understand it. Look at them and look at us. There’s no comparison between the two teams. Yet here we are all even and we still might lose this thing. It just don’t figure.”
Murtaugh wasn’t worried. He famously said, “I looked in the rule book, and it said the Series will be decided on games won, not on runs scored.” A newspaper photographer asked Stengel to look happy for a photo. “Hooray for us,” he deadpanned.
Wheelin’ and Dealin’, Part 4
It was a bit of a head-scratcher on December 9, 1959, when Brown traded Dick Hall, Ken Hamlin, and a player to be named later to the Kansas City Athletics for catcher Hal Smith. The Pirates already had four catchers on the roster: Burgess, Hank Foiles, Danny Kravitz, and Bob Oldis. Murtaugh liked to carry three catchers, and somehow, two had to go. They solved one part of the problem by sending Foiles to KC to complete the Smith trade. But why Smith? Burgess had been hinting at retirement. The right-handed-hitting Smith was a lifetime .280 hitter at that point and provided a hedge against losing the left-handed-hitting Burgess. As it was, Burgess and Smith made an effective platoon combination in 1960.
Maz
Mazeroski was born on September 5, 1936, in Wheeling, West Virginia, but grew up in Rush Run, Ohio, in a home without electricity. His father was a coal miner who once had a tryout with Cleveland, but lost his foot in a mining accident, ending his baseball career before it started. Mazeroski starred in baseball and basketball at Warren Consolidated High School in nearby Tiltonsville. He was offered a scholarship to play basketball at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, back when Duquesne was a basketball powerhouse. Instead, he chose to sign with the Pirates as an amateur free agent before the 1954 season when he was 17. He was a shortstop in the minors until one day, he was tried at second base during infield practice. Rickey saw him turn a double play and told him he would be a second baseman from that day forward.
“Maz,” as he was affectionately known to fans and teammates, made his major league debut on July 7, 1956, at age 19, against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. Hitting seventh in the order, he got his first major league hit in his first plate appearance, a ground ball single off left-hander Johnny Antonelli. Mazeroski’s first manager was Bobby Bragan, who had little confidence in him as a hitter. Maz didn’t like playing for Bragan. There was a 20-game stretch in 1956 where Mazeroski hit ninth in the order. He was still bitter about it in 1998 when he recalled it for Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook. “[Bragan] would bat the pitcher seventh, the catcher eighth and me ninth. He had some cockamamie theory that it would turn the lineup over. I could never figure it out. All I remember is how embarrassing it was. I’d get to the plate and the catcher and even the umpire would be snickering at me.”
Mazeroski hit .243 in 1956. After a slow start in 1957, he was hitting .282 on August 1, when Brown fired Bragan and replaced him with Murtaugh. Under Murtaugh, Mazeroski thrived. From 1958-60, he was an All-Star every year and won two Gold Gloves. Bragan frequently pinch-hit for Maz, but fortunately for the Pirates, Murtaugh never considered it in Game 7.
Game 7
Many believe that Game 7 was the greatest Series game ever played. It was the only one during which no batter struck out. It felt like a great boxing match between two tired but gallant fighters, trading blows; the last one standing would win. Law was matched against Turley. In the bottom of the first, Nelson connected for a home run off Turley. It was only the second homer of the Series hit by a Pirate. The Pirates quickly built up a 4-0 lead after two innings against Turley and reliever Bill Stafford.
Skowron left off the fifth with a homer off Law. In the sixth, Law surrendered a single to Richardson and walked Tony Kubek. Murtaugh turned the game over to Face. After Face retired Maris, Mantle drove in Richardson with a single through the middle, and Berra followed with a long home run to right field to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. Berra jumped and swung his fist in the air when the ball went out. The uncharacteristic emotional display may have been because the Yankees didn’t care much for Face. They added two more runs against Face in the eighth. Meanwhile, New York’s third reliever, Shantz, faced the minimum across the third through seventh innings. With a 7-4 lead and the Yankees six defensive outs from another championship, it looked good for New York.
In the wacky bottom of the eighth, however, Cimoli led off with a pinch-hit single. Virdon hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that looked like a sure double play ball, but the ball struck something in the dirt, took a bad hop, and struck Kubek in the throat. Kubek fell to the ground as both runners were safe. After Kubek was removed from the game, Groat drove in Cimoli with a single through the left side. Stengel then brought the right-handed Coates in from the bullpen. Skinner, back in the lineup after missing five games, bunted the runners to second and third. Nelson’s shallow fly ball to Maris in right field failed to bring in a run. Clemente, swinging wildly, followed with a hopper between the mound and first, right to a spot where Coates was unsure whether to field the ball or cover first. His circuitous route to the ball prevented him from doing either. The next batter was Smith, who was in the game only because Burgess singled in the seventh and was removed for a pinch-runner. Smith hit Coates’ 2-2 pitch for a three-run homer to give the Pirates a 9-7 lead. “I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it,” he told Kienzl. “It was a fastball, low.” Smith looked like he was running on air as he made his way around the bases. On the radio, Chuck Thompson said that Forbes Field had turned into “an outdoor insane asylum.”
Friend took the mound for the bottom of the ninth and promptly gave up singles to Richardson and Dale Long. In came Haddix from the bullpen. He retired Maris but gave up a single to Mantle that scored Richardson and moved Long to third. Stengel sent McDougald to run for Long. Then a strange play: Berra hit a sharp ground ball down the first base line. Nelson stabbed it and tagged first, intending to nab Mantle at second for a double play. But Mantle hadn’t ventured far from the bag. Younger and quicker than Nelson, Mantle dove back to first safely as the tying run came home. Mantle never adequately explained what he was thinking on the play. Most observers believe he thought Nelson had caught a line drive. Broadcaster Nelson King, a former Pirate, told author Jim Reisler for his book, The Best Game Ever, “As McDougald crossed the plate to tie the game, Smith’s shoulders just slumped, like finding somebody had died. He knew his home run meant nothing. I can still see it.”
Haddix retired Skowron to end the rally. Mazeroski led off the bottom of the ninth for Pittsburgh.
Postscript
Mantle wept openly in the Yankees clubhouse after the game. Falls wrote, “At that moment, Elroy Face, Pittsburgh’s great relief pitcher, appeared in the doorway. I thought he had come over to offer his congratulations or condolences to the Yankees. He had an awful expression on his face. He looked around the room and said, ‘[Censored] you guys!’”
The official word was that Stengel resigned after the Series. He said he was fired for turning 70, adding, “I’ll never make that mistake again.”
Part of the Forbes Field outfield wall still stands. Each year on October 13, the anniversary of Maz’s big blast, several hundred fans gather there and listen to a complete broadcast of the game. No other sporting event is commemorated in this fashion, anywhere. Friend had been a frequent visitor. Sometimes Face and Groat attended. Mazeroski made it on the 40th and 50th anniversaries. For more years than I can remember, the event has been organized and hosted by a group of men who call themselves the Game 7 Gang. (Full disclosure: I’m one of them.)
By 1960, presumably Crosby was less disgusted with the team’s direction. In 2010, a kinescope of the entire TV broadcast was discovered amongst items in Crosby’s estate. (What took so long? He died in 1977.) It premiered at the Byham Theatre in Pittsburgh with members of the 1960 champs, a few celebrities, and the Game 7 Gang among the invitees. Mazeroski was scheduled to appear on stage with Bob Costas but had to back out. He never liked talking about himself anyway. When Smith’s home run was shown, the attendees stood and applauded and cheered until Smith, then nearly 80, struggled to his feet and acknowledged the crowd. It was the only time in baseball history that a player answered a curtain call 50 years after hitting a home run.
At age 96, Law is the only living member of the Pirates’ 1960 World Series roster. From the Yankees’ side, Kubek, Richardson, and Shantz survive today. Shantz is 101 years old and is the last living player to have played for Connie Mack on the Philadelphia A’s. Law and Shantz are two of the three remaining surviving players who appeared in the first Topps baseball card set in 1952.
